I'm sorry to get off the subject of MM, but I just thought of something. All this talk about SpaceGhost got me thinking about my favorite cartoons as a child. And I have a question to which I have not received a conclusive, satisfying answer: Why don't we ever see any reruns of Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids? that was one of my favorite shows of all time...I've purposefully looked for it for a while. There's two cartoon-only satellite stations (The cartoon network and a new one called Boomerang). Let me tell you, they have some pretty silly, OBSCURE cartoons from back in the day. But like I said, no Fat Albert. Now, I've gotten into quite a few debates about this: Theory 1: Someone told me that Fat Albert isn't considered 'pc" for some reason. I guess the theory holds that the show reaffirmed stereotypes about young African American males living in the inner city or something. What a bunch of crap!! I don't ever remember an episode where Albert and the gang joined a gang, or robbed a store with a gat. Some people have said that many of the characters were stereotypical/ or negative portrayals of individuals with certain "problems" (ie, Fat Albert and his eating disorder, Mushmouth and his speach impediment, etc.) Theory 2: I was also told that Bill Cosby was a bit embarrassed about the show (for perhaps some of the above reasons). Perhaps they reflected his younger, idealistic, "liberal" views about the world. If any of you have ever heard any of the Cos's early comedy albums, he was quite funny. He talked about a bunch of stuff, including smoking weed, etc. But after the phenomenal financial success of the Cosby Show in the 1980's (apparently) he had become some sort of greedy Republican. There was even an episode of The Cosby Show where Theo tried weed and the Cos went off on him. I guess (in the immortal words of Cyndi Lauper) "money changes everything".Thus, another theory holds that he (being the copyright holder) for the show, is simply holding out for the best financial deal to syndicate the old cartoons. No matter what the true answer is, we are all being seriously deprived of revisiting a classic cartoons which is sure to elicit numerous childhood memories of sitting in front of the 'tube on Saturday morning. Those of you old enough to remember this show (esp. if you have some answers or even theories) please respond on the mailing list. God Bless.. Jason
