You've doubtlessly been asking yourself, "Evanier's been doing that blog of his for twenty-four years! When the hell is he going to get around to writing something about Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp?" Well, that time is now.
Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp was a Saturday morning series on ABC in 1970 that was kind of like Get Smart! if Get Smart! had featured a cast of chimpanzees. It was created by Stan Burns and Mike Marmer, a very successful comedy-writing team who'd not only worked on Get Smart! but also on The Carol Burnett Show, The Flip Wilson Show, The Steve Allen Show and many others.
Apart from its all-chimp cast, it was unique in the way it was written. They'd write a script with mostly action and the trainers would do their best to coax those actions out of the chimps. Then the writers, including Burns and Marmer, would write actual dialogue to the footage and it would be dubbed-in by a voice cast that included Joanie Gerber, Dayton Allen, Bernie Kopell, Malachi Throne and Steven Hoffman. I believe Hoffman was the lead singer in the show's band, The Evolution Revolution.
Seventeen episodes were made and its first season, the show had an hour time-slot with Lancelot Link adventures occupying much of the hour and the remaining time filled by classic Warner Brothers cartoons. The second season, it was in a half-hour time slot with the cartoons eliminated and the same Lancelot Link material edited down to fit. I believe it is just the half-hour episodes that have since been syndicated.
I don't remember ever making it all the way through a single episode but it achieved some popularity and a lot of merchandising in 1970. Gold Key put out eight issues of a comic book largely written by Paul S. Newman and largely drawn by Mike Sekowsky. Here is a little documentary about the series that interviews Mssrs. Burns and Marmer. Thanks to "John G." for calling it to my attention.