Friday, May 21, 2004
Vintage TV
Just now, on a whim, I did a Google search on the phrase "I will tune in to All Night Live." And I found what I was looking for: Uncle Ed Muscari.
In the early days of basic cable, you used to get local stations from other places in the country (as distinguished from cable networks, if there are any VR readers under 35). Every night during the summer of 1981 I stayed up late, drank some kind of citrusy Kool-Aid and ate pretzels, played solitaire on the floor of my mother's living room, and watched Uncle Ed.
First, you took the pledge:
I miss that kind of cable. Hell, I miss that kind of television. Local programming, cheap sets, hosts with strange little routines...
And hey, since it's Friday night and I'm watching Star Trek (well, DS9), I'm also reminded of the Plenty Scary Movie (for a real treat, be sure to watch the video of the trailer... courtesy of Uncle Zeb!). Every Friday night, fourth grade through, oh, about seventh, when I started going to Skate World on Friday nights, I would stay up and watch Trek (TOS: that's The Original Series, for non-Trek types) at 10:30, then the Plenty Scary Movie at 11:30. It was even more fun if a friend was spending the night.
At some point the Plenty Scary Movie went away. I was in high school by then, playing in the marching band every Friday night in the fall, going to Rocky Horror during the rest of the year (that's right: my friends and I went every week. Every. Week. It wasn't on television, it wasn't even on tape. You learned the lines by spending three bucks to see it at the theater every weekend at the midnight movie, not from a book or a web site or in some kind of stupid Pop-Up Video knockoff).
It took me years to notice that there was no more Plenty Scary Movie. It was the same with local channels on cable; they were just gone one day, and I didn't notice until I had to buy 200 channels to get five worth watching.
And BTW, if in some strange and interesting universe the blogosphere and the afterlife intersect, I hope that my friend John can read this and know that growing up would have been pretty damn boring without him to introduce me to Rocky Horror, Gilda Live, Evita, OKon, Dr. Who, Twin Peaks, Cooper and Paulette, Monty Python, Douglas Adams, the Bandiemobile, Divine, Bob's Pig Shop, and Hot Spots of Oklahoma--and a lot of other similar stuff that keeps coming back to me. If only I could hit rewind, I'd go back a couple of weeks and tell him myself.
Just now, on a whim, I did a Google search on the phrase "I will tune in to All Night Live." And I found what I was looking for: Uncle Ed Muscari.
In the early days of basic cable, you used to get local stations from other places in the country (as distinguished from cable networks, if there are any VR readers under 35). Every night during the summer of 1981 I stayed up late, drank some kind of citrusy Kool-Aid and ate pretzels, played solitaire on the floor of my mother's living room, and watched Uncle Ed.
First, you took the pledge:
I promise every night at elevenAnd then: WKRP (back before the music was replaced), followed by Twilight Zone. At some point I remember that Topper showed, and then there was a movie.
I will tune in to All Night Live.
A faithful viewer I will always be
I ain't handin' you no jive.
I miss that kind of cable. Hell, I miss that kind of television. Local programming, cheap sets, hosts with strange little routines...
And hey, since it's Friday night and I'm watching Star Trek (well, DS9), I'm also reminded of the Plenty Scary Movie (for a real treat, be sure to watch the video of the trailer... courtesy of Uncle Zeb!). Every Friday night, fourth grade through, oh, about seventh, when I started going to Skate World on Friday nights, I would stay up and watch Trek (TOS: that's The Original Series, for non-Trek types) at 10:30, then the Plenty Scary Movie at 11:30. It was even more fun if a friend was spending the night.
At some point the Plenty Scary Movie went away. I was in high school by then, playing in the marching band every Friday night in the fall, going to Rocky Horror during the rest of the year (that's right: my friends and I went every week. Every. Week. It wasn't on television, it wasn't even on tape. You learned the lines by spending three bucks to see it at the theater every weekend at the midnight movie, not from a book or a web site or in some kind of stupid Pop-Up Video knockoff).
It took me years to notice that there was no more Plenty Scary Movie. It was the same with local channels on cable; they were just gone one day, and I didn't notice until I had to buy 200 channels to get five worth watching.
And BTW, if in some strange and interesting universe the blogosphere and the afterlife intersect, I hope that my friend John can read this and know that growing up would have been pretty damn boring without him to introduce me to Rocky Horror, Gilda Live, Evita, OKon, Dr. Who, Twin Peaks, Cooper and Paulette, Monty Python, Douglas Adams, the Bandiemobile, Divine, Bob's Pig Shop, and Hot Spots of Oklahoma--and a lot of other similar stuff that keeps coming back to me. If only I could hit rewind, I'd go back a couple of weeks and tell him myself.
permalink posted by The Vintage Reader @ 9:52 PM 
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