How about TV Series that deserve a commentary track.
I remember that at one point the clueless suits at Comedy Central had suggested that the show switch to TV shows rather than movies (probably because they hated that 2-hour time slot). BBI rejected the idea, but what if they hadn’t? What TV show(s) would have been perfect for our experiments?
I would definitely nominate any of the latter seasons of of ’60s-’70s westerns “Bonanza,” “Gunsmoke” “The High Chaparral,” stuff like that. Dreadful stuff.
Your pick?
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Would like to see pilots that never went to series..Here are some clips. 1)Wishman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at4TWrBy8og 2)Samurai http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRdaucW8D7g and a few others: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NVcfW5sHSU These would be interesting to see them do,since no one has seen these before.
I have often thought what elements make good riffable material. There seems to be one unifying characteristic which makes material extremely riffable and that is when a work takes itself too seriously. This is why comedies rarely work for riffing.
Personally, I would like to see A Man Called Sloane. Loved his sidekick Torque.
The 1970’s were the era of the afflicted detectives. Therefore “Cannon,” and “Ironside,” should be easily riff-able.
With Cannon, use the same huffing and puffing used in “Mitchell,” in the scenes where William Conrad is running after a suspect. It could also be helpful to have the First Alert Refrigerator Alarm!!
Ironside practically riffs itself, from the opening credits (yell “ouch!” after the gunshot’s fired and the colors start changing), plus grunt sounds after Raymond Burr moves on his own without the help of Mark Sanger. Anytime Chief Ironside’s dealing with an uncompromising attorney, add references to “Perry Mason.” It should help too that co-stars Don Galloway and Barbara Anderson are in MST3K riffed movies.
Finally, how about the original “Hawaii Five-0?” Any close-up of Jack Lord could prompt “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful,” plus numerous hair references could help too!!
@102: Have you seen the pilot for “A Man Called Sloane”, renamed “Death Ray 2000” for its TV showing? It’s awesomely riffable. I uploaded it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI5yywh2Gqs
@103: with you on Ironside. Also bad westerns like Guns of Will Sonnett (Grandpa McCoy as the fastest gun in the West) and Alias Smith and Jones (which introduced Ben Murphy to universal dislike).
V: The Series. And the remake, though that’s more soul-crushing bad that cheesy bad like the original (with
the exception of the original mini, but that’d be good riffed too).
The USA teen superhero show My Secret Identity with post-Stand By Me pre-Sliders Jerry O’Connel, and a
show I know I watched almost every episode of but cannot remember a single plot or scene.
@53 I watched Small Wonder religiously, in the sense it may have been the first time I watched something
because it was so bad. Also the girl who played VICKI was from my birth-town.
@61 Make it the CW “reboot” of Beauty & the Beast and definitely. Charmed had it’s cheesy charm (don’t
hit!) but do the episode where they fight demonic wrestlers in a cross-promotion with WCW…
Oh gods WCW’s declining years would be awesome riffed.
@63 Damn, beat me to it. I was raised on Days of Our Lives and still casually follow it, but any episode
from the Demonic Possession storyline or the millions of times they’re trapped on an island would work.
@99 Remind me of a prime candidate – the Generation X Fox failed pilot, which poorly adapts what was one of
the few truly good X-Men books in the 90’s (if just for two years) and more importantly features Matt
Frewer as a low-rent Riddler rip-off.
There was also the Fox TV-movie/Twister rip-off timed to beat it to “air”, Tornado! with Bruce Campbell and
Ernie Hudson.
How about some unsold tv pilots? Check out these clips…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfmmPNxqmVY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxHWHi1Bnjk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdnb9mre7tg and did anyone know there was one called THE ROBINSONS:LOST IN SPACE? Here’s a clip..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAT4tjjzOCk and Norman Lear came up with “A Dog’s Life” with actors wearing dog costumes..Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxcjvXHWdgk ….
Saved by the Bell, Nickelodeon’s remake of Land of the Lost in the early 90’s, Renegade, and the show Cavemen based on the Geico Cavemen.
Whether or not they were mentioned yet, I’d say Fantasy Island and The Love Boat would both be ideal: very bad, many and varied guest stars to keep the riffs fresh, Issac, Gopher, Tattoo, and many Khan references.
That being said I agree with TJ Hooker, but also throw in Starsky and Hutch as being ripe for riffing, especially the last season. David Soul’s moustache is pure comedy gold.
How about Star Trek The Animated series. Bad animation, poor dialogue and Shatner. The guy that was head of coloring animation was colorblind!
I agree that Planet of the Apes and Logan’s Run would be great TV series that could be riffed on. (I will admit as a child I loved these two series and was very unhappy when cancelled)
TAKE NO PRISONERS– RIFF IT ALL– LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED ( or unriffed ) DIVIDE AND CONQUER.
TEAR IT DOWN– BURN IT DOWN– THROW IT DOWN. For that matter riff the song DOWNTOWN. Then sit back and and have some pastry, or a big bowl of your favorite ice cream top it all off with some whipped cream and a cherry. Step back and look at all the carnage and laugh, and laugh and LAUGH!
Captn Ross Hagen….whoa whoa….put down that coffee cup, you reached you maximum daily limit of caffeine but what you said is great…riff everything.:eek:
Law and Order: SVU. It was pretty bad to start out with, and it just gets worse and worse every season. Lately I’ve been adding Mike’s ” . . . and they’re pretty sure that’s what killed him” riff from Roadhouse somewhere in every episode. Cracks my father-in-law up every time.
Really, any bad prime-time cop show from the last decade. Except The Shield. No one messes with The Shield.
Oh yes, yes, yes yes, Law and Order: SVU.
You guys sure can remember a lot of silly TV. I agree with Dukes of Hazzard–I saw a bit of that not too long ago and just, wow. Ugly, feeble, insane, inane. Also Puffnstuff. What about Mork and Mindy? (but could get dull–too many hairy Robin Williams riffs) or Moonlighting?
#96 spap oop-
I’m a big fan of The Night Stalker. The episode “Zombie” is one of the scariest damned things I have ever watched on TV. How would the guys riff something so genuinely frightening? That would be cool to see. Also Richard Kiel plays the tallest american Indian ever in one episode, so it would be like a reunion.
Any movie on LIFETIME. But even if they didn’t I’ve got it covered. My wife will go “Stop I’m trying to watch this!” or “Go in the other room and watch your movies! ( which means MST3K movies when she says your movies ) They have endless scenes that you can do the porn movie heavy end bass theme music. And her favorite question “Hey is this the one where her husband gets drunk and beats her, then goes off to have sex with other women?”
But I gotta say after all these years of me picking on these movies it has given her the power of the riffing. One night we were watching a movie
( I didn’t go in the other room to watch my movies) I don’t know the name of it but anyway the husband was loaded and he hauled of and hit his wife and sent her tumbling down the stairs and before I even had a chance to sing I’ll tumble for ya ( the song by CULTURE CLUB ) my wife said “Stupid woman, she should have seen that coming if she watched enough of these movies she would’ve known he was loaded and that’s what men do.” I almost died she sailed it off so quick. I laughed so hard over that, I’ll never forget it. Sad side of the story is I had been drinking and when I was done laughing I smacked her upside the head and said “Go get me a beer! And don’t EVER interrupt me when I’m about to riff a movie!” Later that night I packed “it” on ice and off I went to the ER. The doctors were able to reattach “it”. Now I just go in the other room and watch my movies, I also removed the knife block from our bedroom and put it back in the kitchen.
#116 If they did that episode of The Night Stalker it could prove to be very upsetting for you. Why I bet it would give you a ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE!
BA,BA,BA, BOOM! I gotta say Rich I was a big fan of that show, it was a cool show when it was on, and back then we didn’t have a lot to choose from on TV. And do you remember the one when Kolchack went back in time and it was near Christmas and he was changing a flat tire and his son Ralph was helping him and the lug nuts went flying in the air and his son Ralph said in slow motion FUDGE ( but he didn’t really say fudge he said that other
f word,the F blank, blank, blank word.) ???
1. Lost in Space.
2. Any 12th season of original Hawaii Five O.
3. The Thunderbirds.
4. Gilligan’s Island.
5. In Search Of…
6. Supertrain (Remember that one?)
7. Jersey Shore (Beavis and Butthead riffed it, would like to have seen MST3K’s take)
8. Honey Boo Boo (The only way I could watch it.)
9. Dallas.
10. Dragnet (1967-1970 version)
@ #15: How old? The Fifties series with Ben Alexander or the Sixties series with Harry Morgan?
@ #96: I differ with you on Chopper, but Zombie was a strong one.
Hey Sampo..Could the next discussion be “Tv Specials that Deserved to be Riffed”? Donny and Marie come to mind as does Sonny and Cher or…wait for it..The Star Wars Holiday Special!! What do ya think?? :-)
Webster or Punky Brewster, or a lot of shows from the 80’s. They had such ludicrous episode stories and sappy, hollow “very special episodes.” Please, TEAR’EM UP! I see people also listed such garbage from the 90’s as Full House, but that might be too hard to riff. That show was so redundant and dry. Shows from the 1980s have a zany energy and goofy sense of reality.
I feel TV shows would definitely had worked for the show. Some of my favorite episodes are master ninja, gemini man, and code name diamond head
Okay – “77 Sunset Strip,” “Route 66,” and Beverly Garland’s series, “Decoy!”
SOL Daria – My Secret Identity – I was thinking of it but could NOT remember the title. As I recall, he could ‘float’ but had to use something like hairspray cans to move, and the only thing I really remember [or fantasized] was his floating up to peek into a girl’s window.
That brings up another Superhero series [3 episodes aired, 90 min pilot and 2 60 min episodes] Once A Hero. Anyone else remember that?
I could watch an entire series of riffed “Emergency!” or “Adam-12,” but it would be even better peppered with “Manimal” and the occasional “Galactica 1980” and “V.”
I mean, there’s a whole wealth of stuff, and not just dramas! “The Lawrence Welk Show” would flabbergast people today. I just keep remembering one show after another now! “Hot L Baltimore!” “Mannix!” “The Rookies!” “Perry Mason” and “Ironside!” “Concentration!” “Diff’rent Strokes!” “Fish!” “Fish Police!” “Space Precinct!” “The New Adventures of Superman*!” “The Adventures of Hercules!” “Speed Racer!” “Hogan’s Heroes!” “Bearcats!” “The Powers of Matthew Star!” “The Incredible Hulk!!!”
Oh God, I’ve wasted my life.
*Seriously, watch “The Pernicious Parasite” on YouTube. But don’t eat or drink anything you don’t want passing through your nose!
Knight Rider
The A-team
Miami Vice
Automan
Friday the 13th The Series
how could you guys forget about the old batman series
Well, of course, they DID do several TV shows: Rocky Jones: Space Ranger, General Hospital, Space:1999. Gemini Man, The Master, etc.
Cop Rock would have been low hanging fruit for them. I think they would have been most in their element, though, with 70’s cop shows. Pick one: McCloud, Toma, Barretta, Longstreet, Mannix… the possibilities are nearly endless…..
108: I completely forgot about the Land of the Lost remake, but it was ABC, though it was repeated on Nick. However, I’m betting that though I loved it at the time the Tomorrow Children remake Nickelodeon imported would work.
@124 I had forgotten the aresol bit till I looked it up, but now I can’t forget it.
Anything made in the past 13 years.
I agree w/ doing The Walking Dead, along w/ the redux of Battlestar Galactica (which took itself too seriously and made stuff up along the way); I thought about Love Boat and Fantasy Island , but you couldn’t do them too often because it would get like C.Cody. But how about other shows from the ’84 era of crap The Master came from – Manimal, Tales of the Gold Monkey. And Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks is asking for it.
Re: 127.
The thing is, the 60’s BATMAN series was intentionally absurd. It was a tongue in cheek comedy, played utterly straight for humorous effect. Riffing it would be like adding a laughtrack: “This is silly. Laugh here.”
Speaking of which, there are TONS of bizarre and godawful sitcoms out there –WHOOPS, THE CHARMINGS, and HONEY, I’M HOME spring to mind– but, as the Brains have pointed out, it’s hard to riff on a comedy, even or especially a bad one.
125…
The local PBS station reruns THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW and it does flabbergast. I make a point not to watch it too often to keep the shock from wearing off, but it is staggering. In the same vein are Liberace’s old show, KORLA PANDIT, and even the original MICKEY MOUSE CLUB. Still, they’re mostly just a series of songs and that might get dull.
Not sure how riffable it is, but THE CONTINENTAL is another deeply weird show worth mentioning. It was essentially this Pepe Le Pew-type guy reciting romantic endearments directly to the camera. Women watching at home were supposed to pretend they were out on a date with him. It wasn’t on very long but it was so bizarre that parodies of it still turn up from time to time.
A bit late to this, but, um, THE CAPE. Of course, that one might be too much of a cult “hit” to work (which is why they never did Plan 9). And of course, the hour-long car commercial that was Viper. I don’t think sitcoms would work too well (call it the Catalina Caper Effect), especially ones with a laugh track/studio audience.
Flying Saucers (#132): The Continental was an actual show? I only know it from the Christopher Walken skits on late 80’s SNL.
@120-I would think the latter series with Morgan would be best for riffing. Its in color and the lavish indignations Joe slapped the criminal element with each episode, especially hippies, make for prime riff fodder.
#127-Not only was the Batman tv show starring Adam West intentionally campy, I also like it for what it is. The mistake was that someone (cough)Joel Schumacher(cough) tried to turn that campiness into a big-budget movie, a movie that failed in every way. Once the Adam West series was over the notion of campy Batman should’ve been completely retired. The Power Rangers deserve ridicule, but even with riffing I would be hesitant to watch it because it’s just that dumb. I liked the Highlander tv series, but I’d probably watch it riffed. There was a very short-lived series called Harsh Realm that could be riffed.
The Lawrence Welk Show
Miss America Pageants
Cop Rock
Brady Bunch (Cousin Oliver episodes)
Scrappy Doo
Roseanne (the last season “Beverly Hillbillies” shows)
Chevy Chase Fox show
Bill Cosby version of “You Bet Your Life”
The original Star Trek. There’s many tropes that have now become cliches of classic space travel science fiction that either originated or were popularized by the original Star Trek, and showed up in movies featured on MST3K:
1) Square-jawed, melodramatic, condescending captains (Phantom Planet, 12 to the Moon, and others)
2) A multi-ethnic cast with an embarrassing, but well-meaning treatment (12 to the Moon, First Spaceship on Venus)
3) The helpless love interest of the square-jawed captain, often there to advance the captain’s story and little else (Manhunt in Space, Phantom Planet)
4) Crude alien costumes
5) Spaceships on strings
6) Cannon fodder extras
I also think that either MST cast would enjoy the chance to riff on Star Trek because MST was clearly inspired to some degree by the Star Trek and makes ample reference to it.
134…
Yes, believe it or not, The Continental was real. It was a short-lived fad back in the 50’s for bored housewives to dress up for the show. It doesn’t seem to be on Youtube, but evidence for its existence can be found on a few of the 90s ULTRA-LOUNGE CDs (where he turns up as a bonus track) and an old Popeye short where Bluto impersonates “The International” to woo Olive.
More 70s cheese: “Nancy Drew” & “Hardy Boys”.
Other 70’s Cheese deserving riffs could include many Hanna-Barbera cartoons that follow the “Scooby-doo,” format such as “Josie and the Pussycats,” “Speed Buggy,” etc. Also, “Archie’s Weird Mysteries,” from within the past decade (Jughead vs Shaggy could be an epic debate), + “Super-Friends,” is worth riffing to as well!!
More 70’s cheese could include personalities from game show and talk shows alike. Who wouldn’t want to add riffs with the likes of Paul Lynde, Brett Sommers, Mason Reese and Dr Joyce Brothers?? Certain PSA’s from that era (+ others) are riff-worthy!!
Finally, one more 60’s shout-out, any episode of “Bewitched,” WITHOUT Dick York, whether it’s been after he’s been replaced with Dick Sargent, or the ones where he was too doped up to come to work, involving weasly Larry Tate to bring home some grumpy client to wait for Darrin (“out-of-town on business,’) for Samantha and one of her relative to explain the weekly kookiness that occurs @ the Stephens’ household, which are the episodes when even Mr York’s big-chinned animated likeness in featured in the opening credits!!!!!!!
I wish I’d seen this thread earlier, now all the best shows have been mentioned. I’ll just say any mid-90s UPN show(Deadly Games, The Burning Zone, Marker, etc) would be a good choice.
Both the new and original series of Doctor Who can deserve riffing. Obviously, MST3K wouldn’t be able to do the new series, it having started in 2005, but RiffTrax or Cinematic Titanic could do it. Classic Star Trek (Brain and brain! What is brain!?) and even TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise would do well riffed.
Hey thank you so much for taking the time and effort
to put this post together.. very appreciated
I remember this one on TV as a kid, and being quite stupid. Would love to see it again.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080615/
ICWXP, or Incognito Cinema Warriors XP, I believe is going to be doing a straight-to-YouTube riff of a Jason of Star Command (Or as I like to call it, “James Doohan gotta eat!”) episode. Should be pretty funny. I don’t know why you guys don’t cover them more on this site. They’ve done an amazing job of making their show like MST3K, yet entirely different at the same time. They have a new music video up that reminded me a lot of MST3K in spirit. Check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUmxCDK–vM