Josie and the Pussycats

With all the talk about comparing Josie's bunch with that of Scooby-Doo, I seem to vaguely remember that both groups were featured in an episode of the New Scooby-Doo Movies back in 1973. Casey Kasem must have needed a rest after supplying dialog for both Shaggy and Alexander, nervous breakdowns and all...at one point they even both sounded alike!!!! Furthermore with an expanded cast of eleven teens plus the animal mascots, it must have been tough trying to get the personalities straight - particularly with Alexandra as the sarcastic sounding-board. Then again, the animation would have suffered with so many people to keep track of, including the supporting cast of ghosts and ghouls.

Based on the characters from Archie Comics,this show premiered in 1970 after the huge and critical success of "Scooby Doo,Where Are You",comes another winner from the team of Hanna-Barbera. This show was on the same ground as "Scooby Doo",but with a twist. You take an assortment of characters. The fearless redhead(Josie McCoy),the dingbatty not-so-very bright blonde(Melody Valentine),the ingenious and brains of the outfit sista(Valerie Brown,who was African-American),the hunky roadie(Alan Mayberry),the gutless and sometimes cowardly manager(Alexander Cabot,III),and his jealous catty raven sister who always get the group into trouble(Alexandra Cabot)along with her snickering shorttail feline companion Sebastian. Add to the mix a gallery of diabolical villains, some high adventure that puts the group into on situation after another. Along with a library of marvelous music and from there you have the perfect formula for a great cartoon series. One of the best from the Saturday Morning era of the early 1970's.

"Josie and the Pussycats" was just that...a group name of a trio of young female singers who performed in skin tight feline outfits which included adorable ears. Josie was the redhead lead singer of the band who played the tambourine,while Melody,the blonde was on the drums and Valerie played the guitar and other instruments and wrote all of the songs for the group. The girls along with their roadie Alan,and manager Alexander and his sister Alexandra were musicians who perform all around the world,and along the way in their adventures meet up with some diabolical villain set to take over the world(in some episodes the group is captured by the villain's hencemen or hencewomen and somehow escape or running away from certain dangers) while spending their spare time thwarting international schemes on those who may try to conquer the world and destroy mankind. It amazes me if Josie and her companions were part musicians or international agents working for a secret based underground organization. Could be. Some of the villains they faced were "The Countess", "Mr. X", "Evil Eye", "Midas", "Captain Nemo", and "The Scorpion".

Premiering on CBS-TV on September 12,1970, "Josie and the Pussycats",was a major hit Saturday Morning hit of the early 1970's,following in the comedy and bubblegum music mold of "The Archies". What made this animated cartoon so great was the casting of very well known Hanna-Barbera stockplayers who did the voices. One of them was actress Janet Waldo(who did the voice of Josie)who was also the voice-over for other H-B cartoon characters including the voice of Judy Jetson. Another Hanna-Barbera stockplayer was that of Casey Kasem (who did the voice of Alexander)who was also at the time did the voicework for Shaggy on "Scooby Doo",and other characters,while Jerry Dexter did the voice of Alan,and actress Sherry Alberoni did the voice-over for Alexandra. Regular H-B stockplayer Don Messick(who was legendary for several voiceovers for Hanna-Barbera)did the voice and animal sounds of Sebastian. Actress Barbara Pariot(who was the voice for Valerie,and one of the first minority characters to be featured as the lead in an animated series),and actress Jackie Joesph(did the voice of the dingy blonde Melody)were featured. The singing voices were done by Catherine Douglas,Patricia Holloway,and Cherie Moore(who later changed her professional name to Cheryl Ladd,and became an actress on the prime-time ABC 1970's hit Charlie's Angels in addition to having a short-lived singing career.) Out of the 17 episodes that were produced,the series ran for one season on CBS-TV from September 12,1970 until September 4,1971. CBS repeated these episodes from September 11,1971 until September 2,1972. Then after more than four years on CBS-TV,the series moved to NBC-TV where the episodes were repeated from September 6,1975-October 18,1975,and again from October 25,1975 until Spetember 4,1976. Only the original episodes from the first season aired during the 1970-1971 season,while repeated episodes aired during the 1971-1972/1972-1973 seasons on CBS,and were recycled when it moved to NBC for the 1975-1976 season. The original series and its sequel were recycled numerous times during the entire decade of the 1970's

When I was a kid, I used to enjoy looking at this show. However a few years after the show went off the air, I read the cartoon series, which is radically different from the television version. For instance, the comic book plays as more of a collegiate version of Archie (coincidentally, the Josie and the Pussycats comic book is published by the same company as the Archie comics) in which they are just your average girls with a rock band and they do not go all over the world fighting the wild villains as they do in the animated version of the series. However, the characters personalities are more or less the same, except for Alex. In the cartoon he is a lily livered coward, while in the comic book he is an ego-maniacal weasel much like Reggie Mantel is in the Archie series. I think I would have preferred to see that version of the show rather than this show, which plays like a combination of Scooby Doo and a juvenile version of The Avengers.

"Josie And The Pussycats" is one of the funniest cartoon shows I've ever seen, it was released in the decade that appeared one of the most popular cartoon shows in that time - yes i'm talking 'bout Scooby-Doo -, the real star and show stealer is Alexandra Cabot (well known in Latin America as Alejandra Cabot), she is the funniest character of the TV and she makes the show funnier than his brother Alex. The show is now showed on Cartoon Network Latin america's new channel Boomerang.

Also other of the most funniest parts of the show is the wacky cat Sebastian.

I rediscovered the cartoon when the 2001 movie starring Rachael Leigh Cook and Tara Reid was almost released. The show was broadcasted in a Canadian Cable Network (YTV).

I have watched it in 1972-73 and re-watching it was going into the same fun I had when I was a kid. Stories that were funny, written the "Hanna Barbera" way and with such a sense of humor. I can say here the show distanced a bit from the Archie comic book itself. For example, Alex left his arrogant ego in the comic book and becomes a coward in this one (and that voice from Casey Kasem, I burst out, this is funny ). For the rest, Alexandra with her envys of stealing Alan from Josie and give the Pussycats a "music lesson" and Melody with her everlasting ditziness makes the show...

Noticeable thing here: since the original series started when "Scooby Doo" took a break, I found that Josie and the Pussycats were patterned the same way, with same music and expressions like "meddling kids". Otherwise, the rest is fun to watch and was also a great geography course because in each show, they were in a different country. And even one of the shows did feature a chase around the world (one of the best episodes called "The Great Pussycat Chase"...).

A fun classic to be enjoyed over and over again...