Synopsis of Saturday Morning Show

Like The Jacksons before them and The Partridges a few years later, the Osmonds joined the ranks of singing families to appear in animated form on Saturday mornings. Rankin-Bass’ The Osmonds found musical siblings Donny, Jimmy, Merrill, Wayne, Jay and Alan touring the world as goodwill ambassadors on behalf of the United States Music Committee.

Donning different colored socks (How else could you tell those pearly-toothed posterboys apart?), the Osmonds stumbled across adventure after crazy adventure while singing their way around the globe. Animated girls swooned over Donny no matter what country the brothers appeared in (and unfortunately for Jimmy, Merrill, Wayne, Jay and Alan, this was usually the case in real life as well), but Donny usually had his hands full trying to escape the clutches of his biggest fan, Hortence Bird. Meanwhile, little Jimmy could never seem to keep himself out of trouble.

Although sister Marie wasn’t featured on the series, talking dog Fuji (modeled after Jay's pet Akita, who did not talk) was along for the ride. “One Bad Apple,” the brothers’ hit from 1971, was the show's theme, and each weekly episode featured a different song to keep the brothers' screaming fans placated.

The Osmonds lasted two seasons, although the second season consisted entirely of reruns. In 1976, the real-life Donny and Marie hosted their own variety show, Donny and Marie, a hit in prime time. In 1979, all the siblings would reunite for the live-action The Osmond Family Show, and in 1998 Donny and Marie began hosting the daytime talk show The Donny and Marie Show.

Release History

9/9/72 - 9/1/74 ABC

TV Sub Categories

animated

TV Studio

Rankin/Bass

Television Cast

Donny Osmond Himself
Jimmy Osmond Himself
Merrill Osmond Himself
Wayne Osmond Himself
Alan Osmond Himself
Jay Osmond Himself
Fuji Paul Frees

Other Saturday Morning Links