Where's Huddles? (1970) User Reviews

The prime-time animated comedy series "Where's Huddles"

[rcj5365 · 21 September 2006]

The prime-time animated series "Where's Huddles" was originally the summer replacement for CBS' "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour". This was the first Hanna-Barbera animated series that was shown in prime-time,the first since "The Flintstones". And this was six years after the success of that show. The weekly half-hour show revolves around fumbling football quarterback,Ed Huddles,and his next-door neighbor,team center Bubba McCoy,who are members of the Rhinos,a disorganized professional football team that Huddles somehow manages to lead to victory. Given a test run in the summer of 1970,the series was supposed to jump into a permanent nighttime slot in January of 1971,but CBS decided otherwise when the series faltered in the ratings. The show that replaced the animated series "Where's Huddles?" in January of 1971....a little known show called "All In The Family",which went on to become one of the biggest hits of the 1970's.

Instead,the series' original 10 episodes were rebroadcast the following summer,and from there it was never to be heard from again. The series aired on CBS from July 1, 1970 through September 10,1970,and was rebroadcast back on the network from July 5,1971 until September 5,1971. It was brought back as part of the USA Cartoon Hour on the USA Network in repeated episodes from March 1,1989 until March 21,1989 and again on Cartoon Network during the month of December,1995, and on Boomerang Network during the summer of 2002 as a marathon. As for the casting,the show was funny to being with the remarkable talents of comedian-Broadway sensation Paul Lynde as the perfectionist neighbor Claude Pertwee. Lynde,however was a regular on the popular daytime game show "The Hollywood Squares",as a cast regular as the hilarious Uncle Arthur on "Bewitched",and also a stock player for voiceovers for several Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters.

The writings for the show were done by R.S. Allen and Harvey Bullock who were the team behind some of Hanna-Barbera's biggest hits:"The Flintstones",and "The Jetsons". Series regulars include the regular Hanna-Barbera stock players which included Alan Reed(as Mad Dog Mahoney/The Rhinos'head coach),Mel Blanc(Bubba McCoy),and Jean Vanderpyl(Marge Huddles),best known as Fred,Barney,and Wilma on the long-running animated series The Flintstones. This also included another one of the Hanna-Barbera stock players as well,the great Don Messick(Fumbles/Beverly). Other cast regulars included Cliff Norton as Ed Huddles/Marge's faithful but loyal husband;former Duke Ellington orchestra singer/vocalist Herb Jeffries,and actress Marie Wilson in her final role before her untimely death in 1972.

What a Dilemma.

[richard.fuller1 · 3 April 2005]

Where's Huddles?" aired during the summer of 1970. Only ten episodes were made. I find this difficult to fathom, as I do recall the show going into reruns, but I don't see how with only ten episodes. Back then, airing one a day and you're done in two weeks.

As children, we were torn whether to stay outside and swim in the water, or go inside when "Where's Huddles?" would be re-shown.

What a dilemma.

It would be nearly thirty years before I would see this cartoon again. Another person and I had a friendly online disagreement as to which cartoon was worse. He said Huddles. I said Devlin.

Yes, Huddles is Flintstones, Book II.

Alan Reed, who did the voice of Fred, would now do the voice of the coach.

Jean Vander Pyl, the wife in both cartoons.

Mel Blanc, the friend in both cartoons.

Jean Vander Pyl, the baby in both cartoons.

Marie Wilson would now do the voice of the best friend's wife. This would be Wilson's last work before her death from cancer just two years later.

And Dino would now be a dog named Fumbles wearing a football helmet.

In the Harlem Globetrotters cartoon, the dog would be called Dribbles.

I wonder what the mascot would be in a baseball cartoon? Kleats? Strike? Foul?

I think Herb Jeffries as Freight Train is tied with Valerie on "Josie and the Pussycats" for being the first black cartoon character. Whichever came first, they were both right there at the starting gate.

Most fans of The Flintstones are well aware of its inspiration from the HOneymooners, just as Yogi Bear is Art Carney, Wally Gator is Ed Wynn, Doggy Daddy is Jimmy Durante, and the Jetsons are Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead (only recently became aware of this last one).

I've recorded six of those ten episodes of Huddles, and yes, there is one where Freight Train for some reason, shakes the ground when he walks. I'm afraid I missed the other ones with him calling Marge "Miz Fuddles" or his transformations on the field.

But I do have "The Offensives" -- Clearly this was yet another attempt in a cartoon to get a hit song, a pop song on the charts, like the Archies' "Sugar, Sugar" or Ernie on Sesame Street singing "Rubber Ducky", which went to the top 20.

I get so amused seeing these failed attempts in shows, like "Eep Op Ork Ah Ah" on the Jetsons or the Scooby songs, or Josie songs. The Flintstones, likewise, made several attempts.

But this one on Huddles. Whew! It is just an awful song.

I was a bit overwhelmed by "One Man Family" where Bubba McCoy thinks he was pregnant. The only other one I can recall before this episode was an episode of Bewitched where Samantha made Darrin (York, not Sargeant) dream he was pregnant.

The cartoon was a letdown from thirty years ago, but then that was thirty years ago. Thankfully, there were only ten episodes. I wonder how disheartened I would be now had there been more then.

A rip-off of a rip-off

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 27 March 2004]

I've never understood the popularity of 'The Flintstones'. Even those who enjoy that prehistoric sitcom must realise that it's a blatant rip-off of 'The Honeymooners' ... so, if Hanna-Barbera's 'Flintstones' has any merit at all, the credit for this should rightly go to the creators of 'The Honeymooners'.

Hanna-Barbera's short-lived series 'Where's Huddles' was a rip-off of their own rip-off. At least three of the four main characters are clearly copied from the two married couples in 'The Flintstones', even down to being the same physical types, and two of them with voices provided by the same voice-artists repeating their previous roles ... the main difference being that the 'Huddles' versions are more realistically drawn and better animated. Ed and Marge Huddles are the new versions of Fred and Wilma Flintstone, with Jean Vander Pyl (formerly the voice of redhead wife Wilma) now providing the voice of redhead wife Marge. Mel Blanc (formerly the voice of Fred's next-door neighbour Barney Rubble) now provides the voice of Ed's next-door neighbour Bubba McCoy, who is drawn as a Barney Rubble lookalike: a short stocky blond guy with a goofy outlook. The one arguable variant from the original formula is Bubba's wife Penny: a dim but sexy blonde who's much more interesting than Betty Rubble. Penny McCoy looks and sounds like a prototype for Melody of 'Josie and the Pussycats'. 'Where's Huddles' is such a thorough 'Flintstones' rip-off, there's even a surrogate for Dino the pet dinosaur, in the form of Ed and Marge's "lovable" mutt Fumbles, who conveniently is never around unless he's needed for a sight gag.

'Where's Huddles' was produced during that dark and shameful period when every single American television series featured Paul Lynde doing his swish routine. Here he supplies the voice of prissy Claude Pertwee, the Huddles' neighbour next-door over on the other side. A typical 'joke': after Ed and Bubba perform a vaudeville rendition of 'I Cried a River of Tears', Pertwee remarks: 'If that was "I Cried a River", you should be fined for pollution.' Hilarious, no?

Oh, yeah. Ed and Bubba are the quarterback and fullback for a pro football team called the Rhinos. Their most notable squadmate is Afro-American linebacker Freight Train, whose on screen depiction is problematic. He addresses Marge as 'Miz Huddles', as if he's on the way to de massa's house. In most episodes of this series, Freight Train was drawn as an extremely large but realistic black man ... but in one episode, he was rendered as a gigantic specimen who literally made the ground shudder when he walked. Whenever Freight Train ran interference on the gridiron, he would briefly morph into a cartoon image of a railway engine. One episode of 'Huddles' showcased the vocal talents of singer Herb Jeffries, who supplied the voice of Freight Train. When the Rhinos headed for the showers post-game, Freight Train ad-libbed a song: "I want to play football with you, dear. You'd be the only girl on my team, dear." This prompted Ed and Bubba to scat-sing backup vocals, and the three of them decided to jeopardise their well-paid football careers to become singers.

Plausibility was not a strong suit here. In one episode, the Rhinos were playing the Lions when Ed and Bubba had to sneak out of the stadium in the middle of the game. (Wouldn't they be missed?) So they stole the mascots' costumes, leading to a shot of a red car driving down the street with a 'rhino' and a 'lion' in the front seat. Har har. We see some of that horrible 'Flintstones' animation, with the car passing the same landmarks over and over and over...

The last episode of 'Where's Huddles' featured an unusual premise which indicates that Hanna and Barbera were hoping this series would run longer. Bubba and Penny McCoy both visit the same doctor (a 'wacky' cartoonish physician) for their annual check-ups. When the tests come back, it turns out that husband Bubba is pregnant! Everyone is surprised by this, but nobody considers the possibility that maybe the results got switched. This premise is made even more ludicrous by the fact that all the characters use circumlocutions for the word 'pregnant'. During the next day's football game, just before the scrimmage, Huddles sends word to the opposing team that they shouldn't tackle Bubba too hard, because of his delicate condition. This produces some sniggering from the other team, but everyone treats the pregnant footballer very gently. At the end of the episode, we get the big 'surprise' ending, with the wacky cartoon doctor revealing that Penny is the one who's preggo. This might have led 'Where's Huddles' in an interesting direction, with Bubba and Penny coping with impending parenthood. But this was indeed the very last episode of a series that certainly isn't worth reviving. I might have liked 'Where's Huddles' if it had featured more scenes with sexy Penny McCoy, and fewer scenes with Paul Lynde's nasal sarcasm.