"With Us on the Job, Troubles Soon Fade"

This started out to be one of my Top Four Lists: my Top Four Favorite Episodes of the Saturday Morning live-action series that started the whole Ghostbusters craze: Filmation's THE GHOST BUSTERS.

THE GHOST BUSTERS premiered in 1975 as part of Filmation's new direction of presenting live-action SatAM kidvid shows like SHAZAM!, THE SECRETS OF ISIS, SPACE ACADEMY and ARK II--as opposed to its usual cartoons like THE ARCHIE SHOW, FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY KIDS, STAR TREK THE ANIMATED SERIES and THE GROOVIE GOOLIES. The show starred two sitcom veterans of the 1960s, Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch as grouchy straight man Kong and his dimwitted partner Eddie Spenser (NOT "Spencer," as it was misspelled in the opening credits)--plus Bob Burns as Tracy the Gorilla (or as the credits jokingly said, "'Tracy' trained by BOB BURNS"). Together they were a trio of spectre hunters busting a new ghost every week, with Kong zapping them with the original Ghost Dematerializer and slapstick antics all around. The ghosts and other baddies were played by character actors like Johnny Brown, Billy Barty, Carl Ballentine, Joe E. Ross, Jim Backus and Ted Knight.

This version of GHOST BUSTERS was one of my favorite SatAM shows back in the day, and my favorite character was none other than Storch's zoot-suited, dimwitted Eddie Spenser, aka "Every Ghost's Favorite Victim". The ghost of Count Dracula turned him into an apprentice vampire, the Witch of Salem tried to seduce him by turning into a pretty woman, and the Abominable Snowman went after his heart for a transplant so that he can survive warm temperatures. It's nice to know that in the 1986 animated GHOSTBUSTERS, Eddie Spenser, Jr. is just like his dad, adding chubbiness, clumsiness, cowardice and an old-time aviator outfit to his persona.

All right, my original plan was to watch all 15 GHOST BUSTERS episodes and choose my Top Four, but I had troubles watching an entire episode straight through--the humor was more dated than Spenser's zoot suit. Example: "What's your father's name?" "Ben!" "What's your mother's name?" "Anna!" "What's your name?" "Banana!!" But the repeating plot points were fun: Spenser and Tracy picking up the new assignments from "Zero" at the pawn shop disguised as a thrift store object that self-destructed in five seconds, like in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE--right in Tracy's face; the ghosts haunting the same old mansion and graveyard; and Kong yelling, "ZAP!" as he dematerialized the ghost.

As I just mentioned, THE GHOST BUSTERS ran for 15 episodes on CBS and was the Number Two SatAM series, following Filmation's THE SHAZAM!/ISIS HOUR, so I was not the only one watching. However, Filmation decided to cancel it and put all its money into the latter show. Ten years later, Ivan Reitman was filming the Ackroyd/Ramis/Murray GHOSTBUSTERS movie when he heard about the 1975 series and wisely bought the rights to the name from Filmation--and I am not going to tell you all the legal mess that went on between Filmation and Columbia Pictures that resulted in the premieres of the 1986 cartoons FILMATION'S GHOSTBUSTERS and DiC's THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS--you can look that up for yourselves.

What I will tell you about is a pleasant sight from the episode, "The Canterville Ghost:" Kathy Garver, "Cissy Davis" from the original 1960s sitcom FAMILY AFFAIR, playing a pretty lady who actually moves into the haunted castle and is protected by her ancestor, the title ghost--but only for that one episode. I guess she missed Buffy and Jody and Uncle Bill.

(Photograph courtesy of Google Images)