Indyfan82

Charles in Charge is a show about a college student who becomes a live-in helper for the Pembroke family, consisting of mom and dad, teenager Lily, middle schooler Douglas, and 10-year-old Jason. From the second season on to the last one, Charles switches families and stays with the Powells, as the Pembrokes are moving to Seattle. The reason for this is because Charles in Charge originally ran in 1984 for the first season and was cancelled. However, it was revived in syndication from 1987-1990 and on the first episode of the 2nd. season, it is explained that while Buddy and Charles were on a camping trip, Mr. Pembroke got transferred from his job in Pennslyvania to Seattle, Washington. Mrs. Pembroke and Jason both show up in the episode to explain things to Charles and to say goodbye. From then on, the Powells are the new family who have leased the house and they also maintain Charles' services. Charles now has to contend with Grandpa, Mom Powell, (Dad is away in the Navy), teenager Jamie, middle schooler Sarah, and 10-year-old Adam. The Pembrokes and Powells are definitely not totally the same but there are some similarities.

In any case, I have seen some of the first season as well as the later seasons and they are all good. Buddy is the best. He is so crazy and hilarious. He and Charles are such good friends and have great times, dating girls and keeping everything at the household under control. It's great. Charles in Charge rules!

I grew up watching this cartoon in the late 1980s. The movies the cartoon is based on are incredibly funny! The cartoon is very true to the movies and the characters look and sound much like the movies. The whole gang of cops gets the job done in their own unique way, with tons of laughs along the way. Plus, there's a great theme song by The Fat Boys! (Fat Boys coming to town, oh yeah! bomp, ch-ch, bomp, ch-ch bomp bomp) Captain Harris and Proctor are really funny as they try to get the lovable crew of Mahoney, Jones, Sweetchuck, Zed, Hightower, Hooks, House, Callahan, and Tackleberry off the force. But Commandant Lassard and the Professor are there on their side and the Police Academy always comes through. Hooray!

I remember watching this cartoon as a child and it's not nearly as bad as some people made it out to be. Yes, it is a real cartoon and it did air in various countries around the world, although apparently not in America. After looking at quite a few of the actual Garbage Pail Kids cards, I would parents had good reason to be concerned about a cartoon based on the cards. I don't care much myself for the cards, because I think they were gross and disgusting in the 1980s and they're gross and disgusting now. I will admit that some of them are kind of funny.

The cartoon itself was actually my first introduction to the Garbage Pail Kids. I didn't find out about the trading cards and the infamous 1987 live action movie (MacKenzie Astin's greatest role, next to that bit on The Facts of Life! :-) until much later. I actually viewed the Kids more as superheroes than anything. Well, you had Clogged Duane, who could turn his body into goo and slide through things, much like Nickelodeon's Alex Mack. And there was Patty, who could stretch her body and contort her face into silly shapes, much like Plastic Man or Mr. Fantastic, or even Elongated Man. There was Elliot Mess, who could take apart his body and hold his head in his hands. (I'm not sure how this power benefited him, other than he could use his head as a bowling ball. Well, anyway, that is using his head! Ha! I kill me! Okay, but seriously...) Split Kit was kind of the James Dean type dude, who could split himself into half nice kid and half bad dude. Then there was Janet, who could wipe her face clean and move it to her left hand and would talk with her hand. Literally, people would have to talk to the hand! And her face would be blank. (Again, I'm not sure of the point of this "power".)

Anyway, the Kids actually went around and helped people (sort of) and it was quite funny. It really wasn't as bad as the cards. That portion would usually be half of the show and the other half would have movie parodies. There were parodies of famous movies like the Indiana Jones trilogy, The Fly, and the Superman movies. I still remember "The Fry" parody and the "Supernerd" parody. Both were very funny. I was even able to acquire two episodes of this rare series and it was just as I remembered from a few scant years ago. Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Whoa, Whoa, Oh, Oh,.... (Yeah, I remember the theme song too) Garbage Pail Kids - the cartoon was pretty cool. I don't think I would get into collecting the cards and I haven't made myself watch the movie yet, but if you can find the cartoon you might want to check it out.