In the middle 1980s/ Way down on Level 31 …
Before MST3K we had The Texas 27 Film Vault! (I often emphasize this to cut down on freakouts by people who don’t pay attention to the broadcast dates and accuse this show of ripping off MST3K, which is impossible because this show came first.)
EPISODE ORIGINALLY BROADCAST: Per another Texas 27 Film Vault fan Saturday June 15th, 1985 from 10:30pm to 1:00am.
SERIAL: Before showing The Crybaby Killer our members of the Film Vault Corps (“the few, the proud, the sarcastic”) showed an episode of the Mascot Serial The Phantom Empire (1935).
In that classically campy serial Gene Autry played a singing cowboy who saves the world from an advanced underground civilization that comes complete with killer robots who wear cowboy hats.
FILM VAULT LORE: The movie ticket give-away this week was for Prizzi’s Honor.
THE MOVIE:
THE CRY BABY KILLER (1958) – Jack Nicholson made his film debut in this Roger Corman production. Jack plays a JD who mistakenly thinks he has shot two rival gang members to death and, believing he has nothing to lose, grabs hostages and holes up in a standoff with the police. Continue reading
In that classically campy serial Gene Autry played a singing cowboy who saves the world from an advanced underground civilization that comes complete with killer robots who wear cowboy hats. 
Balladeer's Blog 