Synopsis of Saturday Morning Show

Kablam! was one of those rare series that actually needed an exclamation point in its title. Freewheeling, eclectic, and borderline insane, the show billed itself as “TV’s first animated sketch comedy series.” Several different segments combined in Kablam!, mixing a variety of animation styles and comic sensibilities.

The show was hosted by big-headed, computer-animated kids Henry and June, who presented the other segments as pages in an animated comic book.

One of the segments, “Sniz and Fondue,” had two cel-animated rodents as its title characters. Sniz was the hyperactive one, an unstoppable bundle of energy who made life miserable for his best friend Fondue—messing with his model collection, giving him a cursed birthday present, and so on.

“Action League Now” was one of Kablam!’s more unique entries, an action/adventure show starring a set of plastic superhero action figures. The group consisted of musclebound The Flesh, powerful blonde beauty Thundergirl, melted Meltman, lab geek Bill, and Stinky Diver (so named for his expeditions into the toilet). Taking their orders from The Chief, the Action League battled such dastardly villains as Spotzilla and The Mayor. In a process the creators dubbed “chuck-a-mation,” the action figures were either moved around by unseen hands or “chucked” across the screen, inspiring thousands of home viewers to create their own “Action League Now” episodes with discarded toys and a video camera.

“Prometheus and Bob,” a clay animation segment, was presented as a video record of alien Prometheus’ attempts to teach caveman Bob the wonders of science. Prometheus introduced his dimwitted pupil to the wheel, the bed, painting, musical instruments, and many other advances, but Bob usually came out none the wiser. A local monkey worked as a sort of apprentice to Prometheus, despite the fact that he was smarter than both caveman and alien.

In the cutout-animated “Life With Loopy,” twelve-year-old Larry told viewers about the wild adventures of his little sister Loopy. Like most kids, Loopy had a vivid imagination, but unlike most kids, her wild fantasies came to life—inflating the house, living on the ceiling, building a cloning machine, etc.

In addition to these five segments, a number of other shorts popped up occasionally on Kablam!, including “The Offbeats,” “Lava,” and “Untalkative Bunny.” The end result of Kablam!’s wacky mix was a sort of Liquid Television for kids, and Nick’s viewers reacted with enthusiasm. The show became a long-running hit for the kids’ network, remaining on the Nick schedule into the early 00’s.

Release History

10/11/96 - late 90's Nickelodeon

TV Sub Categories

animated
action/adventure
comedy

TV Studio

Nickelodeon

Television Cast

Henry Noah Segan
June Julia McIllvane

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