Forgotten TV shows

..and why not?
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zoomboogity
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Forgotten TV shows

Postby zoomboogity » 10 Apr 2018, 06:30

Digging through youtube for vintage films and tv shows (lots of stuff in public domain), I found a show from the early days of tv, My Hero starring Bob Cummings:



It aired for one season, but enough for someone to compile a playlist of episodes.


I wasn't much of a television fan when I was a kid, but one of the first shows that I would actually make a point to watch was International Animation Festival, hosted by Jean Marsh. The IMDB page lists it as airing in 1977, but I remember it as 1974 - it was where I first saw Terry Gilliam's Miracle Of Flight, and I know it was before Monty Python aired in the US. There don't seem to be any complete episodes on youtube, but here's her signing off on one episode, plus a few things I found that i definitely remember seeing on this program.












I'm using the word "forgotten" pretty loosely here - i personally never forgot that Bob Cummings show because I'd never heard of it in the first place - so feel free to add anything that you think would fit.
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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby Charlie O. » 10 Apr 2018, 06:36

I watched International Animation Festival as a kid, too, and remember seeing Gilliam's short there - though after I was already a Python fan. I think I had a bit of a crush on Jean Marsh.

This was another amazing piece that was shown on there: Čovjek koji je morao pjevati, or The Man Who Had To Sing:


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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby zoomboogity » 10 Apr 2018, 07:11

Do you remember what year that was? Monty Python started airing in 1975, when the network was still called NET. In 1994 there was a monthlong celebration of all things British that took place in Los Angeles called UK/LA. There was a gig by Ron Nasty And The New Rutles, which was Neil Innes with a local Beatles tribute band that learned The Rutles' songs, plus John Altman conducting a mini-orchestra during the second half. Greg Phillinganes came out at the start as "Greg Sullivan" to introduce the band, then returned for the second half with an Afro wig and played keyboards. The introduction was especially funny once everyone realized that a black guy was doing a perfect Ed Sullivan impersonation before he even said a word. (Some guy was sitting behind me and taping it, so we arranged a trade. I spoke with John Altman years later, and he never knew that any recordings were made, so he was thrilled to get a copy. As you know, he did the orchestral arrangements for the Rutles recordings. He also said that the coda on Cheese And Onions is still one of the proudest moments of his career!)

The first time I actually saw Python was a year before PBS started airing the show. It was on The Dean Martin Comedy World. I guess Dean had had enough of his tv show, not that he worked that hard on it in the first place - his contract stipulated that he wouldn't have to show up to rehearsals, just the taping. I guess he found it even easier to do 30-second voiceovers to introduce the clips that dominated this show. So a lot of people saw Python on this show, and we were well-prepared when the full episodes aired on PBS a year later. I remember it being an instant hit from the very start - they did a show at The Hollywood Bowl in 1976, and that place holds 17,000.

The surviving Python members reunited at another of these events - not to perform, just to sort of be in the same room or something. They were asked why they chose LA instead of England to reunite, and they said that Los Angeles has always been one of their biggest audiences, while the BBC came close to wiping all their episodes in one of those network purges that everyone regrets now. Similar to all those Tonight Show episodes in the '60s, such as the time when Lennon and McCartney announced the formation of Apple (to guest host Joe Garagiola - McCartney was back on in the '80s, and he ribbed Carson for not being there the first time!). So they figured, if that's how they felt about us, let's go do this where we were appreciated. So thank you, Dean Martin!

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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby Charlie O. » 10 Apr 2018, 16:29

zoomboogity wrote:Do you remember what year that was? Monty Python started airing in 1975

'74, actually, though that might not have been nationwide (a station in Dallas, of all places, was the first to air it here). I was in Turkey in '74, so started watching in the fall of '75 (if and when my parents would let me watch it). It was probably '77 when I saw the Gilliam short on the Marsh show.

zoomboogity wrote:they did a show at The Hollywood Bowl in 1976, and that place holds 17,000.

That was in the '80s! They did the City Center in NYC in '76.

I didn't know about the Dean Martin connection. I know they performed live on The Tonight Show and Midnight Special before Flying Circus started airing here - the former appearance was a flop, apparently, and the latter only somewhat better-received.
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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby Dr Markus » 10 Apr 2018, 16:56

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Wasn't as bad as it sounds or looks. It gave the odd chuckle.

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Just brainless nonsense, which was class when you were younger.

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Too young to be watching this, but was really watching it hoping for a bit of female nudity if i'm being honest.

I've loads more, I watched too much TV as a kid.
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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby Hugh » 10 Apr 2018, 17:49

I’ve only ever seen Jean Marsh in Upstairs Downstairs.

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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby Dr Markus » 10 Apr 2018, 18:02

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Disgraced cop working as a taximan solving cases. Strong Polish element to it if I remember.
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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby Quaco » 10 Apr 2018, 18:30

The number of forgotten shows is immense. I have an encyclopedia of TV written in the '70s, and easily more than half I had never even heard of, including stuff featuring bona fide stars.
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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby zoomboogity » 10 Apr 2018, 20:56

Charlie O. wrote:
zoomboogity wrote:Do you remember what year that was? Monty Python started airing in 1975

'74, actually, though that might not have been nationwide (a station in Dallas, of all places, was the first to air it here). I was in Turkey in '74, so started watching in the fall of '75 (if and when my parents would let me watch it). It was probably '77 when I saw the Gilliam short on the Marsh show.

zoomboogity wrote:they did a show at The Hollywood Bowl in 1976, and that place holds 17,000.

That was in the '80s! They did the City Center in NYC in '76


I distinctly recall it starting in LA in '75, although I'm sure we weren't the first. That was the year i entered high school. I was in the marching band for a while, and I still wonder if the teacher ever figured out why we kept requesting to play The Liberty Bell at those stupid football games. "Guess those kids must really love Sousa. They play that at least four or five times every night!"


Charlie O. wrote:I didn't know about the Dean Martin connection. I know they performed live on The Tonight Show and Midnight Special before Flying Circus started airing here - the former appearance was a flop, apparently, and the latter only somewhat better-received.


Dean's co-producer got the rights to transfer that stuff from PAL to NTSC, perhaps allowing those tapes to last long enough before getting wiped into oblivion. Their stuff worked better in its own context, I can understand why live performances for unsuspecting audiences didn't grasp it yet.

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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby Jimbly » 11 Apr 2018, 11:02

Tenspeed and Brownshoe. Ben Veeren and Jeff Goldblum as a couple of private investigators. BV is a street wise cool guy. JG is a geek enthralled by a Detective book writer. it used to fill the local schedules late at night. probably shite if seen today.
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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby sloopjohnc » 11 Apr 2018, 19:13

Jeemo wrote:Tenspeed and Brownshoe. Ben Veeren and Jeff Goldblum as a couple of private investigators. BV is a street wise cool guy. JG is a geek enthralled by a Detective book writer. it used to fill the local schedules late at night. probably shite if seen today.


I remember that.

When my wife and I went to England, circa 1992, they used to show this terrible American sitcom about Robin Hood, When Things Were Rotten. I remember watching it back here and was glad they took it off. It made me reassess British society in general, if they showed this crap. It starred Dick Gautier, Dick Van Patten and Bernie Koppell. Awful crap.

A show I did like that lasted one season, and in that vein, was a show called Mr. Merlin, with Barnard Hughes, who played Merlin the magician in current times, San Francisco. I was kinda bummed it only lasted one season.
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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby Goat Boy » 11 Apr 2018, 19:22

Von Triers The Kingdom. Great, weird fun
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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby Dr Markus » 11 Apr 2018, 19:31

Thanks Dougie

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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby pcqgod » 11 Apr 2018, 19:40

I remember a late 70's or early 80's sitcom about a guy falling in love with a mermaid. I think it only lasted a few episodes. Have never been able to find any information on it.
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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby ` » 11 Apr 2018, 19:55

pcqgod wrote:I remember a late 70's or early 80's sitcom about a guy falling in love with a mermaid. I think it only lasted a few episodes. Have never been able to find any information on it.


Sounds like it sank without trace.

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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby Loki » 11 Apr 2018, 21:54

Off the top of me head~





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whodathunkit wrote: Somewhere it's always 1972.

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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby Snarfyguy » 11 Apr 2018, 22:46

Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, a Rockford Files spin-off that (apparently) ran for all of five episodes. I thought it was pretty good at the time, but I had to Google it just to make sure it actually existed.

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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby zoomboogity » 11 Apr 2018, 23:23

"It's about time, it's about space, it's about time to slap your face."





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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby Loki » 11 Apr 2018, 23:27

zoomboogity wrote:"It's about time, it's about space, it's about time to slap your face."



Yep! :D
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whodathunkit wrote: Somewhere it's always 1972.

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Re: Forgotten TV shows

Postby mentalist (slight return) » 12 Apr 2018, 00:39

Speaking of Danson, Bored To Death was absolutely brilliant but no-one I mention about it to has heard of it:

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Great cast, Danson, Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis.
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