Aired: 1971-73
Budget: $6.6 million in total
As you may have already guessed by the name, the show followed the lives of Jermaine, Marlon, Tito, Michael, and Jackie Jackson – The Jackson Five. The show was animated and was created for ABC by Jules Bass.
The band got their start in 1965, so they had been around for a few years before they got their own animated series. The famous five brothers were voiced by actors, though Diana Ross voiced herself, and like most 1970s Saturday morning series, “The Jackson 5ive” had an adult laugh track.
The Little Rascals (Our Gang)
Aired: 1955-58
Budget: $10,000 per episode
"The Little Rascals" was a series that blossomed from the series of short films from the 1920s, "Our Gang." The show featured a group of children growing up in a poor neighborhood in the early twentieth century.
TLR aired thirty years after the first show aired, and MGM signed on as distribution of the show's episodes. The second the show hit the TV screen, its popularity came rushing back. In 1994 Universal Pictures release a family comedy by the same name.
The Gumby Show
Aired: 1955-68
Budget: $2.8 million in total
Art Clokey created the "Gumby Show," and after he showed the pilot of the kids' show to an executive at NBC, he was asked to make a second pilot. That's when "Gumby on the Moon" was created.
The segment was a significant success on the "Howdy Doody Show," and that's when Clokey was given a single season. The show featured claymation and ran from 1955 to 1968, though it is still well-known today. To this day, Gumby is one of the most famous examples of stop-motion claymation.
The Osmonds
Aired: 1972
Budget: $40,000 per episode
Much like "The Jackson 5ive," "The Osmonds" was an animated series based on the Osmond family. Though unlike The Jackson 5ive, the show was voiced by the brothers themselves. The show aired for a few months in 1972 and had seventeen episodes in total.
The show was an interesting one as it followed the Osmonds as they traveled around the world performing music. Each episode opened with the family in a new location.
Star Trek: The Animated Series
Aired: 1973-74
Budget: $100,000 per episode
"Star Trek: The Animated Series," followed the space adventures of the Starship Enterprise as it traveled through the intergalactic worlds. Interestingly enough, the voiced on the animated series were the same as in the live-action series, including William Shatner, James Doohan, and more.
The animated series was cheaper to produce than the live-action show. The show aired in September 1942 and ended in October 1974. Of course, that wasn't the last we saw of "Star Trek."