Classic Television Madness

I use the word classic rather loosely. Click on the show title to find the clip.

Raquel (1970) - I can picture a network executive shouting in the boardroom while he smokes a cigar, "First we'll get Raquel Welch and dress her up in a Barbarella outfit - that'll ensure the eighteen to thirty-eight males. Then some flamboyant costumes and lots of interpretive dance! That'll lock up the gay viewer. Let's have her sing a medley from Hair - that'll get the hippies and all those freak kids on our side. And just so as we don't alienate granny and gramps - we'll get John Wayne and Bob Hope as the guest stars!" Well, that's exactly what they did. The director of the special, David Winters, must have had a thing for alliteration as he went on to direct the trashy Bert Convy sex comedy Racquet in 1979.

Mission: Magic (1973) - An animated Rick Springfield and his pet owl. Need I say more? Yeah, I guess I do. ABC desperately wanted to have a hit rock n' roll cartoon that would be a sure fire hit. Saturday mornings were saturated with rock cartoons after the success of The Archies. ABC had hoped they'd hit it big with the Rankin-Bass produced Jackson 5ive cartoon and Hanna-Barbera's animated interpretation of The Osmonds. Neither became quite as big as hoped. This time around ABC tried their best to eliminate any variables. The network ran a poll in several teen mags by providing a list of several young up and coming "talents" and asked kids who they thought would be the "superstar of tomorrow." The kids picked Aussie rocker Rick Springfield. Filmation got the contract to put the show together (most likely because of their success with The Archies) and the rest is history. Or the show was history. One of those two. It was released on DVD in May - I suggest you invest in the new Fleischer Popeye set instead. 

The Electric Company... Blooper! (1972) - I don't recall this being an extra on The Electric Company DVDs. I imagine life can get a little dull on the set of a children's show, so Bill Cosby decides to spice things up a bit.

The Tonight Show with guest host Steve Martin (1980) - Steve Martin interviews Andy Kaufman! Can you think of anything more nineteen seventies than that? Well, you should because this interview is from the eighties (please, nerds, no arguments about how 1980 is actually the seventies).

The Tonight Show with guest host Garry Shandling (1986) - If not for some dated references to the Iran-Contra scandal, I bet I could tell you this is a clip from The Larry Sanders Show and you'd never know the difference.

The Tonight Show with guest host McLean Stevenson (1978) - Stevenson interviews Muhammad Ali - that's nice enough, but the real treat here is wrestler Freddie Blassie. You probably remember Blassie from his weird side projects like the song Pencil Neck Geek that he recorded for Rhino Records during their formative years and Andy Kaufman's hilarious film My Dinner with Blassie. Blassie's novelty song was composed and mostly performed by that narcissistic bore Johnny Legend, who we were just talking about directly below.

The Joe Pyne Show (1966) - I've linked to Joe Pyne footage before and his amazing pre-Glenn Beck Glenn Beckiness. Somehow, this type of personality is sickening (some might say dangerous) when we see it done in 2007, yet when its forty years old it's rather entertaining. Right-wing kitsch, I guess.

Comments

[Kip W]

How could 1980 be in the 70s? It's just the last year of the 8th decade of the 20th century. Nothing confusing about that.

Thanks for the links.