Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
From ArticleWorld
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was the brainchild of Comedian Bill Cosby, and evolved from a comic strip to a television series first popularized during the 1970s. Cosby worked with producers from the Filmation production compay on the show. Later, in 1979, the show changed it’s name to The New Fat Albert Show. It changed one more time in 1984, to The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Each change in name was signified with the addition of mini episodes like “Legal Eagle” and “The Brown Hornet”
The main character was Fat Albert, a very large African American boy who led his gang through episodes where they encountered many of the same issues faced by contemporary youths.
The show initially appeared as a Saturday morning cartoon and later became the subject of made for television documentaries, movies and even a feature film entitled Fat Albert.
Plans are currently underway to release the entire collection of episodes in DVD format, perhaps due to the popularity of the movie.
Topics Addressed
Fat Albert and his friends were often a sounding board for Cosby to show his concern about the issues faced by kids of all ages. Some of these topics included:
- Bullying
- Skipping School
- Crime
- Puppy-love
- Scamming
- Importance of Education
Characters
- Fat Albert – Sweet but obese teenage with a huge heart and large amount of naivetee. He was know for his deep-voiced rendition of the phrase "Hey Hey Hey"
- Dumb Donald – Covered his face partially with a pink stocking cap
- Bill – Adult character based on Bill Cosby
- Russell – Younger brother of Bill who liked to insult Rudy, by using the words “no class!” Russell always wore a winter coat and a hat.
- Rudy – The smooth-talking interestingly dressed teen
- Mushmouth - Spoke with a lisp, that had him using syllable "be" after the completion of every word
- Weird Harold - Mushmouth's translator. He was a fantastic basketball player, but was otherwise clumsy.
- Mudfoot - Elderly owner of the junkyard hangout of the gang. He was a con artist and was frequently taking money from the kids.