''Uncle Croc's Block'' is an hour-long live-action/animated television series produced by Filmation, and broadcast on ABC in 1975–76. The show was a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of live kids' shows but with (as

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television progra ...

would later describe it) a "bitter edge". The series premiered at 10:30 am ET on September 6, 1975. ''Uncle Croc's Block'' was up against the second half of the popular ''The Shazam!/

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

Hour'' (another Filmation property) and '' Far Out Space Nuts'' on CBS and '' Run, Joe, Run'' and '' Return to the Planet of the Apes'' on NBC. The show, which was fitted with an adult

laugh track A laugh track (or laughter track) is an audio recording consisting of laughter (and other audience reactions) usually used as a separate soundtrack for comedy productions. The laugh track may contain live audience reactions or artificial laught ...

, was shortened to 30 minutes, then scrapped on February 14, 1976, after half a season on the air.

Plot

Charles Nelson Reilly played the eponymous Uncle Croc, a crocodile that hated his job as the show's host and made only the barest of efforts to hide his contempt. Also featured were Alfie Wise as his rabbit sidekick, Mr. Rabbit Ears, and Jonathan Harris as Basil Bitterbottom, the show-within-a-show's frustrated director. A motorcycle-riding bird named Koo Koo Knievel (a parody of stuntman

Evel Knievel Robert Craig Knievel (October 17, 1938November 30, 2007), known professionally as Evel Knievel (), was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Throughout his career, he attempted List of Evel Knievel career jumps, more than 75 ramp-to-ra ...

) popped out of a clock to announce when it was "Star Time", and a celebrity "guest" would appear.

Star Time

Each episode contained a "Star Time" segment in which parodies of popular characters appeared, usually making denigrating remarks about the show and/or its staff, and demonstrating their abilities (or lack thereof). Guests included: * Captain Klangeroo is a parody 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 ...

. ** Mr. Mean Jeans (played by

Huntz Hall Henry Richard "Huntz" Hall (August 15, 1920 – January 30, 1999) was an American radio, stage, and movie performer who appeared in the popular "Dead End Kids" movies, including ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938), and in the later "The Bowe ...

) is a parody of Mr. Greenjeans. * Sherlock Domes (played by Carl Ballantine) is a parody of

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

. ** Dr. Watkins (played by Stanley Adams) is the sidekick of Sherlock Domes. He is a parody of Dr. Watson. * Witchie Goo Goo (played by

Phyllis Diller Phyllis Ada Diller (née Driver; July 17, 1917 – August 20, 2012) was an American stand-up comedian, Actor, actress, author, musician, and visual artist, best known for her Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric stage persona, Self-deprecation, se ...

) is a

witch Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

shows up on a different cleaning tool when her broom is in the shop and her prince-conjuring spell always summons a never-willing Basil to her. She is a parody of Witchiepoo from '' H.R. Pufnstuf''. * Junie the Teenage Genie (played by

Alice Ghostley Alice Margaret Ghostley (August 14, 1923 – September 21, 2007) was an American actress and singer on stage, film and television. Ghostley was best known for her roles as bumbling witch Esmeralda (1969–72) on '' Bewitched'', as Cousin Alice ...

) is an allegedly teenaged

genie GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an online service provider, online service created by a General Electric business, GEIS (now GXS Inc., GXS), that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around ...

. She is a parody of Jeannie from ''

I Dream of Jeannie ''I Dream of Jeannie'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy sitcom television series created by Sidney Sheldon and starring Barbara Eden as a beautiful but guileless 2,000-year-old Jinn, genie and Larry Hagman as an astronaut with whom s ...

'' with a bit of

Sabrina the Teenage Witch ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appeared ...

. * Billy Bratson says "Shazowie" to turn into the

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

Captain Marbles (played by Marvin Kaplan) in the same way Billy Batson transformed into Captain Marvel by saying "Shazam!". * Steve Exhaustion, The $6.95 Man (played by Robert Ridgely) is a

cyborg A cyborg (, a portmanteau of ''cybernetics, cybernetic'' and ''organism'') is a being with both Organic matter, organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.Steve Austin Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson and later Steven James Williams; December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American media personality, actor, producer and retired Professional wrestling, profes ...

, ''

The Six Million Dollar Man ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After being seriously injured in a NASA test f ...

''. * Bogey Bear is a manic-depressive

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 ...

. He is a parody of Yogi Bear. * Miss Invis is a woman who falsely claims to be able to make herself invisible.

Cartoon segments

The show also included the cartoon shorts: * ''M*U*S*H'' (short for Mangy Unwanted Shabby Heroes):

Sled dog A sled dog is a dog trained and used to pull a land vehicle in Dog harness, harness, most commonly a Dog sled, sled over snow. Sled dogs have been used in the Arctic for at least 8,000 years and, along with watercraft, were the only transpor ...

s (voiced by Kenneth Mars and Robert Ridgely) work at a medical outpost in the frozen wasteland of Upper Saboonia. This cartoon is a lampoon of '' M*A*S*H''. In his 2012 autobiography, Lou Scheimer stated that he had written the segment to be intentionally unfunny, a concept that Scheimer found to be a better concept than ABC did. While 30 episodes of the show were written, 23 of the said episodes were fully produced, and 14 of them have not surfaced. * '' Fraidy Cat'': Fraidy Cat (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 ...

) has lost his eight lives and only has one life left which he is wanting to make it last. He is cursed with the ability to involuntarily summon the

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 of his eight past lives, personified as their respective time periods (Five of each voiced by Lennie Weinrib while three are voiced by an uncredited Lou Scheimer) as well as trying to say "nine" which summons Cloud 9 (voiced by

) who tries to claim Fraidy's life. * ''Wacky and Packy'': A prehistoric

caveman The caveman is a stock character representative of primitive humans in the Paleolithic. The popularization of the type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were influentially described as " simian" or " ape-like" by Marcellin B ...

named Wacky and his pet

woolly mammoth The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived from the Middle Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with the African ...

Packy (both voiced by Allan Melvin) get washed into a cave during an earthquake and they end up getting transported two million years into modern times as they work to survive in this time period. Of all of the aired cartoon segments, only ''Fraidy Cat'' had the longest continued existence with the last official home media release being distributed by BCI on a DVD set in 2006, 31 years after the show's conclusion. The voice cast part of the end credits had a disclaimer stating "All voice and vocal impressions were performed by the cast and not by the actual celebrities themselves".

Episodes

Cancellation

As a result of the show's poor performance, ABC president Fred Silverman severed all ties with Filmation and began commissioning its

Saturday-morning cartoon "Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series and live-action programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre was a ...

s from

Hanna-Barbera 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 ...

, with which he had a working relationship during his time at CBS. Filmation noted that the cancellation—though Filmation had had several series end after short runs, none had ever been cancelled before completing their runs up to that point—actually saved the studio money because ABC had already paid for a full season and now Filmation did not have to follow through on paying to produce the remaining episodes. In an attempt to save ratings, Filmation had planned to repackage the repeated '' Groovie Goolies'' episodes as a new segment, redubbed the ''Super Fiends'' (capitalizing on the title of rival Hanna-Barbera's '' Super Friends''), but the show was shelved before the change could be incorporated. The animated segments were featured in the Filmation syndicated package, ''The Groovie Goolies and Friends'', and also resurfaced in the home video market in the 1980s.

References

* *

External links

''Uncle Croc's Block''
at

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

''M*U*S*H''
at

''Fraidy Cat''
at

''Wacky and Packy''

{{Children's programming on the American Broadcasting Company in the 1970s 1970s American animated comedy television series 1970s American anthology television series 1970s American children's comedy television series 1970s American sketch comedy television series 1975 American animated television series debuts 1976 American television series endings 1970s American parody television series American children's animated anthology television series American children's animated comedy television series American English-language television shows American television series with live action and animation American television shows featuring puppetry Children's sketch comedy Television series by Filmation Television series by Universal Television Television series about television American Broadcasting Company animated television series Television series about crocodilians Children's television series about talking animals