Happy Labor Day!

 

Top Ten #131

1) Thundarr the Barbarian: I enjoyed this much more than I expected when watching it for this week's podcast. I just love when he yells, "IIIIII...haaaaaave...the powerrrrrrr!"

2) Ookla: OK, so he does have a band named after him, but I still think he should be more of a thing.

3) Martin Short: Remember Marty in our SCTV  episode earlier this season? No, you don't, because he wasn't in it! But he has a new show with Steve Martin on Hulu.

4) The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Decades has a Weekend Binge of the series to celebrate the late Ed Asner. What, you expected a marathon of Off the Rack?

5) College football returns: It ain't the same without that longtime legendary ABC broadcaster...Frank Broyles.

6) Melba: Seeing 4 episodes of this short-lived Melba Moore vehicle on Crackle this week, I thought, well, THIS has to be the most random streaming add of the week...

7) Major Dad: ...until I saw that Netflix had added this entire CBS sitcom. It's just the thing to tide over all those Seinfeld  fans who are waiting for that show.

8) National Cheese Pizza Day: And where's the best place to get your pizza? Why, unless you're Skandor Akbar, right here, of course:

9) Henry Corden: The voice of the leader of the City of Thieves on our Thundarr episode always did good work.

10) Willard Scott: I don't mean this in a negative way, but, wow, he was a lot younger than I thought he was when I watched him growing up. R.I.P..

YouTube Spotlight: Princess Ariel in "The Washington Hillbillies"

One of the most notable clips in our Thundarr video playlist this week features the voice of Princess Airle, Nellie Bellflower:

This TV spot promotes a release by Casablanca Records, a parody of the Carter White House featuring Jeff Altman. The album features such tracks as "Bobby and the Prez" (based on Carter's affinity for Bob Dylan), "Peanutol," and "Father Knows Best." Bellflower doesn't get a mini-bio on the back of the LP like Altman and collaborator Billy Minkin, but she is credited for appearing on 4 tracks.

On the album jacket, it says that the Carters became the new First Family on January 21, 1977, and "we began planning our album on January 22, 1977."  The writer says that when Jimmy and his family took over, "fun returned to the White House." 

The Thundarr the Barabarian video playlist is now live!

After listening to this week's podcast, continue your exploration of the world of Thundarr with our video playlist. Just click below to see clips, commercials, and more! See a glimpse of Blackstar! Watch Robert Ridgley for Gino's Hamburgers! And, hey, who were the Washington Hillbillies?

And remember, you can visit our official YouTube channel anytime for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one! Tell 'em Ookla sent ya!

Show Notes: Episode 9-12: Thundarr the Barbarian

*Thundarr aired on ABC for two seasons and 21 episodes. NBC picked it up in Spring 1983 and aired reruns into September 1984.

*"City of Evil" premiered Saturday morning, October 3, 1981 at 11:30 in most markets, paired with Goldie Gold on ABC and going up against the second half of Space Stars and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends on NBC plus Blackstar on CBS.

*Ruby-Spears started in 1977 when Ken Spears and Joe Ruby were still working at ABC.

*Here is the Spector Creative YouTube channel Mike mentions on the pod. And here is the great News from ME blog by Mark Evanier.

*Click here for a summary of Jack Kirby's Fourth World.

*ABC's reliance on Garry Marshall in 1981 may have been a real thing, but the following ABC shows were higher rated overall than any of his sitcoms: Three's Company, Too Close for Comfort, ABC Monday Night Movie, Monday Night Football, The Love Boat, and Hart to Hart. And Dynasty and ABC Sunday Night Movie were pretty close.

*The Flintstone Comedy Show was the version of the franchise on NBC in 1981.

*Filmation's Blackstar lasted a mere 13 episodes.

*It looks in rough shape in "City of Fire," but according to its official website, Swampscott is a beautiful and tranquil seaside community of 13,800 residents located 15 miles northeast of Boston along the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean. 

*There appears to be no connection between Swampscott and Genius Award winner and Thundarr scribe Jeffrey Scott.

*As we mentioned, Thundarr is now on DVD and Blu-Ray from Warner Archive but is not streaming anywhere at the moment.

Episode 9-12: Thundarr the Barbarian

In the short-lived but ambitious cartoon "Thundarr the Barbarian," sword and sorcery meet superscience as Thundarr and his companions wage battle against the forces of evil in the ruins of civilization. With scripts by a bevvy of veteran comics and animation writers and deigns by comics legends Alex Toth and Jack Kirby, just about anything can and will happen! We discuss the episode "City of Evil," an episode where almost everything happens!

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...