Starting at 3:32pm, music, videos, a film, and more

3:32pm
A selection of music…
accompanied by a Führerstandsmitfahrt through Saxony, from Dresden to Zittau in 1993.

5:25
Pee-wee’s Playhouse
Season 1 Episode 1, “Ice Cream Soup” (Aired September 13, 1986)
– – – – – “Sandwich ho!” – – – – –
The first episode of the show produced after the movie Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, this manic half-hour features one of Paramount’s “Color Classics”, The Fresh Vegetable Mystery, one of a series of shorts produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures as a competitor to Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies.

With the theme by Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh, and sung by Cyndi Lauper (imitating Betty Boop, credited as “Ellen Shaw”), guest composers over the show’s five seasons included (deep breath) The Residents, Todd Rundgren, Danny Elfman (who provided the score for both of the Pee-wee movies), Mitchell Froom, Van Dyke Parks, George S. Clinton, Dweezil Zappa and Scott Thunes.

Guests today include Phil Hartman as Captain Carl and Laurence Fishburne as Cowboy Curtis.
Tragically, John Paragon, who played Jambi the Genie died in 2021. From Wikipedia – “…his ashes were in the possession of Cassandra Peterson” (aka Elvira) “until they were interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on November 15, 2022. His urn is “a perfectly crafted depiction” of the purple-and-gold Jambi the Genie box.” <3

5.50
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Season 2 Episode 7, “Super Sir Loin” (Aired August 31, 2003)
– – – – – “This here’s my demon face” – – – – –
MC Pee Pants (mc chris) returns, this time under the stage name of MC Sir Loin, with a sophomore album “For Da Shorteez.” Meatwad, inspired by the music, bags up food, garbage and… more for the perpetually hellbound MC.

6.00
Ultraman
Season 1 Episode 1, “Ultra Operation No. 1” (Aired July 17, 1966)
The series follows the adventures of the Science Patrol, a special scientific team investigating and combating threats from aliens and kaiju. Unbeknownst to the team, fellow member Shin Hayata possesses the ability to transform into the giant alien superhero Ultraman in moments of crisis.

6.25
The Mod Squad
Season 1 Episode 1, “The Teeth of the Barracuda” (Aired September 24, 1968)
– – – – – “You’d better split, here comes my pigeon.” – – – – –
Starring Michael Cole as Peter “Pete” Cochran, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III as Lincoln “Linc” Hayes, (the latter two turning up in Twin Peaks, Linc having evidently joined FBI by the 1990s) and Tige Andrews as Captain Adam Greer.
The origin of the Mod Squad: After one of Greer’s undercover associates was murdered at a psychedelic nightclub, he puts his newly-formed undercover squad of young adults, all previously in trouble with the law, to work investigating, which the evidence suggests was the work of young people. Produced as a 90-minute pilot (73 minutes without commercials), this episode was edited for a 60-minute slot. Guest stars: Fred Beir, Brooke Bundy, Lonny Chapman, Noam Pitlik, Robert DoQui. Uncredited cameos by Harrison Ford and Richard Pryor.

7.40
Hunter
Season 1 Episode 19, “Fire Man” (Aired May 4, 1985)
– – – – – “Works for me” – – – – –
Hunter is an American crime drama television series created by Frank Lupo and produced by Stephen J. Cannell, which ran on NBC from September 18, 1984, to April 26, 1991. The show began in a Tuesday night time slot with the two-part pilot episodes of “Hunter” initially broadcast in a time slot on a Friday night, competing for ratings against the popular Dallas. The show struggled to attract an audience and drew criticism for its often graphic depiction of violence. In the first season, the producers sought to create a hook by giving the main character a catchphrase, “Works for me”, which was sometimes used two or three times in an episode and was even added to the end of Mike Post and Pete Carpenter’s opening theme music. Several early episodes featured montages set to popular songs from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, in a style similar to Miami Vice.

In tonight’s episode, the penultimate of the first season (which is itself a perfectly fine introduction to the show and characters), a television news crew get in the way of Hunter and McCall while they are trying to investigate the arsonist the news crew helped identify.

Due to music rights issues, on both the Anchor Bay Entertainment and Mill Creek Home Entertainment releases, certain original songs throughout the series have been replaced with newer soundalike recordings. The German releases from Tiberius Film are complete and uncut, featuring the original broadcast soundtracks.

8.30
Cry Wolfe
Season 1 Episode 1, “Sexty Hubby” (Aired June 3, 2014)
– – – – – “McCaaaaarthy!” – – – – –
So, remember Brian Wolfe from Nathan For You? If you don’t, you will after this.

Found back in my Usenet/NZB trawler days, it was exactly what I expected it to be, and yet more than I hoped it wasn’t. You read that correctly.

I mean, I wasn’t even sure he was a real person, and not a put-on of some sort within Nathan For You and I just found out there were three seasons of this, saints preserve us.

Today, Brian and his assistant McCarthy investigate exactly what you might presume from the episode title, sheesh.

8.55
Jon Benjamin Has A Van
Episode 4, “Breakdown” (Aired June 29, 2011)
– – – – – “…” – – – – –

Looking at the archive, Madhair showed the first of these a while ago, though I thought I’d skip to the fourth for this first stream – they don’t seem to be made so as to be seen in any particular order anyway.
In this episode: amongst other things, Jon’s van breaks down while looking for a “Poor Farm” – an area in which rich people pretend to be poor for a week each year. Things only get worse from there, especially for their sound guy, Nathan (Fielder).

9.25 Tonight’s Main Feature
Brewster McCloud (1970)
– – – – – “Something else” from the director of M*A*S*H – – – – –

A dark comedy featuring some of the cast of M*A*S*H (1970) – Bud Cort (Harold and Maude, Electric Dreams), Sally Kellerman (second Star Trek TOS Pilot, Slither, Decker: Unclassified), John Schuck (Babylon 5, DS9, Voyager, and supposedly “the first person to say ‘fuck’ in a major studio film”), and Rene Auberjonois (Rene Auberjonois!) – plus Stacy Keach (Mike Hammer, Escape From L.A.), Margaret Hamilton (The Wizard of Oz) and others, with a debut from Shelley Duvall.

Directed by Robert Altman, this was the first film shot inside the massive Houston Astrodome. A year or so after the grand opening in 1965 featuring Judy Garland (whose own act was apparently opened by the Supremes), the original natural grass playing surface died, and so in ’66 the Astrodome was the first major sports venue to install artificial turf – giving us the name AstroTurf (as opposed to the amusing original: “ChemGrass”). The dome also featured the “Astrolite” – apparently the first animated scoreboard, driven by a custom computer (unfortunately scrapped in the 1980s) and had a control panel that took 6 human people to operate! — this film has everything else too – murder, mystery, sex, fast cars, The Wicked Witch of the West, Rene Auberjonois, and plenty of bird shit!

Info on the scoreboard and more sourced from Wikipedia and here – The Houston Astrolite – a Marvel of Early Technology

Following the film:
“The Astrodome” (25mins approx) – “Definitive film documenting the construction of the Houston Astrodome”
– – – – – “…in anticipation of coordinated erection of dome members yet to come.” – – – – –
Viewing advice – the red channel in the documentary is rather strong – since I’m not quite sure how to (without demuxing, remuxing, reencoding etc) reduce it, so best turn down your red gamma, or even just drop the colour right down, if possible, for the duration (unless I find a quick and dirty way to fix the source file).

11.45
The Venture Bros.
Season 2 Episode 4, “Escape to the House of Mummies Part Two” (Aired July 16, 2006)
– – – – – “Mummy Mum Muggy” – – – – –
Epic love-infused animated comedy from lunar Astrobase-based duo Jackson Publick (writer, “The Tick”; voices, “Superjail!”) and Doc Hammer (oil painter of underwear-clad ladies, founding member of gothic rock band Requiem in White, along with Mors Syphilitica, and Weep) with music by J.G. Thirlwell (Foetus, Steroid Maximus and I mean, wow : “Music by J.G. Thirlwell”!). Starting out as an apparent Johnny Quest / Hardy Boys type parody, the series becomes so very much more.

“The Venture Bros is… like two brakeless manure trucks colliding on a desert highway.” – Patton Oswalt

12.15am
Space Dandy
Episode 1, “Live with the Flow, Baby” (Aired January 4, 2014)
– – – – – “I can’t read circle!!” – – – – –
Cosmic comedy from the people who brought you the sights and sounds of Cowboy Bebop. This week, as most weeks, Space Dandy hunts aliens, visits a “Breastaurant”, and frets about going bald.

I mean, it’s literally about a dandy guy in space! Take that, Duck Dynasty!

12.40
The Ray Bradbury Theatre
Season 1 Episode 1, “Marionettes, Inc.” (Aired May 21, 1985)
– – – – – “…and the trip? Exactly one-half exhilaration, exactly one-half terror.” – – – – –
The Ray Bradbury Theater is an anthology series that ran for three seasons on First Choice Superchannel in Canada and HBO in the United States from 1985 to 1986, and then on USA Network, running for four additional seasons from 1988 to 1992.

A rather extensive list of actors appearing in the series: Richard Kiley, Paul Le Mat, Eileen Brennan, James Coco, William Shatner, Peter O’Toole, Patrick Macnee, Jeff Goldblum, Drew Barrymore, Hal Linden, Michael Ironside, Robert Vaughn, Eugene Levy, Saul Rubinek, Paul Gross, Donald Pleasence, Denholm Elliott, David Ogden Stiers, John Saxon, Harold Gould, Bruce Weitz, Barry Morse, Eddie Albert, David Carradine, Sally Kellerman, Vincent Gardenia, Robert Culp, Shawn Ashmore, Richard Benjamin, John Vernon, Elliott Gould, Tyne Daly, Lucy Lawless, Jean Stapleton, Marc Singer, Michael Hurst, Louise Fletcher, Magali Noël, John Glover, Howard Hesseman, Leslie Nielsen, Megan Follows, Shelley Duvall, and James Whitmore.

In tonight’s story, an overworked suburbanite husband (James Coco) uses a robot duplicate to allow himself to have fun while his overbearing wife is left none the wiser. Featuring Leslie Nielsen.

1.15
The Sarah Silverman Program
Season 1 Episode 6, “Batteries” (Aired March 8, 2007)
Sarah searches for AA batteries to use her remote to turn off a television benefit for extremely sick children, sings a song about the world’s problems after accidentally pooping during a farting match, and has a one-night stand with God. Though it was the last of season 1 to air, this episode was actually the pilot. The episode “Muffin Man”, which aired a week earlier, included a flashback to this episode.

1.40
The Norm Show
Season 1 Episode 1, “The Prototype” (Aired March 24, 1999)
Social-worker sit-com starring Norm Macdonald and Laurie Metcalf. Norm discovers one of his clients, Taylor (Nikki Cox) is working in a “massage parlor,” and won’t leave that job.

2.05
Music Videos
An assortment of videos. With music. Like VH1 or something. Possibly better, maybe not.

2.30
Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
Season 1 Episode 1, “Pot-Bellied Pigs” (Aired May 28, 1995)
Featuring Jonathan Katz, H. Jon Benjamin and Laura Silverman, and the first of our pair animated in Squigglevision.
In the first episode, Ben attempts a pot-belly pig breeding scheme and Dr. Katz receives financial advice from Stanley.
Dr. Katz sees guest patients Bill Braudis and Dom Irrera.

2.50
Home Movies
Season 1 Episode 1, “Get Away From My Mom” (Aired April 26, 1999)
The second of tonight’s Squigglevision-animated shows, Home Movies shared a lot in common with Dr Katz, animation- and cast-wise. Heavily using improvisation in the first season, the first five episodes of the season demonstrated a writing style known as “retroscripting,” consisting of the cast completely improvising the storyline and animation being produced afterwards.

In this episode, eight-year-old Brendon Small discovers that his mother, Paula, is set to have a date with Brendon’s soccer coach, the lazy, profane alcoholic John McGuirk.

3.15
Getting On with James Urbaniak
Episode 1: “The Wolf in the Kitchen” by Anne Washburn (Aired August 29 2012)
Ending today’s todayness with some late-night spoken word from the voice of Dr. Venture (malign producer Grant from Review… and “incredulous pizza-delivery man” from one of those “Whazzzuuup?!” adverts) James Urbaniak. In this episode, along with those of us still around at 3am in the morning, James cannot sleep, and is kept awake by a conundrum in the kitchen…