As an aging geek, I’m starting to fall victim to stuff only old people do. For instance, I get up somewhat early on Sundays and watch CBS Sunday Morning. You youngins may know about this news magazine TV series hosted by octogenarian Charles Osgood. It’s a very well-produced show with a wide variety of news and features that we old people enjoy.

I know what you’re probably saying to yourself, “Whoa, slow down, grandpa. You’ll break a hip.”

Risking a shattered pelvis, I settled in for this week’s edition of the show and its Future theme. As usual, the show was exciting but not too exciting so as to soil my Depends. I was thrilled to see a segment about the “retro future” of the 1960s cartoon The Jetsons.
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It doesn’t matter whether you like sports or not, the Super Bowl is one of the biggest entertainment events of the year. The estimated 111.3 million viewers Sunday night made it the most watched television show of all time.

A big highlight from the night, at least for me, was the commercial presented by MetLife. The insurance company’s “Everyone” ad featured a bevy of classic cartoon characters.

A great aspect of the nostalgia-inducing spot was its use of B-list stars. Sure, the Peanuts characters common with MetLife advertising were present but so too were Saturday Morning heroes long forgotten. You could easily see popular ’70s and ’80s figures like Voltron, He-Man, and The Jetsons. Also on hand were lesser-knowns like Jabberjaw, Hong Kong Phooey, and Magilla Gorilla.

MetLife’s Facebook page has bios of most of them but cartoonist Mark Anderson has an exhaustive list in chronological order. Anderson even corrected MetLife’s mention of Captain Caveman to his doppelgangers Rock and Gravel Slag.

If you missed the ad, watch it below and then seek out the excellent coverage by Anderson. The Facebook page also has a few “behind the scenes” videos to check out. Oh, and see if you can find the numerous inclusions of the stripe shirt-wearing Waldo.

Know any 70’s cartoon fans and need a last-minute gift idea? Check out this Mystery Machine Van Replica that Warner Bros. has released, containing 41 episodes from the original Scooby-Doo Where Are You! series. I’m a sucker for collectible DVD packages, and this one is pretty awesome. It’s the first DVD set I’ve seen that actually holds it’s own on a shelf next to your other collectibles as far as coolness-factor goes.

You know what to expect from the cartoon itself: pure 70s Hanna-Barbera camp. That’s not a bad thing by any means. Scooby-Doo Where Are You! became a template of sorts for HB cartoons in the 70s and 80s, but none of the other shows really captured the goofiness and fun of watching Shaggy, Scooby, and the gang solve mysteries every week.

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Previously I wrote about the Warner Archive release of The Flight of Dragons. Today I watched another rare Warner Archive release, this time of the 1980 made-for-TV movie Yogi’s First Christmas.

I’d never seen Yogi’s First Christmas before (that I can remember), so we popped it in this weekend expecting a relatively short holiday special, but we were surprised to find out that it was feature length.

The feature is aptly titled, because it all revolves around Yogi’s first Christmas at Jellystone. I’d never thought about it before, but hibernation would totally screw up the holidays. When Yogi and Boo Boo accidentally get woken up, they finally get to take part in Christmas. The stakes are high this year due to Jellystone’s hotel manager flirting with the idea of selling the lodge, and Yogi and the gang try desperately to keep her happy to change her mind.

Yogi’s pals Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, and Augie & Doggie Daddy are there for the party, but the hotel manager’s evil nephew Snively is too. He hates everything, including Christmas, and is hell-bent on ruining the gang’s plans.

Yogi’s First Christmas is pretty funny, if a little cheesy. There are a few forgettable musical numbers, but also plenty of slapstick to make up for it. All in all, it would make a great addition to your Christmas special shelf (everyone has those, right?), especially since this is the first time it’s been available on DVD.

You can buy it on DVD today at the Warner Archive.

This review is based on product provided by Warner Bros.

You’ve read about the new 1960s DVD set, so now I present Saturday Morning Cartoons 1970s Vol. 2 from Warner Bros. This two-disc set contains 21 episodes of various awesome cartoons, including:

• Help! It’s the Hair Bear Bunch
• The New Adventures of Gilligan
• Sea Lab 2020
• Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan
• Shazzan
• Yogi’s Gang
• The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour
• Valley of the Dinosaurs
• The Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape Show
• The Banana Splits Adventure Hour
• Inch High Private Eye
• The New Adventures of Batman and Robin (featuring Adam West and Burt Ward!)

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