''These Are the Days'' is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series produced by the

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

studios and broadcast on ABC from September 7, 1974, to September 27, 1975.

Plot

Set at the turn of the 20th century in an old town called Elmsville located somewhere on the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, a ...

, ''These Are the Days'' portrayed the everyday lives of the Day family, which consisted of a widow, her three children and her father, a self-styled inventor. Various family members interacted with friends and neighbors, with the story usually ending with a lesson learned.

Production

Due to the popularity of ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book '' Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 fil ...

'', ABC decided to take a flyer on an animated program set around the turn of the century. It was one of three "serious" programs the network aired on Saturday mornings in 1974, the others being the prehistoric live-action drama '' Korg: 70,000 B.C.'' and the animated family drama '' Devlin''. ''These Are the Days'' and ''Devlin'' were among the very few dramatic programs ever produced by Hanna-Barbera, who were known primarily for slapstick comedies and action-adventure cartoons. ( Warner Bros. has since acquired Hanna-Barbera Productions via Turner Entertainment, as well as

Lorimar Productions Lorimar Productions, Inc., later known as Lorimar Television and Lorimar Distribution, was an American production company that was later a subsidiary of Warner Bros., active from 1969 until 1993, when it was folded into Warner Bros. Televisi ...

, which produced ''The Waltons''.) Despite critical acclaim, however, ''These Are the Days'' was a ratings failure, as were ''Devlin'' and ''Korg: 70,000 B.C.''; all three series were cancelled by the end of the year. ''These Are the Days'' continued in re-runs (only twelve original episodes were shown in the fall of 1974), with four new episodes shown in September 1975.

Cast

Frank Cady Frank Randolph Cady (September 8, 1915 – June 8, 2012) was an American actor best known for his role as storekeeper Sam Drucker in three American television series during the 1960s – '' Petticoat Junction'', '' Green Acres'', and ...

as Homer *

Pamelyn Ferdin Pamelyn Wanda Ferdin (born February 4, 1959) is an American animal rights activist and a former child actress. Ferdin's acting career was primarily during the 1960s and 1970s, though she appeared in projects sporadically in the 1980s and later ...

as Kathy Day * Jack Haley as Danny Day * Henry Jones as Jeff Day *

June Lockhart June Lockhart (born June 25, 1925) is an American actress, beginning a film career in 1930s & 1940s in such films at ''A Christmas Carol'' and '' Meet Me in St. Louis''. She primarily acted in 1950s and 1960s television, and with performances on ...

as Martha Day *

Andrew Parks Andrew Lawrence Parks (born March 1, 1951) is an American film and television actor. Born in Los Angeles, California to actors Larry Parks and Betty Garrett, Andrew Parks made his film debut at the age of 11 but did not continue his acting caree ...

as Ben Day

Episodes

References

External links

*
Episode guide
at the

Big Cartoon DataBase The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) is an online database of information about animated cartoons, Feature film, animated feature films, Animated television series, animated television shows, and cartoon Short film, shorts. The BCDB proj ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:These Are The Days 1974 American television series debuts 1975 American television series endings 1970s American animated television series American Broadcasting Company original programming American children's animated adventure television series Animated television series about children Animated television series about families Television series set in the 1900s Television series by Hanna-Barbera