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<v Speaker 1>Uncle Croc's Block was a bizarre attempt by Filmation and

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<v Speaker 1>ABC to turn the traditional Saturday morning children show into

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<v Speaker 1>a parody of itself. Premiering in nineteen seventy five, the

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<v Speaker 1>series starred Charles Nelson Riley as Uncle Kroc, a crocodile

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<v Speaker 1>who openly hated hosting his own children's program. Jonathan Harris

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<v Speaker 1>played Basil Bitterbottom, the perpetually frustrated director, while Alfie Wise

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<v Speaker 1>appeared as Uncle Croc's rabbit sidekick Mister Rabbit Ears. The

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<v Speaker 1>concept was deliberately cynical, with the characters constantly complaining about

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<v Speaker 1>the show, its guests, and the entertainment business This is

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<v Speaker 1>TV casualty Uncle Croc's Block. The problem was that the

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<v Speaker 1>joke was aimed at an audience that might not have

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<v Speaker 1>understood it. Instead of presenting a cheerful children's host, Uncle

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<v Speaker 1>Croc's Block gave young viewers a host who seemed annoyed

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<v Speaker 1>that they were watching. The series was built around the

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<v Speaker 1>idea of satirizing familiar children's televison conventions, but many of

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<v Speaker 1>its references were aimed at older viewers. Its star time

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<v Speaker 1>segments featured celebrities and parodies of popular television characters, while

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<v Speaker 1>the program's animated portions included Fredycat Wacky, and Packy and Mush,

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<v Speaker 1>a spoof of Mash. The humor was also unusually abrasive

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<v Speaker 1>for Saturday morning television. Rather than simply making fun of

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<v Speaker 1>children's programming, the series frequently portrayed the television industry as

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<v Speaker 1>miserable and incompetent. Riley's performance was intentionally over the top,

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<v Speaker 1>but the constant sarcasm and an intrusive laugh track did

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<v Speaker 1>little to make the show appealing to its intended audience.

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<v Speaker 1>Critics and later viewers have often described the program as confused, noisy,

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<v Speaker 1>and mean spirited, with the individual elements failing to come

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<v Speaker 1>together as a coherent children's show. ABC quickly discovered that

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<v Speaker 1>audiences were not interested. The original hour our long format

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<v Speaker 1>was cut to thirty minutes after poor ratings, with portions

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<v Speaker 1>of the animated programming removed or rearranged. The shortened version

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<v Speaker 1>could not save the series, and Uncle Croc's Block was

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<v Speaker 1>ultimately canceled in February nineteen seventy six, only months after

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<v Speaker 1>its debut. The failure had consequences beyond the cancelation itself.

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<v Speaker 1>ABC president Fred Silverman ended the network's relationship with Filmation

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<v Speaker 1>for Saturday morning programming and turned to other animation producers,

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<v Speaker 1>including Hanna Barbera and The Croft Organization for Filmation. The

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<v Speaker 1>cancelation was particularly unusual because the studio had already been

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<v Speaker 1>paid for the full season, meaning it could avoid spending

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<v Speaker 1>money producing the remaining material. Some of the animated segments

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<v Speaker 1>survived beyond the show's brief network run. Fredycat Wacky and

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<v Speaker 1>Packy and Mush were later circulated in syndicated Filmation packages,

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<v Speaker 1>allowing per pieces of the failed program to live on independently.

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<v Speaker 1>Yet the original Uncle Croc's Block remained largely forgotten, remembered

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<v Speaker 1>primarily as one of the strangest misfires of the nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>seventies Saturday morning television era. What made Uncle Croc's Block

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<v Speaker 1>such a failure was not a lack of recognizable talent.

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<v Speaker 1>Riley and Harris were experienced television performers, and Filmation was

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<v Speaker 1>one of the industry's major animation studios. The real problem

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<v Speaker 1>was the show's fundamental mismatch between concept and audience. It

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<v Speaker 1>attempted to satirize children's television while still functioning as children's television.

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<v Speaker 1>Resulting in a program that was too cynical for young

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<v Speaker 1>viewers and too simplistic for the adults who might have

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<v Speaker 1>appreciated its jokes. Uncle Croc's Block was an ambitious experiment,

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<v Speaker 1>but instead of becoming a clever parody of Saturday morning television,

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<v Speaker 1>it became one of the era's most memorable examples of

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<v Speaker 1>how badly a children's show could misunderstand its audience.