The Popeye and Olive Comedy Show

''The All New Popeye Hour'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and King Features Entertainment. Starring the comic strip character Popeye, the series aired from 1978 to 1983 Saturday mornings on CBS. Despite the series' mixed reception, (mostly being criticized about its cheap animation, writing and PSAs), it was a hit for King Features Entertainment.

Production

The show was produced by the legendary Hanna-Barbera Productions, which tried to retain the style of the original ''Thimble Theatre'' comic strip while complying with the prevailing content restrictions on violence. Featured characters, aside from the popular main stars of Popeye, Bluto, Olive Oyl and Wimpy, were Swee'Pea, Poopdeck Pappy, Eugene the Jeep and Popeye's quadruplet nephews. Popeye's outfit reverted to his sailor's uniform, except for his cap, which was retained as the white Navy hat. Bluto's name was restored, as it had erroneously been changed to "Brutus" for the early 1960s ''Popeye'' cartoons. Olive Oyl also reverted to her 1930s look.

At the start, ''The All New Popeye Hour'' has three segments: "Popeye", "Popeye's Treasure Hunt" and " Dinky Dog" (a non-''Popeye'' segment about the misadventures of an enormous sheepdog that was later spun off into its own show). In 1979, the show added "The Popeye Sports Parade".
Because of restrictions on violence on television cartoons for children at the time, Popeye did not throw punches in retaliation to Bluto; he often lifted him, with his own hands or with machinery, and hurled him away. The series marked the last time Jack Mercer would voice Popeye; he died on December 4, 1984, fifteen months after the show's cancellation.

Each episode also contains a PSA interstitial called a Safety Tip or a Health Tip about things that include but are not limited to washing hands before dinner, brushing teeth, nutrition, crossing the street the right way, protection against sunburn, and spray paint safety. Some Safety Tips feature an anthropomorphic wolf named Mr. No-No who would engage in dangerous or destructive activities like consuming toxic substances, drinking alcohol, and smoking. He would tend to get Pipeye, Peepeye, Poopeye, and Pupeye to do the same until he is either stopped in some way or turned away by Popeye.

''The All New Popeye Hour'' ran on CBS until September 1981, when it was shortened to a half-hour show and retitled ''The Popeye and Olive Comedy Show''. The show added two new segments. The first segment was "Prehistoric Popeye", similar to '' The Flintstones''. The second segment was "Private Olive Oyl", where Olive and Alice the Goon join the Army, then proceed to drive their drill sergeant, Sgt. Bertha Blast (voiced by Jo Anne Worley) nuts, yet impress the base commander, Col. Crumb (voiced by Hal Smith). This cartoon is based on the idea of '' Private Benjamin''; Hanna-Barbera was also concurrently producing a virtually identical concept with sitcom characters Laverne and Shirley called ''Laverne and Shirley in the Army'' for rival network ABC at the time.

The show was removed from the CBS lineup in September 1983, and the cartoons were immediately sold to local stations in nationwide syndication. They have also been released on VHS and DVD. During the time these cartoons were in production, CBS aired ''The Popeye Valentine Special: Sweethearts at Sea'' on February 14, 1979 at 8:30 PM (Eastern). In the UK, the BBC aired a half-hour version of ''The All New Popeye Show'', from the early-1980s to 2004. Unlike cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, ''The All New Popeye Hour'' did not contain a laugh track.

The syndicated version can currently be seen on Amazon Prime Video, Tubi (as "Popeye: The Continuing Adventures") and on YouTube (as "All-New Popeye").

In Southeast Asia, it aired on Cartoon Network in the 2000s.

Voice cast

In addition to providing many of the cartoon scripts, Jack Mercer reprised his voice as Popeye, while Marilyn Schreffler and Allan Melvin became the new voices of Olive Oyl and Bluto, respectively ( Mae Questel auditioned for Hanna-Barbera to recreate Olive Oyl, but was rejected in favor of Schreffler).

Main

* Jack Mercer as Popeye, Poopdeck Pappy, Pipeye, Peepeye
* Allan Melvin as Bluto
* Marilyn Schreffler as Olive Oyl, The Sea Hag, Swee'Pea, Alice the Goon, Poopeye, Pupeye
* Julie Bennett as Monica
* Daws Butler as Wimpy
* Jackie Joseph as Sandy
* Don Messick as Eugene the Jeep
* Frank Nelson as Uncle Dudley
* Hal Smith as Col. Crumb
* John Stephenson as Mr. No No
* Frank Welker as Dinky
* Jo Anne Worley as Sgt. Bertha Blast

Additional

* Roger Behr
* Ted Cassidy
* Richard Erdman
* Joan Gerber
* Ross Martin
* Virginia McSwain
* Pat Parris
* Barney Phillips
* Jane Roberts
* William Schallert
* Jean Vander Pyl
* Janet Waldo
* Lennie Weinrib

Episodes

Seasons 1–3 (1978–1980): ''The All New Popeye Hour''

Season 1 (1978)

Season 2 (1979)

Season 3 (1980)

Season 4 (1981–1983): ''The Popeye and Olive Comedy Show''

Special

Home media

The first DVD that features ''The All New Popeye Hour'' was released on May 16, 2000, by Rhino Home Video with eighteen segments from the series. A few years later, Warner Home Video released ''Popeye & Friends - Volume One'', a single DVD featuring eight unedited episodes. As of , the series has yet to have a complete series DVD box set.

Notes

References

External links

*

The All-New Popeye Hour DVD news: Final Box Art for Dinky Dog - The Complete Series

{{DEFAULTSORT:All New Popeye Hour, The
1978 American television series debuts
1983 American television series endings
1970s American animated television series
1980s American animated television series
American children's animated comedy television series
Animated television series reboots
CBS original programming
English-language television shows
Popeye the Sailor television series
Television about Bigfoot
Television series by Hanna-Barbera