Discussions

The Cosby Kids and Fat Albert Comedian Bill Cosby conceived, produced, and presented the animated series. He also provided the voices of several characters, notably Fat Albert. The series was produced by Filmation. The program operated from September 9, 1972, to 1985. Based on Bill Cosby's memories of his childhood gang, the sitcom centered on the endearing, plump Albert and his cronies, complete with his trademark rumbling "Hey hey hey!" shout.

The third and longest-running positive Black cast Saturday morning cartoon series was Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. On September 9, 2012, the Fat Albert cartoon will celebrate its 40th anniversary.

On November 12, 1969, Fat Albert made his debut on NBC in the Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert animated special. The first positive, all-Black cast animation to air on television was this special. Herbie Hancock, a jazz pianist and keyboardist, composed and performed the music for this special, which was included on the album Fat Albert Rotunda.

Black teens, a demographic that Saturday morning television had historically disregarded, were the main audience for Fat Albert. Nonetheless, children of all races in the US were impacted by the program. Cosby's live-action cameos highlighted the show's educational message, and the group would always get together in their North Philadelphia junkyard to perform a rock song on their improvised instruments.

Fat Albert made his debut in Cosby's stand-up comedy routine "Buck Buck," which was captured on his 1967 album Revenge. Cosby's accounts of his upbringing in North Philadelphia's inner city served as the basis for the anecdotes.

In a one-shot prime-time special titled Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert, Cosby and seasoned animator Ken Mundie introduced Fat Albert to animation in 1969.

Live-action and animation were combined in this NBC spectacular. Each Fat Albert Gang character's :https://theblogofkatie.com/fat-albert-cartoon-character-know-about-the-junkyard-gang/ real appearance has to be developed for the animated part of the special. Ken Mundie used animator Amby Paliwoda, a former Disney artist, for this. In addition to creating all of the Gang's characters, Paliwoda painted a "group portrait," which was later featured on TV Guide magazine's front page just prior to the special's premiere and greatly increased its viewership.