Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!

Nothing about this weird addition to the Hanna-Barbera canon made sense. The bears had an invisible motorbike, which they hopped on seemingly at will. As a child, I found this confusing and weird, and not very funny at all. The inside of the bears' cave was spartan and 'realistic', until buttons were pressed and it turned into an ultra-modern pad with a fridge, a TV and lavish beds. This wasn't funny either, just a bit of contrived 'hi-tech' business that now seems so embarrassingly dated, as passe as jet-pack travel and monorails. One set piece I remember was one of the bears holding a switched-on vacuum cleaner in the air, explaining "this is my solution to the pollution", before one of the keepers jammed the nozzle on his nose. But his nose didn't stretch, it turned into a spear-shaped appendage which he then used to pick up rubbish. WHAT?! The bottom line is, this series was a ragbag of surreal ideas and low-brow comedy that didn't gel, let alone make one single scrap of sense. Nobody's finest hour.

In September 1971, two shows went head-to-head with each other--CBS' "Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch," and ABC's "The Jackson Five." (In Saturday morning terminology, that's a "clash of the titans"!) ABC's "J5" was the apparent ratings winner, as "Hair bear" didn't survive past the first season while "J5" got to make a few more episodes the following year.

Some neat, inventive storylines here, from the likes of Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, who later formed their own successful studio. The three principals were voiced by Daws Butler (reusing his Hokey Wolf voice) as Hair Bear; Bill Callaway as Square Bear; and Paul Winchell (reusing his Jerry Mahoney voice) as the diminutive Bubi Bear. They always tried escaping the watchfulness of head zookeeper Peevely (John Stephenson) and his dumb assistant Botch (Joe E. Ross, using his ooh-ooh! Voice!) Worth watching for just the interplay of the above-mentioned voice actors. A cast of cooperative (to the bears) zoo animals are the able supporting cast. Ultimately, it was hard to give a damn about Peevely as he was such a sourpuss.

And in mentioning modern times, one could just about count the title characters as TV's First Gay Threesome! (Of course, this is me with my subversive fantasizing.)

The Hair Bears were hippies / beat nicks and swingers (as much as a kids cartoon character can swing) They would have gotten along very well with Shaggy Norville, Austin Powers, and The Beach Boys. If the bears where the hipsters, then the zookeepers were the establishment, and the bears did a fine job of taking on "the man". As a kid of the late 60's / early 70's (with very square parents) I remember this as very funny at the time. In 1971 their "batachlor pad" cave was cool, and to me, The Hair Bears sneaking out of the park to go on some groovy adventure was a lot like us sneaking out of the house or cutting school. I don't know if 30 + years later the jokes, hair and clothing will have aged well or not. You might have had to have been there. Then again it might get that much funnier.

Bearing a certain resemblance to the venerable Hanna-Barbera characters Yogi Bear and friends,the Hair Bear Bunch were three cousins who lived in Cave Block #9 at the Wonderland Zoo but regularly made their escape to the outside world,usually at night when nobody is looking,to see what action they were missing or to find out what's happening. The series "Help! It's The Hair Bear Bunch",was one of CBS-TV's colossal line-up of successful Saturday Morning cartoons that impact the schedule during the 1971-1972 season. From the premiere episode on September 11,1971(it premiere on the same day as another CBS Saturday Morning venture as well...the spin-off to The Flintstones' Hanna-Barbera produced show "Peebles And Bamm-Bamm",as well as others that premiered the same day like "Sabrina The Teenage Witch","The Groovie Ghoulies",and "Chan and the Amazing Chan Clan") to the final episode on August 31,1974 in repeated episodes from the first season. Only 17 episodes were produced for the series under the production company of Hanna-Barbera Productions.

"Help! It's The Hair Bear Bunch",was basically a revitalization of their own classic early 1960's show "Top Cat" with a constructed remaking of Hanna-Barbera's own Yogi Bear who at the time needed a constant change over and this time around took the characters of Yogi Bear,his sidekick Boo-Boo,and even the character of Ranger Smith and completely gave them a 1970's makeover. The leader of the squad was Hair Bear(voiced by Daws Butler),who sported a soulful fuzzy Afro style head of hair and the brains of the outfit. Square Bear(Bill Callaway)was the Southern spoken Bear,who was a tall goony bear in a cap,while Bubi Bear(Paul Winchell)was the rough equivalent of Boo-Boo in all mannerisms. Chasing them constantly on their excursions were the zoo's curator and head of the Wonderland Zoo,Mr. Peevely(in the pilot episode it was Joe Flynn of McHale's Navy fame and during the rest of the series' run was Hanna-Barbera stock player John Stephenson) and his chubby right-hand man Botch(Joe E. Ross),who catch phrase was "Ooo,ooo!" This was a combination of several shows which made it hilarious...one it was part "McHale's Navy",part "F-Troop",and it was part "Phil Silvers",and part of "Hogan's Heroes" in the zoo,with a cast of crafty conning animals that wheel and deals for either meals or favorites from their human counterparts. Funny show. The first season ran from September 11,1971 until September 2,1972,and moved from Saturday Mornings to Sunday Mornings from September 9, 1973 until August 31,1974 in repeated episodes. Only 12 episodes were produced for this series.

This was a compilation of about 18 different successful shows of the previous decades, all shuffled together and redistributed as a revamp of the previously loved Yogi & Boo-Boo. There was Hair Bear who was the bad influence in a fro, Square Bear who was the goody-two-shoes Southern Baptist, and Bubi who basically was Yogi's sidekick in virtually every way. Oo!Oo! Botch, and Mr. Peeveley the Zoo manager. After bedtime, the bears would sneak out into the world to see what they could get into and then try to get back into their habitat by the time the sun came up and Mr. Peeveley would be back on the grounds. All in all it was pretty cute, and I have fond memories of watching it as a child. I can't say today that the stereotypes would be entertaining, or that the premise of sneaking out at night is a good thing to teach a kid. So much for the memories. Cheers!

It rates a 7.6/10 from...

the Fiend :.