Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids 

The educational adventures of a group of Afro-American inner city kids.

Creator:

Bill Cosby

Stars:

Bill Cosby, Gerald Edwards, Erika Scheimer

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Bill Cosby	...	Fat Albert Jackson / ... 34 episodes, 1972-1985
Gerald Edwards	...	Weird Harold 28 episodes, 1972-1985
Erika Scheimer		28 episodes, 1972-1985
Lou Scheimer	...	Dumb Donald / ... 28 episodes, 1972-1985
Jan Crawford	...	Bucky / ... 21 episodes, 1972-1979

Storyline

The series follows the adventures of an group of African American kids living in the ghettos of South Philadelphia in the early 70s. In pretty much every episode they deal with the challenges of life and many times make mistakes but learn from them and correct the mistake though sometimes there were lasting repercussions from that mistake. All and all it was a fun show that portrayed urban ghetto kids in a positive light.

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Plot Keywords:

black american | philadelphia pennsylvania | african american | educational program | inner city | 

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Family

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Certificate:

TV-Y7

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 September 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

The New Fat Albert Show

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmation Associates, Bill Cosby

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (110 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The characters are based on Bill Cosby and his childhood friends growing up in North Philadelphia. Cosby talked about his childhood experiences in his stand-up comedy albums.

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Goofs

In episode #4, "Creativity", Rudy's voice comes out of Bill ("what 'choo talkin' about?") with Rudy even standing right next to Bill.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Television Announcer: It's not a bird! It's not a bee! It's the BROWN HORNEEEEEEEEEEETTT!

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Connections

Referenced in Strongbad_email.exe: Disc Six (2008)

User Reviews

...you may learn something before its done

When Bill Cosby told the audience that they may learn something before the show was done, he really meant it. "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" was a perfect fit with Lou Scheimer's philosophy in Children's TV. In fact it was the most successful show for Scheimer's Flimation Production company in which many of the shows they produced had educational elements to the show and most of time very cheesy story writing.

Fat Albert was down to earth. The show was based on Cosby's childhood and some of his stand-up routines about Fat Albert. In the show Albert and his friends would learn about life and how to better their lives and those around them. Their were frequency live-action cut aways in which Cosby himself would deliver some commentary about what was happening in the story. At the end of the show a song was featured that reinforced the lesson in the episode.

By the late 70's the show was retooled and ending song was replaced by Science Fiction shorts which featured a space hero called the "Brown Hornet" which was seen at the beginning of the show. The Hornet shorts featured an educational message to Fat Albert, his friends, and the real life audience. That message was reinforced in an everyday situation that Albert and his friends would deal with. Cosby continued with live-action cut aways as in the original version of the show.

Flimation may have not been the greatest production company when it comes to kids TV, but they did have a few great shows under their belt. "Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids" was one of them. In fact their were the best of Flimation's best