Laff-A-Lympics

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What’s the Story?

LAFF-A-LYMPICS originally aired on ABC from 1977-1979 as an animated tribute to/spoof of the Olympics. It featured 45 Hanna-Barbera characters organized into three teams: The Scooby Doobies, The Yogi Yahooeys, and The Really Rottens. Team members include classic characters like Captain Caveman, Scooby-Doo, and Yogi Bear. With their funny takes on off-the-cuff Olympic sports, The Scooby Doobies and The Yogi Yahooeys are the "hero" teams, always enthusiastic and willing to lend a helping hand. The Really Rottens, on the other hand, are downright baddies most of the time, but their cheating ways always end up hurting them in the end.

Is It Any Good?

Even though Laff-A-Lympics (also known as Scooby-Doo's All-Star Laff-A Lympics) is goofy, kids can still walk away with many valuable life lessons. The Scooby Doobies and The Yogi Yahooeys are great team players -- not only does each team respect its own members, but both groups have admiration for each other, even though they're competing for the same title. These two teams prove that not all competition has to be cutthroat and demonstrate that being a good competitor means playing to win while still treating your opponents with respect.

Kids will enjoy guest appearances by characters like Fred Flintstone (who sits in as the commentator). In general this series (which still airs in reruns) is cheerful and frivolous -- a nice change from other cartoons that depend on violence and innuendos for a chuckle.