Category Archives: Forgotten Television

May 15, 2012 · 10:42 pm

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: ATOM SQUAD

 ATOM SQUAD – No relation to Atom 12 (rimshot). This fun and campy science fiction/ spy series hybrid ran 5 days a week from 1953 – 1954 and was one of the many 15 minute-long television shows of the era. Anyone who enjoyed my earlier Forgotten Television Treasure titled Captain Z-Ro will no doubt love Atom Squad.  

Scientists Steve Elliot and Dave Fielding ( Robert Courtleigh and Bob Hastings) worked for the title organization and defended America from Commies, mad doctors and extraterrestrials. The Atom Squad specialized in cases involving radiation and atomic weapons so the Continue reading →

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May 5, 2012 · 12:24 am

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: THE BUCCANEERS (1956-1957)

 If you enjoyed Robert Shaw’s freebooting turn as the pirate Red Ned Lynch in the 1976 movie Swashbuckler you’ll love him as Captain Dan Tempest in this  series  from the 1950’s. Shaw was equal parts Errol Flynn and Jack Sparrow on the program, which featured him as the captain of the Sultana. 

Tempest and his crew were former pirates pardoned and sent to sea as pirate hunters and as privateers against the Spanish, but they still found time to foil the sinister machinations of corrupt British authorities in the Bahamas, Jamaica and elsewhere. Fans of derring- d0 who are Continue reading →

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March 14, 2012 · 8:35 pm

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: THE SPIRIT (1987)

 This often-forgotten telefilm from 1987 was a pilot movie for a series that never panned out, but Spirit purists who complained about the 2008 movie version may actually prefer this unassuming little flick to the big- budget 21st Century version.

The Frank Miller movie from 2008 changed  the Spirit’s iconic costume to black instead of blue and “Millerized” him, making him a kind of Dark Knight clone instead of the lighter, quirkier hero that Will Eisner fans remembered him as being. For Spirit novices, the superhero  was detective Denny Colt of fictional Central City. In his origin story he ran afoul of the mad scientist Dr Cobra, and in the resulting struggle got drenched and drowned in one of the good doctor’s experimental chemicals.

In the “embalming-free” world of superhero fiction, Colt was buried in Wildwood Cemetery, but, as it turned out, Dr Cobra’s chemicals had Continue reading →

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March 6, 2012 · 3:13 pm

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION TREASURE: THE NEW PEOPLE (1969)

T My sister Rosemary has been hospitalized since Saturday and I’ve been updating my blog remotely here and there to take my mind off worrying about her whenever I can squeeze out a few moments. This post is a little shoutout to her since it looks at one of her favorite forgotten shows. Thank you to loved ones and friends doing their best to help me through this difficult time.

The New People was part of a brief and very odd experiment with Continue reading →

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February 18, 2012 · 3:07 pm

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: SHADOW THEATER (1990-1991)

 Shadow Theater was a terrific series hosted by Robert “Freddy Krueger” Englund. Everyone over the age of 30 remembers a time when you couldn’t just go to the internet to get your fix of info and footage from fringe and/ or obscure horror films. This program was a nice once-a- week documentary look at movies for the Psychotronic- minded.

An additional plus about the show was the way it treated viewers to behind-the- scenes facts and rare interviews with some of horror’s most daring filmmakers without having to attend a fan convention. (It’s a joke! Lighten up!)

Robert Englund displayed the same macabre charm he would employ when hosting the Horror Movie Hall of Fame ceremonies later in the decade. He didn’t copy his patented Freddy routine, but rather Continue reading →

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August 30, 2011 · 11:23 pm

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION TREASURE: SUPER PRESIDENT (1967 -1968)

 SUPER PRESIDENT was an actual cartoon series from the 1960’s that has virtually disappeared. It’s rare to catch a glimpse of this DePatie- Freleng show anywhere or even to find people who have heard of it outside of oddballs like me.

This cartoon was not intended for laughs, like it would be today. It honestly featured a superhero whose “secret identity” was being President of the United States. First off, there’s the absurd fun of Continue reading →

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August 12, 2011 · 12:04 am

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION TREASURE: THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE FILM SHOW (1988-1989)

 The Incredibly Strange Film  Show and Son of the Incredibly Strange Film Show are must-see viewing for any fan of bad and weird movies. They were originally produced in England and weren’t shown here in the U.S. until the early 1990’s when the Discovery Channel aired them.

This program’s fun, witty approach to the subject matter made a Continue reading →

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June 5, 2011 · 5:40 pm

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION TREASURE: THE ALMIGHTY JOHNSONS (2011- ?)

 THE ALMIGHTY JOHNSONS – With the popularity of the movie Thor I want to help spread the word about this New Zealand program that debuted in February of this year. This treasure is not so much forgotten as it is simply unknown here in the states but I want to change that since it has “cult hit” written all over it, and because it has nothing to do with vampires, unlike 68% of the new shows lately.

The Almighty Johnsons is about a Continue reading →

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April 26, 2011 · 12:04 am

TODAY’S FORGOTTEN TELEVISION TREASURE: IT’S GARRY SHANDLING’S SHOW (1986- 1990)

Shandling

Shandling

It’s Garry Shandling’s Show was the pre-Seinfeld version of Seinfeld. And no, I don’t just mean because both programs starred popular stand- up comics. I mean basically Shandling’s program, which aired on cable via Showtime and later on network tv via Fox, seems like the blueprint that Seinfeld followed almost slavishly. That’s my opinion, anyway.

Consider the following points: episodes of Seinfeld started with Jerry on-stage doing a few bits for a nightclub audience – episodes of IGSS started with Garry on his sitcom set doing a few bits for the studio audience … Seinfeld dealt with life as a stand-up comic trying to juggle his career and romantic life – ditto for IGSS … Jerry had a Continue reading →

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April 12, 2011 · 2:27 pm

TODAY’S FORGOTTEN TELEVISION TREASURE: THE STARLOST (1973)

The Starlost was an intriguing science fiction series from Canada. The series starred Keir Dullea (looking like a young Ted Turner) as Devon, a deep-thinking man who lives in Cypress Corners, a community where religious dogma discourages questions about the odd nature of their world. Eventually Devon, his lady Rachel and their friend Garth flee their oppressive homeland and discover the bizarre truth: Cypress Corners is Continue reading →

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