TV Shows – Page 29 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Super Friends

This was a must on Saturday morning. I wouldn’t find out till later but…Ted Knight did some of the dialogue such as “Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice…” I think the first year (16 episodes) was the best. Altogether the show was on and off during its 13-year run and they ended up with 109 episodes.

Super Friends was produced by Hanna-Barbera in 1973. The show brought all the DC superheroes together and it told their stories. The first season was comprised of only 16 episodes, which were re-run through August 1974. The show was then canceled. Presumably from less than anticipated ratings.

The success of the Wonder Woman TV show in 1975, and probably the early development interest in the Superman movie led ABC to reconsider Super Friends. The original 16 episodes were re-run beginning in early 1976, while production began on a new series. To help promote the new series, DC also began publishing a Super Friends comic. While the stories there were independent of the show, they followed much the same style of the original series.

Beginning in mid-1977, E. Nelson Bridwell, writer of the Super Friends comic, learned of some of the cast changes (notably, the replacement of Wendy and Marvin with Zan and Jayna) after working on the book for several months and wrote the change into his stories, so by the time the new season of the show began in September 1977, the comic had already made the transition to the new characters.

The comic only survived until mid-1981, while the show continued into 1982. However, the show was only re-runs for the 1982-83 season and was canceled outright in the fall of ’83. The show was brought back again in 1984 and ran until September 1986.

The below link will give much more history to the show.

http://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2016/12/on-history-super-friends.html

Classic TV Episodes: Taxi – Reverend Jim: A Space Odyssey

One of the funniest scenes in any sitcom is when Reverend Jim is taking his driver’s test. Taxi is smartly written and they use the ensemble much like The Mary Tyler Moore Show did. Reverend Jim played by Christopher Lloyd is my favorite character and one of my favorite characters of all time.

“Have you ever experienced loss of consciousness, hallucinations, dizzy spells, convulsive disorders, fainting, or periods of loss of memory?” “Hasn’t Everyone?”

“Psst. What does a yellow light mean?”

“Slow Down”

“OK. Wwwwhhhaaaat dooeesss aaaa yyyeeeellllowwww lllliiiight mmmmeeeannn?” “SLOW DOWN”

TAXI – Reverend Jim: A Space Odyssey

This is my favorite Taxi episode of all time. Jim is a child of the drug culture of the sixties and still feeling the effects. Taking something as simple as a drivers test and turning it into this, Characters: Alex Reiger, Elaine DeNardo, Latka Gravas, Louie De Palmer, Bobby Wheeler, Tony Banta, Reverend Jim Ignatowski, Tommy Jeffries, Jeff Bennett,

The cab drivers are hanging out at Mario’s when Christopher Lloyd as Reverend Jim Ignatowski wanders in. They recognize him but he doesn’t recognize them, even though they remind him he performed a wedding for Latka 8 months earlier. But when Latka started talking to him in his gibberish language, Jim remembered.

The cabbies want to get Jim to have a job, make something of himself, but what can he do with no skills and no education? Drive a cab. At first Louie will not hear of it, until Rev Jim slips a tranquilizer into Louie’s coffee. Louie becomes mellow, starts singing show tunes in the garage, and gladly accepts Jim.

The big hurdle, of course, was to have Jim pass the driver’s test. They go down to the DPS office with him, help him fill out forms, his name, his weight, height, and color of eyes. Finally Bobby says, “OK, Jim, now you are ready to take the test.” “What?”, says Jim, “I thought that was the test.”

He then takes the test and the below is what transpires…You can see Tony Danza and Marilu Henner trying unsuccessfully not to laugh.

The complete driving test scene

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0718525/

Classic TV Episodes: Green Acres – Square Is Not Round

One of the most surreal shows ever on television. This one was different from most shows at the time or now. This episode is the one I think of the most. Chickens laying square eggs and toasters operating when you say… “Five” and the newer models operating when you say… “eight”

Probably the most outrageous episode of Green Acres. And that is saying something.

“Well, you know the old saying: you can lead a horse over the water, but you can’t make him think.”

Well, it should’t be too hard to find out, all we gotta do is look for a square chicken

GREEN ACRES – Square Is Not Round

This episode is the one I think of the most. Chickens laying square eggs and toasters operating when you say… “Five” and the newer models operating when you say… “eight” The Characters: Oliver and Lisa Douglas, Mr. Haney, Mr. Kimball, Eb Dawson, Fred Ziffel, Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley, Mr. Moody, and Arnold.

Oliver discovers that one of his chickens is laying square eggs, but he can’t find out which one it is. In addition, he finds out that he has a toaster that only works when you say the word “five”. When he mentions this to the boys at Drucker’s, they sympathize with him for having an old model–they have new models that only work when you say “eight”.

Mr. Kimball tells him about a man that would buy the chickens because square eggs would revolutionize shipping them. Mr. Haney comes by and wants to buy his “defective” chickens back but Oliver won’t budge. Mr. Moody comes and buys the chickens but they don’t lay any square eggs for him so he gives them back after stopping payment on the check he gave Oliver.

There is something else in the end but you need to watch it.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0592667/

Classic TV Episodes: The Andy Griffith Show – The Pickle Story

Some shows are easy to pick a classic episode…this one not so much. There are so many to pick from but personally, I really like this one. It was reported that The Pickle Story was Don Knott’s favorite of the series. Aunt Bee was a fantastic cook but don’t ask her to make pickles or marmalade. Andy, Barney, and Opie pays when she does…

“You mean you actually WANT her to make another batch of them kerosene cucumbers?”
” I gotta tell ya, my heart ain’t in this… Well, it’s not so much your heart we need, it’s your stomach”
“I don’t know how I can face the future when I know there’s eight quarts of these pickles in it.“

The ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW – The Pickle Story

This show’s writing was top notch. There are a lot of shows that are memorable with The Andy Griffith Show. The Characters are Aunt Bee, Barney Fife, Opie Taylor, Andy Taylor, Clara Johnson, Motorist from Oregon, County Fair Judge

Clara drops by the Taylor house so Bee can sample some of the pickles she’s been working on for the county fair, which are delicious – they’ve won the blue ribbon 11 years in a row. Bee lets her sample some of the pickles that she’s been putting up for the family, which are terrible – the bane of her family’s meals for years. Aghast at the horrible concoction, Clara launches into a long list of polite suggestions that might help to make them better, but Bee waves them off. No less flabbergasted by her “kerosene cucumbers” are Andy and Barney who, unlike Clara, don’t know how to tell her that they’re awful. As a survival tactic, Andy and Barney plot to make her pickles edible by placing store-bought pickles in Aunt Bee’s jars while placing her pickles in store jars with Barney handing them out as gifts to passing motorists heading far away.

The plot works, but then Bee announces her decision to enter her pickles at the fair. Andy and Barney consider letting the matter slide, but when Clara drops by the courthouse to let Andy sample her pickles and pours her heart out about how much winning the contest at the fair means to her, Andy feels bad and suggests to Barney that they reverse their plan by eating all the store pickles so that Aunt Bee will have to make more. They do, she does, and once again they’re terrible – only this time it’ll be according to the judges at the fair. The winner is Clara for the 12th year in a row. Unfazed, Aunt Bee announces to Andy and Barney that, due to their recent appetite for her pickles, she’s made 16 jars for them to enjoy. Along with that terrible news, they also discover she’s started making heinous marmalade.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0512602/

Classic TV Episodes: WKRP In Cincinnati – Turkeys Away

Some tv episodes are classic and will live on. When you tell someone you like a certain show, there is always that certain episode that many people will bring up that represents that show. I’ll go through a few random shows in the next few weeks and pick the one that I remember the most. They will be in no particular order.

” Those can’t be skydivers. I can’t tell just yet what they are but… Oh my God! They’re turkeys! Oh no! Johnny can you get this?”

” The Pinedale Shopping Mall has just been bombed with live turkeys. Film at eleven”

“I really don’t know how to describe it. It was like the turkeys mounted a counter-attack. It was almost as if they were… organized!”

“As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly”

WKRP IN CINCINNATI – Turkeys Away

When I talk to people about this show. This episode always comes to mind. The Characters are Bailey Quarters, Les Nessman, Mr. Carlson, Venus Flytrap, Dr. Johnny Fever, Herb Tarlek, Jennifer Marlowe and Andy Travis

Les’s play by play of the promotion is great. The complete episode is great but when Mr. Carlson says the closing line it turns into a classic episode.

It starts off with the big guy Mr. Carlson trying to act busy driving everyone crazy trying to be useful and probing the office to see what everyone was up to. He decided he would plan a promotion. He told the salesman Herb to get 20 turkeys ready for a Thanksgiving radio promotion.

Les is at the shopping center and Mr Carlson and Herb are up in a helicopter. He then notices a dark object being dropped from the helicopter, then a second one. Believing them to be skydivers, his tone becomes increasingly cautious when he sees no parachutes are opening. After a few more moments he realizes in horror that the objects are live turkeys. Continuing his broadcast (which bears a strong resemblance to the Hindenberg disaster) he says that the turkeys are hitting the ground and that the crowd has begun running away in panic. One turkey hits a parked car. Les continues, saying the turkeys are hitting the ground like “sacks of wet cement”. He tries to retreat to the store behind him but realizes he can’t after annoying the owner.

At the studio, the gang are listening, horrified themselves, when the broadcast is suddenly cut off. Johnny calmly tries to re-establish contact with Les, but hears only silence. Johnny thanks Les, telling his listeners that the shopping mall was just “bombed by live turkeys” and ends the broadcast.

At the end, Mr. Carlson says the phrase that elevates the episode to a classic. “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly”

The play by play by Les.

As God As My Witness, I Thought Turkeys Could Fly

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0742671/plotsummary?ref_=tt_stry_pl

Classic TV Episodes: Mary Tyler Moore Show – Chuckles Bites the Dust

Some sitcom episodes are classic and will live on. When you tell someone you like a certain show, there is always that certain episode that many people will bring up that represents that show. I’ll go through a few random shows in the next few weeks and pick the one that I remember the most. These will be in no particular order. I want to thank nostalgicitalian
for giving me the idea for this.

“A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants”
“We all fall down and hurt our foo foo.”
“Chuckles the Clown is dead. It was a freak accident. He went to the parade dressed as Peter Peanut, and a rogue elephant tried to shell him.”

MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW – Chuckles Bites the Dust

This show’s writing was top notch. There are a lot of shows that are memorable with The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The Characters are Mary Richards, Ted Baxter, Lou Grant, Murray Slaughter, Georgette Baxter, Sue Ann Nivens, and Reverend Burns

Ted Baxter is mad at Lou Grant because he won’t let Ted be the Grand Marshall at a circus parade in town. Ted gets more upset when he finds out that Chuckles the Clown, who works at the station gets to be the grand marshall. However, a freak accident at the parade – a rogue elephant believing that Chuckles, who was dressed as a peanut, was the real thing – killed Chuckles. Mary is appalled that everyone in the newsroom seems to be treating the nature of Chuckles’ death as a bizarre yet funny joke instead of respecting the sad fact that someone died, period. By the time the funeral arrives, everyone seems to take Mary’s words and thoughts to heart… with one exception, Mary cannot stop laughing at the funeral and everyone else just stares at Mary who tries so hard to hold the laughter in.

At the end when the Reverend notices Mary trying to hold in the laughter…tells her that Chuckles would love laughter at his funeral and to just laugh at loud. At that time Mary then starts crying.

Full Episode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-s-EuhJofY

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0642807/

Lidsville

The show is just plain bizarre…for me, it is the strangest show Sid and Marty Krofft produced….and besides Land of the Lost, it’s my favorite Sid and Marty Krofft show. The show premiered on September 11, 1971.

It has been rumored that the Sid and Marty Krofft were inspired by hallucination drugs such as LSD. The brothers have always denied this claim. The title “Lid” is an old slang term for a hat, but by the 1970s the word “Lid” had taken on an entirely new meaning, namely as slang for an eighth of an ounce of pot. Whether they were or not…the shows they produced were NOT boring…they were very colorful and entertaining.

The show was conceived by Sid Krofft, who had a huge hat collection. He thought one day…what if all of the hats had different personalities? Sid was also influenced by Lewis Carroll and it is obvious.

The plot is: A boy (Mark), the original Eddie Munster, Butch Patrick falls down a large top hat at an amusement park and ends up in a land of Hats…there was also a genie named Weenie (Billy Hayes)…who played Witchiepoo in HR Pufnstuf. The bad guy was Charles Nelson Reilly the magician and he would go around zapping people. The seventeen episodes they made revolved around Mark’s attempts to return to the real world as Hoo Doo made life miserable for him and the good hat people.

It has a similar plotline as the more famous HR Pufnstuf…I remember the reruns through the seventies and I always hoped Mark would get out of Lidsville and back home…of course not knowing they made only 17 episodes…kinda like wanting Gilligan to get off that island.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh7jYEN7Na0

Yogi Bear

Yogi Bear – “I’m smarter than the average bear”,

I always liked Yogi Bear and would watch it when I got a chance…if only for the way he said pic-a-nic baskets.

Yogi first started out as a sidekick in a Hanna-Barbera show called The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958. He was the first Hanna-Barbera character to break out.

In 1961 he was given his own show called The Yogi Bear Show. His show included other segments like Yakky Doodle and Snagglepuss. The show also featured episodes with Yogi Bear breaking away from the unadventurous life of other bears in Yellowstone Park.

The plot was basically Yogi raiding picnic baskets, dodging hibernation, being chased by Ranger Smith, and making money together with his more honest sidekick Boo-Boo Bear. The show also featured episodes of Ranger Smith trying to tame Yogi and Boo-Boo Bear.

Around this time the great baseball player Yogi Berra sued Hanna-Barbera for defamation. But Hanna-Barbera claimed that the similarity of the names was just purely coincidental. Eventually, Yogi Berra withdrew his suit. When Yogi Berra died the AP’s wire service mistakenly announced the death of Yogi Bear instead…that is sad.

Yogi starred in a feature film, Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear, in 1964.

Yogi’s personality was based on Art Carney’s character from The Honeymooners.

The Yogi Bear Show lasted only 2 season but other shows featuring Yogi continued on. Yogi Bear and Friends, Yogi’s Gang, Yogi’s Space Race, Galaxy Goof-Ups, Yogi’s Treasure Hunt, The New Yogi Bear Show, and Yo Yogi! Yogi was on the air from 1958 to the 1990s.

Daws Butler originated the voice of Yogi and did it from 1958 to 1988 when he passed away. He was replaced by Greg Burson who was personally taught by Butler on how to do Yogi’s voice and other characters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FBNC9er91Y

Petticoat Junction

I would watch Petticoat Junction at my grandmother’s and loved seeing Kate Bradley’s three daughters Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo…

The show was created by Paul Henning who also created The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres. All three shows were in the same universe so to speak. They all crossed over into each other’s shows. Petticoat Junction took place in Hooterville, the same location as Green Acres. The show ran 7 seasons from 1963 to 1970.

The series takes place at the Shady Rest Hotel, which is run by Kate Bradley (Bea Benaderet) and the three daughters. The Hotel is usually empty and barely staying open. The only way to the Hotel is the train called the Cannonball ran by engineer Charley Pratt (Smiley Burnette) and fireman/railway conductor Floyd Smoot (Rufe Davis). Uncle Joe played by the great character actor Edgar Buchanan was more a hindrance than a help. Joe would come up with get rich quick schemes that would cost the Kate money and time.

They did have a dog…name “The Dog” played by Higgins…better known as the original Benji. Sam Drucker played by Frank Cady was a cast member in this show and in Green Acres. Out of the three shows, this one was probably the weakest but I still enjoyed it…and I still watch it.

The show lasted 7 seasons. Bea Benaderet died of lung cancer on October 13, 1968, during the 6th season. Her position in the show…but, not her character was replaced by June Lockhart as the matriarch of the Hotel. She played Dr. Janet Craig, a medical professional who rents a room at the Shady Rest Hotel…and gives the three sisters advice.

The ever-changing sisters…

The first two seasons the sisters were played by – Billy Jo – Jeannine Riley, Bobbie Jo – Pat Woodell, and Betty Jo – Linda Kaye Henning

In the third season, Jeannine Riley and Pat Woodell left the show. They were replaced with Gunilla Hutton and Lori Saunders (my favorite)… and of course, Higgins played “The Dog”

In the 4th season, Gunilla Hutton left the show and was replaced with Meredith MacRae. This would remain the lineup until the end.

Petticoat Junction was a good family show with laughs. Who wouldn’t want to stay at the Shady Rest Hotel and travel to Hooterville and Pixley on the Cannonball? Seeing Betty Jo, Billy Jo, and Bobbie Jo would not be a chore either.

Scooby Doo Where Are You!

On Saturday morning, September 13, 1969, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! premiered. This is probably one of the most popular cartoons ever that even spawned a few live-action movies and tons of merchandise. The show went through many stages before it was ready for the public.

In 1968 Fred Silverman envisioned the show as a cross between the popular I Love a Mystery radio serials of the 1940s and the popular early 1960s TV show The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, and artist/character designer Iwao Takamoto worked on Silverman’s idea. Their original concept of the show had the title Mysteries Five, and featured five teens (Geoff, Mike, Kelly, Linda, and Linda’s brother “W.W.”) and their dog, Too Much, who were all in a band called “The Mysteries Five” (even the dog; he played the bongos). When “The Mysteries Five” weren’t performing at gigs, they were out solving spooky mysteries involving ghosts, zombies, and other supernatural creatures. Ruby and Spears then had to decide what to make their dog. The dog was going to be a sheepdog but that would conflict with the Archies (who had a sheepdog, Hot Dog, in their band) but then settled on a Great Dane.

The executives felt that the presentation artwork was too frightening for young viewers, and, thought the show would be the same, decided to pass on it.

Ruby and Spears reworked the show to make it more comedic and less frightening. They dropped the rock band element and began to focus more attention on Shaggy and Too Much. According to Ruby and Spears, Silverman was inspired by the ad-lib “doo-be-doo-be-doo” he heard at the end of Frank Sinatra’s interpretation of Bert Kaempfert’s song “Strangers in the Night” on the way out to one of their meetings, and decided to rename the dog “Scooby-Doo” and re-rechristened the show Scooby-Doo, Where are You?… The rest as they say…is history!

Matthew Sweet did a version of the theme that I really like

The original theme song

http://scoobyaddicts.com/History.aspx

WKRP in Cincinnatti

A few weeks ago I posted about Jan Smithers…who portrayed Bailey Quarters on WKRP. it was one of the shows from the late 70s that I wouldn’t miss.

This show was not like the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Bob Newhart, or All In The Family. Those are great shows…some of the best ever sitcoms…but they were aimed more at adults while this one I always felt was largely aimed at teenagers. The show aired from 1978 to 1982. Rock and Roll on a sitcom was not common.

WKRP in Cincinnati” was produced by MTM – the studio Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker built that produces shows such as The Bob Newhart Show, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Phyllis, The White Shadow, Rhoda, and many others.

The episode I remember the most having an effect on me was about the horrible event in 1979 when eleven people were killed at a Who concert in Cincinnati’s Riverfront Park. The show handled the tragic situation very well.

The plot…to make it short was about a Program Director (Andy Travis) who had a perfect record in turning bad radio stations around joins the staff at WKRP. The station is in the bottom of the ratings and he wants to change the format to Rock which is met with trepidation from the oddball staff.

The show would feature new rock music as well as old. Blondie gave the show one of their gold records in appreciation because the show played “Heart of Glass” and helped to make it number 1.

The extended theme song by Steve Carlisle Wkrp In Cincinnati peaked at #65 on the Billboard 100 in 1979…video at the bottom

The Cast

Bailey Quarters – Jan Smithers – A shy soft-spoken lady in charge of billing and station traffic soon worked herself up to an on-air personality and other duties. She and Jennifer on the show were a bit like Mary Ann and Ginger on Gilligans Island.

Andy Travis – Gary Sandy –Andy comes to the station as the new Program Director to turn the station around and finds the station’s employees…are like from the Island of Misfit Toys. He finds their strengths and tries to make it work. His character was based on real-life Program Director Mikel Herrington.

Dr. Johnny Fever – Howard Hesseman – Fun Fact…David Cassidy was offered this role but turned it down!

Johnny had been around for a while and was fired off a Los Angeles radio station for saying booger on air. He was probably my favorite character…next to Bailey…on the show when I first watched. Dr. Johnny Fever was based on real DJ “Skinny” Bobby Harper.

Venus Flytrap – Tim Reid – Venus was the night DJ and was one of the smoothest DJ’s ever…Venus wears 70’s type flashy clothes and in the series eventually becomes Assistant Program Director.

Herb Tarlek – Frank Bonner – Herb was a salesman and dressed very tacky and loud. He hits on Jennifer at every opportunity, despite being married… but gets turned down constantly.

Jennifer Marlowe – Loni Anderson – She was Ginger to Bailey’s Mary Ann. Mr. Carlson’s receptionist…she was the highest-paid employee at the station even though refusing to do most things that receptionists are required to do.

Arthur Carlson – Gordon Jump – The lovable but ineffective station manager who is the son of the station’s owner. He never wanted to know what was going on…, but when he tries to be hands-on…it leads to disastrous results (see Turkey’s Away episode)

Les Nessman – Richard Sanders – The incompetent News Director…Les was obsessed with the region’s hog farming industry…constantly mispronounced names… ignored obvious news stories for Hog Reports…but he would win the Silver Sow Award and The Buckeye Newshawk Award.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/WKRPInCincinnati

Valerie Harper 1939-2019

Another part of childhood is gone today. Valerie Harper passed away at 80. I always loved the show Rhoda and nothing screamed the seventies like that show did. Rhoda was a strong female lead character and Valerie Harper played her wonderfully.

Before the hype of the Dallas’s Who Shot Jr episode that aired in1974, was the Rhoda getting married 2 part episode. Many people tuned in…That episode was the highest-rated television episode of the 1970s until Roots came along in 1977. More than 53 million Americans tuned in to watch.

An article about Valerie…

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/a-generation-valerie-harper-s-rhoda-defined-imaginative-boho-style-1235876

Speed Racer 1967

“Here he comes, here he comes; Speed Racer. He’s a demon on wheels…” that will always stick with me.

I first saw this in the 70s at some point and it was different. I had said that Jonny Quest was different and it was but this one…was completely different than anything I had seen. It was my first viewing of Japanese Anime. Speed Racer was one of the first Japanese anime cartoons to make it stateside back in the 1960s. The show originally called Mach Go Go Go reached millions of kids around the world while in syndication. My first thought while watching it while I was older…this was NOT Hanna-Barbera.

I discovered Speed Racer and Jonny Quest at the same time. I would watch it at my cousin’s house and was blown away by the different animation.

Speed Racer (Go Mifune) is the young driver of the Mach 5, an incredible supercar designed by his father “Pops” Racer (Daisuke Mifune). Speed would race dangerous routes against dangerous people and come out on top with his “girlfriend” Trixie (Michi Shimura) trailing him in a helicopter and his little brother Spritle (Kurio) and his pet chimp Chim-Chim (Sanpei) frequently stowing away in the trunk.

Through the years there have been remakes of the show in the 90s and a movie in 2008 which was not received well. It was a groundbreaking show in the US and opened the door for Japanese Anime afterward.

I still catch the show when I can.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Anime/SpeedRacer

Anissa Jones (Buffy)

Anissa was on the popular family comedy called Family Affair. Everyone knew her as Buffy and her TV brother (Johnny Whitaker) as Jody. I watched the show in the early seventies. I watched in syndication and I grew up with Buffy and Jody. It seemed unreal in 1976 when I heard on the news that Anissa Jones had died at the age of 18.

At eight years old, Anissa was cast as Buffy on Family Affair, which aired from 1966 until 1971. Just a year before she started on Family Affair, her parents had gone through a terrible divorce with a long and bitter custody battle for her and her little brother. Sadly, her father died shortly after he was awarded custody in 1973.

She did appear in an Elvis movie “The Trouble With Girls” in 1969. Family Affair was the last thing she did besides a Dick Cavett appearance.

She was known to be a caring person as a kid up until she died. Earl Graham was the janitor on the set of the show Family Affair. When he passed away during the third year of the show, the cast and crew attended his funeral. By the following Monday, everyone was ready to get back to work. To Anissa, it seemed like everyone was acting like Earl had never existed at all. Anissa went to her mother and asked if she could take an ad out in Variety saying goodbye to her good friend. The ad cost Anissa $400.00. Anissa’s Mom said that was one of her proudest moments as a mother.

She was up for the Regan MacNeil part in The Exorcist but the director was fearful that people would think “Buffy” had been possessed. Her friends and family said she was relieved when she was turned down because she wanted to be with her friends in school. She was also invited to try out for “Easy” Steensma in Taxi Driver but turned it down. She was very intelligent but fell into the wrong crowd.

In 1975 she started to skip school and take drugs and ended up in a juvenile hall for a bit. She eventually dropped out of high school working at restaurants until she was 18 in 1976 and she gained control of 180,000 dollars she got from Family Affair. She fell into the drug culture.

On August 28, 1976, Anissa died of a drug overdose. It was ruled an accidental with cocaine, PCP, Seconal, and Quaaludes found in her system. She was at a party with friends. The coroner would call it one of the most massive overdoses he’d ever seen.

Jonny Quest

Jonny Quest was different than many cartoons I watched…the artwork and stories were above the normal ones at the time.

Jonny Quest the series was about the globe-trotting adventures of an eleven-year-old boy (Jonny), his scientist father (Dr. Benton Quest), his adopted brother Hadji (from Calcutta, India), his government bodyguard (Race Bannon) and his bulldog (Bandit). A young future Animal House actor Tim Matheson voiced Jonny Quest.

When I was a kid I loved Jonny’s father Dr. Benton Quest’s hands-off approach in raising Jonny and Hadji. They would be scuba diving with sharks and off in the jungle with their dog Bandit without any parent around…The character Race would help them out and protect them when needed. It was exciting to see kids have the freedom to explore new places.

The series that premiered on September 18th, 1964 that is one of the most celebrated and influential animated series to come from Hanna-Barbera. The series premiered on September 18th, 1964 and is one of the best and most influential animated series to come from Hanna-Barbera. Jonny Quest only ran for one season with 26 episodes but the influence of that series is still being felt and it spawned a comic book, a remake in the 1980s, 1990s, and a couple of tv movies.

Doug Wildey was the artist and the show was going to be based on an old radio show called Jack Armstrong but Hanna-Barbera thought the rights were too expensive so they just made their own show. Wildey drew some influence from the James Bond movie Doctor No.

The artwork and the stories made Jonny Quest special.