Picture Gallery for "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids"
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Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was a long-standing Saturday morning cartoon about a group of urban adolescents growing up in a Philadelphia neighborhood. Stories centered around the real-life social issues and moral dilemmas confronting young people; ranging from topics dealing with the feelings of having a first crush or acting as an individual, to subjects like stealing, smoking, skipping school and vandalism, to more serious themes involving gun violence and child abuse. The show sought to impart life lessons while it entertained, helping the kids watching make smart decisions when faced with similar situations.
Characters were loosely based on the childhood friends of comedian Bill Cosby, who himself appeared throughout the show in live-action segments that helped to promote or clarify the educational theme of the episode. The backdrop of his live-action segments was made to look like the junkyard where the gang had their clubhouse and spent much of their time.
Fat Albert was the cornerstone of the series. Anyone familiar with the show will remember his catchphrase “Hey, Hey, Hey.” The level headed leader of the gang set a strong moral example, and he always made an effort to keep the peace. Other members of the gang included Bill — a younger, animated version of host Bill Cosby — who was good at sports and kept a watchful an eye on his younger brother Russell, who had a talent for wisecracks and telling it like it is. Russell directed most of his punch lines at Rudy, the smooth talking huckster of the group who was apt to get into trouble and whose ego needed periodic deflating. Dumb Donald wore a pink stocking cap down to (actually below) his eyes and had a predisposition for missing the obvious. Mushmouth had a serious speech impediment that filled his sentences with the “ba” sound… “It’s ba getting late ba, one ba more ba game ba.” Weird Harold got his name for his unique way of doing things. He was tall and lanky and wore trousers that were too short for his height, revealing the mismatched red sock and brown sock he apparently overlooked while dressing (at least in the early episodes). Finally there was the quiet and unassuming Bucky, so named for his buckteeth.
The show accumulated a strong supporting cast over the course of its run. The kids’ parents often made appearances and several extras became well known to the viewing audience, like the vagrant old timer Mudfoot Brown, well known by the kids for telling tall tales, the boys’ school teacher Mrs. Bryfogel, and in later episodes Miss Wucher.
The series had several show-within-a-show elements that played as segments during the episodes. The initial series, which began in 1972, included a song performed by the kids with their makeshift, junkyard instruments. When the show was re-titled The New Fat Albert Show in 1979, a new segment called Brown Hornet took the place of the musical number. Brown Hornet was a favorite TV program of Fat Albert and the gang, and the kids raced to the television in their junkyard clubhouse whenever the latest installment aired. Occasionally a Mudfoot story or song took the place of the Brown Hornet segment. In 1984 the title of the show changed once again, this time to The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and a new segment called Legal Eagle sometimes took the place of the other segments.
Series production was inconsistent. Some television seasons contained no new episodes, but a combination of reruns and new episodes stayed on the air with CBS for twelve seasons. The show aired for an additional, syndicated season of new episodes in 1984.
Theme Song
Episodes
Lying
The Runt
The Stranger
Creativity
Fish Out of Water
Moving
Playing Hooky
The Hospital
Begging Benny
The Hero
The Prankster
Four Eyes
Tomboy
Stage Fright
The Bully
Smart Kid
Mister Big Timer
The Newcomer
What Does Dad Do?
Mom or Pop
How the West Was Lost
Sign Off
The Fuzz
An Ounce of Prevention
Fat Albert Meets Dan Cupid
Take Two, They’re Small
The Animal Lover
Little Tough Guy
Smoke Gets in Your Hair
What Say?
Readin’, Ritin’ and Rudy
Suede Simpson
Little Business
TV or Not TV
The Shuttered Window
Junk Food
In My Merry Busmobile
The Dancer
Spare the Rod
Sweet Sorrow
Poll Time
The Mainstream
Free Ride
Soft Core
Pain, Pain, Go Away
The Rainbow
The Secret
Easy Pickin’s
Good Ol’ Dudes
Heads or Tales
Pot of Gold
The Gunslinger
Habla Espanol
Two by Two
Parking Dog
Water You Waiting For?
The New Father
Double Cross
Little Girl Found
Watch That First Step
Have a Heart
Watch Thy Neighborhood
Cosby’s Classics
Justice Good as Ever
Rebop For Bebop
Sinister Stranger
Handwriting on the Wall
Busted
It All Adds Up
Never Say Never
Don’t Call Us
The Runner
Video Mania
You Gotta Have Art
Long Live the Queen
The Joker
Second Chance
Kiss and Tell
Teenage Mom
Film Follies
Harvest Moon
Read Baby Read
The Whisky Kid
Millionaire Madness
Call of the Wild
Funny Business
Three Strikes and You’re In
What’s the I.D.?
Rules Is Cool
The Birds, the Bees, and Dumb Donald
Double or Nothing
Hot Wheels
No Place Like Home
Not So Loud
The Jinx
You Don’t Say
Amiss With Amish
Gang Wars
Computer Caper
We All Scream for Ice Cream
Superdudes
Painting the Town
Rudy and the Beast
Wheeler
Faking the Grade
Write On
Cable Caper
Say Uncle
No News Is Good News
Attitude of Gratitude
Hey, Hey, Hey, It’s Fat Albert (pilot, 1969)
Bill Cosby vs. Fat Albert: The Great Go-Cart Race (1973)
The Fat Albert Halloween Special (1977)
The Fat Albert Christmas Special (1977)
The Fat Albert Easter Special (1982)
(1972)
(1973)
(1975)
(1976)
(1979), The New Fat Albert Show
(1980)
(1981)
(1984-85), The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
Calvin Jefferson
Wow Those were the days when Saturday mornings were filled with Fun Cartoons on Television. This was my favorite cartoon.A bowl of King Vitamin Cereal and Fat Slbert and the Cosby Kids. Saturday morning at it’s best.