History WesternAnimation / FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids

* LaughTrack: There is a laugh track after some jokes, but it's used sparingly.

At Christmas 2004, Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox released a live-action ''Film/FatAlbert'' feature film starring Creator/KenanThompson, in which the cast of the ''Fat Albert'' cartoon step out of the TV to make a little girl's life better. It wasn't well received by critics and the box office.

In every episode, Fat Albert and his inner-city gang became involved in some comic misadventure, either learning [[AnAesop a moral lesson]] or demonstrating a lesson for someone else. As on ''WesternAnimation/TheArchieShow'', every ''Fat Albert'' episode included at least one song. In the later seasons, Fat Albert and his friends followed the exploits of their favorite TV superhero, [[Radio/TheGreenHornet the Brown Hornet]], who had his own adventures with morals that typically paralleled those of the main stories. The first-run syndicated episodes had "Legal Eagle," a FunnyAnimal parable told by Mudfoot to serve the same story purpose.

* AnAesop: Every episode has a moral to teach, which becomes clear when the topic is introduced at the beginning.

** "Captain Cougar", a cartoon with an AnimalThemedSuperbeing, featured prominently in one episode. Often, these segments would deliver AnAesop similar to that of the parent episode.

** A few episodes of the first season also show Bill Cosby directly interacting with the characters at various points, even tossing an object to Fat Albert at one point. However, this does come back in a few episodes, specifically "Pain, Pain, Go Away" where Mushmouth tosses Cosby a cookie, and "Cosby's Classics" where the entire gang is seen interacting with him during the entire episode after their [=TV=] breaks down.

** A few episodes of the first season also show Bill Cosby directly interacting with the characters at various points, even tossing an object to Fat Albert at one point. However, this does come back in a few episodes, specifically "Pain, Pain, Go Away" where Mushmouth tosses Cosby a cookie, and "Cosby's Classics" where the entire gang is seen interacting with him during the entire episode after their TVs break down.

** The first episode also shows Bill Cosby directly interacting with the characters at various points, even tossing an object to Fat Albert at one point.
** Rather than being performed at the end of the debut episode, the song conveying the story's moral ("Don't Go Telling a Lie") was performed near the beginning.

[[quoteright:350:''"Nah, nah, nah! Gonna have a good time!"'']]

** "Captain Cougar", a cartoon with an AnimalThemedSuperbeing, featured prominently in one episode.

Creator/BillCosby created this Creator/{{Filmation}} series, based on his boyhood in UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} (and, more directly, on his StandUpComedy routines of the 1960s, like ''AudioPlay/IStartedOutAsAChild''). Cosby also appeared on camera as a live-action {{Narrator}} and performed some of the characters' voices, including Fat Albert himself. The show aired on [[SaturdayMorningCartoon Saturday mornings]] on Creator/{{CBS}} from 1972 to 1984, followed by one additional season in first-run UsefulNotes/{{syndication}}. There were also prime-time specials for {{Halloween|Special}}, {{Christmas|Special}} (both 1977), and {{Easter|Special}} (1982). In addition to a good income and setting up a ready audience for ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' to rule the airwaves in the 1980s, Cosby also used this series to earn a Doctorate in Education, and become Dr. Cosby.

In every episode, Fat Albert and his inner-city gang became involved in some comic misadventure, either learning [[AnAesop a moral lesson]] or demonstrating a lesson for someone else. As on ''WesternAnimation/TheArchieShow'', every ''Fat Albert'' episode included at least one song. In later seasons, Fat Albert and his friends followed the exploits of their favorite TV superhero, [[Radio/TheGreenHornet the Brown Hornet]], who had adventures with morals that typically paralleled the main story. The first-run syndicated episodes had "Legal Eagle," a FunnyAnimal parable told by Mudfoot to serve the same story purpose.

At Christmas 2004, Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox released a live-action ''Film/FatAlbert'' feature film starring Creator/KenanThompson [[note]]The same Kenan Thompson who was on ''Series/AllThat'', ''Series/KenanAndKel'', and currently ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''[[/note]] in which the cast of the ''Fat Albert'' cartoon step out of the TV to make a little girl's life better. It wasn't well received by critics and the box office.

Creator/BillCosby created this Creator/{{Filmation}} series, based on his boyhood in UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} (and, more directly, on his StandUpComedy routines of the 1960s, like ''AudioPlay/IStartedOutAsAChild''). Cosby also appeared on camera as a live-action {{Narrator}} and performed some of the character voices, including Fat Albert himself. The show ran [[SaturdayMorningCartoon Saturday mornings]] on Creator/{{CBS}} from 1972 to 1984, followed by one additional season in first-run UsefulNotes/{{syndication}}. There were also prime-time specials for {{Halloween|Special}}, {{Christmas|Special}} (both 1977), and {{Easter|Special}} (1982). In addition to a good income and setting up a ready audience for ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' to rule the airwaves in the 1980s, Cosby also used this series to earn a Doctorate in Education, and become Dr. Cosby.

* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: In Portugal, the theme song in their dub of the series (which was made in ''[[LateExportForYou 2012]]'') uses [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oMbTJbBYIU different instruments]].

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Tyrone was a JerkassWoobie ever since the death of his wife, Martha, including yelling at poor children and ruining fun for Albert and his friends. Mudfoot shoots him a question that actually gets through to Tyrone, [[HeelFaceTurn eventually making him change his attitude toward the end of the episode]].

* WhamEpisode: In one episode, Fat Albert befriends a Latino kid whose older brother is involved in a gang. [[spoiler:The kid is later killed when he sees someone pull a gun on his brother and he [[HeroicSacrifice pushes the brother out of the way, taking the bullet himself]]. And the whole thing is dealt with the severity it deserves. The brother swears revenge on the other gang, until Fat Albert delivers one of the most ''scathing'' TheReasonYouSuck speeches in television history, asking where the cycle of killing will end. There is some {{Narm}} involved near the end of the episode when a memorial plaque is revealed which doesn't have the kid's name or picture, just a picture of his hat.]] The ScareEmStraight episode also qualifies, especially its use of ''uncensored swear words''. The 1984 series had the gang confront a White supremacist group and Lane Scheimer's (son of Lou Scheimer) convincing voice performance as the ringleader, George, is quite chilling given the other Filmation voice roles for which he is known (''WesternAnimation/SportBilly'').

At Christmas 2004, Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox released a live-action ''Film/FatAlbert'' feature film starring Kenan Thompson [[note]]The same Kenan Thompson who was on ''Series/AllThat'', ''Series/KenanAndKel'', and currently ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''[[/note]] in which the cast of the ''Fat Albert'' cartoon step out of the TV to make a little girl's life better. It wasn't well received by critics and the box office.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first episode, "Lying", shows Fat Albert making some foolhardy mistakes (like accidentally dumping sand on the gang) and just as taken in by Edward's fibbing as the rest, while Bill is shown to not just be the focal character, but the necessary voice of doubt. Within a few episodes, Fat Albert would become much more perceptive and wiser than the other kids, picking up on little things that they didn't notice and mistrusting scams, while evolving into the main character and moral center of the group; Bill, on the other hand, would fade into the background and often vacillate between gullible and reasonable, with his main character trait being "[[SatelliteCharacter Russell's brother]]".

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first episode, "Lying", shows Fat Albert making some foolhardy mistakes (like accidentally dumping sand on the gang) and just as taken in by Edward's fibbing as the rest, while Bill is shown to not just be the focal character, but the necessary voice of doubt. Within a few episodes, Fat Albert would become much more perceptive and wiser than the other kids, picking up on little things that they didn't notice and mistrusting scams, while evolving into the main character and moral center of the group; Bill, on the other hand, soon turned into TheGenericGuy, with his main character trait being "[[SatelliteCharacter Russell's brother]]".

* HeManWomanHater: Rudy. In "The Stranger", the gang resents having to hang out with Donald's cousin Betty, buy she gradually earns the friendship of everybody except Rudy, who still distrusts her at the end of the episode. Bill even comments that he might never change his mind.

* StoutStrength: The title character

* SecurityCling: In "Busted", Fat Albery jumps on Dumb Donald when a prisoner threatens him. It obviously doesn't work due to his weight.