One of the greatest Saturday morning creations has arrived on DVD in a spectacular set. Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids is the brainchild of Bill Cosby, inspired by and partially based on the comedian’s early life and subsequent comedy routines. One of the characters is named Bill, and another is Bill’s brother Russell (and if you’re at all familiar with Bill Cosby’s comedy, you understand the significance of the connection).
Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids is a positive show, and while it may get heavy-handed at times with a moral or social lesson, rarely does the show become less enjoyable for it. The cast of characters is diverse, and led by the titular figure, a positive guy who usually acts as the voice of reason and is the leader of the group (for they certainly are not a gang). There is Bill and Russell, and Mushmouth, a kid who always speaks in Ubbi Dubbi (a popular kid variant of Pig Latin at the time). Rudy is the sharp dressed one, a bit of a hustler, and Donald isn’t characterized by his nickname “Dumb” Donald (and that huge pink headthing he wears). Harold is clumsy, and Bucky is almost the opposite.
Each character plays some sort of instrument in the Junkyard Band that is fashioned out of found materials. Yes, the junkyard. That’s where their clubhouse is. They refer to themselves as The Junkyard Gang, but really they are just some poor urban kids looking to hang out and have a good time.
Often they will get into some sort of trouble, not through maliciousness, but simply by virtue of being young. This is where the show’s greatest strength comes into play. Instead of talking down to its audience the series is relatable. With a large cast there are enough opinions and situations to go around without it being tiresome. Some of the topics covered in the series can be found in episode titles – “Lying”, “Teenage Mom”, “Junk Food” or “The Bully” – and in the end the kids grow a little. This was some heavy stuff for Saturday morning fare 40 years ago, and it’s still relevant today.
The title would change over the years, and towards the later years segments would get added, but always the main focus would be on the group of kids and their adventures. Regardless of what title the show had (always some variant that used Fat Albert) the writing stayed consistent. I sampled several of the episodes from throughout the 110 total available and found that it all holds up today.
Shout Factory has released the complete series on DVD in a massive tome. This 15 disc set isn’t quite The Complete Series as it is billed. I can’t find the Christmas Special and a bit of research (alright, a trip to wikipedia) tells me there were actually four specials, a prime-time special that aired a couple of years before the series, and three holiday specials, Halloween, Easter and Christmas. I wonder if the rights to those are separate and that’s why they aren’t included. What we have, however, is the complete collection of episodes as they appeared on Saturday mornings between 1972 and 1985.
I simply can’t recommend this show enough. I will be forcing my kids to sit and watch it, one or two episodes at a time. This is quality storytelling, and the fact that the color of the characters skin is mostly secondary (except when dealing specifically with racial issues) makes Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids that much better.
One special feature is present, a retrospective featurette that runs 40 minutes. It glosses over the initial development of the show (including no mention of the original prime-time special) but does have plenty of great insight. There’s mention of where the signature “Hey, hey, hey!” line comes from, the inspiration for Mushmouth’s speech patterns, and more. Of course there’s plenty of participation by Bill Cosby, but there’s writers and other crew members as well as the educational advisor Gordon Berry.
Fans of Saturday mornings, and what they used to be, should pick this up. Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids was one of the most unique and special programs for kids ever created and it shows its age, but still works on so many levels.