Calvin and the Colonel

I loved this series as a kid, having been exposed to it thanks to Mill Creek's "Giant 600 Cartoon Collection" DVD set, which featured several episodes. Of course, as a kid I had no idea it was a rehash of Amos 'n' Andy, using the same old scripts but with animal characters to avoid accusations of racism. For whatever reason, it wasn't as popular and was cancelled quickly.

Anyway, rewatching it now, it's still funny and holds up very well. It's one of the early animated TV series made for adults, so the humour is not meant for kids (though it's not inappropriate, it just isn't juvenile). It's no more dated than the Flintstones or any other animated sitcom of the sixties which we still remember fondly. "Calvin and the Colonel" definitely deserves more attention today.

Agree 100% with user ArthurFinney on this one. The scripts are very well done and the timing between the two main characters is exceptional. It's about two long time buddies coming up with hairbrained schemes to make a quick buck, get something for nothing, and/or get out of trouble with the Colonel's wife or the "local gendarme", as Calvin puts it.

Great old classic animated series, made in the day when television was booming. It's a series the both adult and kids alike could watch, and both get a lot out of it. I would have my kids/grandkids watch this, and they'd be completely ignorant of the history of any implied racism from the original radio show.

This series was an animated remake of the radio series Amos n' Andy, which used anthropomorphic animals to avoid the racism of the original. It adapted several scripts and the two protagonists were similar to Andy and Kingfish. But it was a failure and only lasted one season. The animation is very cheap, the backgrounds are very limited and the character designs simple. But I found that the quality of the scripts more than made up for it. The series basically consists of the Colonel coming up with some zany scheme to get out of something or to get rich quick. His schemes can get very creative and complex and they always result in some pretty hilarious hijinks. It's hard not to like the characters. The Colonel is lazy and dishonest, Calvin is dumb and careless, but their consistent failures make them easy to sympathize with and they both have easygoing, eccentric personalities. Judge Clutch is also a great character, he creates some of the funniest moments in the series. The humor may strike some as dated, but I really enjoyed it. Perhaps my sense of humor has been set back several decades due to my interest in old comics and cartoons. The voice work by Gosden and Correll was also very well done. It's hard not to like the character's accents. In sum, though the animation is very low budget, everything else is fantastic.

BEING THAT WE had no independent recollection of "the Golden Age of Radio", the only familiarity that we had with AMOS 'N' ANDY was via the television series. We were aware that:

a) It had been a highly successful Radio Series for an extended

period.

b) That the series characters had been the invention of a pair of

Vaudevillians; Freeman Gosden & Charles Correll.

c) That although the characters as well as the actors who

portrayed them on screen were Black, the creators were White.

WITH ALL OF this in mind, we watched, observed and drew some conclusions.

IT APPEARED TO us, the series sought to walk a sort of cultural tightrope as to the characters ethnic classification. Whereas the accents, locals and humor came across as definitely Southern, there is no particular indication that they are supposed to be Black, White or Green. The resulting "neutrality" created a sort of blandness in the personality of the characters; as well as a reduction in the range of humor and the degree that gags could be developed.

IN SHORT, THE series was the victim of a sort of "Political Correctness" in an era long before the term "Political Correctness" had become known; let alone Politically Correct.

IT WAS WORTH a try to utilize both the concept and the talents of Gosden & Correll; if only for Historical perspective. Perjhaps it would have succeeded in sustaining a viewer ship that earned a more extended run for the cartoon series. That may well have been possible if they had gone with the original Black characterizations, utilizing Black Actors.

BUT OF COURSE, we'll never know; for "if" is such a big word.