My favorite Saturday morning show when I was four was Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp. It was like Austin Powers with monkeys and I just loved it (having the finely developed sense of camp that I did at the time!). I went as Lancelot Link for Halloween and I also carried a metal Lancelot Link lunchbox and thermos to school for a year. Soon I would graduate to another simian obsession in Planet of the Apes, but until the first grade ended at least, I was Lancelot Link’s biggest fan.
 

 
Lancelot Link and his wife Marta Hairi (“How do you want your eggs, Lancelot?” and “Oh Lancie!” were her famous lines) are secret agents of APE, the Agency to Prevent Evil. Link’s arch nemesis, Baron von Butcher (Bernie Kopell, who played “Doc” on The Love Boat did his voice) is the evil kingpin of CHUMP, the Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan. In every episode the Baron would come up with a new plan to rule the world and Lancelot Link would outsmart him. Other villains included Wang Fu, the Duchess, Ali AssaSeen, Dr. Strangemind and von Butcher’s chauffeur, Creto. The dialogue was a lot like Get Smart! which should come as no surprise since two of the three producers were writers on that series. For a kid’s show, it had sharp writing,
 
There was also a musical number in each episode where Ed Simian (an Ed Sullivan parody, of course) introduced Lance’s psychedelic rock group, The Evolution Revolution. The backing musicians for these tracks were the same musicians recording in the same studio and often working with the same songwriters as the Grassroots. They sound almost exactly alike, which is to say, great!