MovieChat Forums > Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972) Discussion > was this a 'fat albert' cartoon?

was this a 'fat albert' cartoon?

posted 16 years ago by mgirls
6 replies | jump to latest

Ok, in grade two, our teacher was a mild sadist. She showed us depressing films and picture books, and apparently got some sick kick out of it. Most I've forgotten, but one I haven't been able to forget. I saw it in 2001, but it was probably from the 70's/80's

it was a cartoon about these inner city kids. They were all african american. One of the boys was a comedian (I clearly remember one of his jokes being "Today, I told a man that my shoes were hurting me. He told me that i had them on the wrong feet, and i said 'these are the only feet that I have'"). The comedian boy had an older brother who was in a gang. There was apparently going to be some sort of big gang fight, and so the commedian boy went to stop it. In the end, he gets shot (possably by his brother). it ends with all of the characters sad at the boy's funural.

Something makes me think that it was either a fat albert cartoon, or that it was animated by the same artists.

[–] jschillig 15 years ago

That was, indeed, a Fat Albert ep...and it shocked the living hell out of me when I was twelve! I didn't think that they'd actually go so far as to kill off a kid on a kid's cartoon...but Bill Cosby wanted to show what gang violence could lead to, that it could kill off innocents in the crossfire, and he didn't want to pull any punches.

I found out later that this one was called "Talk, Don't Fight", and that it was indeed made available on 16mm for teachers to show. The kid in question was a younger friend of the gang named Fernando, who wanted to be a standup comedian, and was resisting pressure from his older brother Tito to join his gang. When Albert and Fernando found out that the rival gang had guns, they went to warn Tito, only to find the rival gang leader aiming for him...and Fernando leaped in front of his brother and took the bullet. The gang leader was arrested and, watching it, I was thinking, "Okay, Fernando's going to recover and Tito will be so relieved he'll mend his ways..."

And then Tito cried out, "He's dead! They killed my little brother!" And my jaw hit the living room rug.

Tito threatened to wipe out the other gang, but Albert tearfully replied, "And then they kill you...and what's the point of that? Fernando died saving you!"

The last scene was the dedication of the park Fernando had been helping the gang build...the Fernando Rodriguez Memorial Park.

If it didn't win an Emmy for kids' TV, it should have.

[–] ItsEddieHaskellBeyotch 13 years ago

I remember being shocked by this episode as well and for years I tried to convince my friends that it actually exsisted! This is quite possibly the saddest episode of an animated cartoon series next to the episode of The Chipmunks where their pet kitten is killed.

"You win some, you lose some. But you live, you live to fight another day."

[–] leighabc123 15 years ago

I was an innocent 7 year old child when I first saw that episode. I was traumatized when I saw Fat Albert cry after that little boy got shot.

[–] deontee2002 13 years ago

Hulu has episodes from the 1st and last season available for streaming, including the infamous "Fernando" episode, which can be found right HERE:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/296500/the-adventures-of-fat-albert-and-the- cosby-kids-gang-wars#s-p3-so-i0

[–] Son_Of_A_Bitch_Must_Pay 12 years ago

I just saw that ep tonight on BOUNCE and was like What The Hell... did they just kill a kid, I thought they were gonna have him live or atleast be paralyzed or something.

any other eps like that were they actually killed someone on the show

You have the same scowl your mother had... When I banged her... After I pulled the plug.

[–] jaybabb 12 years ago

Bill Cosby have never been one to pull punches-but I thought that it was a little out of character to kill off a kid on a kids show. I think it would have been just as effective to put him in a wheelchair and have Albert say "You don't want to end up like that do you?" Killing him is just too extreme for a kids cartoon.

Conspiracy therories are cleverly thought out to evade the real truth

Jay