THEME SONG THURSDAY: JACKSON 5IVE

Following the popularity of the Beatles cartoon that ended in 1969, ABC decided to take another popular act and bring reinvent them in the world of ink and paint.

This week's "Famous People Who Shouldn't Have Had Their Own Cartoon" theme song goes to...

Jackson 5ive

ABC saw how popular a Beatles cartoon was with the kids so when they were looking for a replacement, Rankin/Bass looked to the current pop sensation the Jackson 5. The show ran from 1971-1973 on ABC and had two seasons.

The Jacksons, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael, were said to have had a lot of input in the show. But anyone who knows the strict and brutal work schedule brought upon by their father knows this probably wasn't the case. The Jacksons don't actually appear in the show except for some stills that you will see in the clip below.

They also didn't provide the voices for their animated counterparts. Craig Grandy was Jackie Jackson, Mike Martinez was Tito Jackson, Joel Cooper was Jermaine Jackson, Edmund Sylvers was Marlon Jackson and Donald Fullilove was Michael Jackson.

Together, the five Jacksons toured around the world playing their music and having strange adventures as well.

The theme song is a special medley of their current top hits, "I Want You Back", "The Love You Save" and "ABC".

This show was not nearly as bad as the ones I've posted in the last few weeks. It had good character designs and paved the way for other African-American cartoons, including Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids and Harlem Globetrotters.

I think the worst part of the show was this theme song. Michael Jackson's whiney kid voice is not what I want to wake up to on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the end of each episode featured another of their hit songs put to a psychedelic animated music video.