If but for a twist of fate, Bill Cosby could have stayed at NBC with Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. However, the network wasn't interested at the time in a show that had the goal of educating its audience at its core. Originally produced in 1971, but aired in May 4, 1973 at 7:30 PM, 8 months after Fat Albert launched on CBS, the gang moved over to NBC for 1 night, as NBC had the rights to The Weird Harold Special, or, as it was known on the screen Bill Cosby vs. Fat Albert: The Great Go-Cart Race!. As it was, it was not shown again on network television, due to the simple fact that with the show itself airing on CBS, it was bad form for the gang to suddenly appear on a rival network, even it was for 1 night, coming as it did 4 years after the Ken Mundie-produced Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert had aired on NBC. NBC continued to hold the rights to this episode after CBS began airing the regular series in September 1972. For all intents and purposes, it was simply an episode of the already popular Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids animated series, which premiered in September of 1972. It thus featured the regular animation and voices of those characters. It's said this episode ultimately surfaced when the series moved to syndication to 1984. Today, however, is the first I've seen it.
The Weird Harold Special and the Fat Albert Holiday Specials for Christmas, Halloween, and Easter made by Filmation Studios were not a part in the 1984 syndication rerun package (50 new episodes plus the 60 CBS Saturday AM rerun episodes for weekday broadcast) nor were they included in the complete series DVD set. The Holiday Specials were released as separate DVDs
Apparently, this was a Fat Albert pilot of some sorts that didn't air until a bit after the show had already started airing, which is why it seems different from the normal episodes.
This could’ve easily fooled me into thinking this was an actual episode of the series, a massive improvement over the original special. They even made a reference to the original pilot by designing Fat Albert’s dad in Fat Albert’s original design.
It’s amazing that Fat Albert hardly had lines in this special. And there was no preachy lesson to learn at the end, in fact the boys went back and did the same thing that got them in trouble 😂😂😂
They left out the part (of his stand-up bit) where they stole all the baby buggy wheels in the neighborhood & they had an odd number of wheels because Weird Harold had to have a Continental (and if you notice, his go-kart DOES have the extra wheel. They just don't address it, but it's there). The next day, I woke up to all three of my younger sisters going around imitating Mushmouth from this - "A-bwoodin-budden!"
i have the complete fat albert series release by shout factory and i also have the 3 holiday specials and the live movie but i have herd rumors of some lost material that for some reason were not part of the complete series dvd set and this special is one of them and the 1969 hey hey hey its fat albert special is also one of the lost materials that are not on the dvd set i wonder why they were not release on dvd for the fat albert collection ?🤔🤨
The original 1969 special, "Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert", has never been re-released because nobody knows who has the rights to it, as well as Cosby himself being unhappy with it. I am trying to locate a copy to preserve but it has become more difficult with the recent passing of Ken Mundie and Leo Sullivan. I had reached out to Leo in 2022 but unfortunately he never got back to me. We can only hope there is another copy somewhere out there, I will post any updates I can gather.
@@thefatalbertarchive5281 so that's why this 1969 special was never released on dvd for the complete series collection i hope one day it will be release for my fat albert dvd collection and i wish you good luck my friend on locating a complete copy i truly like see it and what of this 1971 bill cosby vs. fat albert the great go-cart race! special its not on official dvd released for the collection ?
@@mauromesa78 I'm unsure, but I believe the Great Go-Cart Race is not on the DVD collection because of copyright issues as well. The special was produced for NBC because Cosby agreed to produce two specials and still owed a second one after "Hey, Hey, Hey" in 1969 and as such it is likely that nobody knows who owns the rights to this film either. It was produced by Filmation instead of the original team because Cosby did not like the direction of the 1969 film.
@@thefatalbertarchive5281 so that's why i hate issues they makes it hard for us fans and collectors to complete our collection of classics on dvd that forces us to look for the missing episodes specials and movies case of all these rights issues alot of good old classics and episodes specials and movies are not on official dvd with the rights issues on these two fat albert specials and other lost material i'm surprise we even got this so called complete series dvd box set and the 3 fat albert holiday specials on dvd at all and that they could make a live movie and released it on dvd at all too i do super hope that one day soon there will be no more rights issues and that the two lost specials and other materials will be officially release on dvd to truly complete our fat albert collection i hope
Dumb donald, bucky, and russell's voices are a bit different here Edit: except for weird Harold, fat Albert, bill, mushmouth, and Rudy, the other characters were voiced by different actors and did not reprise the roles onto the main series. For instance, bucky and Russell were voiced by actual children rather than Jan Crawford (despite being on this episode tho)
In my head cannon they are hunger here. In the series the older guys like Albert bill harold, Rudy etc are 14 heads old. In this episode they are in the 6th or 7grade and Russel is 8 or9 years
@@Labcabin96I don’t think Russell’s that young he gotta be at least 12 or 13 cause he’s in the same class as them all while the rest are 13 and 14 Harold voice sounds pretty young here like he didn’t hit probity yet
I think weird Harold had a different voice actor cause his voice kind of sounds like a kid voice who didn’t hit probity yet verses the normal voice we here him with
I can't believe that the police are arresting fat albert and his friends for go cart racing in the jack yard their favorite hangout even though they didn't do anything wrong or illegal but just having fun. That's totally unfair and not cool.
It's hard to say for sure. In 1969, Cosby had signed a contract promising to produce two Fat Albert specials for NBC (this being the second). This special didn't air until May of 1972, so while we don't have an exact month in '71 or anything, it likely started production later in the year.
"This is the city philadelphia pennsylvania known as the city of brotherly love philadelphia is home of the eagles the flyers the 76er's & the phillies philadelphia is home of fat-albert and the cosby-kids" 🇺🇸🏙️🤓🧑💼✝️🛐🙏🕊️❤️🤝🌹.
Every character had a episode about themselves he is one of the main characters and most popular one besides fat Albert if you heard bill Cosby stand up routines
If you only hear this and don’t see it, the second cartoon is annoying AF to hear. No wonder my mom hated when this so much. I’m 50 now, and I want to just scream, hearing it. Bill Cosby’s voice now is a definite “no”, as well, for me.
Fat Albert and his friends didn't do anything wrong or illegal they were just having fun at a go cart race. I think that the police have made a mistake.
It's on an unofficial Fat Albert DVD set called "Fat Albert - The Lost Material". Every disc has been uploaded to the Internet Archive, so you can check out the rest of it there! Though most of the stuff is also on UA-cam now.
So let me get this straight. The kids built a kick ass race track in the middle of the junkyard, minding their own business, and they get tossed in prison without being read their miranda rights, their parents don't at any point try to stick up for them and give them any benefit of the doubt and leaves the kids unjustly traumatized because the police and judge felt like being assholes and needed to take their petty problems out on a group of innocent minors.
I feel bad for Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids they did nothing wrong Rack Shack and Bunny would not approve of this they will probably help Fat Albert and his friends stand up for themselves
@@Jaysongreentugcukeratt36326p Then again Rack Shack and Benny also allowed Mr.Nezzer to go free after he literally tried to kill them by burning them in a furness because they wouldn't sing an offensive song, so they wouldn't have been much help here.
Yeah I guess you're right then I'll probably have to stand up for them because I don't like how the police officers just decide to arrest fat Albert his friends for nothing maybe the police officers just really hate go karting and that's why they got arrested even their parents hated go-karting I can adults just simply let children have some fun
@supermariof0521 I have seen it too many times and other TV shows who is this probably why I don't like Fat Albert very much I mean I still do watch an occasional episode but only a few parts makes me laugh I don't really care about the lesson the episode is trying to teach me and we are other episodes like this were they in my opinion don't really work well like for example remember that one episode we're at autistic kid is called retarded me being autistic I am so mad and there's so many other examples I can say
@@randomreviews4278 Here's what I would've done differently. Have it be where the kids didn't know the area they were racing in was dangerous. And have the parents stick up for them by saying they didn't have any bad intentions and maybe they try to take the blame saying they failed to warn the kids about that dangerous part of the junkyard. Fat Albert would then take the stand and speak on behalf of both the kids and parents on how nobody knew how dangerous that area was. He would then verbally go off on the cops and the judge for violating their rights, arresting them without probable cause and not reading them their miranda rights and general corruption. The parents would then band together and file a lawsuit bigger than Fat Albert himself against the police and the court. They win the case and use the money to rebuild that dangerous area into a community race track and make adjustments to it so it'd be a lot safer.
Poor fellas were so scared, it ain't even funny.☹ I wanted to hug Fat Albert & the boys to comfort them, because I think their parents & the cops went way too far.☹ Also, Mushmouth's dad is with the mafia!?😮 And how come neither parent has the same accent as him?
![Hey, Hey, Hey! - It's Fat Albert [September 12th, 1971 TV Broadcast] [AUDIO ONLY] [With Commercials]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bvcYNbwLaF0/mqdefault.jpg)
I have an animated cel from this special. Went down the rabbit hole of 'The Weird Harold Special' a few years ago. Thanks for posting on UA-cam.
I sure do miss When Me and all My Buddies used to make Racing Go-Karts.Back in the late 70's and all through the early to mid 80's.😃👍🏾
Yes, we did that and built all of our own bikes. We built EVERYTHING and never stayed in the house.
If but for a twist of fate, Bill Cosby could have stayed at NBC with Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. However, the network wasn't interested at the time in a show that had the goal of educating its audience at its core.
Originally produced in 1971, but aired in May 4, 1973 at 7:30 PM, 8 months after Fat Albert launched on CBS, the gang moved over to NBC for 1 night, as NBC had the rights to The Weird Harold Special, or, as it was known on the screen Bill Cosby vs. Fat Albert: The Great Go-Cart Race!. As it was, it was not shown again on network television, due to the simple fact that with the show itself airing on CBS, it was bad form for the gang to suddenly appear on a rival network, even it was for 1 night, coming as it did 4 years after the Ken Mundie-produced Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert had aired on NBC. NBC continued to hold the rights to this episode after CBS began airing the regular series in September 1972. For all intents and purposes, it was simply an episode of the already popular Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids animated series, which premiered in September of 1972. It thus featured the regular animation and voices of those characters. It's said this episode ultimately surfaced when the series moved to syndication to 1984. Today, however, is the first I've seen it.
The Weird Harold Special and the Fat Albert Holiday Specials for Christmas, Halloween, and Easter made by Filmation Studios were not a part in the 1984 syndication rerun package (50 new episodes plus the 60 CBS Saturday AM rerun episodes for weekday broadcast) nor were they included in the complete series DVD set. The Holiday Specials were released as separate DVDs
@@artytoonsI like voices of the 1971 special better
I can't stop smiling 😊
23:18 Scared Fat Albert!
Apparently, this was a Fat Albert pilot of some sorts that didn't air until a bit after the show had already started airing, which is why it seems different from the normal episodes.
There was A 'Fat Albert' pilot made before this that wasn't produced by Filmation.
@@Launchpad05you got the source?
@@sirchi8731they just uploaded it to youtube - "Hey hey hey it's Fat Albert" 1969 unknown tracks
DIY Go karts were fast for simple materials from the junkyard lol😅😂😊
1:25: “Vroom, hey hey hey!”
This could’ve easily fooled me into thinking this was an actual episode of the series, a massive improvement over the original special. They even made a reference to the original pilot by designing Fat Albert’s dad in Fat Albert’s original design.
Correct. They also made changes Weasel = Rudy Nolan = Dumb Donald
15:57 - for-some-reason this guy reminds me of the Judge from the Trial sequence at the conclusion of Pink Floyd's "Wall"... nine years later!
I love how it’s called “The Weird Harold Special” but has barley has anything to do with him on his own
20:12 Back To The Race!
Jose Garcia : well then I love this show but I love Fat Albert. Hey hey hey
It’s amazing that Fat Albert hardly had lines in this special. And there was no preachy lesson to learn at the end, in fact the boys went back and did the same thing that got them in trouble 😂😂😂
Loved it...the look.. character design and music
They left out the part (of his stand-up bit) where they stole all the baby buggy wheels in the neighborhood & they had an odd number of wheels because Weird Harold had to have a Continental (and if you notice, his go-kart DOES have the extra wheel. They just don't address it, but it's there).
The next day, I woke up to all three of my younger sisters going around imitating Mushmouth from this - "A-bwoodin-budden!"
I loved that album! I used to always whisper “baby coach wheels” like it was the funniest thing ever!
22:41
HEY HEY HEY!!! WHAT A LOT OF HAY!!!
Saw this on NBC in 1972.
R.I.P. “Weird Harold” just attended his funeral today.
Wait, What?
@@deionpehowdythe voice of Weird Harold who was also Sampson in Cowboy in Africa was my best friends father. Unfortunately he passed away last month.
@@jwhitit Oh, No.
Why they kepp changing the parents design in this show
17:20
"Chills"
Nerotic kid system pls anymore of these cartoons will blow my head off good job cosby
one of my favorite episodes
Mushmouth's hat only came off in two Fat Albert episodes, this one and a 1984 episode when they were playing soccer!
Nice eye
You need, to get a life😏…………
Russell’s only came off when he had his tonsils out. He was a cute kid.
23:22 Fat Albert Wins!
8:04 that’s one way to go Cruising 😂
Some background music reused from Groovie Goolies btw
I loved Groovie Ghoulies!
@@JoyfullOne yup me too!!!
Best part aside from the race which parent goes with which kid
DAT OPENING BEAT IS CRAZY SURPRISE NOBODY SAMPLED IT. BREAK BEAT
5:07 - 5:12
Sling Shooter. 😏
Fat Albert Won 🏆
1971 this is the original pilot episode 0 of Fat Albert and Cosby Kids
along with 1969 version
So THIS is the prototype for filmations far Albert
Bill Cosby was always great clean comedy. Great music.
11:44 Knowing what we know about Bill Cosby now, that line reeks of irony.
Well, at least he's out now.
@@deionpehowdy Still unclear weither or not the allegations against him were true or not. Or maybe my memory is just rusty.
13:37 - 14:33
Scaredy Rudy
My favorite character and part
getting arrested and punishment by cops for doing dangerous unsafe actions that can hurt yourself and your life
14:33 The Gang Are Never Going To Jail!
Rudy was about to snitch on everyone 😂
Is the laugh tracks are from Charley Douglass?.
23:52 - 24:30
So much for promises. 😏
i have the complete fat albert series release by shout factory and i also have the 3 holiday specials and the live movie but i have herd rumors of some lost material that for some reason were not part of the complete series dvd set and this special is one of them and the 1969 hey hey hey its fat albert special is also one of the lost materials that are not on the dvd set i wonder why they were not release on dvd for the fat albert collection ?🤔🤨
The original 1969 special, "Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert", has never been re-released because nobody knows who has the rights to it, as well as Cosby himself being unhappy with it. I am trying to locate a copy to preserve but it has become more difficult with the recent passing of Ken Mundie and Leo Sullivan. I had reached out to Leo in 2022 but unfortunately he never got back to me. We can only hope there is another copy somewhere out there, I will post any updates I can gather.
@@thefatalbertarchive5281 so that's why this 1969 special was never released on dvd for the complete series collection i hope one day it will be release for my fat albert dvd collection and i wish you good luck my friend on locating a complete copy i truly like see it and what of this 1971 bill cosby vs. fat albert the great go-cart race! special its not on official dvd released for the collection ?
@@mauromesa78 I'm unsure, but I believe the Great Go-Cart Race is not on the DVD collection because of copyright issues as well. The special was produced for NBC because Cosby agreed to produce two specials and still owed a second one after "Hey, Hey, Hey" in 1969 and as such it is likely that nobody knows who owns the rights to this film either. It was produced by Filmation instead of the original team because Cosby did not like the direction of the 1969 film.
@@thefatalbertarchive5281 so that's why i hate issues they makes it hard for us fans and collectors to complete our collection of classics on dvd that forces us to look for the missing episodes specials and movies case of all these rights issues alot of good old classics and episodes specials and movies are not on official dvd with the rights issues on these two fat albert specials and other lost material i'm surprise we even got this so called complete series dvd box set and the 3 fat albert holiday specials on dvd at all and that they could make a live movie and released it on dvd at all too i do super hope that one day soon there will be no more rights issues and that the two lost specials and other materials will be officially release on dvd to truly complete our fat albert collection i hope
@@thefatalbertarchive5281 Shout Factory released a Complete Series DVD set of this show?! When did that happen?!
Dumb donald, bucky, and russell's voices are a bit different here
Edit: except for weird Harold, fat Albert, bill, mushmouth, and Rudy, the other characters were voiced by different actors and did not reprise the roles onto the main series. For instance, bucky and Russell were voiced by actual children rather than Jan Crawford (despite being on this episode tho)
Actually, Dumb Donald has the same actor, but he just voices him differently
In my head cannon they are hunger here. In the series the older guys like Albert bill harold, Rudy etc are 14 heads old. In this episode they are in the 6th or 7grade and Russel is 8 or9 years
Meant to.say they were younger
@@Labcabin96I don’t think Russell’s that young he gotta be at least 12 or 13 cause he’s in the same class as them all while the rest are 13 and 14 Harold voice sounds pretty young here like he didn’t hit probity yet
I think weird Harold had a different voice actor cause his voice kind of sounds like a kid voice who didn’t hit probity yet verses the normal voice we here him with
15:35
The Devil's Door. 😳
What a screwed up message, to convey to kids!!! 'It's against the law, to have fun. If you do, you'll spend the rest of your life, in jail'😔⁉️
I think you missed the message
Same damned message with christianity you feckless numpty 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I can't believe that the police are arresting fat albert and his friends for go cart racing in the jack yard their favorite hangout even though they didn't do anything wrong or illegal but just having fun. That's totally unfair and not cool.
I think the message was safety
@@appelanseeofbogalusa5235agreed
I feel old!!! 😳
Old is gold remember that new is crap
You're saying that, 'cause you remember these. If you can remember this first-hand, you ARE old😏…………
Neverr saw a pre 1972 version of them.
Check out "hey hey hey it's Fat Albert" 1969 unknown tracks
I wonder when exactly in 1971 this was made.
It's hard to say for sure. In 1969, Cosby had signed a contract promising to produce two Fat Albert specials for NBC (this being the second). This special didn't air until May of 1972, so while we don't have an exact month in '71 or anything, it likely started production later in the year.
That's because this special finished production in 1971.
Bucky Parents Was Worry About Him
I wanna see the version of this that’s actually titled “the weird Harold special” but I’m guessing that particular version is still lost…?
Bill Take Care His Lil Bros
The finish line goes right into the freeway??
so life like of the time.
I Don't Why Harold Cut His Hair?
2:44 - 2:58
Kids will be kids 😅
True that. They literally placed the finish line in front of traffic
And Racers Will Be Racers!
Who is the girl in this. Plus if I recall she was also in the 1969 episode too 🤔
Probably Rudy’s little sister
5:50 - 5:56
Dronamo!
Russell Is Sent Sky High!
17:48
Mouth Got That From His Father
"This is the city philadelphia pennsylvania known as the city of brotherly love philadelphia is home of the eagles the flyers the 76er's & the phillies philadelphia is home of fat-albert and the cosby-kids" 🇺🇸🏙️🤓🧑💼✝️🛐🙏🕊️❤️🤝🌹.
Not much to brag about, huh😆???
How is this a weird Harold special when Weird Harold isn't the main character?
Every character had a episode about themselves he is one of the main characters and most popular one besides fat Albert if you heard bill Cosby stand up routines
If you only hear this and don’t see it, the second cartoon is annoying AF to hear. No wonder my mom hated when this so much. I’m 50 now, and I want to just scream, hearing it. Bill Cosby’s voice now is a definite “no”, as well, for me.
Fat Albert and his friends didn't do anything wrong or illegal they were just having fun at a go cart race. I think that the police have made a mistake.
They didn't do anything wrong in 1984, either when they went to jail for riding in that stolen car with Rudy's shady friend!
I feel like that might partially be the point
Was this episode meant to be a commentary on corrupt police?
This was 1971 in the Philly projects And they were all young black kids cops would have found any reason to arrest them
How did you find this
It's on an unofficial Fat Albert DVD set called "Fat Albert - The Lost Material". Every disc has been uploaded to the Internet Archive, so you can check out the rest of it there! Though most of the stuff is also on UA-cam now.
@@thefatalbertarchive5281Is this from VHS recording or master tape on DVD?
2:49
How come Rudy, Russel and Bill are the only ones without derogatory adverbs in front of their names?
Is rapist Bill Cosby a derogatory adverb for evil Bill or more importantly the truth?
ADJECTIVE'S🙄!!!
@@rogerrendzak8055 oops, brain hiccup.
Unfortunately Bill does have an adjective in front of his name now - but it's not printable.
Well his name is 'Rude' Rudy
"the weird harold special" and he does jacks shit
Makes me wonder why they even called it that.
So let me get this straight. The kids built a kick ass race track in the middle of the junkyard, minding their own business, and they get tossed in prison without being read their miranda rights, their parents don't at any point try to stick up for them and give them any benefit of the doubt and leaves the kids unjustly traumatized because the police and judge felt like being assholes and needed to take their petty problems out on a group of innocent minors.
I feel bad for Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids they did nothing wrong Rack Shack and Bunny would not approve of this they will probably help Fat Albert and his friends stand up for themselves
@@Jaysongreentugcukeratt36326p Then again Rack Shack and Benny also allowed Mr.Nezzer to go free after he literally tried to kill them by burning them in a furness because they wouldn't sing an offensive song, so they wouldn't have been much help here.
Yeah I guess you're right then I'll probably have to stand up for them because I don't like how the police officers just decide to arrest fat Albert his friends for nothing maybe the police officers just really hate go karting and that's why they got arrested even their parents hated go-karting I can adults just simply let children have some fun
@@Jaysongreentugcukeratt36326p Because being smart parents is seemingly forbidden in kids cartoons even to this day.
@supermariof0521 I have seen it too many times and other TV shows who is this probably why I don't like Fat Albert very much I mean I still do watch an occasional episode but only a few parts makes me laugh I don't really care about the lesson the episode is trying to teach me and we are other episodes like this were they in my opinion don't really work well like for example remember that one episode we're at autistic kid is called retarded me being autistic I am so mad and there's so many other examples I can say
I’m surprised the animation feels like Hanna Barbera
Ose dark garica : I love that show it’s kind of funny 😂
Bro, this was my show on Saturday
@@keithluckett3331 hey I love that funny especially this one ( 12:05 )
@@osedarkgarcia4220 I couldn’t wait for this cartoon to come on.
Sup man
Hey, hey, hey!
Holy cow this is depressing
This special or Bill Cosby's real life downfall?
@@supermariof0521 the episode
@@randomreviews4278 Here's what I would've done differently. Have it be where the kids didn't know the area they were racing in was dangerous. And have the parents stick up for them by saying they didn't have any bad intentions and maybe they try to take the blame saying they failed to warn the kids about that dangerous part of the junkyard. Fat Albert would then take the stand and speak on behalf of both the kids and parents on how nobody knew how dangerous that area was. He would then verbally go off on the cops and the judge for violating their rights, arresting them without probable cause and not reading them their miranda rights and general corruption. The parents would then band together and file a lawsuit bigger than Fat Albert himself against the police and the court. They win the case and use the money to rebuild that dangerous area into a community race track and make adjustments to it so it'd be a lot safer.
No class
Poor fellas were so scared, it ain't even funny.☹
I wanted to hug Fat Albert & the boys to comfort them, because I think their parents & the cops went way too far.☹
Also, Mushmouth's dad is with the mafia!?😮 And how come neither parent has the same accent as him?
3:46 - 3:53
4:21 - 4:32