Saturday Morning Cartoons - Archie's Funhouse (1970)

I must have been really desperate to watch this show!

Archie's Funhouse (in 1970) was on Channel 15 (CBS) at 11 a.m. Now in all honesty, this wasn't something I watched regularly. By this time, I was usually outside, playing with my friends. On rainy Saturdays or Saturdays when I was sick and stuck inside, this is one of the shows I would turn to.


From my favorite wikipedia:

Archie's Funhouse (1970) (expanded version of the previous season's "Funhouse" format, now featuring an audience of live-action kids and the "Giant Jukebox" a music-heavy incarnation of the series, originally padded to one hour with repeats of The Archie Show segments)

From a fan:

Archie's Funhouse featuring the Giant Jukebox was the third version of Archie to appear on CBS. Blending seamlessly animation with live-action, Archie was the host of the hour long show filmed with a live children's audience. The audience children were often shown reacting to the jokes and gags.

According to Animation by Filmation authors Darryl Swannigan and McNeil, the skits were modeled on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, and Filmation even hired Laugh-In writers for the segments.

There were mini segements such as Big Ethel's How to Catch a Man, Thunderbolt Theatre, The Giant Jukebox, Betty's Diary, and Sideshow.

Here's what I remember.

* I was in awe! How could I be a kid in the audience?! They looked like they were having SO MUCH fun!

* How could they see the cartoon archies? Oooooh...it must be magic!

* That Betty - she is SOOOOOO stupid...(used this against my sister - who was blonde - all of the time).

Looking back now...

* All sorts of "groups" would be all over this show for its reinforcement of stereotypes (dumb blonde, stupid jock, unattractive nerd).

* This is the first time I remember seeing a bunch of characters de-aged into the child versions of themselves. I wonder if they were the originals for this concept?

* It was a pretty fast-paced, mish-mash of segments which undoubtedly, contributed to much ADHD in this country ;).

* It must have held my attention because of all of the music. I was certainly too young to get many of the jokes.