Josie and the Pussycats was sort of like Scooby Doo in that a gang of young people travelled from place to place and always ran into trouble. The difference is that here, instead of monsters, the gang ran into spies and megalomaniacs wanting to take over the world. Like Scooby though, each episode had a wild chase and as the Pussycats were a musical group, the chase always featured music, like the classic song I'm Gonna Do Some Voodoo on You Baby. The humor was pretty dopey, even for a cartoon but there was always some fun to be had thanks to Alexander Cabot, the group's shades wearing manager who, like Scooby, was always the first one to panic. The show is interesting in that it featured Valerie, one of the first black characters to appear on a major cartoon. The music that the Pussycats played was sometimes quite good, but unlike the Archies, they did not become a hit. The cartoon didn't have much to do with the comic book which was basically a female version of the Archie comic books. The Josie series didn't last that long, probably due to the fact that so many episodes copied each other with minor changes in locale and the way in which the villains planned to take over the world. Looking at it today is amusing in that despite the fact that three girls and two guys spend all their time travelling together, there is no hint of anything going on, (even though Josie and Allan M. are supposed to be involved) and none of the males ever seem to show much interest in Melody who was among the first of the dumb blondes on TV. For people who grew up in the 70s, this cartoon is fun to look back on but it simply is too tame and dated for today's kids to enjoy.
Review of Josie and the Pussycats
