''The Krofft Supershow'' is a Saturday morning children's variety show, produced by

Sid and Marty Krofft Sid Krofft (born July 30, 1929) and Marty Krofft (April 9, 1937 – November 25, 2023), known as The Krofft Brothers and born as Cydus and Moshopopoulos Yolas, were a Canadian sibling team of television creators, writers and puppeteers. Through ...

. It aired for two seasons from September 11, 1976, to September 2, 1978, on ABC.

Background

The show was composed of several live-action segments, hosted by "Kaptain Kool and the Kongs", a rock band created for the series. The season one (1976–1977) segments were ''

Dr. Shrinker ''Dr. Shrinker'' was a segment during the first season of the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network's ''The Krofft Supershow'' in 1976. Plot Dr. Shrinker (Jay Robinson) is a mad scientist who creates a shrinking ray that can miniaturize any ...

'', ''

Electra Woman and Dyna Girl ''Electra Woman and Dyna Girl'' is a live action superhero fiction, superhero children's television series from 1976 created by Sid and Marty Krofft. The series aired 16 episodes in a single season as part of the umbrella series ''The Krofft Su ...

'', and '' Wonderbug'', plus reruns of '' The Lost Saucer'' for the first half of the season (they were dropped when the show was cut from 90 minutes to one hour). For season two (1977–1978), ''Dr. Shrinker'' and ''Electra Woman and Dyna Girl'' were dropped and replaced with '' Bigfoot and Wildboy'' and '' Magic Mongo''. Each live-action segment was about 15 minutes in length. Instead of a third season, the show was massively revamped (and moved to NBC) to feature the then-popular

Bay City Rollers The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop rock band known for their worldwide teen idol popularity, as a band in the 1970s. One of many 70s acts heralded as the "biggest group since the Beatles", they were called the "tartan teen sensations fro ...

. Now retitled '' The Krofft Superstar Hour'', Kaptain Kool and the Kongs were replaced by the Rollers, and new live-action segments ''Horror Hotel'' and ''The Lost Island'' replaced the older ones.

Show segments

Kaptain Kool and the Kongs

This group was a manufactured band responsible for hosting the show, introducing the other live-action segments, and performing skits and songs. For the first season, Kaptain Kool and the Kongs were portrayed as a wacky

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...

band. Segments were videotaped at the short-lived World of Sid and Marty Krofft indoor amusement park in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. For season two, their image was toned down, and they were downsized from a five-person band to a four-person band. Their season-two segments were taped in a studio with an audience of children. After the group was replaced by the Bay City Rollers, the group made appearances on other Sid and Marty Krofft productions, including '' Donny & Marie'', '' The Brady Bunch Variety Hour'', and ''The Krofft Komedy Hour''. They also made an appearance on

Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American television and radio personality and television producer who hosted ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 1989. He also hosted five incarnations of the Pyramid (game show), ...

's ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'' (AB) is an American Music television, music performance and dance television series that aired in various iterations from 1952 to 1989. It was hosted by Dick Clark who also served as the program's Television producer, pr ...

'' and they starred in two

primetime Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to b ...

TV specials featuring previews of ABC's Saturday-morning lineup. Cast: * Kaptain Kool:

Michael Lembeck Michael Lembeck (born June 25, 1948) is an American actor and television and film director. He is best known as Max Horvath in ''One Day at a Time (1975 TV series), One Day at a Time'' (1979–1984). Life and career Lembeck was born in Brookl ...

* Superchick: Debra Clinger * Turkey: Mickey McMeel * Nashville: Louise DuArt * Flatbush: Bert Sommer (season 1 only) Two albums were released featuring Kaptain Kool and the Kongs, both in 1978: the self-titled ''Kaptain Kool and the Kongs'' featured the band singing, and ''Stories from the Krofft TV Supershow'' includes several comedy skits. In addition, they released one single, "And I Never Dreamed", written by Harvey Scales backed with "Sing Me a Song".Entry
at Rate Your Music. Last accessed 27 February 2007.

Dr. Shrinker

Dr. Shrinker is an evil scientist with a lab on an uncharted island. When teenagers Brad, B.J., and Gordie are stranded on the island, Dr. Shrinker subjects them to his shrinker machine. They manage to escape the lab in miniature form; the series follows their adventures as they try to evade the clutches of the mad scientist and his assistant Hugo. Cast: * Dr. Shrinker: Jay Robinson * Hugo:

Billy Barty Billy Barty (born William John Bertanzetti; October 25, 1924 – December 23, 2000) was an American actor and activist. In adult life, he stood tall, due to cartilage–hair hypoplasia dwarfism. Because of his short stature, he was often cast i ...

* Brad: Ted Eccles * B.J.: Susan Lawrence * Gordie: Jeff MacKay

Electra Woman and Dyna Girl

Lori and Judy, reporters for ''Newsmaker'' magazine, are secretly Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, crime-fighting superheroines. Assisted by their friend Frank Heflin, they fought such supervillains as the Pharaoh and Cleopatra, the Sorcerer, Glitter Rock, Ali Baba, Spider Lady, and the Empress of Evil. Cast: * Electra Woman/Lori: Deidre Hall * Dyna Girl/Judy: Judy Strangis * Frank Heflin:

Norman Alden Norman Alden ( Adelberg; September 13, 1924 – July 27, 2012) was an American character actor who performed in television programs and motion pictures. He first appeared on television on '' The 20th Century Fox Hour'' in 1957. He provided ...

Wonderbug

Barry, C.C., and Susan are three teenaged friends who fixed up an old dune buggy (which they dubbed "Schlepcar"). When they attach a magic horn to the car, Schlepcar comes to life as Wonderbug. Wonderbug could fly, and it helped the teens fight crime. Cast: * Barry: David Levy * C.C.: Jack Baker (as John Anthony Bailey) * Susan: Carol Anne Seflinger * Wonderbug (voice): Frank Welker

Magic Mongo

When teenagers Donald, Lorraine, and Kristy find an old bottle, they discover it is the home of a

genie GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an online service provider, online service created by a General Electric business, GEIS (now GXS Inc., GXS), that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around ...

named Mongo. Mongo's magical attempts to help his young masters lead to many wacky misadventures. Cast: * Mongo: Lennie Weinrib * Donald: Paul Hinckley * Lorraine: Helaine Lembeck * Kristy: Robin Dearden * Ace: Bart Braverman * Duncey: Larry Larsen

Bigfoot and Wildboy

After Wildboy was orphaned in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

, he was found and raised by

Bigfoot Bigfoot (), also commonly referred to as Sasquatch (), is a large, hairy Mythic humanoids, mythical creature said to inhabit forests in North America, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.Example definitions include: *"A large, hairy, manlike ...

, the legendary man-beast of the forest. The two work together to fight those who would harm the forest. In this series Bigfoot displayed "bionic" super powers in imitation of ''

The Six Million Dollar Man ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After being seriously injured in a NASA test f ...

'', which was popular at this time; though this series never directly referenced the prime-time show. They were aided in the first season by Suzie, 12-year-old daughter of Ranger Lucas; in the second season, Suzie was replaced by Cindy, a young

archeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeolo ...

student. The episodes of "Bigfoot and Wildboy" that aired on ''The Krofft Supershow'' were 15 minutes in length. In 1979, ABC brought back the show as a stand-alone series by editing the 15-minute segments into 30-minute episodes. New episodes were also filmed and aired in the summer of 1979. Cast: * Bigfoot: Ray Young * Wildboy: Joseph Butcher * Suzie: Monika Ramirez * Ranger Lucas: Ned Romero

References

External links

*
Bigfoot and Wildboy at Episodeguides.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krofft Supershow American children's fantasy television series American children's science fiction television series American Broadcasting Company original programming 1976 American television series debuts 1978 American television series endings 1970s American anthology television series 1970s American children's television series 1970s American science fiction television series 1970s American variety television series Television series by Sid and Marty Krofft Television Productions Television series created by Joe Ruby Television shows about genies Television series created by Ken Spears