Question about Filmation Archie shows on VHS

[Mark The Shark]

I have been enjoying the recent Archie DVD sets (and thanks to WindsorBear for his educational posts on what segments went with which shows). Now, I think most fans of the show are familiar with the Thorn-EMI/HBO VHS releases of material from "The Archie Show," and the Embassy releases of "Sabrina The Teenage Witch" and "Groovy Goolies." However...I haven't been able to find much information on these other, later releases of Archie material from a company called "New Age Video." I recently got my hands on three of these tapes, and on seeing them again, I actually do remember seeing them in stores when they were originally available, though I never bought them back then. (The way they are packaged, they look like cheapo public domain releases and even have the same "Assembled, Duplicated, Packaged and Printed in U.S.A." statement as the old Goodtimes VHS tapes.) Should have got them...anyway, I recently got three of these tapes (they are dated 1989) and all are decent quality in SP Mode. But I am guessing there have to have been more than just these three, since each one has a volume number...oddly, one is titled "Everything's Archie," and another is titled "Archie and Sabrina the Teenage Witch," and both are labeled "Vol. 1," even though each one contains one (only one) half-hour episode of "The Archie And Sabrina Surprise Package" (itself a re-edited and retitled version of the 1977 series "The New Archie and Sabrina Hour"). The third tape is "Archie's T.V. Funnies," but this one is labeled "Vol. 2." The episode included is one of the same ones on the Nostalgia Ventures DVDs, but I'm still kind of glad to have it, because on watching those discs more closely since I first got them, I have noticed some rather heavy-handed DVNR on them -- you just can't win, can you?

Anyway, both of the Archie/Sabrina shows on these old VHS tapes are ones that have yet to be released on DVD (one is included on one of the NM DVDs, but it's a third different episode).

Just wondering if anyone knows what else was released as part of this series. Anything else out there that isn't on DVD yet?

I also know another company (UAV) released a bunch of Filmation stuff at one point, and their quality was not as good...I got a "Groovy Goolies" tape from them that was in EP mode and the tracking was, in a word, "unadjustable." So I passed on the rest of those...wonder if anything rare was in there....

Also another dumb question: I watched "Fabulous Funnies" when it was first on, but can't remember for the life of me (or didn't notice in the first place): those cartoons were newly-done (not reused from "Archie's T.V. Funnies"), right?

[BartWinkle]

I'm pretty sure they were new episodes.

[Still HowardFein]

Yes, FABULOUS FUNNIES was an entirely new series that lasted one (1978-79) season on NBC. Because it was made by Filmation as was ARCHIE'S TV FUNNIES seven years earlier, many people believe FAB FUNNIES was made of of TV FUNNIES reruns.

In memory, the strips represented in TV FUNNIES was Nancy, Broom Hilda, Captain and the Kids, Smoky Stover, Moon Mullins and Dick Tracy. Not every strip appeared every week. The Stover segments were quick blackout gags not unlike on THE GROOVIE GHOULIES and previous ARCHIE shows. The Tracy segments were longer than the others, and fairly straight adventures (much more faithful to Gould than the farcical 1961 UPA shorts) with only an occasional laugh track burst when a character makes a dumb pun at episode's end. Filmation stock actors Howard Morris, Dal McKennon, John Erwin and Jane Webb did all the voices.

FAB FUNNIES reprised Nancy, Hilda and Kids while adding The Drop-Outs and Alley Oop. Each half-hour contained three segments sharing a common pro-social theme (so common in the seventies): weapon safety, the environment, theft. June Foray, Alan Oppenheimer and Bob Holt provided most of the voices, the earlier actors having voiced their last work for Filmation the previous season in the ill-fated Riverdale revival.

As with most 'comedic' Filmation series, FAB FUNNIES had a laugh track. And like many Filmation series of the seventies there was a limited VHS release from Prism Entertainment, with laugh track stripped from some episodes.

I found it strange that the relatively obscure Drop-Outs and Alley Oop would be featured, having never seen either strip in any of the three NYC dailies- or anywhere else. Maybe Filmation was limited by copyright issues as to what strips they could use.

[hobbyfan]

Yes, FABULOUS FUNNIES was an entirely new series that lasted one (1978-79) season on NBC. Because it was made by Filmation as was ARCHIE'S TV FUNNIES seven years earlier, many people believe FAB FUNNIES was made of of TV FUNNIES reruns.

In memory, the strips represented in TV FUNNIES was Nancy, Broom Hilda, Captain and the Kids, Smoky Stover, Moon Mullins and Dick Tracy. Not every strip appeared every week. The Stover segments were quick blackout gags not unlike on THE GROOVIE GHOULIES and previous ARCHIE shows. The Tracy segments were longer than the others, and fairly straight adventures (much more faithful to Gould than the farcical 1961 UPA shorts) with only an occasional laugh track burst when a character makes a dumb pun at episode's end. Filmation stock actors Howard Morris, Dal McKennon, John Erwin and Jane Webb did all the voices.

FAB FUNNIES reprised Nancy, Hilda and Kids while adding The Drop-Outs and Alley Oop. Each half-hour contained three segments sharing a common pro-social theme (so common in the seventies): weapon safety, the environment, theft. June Foray, Alan Oppenheimer and Bob Holt provided most of the voices, the earlier actors having voiced their last work for Filmation the previous season in the ill-fated Riverdale revival.

As with most 'comedic' Filmation series, FAB FUNNIES had a laugh track. And like many Filmation series of the seventies there was a limited VHS release from Prism Entertainment, with laugh track stripped from some episodes.

I found it strange that the relatively obscure Drop-Outs and Alley Oop would be featured, having never seen either strip in any of the three NYC dailies- or anywhere else. Maybe Filmation was limited by copyright issues as to what strips they could use.

Actually, the Dropouts was part of TV Funnies, but not Fab Funnies.

The full TV Funnies roster:

Capt. & The Kids
Moon Mullins
Emmy Lou
Dick Tracy
Dropouts
Smokey Stover
Broom Hilda
Nancy & Sluggo

Tumbleweeds was also added to Fab Funnies, but quickly dropped.

[Eric B]

Yes, FABULOUS FUNNIES was an entirely new series that lasted one (1978-79) season on NBC. Because it was made by Filmation as was ARCHIE'S TV FUNNIES seven years earlier, many people believe FAB FUNNIES was made of of TV FUNNIES reruns.

In memory, the strips represented in TV FUNNIES was Nancy, Broom Hilda, Captain and the Kids, Smoky Stover, Moon Mullins and Dick Tracy. Not every strip appeared every week. The Stover segments were quick blackout gags not unlike on THE GROOVIE GHOULIES and previous ARCHIE shows. The Tracy segments were longer than the others, and fairly straight adventures (much more faithful to Gould than the farcical 1961 UPA shorts) with only an occasional laugh track burst when a character makes a dumb pun at episode's end. Filmation stock actors Howard Morris, Dal McKennon, John Erwin and Jane Webb did all the voices.

FAB FUNNIES reprised Nancy, Hilda and Kids while adding The Drop-Outs and Alley Oop. Each half-hour contained three segments sharing a common pro-social theme (so common in the seventies): weapon safety, the environment, theft. June Foray, Alan Oppenheimer and Bob Holt provided most of the voices, the earlier actors having voiced their last work for Filmation the previous season in the ill-fated Riverdale revival. So none of those segments were repeated?


I found it strange that the relatively obscure Drop-Outs and Alley Oop would be featured, having never seen either strip in any of the three NYC dailies- or anywhere else. Maybe Filmation was limited by copyright issues as to what strips they could use. They may have been popular elsewhere. I did use to see other stuff in other cities. NYC's dailies did not even have Peanuts when I was growing up (the backward rerun of the 1959 and 1970-1975 series after Schulz died was probably the first time any of those ever ran in the Daily News). And we've never had the Archies!

[Still HowardFein]

So none of those segments were repeated?]

The 1971 TV FUNNIES were repeated as part of an ARCHIE rerun package that bowed in syndication during the 1976-77 season. In NYC, future FOX affiliate WNEW/5 carried it. Like many syndicated reruns of Saturday AM properties, the various segments were 'checkerboarded' through the week. F'rinstance, Mondays might be the 1968 ARCHIE SHOW; Tuesdays, the 1969 Sabrina shorts; Wednesdays, the 1970 FUNHOUSE; Thursdays, TV FUNNIES; Fridays, 1974's U.S. OF ARCHIE. Reruns of the various 1969-78 SCOOBY-DOO
series aired in a similiar syndicated format throughout the eighties.

AFAIK, other than its limited home video release, FAB FUNNIES never reran in syndication or in cable- unless on some obscure cable outlet. Reportedly, the lightly-carried Odyssey Network did rerun FAT ALBERT and some of the Filmation live-action adventure shows during the nineties.

[quote] They may have been popular elsewhere. I did use to see other stuff in other cities. NYC's dailies did not even have Peanuts when I was growing up (the backward rerun of the 1959 and 1970-1975 series after Schulz died was probably the first time any of those ever ran in the Daily News). And we've never had the Archies!

Throughout the sixties and seventies, the New York Post and Long Island Press carried PEANUTS. When the latter folded in 1977, the Daily News picked it up. Today, Newsday carries strip reruns from the nineties, while the News carries reruns from the early sixties.

For many years, Newsday carried the ARCHIE strip. Thanks to such websites as Comics Curmudgeon http://joshreads.com/ and the Google Newsgroup http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.strips/topics?hl=en, I've become aware that it, and many other comics strips I'd thought to be defunct, are still active.

I remember the News carrying MULLINS and STOVER back in the sixties. BROOM HILDA is known to have ended.

[Brainatra]

Broom Hilda is still in daily publication, only without the original creator on board (having died a few years ago).

I've seen Alley Oop in a few newspapers (mostly small ones back in Indiana); its popularity heyday (like IIRC Smokey Stover) was in the 30s and 40s, it seems, but still lingers in some papers...

[Eric B]

[quote=Eric B;2824380]So none of those segments were repeated?]

The 1971 TV FUNNIES were repeated as part of an ARCHIE rerun package that bowed in syndication during the 1976-77 season. In NYC, future FOX affiliate WNEW/5 carried it. Like many syndicated reruns of Saturday AM properties, the various segments were 'checkerboarded' through the week. F'rinstance, Mondays might be the 1968 ARCHIE SHOW; Tuesdays, the 1969 Sabrina shorts; Wednesdays, the 1970 FUNHOUSE; Thursdays, TV FUNNIES; Fridays, 1974's U.S. OF ARCHIE. Reruns of the various 1969-78 SCOOBY-DOO
series aired in a similiar syndicated format throughout the eighties.

AFAIK, other than its limited home video release, FAB FUNNIES never reran in syndication or in cable- unless on some obscure cable outlet. Reportedly, the lightly-carried Odyssey Network did rerun FAT ALBERT and some of the Filmation live-action adventure shows during the nineties.

I meant, were none of the Fabulous Funnies segments repeats of the TV Funnies? I thought I had heard that at least some were. It might have been Lenburg's Cartoon Encyclopedia that said that.

Throughout the sixties and seventies, the New York Post and Long Island Press carried PEANUTS.

For many years, Newsday carried the ARCHIE strip. Thanks to such websites as Comics Curmudgeon http://joshreads.com/ and the Google Newsgroup http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.strips/topics?hl=en, I've become aware that it, and many other comics strips I'd thought to be defunct, are still active.Oh; we didn't read those. We read the News and the Times, and the Times of course never had ANY comics! I only saw Archie and Peanuts in other cities.


When the latter folded in 1977, the Daily News picked it up. Today, Newsday carries strip reruns from the nineties, while the News carries reruns from the early sixties. The News stopped running it altogether a year or two ago. They had entered 1969, or so, then jumped back to 1959, and then when Ilooked to see if they were going backwards to even older ones at the start of a year (porbably last year), they were good for good!



I remember the News carrying MULLINS and STOVER back in the sixties. BROOM HILDA is known to have ended. I remember Mullins and Broomhilda. Had no idea the latter was still running!