Wait Till Your Father Gets Home is an American animated sitcom[1] produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that aired in first-run syndication in the United States from 1972 to 1974.[2] The show originated as a one-time segment on Love, American Style called "Love and the Old-Fashioned Father". The same pilot was later produced with a live cast (starring Van Johnson), but with no success. The show was the first primetime animated sitcom to run for more than a single season since fellow Hanna-Barbera show The Flintstones more than ten years earlier, and would be the only one until The Simpsons seventeen years later. The show was inspired by All in the Family.[3]
| Wait Till Your Father Gets Home | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Animated sitcom |
| Created by | |
| Directed by |
|
| Voices of | |
| Composer | Richard Bowden |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 48 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | |
| Producers | |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syndicated |
| Release | September 12, 1972 – October 8, 1974 |
Premise
editThe show features Harry Boyle, wife Irma, daughter Alice, and sons Chet and Jamie. Harry, a restaurant supply wholesaler, often butts heads with most of his family about the social issues of the day. Contrasting that is Harry's neighbor and friend, Ralph Kane, a paranoid militia fanatic whose extreme opinions and often dangerous actions Harry can barely tolerate as much as his kids' ideas.
Like many animated series created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, the show contained a laugh track created by the studio.[4] For this show, the studio added a third belly laugh to add a little more "variety" (the only TV series made by Hanna-Barbera to have this added laugh). In addition, the laugh track was also slowed considerably.[4]Like The Flintstones and Top Cat, all the episodes feature a cold open, which is a small scene from the episode that takes place in medias res.
Episodes
editVoice cast
edit- Tom Bosley as Harry Boyle - harassed father.
- Joan Gerber as Irma Boyle - loyal wife and mother.
- Kristina Holland as Alice Boyle - overweight teenage daughter.
- David Hayward/Lennie Weinrib as Chet Boyle - unemployed adult son.
- Jackie Earle Haley/Willie Aames as Jamie Boyle - intelligent and financially astute younger son.
- Jack Burns as Ralph Kane - crazy next-door neighbour.
- Veteran Hanna-Barbera voice talents such as Daws Butler, Don Messick, and John Stephenson provided minor roles.
Guest stars
edit- Don Adams
- Phyllis Diller
- Gene Eugene
- Monty Hall
- Don Knotts
- Rich Little
- Allan Melvin (also appeared on All In The Family)
- Joe E. Ross
- Isabel Sanford (also appeared on All In The Family)
- Jonathan Winters
- Casey Kasem (uncredited)
- Pat Morita (uncredited) "The New House"
- Ken Clark (Britain)
Other "guests" on the series included thinly disguised versions of celebrities who did not provide their own voices, such as guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. When a crooked car dealer on another episode was perceived by real-life Los Angeles car salesman Cal Worthington as being a send-up of him, he sued Hanna-Barbera, the sponsors (Chevrolet) and the five NBC-owned stations that carried the show.[5]
Home media
editIn 2007, Warner Home Video released Season 1 of Wait Till Your Father Gets Home on DVD in Region 1 for the Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection. Warner Archive will release the complete series on Blu-ray on November 26, 2024.
| Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Complete First Season | ||||
| Set details | Special features | Release dates | ||
|
Retrospective look at the classic show | Region 1 (DVD) June 5, 2007[6] | ||
| Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Complete Series | ||||
| Set details | Special features | Release dates | ||
|
Retrospective Featurettes: "Animation for the Nation" & "Illustrating the Times" |
Region A (Blu-ray) November 26, 2024[7] | ||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Why Family Guy is the king of comedy". independent. 24 July 2009.
- ^ Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series. Scarecrow Press. pp. 306–307. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home". TVGuide.com.
- ^ a b Iverson, Paul: "The Advent of the Laugh Track". Hofstra University archives; February 1994.
- ^ Erickson, Syndicated Television, McFarland, 1988
- ^ "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete First Season". dvdtalk.com. June 2, 2007. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
- ^ "Warner Archive Announces November Releases". blu-ray.com. September 30, 2024. Retrieved October 7, 2024.