The Yogi Bear Show is an American comedy animated television series and the first entry of the Yogi Bear franchise produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that centers on the misadventures of forest-dwelling Yogi Bear in Jellystone Park. The show debuted in syndication on January 30, 1961, and ran for 33 episodes until January 6, 1962.[1] Two other segments for the show were Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle.[2] The show had a two-year production run.[3]
The Yogi Bear Show premiered on January 30, 1961, on some major city markets, although the show was not broadcast on the same day of the week, or the same time, in every city's affiliation in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Like The Huckleberry Hound Show, some major city markets picked up the program from independent stations such as WPIX in New York City, KTTV in Los Angeles, KTVU in San Francisco, WGN-TV in Chicago, and KTVT in Dallas. In Canada, the show was split into two networks, with most episodes aired on the CTV Television Network with a few CBC Television networks picking up a few episodes in syndication. In Australia, the show aired on the Nine Network. In the United Kingdom, the show had its premiere on Christmas Day 1962 on ITV in all across England.
Syndication
Only a few locally produced children's shows reran segments of The Yogi Bear Show into the 1970s and into the 1980s. Chicago's WGN-TV rarely picked up segments from The Yogi Bear Show among others on Ray Rayner and his Friends until its cancellation in 1980; and in the United Kingdom, BBC One rarely picked up segments of the show during its "Children's BBC" block in the 1980s.
The Yogi Bear Show along with mixed Yogi Bear segments from The Huckleberry Hound Show returned to television on cable-only Nickelodeon, airing from 1990 until 1993, when it then moved to the then-one-year-old Cartoon Network, along with its sister station Boomerang in 2000. The show aired on Cartoon Network until 2004 because of Boomerang airing the show during the time. From November 26 until November 30, 2020, Yogi Bear segments from both Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear shows returned to Boomerang for a four-day Thanksgiving weekend. Along with Huckleberry Hound being aired on the same four days, both Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle segments were not aired during the period; instead, they were replaced by another Yogi Bear segment to fill the block in separate times.
Characters
Yogi Bear (voiced by Daws Butler impersonating Art Carney) and Boo Boo Bear reside in Jellystone Park and often try to steal picnic baskets while evading Ranger Smith (voiced by Don Messick). Yogi also has a relationship with his girlfriend Cindy Bear.
Boo-Boo Bear (voiced by Don Messick) is Yogi's diminutive sidekick, who tries, and never succeeds, to warn Yogi that "Mr. Ranger" would not like Yogi to steal picnic baskets. He only wears a blue bowtie.
Ranger Smith (voiced by Don Messick) is the head ranger who argues with Yogi stealing picnic baskets. He wears a traditional ranger costume.
Cindy Bear (voiced by Julie Bennett) is Yogi Bear's girlfriend. She speaks with a pronounced Southern accent and carries a parasol.
Additionally, reruns of the original series were aired on the USA Network from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s as part of their USA Cartoon Express animation block, while Nickelodeon also aired these same episodes, plus Yogi's Gang, Yogi's Space Race, and the latter's spinoff series, Galaxy Goof-Ups, during the early 1990s under the umbrella title Nickelodeon's Most Wanted: Yogi Bear.
Home media
On November 15, 2005, Warner Home Video (via Hanna-Barbera Productions and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) released the complete series on region 1 DVD. The R1 H-B Golden Collection Complete Series DVD set features the edited-for-syndication versions instead of the original, uncut network broadcast masters due to cost issues. A Region 2 DVD was released on January 31, 2011. A Region 4 DVD was released on September 6, 2011.
The earlier Yogi Bear cartoons from the first season of The Huckleberry Hound Show can be found on The Huckleberry Hound Show - Volume 1.
Title
Ep #
Release date
Notes
The Yogi Bear Show - The Complete Series
33
November 15, 2005
Collectible animation cel
Original episode with bridges and bumpers
Never-before-seen animation sketches come to life
Yogi Gets Global: One episode in a variety of languages
^Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 929–933. ISBN978-1476665993.
