Red Hand Gang

Cast:
Matthew Laborteaux Frankie
J.R. MillerJ.R.
Jolie NewmanJoanne
James Bond III Doc
John Brogna Li'l Bill


Air Dates:

On NBC from 9/10/77 - 1/28/78


Number of Episodes:

12


Plot Synopsis:

Solving crimes and having fun, the Red Hand Gang was a group of five pre-teens from the inner city and their dog. Frankie was the oldest and the unofficial leader, with J.R. was the athletic one, Doc was the smart one, Joanne was the tomboy, and 'Frankie's younger brother, Lil Bill, was the the junior member. Their adventures included catching a gang of kidnappers, preventing a jewel heist, and foiling a museum robbery.


Comments:

Unlike almost all of the other Saturday morning shows, the Red Hand Gang's adventures were serialized into multiple (3 to 5) shows which allowed longer stories. Each episode ended in a cliff hanger ending. In 1995, original producer William P. D'Angelo formed a company called The NETwork which was going to feature four weekly shows on the web. One of the shows was the Red Hand Gang. Unfortunately, not much more information was available, so I don't know if they made an updated version or just used old episodes. Currently, there is no information at all on The NETWork's homepage.

Matthew Laborteaux went on to some success with his role in Little House on the Prairie. Boomer, the dog, later got his own series, Here's Boomer.

For some reason, this show seems to have been more popular in England than the United States. When doing a net search on the show, most of the sites that mentioned it were British-based sites covering children's shows and a good portion of the email I have received about the show comes from the UK.


News:

(May 2009) The US release of the series is scheduled to come out on July 28,2009, from Arts Alliance America. The same company is planning to release Monster Squad on DVD in June.

Pre-order the set from Amazon:

(June 2008)The show is coming to DVD in the UK on September 1, 2008. Go here for more information on it.


Episode Guide:

Air dates, titles and synopsis


Multimedia:

Opening and Closing Themes

Images/Screen Captures:
(click on images for larger versions)

Frankie
J.R.
Joanne
'Lil Bill
Doc
More Red Hand Gang photos


Links:
Tv Cream has a short reference to the series

Article on Red Hand Gang from Cult Television

Availability:

The US release for the series is scheduled for July 28, 2009.

Pre-order the set from Amazon:

The show was released on DVD in the UK on September 1, 2008. You can order the set from Amazon UK



Unlike most UK release, these DVDs do play on regular US DVD players. I've bought the set and have been able to play them on every DVD player without any problem.


For more info on how to find this and other old Saturday morning shows, check out this page.


Questions, Comments, Suggestions, etc...






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