The Tube

The Unusual Cases Issue

Beyond the

FRINGE

Close up: Ben McKenzie | Snippets: Kal Penn Leaves House for White House | Featuring: Land of the Lost Toons

May 2009

$5.99 US

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May 2009 | Volume 2 №5

Inside:

Features

Contributors Editor in Chief

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BEYOND THE FRINGE

Buster (Los Angeles), a conceptual design studio to develop, animate and produce an on-air teaser campaign behind FOX’s TV series “Fringe.”

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LAND OF THE LOST

Forgotten Animated Cartoon Shows of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. Ordered A through M.

Marcela Morales mmorales@magazine.com

Art Director

Marcela Morales mmorales@magazine.com

Managing Editor

Marcela Morales mmorales@magazine.com

Associate Editors

Jasmine Markes jmarkes@magazine.com Maire McArdle mmcardle@magazine.com

May 2009 The Tube 5

May 2009 | Volume 2 №5

Inside:

Departments Letters 1

2

3 1 Brotherly Bond

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Snippets: Kal Penn The star of ‘House’ and ‘Harold & Kumar’ agrees to serve as associate director of the White House Office of Public Liaison.

19

Close Up: Ben McKenzie The former ‘’O.C.’’ star chats about his television roots and playing a more age appropriate character.

Your article about Booth and his brother last month was especially touching for me. My brother is exacltly like Jared and he never understood our dynamic until I made him read the article. Thank you!

James Joyce, Maryland

2 Family first

Congratulations on the April 2009 issue; few magazines take me from cover to cover in one sitting, but this issue did. Every article addressed the importance of family and the bond that blood creates. I especially enjoyed your review of Brothers and Sisters and I whole heartefly agree with you on your criticisms. Keep up the excellent editorial work!

Joanna McDonald, New York

3 Break Out!

I particularly enjoyed last months article about Prison Break because you really analyzed each characters personality. It really disected the reasons why Lincoln and Michael are in that situation in a phsycological level.

Karen Smith, Chicago

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TiVo Series2 Dual Tuner DVR

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Editor's Note This month has been particularly full of unusual cases. New shows like Lie to Me and Fringe definitely inspire thought and conversation.Whether it's an unusual group of crime fighting cops or an oddball scientist, this month in television has been eerily entertaining.

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Snippets

Kal Penn tackles a new role The star of ‘House’ and ‘Harold & Kumar’ agrees to serve as associate director of the White House Office of Public Liaison.

When the script writers elect to kill off a popular television series character with a suicide instead of a car crash, you know that somebody needs to make an exit that’s fast -- and within budget.

That’s exactly what Kal Penn, a member of the ensemble cast that has helped make “House” such a hit for Fox, needed this week when he announced he is putting aside acting, at least for now, to become an associate director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. His job there, he said on a conference call with reporters, will focus on outreach to young people, arts professionals and the Asian American community. In fact, the 31-year-old Indian-American heartthrob is thought to be the first of a number of Hollywood figures who will be added to the office, as the administration moves to cement President Obama’s ties to the entertainment industry.

Hollywood played such a major role in Obama’s election that many in town have been wondering just how he planned to use the entertainment industry. It now seems clear that Obama intends to sell his programs

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to the country in a kind of permanent campaign, with town hall meetings and speeches on factory floors. And Hollywood talent will be playing a part.

So look for the appointment of a range of activists, like Penn, who can connect with people at the grass-roots level. By the end of this term, a lot of actors may be able to claim the role of community organizer on their IMDB profiles.

Penn, whose breakout role was as one of the stoner costars in “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” was part of the large contingent of Hollywood stars and executives who went beyond fundraising for Obama and hit the campaign trail on his behalf during the run-up to the Democratic National Convention.

The actor said he was a “cynical independent” when he met thencandidate Obama at a 2007 fundraiser and decided to enlist in his cause, mainly as part of the campaign’s effort to turn out younger voters. The experience touched something deep in Penn’s consciousness (or, perhaps, karma, since his grandparents marched with Gandhi for India’s independence) and reminded him of the taste for issues he’d developed while studying international security at Stanford.

He first raised the idea of joining the new administration in a brief personal conversation with Obama during the inaugural festivities in Washington. A conversation with trusted presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett followed, then came the job offer.

At that point, the New Jersey-born Penn did what any good actor would do: He thought the new role over and talked the whole thing through with his manager, agent and accountant. “This is really what I want to do,” he told them, “but am I crazy?” Maybe not, but assuming he’s making something close to the $50,000 per episode that’s standard on shows like “House,” somebody’s percentage is going in the toilet when he begins collecting the circa-$70,000-a-year salary his new gig pays.

It also wasn’t easy to leave the role of Dr. Lawrence Kut- ner on the hit Fox series, Penn said. (For the record, the show’s producers say they’re “thrilled” that their actor will be working at the White House.)

“I was having a great time” on the show, Penn said during the conference call. “The word I still use to describe it is bittersweet. It’s not like I’m retiring from acting; I certainly intend to come back at some point.

Right now, I just felt like my calling was in public service.”

The move was immediately applauded by politically active members of the Hollywood community.

“Appointing Kal Penn is a wise and strategic move that should foster a strong and productive relationship between the White House and Hollywood,” said industry political advisor Chad Griffin. “Not only is it beneficial that the White House liaison to the creative community is a member of that community, Penn is very smart and well-versed on policy and politics.”

Griffin added: “He combines the advantages of having access and of being able to clearly and convincingly communicate the White House’s and the industry’s priorities.”

Penn won’t be accepting any acting jobs during his White House stint, which he expects to last for two years or so. Although he hasn’t lived in Washington before, he says that he’s “definitely looking forward” to being part of the inside-the-Beltway social swing, which is as intense as Hollywood’s -- though with worse food.

That leaves him with one more decision: what to do with his L.A. home? Prices of sublets in D.C. are falling, but surely that agent and manager told him nobody but the desperate sells in this market.

Who knows? By the time the White House casts the rest of its Hollywood ambassadors, Obama’s stimulus package really might have taken hold.

- Tina Daunt

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Beyond the

FRINGE

Buster (Los Angeles), a conceptual design studio to develop, animate and produce an on-air teaser campaign behind FOX’s TV series “Fringe.” Buster is a division of Stun Creative; Stun Creative co-presidents Mark Feldstein and Brad Roth made the announcement. create that same sense of surreal discovery, by opening the visuals on a normal (though eerie) scene, and then slowly revealing a tweaked/unusual detail. Our challenge was to amp up the show’s promise of mysterious storytelling, while keeping the imagery subtle enough for the viewer to say, ‘Woah – did I just see what I think I saw?”

Buster worked from the initial graphic symbols

found in nature that had been developed by the

internal design team at FOX for the on-air tease animation promotion.

These symbols are key points for viewers to key into and to tap into the show’s science and nature themed premise. Buster developed a number of 10-second on-air tease animations which have been seen on FOX Television since mid June.

“When Michael Vamosy and Justin Owens from FOX showed us their print campaign for ‘Fringe,’ we knew their approach would translate well to on-air,” says Jonas Morganstein, Buster’s executive creative director and executive producer. “The print campaign features a series of elements found in nature, like a leaf or an apple, that appear to look normal at first. But after closer inspection, you realize there are incongruous elements in the imagery – a geometric pattern in the leaf and two human embryos inside the apple.

To translate these concepts into a series of 10-second teaser promos, we decided to

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Michael Vamosy, Senior Vice President, Design, FOX, says, “Buster did a great job of bringing our ‘Fringe’ icons to life. We’ve been using these icons in an interesting and mysterious way to lure viewers into the show with a visual puzzle. By seeing these elements move and listening to the sound design that Buster created for us, our viewers get a chance to react to them in a whole new way.”

Said Justin Owens, Director, Broadcast Design, FOX, “Buster took the already intriguing and mysterious icons from ‘Fringe’ to a whole new level. They pushed past the expected and delivered, well, the unexpected. They not only helped to graphically build the entrance to the rabbit hole, but helped send viewers right down it as well.”

Kurt Spenser, Buster Creative Director and Head of Production, adds that, ”Michael Vamosy and Justin Owens always stand at the forefront of exciting new promotional ideas. It's an honor to be right there with them on this campaign.

The new ‘Fringe’ franchise will no doubt break new ground not just on television, but across all media, and it's awesome to be part of that creative team at the early stages.”

Images from Buster Design.

For more information visit www.busterdesign.tv

“Buster took the already intriguing and mysterious icons from ‘Fringe’ to a whole new level. They pushed past the expected and delivered, well, the unexpected.

They not only helped to graphically build the entrance to the rabbit hole, but helped send viewers right down it as well.”

About Buster: Launched in 2004 by co-presidents Brad Roth and Mark Feldstein as a division of their noted advertising agency Stun Creative, Buster is a conceptual design studio specializing in original animated content for the advertising and broadcast industries. Led by executive creative director Jonas Morganstein, Buster provides its clients with a one-stop solution, by developing and delivering dynamic ideas driven by innovative imagery that always tells a story.

Buster’s core services include design, animation and live action direction for TV commercials, TV show opens and network packages.

The studio’s work has become renowned internationally for its “Sometimes Dramatic, Sometimes Quirky, but Always Intriguing” style. Among Buster’s clients are HBO, Food Network, Bravo, HGTV, MTV, Discovery Channel, ESPN, FX and AMC to name a few.

About Stun: Launched in 2000 by co-presidents Mark Feldstein and Brad Roth, Stun Creative is an award winning, Los Angeles-based advertising agency and production company that specializes in writing, directing and producing spots and campaigns for cable and broadcast networks as well as the major studios.

Stun also boasts a motion graphics design and animation studio, Buster, which creates show opens, promo packages, and consumer brand advertising.

Stun’s most recent clients include TBS, TNT, FX, Bravo, ABC, Discovery Channel, Disney Channel, Sundance Channel, 20th Television, to name a few. The Stun most recently produced the web series “The Writers Room” for Sony Pictures Television.

- Screen Magazine

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LAND OF the LOST

TOONS Forgotten Animated Cartoon Shows of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s.

As a Baby Boomer it saddens me to turn on the TV on Saturday mornings these days and see what the latest generation of children are missing what I experienced during the 60's and 70's.

I looked forward to beach Saturday because that is when I had the television all to my self (unless Baby Huey or Road Runner were on) and with my bowl of Sugar Krinkels I could sit down on the living room for and forget school and homework with shows that lead me in fantastic worlds, laugh at funny animals and experience the latest new show from Hanna/Barbara. Please join me as I take you on a tour of some of, maybe not the best known shows, but some a few of the hundreds of cartons that populated Saturdays during the golden age of television. Ads I do with articles of this kind I set a few ground rules of what kind of shows I list here. First

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I've omitted many of the best known shows that my generation might remember with two exceptions that will come at the end of the article. Second I've left out shows that had more live action, like the Marty Krofft shows The Banana Splits and Land of the Lost though most did have a cartoon or two as part of their program. To make it easier on both you and myself all shows are listed in alphabetical order with the years tha aired on most stations. I've also made my cut off period 1982 when most of these shows were either in reruns or off the air totally. Finally because I grew up in the Chicago area I've included several cartoon shows that may have, as far as I know, run only on Chicago TV but are part of every Baby Boomer who lived here during the 60's, liked and are part of their childhood memories. Since most of these shows are found on DVD (with a few exceptions noted) I am also hoping that you will search them out for your children to enjoy with you some Saturday morning in the future. So gather yourselves around that RCA TV set, of course in your PJ's (maybe ones with the feet in them!) get a blanket and your teddy, don't forget that bowl of cereal (sugar sweetened of course) and enjoy traveling down memory lane with me on this tour of Saturday Morning cartoon land.

1. The Adventures of Hoppity Hooper (1964-1967) I open this article with the third of Jay Ward's classic 60's cartoon series. Though not as well known as Bullwinkle or George of the Jungle, this ABC show still contains much his trademark adult humor. The title character is a eternally optimistic frog who travels the country with his dim witted bear pal Fillmore and the fox Waldo (whom Hoppity calls "Uncle") who spends most of the series trying to come up with endless get rich schemes. Complete with familiar Ward voices Hans Conreid as Waldo and Bullwinkle voice Bill Scott as Fillmore and the narrator,the series also used several of Ward's other cartoons ( most notability Fractured Fairy Tales and Peabody & Sherman) as filler between the episodes. The frog had been scheduled to be named Hippity but when Warner Brothers threatened to sue because the name was too close to the name of Sylvester's kangaroo nemesis Hippity Hopper, Ward quickly changed it. ABC programmed the cartoon toward the end of their Saturday Morning block(here in the Midwest 11:30 CST) and it was frequently preempted for sports or local programming so it never had much of a chance to gather a following. Only 26 episodes were produced and after three years(two of reruns) the series was canceled in favor of Ward's next ABC show George

of the Jungle. It still remains, after over 40 years, the only one of Ward's characters that the studio never bothered to license as well the only one never released on video.

2. Astro Boy (1963) The first Japanese animated cartoon to make a splash in the US this show was the most popular program on Japanese TV in the 1960's and is credited for inventing the whole concept of Manga animation. Created in 1952 by Osamu Tezuka first as a comic book and heavily influenced by Disney, the title character is a youthful android created by the scientist Dr. Tenma as a replacement for his own son who then fights crime, evil, and injustice. Most of his enemies include either robot-hating humans, other berserk robots, or various alien invaders. Bought by NBC in 1963 (and programmed against CBS's popular Looney Tunes Hour), only 52 of the original 156 episodes were translated into English and ever seen on network TV. The show was quickly canceled soon after by NBC executives who claimed that US youth wouldn't understand it. However two full length films first shown in Japan were released as Saturday afternoon matinees during the late 60's marking the real start of the series US popularity. Revived in the 80's as Manga gained in

Worldwide interest, the original series was re-released first to local networks and later on video fueling their popularity. In 2007 the Cartoon Network started broadcasting the 52 US episodes as part of their Adult Swim block while this fall(2009), a new 3-D film version of the series will premiere in theaters just before Thanksgiving though the series has never lost it's popularity in Japan.

3. The Beatles (1964-69) Produced during the heights of Beatlemania the original Beatles had little to do with this show other than allowing their likenesses and songs to be used. Created by King Features after ABC had approached them to do a cartoon show about the group,the their cartoon counterparts were loosely suggested by the portrait of them in the film A Hard Day's Night,(one that they despised later on as they matured) and each episode followed their adventures with each show based on two of their songs combined with two sing along segments. A typical plot for example went like this:in the segment based on "Twist And Shout" The Beatles attend an art show where a girl tries to be like other artists so they inspire her with their music. Premiering on September 25, 1965 the show received the highest ratings of any Saturday morning

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7.

15.

8.

show ever (it still holds that record) and was the top kids show for it's first two seasons.

Remarkably all four voices (except the songs) were done by only two men who sounded very much like the real Beatles with Paul Frees voicing John and George and Lance Percival Ringo and Paul. The group was indifferent to the show until they saw the first rushes from Yellow Submarine and realized how shallow the series really was. The series disappeared after it's last airing in 1969 by which time both the group and the world had radically changed from the world of 1964. and has been rarely since the last broadcasts.

Never released on any video format due to the music copyright restrictions, only a few select cartoons exist today on the Internet though it is believed that McCartney might own most of the original masters though this has never totally been proved. Those, like myself. who have seen the series, claim that you can see the beginnings of the music video format in them.

4. Cool McCool (1966-69) One of two 60's TV cartoon shows written by Batman creator Bob Kane, this NBC series rode the James Bond craze of the middle 60' but was rather much more in the vein of Get Smart which aired on the same day and network. McCool was a trench coated spy who, with his catch phrase "Danger is my business!", saved the world during each episode by defeating such bumbling villains like the Rattler, Hurricane Harry, Greta Ghoul and the Owl. Each show also featured one episode

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about McCool's father Harry and his partners Dick and Harry who fought villains in a silent film comedy like segment. Bob McFadden voiced Mc Cool while Chuck McCann voiced McCool's long suffering boss who's face was never seen while only his arms and a cigar were visible behind his chair. The compete series was released on DVD in 2007 while several of Kane's sketches of the spy were shown during the NYC Modern Art Museum's Batman exhibit in 2008.

5. The C.B. Bears (1977) The Hanna-Barbara studio was always on the cutting edge of pop culture in the 60's and 70's and nowhere did that show better than in this series that came during the heights of the C.B. radio craze of the mid 70's.Running for only three months this NBC hour long program featured the adventures of a group of trash collecting bears who traveled the country solving mysteries and crimes. Critics called this Scooby-Doo copycat boring though voice talent Daws Butler (as Hustle, the bear with the electric hairdo) Chuck McCann (as Boogie-see a pattern forming here?) Henry Corden (as Bump) and Susan Davis (as Charlie?) did their best.

Five other segments made up the rest of the show but the Bears are the most remembered of the sextet. When the C.B. craze died out early in the run Hanna-Barbara morphed the show into more of a Charlie's Angels format (with a Disco flavor) with little success. The show was one of the earliest 70's programs to run on the new Cartoon Network in the late 90's but as far as I know it has never been seen on video.

6. Clutch Cargo (1957-60) Familiar to any baby-boomer who grew up in Chicago, Cargo was an adventurer who with his partner Swampy traveled the world in search of trouble in a beat-up cargo plane discovering hidden lands, marauding pirates and fierce cannibals while he tried to keep his kid sidekick Spinner and his dog Paddlefoot out of trouble. The five minute, 130 episodes, were sold to local TV stations for use in their kid shows (as they were on the afternoon Garfield Goose and morning Ray Rayner shows here in Chicago) while the series plots were typical Hardy Boy fair. But what made this series unusual was the animation.

Using a process of limited animation called Synchro-Vox, to keep the process cheap, actual voice actors lips were used while the animation was superimposed over them giving the characters a slight creepy look causing nightmares for younger watchers.

The Comedy Channel colorized the series in the early 90's and ran it as pure camp for several years while the original cartoons can be found on a two disc DVD set.

7. Crusader Rabbit (1949-57) This cartoon is widely believed to be the first animated series specially made for TV. Cocreated by Jay Ward and Alexander Anderson (nephew of Mighty Mouse creator Paul Terry) the series featured the armored rabbit and his sidekick Rags T Tiger roaming the countryside saving damsels in distress and defeating any bad guy they happened to meet. The 130 cliff-

hanging half hour shows had some of Ward's style though little of his future adult humor and was instead geared toward the younger audience who watched Howdy Doody. First shown in B & W on an LA TV station in '49, NBC bought the rights to the series in 1951 and sold it to network affiliates on a show by show basis. It's success proved to Tom and Jerry creators Hanna and Barbara that there was a future in TV animation and it lead to a whole new type of show on the fledgling medium. Running throughout the 50's it's success led to Ward establishing his own studio which would find wider success with Bullwinkle and Rocky. Capital Enterprises bought the TV rights to the series in 1957 and a further 120 episodes were produced in color but without Ward's participation. Rhino released two VHS volumes of the original B & W Ward cartoons in the 90's but ownership problems has restricted their release ever since.

8. Deputy Dawg (1960-62) One of the rare TV cartoon series that made the leap from television to theaters and another Baby Boomer favorite. Produced

by Terrytoons, the same studio that created Mighty Mouse, this syndicated series of 47 episodes was about a dim southern dog sheriff who tried to keep law and order in his small Mississippi town while having run ins with a local group of trouble makers led by Vincent Van Gopher. Sponsored by Frito Lay who made their national debut with this show in 47 markets including many new Northern markets (here in Chicago the cartoon played on Tuesday nights at 6:30) the success of the series convinced the studio to release several of the TV shorts in theaters. All voices were done by Dayton Allen who also did Heckle and Jeckle for the studio. An updated version of the character would have a NBC show in 1967 while the future animator of Fritz the Cat Ralph Bakski would get his start as an inbetweener for the series. The series has never been released on video due to the overt stereotypes of many of the characters.

9. The Dick Tracy Show (1961-65) Created by original artist Chester Gould, this syndicated series had the intrepid Chicago Detective fighting crime while stopping many of the bad guys like Mumbles, Flattop, The Brow and Breathless Mahoney that he fought in the strips. The differences between the daily strip and the TV series was that as well as his comic strip partner Junior, Tracy, had a series of other stereotypical sidekicks including Hemlock Homes, Jo Jitsu, Go-Go Gomez and a Keystone Kops group called The Retouchables. Each of the 130 five minute

episodes also came complete with one of Gould's stylistic CrimeStoppers crime tips.

Though the complete series can be found on DVD it has rarely been seen on TV since the late 60's because of the blatant racial portrayals of the sidekicks. In fact Gould, in later years regretted creating the series and though he supervised the first few episodes he admitted disliking the whole thing toward the end of his life.

10. Dastardly and Muttley and their Flying Machines (1969-71) The first spin-off of CBS's Wacky Races, this witty show starred the villainous Dick Dastardly and his snickering dog Muttley as two WW I spies who ran their own espionage group (named the Vulture Squadron), primarily to stop the American carrier pigeon Yankee Doodle from delivering his messages though with little success. Influenced by the 1966 film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (with Dastardly based on the character played by Terry-Thomas) the villains (ever harassed by the unseen General who berates Dastardly over the phone every time he fails to catch the pigeon), are aided by a odd group of recruits that included the cowardly Zilly whom Dick has to have Muttley force to fly.

And the mechanic and plane designer Klunk (whom only spoke in sound effects) who invented an endless series of planes that Dick used to try to capture the pigeon. The real star of the show was Don Messick (Dastardly was voiced by Paul Winchell who also voiced the General) who created Muttley's snickering and asides in a style reminiscent of Popeye's. An effect he would put to good use a few years later with Scooby-Doo(complete with snacks).

The whole series is easily available on DVD. 11. Felix The Cat (1958-62) Another popular Baby Boomer show, this TV adaptation of the classic silent film character (the first widely popular film animated star) was created by Joe Oroler who was then writing the newspaper Felix strip. The original film Felix could create anything from his tail while the TV version had a bag of tricks where just about anything could (and did) either appear or change into any shape. Together with his sidekick (every kid show had to have one of these in the 60's) Poindexter, they tried to stop the bald Professor (who was also Poindexter's uncle) and his sidekick Rock Bottom from trying to steal Felix's bag of tricks. The simple stories(five made up a complete tale), voiced by Popeye's Jack Mercer, were inexpensively produced so any station could use them for various local children's programs.

Anyone over the age of 30 can still, to this

day, sing the very catchy ("Felix The Cat, the magical cat") theme song and has been only recently released on DVD for a new generation to discover.

12. The Funny Company (1963-66) One the rare educational cartoons of the 60's this syndicated series predates Sesame Street by almost six years. Produced by Mattel and created by Ken Snyder(co-creator of the better known Roger Ramjet who is coming up in the article later) in response to critics that complained that Yogi Bear and other cartoons held little educational value. The series was sold to local stations as filler (here in Chicago it ran with Clutch Cargo on Garfield Goose) and was about a kids club that met in a homemade clubhouse. Each of the 362 six minute episodes educated their viewers with a two minute live action film on various topics like plants, hobbies, animals or other subjects in a simple way. Two of the unusual characters in the series included the Indian Super Chief who only spoke like a air horn and Terry Dactyl who was a talking/walking dinosaur(complete with baseball cap). It is believed that the club's symbol (which you can see on the You Tube link to the theme song included in my resources section) might have been the inspiration for the Smiley Face while the cartoons (all colorized) a can now be seen on the religious cable channel TBN. 13. Gilligan's Planet (1982-83) An animated version of the classic 60's CBS comedy(the last of three the network, whom almost canceled the original after the first season, attempted) this show's feature was that most of the original cast including Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr, Jim Backus, Natalie Schaeffer, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells (who served double voice duty doing both Mary Anne and Ginger because original star Tina Louise refused to have anything further to do with the series) returned to do the voices of their original characters. Literally taking off from the original, the castaways leave their original island in a spaceship built by the Professor and thanks' (again!) to Gilligan get as lost in space as they were at sea.

The plots were written by many of the original teleplay writers and had a Lost in Space flavor to the point of even meeting up with Space stars Billy Mumy(as Will Robinson) and the Robot in one episode. Canceled by CBS after only one season the deaths of Hale and Schaeffer two years later finally closed the book on the series. A VHS tape of seven episodes was released in the late 80's but is currently out of print.

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11.

14. Hong Kong Phooey (1974-76) Never one to miss out on any pop culture event, Hanna/Barbara latched on to the Bruce Lee/ Kung Fu craze of the early 70's with this ABC show about a meek police station janitor dog who jumps into a file cabinet to transform into a chop/socky super hero. Voiced brilliantly by Scatman Crothers, the character is ever getting into trouble because he learned his karate by correspondence school and seems to be always one lesson behind the bad guys. Co starring Joe E Ross as his boss and Hanna-Barbara stalwart Don Messick as the "PhoohyMobile". Only 16 episodes of this series were produced but the character does still remain in the Hanna-Barbara library to this day. The entire series was released on DVD in 2008.

15. The Jackson 5ive (1971-73) Produced by the English animation studio Halas and Bachelor(better known for their 50's cartoon version of Animal Farm,) for Rankin-Bass and ABC, all the members of the popular Motown group (including Michael) lent their voices for this series. Much in format like the above Beatles animated series, the show followed the group around on their adventures while tapping their song catalog.

Rebroadcast by VH1 in the 90's in later interviews Jermaine Jackson would site this show as the real beginnings of Michael's popularity. Supposedly the children of Willard's producers saw this show in 1971 and realized that Michael would be the perfect person to sing the title song to the sequel (that would

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become Ben and Michael's first real solo hit) they were making. The show has never been released on video for the same reasons as the Beatles animated program.

16. King Leonardo and his Short Subjects (1960-63) Sponsored and produced by General Mills this show might be better known to Baby Boomers under the title it ran under in syndication after its original NBC Saturday morning run The King and Odie. Made up of thee interlocking shorts star King Leonardo the Lion ran the kingdom of Bongo Congo under the guidance of his skunk Prime Minister Odie Cologne while fighting off his foes Itchy Brother and Biggie Rat whom constantly tried to take over the kingdom. The second short starred Tooter Turtle who was sent back in time by his friend Mr. Wizard to various historical periods to learn lessons in kindness and humility. The last short featured a super dog detective named The Hunter (who announced himself with a hunting horn) who worked to solve crimes with his friend Officer Flim Flanagan (who really solved the cases) A fourth character, Twinkles the Elephant was voiced by Broadway star George S Irving and sold cereal between the shorts. Produced by Mexico's Gamma Productions who did much of the animation for Jay Ward's shows, former radio stars Kenny Delmar(who's Senator Claghorn was the basis of Warner Brothers Foghorn Leghorn) and Jackson Beck(voice of Bluto in the Popeye cartoons) did most of the rest of the voices. A few of the cartoons can be found on public domain DVD's.

17. Marvel Superheroes (1966-68) The first attempt to translate Marvel's popular comic book line to TV this series was written and produced by Stan Lee taking many of the plot lines directly from the comic books.

Starring the most popular of the companies' heroes, Hulk, Iron Man, Sub-Mariner, Thor and Captain America ( as is well known Spiderman and the Fantastic Four each had their own Saturday morning shows on ABC in the 60's) the show was budgeted at only $6,000 for each of the 195 six minute episodes and showed it with crude animation trying to recreate the Jack Kirby style of the comics. Never as popular as the later animated shows of the 90's what made the series memorable were the theme songs for each character especially the Iron Man theme ("Tony Stark, the cool Ex with a heart of steel") which would show up in the successful 2008 movie during a party sequence. Never shown nationally the series was syndicated to local stations but copyright restrictions have kept much of the cartoons off the air and video since the 70's.However I have put a You Tube link to the Iron Man theme in my resources for your enjoyment.

18. The Mighty Hercules (1963-66) Another favorite of the Baby Boomer generation(and Chicago kids) this syndicated take on the familiar Greek hero was produced by Canada's Filmmation Studios to compete on local stations with the popular Superman cartoons of the era. Loosely based on the original Greek epics the animation was crude but effective as Herc traveled the Greek countryside fighting off satyrs, harpies, mythical beasts and the occasional hydra all while thwarting the evil plots of the vile Daedalus. This was also one of the rare early 60's syndicated cartoon shows produced in full color which may explain its longevity on many local networks long after better shows had disappeared. The series was also blessed with another of those catchy cartoon theme songs of the 60's, this one written by "I Can See Clearly Now" Johnny Nash. The whole series can also be found on a Rhino DVD set of classic cartoons from the 60's Thank you for joining me for this travel down memory lane and please make certain to put the milk back in the fridge and the dishes in the sink before you go off to bed. Due to length issues the second half of this article will follow shortly with N through Z as well as my two favorite Saturday morning series of the era. Don't forget your teddy, have a good nights sleep,don't let the bed bugs bite either and sweet dreams!

- Glen Peters

Close Up

Ben McKenzie The former ‘’O.C.’’ star chats about his television roots and playing a more age appropriate character.

The O.C. heartthrob is finally acting his age. After scowling his way to teen idoldom as Ryan Atwood, the 30-yearold now plays rookie cop Ben Sherman on NBC's gritty drama Southland. He talks about ditching the wifebeater and showing up Dennis Franz.

This does seem like a pretty bold career transition — was it part of your plan?

I planned it all along. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha. No, I played the cards I was dealt.

When I got The O.C., I needed a job. I would've taken anything I got. But I did think it was gonna work as a show.

So why this project?

I thought it was a good opportunity to play an adult, a character that I think is quite different from Ryan Atwood. He's the rich kid going to the poor area instead of the poor kid going to the rich area. In some ways, he's more similar to me. I grew up in Texas in a lovely upper-middle-class childhood. Idyllic, you might say.

We were a little too excited to see you in the Southland premiere arresting Taylor Handley, who played the much-hated Oliver in The O.C.'s first season.

It was quite funny. We were filming the scene on Sunset Boulevard. I'm arresting this guy who played my nemesis on The O.C. He's calling me by

my character's name, which is also my real name. And just out of frame is a Starline tour bus with all the tourists taking pictures of us filming. It was about as surreal as it gets.

There's one key similarity in your roles on both shows, though: You barely talk.I tend to play characters who are guarded and then open up to people. Or maybe I have limited capacity to memorize lines. [Laughs] Did you have to prove yourself for the Southland gig?

I had a meeting with the producers where I offered to read. So, technically an audition. It was frustrating for me post-O.C. for a year or two. You get to a certain age and it's almost comic, trying to stay in a high school world.

I guess I got blessed with genes that let me play younger than I am, but I shouldn't be playing 10 years younger!

Did you turn down any roles in between?

It was a lot of, I call it ''Ryan Atwood on film.'' A friend of mine called me from a movie he was doing and was like, ''Dude, they want me to be you!

Get me a white wifebeater.''

But Southland is clearly not The O.C. — it uses profanity, for one thing, even though it's bleeped out.

I think the nice thing is NBC is willing to take a gamble on certain things.

We're somewhat free to make the show we want to make.

Does this mean Franzian nudity is in the offing?

Dennis Franz ain't got nothing on me. I used to watch NYPD Blue when I was way too young to, and I have the image of his naked ass seared into my memory. I'm going to try to show him up.

- Jennifer Armstrong

May 2009 The Tube 19