Growing up in the late 60's-early 70's, there was really only one time to watch cartoons, and that was Saturday mornings.   Waking up before my parents, I'd zip down to the living room and stare wide-eyed at the adventures that played out every week.  Though Spiderman (1967) and Bugs Bunny tied as my all-time favorites, I wasn't too choosey and would watch anything from The Roman Holidays to Sabrina and the Groovie Ghoulies to the latest Sid and Marty Krofft extravaganza.  One of the shows that I fondly remember from my wasted youth is Josie and the Pussycats, mainly because of the infectious theme song that I can still hear whenever I think of the show.¹  A fun though not very original show, the entire series of 16 episodes is now available on DVD.

Originally a comic book published by Archie Comics, Josie was created by Dan DeCarlo (a wonderful man who I had the privilege of meeting years ago) who modeled the heroine after his wife (who was also named Josie.)  The comic, She's Josie, revolved around the comic adventures of the main character and her group of friends.  That changed in 1969 with the success of The Archie Show cartoon series.  That cartoon was so popular (it spawned a #1 hit record, Sugar, Sugar along with three other top 40 hits) that the network soon returned to Archie Comics looking for another property that they could adapt into a Saturday morning cartoon.  The only catch was they wanted an Archie clone...something with music so that they could keep on cashing those music royalty checks.  Josie decided to form a band and the comic's name was changed to Josie and the Pussycats.

The cartoon, which debuted in the fall of 1970, featured Josie, singer, guitarist and leader of the group, Melody, a cute but dumb blonde who plays the drums, and Valerie Brown, the headstrong member of the band, and first black supporting character in a cartoon (but only by half an hour...The Harlem Globetrotters premiered right after Josie on the same network), who plays that all-important instrument:  The Tamborine.

In the show Josie et al are on a whirlwind world tour booked by their flamboyant agent Alexander Cabot III.  His twin sister, Alexandra who has a Bride of Frankenstein-like white stripe of hair, and her cat Sebastian are tagging along on the tour too, for some unknown reason.  Rounding out the cast is Alan, Josie's boyfriend and the group's roadie.

The plots are very formulistic.  Every week the group arrives at some exotic locale to perform a gig.  Alexandra, who is viciously jealous of Josie and the reoccurring antagonist of the show, plans some trick or stunt to play on Josie with the help of her cat.  More often than not this results in the group crossing paths with the bad guys: spies, secret societies, or super scientists with world domination on their minds.  It's always up to the gang to stop these nefarious schemes, and do it before their show starts too!

These shows are mindless fun, and are a lot like Scooby Doo.  Like its more famous cousin, Josie has very predictable plots that are recycled from episode to episode, both shows use the exact same background music, and they always play bubble-gum song during the chase scene that is the climax of every episode.  Josie tended to encounter more technological menaces, but the shows were cut from the same cloth.

While I have fond memories of watching this show as a kid, seeing it again after all these years leaves me a bit cool.  I always knew it wasn't the best show out there, but the reused animated segments and ludicrous plots make this show less than compelling today.  Even as a kid I remember questioning why the kept Alexandra along when she never did anything but cause them trouble, but it's nearly impossible to overlook that as an adult.  Yeah, I'll admit I had fun watching the first few shows and even got up to dance and sing along with the theme (don't try to picture it...it isn't pretty) but the shows are so interchangeable that you really don't need to see all 16.

One interesting bit of trivia concerning the show deals with the music.  Hoping to reproduce the luck that Filmation had with The Archies, Hanna Barbara put together an all-girl trio that sang the music used in the show.  One member of this group was a young actress named Cherie Moor.  While these Pussycats never became famous like the producers hoped, Moor did after she got married and changed her name to Cheryl Ladd.

This set contains the entire series which ran for two seasons on CBS from 1970-72:  16 episodes.  Yep, you read that right.  They kept on repeating the same 16 shows for over 100 weeks.  I remember the frequent reruns as a kid, and many shows were just as bad.  In any case these shows are presented on two DVDs.  The first one is single sided and contains the first 8 shows while the second is a double-sided disc with four episodes on each side.  They come in a pressboard case with both discs on the same side, one partially overlapping the other.  This disc holder is housed in a colorful slipcase.

Audio:

This show comes with the original mono soundtrack which has seen better days.  The range is very limited, with both the lows and the highs clipped off.  There is some distortion in the louder parts too.  While this never gets distracting, it is rather irritating.

Video:

Like the audio, the full frame image hasn't been restored.  The prints used are in pretty good shape, but dirt, spots and lines are common place.  The colors are strong however and the lines are generally tight.  Digitally there is some aliasing, but it isn't very sever.

Extras:

There is also a great featurette that pays tribute to Josie's creator:  The Irresistable Charm of Dan DeCarlo.  DeCarlo is no longer with us, but several comic creators including Stan Lee sing his praises.  The 22-minute documentary covers his career and also discusses how he met his French wife while serving in the armed forces during WWII and how he patterned Josie after her.  This is a wonderful featurette that's very enjoyable to watch, especially for an old comic buff like myself.

Final Thoughts:

This show is a poor man's Scooby Doo.  It is structured in the same fashion, but for some reason doesn't quite have as much charm as "those meddling kids and that dog."  If you have fond memories of the show, this set won't crush them, but it won't do much to enhance them either.  This would make a good rental since there isn't that much replay value.

1)  The lyric to the theme song:

Josie and the Pussycats
Long tails and ears for hats
Guitars and sharps and flats
Neat, sweet, a groovy song
You're invited, come along.

Hurry, Hurry

See ya all in Persia
Or maybe France
We could be in India
Or perchance
Be with us in Bangkok
Make no difference
Everywhere the actions at
We're involved with this or that

Come along now

Josie and the Pussycats
No time for purrs and pats (?)
Won't run when they here scat
Here where the plot begins
Come on and watch the good guys win
Josie and the Pussycats
Josie and the Pussycats.