The Archie Comedy Hour

Anyone who ever read an Archie comic will enjoy The Archie Comedy Hour cartoon show. It ran for several years in different formats. The best format was when they had two segments about Archie and the gang with a song and a dance-of-the-week sandwiched in between. The animation may seem primitive today but back then, no one complained. The content avoided important issues and wrapped things up with a safe sitcom-like bow but that was part of the fun. It did not contain any of the violence and mean spirited-ness that is sometimes found in the Archie comics (i.e. the cartoon Big Moose is dumb but very gentle rather than brutal like he so often was in the comics) The music that the Archies played was pretty cool. Who can forget the hit "Sugar Sugar"? Oddly, Hot Dog, who was usually a background player in the comics, plays a much bigger part in the cartoon. Not only that, he has a voice as well (that is, his thoughts can be heard) The show changed many times over the years. He even dances with the gang during the musical numbers. The worst idea was when they made "US of Archie" to celebrate the Bicentennial. While it's unlikely that The Archie Comedy Hour" would be too popular with today's kids, it's great fun for anyone who grew up in the 70s and sang along with the show's opening theme. ("Hey Jughead, where are you?")

Based on the popular comic books of the same title,"The Archies",miraclously survived a staggering succession of title changes to become one of the longest running network cartoon series on television,enjoying eight consecutive years on CBS(1968-1976)and another when it ran on NBC(1976-1978). It also had a brief stint in syndication repeats as well where it continued until the early 1980's when "The Archies" ended their stay on network and syndicated television. The cartoons introduced the teenagers popularized and conceived by Bob Montana as well as the characters that were created by Dan DeCarlo and John L. Goldwater. Retaining some of the charm and innocence,"The Archies",featured a gang of stereotyped high school youngsters from Riverdale,U.S.A. From their neatly trimmed haircuts right down to their penny loafers,the teenagers were an anachronism. They represented the youth in the period of the late sixties as adults would like to see them. Straightforward and popular Archie Andrews was the pivot of fun as well as the standard well-mannered consummate of the American youth. His friends were the bumbling but lovable Jughead Jones,Moose a muscled numskull with a heart of gold,and his rival Reggie Mandell the bumptious know-it-all who gets the gang in all sorts of mischief. Veronica Lodge and Betty Cooper were Archie's girlfriends who vied for his affections. Other regulars included Mr. Weatherby,the harried high school principal of Riverdale High,and the frumpy spinster teacher,Mrs. Grundy. Others included a gang pet named Hot Dog,a large white shaggy dog and a Latino and a African-American character were added into the cast as well.

Incubated and nurtured by the head of CBS daytime programming Fred Silverman,in part "The Archies" was conceived to answer the mounting criticism of the violent superhero cartoons that were glutting network schedule,which Silverman introduced in 1966-1967. The series within its first season began as a comedy-variety formula that would predominate CBS' Saturday Morning programming beginning in 1969-1970. Under the supervision of Silverman,and under the executive producers at Filmation Productions(which produced the show)which consisted of Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott and the direction of Hal Sutherland. As one of Silverman's favorite shows,"The Archies",initiated a change that presented a wholesome comedy interwoven with pro-social themes,which became a concept that would be copied and refined during the entire decade of the 1970's. And it boosted "The Archies" into one of the top-rated children's shows on television,where it went straight to being the most watched children's shows of its day. Not only that,but when "The Archie Comedy Hour" premiered on CBS for the 1969-1970 season,it ousted NBC's 1968 ratings leader at the time,"The Banana Splits" as part of the competition for the leader in ratings. It also can be noted while the television show was moving up in the ratings,the record sales were as well. One of "The Archies"(which they recorded for RCA Records) songs titled "Sugar,Sugar",became one of the biggest million sellers of 1969,and went straight to Number One for several weeks.

During the 1970-1971 season,"The Archies" expanded their show with combining cartoon stars with a new feature,"Sabrina,The Teenage Witch" and from there the shows expanded again with "Archie's Funhouse",which was a fast-paced music-comedy-variety series that was on between 1970 and 1973 that was written by one of the former writers for "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In". "Archie's TV Funnies" premiered around the 1971 and 1973 season. The format featured some of the favorite cartoon characters like "Dick Tracy","Alley Oop","Broom Hilda","Nancy and Sluggo",and "The Captain And The Kids". By the 1973 and 1975 season,the format was wearing down and show itself lost touch as well. By 1973,the show "Everything's Archie" was basically a rehash of some of the old shows with new material. The worst of this came in 1974,when the series "U.S. of Archie" premiered which became one of the biggest colossal ratings failures ever presented in the history of the network. Children switched away from it in droves. From there Archie and the gang moved from Saturday Mornings to Sunday Mornings where it ended its long association with CBS on September 5,1976. By the 1976-1977 season came,the gang switched networks,this time from CBS over to NBC. "The Archie Show" was expanded to 90 minutes where it was part of "The Archie/Sabrina Hour",and "The Bang-Shang Lalapalooza Show",which both were on NBC. That was a colossal failure as well ending its run altogether in 1978. In perspective,"The Archies" was one of the most successful animated programs in network history and much of the credit belongs to Fred Silverman. Though he may not realized it,he lifted the property from the comic pages into a new niche as pure Americana.

This show came out at the peak of the "Bubblegum Rock" craze. This was when a producer would form a band of studio musicians to record un-offensive songs for the pre-teen set. The Archies were just that sort of group. I loved watching the show not just for the goofiness of it, but because of those cute little songs which most kids my age ate up. I actually believed The Archies were an actual group and would sing along with the songs on T.V.. Too bad they don't make shows like this anymore.