As a child, I used to spend a lot of time in the United States during the late 1990s and if there was anything that invokes good memories of that innocent time of my life, it has to be the three singing Chipmunks, Alvin, Simon and Theodore Seville. Although the show's original run had ended before I was born, reruns could still be seen on Cartoon Network's Saturday Morning Show, and it as just great. I remember sitting in front of our Television in Vermont watching this show with a bowl of cereal in my lap. For me and my brother, such a brilliant little show was a stark difference to the nothingness that was on at home, and when we had to go back to the UK, we essentially died inside when it came to the fact that we couldn't watch Alvin and the Chipmunks until we went back to the USA. Eventually we got a Skybox but by that time it had been taken off the air.
Now you may be wondering, what's to like about 3 singing Chipmunks? The answer is, everything! The stories, the songs, the characters and most of all, the innocence of it all. Unlike the swarm of Japanese shows that were starting to invade Cartoon Network like Digimon, Pokemon and Beyblade, where start to finish was non stop cartoon barbarism, Alvin and the Chipmunks was almost a last shred to that time of the 1980s where kids shows were made to be unintentionally innocent but still have their fair share of innuendos, almost like an earlier Animaniacs except for the Cartoon Barbarism. Also, the show wasn't like modern equivalents in the sense that it didn't go out of its way to be deliberately disgusting. Most shows that took AATC's place on the Saturday morning show had prolonged scenes of disgust and toilet humour that really should have been run during the middle of the day during school time, I saw no real enjoyment in it and sometimes felt physically sick.
AATC on the other hand managed to blend humour with innocence without having to resort to the lowest common denominator of toilet humour and disgusting, overly violent stereotypes. All this innocence and humour would always be wrapped up in a song, and you have to hand it to Ross Bagdasarian, his ability to write really good songs of continuing originality must make him one of the great songwriters, up there with Jeff Lynne or Freddie Mercury. It could also be said that AATC got me into my Rock n' Roll choice of music as they would often use existing songs from bands of the 70s and 80s, songs which were actually worth a listen and weren't fully laden with swear words and descriptions of one's sexual fantasies.
Of course the most important things were the stories. Each story had a moral and each story was unique in itself. I can't say I've watched every episode, but I don't seem to remember any episodes that didn't have at least some originality in them from the previous episodes. Most of the episodes had the tale of Alvin getting into trouble and it was up to him to get out of it before Dave found out, but each and every situation he was put it was unique and what happened between start and finish was always different and always had you wondering whether he would be able to fix his messes in time.
Overall, this has to be one of my favourite TV shows from my childhood, bringing back some of the best memories of my holidays as well as my youthful years of innocence. When and if I ever have children, I wish to introduce them to this show as well so they can get a true idea of what kids programming in the 80s and 90s was really like.
Now you may be wondering, what's to like about 3 singing Chipmunks? The answer is, everything! The stories, the songs, the characters and most of all, the innocence of it all. Unlike the swarm of Japanese shows that were starting to invade Cartoon Network like Digimon, Pokemon and Beyblade, where start to finish was non stop cartoon barbarism, Alvin and the Chipmunks was almost a last shred to that time of the 1980s where kids shows were made to be unintentionally innocent but still have their fair share of innuendos, almost like an earlier Animaniacs except for the Cartoon Barbarism. Also, the show wasn't like modern equivalents in the sense that it didn't go out of its way to be deliberately disgusting. Most shows that took AATC's place on the Saturday morning show had prolonged scenes of disgust and toilet humour that really should have been run during the middle of the day during school time, I saw no real enjoyment in it and sometimes felt physically sick.
AATC on the other hand managed to blend humour with innocence without having to resort to the lowest common denominator of toilet humour and disgusting, overly violent stereotypes. All this innocence and humour would always be wrapped up in a song, and you have to hand it to Ross Bagdasarian, his ability to write really good songs of continuing originality must make him one of the great songwriters, up there with Jeff Lynne or Freddie Mercury. It could also be said that AATC got me into my Rock n' Roll choice of music as they would often use existing songs from bands of the 70s and 80s, songs which were actually worth a listen and weren't fully laden with swear words and descriptions of one's sexual fantasies.
Of course the most important things were the stories. Each story had a moral and each story was unique in itself. I can't say I've watched every episode, but I don't seem to remember any episodes that didn't have at least some originality in them from the previous episodes. Most of the episodes had the tale of Alvin getting into trouble and it was up to him to get out of it before Dave found out, but each and every situation he was put it was unique and what happened between start and finish was always different and always had you wondering whether he would be able to fix his messes in time.
Overall, this has to be one of my favourite TV shows from my childhood, bringing back some of the best memories of my holidays as well as my youthful years of innocence. When and if I ever have children, I wish to introduce them to this show as well so they can get a true idea of what kids programming in the 80s and 90s was really like.