The Monkees were not a real band until they became one.
All in all, a fun show that was fast paced, creative and sometimes topical, yet inoffensive (as all 70s cartoons were!).In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present.
Some of their songs dealt with racism ("We're One Big Family") and environmental pollution ("Mr.Factory"). These songs (from "The Giant Juke Box")were a bit deeper than the typical Archies bubblegum selections. There were also frequent songs on the show which were presented in a style which may well have inspired the MTV station. There were lots of one-liners, 1-3 minute sketches and recurring characters, like say, several segments in which Big Ethel would demonstrate a foolproof method to snag Jughead as he walked by, but naturally, Ethel would inevitably fall victim to the Wily Coyote syndrome. It basically took the characters and transplanted them into a Laugh-In/Saturday Night Live (well, a G-rated form that is) type of show. The Archies were already familiar fixtures on the Saturday morning circuit when this began. This was one of the first cartoon shows I ever saw and it is one of the few which I can still remember 30 years later. Save this, if you're of that age of an innocence, you will very well understand. Overall, the colors and editing are clean and crisp with only the slightest film smudge apparent (hey, these animated episodes are near 40 years old!) and the sound quality is superb! My only two quibbles about this release (thus far): the "Jingle Jangle" music video is far inferior to the presentation of the other musical numbers in this set (it looks as if they filmed it directly from an old color television) and Ron Dante looks rushed to "hurry up!" in places in his interview (I fault the director for this.) For some of you, this may not be your cup of tea for children's entertainment, and that's quite all right: the popularity of "High School Musical" escapes even me. Those of us of an age who were children during the CBS run of Archie and the gang will be most delighted to own this fine purchase: kudos to ClassicMedia/Entertainment Rights, Inc., Genius Entertainment and Archie Comics Publications for their painstaking work on this collection. And let's not forget the fantastic interview with Ron Dante, the real-life lead singer for The Archies! He gives great insight into the makings of the classic recordings. Fans of Sabrina, the Teen-Aged Witch, will be delighted to see how her animated character came to Riverdale in this special, years before Melissa Joan Hart brought her live-action to a new group of children.
SUGAR SUGAR ARCHIES GENIUS PLUS
Bonus features on this collection include the music videos for "Sugar, Sugar" and "Jingle Jangle", Jukebox breakdowns of the individual animated songs for this season, plus the half-hour special "Archie and His New Pals" (which was presented in prime-time before the start of the 1969-70 season of Archie, entitled "The Archie Comedy Hour") and seven sequences of "The Archie Comedy Hour" that was re-configured into "Archie's Funhouse". This particular season of The Archies presents Riverdale's finest in "Laugh-In"-style blackouts and sight-gags (though not as risqué as that particular NBC classic) and features the Giant Jukebox, perfect to segue into the musical numbers for the show. I'm still watching this 3-DVD set of Archie's Funhouse as I type this released this week (3/4/08) it's an almost perfect remastering of the 1970-71 season of Archie on the CBS television network.
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