It was probably a foregone conclusion that the Harlem Globetrotters would wind up the stars of movies and TV shows. After all, they're more of an entertainment enterprise than a serious sports organization, plus those red, white, and blue uniforms really pop on screen, almost as much as the seemingly impossible trick shots performed by guys with wonderful nicknames.
Not counting the semi-serious 1951 sports drama The Harlem Globetrotters (starring "Pop" Gates, "Babe" Pressley, and "Goose" Tatum as themselves), the squad stormed onto screens with its fun and wacky vibe intact on the 1970-73 CBS Saturday morning cartoon Harlem Globetrotters. Similar to Scooby-Doo and all its clones, this animated series featured a group driving around and getting into adventures. This was a golden age of Globetrotters, and team legends like Meadowlark Lemon and "Curly" Neal voiced their own characters.
In 1974, the Globetrotters made their way back to Saturday mornings with the live-action variety show The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine, which, like other mid-'70s shows of this style, featured corny comedy sketches and musical performances. Then the famous team returned to animated form once more in the bizarre 1979 cartoon The Super Globetrotters, in which the already superhuman Globetrotters were imbued with special abilities. For example, Curly could transform himself into a basketball, while "Sweet" Lou Dunbar's afro held a bottomless supply of tools and gadgets.
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