Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!
Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch! was a Saturday morning cartoon, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1971 for CBS. The series depicted three fun-loving hippie bears — the Afroed Hair Bear, confusing-talking Bubi Bear, and laid-back Square Bear — who always find a way to escape the Wonderland Zoo and go out on adventures. Trying to stop them are the head zoo-keeper, Mr. Eustace P. Peevly, and his hopelessly inadequate assistant Lionel J. Botch. The bears have a modern "bachelor pad"-styled den at the zoo, but they disguise it from Peevly and Botch to avoid revealing their comfortable surroundings. The bears also have an invisible motorcycle, which Square Bear can call upon when necessary.
In some ways, the show was a hip, child-friendly update of Hogan's Heroes, which was still a popular sitcom at the time. The zoo replaced the Nazi prison camp, the Zookeeper replaced Commandant Klink, and Botch was a note-for-note copy of Sgt. Schultz, with Hair Bear himself taking the role of Colonel Hogan.
The show was developed under the name The Yo Yo Bears, a title which many sources inaccurately list as its name in syndication. The show never went into syndication after CBS canceled it in 1974; it reappeared in 1984 on cable on USA Cartoon Express.
A brief clip from the show was featured in the 2002 Adult Swim pilot for Welcome to Eltingville.
Voice cast
- Hair Bear: Daws Butler
- Bubi Bear: Paul Winchell
- Square Bear: Bill Callaway
- Peevly: John Stephenson
- Botch: Joe E. Ross
Episode guide
| # | Episode title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | "Keep the Keeper" | September 11, 1971 |
| 1.2 | "Rare Bear Bungle" | September 18, 1971 |
| 1.3 | "Raffle Ruckus" | September 25, 1971 |
| 1.4 | "Bridal Boo Boo" | October 2, 1971 |
| 1.5 | "No Space Like Home" | October 9, 1971 |
| 1.6 | "Love Bug Bungle" | October 16, 1971 |
| 1.7 | "I'll Zoo You Later" | October 23, 1971 |
| 1.8 | "Ark Lark" | October 30, 1971 |
| 1.9 | "Gobs of Gobaloons" | November 6, 1971 |
| 1.10 | "Panda Pandemonium" | November 19, 1971 |
| 1.11 | "Closed Circuit TV" | November 20, 1971 |
| 1.12 | "The Bear Who Came to Dinner" | November 27, 1971 |
| 1.13 | "Unbearably Peevly" | December 4, 1971 |
| 1.14 | Goldilocks and the Three Bears | December 11, 1971 |
| 1.16 | "The Diet Caper" | December 18, 1971 |
| 1.17 | "Kling Klong versus The Masked Marvel" | January 8, 1972 |