''CB Bears'' is an American

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

produced by

Hanna-Barbera Productions Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

, which aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

from September 10 to December 3, 1977. As with many Hanna-Barbera shows of the time, ''CB Bears'' was an

anthology series An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different ca ...

with six regular segments: ''The CB Bears''; ''Blast-Off Buzzard''; ''Heyyy, It's the King!''; ''Posse Impossible''; ''Shake, Rattle & Roll''; and ''Undercover Elephant''. Each segment riffed on a popular television show or film. The ''CB Bears'' segment was a spoof on the 1976 hit show ''

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts for ABC. It originally aired from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, airing for five seasons consisting of 115 episodes. It was produ ...

'', with a trio of ursine investigators given assignments by an unseen dispatcher. Similarly, ''Heyyy, It's the King!'' was a takeoff on the 1974 hit ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marsha ...

'', with a royal lion based on

Henry Winkler Henry Franklin Winkler (born October 30, 1945) is an American actor, producer, director, and author. Widely known as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1974–1984), Winkler has distinguished himself as a character acto ...

's famous

Fonzie Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, better known as "Fonzie" or "The Fonz", is a fictional character played by Henry Winkler in the American sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1974–1984). He was originally a secondary character, but was soon positioned as a lea ...

. ''Blast-Off Buzzard'' imitated

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical short '' Fast and Furry-ous''. In each film, the cunning, d ...

; ''Posse Impossible'' was a cowboy show caricaturing

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...

; ''Shake, Rattle & Roll'' featured a trio of ghosts imitating comics Hugh Herbert,

Lou Costello Louis Francis Cristillo (March 6, 1906 – March 3, 1959), better known as Lou Costello, was an American comedian, actor and producer. He was best known for his double act with Bud Abbott and their routine " Who's on First?". Abbott and Cos ...

and Marty Allen; and ''Undercover Elephant'' spoofed '' Mission: Impossible''. On February 4, 1978, NBC repackaged the show as part of the two-hour '' The Go-Go Globetrotters'', which also featured reruns of the ''

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...

'' series. This lasted until September 3.

Syndication

In syndication, ''CB Bears'' was shown in a shortened half-hour format with ''Blast-Off Buzzard'' and ''Posse Impossible''; ''Heyyy, It's the King!'' was also shown in a shortened half-hour format with ''Shake, Rattle & Roll'' and ''Undercover Elephant''. The show was also rebroadcast on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

from 1995 to 1997. The ''CB Bears'' theme is also heard in the ending credits of '' The Skatebirds'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

and ''

Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels ''Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels'' is an American animated mystery comedy series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for ABC. The series aired during the network's Saturday morning schedule from ...

'' on ABC.

Segments

The CB Bears

Hustle (voiced by

Daws Butler Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company and the Walter Lantz cartoon studio. He originated the voices of many familiar Hanna-Barbera ...

impersonating

Phil Silvers Phil Silvers (born Phillip Silver; May 11, 1911 – November 1, 1985) was an American entertainer and comedic actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah". His career as a professional entertainer spanned nearly 60 years. He achieved major popularity w ...

), Boogie (voiced by

Chuck McCann Charles John Thomas McCann (September 2, 1934 – April 8, 2018) was an American actor, comedian, puppeteer, commercial presenter and television host. His career spanned over 70 years. He was best known for his work in presenting children's televi ...

) and Bump (voiced by

Henry Corden Henry Corden ( Cohen; January 6, 1920 – May 19, 2005) was a Canadian-born American actor, best known for assuming the voice of Fred Flintstone after the death of Alan Reed in 1977. His official debut as Fred's new voice was in a 1965 Hanna ...

) are a trio of

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

detectives disguised as trash collectors. They travel the country solving mysteries in a tacky garbage truck called the Perfume Wagon (the CB term for a garbage truck). A sultry-voiced female named Charlie (voiced by Susan Davis) contacts the bears on the truck's

CB radio Citizens band radio (CB radio) is a land mobile radio system, a system allowing short-distance one-to-many bidirectional voice communication among individuals, using two-way radios operating near 27 MHz (or the 11-m wavelength) in the high freq ...

to give them their assignments. This show was "inspired" by the hit TV series ''

'' (Bump wore a blonde hairstyle similar to

Farrah Fawcett Farrah Fawcett (born Ferrah Leni Fawcett; February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009) was an American actress. A four-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she played a ...

). Each of the bears' names are based on a 1970s

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

dance, and the show's overall premise made reference to the CB radio craze of the mid-1970s (by this point waning in popularity). Physically and personality-wise, Hustle, Boogie, and Bump resemble Hair Bear, Bubi Bear, and Square Bear, respectively, from the earlier cartoon '' Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!'';

provided the same Phil Silvers-esque voice for both Hustle and Hair.

Episodes

Blast-Off Buzzard

Blast-Off Buzzard (vocal effects provided by

) is a buzzard in aviator gear and a '' de facto'' villain who chases Crazylegs, a wacky football helmet-wearing

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

who outruns the buzzard. Their situation was very similar to

. This is a non-speaking segment.

Episodes

Heyyy, It's the King!

A cool,

-patterned

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

named King (voiced by Lennie Weinrib) alongside his high school classmates Big H the

Hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...

(voiced by Sheldon Allman), Clyde the

Gorilla Gorillas are primarily herbivorous, terrestrial great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five su ...

(voiced by

Don Messick Donald Earle Messick (September 7, 1926 – October 24, 1997) was an American voice actor, known for his performances in Hanna-Barbera cartoons. His best-remembered voice roles include Scooby-Doo; Bamm-Bamm Rubble and Hoppy in ''The Flintsto ...

), Skids the

Alligator An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus ''Alligator'' of the Family (biology), family Alligatoridae in the Order (biology), order Crocodilia. The two Extant taxon, extant species are the American alligator (''A. mis ...

(voiced by

Marvin Kaplan Marvin Wilbur Kaplan (January 24, 1927 – August 25, 2016) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter who was best known as Henry Beesmeyer in ''Alice'' (1978–1985). Early years Kaplan was born on January 24, 1927, in Brooklyn, New Y ...

), Yuka Yuka the

Hyena Hyenas or hyaenas ( ; from Ancient Greek , ) are feliform carnivoran mammals belonging to the family Hyaenidae (). With just four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the order Carnivora and one of the sma ...

(voiced by Lennie Weinrib), and cheerleaders Sheena the Lioness (voiced by Ginny McSwain) and Zelda the

Ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

(voiced by

Susan Silo Susan Silo (born July 27, 1942) is an American actress who is known for her work in voice-over roles. Early life Susan Silo was born in New York City. Both her parents were actors Jon Silo and Ruth Silo. Career Her acting career started in ...

) attempt schemes to get into the spotlight.

Episodes

Posse Impossible

The

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

of Saddlesore (voiced by

Bill Woodson William T. Woodson (July 16, 1917 – February 22, 2017) was an American film, stage, radio and voice actor, best known for his narration of the radio series '' This is Your FBI'', '' The Invaders'', the animated series '' Super Friends'' and al ...

) and his hopeless posse of

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

s: Stick (voiced by

in a hillbilly voice), Big Duke (voiced by

impersonating

) and Blubber (voiced by

) jail notorious outlaws by out-bungling the rascals. In every segment, the Sheriff goes after some no-good polecat which ends with the bad guys behind bars. A prototype version of the posse was featured in the final episode of '' Hong Kong Phooey''.

Episodes

Shake, Rattle & Roll

Shake (voiced by

Paul Winchell Paul Winchell (''Birth name, né'' Wilchinsky; December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, humanitarian, and inventor whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted ''The Pa ...

), Rattle (voiced by Lennie Weinrib), and Roll (voiced by Joe E. Ross) are three

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

s who run the Haunted Inn, a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

for ghosts and other supernatural creatures as they tend to their needs. Their workplace hijinks are sometimes disrupted by self-proclaimed "ghost exterminator" and nemesis Sidney Merciless (voiced by

Alan Oppenheimer Alan Oppenheimer (born April 23, 1930) is an American actor. He has performed numerous roles on live action television since the 1960s and has had an active career doing voice work since the 1970s. Early life Oppenheimer was born in New York ...

) who wants to rid the world of ghosts. Shake, Rattle, and Roll also tend to have problems with the Ghost Mouse as their Poltercat helps in attempts to get rid of it.

Episodes

Undercover Elephant

Undercover

Elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

(voiced by

) and his sidekick Loudmouse the

Mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

(voiced by

Bob Hastings Robert Francis Hastings (April 18, 1925 – June 30, 2014) was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Lt. Elroy Carpenter on ''McHale's Navy'' and voicing Jim Gordon (character), Commissioner James Gordon in the DC Animated Un ...

) work for Central Control and solve mysteries. Recurring gags of this segment included disguises worn by Undercover Elephant tending to give him away (since some were ordered from the back of a comic book), Loudmouse blowing his cover when staking out the villain, Undercover Elephant being unable to avoid the exploding messages (a-la '' Mission Impossible'') being sent to him by his Chief (voiced by Michael Bell), and to resist

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

Episodes

The segments indicate in colors by which characters starred in them: * Blue = The CB Bears (13 segments) * Lime = Blast-Off Buzzard (13 segments) * Sky Blue = Heyyy, It's the King! (13 segments) * Maroon = Posse Impossible (13 segments) * Green = Shake, Rattle & Roll (13 segments) * Orange = Undercover Elephant (13 segments)

Season 1 (1977-1978)

Voice cast

* Sheldon Allman as Big H * Michael Bell as Chief *

as Hustle, Blast-Off Buzzard, Duke, Stick, Undercover Elephant * Tommy Cook *

as Bump * Regis Cordic *

Scatman Crothers Benjamin Sherman "Scatman" Crothers (May 23, 1910 – November 22, 1986) was an American actor and musician. He is known for playing Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show ''Chico and the Man'', and Dick Hallorann in Stanley Kubrick's '' The ...

as Segment Title Narrator * Susan Davis as Charlie * Cindy Erickson *

Joan Gerber Joan Gerber (July 29, 1935 – August 22, 2011) was an American voice actress who provided voices for a variety of cartoons. Her most challenging voice role was "all the children in a Japanese train wreck" for a ''Godzilla'' television episode ...

* Gay Hartwig *

as Loudmouse * Bob Holt *

as Skids * Joyce Mancini *

as Boogie, Blubber * Ginny McSwain as Sheena * Julie McWhirter * Allan Melvin *

as Clyde, Seeker (in "Valley of No Return"), Elmo (in "The Carnival Caper"), Mr. Gridley (in "The Carnival Caper"), Newsman (in "Snowbound Safari"), Bigfoot/Robber (in "Snowbound Safari") *

as Sidney Merciless * Patricia Parris * Joe E. Ross as Roll *

Ken Sansom Frank Kenneth Sansom (April 2, 1927 – October 8, 2012) was an American actor. Among his best known roles, Sansom voiced Rabbit (Winnie-the-Pooh)#Disney adaptations, Rabbit in animated television series, television specials, and films for Disney ...

as Zelda * Hal Smith * John Stephenson as Abernathy (in "The Fright Farm"), Hunter Hunter (in "The Blue Kangaroo") * Alex Tramunti * Janet Waldo * Lennie Weinrib as King, Yuka Yuka, Rattle, Park Ranger (in "Snowbound Safari"), Vampire (in "There's No Pest Like a Singing Guest") *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American actor who specializes in voice acting. He began his career in the 1960s, and held around 850 film, television, and video game credits as of 2020, making him one of the most prolific v ...

as Carnival Worker (in "The Carnival Caper"), Ringmaster (in "The Carnival Caper") *

as Shake *

as Sheriff of Saddlesore

Home media

All thirteen episodes of ''Posse Impossible'' were released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

by Hanna-Barbera Home Video on November 25, 1988. In addition, three episodes of ''Shake, Rattle & Roll'' were released on VHS as part of a compilation titled ''Scooby-Doo & Friends: Mostly Ghostly'' by Hanna-Barbera Home Video in 1990, "The Ghostly Ghoul is a Ghastly Guest", "Spooking the Spooks" and "Guess What's Coming to Dinner". The series has not yet been released on DVD as of 2023.

Other appearances

* Undercover Elephant appeared in some episodes of '' Yogi's Treasure Hunt''. * Reruns of ''CB Bears'' and ''Undercover Elephant'' aired in the 1980s run of ''

Captain Kangaroo ''Captain Kangaroo'' is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program ...

''. * Reruns of ''Undercover Elephant'' were shown as one of the fillers for the adaption of ''

Wake, Rattle, and Roll ''Wake, Rattle, and Roll'' (retitled ''Jump, Rattle, and Roll'' when it aired on The Disney Channel on weekday afternoons in 1991''The Disney Channel Magazine'', Vol. 9, no. 5, September/October 1991: pp. 20, 36, 45.) is an American live-action/ ...

''. * Blast-Off Buzzard and Crazylegs appeared in an episode of '' Tom & Jerry Kids'' in which they actually talk with Blast-Off Buzzard voiced by Lewis Arquette and Crazylegs voiced by Charlie Adler. * Undercover Elephant made a cameo in the "Agent Penny" episode of the '' Super Secret Secret Squirrel'' segment of ''

2 Stupid Dogs ''2 Stupid Dogs'' is an American animated television series created by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons for on TBS. It originally ran from September 5, 1993 to February 13, 1995, as part of TBS's ''Sunday Morning in Front ...

''. * CB Bears and The King and his classmates appeared in '' Jellystone!'' with King voiced by Bernardo de Paula. Skids and Big H are re-imagined as girls in this series. The King and his friends are depicted as criminals. Zelda the Ostrich (voiced by Niccole Thurman) and Undercover Elephant (voiced by Dana Snyder) appear in the third season of ''Jellystone!''. One-shot character Cool Cat appeared in the episode "Disco Fever", voiced by Dana Snyder. He has an American accent rather than an Australian accent in this series.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cb Bears 1977 American animated television series debuts 1977 American television series endings 1970s American animated comedy television series 1970s American anthology television series 1970s American children's comedy television series 1970s American mystery television series American children's animated anthology television series American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated fantasy television series American children's animated mystery television series American English-language television shows Television series by Hanna-Barbera Animated television series about bears NBC animated television series Children's television series about talking animals