Josie and the Pussycats

Based on the characters from Archie Comics,this show premiered in 1970 after the huge and critical success of "Scooby Doo,Where Are You",comes another winner from the team of Hanna-Barbera. This show was on the same ground as "Scooby Doo",but with a twist. You take an assortment of characters. The fearless redhead(Josie McCoy),the dingbatty not-so-very bright blonde(Melody Valentine),the ingenious and brains of the outfit sista(Valerie Brown,who was African-American),the hunky roadie(Alan Mayberry),the gutless and sometimes cowardly manager(Alexander Cabot,III),and his jealous catty raven sister who always get the group into trouble(Alexandra Cabot)along with her snickering shorttail feline companion Sebastian. Add to the mix a gallery of diabolical villains, some high adventure that puts the group into on situation after another. Along with a library of marvelous music and from there you have the perfect formula for a great cartoon series. One of the best from the Saturday Morning era of the early 1970's.

"Josie and the Pussycats" was just that...a group name of a trio of young female singers who performed in skin tight feline outfits which included adorable ears. Josie was the redhead lead singer of the band who played the tambourine,while Melody,the blonde was on the drums and Valerie played the guitar and other instruments and wrote all of the songs for the group. The girls along with their roadie Alan,and manager Alexander and his sister Alexandra were musicians who perform all around the world,and along the way in their adventures meet up with some diabolical villain set to take over the world(in some episodes the group is captured by the villain's hencemen or hencewomen and somehow escape or running away from certain dangers) while spending their spare time thwarting international schemes on those who may try to conquer the world and destroy mankind. It amazes me if Josie and her companions were part musicians or international agents working for a secret based underground organization. Could be. Some of the villains they faced were "The Countess", "Mr. X", "Evil Eye", "Midas", "Captain Nemo", and "The Scorpion".

Premiering on CBS-TV on September 12,1970, "Josie and the Pussycats",was a major hit Saturday Morning hit of the early 1970's,following in the comedy and bubblegum music mold of "The Archies". What made this animated cartoon so great was the casting of very well known Hanna-Barbera stockplayers who did the voices. One of them was actress Janet Waldo(who did the voice of Josie)who was also the voice-over for other H-B cartoon characters including the voice of Judy Jetson. Another Hanna-Barbera stockplayer was that of Casey Kasem (who did the voice of Alexander)who was also at the time did the voicework for Shaggy on "Scooby Doo",and other characters,while Jerry Dexter did the voice of Alan,and actress Sherry Alberoni did the voice-over for Alexandra. Regular H-B stockplayer Don Messick(who was legendary for several voiceovers for Hanna-Barbera)did the voice and animal sounds of Sebastian. Actress Barbara Pariot(who was the voice for Valerie,and one of the first minority characters to be featured as the lead in an animated series),and actress Jackie Joesph(did the voice of the dingy blonde Melody)were featured. The singing voices were done by Catherine Douglas,Patricia Holloway,and Cherie Moore(who later changed her professional name to Cheryl Ladd,and became an actress on the prime-time ABC 1970's hit Charlie's Angels in addition to having a short-lived singing career.) Out of the 17 episodes that were produced,the series ran for one season on CBS-TV from September 12,1970 until September 4,1971. CBS repeated these episodes from September 11,1971 until September 2,1972. Then after more than four years on CBS-TV,the series moved to NBC-TV where the episodes were repeated from September 6,1975-October 18,1975,and again from October 25,1975 until Spetember 4,1976. Only the original episodes from the first season aired during the 1970-1971 season,while repeated episodes aired during the 1971-1972/1972-1973 seasons on CBS,and were recycled when it moved to NBC for the 1975-1976 season. The original series and its sequel were recycled numerous times during the entire decade of the 1970's

I enjoy this cartoon, but the comic series was different. They've changed it in several ways: Alan is now the love interest, not Josie; Alexander is now like Shaggy (maybe so they could get Casey Kasem to play him), and Alan is like Fred! I thought only movies could change the stories on which they were based! On top of everything else, Alexandra pursues Alan endlessly. This is weird!

When I was a kid, I used to enjoy looking at this show. However a few years after the show went off the air, I read the cartoon series, which is radically different from the television version. For instance, the comic book plays as more of a collegiate version of Archie (coincidentally, the Josie and the Pussycats comic book is published by the same company as the Archie comics) in which they are just your average girls with a rock band and they do not go all over the world fighting the wild villains as they do in the animated version of the series. However, the characters personalities are more or less the same, except for Alex. In the cartoon he is a lily livered coward, while in the comic book he is an ego-maniacal weasel much like Reggie Mantel is in the Archie series. I think I would have preferred to see that version of the show rather than this show, which plays like a combination of Scooby Doo and a juvenile version of The Avengers.

The fearless redhead. The dingbatty blonde. The ingenious African-American. The hunky roadie. The gutless manager. The catty raven. The snickering Shorttail. The gallery of brilliant villains. A library of marvelous music. The perfect formula for a great cartoon series named "Josie and The Pussycats". Yeah, yeah, dirty minds(and several little minds)would go nuts about a certain part of the title, but the rest of us think the title was really groovy. Based on Archie Comics' great comic book, the Hanna-Barbera cartoon showcases musicians Josie McCoy, Melody Valentine and Valerie Brown, their roadie Alan Mayberry, their manager Alexander Cabot III, his volatile sister Alexandra and her snickering cat Sebastian. They perform all around the world, spending their spare time thwarting international schemes to conquer the world. Troublemakers such as The Countess, Mr. X, Greenthumb, Evil Eye, Midas, Nemo, and the Scorpion make the band's lives a living HELP(a term Alexander never forgets to yell for in every episode)! Janet Waldo, Jackie Joseph, and Barbara Pariot are the terrific trio, Jerry Dexter and Scooby Doo Alumni Casey Kasem are the dudes, Sherry Alberoni is the 'tude and Scooby himself, Don Messick, is the cool cat. The girls who give us those cool tunes such as my favorite, "You still have a way to go" are really Catherine Dougherty, Patrice Halloway and Cheryl Ladd as Melody's singing voice. JATP's charm comes from Josie and her allies. Josie makes the perfect leader, a perfect combo of wisdom, strength and beauty. Melody is the giggling silly of the group, always smiling and laughing no matter what the situation. Valerie is one of the first influential Afro-American cartoon characters. A pre-Cleopatra Jones like super spy who's the brains of the outfit and the lyrics of Josie's songs. Alexandra's cattiness keeps Josie on her toes and Alexander's gutlessness makes for some fine comedy. Alan's hunky appearance makes Josie and Alexandra's conflicts even more juicier. I felt it was only fair for me to rave over this great cartoon series, because I dissed the movie. Mayhaps if the writers made the movie more closer to the cartoon and more family friendly, I would have loved it. But NOOOOOOO, those saps made it just another Hollywood PG-13 zombie. Phooey on them! Their spin-off, JATP IN OUTER SPACE, may not have all the songs, but it is equally entertaining. I suggest you all see both the cartoon versions . .. and the comics, too.

This cartoon is great! While many people look at it as a poor man's version of Scooby Doo, this series was more urban, more hip & more fun. Prior to "Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?" this cartoon introduced me to geography and history and got me interested in learning about other places in the world. There was definitely more of an adult sense of humor and some interesting characters. The stories varied and often had a few surprises (unlike Scooby Doo). This series was good enough to spawn a spin-off series (Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space). Unfortunately, like many spin-offs, it wasn't as good as the original. If you get a chance to see the original Josie & the Pussycats, enjoy!