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.
Below is a representative example of the program’s offerings, which could run from one hour to three and a half hours. An incredible range of productions were broadcast during the six-year run of this excellent program. I will examine N.E.T. Playhouse one year at a time.
1966
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.
THE JOURNEY OF THE FIFTH HORSE (October 14th) – This 2 1/2 hour production was based on the play by Ronald Ribman which was itself based on Ivan Turgenev’s novel The Diary of a Superfluous Man. Dustin Hoffman starred as Zoditch, with a supporting cast which included Michael Tolan, Charlotte Rae, Susan Anspach and Susan Lipton.
THE STAR WAGON (October 21st) – Another 2 1/2 hour production, this one based on Maxwell Anderson’s play about an inventor who devises a time machine then goes to the past to try to change the course of his life. Once again Dustin Hoffman starred, playing Hanus Wicks. In support were Eileen Brennan, Orson Bean, Richard Castellano and others.
L’AVVENTURA (October 28th) – This was a broadcast of the 1961 film from Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Monica Vitti. It occupied a 3 1/2 hour time slot. Continue reading
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. 
THE MINI-MUNSTERS (1973) – This children’s cartoon version of The Munsters originally aired on October 27th, 1973 as one of the hour-long (including commercials) episodes of the second season of ABC’s Saturday Superstar Movie. That version was 44 minutes long without commercials. ABC later edited it down into a VERY incoherent 22-minute version that they proceeded to combine with commercials to make a half-hour Halloween cartoon which they would broadcast into the 1980s. 
Not that the 44-minute version is a masterpiece, but it holds together much better than the edited version. You can judge for yourself because no less than THREE versions of The Mini-Munsters are available online: The original 44-minute version in color, the 22-minute version in color AND a black & white version of the 44-minute original. 
SHANE (1966) – David Carradine starred as the iconic gunslinger Shane in this 1966 television series adapted from the 1953 Alan Ladd movie.
If you’re not familiar with the movie, Shane is a gunfighter who longs to settle down and pursue the non-violent life he would have lived if things had turned out differently for him. He falls in with the Starrett family, who are among the Wyoming homesteaders getting leaned on by dishonest ranchers who want them off “their” land. 
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