Which Group of Rascals Do You Like Best?

I have two favorite "groups:"

1. The Wheezer/Stymie/Dorothy years (and even the ones with Dickie and baby Spanky). Stymie was in his "Our Gang" prime in those years. Seriously, the kid was hilarious. He and Wheezer made a great team. I love "Dogs is Dogs."

2. Spanky/Scotty. From "Hi Neighbor" to "Follies of 1936." Scotty is one of my favorite Rascals, so that's pretty self explanitory. Plus Spanky was so funny and cute around that time.

I'd have to say the best years for the series was during the first talkies to about 1936. I really had no particular favorite rascal group as they were almost always very good. I really can not comment much on the silents era since I have only seen two or three of them but the ones I have seen were pretty good.

Least favorite group: A year or two after Alfalfa joined (who was often the only saving grace to the series) and cast members like Spanky and Buckwheat started loosing their appeal and looking way too old for their roles. Of course by the time Alfalfa left and we were stuck with horrible replacements like Robert Blake, Bill "froggy" Laughlin (who IMO was highly overrated), and Janet Burston, well then the series had pretty much run its course to Craps-ville.

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My two favourites are Spanky and Scotty and Spanky,Alfalfa,Buckwheat and Porky.

Spanky seemed more of a rascal in his earlier films.

Well you might not like them but the Alfalfa/Spanky/Darla/Buckwheat/Porky group was the one that made this series immortal, it's the group that made the reruns a tv sensation. The earlier talkies have never had the later year popularity as this group and have rarely played on television, certainly not on the MGM level.

I can see why (A) many prefer the earlier talking group and (B) why the MGM cast was popular with later generations. The early talkies seem to be films made for general audiences, not just kids, even though they are acted by child actors. On the other hand, the MGM films clearly are made for children and that's why they were so unique and involving for kids of the 1950's-1970's, you just did not see children starring in comedies and dramas in those years unless it was like one or two kids with a bunch of adults in big parts (Lassie, Dennis the Menace) and even then those were again "family" programs not children's shows. Their various dramas seemed hackneyed to adults but kid viewers could relate to those stories.

I think the MGM cast gets a bum rap by people like Leonard Maltin (whom I usually agree with as a critic) because these adult fans like the early films best since the humor is more on a level an adult could appreciate yet Maltin could have never had a market for his book if not for the MGM cast. The pre-Spanky kids are just not iconic players or as memorable to most people.

The mid to late 30's group of, 'Spanky', Alfalfa', Darla' and 'Porky'. Those are the ones that were shown on television in reruns.

am i really replying to a 13 year old post? why yes, i am!
i have a lot of early favourites (jackie condon, mary kornman, wheezer hutchins, dorothy deborba, farina, stymie, etcetera) so i guess they'd have to be my favourite group/ensemble of kids.
but i have such a soft spot for alfalfa!! such a cutie! (he and jackie condon were my earliest crushes...)
not to mention darla, porky, and buckwheat are charming in their mischief and cuteness. never really got behind spanky. i liked him as a baby, but he lost his charm when he got old enough to properly deliver a sentence. its no wonder alfalfa outshined him, clearly the more charismatic, loveable and funny of the two.
can't stand froggy. mgm had clearly taken over by the time he arrived and he just simply wasn't funny. same can be said for mickey gubitosi.

My favorite groups were always the first two sets that included Stymie and Buckwheat, not the later ones with Froggy and when Spanky and Alfalfa got a little too old to be playing these characters.