TV.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
I mentioned way back here that I was going to eventually get around to digitizing and presenting for your edification what I can dig up of my old TV tape compilations. Well, my recent foray into Youtube country has made this much much easier on ye old banke accounte, re: bandwidth. Thus, we’ve got three doozies today. Let’s start with one of my all-time favorites:
John Davidson is a Schizophrenic Transvestite. Before his stints on “That’s Incredible” and “Hollywood Squares,” but well after his successful stint as a teen idol, Davidson guest starred on The Streets of San Francisco as both Ken Scott and Carol Marlowe. You should probably just watch it—from the episode titled “Mask of Death,” originally airing 3.14.1974.
David Banner Lets the Sunshine In. David’s working in a recording studio when some dirty hipster drops acid in his orange juice. Then, the fun starts, in the form of what sounds like a retarded version of Bitches Brew, Banner standing in green goo and having his feet stick to the floor. Then, well, we know what happens.
I can’t locate any information about when this episode aired, but while perusing tv.com, I happened upon Episode 74, a sure gem called Half Nelson. The recap describes it: “David travels to Baltimore where he befriends a midget wrestler who has a habit of telling tall tales. Unfortunately, one of those tales gets David in trouble with mobsters.”
Next Stop: Nowhere. Is the proper name for what is more commonly known as the “Quincy Punk Rock Episode.” I can’t help but think that the producers of Quincy caught a screening of Penelope Spheeris’ The Decline of Western Civilization, released the year before, and recast it as a government-sanctioned educational film. This is only a section of the show, with classy VHS tape-to-tape edits to boot, but it does contain two of the show’s greatest quotes: