C.B. Bears
Synopsis of Saturday Morning Show
Like pet rocks and mood rings, the Citizen's Band radio craze hit the 70’s hard and fast. Spurred on by the success of the C.W. McCall song "Convoy," the popularity of C.B. radios skyrocketed, moving from truckers' rigs into private residences. The cries of “Breaker, Breaker” and “10-4 Good Buddy” could be heard for miles around. The song inspired a movie starring Kris Kristofferson and Ernest Borgnine, and eventually the craze manifested itself in animated form.
The C.B. Bears featured a bevy of different segments lumped into a one hour program. The title characters appeared in a segment of their own, fighting crime from a dilapidated garbage truck that was chock-full of technical goodies. Hustle was the leader, a Moe Howard-like bully with a voice that sounded like Phil Silvers; Bump was the token idiot, with a garbage can lid for a hat and a slight resemblance to Scooby-Doo; and Boogie was a clone of Boo-Boo from the Yogi Bear cartoons. The trio’s marching orders were dispatched over the C.B. in their truck by an unseen female named Charlie.
Among the other segments: “Undercover Elephant,” who solved crimes with his partner Loud Mouse; “Shake, Rattle, and Roll,” which had a trio of ghosts running a hotel against the wishes of its operator, Sidney Merciless; “Hey, It’s the King,” which had a city cat meet up with Big H the hippopotamus, Clyde the ape, Skids the alligator, Yukayuka the mole, Zelda the ostrich, and Sheena the lioness; “Blastoff Buzzard and Crazy Legs,” a dialogue-free desert chase with a bird pursuing a snake; and finally, “Posse Impossible,” about four bumbling cowboys (Sheriff, John Wayne soundalike Big Duke, a fat guy who cried a lot named Blubber, and Stick the Hillbilly), who defended justice in the old west town of Saddlesore.
The show ran half a season on its own, then was incorporated into the two hour Go Go Globetrotters for the rest of the season.
Release History
9/10/77 - 9/2/78 NBCTV Sub Categories
animatedTV Studio
Hanna-BarberaTelevision Cast
Hustle Daws ButlerUndercover Elephant Daws Butler
Big Duke Daws Butler
Stick Daws Butler
Bump Henry Corden
Boogie Chuck McCann
Blubber Chuck McCann
Charlie Susan Davis
The King Lennie Weinrib
Yukayuka Lennie Weinrib
Loud Mouse Bob Hastings
Big H Sheldon Allman
Clyde Don Messick
Skids Marvin Kaplan
Zelda Susan Silo
Sheena Ginny McSwain
Sheriff Bill Woodson
Shake Paul Winchell
Rattle Lennie Weinrib
Roll Joe E. Ross
Sidney Merciless Alan Oppenheimer