THE ALVIN SHOW From the early 1960's,was one of the first animated television series to feature the singing characters,"The Chipmunks"(who won the Grammy in 1958 for Best Original Recording of "The Chipmunk Song" on Liberty Records)originally lasted one season in prime time when it originally was broadcast on CBS-TV from October 4,1961-September 12,1962 has become something of a cult favorite over the years. The original rode the momentum of creator Ross Bagdasarian's original hit musical gimmick and developed the singing Chipmunk trio as rambunctious kids---particularly the namesake brat and harmonica-playing star of the show himself,whose mischief contrasted to(and usually exasperated)his tall brainy brother Simon,and his chubby,gluttonous brother Theodore,to say nothing of their long-suffering,perpetually put-upon manager-father figure,Dave Seville(all voices done by the show's creator and executive producer Ross Bagdasarian himself)with the featured segment of Clyde Crashcup(voiced by Shepard Menken).
An almost accidental parody of the family situation comedy(which was modeled after the huge success of My Three Sons),the Alvin cartoons are not masterpieces of animation sophistication-but as an underrated satire of uncontrollable comedy--THE ALVIN SHOW stood up surprisingly well nearly after four decades after failing to find a prime time niche. When it premiered in October of 1961,the show was up against NBC's formidable hit western Wagon Train and ABC's variety series The Steve Allen Show and it was followed by repeated episodes of Robert Young's Father Knows Best. But the real culprit may have been the production delays that really kept the show from even going into another season. The idea was to keep Alvin and company from reaching the air long enough to allow an obvious imitation,The Nutty Squirrels to beat The Chipmunks to television by a full year. Since Bagdasarian's musical success had been happening upon a clever gimmick and getting it up and forward first,that delay(caused mostly by disagreements among Format Films and Bagdasarian Film Corporation on acceptable character designs)probably helped doom The Alvin Show before even the first installments went on the air. Its even amazing the show survived a full season in prime time,producing 26 episodes. One of a small number of animated series to be shown in prime time on CBS,The Alvin Show was originally filmed and produced in color,but the network originally broadcast all 26 episodes in black and white,even though the show made the switch to Saturday Mornings the following season where CBS would repeat the episodes in color which lasted until 1965. However,CBS did not switch to full across the board color television until 1964,where a majority of its animated shows and live-action specials would be shown in color. General Foods was the show's main sponsor as well as Post Cereals.
After CBS cancelled the show in 1965,NBC picked up the original Alvin Show cartoons and re-ran them on Saturday Mornings for one season from 1979-1980. 26 episodes were for the Alvin and the Chipmunks segments along with 52 musical segments. Bit of trivia: The Chipmunks' names were taken from three Liberty Records executives,where David Seville and the Chipmunks made most of the recordings with Liberty Records. Alvin was named for label president Alvin Bennett. Simon for label vice-president and record producer Simon Waronker. Theodore for recording engineering Theodore Keep.
