“Hey hey hey!” Halloween specials aren’t just for The Simpsons and ‘70s personalities. Back in 1977, another popular cartoon rolled out a Halloween special of its own: Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was a long-running series created by Bill Cosby – yes, that Bill Cosby. The Coz also hosted the story in live-action bookends and voiced a couple different characters (including Fat Albert himself). The stories always centered on our overweight lad and his buddies as they hung out in a junkyard and learned life lessons, because that’s what kids did in the ‘70s.
No live bookends for this special though, as we go immediately to the gang heading into the ol’ Root ‘n’ Rummage to pick up some Halloween costumes. One of the kids has a whole $1.87 burning in his pocket! Unfortunately, the grumpy old man who runs the shop is just too busy with the scary Mrs. Bakewell, who lives in the creepy old house by the cemetery. Extra scary! A punk in a half-shirt named Devery gets them all kicked out of the store, and the gang agrees that old people are creepy and mean.
Now decked out in their homemade Halloween costumes (the best kind of costumes, in my humble opinion), the gang set out for the evening. Rudy, the resident d-bag of the gang, makes fun of the others’ costumes, which is pretty rich coming from a guy in a pink clown outfit.
Seriously.
They all head to the cemetery – because what else would you do in your homemade costumes on Halloween? – where they get a good scare from Devery. Fat Albert, the moral compass of the group, starts to give a lecture on playing pranks, but everyone tell him to can it. Rudy ponders how someone so round could be so square. Yes, that’s the kind of wordplay Fat Albert is known for.
Devery and Rudy’s big Halloween plan? Spend the night scaring old people. I’m with Albert on this one – that sounds really stupid.
And just in case you kids aren’t sure if Devery is a Bad Influence, his little sister pops up to remind him that he’s supposed to be home grounded. Devery blows her off, because these old people won’t scare themselves! Besides, I’m sure the whole “Devery is supposed to be grounded” thing won’t come up again…
First up: “Old Searchlight” Johnson, the usher at the local movie house. Most of the gang is enjoying the movie while Devery and Rudy… drop a mop head on him? This rather lame act gets everyone kicked out of the movie. There’s a lot of grumbling, but Devery blames it all on “Old Searchlight” because Devery is a prick.
Next up: Ol’ Mudfoot, who lives in a shack in the junkyard. “What’d he ever do to you?” Albert asks. “He got old,” retorts Devery the Sociopath. Mudfoot actually ends up scaring the gang, and then tells a rambling tale while snacking on their trick-or-treat loot. Mudfoot is awesome.
The guys are ready to call it a night, but Devery is still all amped up to scare Old Mrs. Bakewell. Albert calls out Devery on his douchiness, challenging him to go do the scarin’ on his own. Devery dodges the challenge, sending little Russell and his own little sister up to trick-or-treat at Bakewell’s. They go in… and they don’t come out.
After a minor freak-out, Fat Albert comes up with a plan that involves catapulting Bucky to the window so he can see what’s going on. Bucky ends up hanging from the gutters, making it the first time in the show’s history that Bucky ever did anything.
We eventually find out that – SPOILER – Mrs. Bakewell is incredibly nice and generous. So nice, that the gang offers to take care of the yardwork for her that weekend. Turns out that old people are actually quite nice!
Of course, Devery misses it all because he’s too chicken to go to Bakewell’s door. “That’s no fair!” Devery whines, “When am I gonna get mine?” On cue, here comes Devery’s dad, who is 15 feet tall and looks like Fred Williamson.
Like this, but at least twice as tall.
The gang’s final judgment on Devery? “No class.”
As for the final judgment on Fat Albert’s Halloween Special? It’s pretty effective for its target audience, once you get past the dated feel and vernacular. I don’t know that kids would find it particularly funny (honestly, I didn’t), but it doesn’t try to do too much and it has something to say about bullying and treating others with dignity. How’s that for a treat?
Source:
http://www.yourfaceisa.com/bin-special-fat-alberts-halloween-special/
The News from http://funyhalloween.blogspot.com