Results: Hey! HeY! Hey? It's a Survey About Fat Albert!
Published on 03/25/2021
A TV show I watched most every Saturday as a kid crossed my mind with fondness recently, so why not write a survey about it?!
QUESTIONS
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Comments
1.
1.
Are you familiar with the 1970's-'80's U.S. Saturday morning cartoon TV show Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids?
Yes
63%
1513 votes
Vaguely at best/Uncertain
17%
401 votes
No
20%
486 votes
2.
2.
The show's characters aren't the creations of its executive producer, comedian/actor Bill Cosby, but they were based on people he knew growing up in Philadelphia. Before his boyhood friends were the basis for Fat Albert cartoons, they were referenced in Cosby's stand-up comedy. Regardless what you think of the sexual misconduct that landed Cosby in prison, do you appreciate comedy based on a comic's real life memories?
Yes, generally
39%
925 votes
It depends on the comedian and the memories forming the basis for the comedy.
35%
833 votes
No, generally
14%
329 votes
Not a stand-up comedy aficionado
13%
313 votes
3.
3.
The Cosby Kids as depicted on the show are a colorful lot, each with memorable traits. Which of them do you like?
Fat Albert (the gang's hefty leader in his orange sweatshirt)
31%
735 votes
Dumb Donald (he with cap pulled down over his eyes, for which the cap has holes)
9%
217 votes
Rudy (arguably the most smartly-dressed, in sweater vest and flat orange cap)
11%
255 votes
Bucky (so nicknamed for the way his front teeth stick out?)
7%
166 votes
Weird Harold (tallest, sporting a tan sportcoat)
10%
229 votes
Mushmouth (wearer of year-round woolen cap, has "buh" speech impediment [?] ending most every word)
9%
223 votes
Russell (Bill's little brother, shortest and most nasal [&/or congested-?]-sounding)
8%
180 votes
Bill (the young Cosby himself. wearing a white sweatershirt and, oddly, the least distinct kid)
8%
200 votes
All
16%
390 votes
None
18%
434 votes
Not Applicable
26%
624 votes
4.
4.
Though the original show ceased airing terrestrially in 1985, it has intermittently lingered in popular culture. Perhaps the most ambitious attempt to renew interest in the property so far has been 2004's live action Fat Albert movie with Kenan Thompson in its title role. I found it a heartless travesty, but others may enjoy it. Be it this movie or other adaptations of comics/cartoons, do you think it's difficult to translate the the appeal of animated characters to flesh-and-blood actors?
Yes, in the main.
23%
543 votes
It depends numerous factors.
25%
608 votes
Unsure
15%
370 votes
No, generally
10%
247 votes
Not Applicable
26%
632 votes
5.
5.
By my reckoning, a more appealing manifestation of Fat Albert's legacy is The Junkyard Band, a group who played go go, the r & b subgenre native to the Washington, D.C area that has never much broken out anywhere else (and notoriously better represented by concert recordings than studio releases). They were named for the ensemble formed by Albert and company on the show and who "played" a song at each episode's end. Can you think of any other musical acts with a point of origination in a cartoon/comic?
Yes
10%
251 votes
Not now, but maybe later?/Undecided
19%
454 votes
No
42%
1019 votes
I'm not familiar with enough music to make such connections.
28%
676 votes
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