Hey Hey Hey! It's Fat Albert!

You read the short description. Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids is one of our favorite cartoons, being heavily referenced in the John Tvs fictional universe, and also being joked about in many of our series, including the legendary Workin' Stiff and Friends. 

So, why is this cartoon one of our "favorites"? Well, get ready to hear some odd reasons that do actually make sense. (To us, at least.)

Fat Albert as a character was created by Bill Cosby as a character to honor one of his best childhood friends, "Fat Albert" Robertson, who, along with the other characters, are a part of a friendly bunch called "The Cosby Kids". 

In the series, they are portrayed as a friendly, fun-loving group who always try to learn something new everyday with often comedic antics and other shenanigans.

In the 70's, Saturday-morning cartoons were rising, previously being established in the 1960's. At the time, educational cartoons weren't around that much, so something had to be done.

And since Bill Cosby was a passionate Protestant Christian, he had to think, "How can I make a funny cartoon with little life-lessons snuck in?". Well, the answer came with this cartoon.

And during the 70's, it worked! Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids was one of the most popular cartoons of the decade, and the rest is history, right? Well, here is where things start to take a turn.

Yeah. This is where things start to take a turn.

In the original series that ran in the 1970's, episodes would usually have a common everyday theme, like stage fright or personal hygiene.

But in the 1980's, the show got renamed to The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and this show focused on more serious issues, like prison violence or even the subject of death itself. The show was still directed by Bill himself, and it still did relatively well, but this caused the downfall of the series.

One episode during this era was called Busted!, and it was known for its depiction of prison violence with actual profanity and a realistic depiction of it all. Not even Mr. Cosby's warning at the beginning of the episode helped, well, simply because the kids would've wanted to watch it by themselves.

Another episode was the most heartwrenching. It was called Gang Wars, and it hit way harder than Busted!, due to actually showing a kid named Fernando getting shot and killed.

So, the series didn't end very well, but what about the thing that lasts, the legacy?

Well, the series had 3 holiday specials, each dived into a more deep explanation of their respective holidays. These included Christmas, Halloween, and even Easter. These holiday specials were well-received, and are still fondly remembered to this day.

Fat Albert has even gone onto video games with the fan-made fighting game M.U.G.E.N. Fat Albert as a character is available for play and his junkyard is a stage.

So, why do we enjoy Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids? Simply put, it taught morals in a fun and engaging way for children, and it also provided plenty of jokes in pop-culture and other things. Not to mention, the movie is a huge inspiration to the story of John Tvs, as it is about cartoon characters (Fat Albert and the gang) going to the real world.

See you later for another post someday!

!הרבה אהבה וברכות