"Dad, you killed zombie Saturday Morning Cartoon Show!"

It's cold and there are wolves after me! Okay, so that's a stretch, but Beta was out today and spending a rainy Fall morning alone in the studio while doing Halloween specials is enough to put put both heebies and jeebies into the mix. The people creeping around the building, getting ready for the football game, make oddly spooky noises when the sun's not out. Anyway, cartoons!

The first hour of the show features an eighties classic that ran on CBS for fifteen years before finally being retired from regular programming: Garfield's Halloween Adventure. In addition to boasting the first appearance of Binky the Clown, this special generated one of my all time favorite slacker catchphrases, "Candy, candy, candy!" Keep you ears peeled for two musical numbers sung by Lorenzo Music and two more sung by the Lou Rawls, both of whom were tremendous vocal talents. Plus, you know, pirates!

During the show I mentioned Mark Evanier, a man who has his fingers and toes in more pies than I can count and all of them are awesome. His blog is always entertaining, but for SMCS listeners it is his accounts of the shows he's worked on that are the most exciting. If you're a fan of anything related to Garfield, you do not want to miss his section about the work he's done on the Garfield animations. The fact that he has an episode guide makes it even sweeter. ;)

In the second hour I was downright giddy to fulfill a listener request for The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror III. Not only do you get The Simpsons from a great era, but you also get a tale about terrifying toys, the appropriation of an antique ape, and, zounds, zombies! While there have been many wonderful moments in the history of Treehouse of Horror, I can't find a single episode that matches this one for quality of writing, humor, and use of other works. It just may be a perfect half hour of the Simpsons.

Podcast for 10/17/09 - Halloween 4 - Garfield & The Simpsons

Next week we'll be airing one more as-yet-to-be-determined Halloween Special and our traditional closer It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I thought a few of you would be interested in a couple of old TV promos from this one, so below the entry you'll fine two from CBS, one from 1966 and one from 1985. It's a neat little look into how this particular special seemed to tap into the cultural climate no matter the era. Plus it's just cool that the second one also contains one of today's featured shows. Look at how that one is framed, as there's more than cartoons with it.

As always, any requests for cartoons or music can be left right here or e-mailed throughout the week. And for those who missed it last week, yes, we'll play "Riverbottom Nightmare Band" for you. ;)

Enjoy!

- DJ Muppet

"The Saturday Morning Cartoon Show had a little lamb...BUT I ATE IT!"

Hey all! Sorry about the delay is getting the podcast up. You may or may not know that my car and I were hit last week and dealt a rather nasty blow. I'm safe and, thanks to my dad being awesome, my car is at least drivable, but because of the setbacks in my schedule I wasn't able to get back to the studio and get the podcast uploaded. But I have now!

This show features some truly classic cartoons from the Warner Bros. universe. Both Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes are represented, as well as some of the newer offerings that will send listeners of a certain age back to footy pyjama evenings hiding under a blanker in front of the TV. Since long time WB animation fans are no doubt familiar with most of today's offerings I won't go into great detail commentary wise, however, I do want you to pay special attention to the orchestration and sound effects on the Porky Pig/Sylvester shorts. There's a suitably other worldly quality to these cartoons that I've never heard anyone able to match Carl Stalling on and these are pieces worth taking special note of.

Podcast for 10/17/09 - Halloween 3 - Looney Tunes

I did want to share one of my favorite spooky Bugs Bunny cartoons with you, but alas, we didn't have the time, so below the entry you'll find it in video form. What's a Halloween celebration without Gossamer, after all? ;)

Tomorrow morning we'll be featuring two more full length Halloween specials from our collection, one of which is even a request, so make sure to tune in and, if you've got 'em, send us your requests for music and cartoons for the final week of the SMCS Halloween Extravaganza!

Enjoy!

- DJ Muppet