Classic TV Sitcoms Get Animated
By Eric Grigs | May 30, 2022
It’s a no-brainer for studios to develop spin-offs from classic TV sitcoms. Why not continue the adventures of beloved characters as long as audiences are willing to watch? And the very luckiest among those shows were the ones that made the jump to cartoon versions of themselves! In the 70s and 80s, there were plenty of properties to choose from, so we got fairly straightforward offerings like those rural Hazzard County rascals The Dukes and the spooky Addams Family to the very loose reinterpretation of Jeannie, who doesn’t quite resemble Barbara Eden's character much at all (but hey, we still got treated to some of Mark Hamill’s first animated voice work)!
Setting aside the direct translations, a surprising number of them took the Marvel “What If?” approach, which made for some very wacky Saturday mornings. Here are five of the biggest adaptation oddities during the heyday of network animation programming.
Partridge Family, 2200 A.D. (1974 - 75)
It’s no wonder this show is basically a ripoff of the Jetsons. Hanna-Barbera was planning an update of that earlier cartoon with grown-up versions of Elroy and Judy. (Hey, it worked for Pebbles and Bam Bam!) For some reason, the brass decided “let’s instead change the bus to a flying car!” Same look, same sound effects, and same buildings in the sky as Orbit City—with absolutely no explanation for how the Partridge family survived from the late 1900s to centuries later! Well, the ageless pop music group gets to play one of their (at this point in the future) very old hits each episode. It lasted 16 episodes, with Susan Dey’s voiceover of Laurie lasting only two. Shirley Jones and David Cassidy did not return.
The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (1980 - 81)
Much of the main cast of the original Happy Days reprised their roles, including Henry Winkler as the Fonz, Ron Howard as Richie, and Don Most as Ralph. The gang becomes displaced in time because of a traveler from the future named Cupcake. Each episode they try to find their way back home but are at the mercy of a malfunctioning time machine. If the Partridge Family 2200 A.D. was the Jetsons, this one’s basically Doctor Who. And yes, that’s also Wolfman Jack providing voiceover in the series credits!
Laverne & Shirley in the Army (1981 - 82)
This two-season ’toon was based off the original show’s episode “We’re in the Army Now,” which guest starred Vicki Lawrence. Drafted into the army in advance of a possible war, Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney lock wits with an actual pig superior, Sgt. Squeally. Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams lent their voices, but Williams was replaced in season two after she quit the live-action namesake show as well. In the second season, it was combined with other shows, becoming the Mork & Mindy / Laverne & Shirley / Fonz Hour, forming the ultimate trifecta of sitcoms turned into animated shows!
Gilligan’s Planet (1982 - 83)
Sending classic characters into space seems to be the go-to plot device when switching over to animation. This show’s premise involved the Professor building a spaceship to get everyone off the island after the events of the earlier, more traditional cartoon adaptation, The New Adventures of Gilligan. But with the gang’s typical bad luck, they blasted off and got stranded yet again; this time on an unknown planet. It features all of the original actors as voice talent except one. You guessed it: it’s Tina Louise, who consistently refused to return for further castaway reunions as Ginger. (However, I guess this Jeopardy ad wasn’t off-limits for her!) The producers ended up having Dawn Wells voice both Mary Ann and Ginger. Fun fact: Gilligan’s Planet was the last Filmation series produced for Saturday mornings before the studio made the transition to exclusively syndicated offerings (like He-Man),
ALF: The Animated Series (1987 - 89)
Looking at everything on the list, this one’s definitely the most well-remembered, with two seasons and 26 episodes. It also makes the most sense to adapt ALF by spinning Gordon Shumway’s new adventures out of the original series as a prequel. The action moves from the Tanner house to his out-of-this-world home, the planet Melmac. None of the human family members from the original show were involved. Only Paul Fusco returned to voice ALF, and he also did non-animated puppet introductions to each of the episodes.
Want more SATURDAY CARTOON goodness?
Check out our Pop Trash Podcast episode “Saturday Cartoon Catastrophe!” where we remember some gone-too-soon cartoons and find out just what finally derailed the big three networks’ Saturday morning animated lineups.
Eric Grigs is a pop culture writer, artist, and co-host of the Pop Trash Podcast.