These Are the Days is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on ABC from September 7, 1974, to September 27, 1975.

Plot

Set at the turn of the 20th century in a small town called Elmsville located somewhere on the Great Plains, These Are the Days portrayed the everyday lives of the Day family, which consisted of the widow, her three children and her father, the self-styled inventor. Various family members interacted with friends and neighbors, with the story usually ending with the lesson learned.

Production

Due to the popularity of The Waltons, ABC decided to take a chance on an animated program set around the turn of the century. It was one of three "serious" programs the network aired on Saturday mornings in 1974, the others being the prehistoric live-action drama Korg: 70,000 B.C. and the animated family drama Devlin. These Are the Days and Devlin were among the very few dramatic programs ever produced by Hanna-Barbera, who were known primarily for slapstick comedies and action-adventure cartoons. (Warner Bros. has since acquired Hanna-Barbera Productions via Turner Entertainment, as well as Lorimar Productions, which produced The Waltons.) Despite critical acclaim, however, These Are the Days was a ratings failure, as were Devlin and Korg: 70,000 B.C.; all three series were cancelled by the end of the year. These Are the Days continued in re-runs (only twelve original episodes were shown in the fall of 1974), with four new episodes shown in September 1975.

Cast

Episodes