Where’s Huddles?

1 9 7 0 (UK)
10 x 30 minute episodes

The animated misadventures of a team of football players and their families on and off the field.

This summer replacement show starred Ed Huddles (voiced by Cliff Norton), the quarterback for the Rhinos, a disorganised professional football team, and his best friend Bubba McCoy (voiced by Mel Blanc), the team’s centre.

They lived next door to each other and the episodes dealt with their escapades on and off the field.

Ed was married to Marge (Jean Vander Pyl) while Penny (Marie Wilson) was Bubba’s wife.

Ed had a dog named Fumbles (voiced by Don Messick) and Claude Pertwee (Paul Lynde), Ed’s other neighbour, had a cat named Beverly.

At least three of the four main characters are clearly copied from the two main couples in The Flintstones, even down to being the same physical types – and two of them with voices provided by the same voice-artists repeating their previous roles.

The series was supposed to jump into a permanent nighttime slot in January 1971, but CBS decided otherwise when the series faltered in the ratings.

The show that replaced the animated series was a little-known show called All In The Family, which went on to become one of the biggest hits of the 1970s.

Ed Huddles
Cliff Norton
Bubba McCoy
Mel Blanc
Claude Pertwee
Paul Lynde
Marge Huddles
Jean Vander Pyl
Freight Train
Herb Jeffries
Penny McCoy
Marie Wilson
Mad Dog Mahoney
Alan Reed
Sports Announcer
Dick Enberg
Fumbles
Don Messick