(This is a guest post from our very own Jonathan McLeod!)
The other day, the wife and I were watching television when an ad for Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters came on. Darlene remarked that we don’t really see the dark Grimm-esque fairy tales much these days, which, in turn, caused me to reminisce about an old TV show set up as a troupe of actors who traveled around performing (often grim) fairy tales. It was a fairly low-budget show, which just added to the creepy factor.
Of course, I could not remember what it was.
After much – much – Googling, Darlene stumbled upon an old show called Story Theatre. She opened up Youtube and within a second of the them coming on, I exclaimed, “that’s it!” Then, within a second of the start of the episode, I exclaimed, “I remember this one!”
It’s a tad strange what gets logged in your noggin.
Upon further investigation, it struck me just how many prominent-enough actors were involved in this seemingly-forgotten show (including Alan Alda). In retrospect, it could be considered a rather significant show, and one that might never be replicated today.
So I’ll leave you with a few questions. Does anyone else remember this show? What other semi-forgotten shows from your childhood still pop into your head now and then? Is there any chance that this sort of kids show could be made today (or is there something comparable?) or are we just stuck with the likes of Caillou?
There are so very many of the Sid and Marty Krofft shows that were juuust out of reach for me in the 90’s, like a dream upon waking. Was there a show with the kid from Family Affair and octopus costumes? That can’t be right…
But there it is.
Thank goodness for the Google.
I think we are very much of an age.
Godzookie.
Don’t forget “Gilligan goes to space”:
http://youtu.be/TueALMuOi5Q
Or the fact that Steve Austin did in fact battle Sasquatch:
http://youtu.be/hoVTK-rGnH4
And I’ll put in a good word for Caillou. My kid seems to find it calming, and it does deal with situations that a kid is faced with.
DUDE. I totally forgot that Sasquatch was a robot (do I need to rot13 that?) and that Andre the Giant played him.
And there were aliens too?!
Now I need to get ahold of that. Thanks a lot.
And, OT…but Sleestaks are still scary.
The Six Million Dollar Man, on DVD, is still pricey.
I’m going to cave, eventually.
Duh nuh NUH nuhhhh
DUH nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh NUHHHHHH!
How many broken collarbones do you think that show was responsible for, what with kids leaping off structures in attempted slo-mo while making the bionic “sound”?
Man, I loved that one. Boss opening sequence.
And how suave is Oscar Goldman? He’s the MACK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HofoK_QQxGc
“Hit your pitch to zero”
“Pitch is out, I can’t hold altitude!”
The more I think about this, the more convinced I am that TV – in fact, all human storytelling – may have reached its apex right here.
Let’s recap:
Astronaut – no, CYBORG Astronaut – battles Sasquatch – no, ROBOT Sasquatch – no,
Robot Sasquatch, played by Andre the Giant, and sent by ALIENS!!!
If “Downton Abbey” had ANY of these elements, you bet your sweet bippy I’d be watchin’ every episode.
My niece and nephew watch a lot of Caillou, and the character seems like the whiniest little [expletive] on TV. Occasionally, I’ll here one of them whine, and it’ll be exactly the same tone as Caillou. It makes me want to punch the show’s creator in the head.
They changed voice actors at some point and he did get whinier. But my kid is at a whining age anyway and it makes me want to punch myself in the head.
I just noticed that my gravatar change makes it look like an amp stack to the right of the blog if I comment enough.
We reject Caillou out of hand as we don’t want something on the television that makes us want to beat small children.
One that pops into my head every now and then is Davey & Goliath.
I associate Davey & Goliath with beatings or that mad TV sketch.
My older brother did not like Davey & Goliath nor did he much like being called “Davey”.
Oh, DAVEY!
Thanks to the internet, I’ve been able to get DVD copies of older shows that didn’t get an official release such as Brimstone, Mortal Kombat Konquest and Freddy’s Nightmares (FN had one of the appearances that Brad Pitt doesn’t much like to talk about.) so, between that and Youtube, I don’t have too many problems with any random synapse triggering a memory.
Some days, I think Brad Pitt’s appearance on ‘Head of the Class’ is the apex of his career.
No way. “Floyd” in True Romance is the apex.
http://youtu.be/fY3Q6SlXmZY
Chad Felheimer in Burn Before Reading. About which, one of the Coens said “To make him look unattractive, we gave him that ridiculous haircut and dorky clothes that barely fit. Didn’t help a bit.”
Floyd… let’s say I knew Floyd. Brad Pitt was a perfect incarnation of Floyd.
Fireball XL5. George Lucas cribbed so much from this show for Star Wars.
All of those Supermarionation series were space awesome. Even the ones that weren’t set in space.
For me it is Gothamen (Birds of Prey in the US). Use to love that show.