The short-lived animated mystery/musical/adventure series "Jabberjaw" was a prime example of a lowpoint in Saturday Morning cartoons during the mid-1970's. This particular series lumped together several concepts into a mess of a show that became one of the "worst" of the Scooby and Josie clones that were all over the place that clogged up Saturday Mornings. Produced by William Hanna and Joesph Barbera(who also served as executive producers of this show),under the direction of legendary animator Charles A. Nichols and under the creation of Joesph Ruby and Kenneth Spears(who also served as some of the writers of this show...Ruby and Spears were the head writers for a lot of Hanna-Barbera shows including "Scooby Doo,Where Are You?",and "Josie and the Pussycats" to name a few),"Jabberjaw" was nothing more than a train-wreck that happened with the quickness. Each episode had the same exact formula.
For one,"Jabberjaw"(capitalize on the popularity of the 1975 blockbuster hit "Jaws")was a whimpering talking great white shark who sounds like Curly Howard,(another one when it was the inspiration of "The Three Stooges" and some of its cartoons too including "The Three Robotic Stooges" that premiered some two years later),and mutters "I Don't Get No Respect"(a nod from comedian Rodney Dangerfield)whenever he gets in trouble and is sometimes very lame and clumsy. He travels with a band called The Neptunes(since the show is set under the sea)in a futuristic undersea realm that various on the same exact format.....stumbled into a mystery,with the lead character in tow while taking on various villains with sinister schemes. It was no wonder it lasted more than one season.
"Jabberjaw" originally ran on ABC-TV from September 11, 1976 until September 3, 1977. The series produced 16 episodes. However,ABC repeated these episodes when they moved the show to the Sunday Morning timeslot from September 11, 1977 until September 3, 1978,the last time this show was ever shown on network television. And for good reasons. "Jabberjaw",was one of the worst of the "Scooby" clones and its right up there with "Captain Caveman","The New Shmoo",and "Fangface" as the worst of that genre that featured moronic no brainer characters.
