SCORPIO (1976-1977) – From September 18th, 1976 to August or September of 1977 Scorpio (actor name unknown) hosted Thing Theatre at 1:00pm on Saturday afternoons. Thing Theatre aired on Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s WPGH-TV, which was back after having declared bankruptcy years earlier when its Movie Host show was Scream-In.
The fun backstory for Scorpio was related in the opening of every show. WPGH field reporter Ed Barrett played himself in a remote bit about pollution. He and the crew with him pretended to find a coffin covered in undergrowth, so (for some reason) they took it back to the station with them. Setting up the coffin in an unused studio, they got the lid opened revealing nothing inside.
Losing interest, Barrett and the others wandered off, leaving the coffin sitting there. As one does, I guess. Suddenly, a man in tattered clothing with messy hair and sporting an eyepatch emerged from the coffin evilly laughing at how he had fooled the others.
He introduced himself as Scorpio and, playing off Ed Barrett’s question about what kind of thing the coffin once held decided to call his show Thing Theatre. Belaboring the point, Scorpio also said he needed to call his show something … something … some THING!” in the same sketch. Only the audio of this opening survives, no video from it. Continue reading
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