This is one of the iconic Saturday morning cartoons of the 70's. Based on Bill Cosby's stand-up routines about characters in his old neighborhood, the show featured a group of inner city African-American kids hanging out, singing a song, and learning a thing or two. The comedy was good and the show lively. I didn't get to see it often, as it was broadcast on a channel that we couldn't tune in well (this is in the stone age before cable), so I had trouble keeping up with who was who. It was Filmation, which meant lots of stock footage, but they were creative within their limitations. And unlike the 30 minute commercial cartoons of the 80's, they had real educational value.
With the Cartoon Network and Boomerang showcasing the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons, we could really use an outlet for some of Filmation's old work. The problem is, so many of their shows featured licensed characters that I don't think they owned much of their work. I wouldn't mind seeing these and other Filmation shows on dvd, like the Groovie Goolies, Star Trek, Flash Gordon, and Tarzan.
