ABC Afterschool Special - "My Mom's Having a Baby" (Complete Broadcast, 2/16/1977) 👶 📺

Here's yet another awesome original airing (and one of the most famous of all) of the ABC Afterschool Specials - "My Mom's Having a Baby" as aired on KTXS Channel 12, the ABC affiliate out of Sweetwater-Abilene, Texas.

In this story - produced by DePatie-Freleng (of "Pink Panther" fame) - a 10-year-old boy, Petey (Shane Sinutko), wonders how babies are born as his mother (Candace Farrell) is pregnant with his soon to be baby brother, as related through animated fantasies and flashbacks; with friends Oskar (Jarrod Johnson) and Kelly (Rachel Longaker) accompanying him, he visits the office of Lendon Smith, M.D. (as himself) who uses animation to show how babies are really born.

This was notable for showing a live birth (taped some three years in advance of this film; that footage was originally shown as part of a 1974 special, Of Birth and Babies, which is why Ms. Farrell may look younger in parts).

Most of this cast, save for Ms. Farrell, would later appear in the follow-up / sequel, "Where Do Teenagers Come From?," in 1980) Wouldn't it be great if we could eventually see that one here too? ;-)

A small bonus will follow.

Includes:

Commercial: Lester Humphrey Pest & Termite Control Service

Station ID / long-winded promo for "KTXS Electronic Report Instant Eye News"

Bumper slide with intro, joined in progress by station (voiceover by Gilbert Hodges)

ABC Afterschool Special earlier (original?) opening with "gumball machine" and synth/Moog music

Segment 1, featuring opening titles and credits

Sponsor billboard for Post cereals (voiceover by Bill Owen)

Commercials for:
Post Honey Comb cereal
Milky Way candy bars

Segment 2

Commercials for:
Dentyne breath freshening gum
Post Cocoa Pebbles (with kind of frightening animation of Fred, Wilma and Betty looking "possessed" by their Cocoa Pebbles mania)
M&M's (jingle sung to tune of "The Candy Man")
Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup (check out typo on label - "Lettue, Tomato and Green Pepper Toss")

Segment 3

Commercials for:
3 Musketeers candy bar
Post Super Sugar Crisp (Sugar Bear [voice of Gerry Matthews] wears golden coat that attracts two bank robbers)
Dynamints - "They Look So Little, They Refresh So Big"

Animated ABC logo with local station ID voiceover

Commercial: Tang Orange and Grape Flavor instant breakfast drink (animated with space aliens)

Segment 4

Commercials for:
McDonald's (Ronald McDonald working to recycle newspapers to help environment)
Snickers chocolate peanuts candy bar
Kool-Aid (kids at skating rink)

PSA for Action for Children's Television - "TLC - Tender Loving Care" (sung by Bob Dorough, with animation in style of "Schoolhouse Rocks")

Segment 5 (key scene starts at 42:43, but some 6 minutes edited out with explanation given at 43:15)

Commercials for:
Campbell's new Chicken Alphabet and Meatball Alphabet soups (with the voice of Mel Blanc as Foghorn Leghorn)
Mars Almond Bar - "An Almond in Every Bite"

Promo for Blansky's Beauties and Fish (main voiceover by Ernie Anderson) (ending voiceover by Gilbert Hodges)

Promo for next Afterschool Special, "The Horrible Honchos," (main voiceover by Bill Owen) (ending voiceover by Gilbert Hodges)

Commercials for:
Post Alpha-Bits cereal
Starburst Fruit Chews (featuring Maureen McCormick of "Brady Bunch" fame)

Sponsor billboard for M&M / Mars, makers of Milky Way (voiceover by Bill Owen)

Film ending credits (with voiceover promo for Welcome Back, Kotter and What's Happening?! by Gilbert Hodges)

Educational Consultant: The Bank Street College of Education
Recommended by the National Education Association
Main Title Music Composed by John Morris
Main Title Film - Eleanor Bunin

followed by ending Afterschool Special title sequence

Promo for Wonder Woman (main voiceover by Ernie Anderson) (ending voiceover by Gilbert Hodges)

Commercials for:
Abilene Arrow Ford
Dairy Queen "Beltbuster" hamburgers

Promo for TV Guide (February 19th-25th issue, with Nancy Walker on cover) (voiceover by Taylor Grant)

Station ID slide

Bonus: First nearly two minutes of music variety show, Nashville on the Road, from Six Flags over Texas, hosted by Jim Ed Brown and Jerry Clower (video begins to drop out in last few seconds as Jim Ed performs his opening number, before recording finally ends)

This aired on local Sweetwater-Abilene TV on Wednesday, February 16th 1977 during the 3:30pm to 4:30pm timeframe.

About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:

The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved. We save the entire broadcasts in our archives (or however much is present on the tape). For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to digital, please e-mail [email protected] Thank you for your help!