Balladeer’s Blog’s year by year look at the forgotten N.E.T. Playhouse continues with the program’s 1968 offerings. For the opening look at the 1966 episodes click HERE.
1968
AUTO STOP (January 5th) – Henry (David Hemmings) is told by Federika, the older woman he is pursuing, that he needs to gain more experience in the world before she’ll entertain the thought of a romance with him. Henry takes her seriously and roams around Europe, loving and leaving women his own age, encountering a Neo-Nazi and attending a La Dolce Vita party in Rome. N.E.T. Playhouse paired this 75-minute film with the 8-minute cartoon short Tamer of Wild Horses from Yugoslavia’s Zagred Animation.
HOME (January 19th) – A 90-minute musical about the threat of overpopulation set among a honeycomb of rooms in which citizens of the future must spend their lives due to the dictates of the government. They live in these small chambers, own nothing and are forbidden to travel. Written by Megan Terry, noted for her 1966 anti-war musical Viet Rock. Edward Winter, Joel Fabiani, Dennis Patrick, Roger Davis, Irene Dailey, Louise Latham and others starred.
A PASSAGE TO INDIA (January 26th) – Long before the theatrical film came this teleplay that was first broadcast on the BBC’s Play of the Month in November, 1965. The cast of this 90-minute adaptation of the E.M. Forster novel included Sybil Thorndike, Virginia McKenna, Cyril Cusack and Zia Mohyeddin. Drama involving life and race relations in 1920s India under the Raj. Continue reading
THE AMOROUS FLEA (January 6th) – Majestic Productions put together this operatic comedy adaptation of Moliere’s play School for Wives. A young woman raised in virtual isolation is competed over by her much older patron and the son of that patron’s best friend. Lew Parker starred in this 90-minute presentation, repeating his stage role as the older suitor Arnolphe. 
N.E.T. PLAYHOUSE (1966-1972) – This anthology series from National Educational Television presented dramas, comedies, fantasies and musicals. Many were produced by N.E.T. themselves, others were produced overseas and a very few were movies theatrically released before being shown on N.E.T. Playhouse. 
TEN BLOCKS ON THE CAMINO REAL (October 7th) – Martin Sheen starred as the downtrodden ex-boxer Kilroy in this 90-minute episode adapted from the play by Tennessee Williams. Janet Margolin, Albert Dekker and Lotte Lenya also starred.
SPACE COMMAND (1953-1954) – Long, long before the recent television series of this name came Canada’s Space Command. James “Scotty” Doohan was Phil Mitchell, Robert Barclay played Frank Anderson, the 20-something young man who was the ostensible star of the show, Harry Geldard portrayed Captain Steve Cassell and Austin Willis was Dr. Fleming. 
LES GRANDS DETECTIVES (1975) – A few years back in Balladeer’s Blog’s Forgotten Television category, I reviewed every episode of the British television and radio series 
THE SIX DEAD MEN (April 21st, 1975) 
ALPHA ALPHA (1972) – This time around in Balladeer’s Blog’s Forgotten Television category comes this German sci-fi series which ran for 13 episodes from May 17th to August 2nd of 1972. Every episode of Alpha Alpha was written and directed by Wolfgang F. Henschel and ran for 25 minutes, meaning it would nicely fit a half hour time slot with commercials. 
This television series was a German variation of other country’s programs like Quatermass, The X-Files and so many others both before and since. 
Lilith Ungerer costarred as the operative codenamed Beta, Arthur Brauss played Gamma, Horst Sachtleben was Dr. Simak and Gisela Hoetter provided the female voice of the outfit’s computer. Along with Karl Michael Vogler, these five were the only actors to appear in all 13 episodes. Heinz Engelmann showed up twice as the Chief. 
Here at Balladeer’s Blog my fascination with Movie Host shows of the past and present is pretty well established. I’ve written about such programs from the 1950s onward. Not long ago I covered “
This program was created, written and produced by Joel Stephens, famous for his many Movie Host programs that combine assorted old movies, cartoons and serials with the tradition of attractive female hosts introducing and commenting upon such superannuated programming. Similar Movie Host shows from Stephens include Frightmare Theater, Six Gun Theater, Mobster Theater, Your Afternoon Movie and others. 
Getting back to Dark Jungle Theater, here is an overview: 
Recently, Balladeer’s Blog examined 
EPISODE ONE: MAN KILLER 
EPISODE THREE: TREASURE OF THE AMAZON 
NAVY LOG (1955-1958) – Here’s an unusual segment of Balladeer’s Blog’s recurring Forgotten Television feature. Rather than review the entire series I will take a look at this program’s episodes regarding the often-overlooked Korean War. Most episodes of Navy Log featured half-hour dramatizations of real-life incidents from World War Two, so in keeping with my overall theme of things that slip through the cultural cracks, my focus here will be the few Korean War incidents dramatized on the show. 
LET’S TALK AT HOME (2001-2003) – This cult program is often called “Mexico’s MST3K.” Its Spanish language title is A Platicar a su Casa, which has been translated into English as Let’s Talk at Home, Do Your Talking at Home and similar titles.
Balladeer’s Blog has written a great deal about earlier Movie Host shows, from 1950s efforts like Vampira, Mad Marvin and others on up through Moona Lisa and Ghoulardi in the 60s and 70s to 1980s programs like Elvira’s Movie Macabre, Texas 27 Film Vault, Laraine Newman’s Canned Film Festival, etc,
The wisecracking hosts were Andres Bustamente and Trino Camacho, two legends in Mexican comedy. The jokes were what you would expect – shots at the poor quality and/or low budget of the films, their odd storylines plus some social and political commentary about life in Mexico. 
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