| The Fabulous Funnies | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Written by | Bill Persky, Sam Denoff, Lee Mendelson, George Schlatter |
| Directed by | Gordon Wiles |
| Presented by | Carl Reiner |
| Starring | Ken Berry, Jack Burns, Avery Schreiber |
| Music by | John Scott Trotter |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Producers | Lee Mendelson, George Schlatter |
| Running time | 60 mins |
| Production company | Lee Mendelson Film Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | February 11, 1968 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
The Fabulous Funnies is a one-hour primetime network special that aired on NBC on February 11, 1968, hosted by Carl Reiner.[1] The show is a salute to American comic strips, and features interviews with cartoonists, including Rube Goldberg, Chester Gould, Chic Young, Milt Caniff, Al Capp and Charles Schulz.[2]
In addition, the show includes songs that have been written about comic strips, performed by the Doodletown Pipers, the Royal Guardsmen and Ken Berry.[3] Ken Berry sings a song from the Li'l Abner musical, and the Royal Guardsmen perform their hit single "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron". Other songs featured in the program include "Barney Google (With the Goo-Goo-Googly Eyes)" and "Little Chatterbox," inspired by Little Orphan Annie. The comedy team of Burns and Schreiber also perform a skit about people reading comic strips.[4]
In one sequence, Reiner interacts with animated comic strip characters, leading production supervisor David Crommie to brag, "This is, perhaps, the most difficult show that has ever been done for television. Production began in January 1967, and continued until the end of the year. When you combine live action with animation, the impossible takes a lot longer!"[5]
The show did very well in the ratings, reaching #7 for the week according to the Nielsen ratings,[6] and garnered a follow-up a decade later. In an article about producer Lee Mendelson, comics historian Mark Evanier says, "The ratings were huge and the folks at CBS, for whom Lee was producing the Charlie Brown specials, said to him, "Why didn't you offer that special to us?" Lee replied, "I did. You didn't think it would do very well and passed so I sold it to NBC." The folks at CBS said, "Well... we want the next one." It was not until 1980 that Lee did the next one, which was called The Fantastic Funnies and yes, it was on CBS."[7]
- ^ Terrace, Vincent (2013). Television Specials: 5,336 Entertainment Programs, 1936-2012 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Company. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-7864-7444-8.
- ^ Humphrey, Hal (Feb 9, 1968). "Funnies Get Their Inning on TV". The Marion Star. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Maays, Stan (February 10, 1968). "Fabulous Funnies Due on NBC Sunday". The North Adams Transcript. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ "Ask the Archivist: Fabulous Funnies". Comics Kingdom. Feb 26, 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Ashe, Isobel (Feb 10, 1968). "Leading Comics and Cartoonists Scheduled on NBC-TV's 'Fabulous Funnies'". The Troy Times Record. p. B-9. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Newton, Dwight (March 8, 1968). "Ernie Signs $2,100,000 NBC-TV Pact". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Evanier, Mark. "A Lee Mendelson Story (Part I)". News From me. Retrieved 14 March 2020.