There could be many an argument made for when the “Golden Age” of Saturday Morning television took place. So much of this is subjectively filtered through a lens of nostalgia. But, when it comes to making that argument, the decade of the 70s could definitely be a contender for the mantle of one of the “Golden Ages.”

During this decade, Saturday mornings had become a vital part of network programming, and some of the most memorable and offbeat shows debuted.

Part two of this three-part article travels back in time fifty years, when Jaws ruled the box office and our pop culture conscience that summer, and Welcome Back, Kotter was just about to debut, to remember those new animated series that premiered on networks during the fall of 1975.

ABC

The fall of ’75 saw the debut of Hong Kong Phooey, with Scatman Crothers as the voice of the title character, an anthropomorphic dog named Penry, a mild-mannered janitor whose secret identity is the title, crime-fighting character. A unique, original show, Hong Kong Phooey has become one of Hanna-Barbera’s most iconic series.

Hanna-Barbera also returned to their animated roots with the characters that started their career, Tom and Jerry. The studio produced new, animated cartoons of the cat and mouse, and paired them with one of their most offbeat creations in The New Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape Show. The latter portion of the series focused on the exploits of a child-like, giant purple gorilla (voiced by Bob Holt) and his sidekick, a dog named Beagle Beagle (Marty Ingels).

Animated versions of prime-time shows were a trend in 1975, and one of ABC’s most popular sitcoms of the time was The Odd Couple (which had just ended its run). Fifty years ago, this fall, DePatie-Freleng adapted the show as The Oddball Couple for Saturday mornings. Instead of neat-freak photographer Felix and sloppy sportswriter Oscar, the animated series featured a cat named Spiffy (Frank Nelson) and a dog named Fleabag (Paul Winchell).

Also on ABC, Filmation Studio would provide a twist to the Saturday morning “formula,” with Uncle Croc’s Block. Meta, before meta was a thing, this live-action/animated series was a sitcom-like look behind the scenes of the titular kids’ show. The host, Uncle Croc, played by Charles Nelson Reilly, who bitterly hated his job, made life miserable for his conceited director, Basil Bitterbottom (Jonathan Harris).

In addition to providing parodies of almost everything at the time, from Evil Knievel to The Six Million Dollar Man, Uncle Croc’s Block also featured new cartoon shorts: M*U*S*H, a parody of M*A*S*H, starring canines at an arctic medical outpost, Fraidy Cat, about a cat who has used up eight of his nine lives and Wacky and Packy, about a caveman and a wooly mammoth who are transported from prehistoric to contemporary times.

Uncle Croc’s Block didn’t fare well with either critics or audiences, and due to its poor performance, ABC didn’t order any additional shows from Filmation.

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CBS

In the fall of 1975, CBS had a number of returning animated shows like Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm and the ever-present Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show, but their new debuts this fall were all live-action series.

There was Far Out Space Nuts from Sid and Marty Krofft, which starred Bob Denver and Chuck McCann as two NASA maintenance workers who accidentally blast off in a rocket.

Filmation gave us the live action The Shazam/Isis Hour, the adventures of the former, based on the DC Comic, played by Michael Gray as Billy Batson, and Jackson Bostwick (John Davey in later episodes) as Captain Marvel, and the latter, an ancient Egyptian superhero, played by Joanna Cameron.

Also on CBS was The Ghost Busters, a comedy about a team of bungling paranormal investigators, played by Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker (reuniting from their F-Troop sitcom), who are accompanied by a gorilla named Tracy (Bob Burns).

The live-action series would only last until December 1975 but gained some attention in 1984 when the blockbuster film Ghostbusters was released, and Columbia Pictures agreed to license the title from Filmation.

In 1986, when DiC Animation produced a Ghostbusters animated series based on the movie, Filmation countered with their own animated revival of the live-action Ghost Busters, and DiC retitled their show The Real Ghostbusters.

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NBC

Over on NBC, two new animated series debuted.

The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty, from Filmation, took its inspiration from James Thurber’s short story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Each episode would begin with live-action footage of a cat (voiced by Howard Morris) whose daydreams about superhero-like adventures would transition the show to animation.

There was also Return to the Planet of the Apes, based on the popular and iconic film series. Produced by DePatie-Freleng, the show has become a favorite of fans of the franchise, not just for its stylish, comic-book-like animation (artist Doug Wildey, who created Hanna-Barbera’s Jonny Quest, contributed to the series), but also for depicting a technologically advanced ape world that had never been seen in the films or TV series.

And so, as “Love Will Keep Us Together,” by Captain & Tennille plays on the transistor radio, we leave 1975 and travel back ten years to look at Saturday Mornings in 1965 next week!