"The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour"

NBC aired this live-action prime-time variety show lasting 4 weeks in April and early May 1978 on Thursday nights. There were no animation segments. The show was hosted by two life-sized female human puppets named Honey (performed by Udana Powers) and Sis (Wendy McKenzie) and featured various guest star celebrities each week. Honey and Sis flirted with the male guest celebrities on stage and in a hot tub. One running gag was Honey and Sis starting to sing a song that gets abruptly cut off for commercials in the middle of the series hour. The sisters would finish their song when the commercial break ended to an applauding audience.

The Hanna-Barbera animal characters such as Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss, Huckleberry Hound, and other 60s'-era characters were featured in live-action (actors in life-sized suits) as background dancers in a disco with Honey and Sis interacting with the guest stars in the foreground in one regular segment. There were no voice overs done for the Hanna-Barbera animal people.

Joe Barbera and William Hanna attempted to emulate Sid and Marty Krofft by producing a variety show with puppets. The Kroffts hit it big with their "Donny and Marie" show at that time. Hanna-Barbera's attempt flopped.

Udana Powers went on to guest star in various tv series.

Thoughts?

This was one of two attempts for Hanna-Barbera to produce a live-action prime time hour for NBC in 1978.

The other attempt was a two-part "Legends of the Super Heroes" special airing on consecutive weeks which was a live-action jokey version of the "Challenge of the Super Friends" with a team of DC Comics superheroes led by Adam West starring as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin battling a gang of villains led by Frank Gorshin as The Riddler.

The first special was "The Challenge" with the heroes (Batman, Robin, Captain Marvel, Huntress, Hawkman, Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary) and villains (Riddler, Mordru, Sinestro, Dr. Sivana, Giganta, Solomon Grundy, Weather Wizard) involved in an one-hour adventure shot on videotape and with a laugh track. Charlie Callas played Sinestro, Howard Morris played Dr. Sivana, and Jeff Altman played Weather Wizard as some familiar actors appearing. Marsha Warfield, later of "Night Court", played an innocent bystander calmly and deadpanningly describing a hero/villain fight over the telephone to a friend of hers.

The second special was "The Roast" with the heroes throwing a roast party (the guest of honor gets good-naturedly insulted by the fellow guests) hosted by Ed McMahon with the villains crashing the party. Frank Gorshin did not appear. William Schallert appeared as an elderly hero named "Retired Man".

It didn't become a series.

Hanna-Barbera also produced a pilot for a variety series in the late 1970s starring impressionist comedian Fred Travalena titled "The World of Fred and Buni" with Buni being a puppet. Pat Harrington Jr. was a guest star in the pilot and some outtakes with Pat Harrington Jr and Travalena both muffing their lines and breaking up on camera were shown on a tv bloopers special (They couldn't get past the dialogue of "Sonia Henie's tutu"). It did not become a series. Travalena was the voice of Bogey Orangutan in "The Shirt Tales" cartoon series from 1982 to 1984.