Does anyone else remember the movie One on One starring Robby Benson and Annette O'Toole? That's one of those movies like Scavenger Hunt that I managed to watch over and over in the early days of cable. Back when they would give you that square little movie guide with the same movie listed 20 times a week. I would love to see that again. The tagline for the movie One on One: "There comes a time when love stops being a ball and starts being a woman." Hahaha. It was like an after school special for cable.
How about a series on Showtime in the early 80s called Bizarre starring John Byner? It was this strange little comedy half-hour show on Showtime ala The Carol Burnett Show or The Sonny and Cher Show. But it was cable so they could be more raunchy. There were two things that appealed to me as a 10 year old boy watching Bizarre. 1. It was on late at night when late-at-night seemed like a weird forbidden time when morals and moods changed. It became "adult time". (Which leads me to number..)2. Once in every show they would have some woman take off her top as the punchline to a sketch. I was mucho amused/embarrassed/turned-on by this, hoping my parents (who were early-to-bed) wouldn't hear that I had Showtime dialed up. Bizarre also introduced America to Super Dave Osborne, who I remember thinking (even at the age of 10) was terribly unfunny.
I really have a soft spot for the television/movie culture of the late 70s because everything seemed so strange to me. I understood just enough about sex and violence to be completely enraptured by the late 70s portrayal of either. The late night cable in my pre-adolescent years (78-82) was filled with weird shows (Night Flight)and bizarre European movies about girls discovering their sexuality(Felicity, Emmanuelle 2). It was a veritablesmorgasbord of fascination for a young lad such as I! I even miss the broadcast television shows- Shields and Yarnell (who woulda thought mimes would have their own hit show???), Donnie and Marie, Charlesd Nelson Reilly,Tony Orlando and Dawn, Paul Williams,Doug Henning!! It seemed like a broadway show every night of the week!
And don't even get me started on the game shows.
I was thinking about television from 1977-1981 yesterday and just how insane it all was. Don't get me wrong- it was 99 percent crap...but it is difficult not to be sentimental about those nights when I basked in the glow of the television with my parents to see gags I didn't completely understand on reruns of laugh-in. Or to secretly turn the volume low at midnight so I can see some woman's breasts for 3 seconds. Believe me, at ten that was the shit and any boy who tells you different is selling something. It seems so innocent now, so funny. I hate to admit how big a role television played in my childhood, but it can't be denied. And I think that's why I grow sentimental about such stupid shows...shows that were likely conceived in coke-addled brains. It all seems like a dream now.
-s6
How about a series on Showtime in the early 80s called Bizarre starring John Byner? It was this strange little comedy half-hour show on Showtime ala The Carol Burnett Show or The Sonny and Cher Show. But it was cable so they could be more raunchy. There were two things that appealed to me as a 10 year old boy watching Bizarre. 1. It was on late at night when late-at-night seemed like a weird forbidden time when morals and moods changed. It became "adult time". (Which leads me to number..)2. Once in every show they would have some woman take off her top as the punchline to a sketch. I was mucho amused/embarrassed/turned-on by this, hoping my parents (who were early-to-bed) wouldn't hear that I had Showtime dialed up. Bizarre also introduced America to Super Dave Osborne, who I remember thinking (even at the age of 10) was terribly unfunny.
I really have a soft spot for the television/movie culture of the late 70s because everything seemed so strange to me. I understood just enough about sex and violence to be completely enraptured by the late 70s portrayal of either. The late night cable in my pre-adolescent years (78-82) was filled with weird shows (Night Flight)and bizarre European movies about girls discovering their sexuality(Felicity, Emmanuelle 2). It was a veritablesmorgasbord of fascination for a young lad such as I! I even miss the broadcast television shows- Shields and Yarnell (who woulda thought mimes would have their own hit show???), Donnie and Marie, Charlesd Nelson Reilly,Tony Orlando and Dawn, Paul Williams,Doug Henning!! It seemed like a broadway show every night of the week!
And don't even get me started on the game shows.
I was thinking about television from 1977-1981 yesterday and just how insane it all was. Don't get me wrong- it was 99 percent crap...but it is difficult not to be sentimental about those nights when I basked in the glow of the television with my parents to see gags I didn't completely understand on reruns of laugh-in. Or to secretly turn the volume low at midnight so I can see some woman's breasts for 3 seconds. Believe me, at ten that was the shit and any boy who tells you different is selling something. It seems so innocent now, so funny. I hate to admit how big a role television played in my childhood, but it can't be denied. And I think that's why I grow sentimental about such stupid shows...shows that were likely conceived in coke-addled brains. It all seems like a dream now.
-s6