Back in the early 1970s, when the original 24 episodes of this cartoon series first hit the airwaves, I was more or less the same age as Chet, the slacker son of Harry Boyle, the protagonist, and his wife, Irma. Now, roughly 35 years later, as the Hanna Barbera vault has been tapped for Father's Day 2007, I am roughly the age of father figure Harry Boyle, with three children of my own. But one thing is certain -- viewed as father or son, the show is still funny.
As a cartoon series, "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" (Warner Home Video, $44.98) was everything a program could be -- it was liberal, probably subversive and dealt with the social upheaval that began in the 1960s and ran into the next decade. Its humor is still relevant in 2007 because society seems to be confronting once again the same problems it did in the 1970s -- minority rights, freedom of speech and the dangers of ultra-conservative right-wingers, hilariously voiced by Jack Burns.
The changes that society was undergoing are viewed through the eyes of Harry Boyle's family -- wife Irma, sons Chet and Jamie, and daughter Alice. Harry, of course is the conservative, staid, successful business owner (think Howard Cunningham of "Happy Days" because the voice is that of Tom Bosley). In fact, the cartoon shares other similarities with "Happy Days," because it also began as a sketch on the comedy show "Love American Style.
" Many later programs and characters were foreshadowed by this cartoon, including the hyper-capitalist Jamie, whose mannerisms evolved into Michael J. Keaton, in the long-running series "Family Ties." It also seems to serve as a milder and less outrageous sibling to "Family Guy" and "King of the Hill.
" Unfortunately there are only two special features, "Animation of the Nation," which describes the creation of the series, and "Illustrating the Times," a historical view of the culture that spawned this cartoon. They are both excellent and for anyone under the age of 30, and should be viewed before watching the individual episodes. Back in the early 1970s, when the original 24 episodes of this cartoon series first hit the airwaves, I was more or less the same age as Chet, the slacker son of Harry Boyle, the protagonist, and his wife, Irma.
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