Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie
We went off on a little side discussion in the streaming movie, thread, so I figured I should get this thread made.

Hosted movie programs are somewhat of a relic of TV past. The setup is pretty simple. You have a host who introduces the movie and would have a few words coming in and out of commercials. Some of these segments were little skits or just the host discussing the making of the movie or other info. They were very popular through the 50’s and 80’s. Some even survived into the 90’s. However as independent TV stations were turned into network affiliates and cable channels rebranded, they disappeared.

I know for myself, these shows were where I first really became exposed to movies. It was always a bit of a treat growing up as well. My parents would let me stay up late or all night to catch some of these shows. I’ll try to list some of the popular ones I can remember. I really recommend just checking out this stuff on Youtube. A lot of fans have uploaded clips and episodes for viewing. I've easily spent hours watching these old segments. It's a real neat blast from the past.


Creature Features
This is sort of a generic name, but it’s also one of the oldest and most common I can think of. Lots of TV stations would have a block of programming where they’d play monster movies with some sort of host. They covered everything from Dracula to Godzilla and everything in between. New York’s WPIX had a super popular one called Chiller Theater. Shows like Monstervision and Elvira are directly inspired by these shows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImKEFbKYWTM




Elvira’s Movie Macabre

Elvira’s TV show began airing in 1981 in Los Angeles. It became a super hit making Cassandra Peterson a star. The bad horror movies combined with her appearance and bad jokes made the show stand out. The show even had episodes released on VHS. Shout Factory has released them on DVD in recent years. Some of these are on Hulu along with some special episodes on the service as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5i_G7N6I9A




TNT’s Monstervision

Monster vision started out as marathons TNT would do periodically. They did an Outer Limits one, a monster movie one, and I remember one for Hammer Horror. This was my first exposure to Hammer movies. Sometimes they'd have hosts, but not always. Then in 1995, they added regular host Joe Bob Riggs and that changed everything. The host segments were AWESOME. He’d have drive in totals (see image above), trivia, deleted scenes, and even interviews with people from the movies. I loved watching it as often as I could. I watched so many movies for the first time on Monstervision. It’s not the first hosted movie show, but in my mind, it’s what I think of when I hear that phrase.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSjr2aXE_Cg




The Movie Loft

This one aired in Boston on WSBK TV 38. I remember watching this one all the time. It was hosted by Dana Hersey. What really set this one apart is that the movies were NOT EDITED. Yes, they’d air unedited movies on network TV. They’d often show longer cuts of movies too, depending on the rights. It was awesome and definitely something movie buffs would enjoy. They’d also do annual Three Stooges marathons which I my dad and I would watch as often as possible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK83lRu9s-I




USA UP ALL NIGHT


I saved this one for last because in some ways, it’s my favorite. Gilbert Gottfried and Rhonda Shear would host the sleaziest, worst movies you can think of. They’d mix it up with cult classics, b-movies, but it was almost always sexploitation. I have no idea how many awful movies I’ve seen thanks to this show. Side note: Rhonda is the inventor of the Ahh Bra and has made a poo poo ton of money selling stuff on shopping TV channels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE_eYjHcPt8


So please tell us about your favorite hosted movie shows past or present. If there's some currently on the air, give us some links so we can try to find them in our area or online.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

flashy_mcflash
Feb 7, 2011

This is my dude Elwy Yost


He hosted a show on TV Ontario called "Saturday Night At The Movies" from 1974 to 1999.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhfLCJOU2CY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXH3FpLXbNo

He's a rad dude who introduced me to Cronenberg, Lynch, and I believe SNATM was the first place I ever saw the movie Suspiria, which is one of my faves. He's the son of a pickle man who loved movies and loved talking about them.

Oh, and his son Graham Yost wrote a couple things you might have heard of like the movies SPEED, BROKEN ARROW and the TV show JUSTIFIED.

flashy_mcflash fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Apr 13, 2016

Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie
Man now I'm picturing John Candy as the constable in Justified instead of Patton Oswalt and now I'm sad.

lizardman
Jun 30, 2007

by R. Guyovich
Oh how I loved MonsterVision and USA Up(!) All Night. One of the interesting things about these shows looking back is that I'm pretty sure that some of the cheesier stuff like this is geared to kids (because adults would ostensibly be, you know, doing stuff at night) who want to feel like they're watching sleazy adult fun.

(This also reminds me that the 80s seemed to have this particular brand of blonde big-tittied bimbo that I don't really see much anymore, maybe because such a persona would be deemed sexist nowadays. I mean, dumb blondes have been a thing forever, but it just seemed like ditzy blondes were everywhere in 80s media).

One that I think was actually geared to adults is that combination hosted movie/ cooking show thing TBS had for a while. I didn't really watch that one unless they were showing a particular movie I was interested in.

As for current TV, I know the Logo channel has some kind of hosted movie format thing with a couple of gay guys, a Kathy Griffin-type lady friend, and a girl in a low-cut minidress and high heels (could've been a drag queen but I honestly couldn't tell) lounging around talking about the movie and drinnking wine and whatnot. The time I watched they were showing Little Shop of Horrors.

flashy_mcflash
Feb 7, 2011

lizardman posted:


One that I think was actually geared to adults is that combination hosted movie/ cooking show thing TBS had for a while. I didn't really watch that one unless they were showing a particular movie I was interested in.

Dinner and a Movie. That poo poo was so bad but happened to air during my peak mushrooms/weed years so I watched every episode but retained almost nothing from them. The recipes were themed to the movie, right? I think the hosts were pretty likeable and funny but the amount of weed I was smoking made for a pretty low bar for funny/likeable.

e: ahahaha Rockabye Baby Back Ribs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l2dO9eNFug

flashy_mcflash fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Apr 13, 2016

Hat Thoughts
Jul 27, 2012
Dope thread and s/o to Svengoolie for continuing to hold it down & for his commitment to making jokes despite not a single one ever landing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLrJrx3wZ-8

weekly font
Dec 1, 2004


Everytime I try to fly I fall
Without my wings
I feel so small
Guess I need you baby...



flashy_mcflash posted:

Dinner and a Movie. That poo poo was so bad but happened to air during my peak mushrooms/weed years so I watched every episode but retained almost nothing from them. The recipes were themed to the movie, right? I think the hosts were pretty likeable and funny but the amount of weed I was smoking made for a pretty low bar for funny/likeable.

e: ahahaha Rockabye Baby Back Ribs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l2dO9eNFug

The host from that show joined the nWo one Nitro as a crossover promotion.

Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie

Hat Thoughts posted:

Dope thread and s/o to Svengoolie for continuing to hold it down & for his commitment to making jokes despite not a single one ever landing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLrJrx3wZ-8

Does he have any sort of way to watch this streaming? I don't have cable or anything.

Hat Thoughts
Jul 27, 2012

Jose Oquendo posted:

Does he have any sort of way to watch this streaming? I don't have cable or anything.

I don't think so unfortunately, I remember trying to find past episodes to show friends because I find Svengoolie's distinct brand of unfunniness pretty charming. It's over the air so if you're in the US you can check this map ( http://www.metv.com/wheretowatch/ ) and if it's in your area and you own a TV you should be able to just get it (with or without cable).

egon_beeblebrox
Mar 1, 2008

WILL AMOUNT TO NOTHING IN LIFE.



weekly font posted:

The host from that show joined the nWo one Nitro as a crossover promotion.

I use rabbit ears to pick up ME TV and watch him on Saturday nights. No streaming that I know of.

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours
The Movie Loft is one of those totally obscure things I wouldn't know about at all if not for Mr. Show.

ruddiger
Jun 3, 2004

I love that Svengoolie's being broadcasted nationally on MeTV. Dude got fired from Fox like 4 different times and yet still fought the good fight. I've been watching Rich Koz since I was a young'n watching the Koz Zone. I love when they show classic Sven bits, and his original songs are always pretty clever (if not karaoke-level).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQXU5njmmRY

Also, while they didn't show full movies, the original Siskel & Ebert At The Movies was a staple for me growing up. I didn't agree on a lot of their reviews, but it was great just to hear the dialogue that they'd open up between each other about film. They showed a passion for movies like no other.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHROo8JBDls

ruddiger fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Apr 13, 2016

WeedlordGoku69
Feb 12, 2015

by Cyrano4747

Hat Thoughts posted:

I don't think so unfortunately, I remember trying to find past episodes to show friends because I find Svengoolie's distinct brand of unfunniness pretty charming. It's over the air so if you're in the US you can check this map ( http://www.metv.com/wheretowatch/ ) and if it's in your area and you own a TV you should be able to just get it (with or without cable).

I'm on a site with a bunch of past episodes of his stuff, I might have to toss a few on Youtube (provided the copyright algorithm doesn't punch me in the dick for it).

Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie

ruddiger posted:

I love that Svengoolie's being broadcasted nationally on MeTV. Dude got fired from Fox like 4 different times and yet still fought the good fight. I've been watching Rich Koz since I was a young'n watching the Koz Zone. I love when they show classic Sven bits, and his original songs are always pretty clever (if not karaoke-level).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQXU5njmmRY

This is beautiful.

Splint Chesthair
Dec 27, 2004


drat, I remember Svengoolie before he got promoted and was still "Son of Svengoolie." These days they have pull that he can show almost exclusively "classic" stuff like the Universal Monsters and Hammer stuff and he has an actual set now, but I kind of miss the days where he had to play weird garbage like "Zoltan, Hound of Dracula" and couldn't get out of his coffin because they were shooting in a storage closet or something.

And MonsterVision was always dope, although toward the end it felt like TNT was trying to torpedo the whole works. I can't imagine Joe Bob would ever debase himself to watch "indoor bullstuff" like Back to the Future. I didn't contribute to the MST3K revival Kickstarter, but count me in if Joe Bob wants to get MonsterVision back up and running.

Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie
Yeah I think they changed the name to Joe Bob At the Movies or something like that. It was terrible. Gotta have that campy movie thing for it to work.

wafflesnsegways
Jan 12, 2008
And that's why I was forced to surgically attach your hands to your face.

flashy_mcflash posted:

Dinner and a Movie. That poo poo was so bad but happened to air during my peak mushrooms/weed years so I watched every episode but retained almost nothing from them. The recipes were themed to the movie, right? I think the hosts were pretty likeable and funny but the amount of weed I was smoking made for a pretty low bar for funny/likeable.

I used to watch that too. It was dumb but it was fine and I even enjoyed it at times.

Then a few years ago I discovered that one of the hosts, Paul Gilmartin, has a podcast that's loving amazing. He talks to people about really heavy problems in their life in a way that's compassionate but also funny. Really intense and moving.

Never would have thought that the Dinner and a Movie guy would make me cry, but here we are.

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
It's worth noting that Cleveland horror-host favorite Ghoulardi was the father of Paul Thomas Anderson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e52cXCrmauc

I love but sadly haven't seen many movie-night shows. Something about them is so aggressively American, and while I love the broadening of media access, it's too bad that losing shows like this was the price.

Alfred P. Pseudonym
May 29, 2006

And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss goes 8-8

Haha I think I remember seeing Svengoolie and Elvira a couple of times when I was very young. These shows owned. I can't think of any hosted shows since Dinner and a Movie, unless you count that DVD On TV bullshit on FX. Though that did introduce me to the alternate ending of Die Hard with a Vengeance, so that was okay I guess.

david_a
Apr 24, 2010




Megamarm

Magic Hate Ball posted:

I love but sadly haven't seen many movie-night shows. Something about them is so aggressively American, and while I love the broadening of media access, it's too bad that losing shows like this was the price.
I'm not sure I've ever actually seen any of them. Kid/teenage protagonists in horror movies always seem to be watching them, though.

Was Elvira more than a Vampira ripoff + a ditzy personality?

Where did these hosted movies come from anyway? Is it just a holdover from the really early days of TV when most stuff was live and there was always someone there to guide the viewer?

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



The movie host shows are such a weird phenomenon and yet I'm kind of sad that they're pretty much dead with the end of independant broadcast channels. Now no one needs to figure out how to get people to tune into those terrible films they got in the syndication package, so they no longer give that weird guy in the office department his own show ("As long as you can shoot it for under $300 do whatever you want, Lou!").

The one I remember watching all the time was Commander USA's Groovy Movies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8wllw0nvXs .

deoju
Jul 11, 2004

All the pieces matter.
Nap Ghost
One of these shows, Dinner and a Movie I think, was my first exposure to 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon.

There was one relatively recently on FX called something like DVD on TV, they'd show extended cuts and special features. It had some guy who used to be an MTV vj.

Splint Chesthair
Dec 27, 2004


Magic Hate Ball posted:

It's worth noting that Cleveland horror-host favorite Ghoulardi was the father of Paul Thomas Anderson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e52cXCrmauc

He was also the voice of ABC for a lot of years. The man probably said "Love Boat" more often than anyone.

http://youtu.be/TXfysVrIT-s

Commander USA is one I didn't discover until YouTube - it was the only way I could find to watch Hammer's "Abominable Snowman."

And there are plenty of dorks on the internet trying to keep the horror host thing going, but they're often so amateurish they make Svengoolie look like Stephen Colbert.

Egbert Souse
Nov 6, 2008

While it was before my time, my uncle got me to see Horrible Horror when I was in high school one Halloween. It's a compilation of horror movie clips hosted by the "Cool Ghoul" Zacherley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNg3O03YtHk

Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie

Egbert Souse posted:

While it was before my time, my uncle got me to see Horrible Horror when I was in high school one Halloween. It's a compilation of horror movie clips hosted by the "Cool Ghoul" Zacherley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNg3O03YtHk

This is great. For anyone sorta interested in watching B-movies from the past, this is a great list of movies to track down.

egon_beeblebrox
Mar 1, 2008

WILL AMOUNT TO NOTHING IN LIFE.



Here's an old Svengoolie clip with Jon Pertwee that is pretty hilariously awkward immediately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGf3zWpjPGU

Anonymous Robot
Jun 1, 2007

Lost his leg in Robo War I

Egbert Souse posted:

While it was before my time, my uncle got me to see Horrible Horror when I was in high school one Halloween. It's a compilation of horror movie clips hosted by the "Cool Ghoul" Zacherley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNg3O03YtHk

Along these lines, Prevues From Hell is on Netflix and is an eclectic and funny mix of horror trailers, if you can stomach the host skits that stitch it together.

Macdeo Lurjtux
Jul 5, 2011

BRRREADSTOOORRM!
FX still does the hosted movie thing, it's hosted by the guy that came in second in MTV's Next Big VJ reality competition. They really only show some DVD extra clips during random interstitial a though.

Picklepuss
Jul 12, 2002

Egbert Souse posted:

While it was before my time, my uncle got me to see Horrible Horror when I was in high school one Halloween. It's a compilation of horror movie clips hosted by the "Cool Ghoul" Zacherley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNg3O03YtHk
When I was little I used to listen to his "Dinner with Drac" single and get scared... yet I'd keep putting the record back on. :shobon:

Anyway, since then I've seen many other horror hosts but for me Zacherley is still the standard by which all the others get measured.

Davros1
Jul 19, 2007

You've got to admit, you are kind of implausible



Fans on this type of thing should definitely check out the doc "American Scary"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371530/?ref_=nm_flmg_slf_38

Guy Mann
Mar 28, 2016

by Lowtax
I started getting MeTV when they switched to digital signals for over-the-air televison years ago and Svengoolie just makes the entire channel for me. I love living in a world where I can watch pretty much anything I want whenever but it's nice to know that there's still someone out there making terrible jokes and using the best special effects Video Toaster can buy to punch up the commercial breaks of terrible movies every week.

I almost feel like the modern trend of having discussion shows following broadcasts of popular shows like AMC's Talking Dead is the modern successor to the old movie show host format: cheap programming made to fill air time and drum up interest hosted by people who are genuinely into whatever it is they're showing. HBO just announced that they're doing one for the new season of Game of Thrones so it's only going to be getting bigger as time goes on.

Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie

Davros1 posted:

Fans on this type of thing should definitely check out the doc "American Scary"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371530/?ref_=nm_flmg_slf_38

I tracked this down and it's really good. I definitely recommend it.

Also, because of where I live there's no way for me to watch Svengoolie and that makes me sad.

egon_beeblebrox
Mar 1, 2008

WILL AMOUNT TO NOTHING IN LIFE.



Jose Oquendo posted:

Also, because of where I live there's no way for me to watch Svengoolie and that makes me sad.

That sucks. He does seem to be planning on some DVD releases at some point, though.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Hat Thoughts
Jul 27, 2012
Found out recently (as in, today) that my area had it's very own goofy horror host by the name of

The Great Razooly



I wish there was some footage of his show, "Horror Theater" but uh there's not, anyways he's an interesting guy and locally he brings out the personality every once in a while(presenting Creepshow tomorrow, even!).
He proceeded to run a local strip club and ranfor mayor twice (no dice on either attempt), now I guess he makes 1/6th figures from scratch and poses them in photoshoots (just for himself, I think).

There's more about him (but still not much) on this blogpost from a GI Joe fansite
https://patchesofpride.wordpress.co...s-and-vehicles/
and
on this really good website from another local guy (not a horror host) who dresses up like a ghost & named himself "Carpathian"
http://www.patientcreatures.com/CameraArchivesHouseonHauntedHill.html

Hat Thoughts fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Apr 21, 2016

  • Locked thread