If you are of an age and a class and a space with me, then we probably share similar memories of Saturday morning – eating big bowls of breakfast cereal and watching cartoons, like Scooby-Doo (the original, not any of the later, lesser incarnations), Johnny Quest, and… Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
As Time Out Chicago suggests, for those of us who grew up on them and now have kids of our own, TV shows such as Fat Albert can make a nice change from the dreck being dished out on TV for our kids these days.
But Fat Albert serves another important role in my relationship with my stepson Misha beyond just keeping him occupied and entertained – it gives him some insight into the culture that shaped me, and crucially introduces him to African American life and culture, which was so formative for me, growing up in a black neighborhood in the 1970s, but is completely foreign to him out in the white suburbs of Australia.
(I’ve stocked the basket of reading material in the toilet with Boondocks collections to give him a more up-to-date version and vision of that life and culture. And in a year or two… The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Eyes on the Prize)
- Blaxploitation Pride: Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972).
- Old kids TV shows: “TV shows from your childhood are a welcome respite from today’s kiddie cable… (via Time Out Chicago.)
- Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids: The Original Animated Series – Torrent.
- Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids (1972) – Rapidshare download.
- Is Cosby Telling It Like It Is? « The Black Sentinel.
- Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids – The Original Animated Series, Vol. 1 – Amazon.com
- Bill Cosby, Fat Albert (the comedy album) – Amazon.com
- Milk Crate Breaks: BILL COSBY – FAT ALBERT (the comedy album).
Filed under: Autobiography, TV, 1970s, African American, black, cartoons
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