Taboo Territory.

I never saw "Love And The Old-Fashioned Father," the pilot film for "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home." But if I had, chances are I'd say as much about it as the show itself. So here I go with my thoughts.

The series aired on Wednesday nights at 7:30 on WNBC Channel 4 in New York during my Newburgh years. When it premiered, I thought, "Ah, another Hanna-Barbera cartoon for me to watch." Well, how was I to know my sibs and I were too young for it? Actually, at 10 going on11, I was just beginning to mature, so.....

The first hint that the show was meant for adults rather than kids I saw in the episode "Alice's Dress." The teaser showed Harry reacting with shock at the dress Alice bought for an upcoming social affair. Not only did it have a see-through top, but the daring daughter also wanted to show off a certain part of her upper regions. Yes, it was necessary for me to use a euphemism here.

Other tips were the dialogue. The characters, particularly paranoid conspiracy theorist Ralph Kane, used words previously unheard in cartoons. But even there, H-B drew the line. There were no words that needed to be "bleeped."That was still a no-no in 1972. And I thought Ralph and his sidekick Sgt. Whittaker feeling threatened by the Russians was a bit of a stretch.

In fact, the only episode I considered kid-friendly was "The Mouse," in which Jamie brought home a pet mouse, but was told he couldn't keep it. No spoilers here; I provided a synopsis of the episode a long time ago in the database.

After the first season, I gave up watching the show. So I missed the episodes with Phyllis Diller, Rich Little, Monty Hall, and Jonathan Winters as Maude Frickert. After the show was cancelled, I saw it again on a Boston station during my time at a boarding school on Cape Cod. I may see it again, or even buy the first season DVD. So what if it foreshadowed many of today's cartoons like "Family Guy?"

Well, one of the more notable successes of Hanna-Barbera Studios was the adaptation of the Gleason / Carney vehicle The Honey-mooners into the animated The Flintstones. This cartoon situation comedy had broad appeal across the age spectrum: children liked the slapstick gags and parents related to the working man + patient wife mechanism. Of course, Hanna-Barbera had been building success through Funny Animal cartoons, because their sponsors were cereal companies and toy makers. It wasn't so much a case of pandering to an audience as it was tailoring their productions to the financiers.

Once Hanna-Barbera had enough capital to underwrite their own ventures, they did so. Thus Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home was made to mimic the nuclear family dynamic of The Flintstones, but updated to the modern day, and underpinned by modern family crises as the dramatic hook cum plot complication meant engage mature viewers. It's absolutely necessary for artists to break out of the old familiar routines, and explore the untried and avant-garde. I can't fault Joe Barbera and Bill Hanna for breaking from the Funny Animal format and fielding a dramatic comedy as a creativity exercise. Speaking for myself, I think WTYFGH worked. :)

"Father" story writer/editor Norman Paul had worked on various Norman Lear comedies including "All in the Family" and "Good Times" so he did bring a certain 1970s "Relevancy" in the series. It was interesting to hear familiar Hanna-Barbera voice actors like John Stephenson, Lennie Weinrib, Allen Melvin, Alan Oppenheimer, and Don Messick performing dialogue about wife-swapping, swinging singles, recreational drugs, hippies, and the occasional effeminate (but not explicitly gay) male character.

Tom Bosley played the voice of Harry Boyle here and played Howard Cunningham on "Happy Days" the following year...bringing the understanding if harried father character to live-action. Interestingly, the pilot for "Happy Days" also premiered as a "Love American Style" segment titled "Love and The Happy Day"...but Tom Bosley did not play Howard Cunningham...Harold Gould played Howard in the pilot with Ron Howard playing Richie, Anson Williams playing Potsie, and Marion Ross playing Mrs. C. No Fonzie.

David Hayward played the voice of Chet in season 1 and Lennie Weinrib played Chet in season 2. Hayward played the assassin of country singer Barbara Jean in the acclaimed 1975 film "Nashville" directed by Robert Altman.

Willie Aames played the voice of Jamie in season 1 and Jackie Earle Haley played Jaime in season 2. Aames played Tommy Bradford in the "Eight is Enough" series which starred Harry Boyle lookalike Dick Van Patten as the Bradford family dad. Jackie Earle Haley played the voice of Greg Butler in "Valley of the Dinosaurs" and appeared in "The Bad News Bears" with Walter Matthau and in various movies and tv series as a child actor. Haley's acting roles faded when he reached adulthood until he made a comeback with an Oscar-nominated performance as a paroled child molester in the film "Little Children" and appearing in the films "Watchmen", "Lincoln", and "Dark Shadows" and the tv series "The Human Target."

Jamie the young son did not appear in the "Love and the Old Fashioned Father" pilot.

Hanna-Barbera also animated another "Love American Style" segment titled "Love and the Private Eye" with the voice of Richard Dawson as master of disguise detective Melvin Danger, Lennie Weinrib as his British assistant Williams, and Mitzi McCall as Melvin's smitten secretary Tangerine. It was also more adult-oriented than most Hanna-Barbera shows..."Love American Style" did originally air at 10pm in its hour long ABC prime time run. That did not become a series. "Love American Style" producers/story writers R.S. Allen and Harvey Bullock wrote episodes of "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home".

The Decades digital tv channel, which is owned by MeTV and is usually carried by most CBS network affiliates, aired the 2 Hanna-Barbera-produced "Love American Style" segments on July 21, 2016 to commemorate the anniversary of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The voice cast in the "Love and the Old Fashioned Father" was the same cast as the series sans Jamie (Tom Bosley as Harry, Joan Gerber as Irma, Kristina Holland as Alice, David Hayward as Chet, Jack Burns as Ralph with guest voice Sidney Miller as swinging dad Fred).

I never saw "Love And The Old-Fashioned Father," and "Love And The Secret Agent," AKA "Love And The Private Eye." Then again, all I ever saw of "Love, American Style" was the opening with the catchy theme song. :)

emeraldisle said:I never saw "Love And The Old-Fashioned Father," and "Love And The Secret Agent," AKA "Love And The Private Eye." Then again, all I ever saw of "Love, American Style" was the opening with the catchy theme song. :)

Wait Till Your Father Get's Home was a show that i got to know in the late hours of Cartoon Network in my childhood. And i remembered I was hooked. While in comparison to the children of the 70s, by my flock was around we we're pretty used to material before our times regurally apart of our entertainment thanks to the institutions cable tv and the like gave us. In truth as a youngster a lot of the more timely issues writing went over my head, but the comedy was always right on target even if i didn't fully realize what I had in time.

I assume that over time as it went away from the air, i had forgot about the show a bit. When it first came out on dvd with it's first season, i even skipped it. But when i watched a commercial for it, my oh my the memories came back and i decided to go back and give it another shot, and there i was right back enjoying the escapades of Harry Boyle.

I enjoy Harry as a main character. I find him likable in his struggles (something in a lot of modern cartoons i don't feel the same endearment to the lead). His family are also pretty good. I enjoy the interactions. Crazy Ralph is just as crazy and phobic as i recalled. As a crazy nut, he's hilarious, especially when he gets in trouble. A lot of the plot line of the then days are pretty good. Some of which may need a little more education for some younger than me to get, but if i could get it back in the 90s, new kids of 2010s probably shouldn't be that far behind.

I do wish the music things get cleared so i can relive the rest of this show on dvd like i do the first season. In a way i'm a bit sorry it took me so long to welcome Harry Boyle back into my life.

Trivia Question 77: True or false: Ralph and Whittaker disguised themselves as African Americans in order to get into the local hospital.

Years ago I watched a TV special about Hanna-Barbera that included a bizarre clip of what was basically "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" with lions instead of humans, set in a jungle. All of the voices were the same, and the teenage son's mane was the equivalent of long hair. Was this an aborted pilot?

True of false? Hmm, blackface humor was more a Warner Brothers staple than one for Hanna-Barbera. Plus, Josie and the Pussy Cats had come out in September 1970, featuring the first central black character in an animated series: Valerie Brown. This was a huge shift from the Archie Comics source, where the third member of the Josie trio was Pepper, a white Affable Nerd. Archie Comics at first bristled at this rebuild, but Hanna-Barbera as well as other studios were under mounting Federal pressure to end their lily-white casting and showcase minority characters. This change went over very well with television audiences, and compelled Archie Comics to rethink their policy, which resulted in a RetCon that Put Pepper On A Bus and integrated Valerie into the Pussy Cats.

Despite the blackface mechanism being something that the paranoid xenophobes Ralph and Whittaker would do, I'm going to say false, since Wait ... Home came after the success of Josie. Once a major studio leaves racism in the ditch, it rarely goes back to retrieve it.

Actually, it's true. They smeared grease on their bodies to pull it off. And as if that weren't enough, they mistook an African American patient for Harry!

Wow, that was quick. Well, obviously, I was wrong :bag:; though I hope that one can see why I gave the answer that I did. Valerie Brown rocked the cartoon world in a good way, and the impact ripples have been felt ever since. :jawdrop:

Bobby Bickert said:Years ago I watched a TV special about Hanna-Barbera that included a bizarre clip of what was basically "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" with lions instead of humans, set in a jungle. All of the voices were the same, and the teenage son's mane was the equivalent of long hair. Was this an aborted pilot?

There was a one-season syndicated cartoon show in the 1990s titled "The Lionhearts" which featured an anthropomorphic MGM lion and his problems at home with his wife and kids. Produced by MGM animation. William H. Macy played the voice of Leo the MGM Lion and Peri Gilpin ("Frasier") played his lioness wife. Not sure if that was the show you remembered.

No, this was back in the 1970's. It was "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" with lions instead of humans, with Tom Bosley and all the other original voices.