Where's Huddles?
| Where's Huddles? | |
|---|---|
 On-screen title card. | |
| Created by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Network | CBS |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera |
| Distributor | Taft Broadcasting |
| Original release | July 1—September 2, 1970 |
| Starring | Cliff Norton Mel Blanc Jean Vander Pyl Marie Wilson Paul Lynde Herb Jeffries Don Messick Alan Reed Dick Enberg |
| Producer(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Music composed by | Hoyt Curtin |
| Director(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
Where's Huddles? is an American animated television sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. It ran in 1970, airing 10 episodes that spanned one season. It was a short-lived prime-time animated series geared towards adults, although its accessibility for the whole family allowed it to be aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang in their heydays.
The series was not well received, as it was originally attended to be a permanent summer replacement series, but was canceled after only ten episodes by CBS, due to low ratings.
Much like The Flintstones, the series follows a Honeymooners-like format. In this case, it centers around the life of two pro-football players who live next door to one another and their lives on-and-off the field.
The entire series has been released on DVD.
When the series aired in syndication, some scenes were cut out of the episodes in order to save airing time, these scenes were present on the later released DVD.
Production
Development
After the success of The Flintstones, and when a summer replacement was needed for The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour when it was coming to an end on CBS in 1970, a pilot was pitched and sold to Hanna-Barbera, the reel/animatic was made by Iwao Takamoto, Jerry Eisenberg, and Willie Ito. The pitch followed a series about pro football players and what they do with their lives outside of football. The first episode went into production and was first aired on July 1, 1970, the series lasted until September 2, 1970, only producing 10 episodes as a whole before being canceled by CBS due to lack of viewer interest.
Ed Huddles was based on that of Walter Matthau.
According to the pilot pitch, the series was originally going for a more cartoonish look, but was changed to match more of a realistic look (similar to that of Scooby-Doo).
Music
- Opening theme song lyrics
There's a family down the street, the Huddles! The McCoys live right next door.
Yes I know, the girls are alright Marge and Penny, but the fella's, they play football you know. Savages, that's what they are.
Give the ball and a cheer for Huddles,
with a point after touch down every time!
Savages!
- Closing theme song lyrics
There's a family down the street, the Huddles! The McCoys live right next door.
Give the ball and a cheer for Huddles, and he's over the old goal line!
With a point after touch down every time!
Episodes
| Episode | Original air date |
|---|---|
| 1x01 | July 1, 1970 |
| 1x02 | July 8, 1970 |
| 1x03 | July 15, 1970 |
| 1x04 | July 22, 1970 |
| 1x05 | July 29, 1970 |
| 1x06 | August 5, 1970 |
| 1x07 | August 12, 1970 |
| 1x08 | August 19, 1970 |
| 1x09 | August 26, 1970 |
| 1x10 | September 2, 1970 |
Cast
- Cliff Norton as Ed Huddles
- Mel Blanc as Bubba McCoy
- Jean Vander Pyl as Marge Huddles and Pom Pom Huddles
- Herb Jeffries as Freight Train
- Marie Wilson as Penny McCoy
- Paul Lynde as Claude Pertwee
- Don Messick as Fumbles and Beverly
- Alan Reed as Coach MadDog
- Dick Enberg as the Sportscaster
Legacy
Not too long after the series met its run, Hanna-Barbera would borrow Fumbles' design in 1974 for a new character known as "Tackles"[1], Tackles' role would be that he would appear during the the halftime interstitials of NBC's NFL telecasts, the character was also voiced by Allan Melvin, and would explain the basics of football to younger viewers.
After its ten-episode run, the characters had rare outside appearances with Ed making a cameo in Marvel Comics' Laff-a-Lympics story "The Ends of the Earth," and a Fumbles clip being featured when dogs from HB were being presented in Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration.
In The Brak Show episode "Enter the Hump," Penny makes a cameo on a TV.
