CB Bears facts for kids
Quick facts for kids CB Bears |
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Title card
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| Genre | Animation Comedy |
| Directed by | Charles A. Nichols |
| Voices of |
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| Narrated by | William Woodson (opening narration) |
| Theme music composer | Hoyt Curtin |
| Composer(s) | Hoyt Curtin |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original release | September 10 – December 3, 1977 |
CB Bears was a fun animated television series from America. It was made by Hanna-Barbera Productions and first shown on NBC from September 10 to December 3, 1977.
Like many cartoons from that time, CB Bears was an anthology series. This means it was a show made up of six different short cartoons, all in one hour! Each cartoon was a funny take-off, or "spoof," of a popular TV show or movie.
For example, the CB Bears part was a funny version of the hit show Charlie's Angels. It featured three bear detectives who got their missions from a boss you never saw. Another segment, Heyyy, It's the King!, was like the show Happy Days, with a cool lion character similar to Fonzie. Blast-Off Buzzard was a chase cartoon like Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Posse Impossible was a cowboy show that made fun of John Wayne movies. Shake, Rattle & Roll had three ghosts, and Undercover Elephant was a spoof of Mission: Impossible.
Later, on February 4, 1978, NBC put the show into a two-hour block called The Go-Go Globetrotters. This block also showed reruns of the Harlem Globetrotters cartoon series. This continued until September 3, 1978.
Contents
Where It Was Shown Again
When CB Bears was shown again in syndication (meaning on other TV channels), it was often split into shorter half-hour shows. For example, Blast-Off Buzzard and Posse Impossible were shown together. Also, Heyyy, It's the King! was paired with Shake, Rattle & Roll and Undercover Elephant.
The show was also rebroadcast on Cartoon Network from 1995 to 1997. You might also hear the CB Bears theme song at the end of other cartoons like The Skatebirds and Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels.
The Different Cartoons
The CB Bears show was made up of six different cartoon segments. Here's a closer look at each one:
The CB Bears
This cartoon was about three funny bear detectives named Hustle, Boogie, and Bump. They were voiced by Daws Butler, Chuck McCann, and Henry Corden. They pretended to be trash collectors and drove around in a special garbage truck called the "Perfume Wagon." They solved mysteries across the country.
Their boss was a woman named Charlie (voiced by Susan Davis). She would give them their missions over a CB radio in their truck. This part of the show was inspired by the popular TV series Charlie's Angels. In fact, Bump the bear even had a blonde hairstyle like Farrah Fawcett, a famous actress from that show! The bears' names (Hustle, Boogie, Bump) were based on popular disco dances from the 1970s. The show also made a nod to the "CB radio craze" that was popular back then.
Blast-Off Buzzard
This cartoon featured Blast-Off Buzzard (with sounds by Daws Butler). He was a buzzard who wore aviator gear and was always chasing a wacky snake named Crazylegs. Crazylegs wore a football helmet and was super fast, always outrunning the buzzard. This segment was a lot like the classic Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons, and it didn't have any talking.
Heyyy, It's the King!
This segment was about a cool lion named King (voiced by Lennie Weinrib). He was like the popular character Fonzie from Happy Days. King hung out with his high school friends: Big H the Hippopotamus (voiced by Sheldon Allman), Clyde the Gorilla (voiced by Don Messick), Skids the Alligator (voiced by Marvin Kaplan), and Yukayuka the Hyena (also voiced by Lennie Weinrib). There were also cheerleaders, Sheena the Lioness (voiced by Ginny McSwain) and Zelda the Ostrich (voiced by Susan Silo). They were always trying to come up with plans to become famous or get attention.
Posse Impossible
This cartoon was a Western comedy. It followed the Sheriff of Saddlesore (voiced by Bill Woodson) and his group of not-so-great cowboys. The posse included Stick (voiced by Daws Butler with a country voice), Big Duke (voiced by Daws Butler doing a John Wayne impression), and Blubber (voiced by Chuck McCann). Their job was to catch famous outlaws. In every episode, the Sheriff and his clumsy posse would try to catch a bad guy, and somehow, the bad guys always ended up in jail.
Shake, Rattle & Roll
This segment was about three friendly ghosts named Shake (voiced by Paul Winchell), Rattle (voiced by Lennie Weinrib), and Roll (voiced by Joe E. Ross). They ran a special hotel called the Haunted Inn, which was a place for ghosts and other spooky creatures to stay. They tried their best to take care of their guests.
Sometimes, their work was interrupted by a character named Sidney Merciless (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer). He called himself a "ghost exterminator" and wanted to get rid of all ghosts in the world. The ghosts also had to deal with a "Ghost Mouse" and had a "Poltercat" to help them.
Undercover Elephant
This cartoon featured Undercover Elephant (voiced by Daws Butler) and his small sidekick, Loudmouse the Mouse (voiced by Bob Hastings). They worked for a secret organization called Central Control and solved mysteries.
There were some funny running jokes in this cartoon:
- Undercover Elephant's disguises often didn't work very well, especially since he ordered some of them from the back of comic books!
- Loudmouse would often accidentally give away their secret mission when they were trying to spy on villains.
- Undercover Elephant always had trouble avoiding the exploding messages sent to him by his Chief (voiced by Michael Bell), just like in Mission: Impossible.
- He also found it very hard to resist eating peanuts!
Voices
Many talented voice actors brought these characters to life:
- Sheldon Allman - Big H
- Michael Bell - Chief
- Daws Butler - Blast-Off Buzzard, Duke, Hustle, Stick, Undercover Elephant
- Henry Corden - Bump
- Susan Davis - Charlie
- Bob Hastings - Loudmouse
- Marvin Kaplan - Skids
- Chuck McCann - Boogie, Blubber
- Ginny McSwain - Sheena
- Don Messick - Clyde, Seeker, Elmo, Mr. Gridley, Newsman, Bigfoot/Robber
- Alan Oppenheimer - Sidney Merciless
- Joe E. Ross - Roll
- Susan Silo - Zelda
- John Stephenson - Abernathy, Hunter Hunt
- Lennie Weinrib - King, Rattle, Yukayuka, Park Ranger, Vampire
- Frank Welker - Carnival Worker, Ringmaster
- Paul Winchell - Shake
- Bill Woodson - Sheriff of Saddlesore
Other Appearances
Some characters from CB Bears also appeared in other cartoons:
- Undercover Elephant showed up in some episodes of Yogi's Treasure Hunt.
- Reruns of CB Bears and Undercover Elephant were shown in the 1980s on Captain Kangaroo.
- Reruns of Undercover Elephant were also used as short filler cartoons in Wake, Rattle, and Roll.
- Blast-Off Buzzard and Crazylegs even appeared in an episode of Tom & Jerry Kids, where they actually talked!
- Undercover Elephant made a quick appearance in the "Agent Penny" episode of the Super Secret Secret Squirrel part of 2 Stupid Dogs.
See also
In Spanish: Los osos mañosos para niños
