This was one of the best 1970's cartoon shows, mocking the martial-arts and police drama fads of the era. The show was funnily ironic, where Penrod, an inept, bumbling janitor has a secret identity of Hong Kong Phooey...an equally inept, bumbling martial-arts hero. Fortunately, he has a striped cat named Spot who is able to solve crimes and stop villains for him.The funniest part of the show was that Hong Kong Phooey, in all his martial-arts attacks, ends up simply screwing up, while in the shadows Spot saves the day. Hong Kong Phooey, when the villains are defeated, never understands how he succeeded, while Spot enjoys the idea that he was the real hero and nobody else figured it out.

What superhero was a dog who changed into a black mask and robe in a file cabinet before emerging to fight off evildoers throughout the land? The answer? Hong Kong Phooey,of course. Number One Superguy. Hong Kong Phooey,quicker than the human eye. This was one of the best of the Hanna-Barbera produced shows that was part of ABC-TV's Sunshine Saturday Morning schedule which produced 16 episodes from its premiere on September 7,1974-September 4,1976,and from there switch networks over to NBC-TV until September 5,1981. However,the original 16 episodes aired during the show's first season from 1974-1975. During the years from 1975 until 1981,the series aired repeated episodes three times during the remainder of the decade from the mid-1970's all the way toward the early 1980's. However,the ABC-TV years were from 1974-1976,and then it went to NBC-TV in repeated episodes from 1978 until 1981. What makes "Hong Kong Phooey" such a standard astoundishment during the heyday of 1970's Saturday Morning cartoons? Not since the "Underdog" series of the early 1960's,you might be hard pressed to figure out why "Hong Kong Phooey" remains a object of cult worship among veterans of Saturday Mornings. And it is to this day a cult animated classic. For one,it is one of the first ever pedestrian Hanna-Barbera fare which has the adventures of an inept superheroic cartoon dog and his cat assistant.The other secret has to do with repeated exposure:the original episodes,16 produced were recycled three times during the remainder of the 1970's. Much of it was the totally successful theme song,one of the all-time Saturday Morning greats. More of it was Scatman Crothers' warm and humorous performance as the voice of Hong Kong Phooey. And let us not forget that the show appeared in the middle of a major cultural craze for Asian martial arts,and this came at a time when Kung-Fu mania when wild in the movies and on television,when everybody was Kung-Fu fighting. Not to mention at the time the show came out,R&B singer Carl Douglas had one of the biggest hits of the 70's playing on the radio which was a huge smash hit(hince the title of the song:Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting). Speaking of which the show itself was indeed hilarious to boot since it supported genuinely funny writing,ranging from gags centered on Phooey's secret identity as a janitor in a police station to his use of a book of martial arts instructions as a means in a middle of a fight with a supervillain. It not only spoof the Kung-Fu movie craze,but also the writers took elements from several shows,and in one episode based on Don Knotts' character of Barney Fife(from the Andy Griffith Show),and another was poking fun of just about every police-cop show that came out during the 70's and for good reason.

Penrod Pooch leads a secret life as Hong Kong Phooey a Kung Fu crime fighter. His faithful sidekick Spot the cat usually solved the crimes, but that was only a part of the charm. Rosemary the Telephone operator had a mad crush on the hero never realizing that Penry was the one and only Hong Kong Phooey..Too bad the show only lasted 16 episodes. Hong Kong Phooey is not totally helpless... He caught the guys in Car Theves, and caught the Cat burglar in Grandma Goody. He would have had the claw if Spot hadn't used the claw to block Phooey from really getting the claw. He would have had the Giggler too if Spot did not kick open the Jack in the Box to grab him just seconds before Phooey lands in the very spot where the giggler stood...Scatman Coruthers was great as Phooey! As was Joe E Ross as the Gruff Sgt Flint. I hope the series gets the DVD treatment... I miss this show. It planted the seeds for the love of the Martial arts. Hong Kong Phooey had a cool car too! Classic show!

Oh, I wish I could've been hiding in the opium smoke that afternoon Hanna and Barbera dreamed up Hong Kong Phooey, the idiot janitor dog who leads a double life.The noted Chinese actor Scatman Crothers played the kung fu fighting Shih-tzu with a lot of pep, swirling around in more racist Asian stereotypes than a contemporary Chinese laundry soap commercial (let me refresh your memory: 'my husband , some hotshot!' And the unforgettable: 'ancient Chinese secret, huh?!').But at least the acting was superb. Undoubtedly, Crothers is best remembered for this challenging role as Phooey. When Jack Nicholson rested his axeblade in Crothers' spine in 'the Shining,' who among us didn't spit out popcorn and sputter 'my god, he just killed Hong Kong Phooey!' Some things about this show touched viewers very deeply. How many times have you been caught humming the catchy theme song - 'Hong Kong Phooey, Number One Super Guy' - as you waited for your laundry to finish? Or considered changing into more comfortable clothes in the office filing cabinet? Or wondered if enough tassels and Chinatown detailing would turn your own Honda Civic into a Phooeymobile? Didn't you also want to date Rosemary, the police switchboard operator? Don't you wish you had someone like Spot in your life - someone to do all your work, solve all your problems and let you take all the credit?Hong Kong Phooey was, by all measures, a real jerk. Really vain and pretty clueless. I never had a lot of respect for him. He was not the sort of guy I would be friends with. He was the sort of person into whose drink you'd put your cigarette ashes when he wasn't looking. He wasn't from Hong Kong, solved no crimes and really didn't know Kung Fu. He was a real fraud. I guess he had dreams and hopes for himself, but so did Jabberjaw. And Jabberjaw, let's not forget it, could at least play the drums.