The Bugaloos


The Bugaloos is an American children's television series, produced by brothers Sid and Marty Krofft, that aired on NBC on Saturday mornings from 1970 to 1972. Reruns of the show aired in daily syndication from 1978 to 1985 as part of the "Krofft Superstars" package with six other Krofft series. The show features a musical group composed of four British teenagers in insect-themed outfits, constantly beset by the evil machinations of the talent-challenged Benita Bizarre, played by comedian Martha Raye.

Premise

The show takes place in the fantasy setting of Tranquility Forest. The central characters are four British teenage musicians who've formed a pop band named the Bugaloos. The foursome are evidently fictional human-bug hybrids. While occasionally seen air-surfing on leaves, they more usually fly unaided. On the ground, the Bugaloos are sometimes seen traveling around in their "Bugaloo Buggy", a colorful dune buggy custom-made for the show by car builder George Barris. Other bands mentioned in the show include Blood, Sweat & Soap.
Peace-loving and hippie-like, the Bugaloos are pursued by the feathered yet flightless Benita Bizarre, who envies the Bugaloos' ability to fly as much as their ability to create good music.

Characters

The Bugaloos

  • Joy – A butterfly who plays percussion and also sings lead and backup vocals.
  • I.Q. – A grasshopper who plays the guitar and sings lead vocals.
  • Harmony – A bumblebee who plays the keyboard and sings backup vocals.
  • Courage – A ladybug who plays the drums and sings backup vocals.

    Villains

  • Benita Bizarre – A jealous, untalented, unattractive, old crone who is the main antagonist of the series who sports a feathered outfit. Benita lives in a gigantic jukebox and uses it to broadcast her own brand of blaring, obnoxious, unpleasant "music". A dreadful singer, Benita is furious at the popularity of the Bugaloos' more melodic, upbeat sound. Pitting her technology against their nature, she plots elaborate, unsuccessful schemes to either destroy or enslave them, frequently making use of a powerful ultrasonic weapon called the Stereo Zapper which renders its victim unconscious in seconds. In Episode 2, she steals Joy Bugaloo's voice. In Episode 6, she almost succeeds in amputating I.Q.'s wings with the aim of achieving flight herself. Happily, her schemes never cause permanent harm. Raye also appeared the same year in the H.R. Pufnstuf movie as the Boss Witch, which led to her getting the role of Benita.
  • * Funky Rat – Benita's German-accented chauffeur and chief flunky. The Funky Rat costume was also used for essentially the same role as Boss Witch's chauffeur Heinrich Rat in Pufnstuf.
  • * Woofer and Tweeter – Two anthropomorphic stereo speakers who are Benita's two bumbling, sycophantic henchmen.

    Supporting characters

  • Sparky – A firefly whom the Bugaloos took in.
  • Nutty Bird – A local messenger who periodically delivers messages to and from the Bugaloos.
  • Peter Platter – A DJ for radio station KOOK in nearby Rock City.
  • *Mike – Peter Platters's smart-alecky talking microphone.
  • Magico The Magician – A frog magician and hypnotist extraordinaire.
  • Gina Lolawattage – A firefly singer and actress who becomes smitten with her #1 fan Sparky.
  • Bluebell Flower – A giant talking flower who alerts the Bugaloos of impending danger, such as Benita's latest schemes, serving as their "alarm bell".
  • The Grapevine – A bunch of talking grapes on a vine who aid Bluebell in giving the Bugaloos the latest bad news.

    Episodes

Production and airing

Touted as the British version of The Monkees, ''The Bugaloos attracted more than 5,000 young actors and actresses to audition in spring 1970 for the show's four lead roles, each having to demonstrate aptitude in dance, singing and acting.
Among those auditioning were Elton John's future manager John Reid and Phil Collins, who joined the art rock band Genesis later that year. Reid and Collins were two of the three finalists for the role of "I.Q." given to Scottish musician John McIndoe. "If one of those guys had gotten it instead of me, rock-'n'-roll history might have changed," McIndoe later joked. "Whenever I see them, I say, 'Hey guys, you were lucky you didn't get the part'."
The show was taped in Los Angeles, California. Seventeen episodes of the series were produced. Like its predecessor, H. R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos ran for only one season on NBC, with reruns airing the following year. Following production of the first season, the Kroffts tried shooting for a second season and also had a movie deal in the works with Columbia Pictures. However, miscommunication with the actors resulted in their returning to the UK that December against the Kroffts' wishes. As a result, a potential second season was ultimately scrapped, along with plans for a movie which was shelved due to the bankruptcy of Columbia Pictures.
Although the show featured British actors, it was not widely screened in the U.K.. For example, Yorkshire Television and Tyne-Tees Television transmitted the series at lunchtime on Saturdays from late 1971 to early 1972.
The Bugaloos was fitted with an adult laugh track, as was common practice at the time — the inclusion of which the Kroffts were initially against. Sid Krofft commented "We were sort of against that, but Si Rose — being in sitcoms — he felt that when the show was put together that the children would not know when to laugh." Marty Krofft added "the bottom line — it's sad — you gotta tell them when it's funny. And the laugh track, was right. It was necessary, as much as we were always looking to have a real laugh track, a real'' audience. In comedies, if you don't have them, you're in big trouble, because if you don't hear a laugh track, it's not funny. And that's the way the audience was programmed to view these shows." When discussing the show's production techniques for the DVD commentary track in 2006, series stars Caroline Ellis and John Philpott addressed the laugh track. "I was never one for the American canned laughter, because sometimes it's too much," said Ellis. She added, however, that it does help in creating "the atmosphere for the reaction." Philpott added that, unlike their UK counterparts, US viewing audiences at the time had become accustomed to hearing laughter, saying, "I think you find yourself genuinely laughing more if you are prompted to laugh along with the canned laughter."

Music

The show's music director was Hal Yoergler, who also wrote many of the show's songs and produced the Bugaloos album released in 1970. The title song's lyrics were written by Norman Gimbel, and its music was composed by Charles Fox. Gimbel and Fox were also the songwriters of "Killing Me Softly with His Song" and the theme songs to films and programs such as Last American Hero, Happy Days, ''Laverne and Shirley, and The New Adventures of Wonder Woman. A cover of the Bugaloos theme performed by Collective Soul is included on the 1995 tribute album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, produced by Ralph Sall for MCA Records.
The Bugaloos released an album in 1970, featuring studio-recorded versions of some of the songs performed on the show. The track list is as follows:
Side 1
  1. "If You Become a Bugaloo"
  2. "The Senses of Our World"
  3. "For a Friend"
  4. "Believe"
  5. "It's New to You"
Side 2
  1. "Fly Away With Us"
  2. "Older Woman"
  3. "Just the Memory Stays Around"
  4. "Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna"
  5. "Castles in the Air"
  6. "The Bugaloos "
One single was released in conjunction with the album: "For a Friend"/"The Senses of Our World". "For a Friend" charted as a minor hit, appearing on Billboard'' the week of December 18, 1970, at No. 118.
The track "Just the Memory Stays Around" did not appear in any episode, and is available only on the LP. The LP was re-released on CD in January 2000 by Vivid Sound in Japan and in 2006 by Cherry Red Records of London.
The Bugaloos recorded 15 songs. In addition to the 11 that appear on the released album, four additional songs appeared on the television show, but remain unreleased:
  1. "Sparky"
  2. "I'm As Happy As Can Be"
  3. "I Really Love You"
  4. "Flicker Town"

    Home video

The complete Bugaloos series was released on DVD in May 2006 by Rhino Entertainment. The set contained all 17 digitally remastered, original uncut broadcast episodes, with audio commentary on the pilot episode from creator Sid Krofft and director Tony Charmoli. Cast members John Philpott, Caroline Ellis and John McIndoe also provided audio commentary on some episodes and participated in interviews. Also included were a video jukebox with a selection of songs from the episodes, a photo gallery and a Bugaloos Interactive I. Q. Test hosted by McIndoe.

Proposed Revival

At Comic Con 2015, Sid and Marty Krofft revealed they were looking to create an updated version of The Bugaloos as a preschool television series. It was rumored Cyndi Lauper would portray Benita Bizarre. At 2017's Comic Con, they released a teaser trailer of the pilot produced for Nickelodeon with clips of the new series with Lise Simms as Benita Bizarre. However, during a May 2018 radio interview with creator Marty Krofft, Marty revealed that the pilot was not picked up by Nickelodeon and was scrapped. He said they were reshooting the pilot and that Randy Jackson will be involved with the music.

In popular culture

The Bugaloos are the binding childhood memory that the two main protagonists in the 2000 film The Tao of Steve discover as they begin to bond, as Syd and Dex find out that they both had Bugaloos stickers on their respective childhood Josie and the Pussycats lunchboxes.
The Bugaloos' song "Senses of Our World" was sampled by the Chemical Brothers in their track "The Darkness That You Fear".