This was a short-lived MTV show feature Alex Winter from Bill & Ted/the Lost Boys. It was a ridiculous and strange sketch comedy show, a precursor (I would say) to the State or Mr. Show. It featured such reoccuring characters as Lockjaw, a PI with tetnus, and Eddie the Flying Gimp. There was also a troubled family who would appear and the drunken dad would punch the mom and/or the kids. Every so often, God would drop an anvil on the characters and people would yell "ANVIL OF GOD!" I don't remember much else about this show, but I LOVED it as a child and am very excited that I found a bootleg of it today.
PHASE fucking IV. This is, as I recall, a post apocalyptic movie about super intelligent ants that are trying to take over the world... Now, they aren't giant ants, they are normal sized ants with a hyper-intelligent hive mind. I watched this movie on sunday horror matinee when I was probably 7-8, and spent years trying to remember the name of it. Once I did, I was amazed that it was directed by SAUL BASS. Yes, the same Saul Bass that did amazing posters for such films as the Man With The Golden Arm and Anatomy of a Murder, as well as credit sequences for many Hitchcock films such as Psycho and Vertigo, not to mention Casino. Well, this is the only film the man ever directed... I remember it as a very strange seventies sci-fi/horror romp, with intelligent ants building super-computers out of sand and destroying the last outpost of humanity... it will be interesting to see how it holds up.
This is a one-off David Lynch series in three parts that features Crispin Glover and other indie stalwarts in a group of stories that all take place in one hotel in one night. From what I can tell, the stories are more play-like than film-like, but I have always been very interested in watching this. This show has been extensively sampled by bands such as Isis ("The whole horizon is on fire... fire as far as the eye can see."), so you may already be tangentally familar with this.
I loved this show SO MUCH as a kid... The premise of this show is that the famous broadcast really happened, and so did the events of the 50s movie... but it has all been covered up/blamed on mass hysteria. The aliens "corpses" were stored in toxic waste drums for so long that the contents were forgotten, and when they are placed in a facility next to radioactive material, they are revived... but must stay near radioactivity to keep the germs that beat them at bay. A small government office, with the help of a crackpot scientist who is the only person who believes that the War of the Worlds broadcast was really true, fight the aliens... The second season of this show changed radically, with a post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk feel and totally different aliens.
Does anyone else remember this stuff? What other obscure TV or movies are YOU looking for?
myriam [email] said at 4:00 PM 09-15-2005: Mark Jackson is a former star Australian Rules footballer who was sacked after putting live firecrackers in the pocket of his club He has written an autobiography of his football days called "Dumb like a fox"
myriam [email] said at 4:20 PM 09-15-2005: all of these sound cool.
There was an old 70s french show called "Les Gamas" or something ("gamins?") where there were these four crazy miniature 70s adults, all in bellbottoms and big hair, that romped around the big people's world and pulled pranks and shit. It was not intended for kids, either. But I LOVED it. I think my parents eventually accidentally taped over our tapes of it, because I couldn't find them the last few times I was home and looked. I would love to see those again.
myriam [email] said at 4:23 PM 09-15-2005: Oh, and nobody believed they existed, and the punchline was always "les gammas n'existent PAS!" which rhymes and means "the gammas do not exist!". I think that was probably one of the first full phrases I learned in French.
kevin [email] said at 4:42 PM 09-15-2005: i used to watch this!
Plot Synopsis:
Set in the future, the crew of the Ark II's mission was to seek out life and new civilizations..no wait... that was Star Trek. Actually, the Ark II's mission was similar to the Enterprise's mission. In a post apocalyptic world, the crew of the Ark II travels across the country righting wrongs, promoting peace and understanding, and helping the underdogs. The crew of the Ark II consisted of Jonah (Gee, why didn't they just call him Noah?), the leader; Ruth; Samuel; and Adam, a talking, intelligent chimpanzee. The Ark II was basically a souped up r/v with the latest in technology. The Ark II crew also had access to the Ark Roamer, a jeep like vehicle, and jet packs to get to areas the Ark II couldn't.
Air Dates:
On CBS, from 9/11/76 - 9/3/77 (Saturdays)
9/11/77 - 11/13/77 (Sundays)
9/16/78 - 8/25/79 (Saturdays)
Number of Episodes: 15
info swiped from here: http://www.70slivekidvid.com/ark.htm
cecil [email] said at 4:56 PM 09-15-2005: I'd like to see the 80s sketch comedy show Fridays that starred Michael Richards and Larry David. I used to watch it, there were some really great sketches on that show.
Also the MTV 2-hour "alternative rock" show The Cutting Edge. One episode I remember had Run DMC, David Lynch, Anne Magusen, and Daniel Johnston on it. It was hella bitchin.
kevin [email] said at 4:57 PM 09-15-2005: fridays. yeah! and also USA networks NIGHT FLIGHT which was pretty cool for music and old propaganda movies and stuff like that
chuck [email] said at 5:06 PM 09-15-2005: I have DVD's of Fridays that Crystal got for me. Can't recall where she ordered them from. That show was the first time I got to see Wendy O. Williams & The Plasmatics!
milky [email] said at 6:08 PM 09-15-2005: I want The Maxx on DVD and just about anything that ran on Liquid TV, The shorts from Showtime and Night Flight, Tales from the Darkside. I want it all on DVD.
josh [email] said at 11:05 AM 09-16-2005: i really don't care if it's in a DVD case as long as it's a good quality transfer.
i also dont see why it's a rip compared to other sites that charge you $25 for a dvd-r, with the only addition is they put it in a dvd case with a print out of cover art they made.
jake [email] said at 8:16 PM 09-15-2005: EarthCorps,
The Box of Delights,
and the Lobo Paramilitary Christmas movie that was made at some school of film which is forbidden to release it...
Seriously though, I just started making lists of TV shows in my scratchpad...you totally read it Dad, you're such a jerk.
jake [email] said at 1:16 AM 09-16-2005: Go ahead.
We all know you can whip up any interweb thing you want with your 1337 skilz. But let's see that proof.
jeff [email] said at 12:34 AM 09-16-2005: As a senior member, here's a few shows I miss that most people here didn't see during the original runs:
--
Manimal
Automan
Nighthawk
We've Got it Maid
Square Pegs
Fame
Pac-Man (the cartoon)
Rubik the Amazing Cube
What's Happening
Battlestar Galactica
Too Close for Comfort
Shows that others may have watched:
--
Tour of Duty
Max Headroom
Good Times
Thirtysomething
Jonie Loves Chachie
The Young Ones
Dr. Who
Bob [ url ] said at 2:34 AM 09-16-2005: I remember automan and rubik the amazing cube... DEFINITELY I remember the pacman animated series: I even remember getting allowed to stay up late to see the pac man CHRISTMAS SPECIAL where pacman saves Santa Claus from the ghosts and their weirdass leader who had no lower half of his face... does all this make me OLD? I'm not thirty for another four days!
ed [email] said at 6:49 AM 09-16-2005: Square Pegs. Haha! Totally different head.
I have the Young Ones box set. Got it as a gift from a way-too-generous person.
Tour of Duty was awesome.
Ooh! Ooh!
James at 15! (Which became James at 16, of course)
And Space 1999!
And... OMG, I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner... Quark!
reggie [email] said at 10:32 AM 09-16-2005: You ain't THAT old homey, on that first list I remember all but Automan, We've Got it Maid and Square Pegs.
Bob [ url ] said at 11:31 AM 09-16-2005: I think Automan lasted all of five episodes. I only caught one, during which the title character won a high stakes game of pool on the break. Even at 12 I didn't buy that one, not even from a super-intelligent computer man.
zack [email] said at 7:35 PM 09-18-2005: oh shit yeah, I loved the pac man cartoon at the time too. I posted that picture of me dressed like Pac Man for halloween, right?
Bob [ url ] said at 2:42 AM 09-16-2005: I remember the Idiot Box, for sure. I got a big kick in college when I finally saw "Freaked" and it started with a flying gimp reference. I also remember War of the Worlds, and how they killed off Ironheart after the first season and turned it into an entirely different show. And how they actually resolved everything at the end of the second season. And how incredibly violent and gorey (for broadcast TV) the whole thing was. "Phase IV" I swear I saw like the last fifteen minutes of that once on the USA network, and the ending struck me as something that wouldn't have made sense even if I hadn't missed most of the movie. It was a lot of primitive computer graphics and ant footage and suchlike bizarreness.
neilbert said at 4:00 AM 09-16-2005: Another really funny show that was hard to find, even when it was on the air, was HBO's "Hardcore TV". It pre-dated Mr.Show by a couple of years in the early Nineties and had some great sketches like "National Pornographic Theater," and "Berney, the cursing dinosaur." The best reoccurring bit was their takeoff of Sigmund and Freud. Their catchphrase "Ooooooo, Shhhtainssss" I still use to this day.
It's impossible to get and HBO will never release it. I had managed to get ahold of one of the editors of the show (the same guy who cut strangers with candy) and he was going to send me copies of the show, but I had to move. Damn you ex-roommate!!!!
Ben Siegel said at 8:45 AM 04-09-2007: Hi there, I too am looking desperately for HBO's Hardcore TV series. Anyone have an idea where I can get a hold of a copy? TIA
reggie [email] said at 11:00 AM 09-16-2005: YES! I'd actually buy that one. Also does anyone remember the Police Academy knock-off The Fifth Precinct? (or whatever number it was)
reggie [email] said at 11:02 AM 09-16-2005: I'm just waiting for the Perfect Strangers boxed set. Not that I'd buy it but I'm just curious to see how far they're willing to go with this release-everything-that's-ever-been-on-TV-for-more-than-one-hour-on-DVD trend.
chrisx [email] said at 2:12 PM 09-16-2005: I've been trying to find a copy of the made for TV adaptation of the John MacDonald book "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything"
Thanks, Josh- I just ordered a bunch of shite from this site.
amanda [email] said at 7:27 PM 09-16-2005: I am in need of a cheaper DVD copy of "Erotic Encounters of the Fourth Kind" (aka "Wham Bam Thank You, Spaceman") than the one that I found here. This movie is seriously the worst movie ever made. It's even worse than "Lion Man" or "Blood Shack" (both of which I was also looking for on DVD for years and years but have now located). "Erotic Encounters" is so horrendous that it almost makes me physically ill to view it. I love this movie.
I'd also like to find all of the episodes of "Storylords" on video. This was a children's television program that ran on Wisconsin Public Television when I was a kid. It was a educational show to improve grammar skills that involved an evil motorcycle riding wizard named Thorzul and his comical sidekick, Milkbreath. When the main characters wanted to go do battle with Thorzul (usually by solving riddles or puzzles through with the power of language skills), they rode an exercise bike that magically transported them to whatever dimension it was in which Thorzul dwelled. I seem to remember that an enchanted jeweled ring was also somehow involved. That show was so fucking awesome for a little nerdling such as myself.
Speaking of which, does anyone remember a song called "Here We Go 'Round The Supercollider?" It was featured on some other Public T.V. children's science program, possibly "Eureka." It was set to the tune of "Here We Go 'Round The Mulberry Bush." I can't remember how the first verse ended, and it's been driving me insane for the past couple of years.
amanda [email] said at 5:51 PM 09-17-2005: Odd. I used to have that on my Amazon wishlist, but it kept coming up as "out of stock" for the past year or so.
