Josie and the Pussycats formatted as Josie and the Pussy Cats in the opening titles is an American animated television series based upon the Archie Comics comic book series of the same name created by Dan DeCarlo. Produced for Saturday morning television by Hanna-Barbera Productions , 16 episodes of Josie and the Pussycats aired on CBS during the β71 television season and were rerun during the β72 season. In , the show was re-conceptualized as Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space , 16 episodes of which aired on CBS during the β73 season and were rerun the following season until January Josie and the Pussycats featured a teenage all-girl pop band that toured the world with their entourage, getting mixed up in strange adventures, spy capers, and mysteries.
The group consisted of level-headed lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Josie, intelligent tambourine Valerie, and air-headed blonde drummer Melody.
The animated version of Josie was an amalgam of plot devices, villain types, settings, moods, and tones from other Hanna-Barbera shows such as Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Later home video and DVD releases omit the laugh track. Cartoon Network and Boomerang , however, have aired the show in its original broadcast format with the laugh track intact.
Each episode found the Pussycats and crew en route to perform a gig or record a song in some exotic location where, somehow, often due to something Alexandra did, they became mixed up in an adventure. The antagonist was always a diabolical mad scientist, spy, or criminal who wanted to take over the world using some high-tech device.
The Pussycats usually found themselves in possession of the plans for an invention, an item of interest to the villains, a secret spy message, etc. Eventually, the Pussycats would ruin the villain's plans, resulting in a final chase sequence set to a Pussycats song.
