The Classic TV Thread

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Ironically, color shows like BATMAN ultimately killed THE MUNSTERS in the ratings anyway.

I can see that actually. The two shows seem like they would have similar audiences.

2. The network felt the characters were too ugly for color anyway.

True, but they definitely didn't look as bad/awkward as they did on that terrible Munsters Today show from back in the 80s.

 

[Old Thunder]

Once upon a time, there was a brilliant filmmaker named Mel Brooks. One day, in the early 70s, Mel made a groundbreaking comedy movie starring Cleavon Little as a black sheriff in the wild west and Gene Wilder as his drunk white deputy called BLAZING SADDLES. The movie was so successful that the evil and greedy devil-worshipping international media conglomerate that produced and released the movie called Warner Bros. decided they wanted to go ahead and make a sequel to the movie - even if it meant they'd steal ownership of the movie away from Mel. Mel got together with his lawyer, and the two of them hatched a wild scheme: they drew up a contract and presented to Warner Bros., in it, they specified that the only way Warner Bros. could retain the rights to make a full BLAZING SADDLES sequel would be if they produced the sequel movie or turn it into a TV series within six months; they figured there would be no way Warner Bros. could make such a big movie in such a short amount of time, and figured with the movie's raunchy and racially charged humor, there's no way they could water it down for a TV show. But if that was a gauntlet that Mel and his lawyer had dropped, Warner Bros. picked it up, because they discovered a loophole in the contract: there was nothing in the contract that specified they would have to actually air the series if they made it. So for three or four years, Warner Bros. produced a series adaptation of BLAZING SADDLES, casting Lou Gossett, Jr. and Steve Landisburg in the roles originated by Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder - each season produced only six episodes, and with the exception of the pilot episode, none of them actually made it to air. Ready to get to making the sequel, Warner Bros. approached Mel years later about making it, to which Mel responded, "Wait a minute, you can't do that, we had a contract," and Warner Bros. was like, "Yeah dude, we know, that's why we made a TV show." Mel said, "What?" Warner Bros. said, "Yeah." Mel said, "Naw!" Mel said, "TV show? What TV show? I never saw no TV show," and Warner Bros. said, "You just said we had to make it, you never said we had to air it." Mel said, "Aw man!" Warner Bros. said "Aw man!" So they show Mel a few episodes of the show and he was like, "Oy vey gevalt!" And then Oscarfan showed up and said, "Wait a minute, that's my line," and then a pig showed up and did some laundry while another dude had a botched eye operation that resulted in him ending up with a thousand eyes, all of which captured Marty Feldman's heart, and. . . .

Oh yeah, here's that BLAZING SADDLES pilot for the TV show that was made and never even aired (warning, lots of racial slurs played for laughs):

You should get an award for this.

 

[D'Snowth]

Thank yuh! I probably tried harder than I needed to writing up that whole post, but the entire story surrounding the BLAZING SADDLES TV show (called BLACK BART) is quite far-fetched sounding that it really needed extra embellishing just to make it even more ridiculous.

But in all seriousness, both Lou Gossett, Jr. and Steve Landisburg found it strange to spend their winter breaks filming a TV show that was never going to be aired on TV anyway, but they actually got paid for it, so they couldn't complain.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Considering it was never supposed to air, I wonder if the writers tried at all to make it good. I mean, all they had to do was use the characters from the movie. For all we know it could've basically been some weird Blazing Saddles/ Batman erotic fan fic. Heck, I wonder if the cast and crew were even aware that this wasn't meant to be an actual series.

 

[D'Snowth]

The fact that the people were getting paid to do the show makes me wonder just how much money went into making the show if it wasn't going to air anyway? I mean it had costumes, sets, props, horses, carriages, music, a laugh track . . . I can't imagine that would be inexpensive to produce, and seems like a lot of money to waste if it's never going to air anyway . . . maybe that's why they only did six episodes a season - not to mention, they could probably easily do six episodes within a six month period.

But, Warner was determined to actually make that full-blown BLAZING SADDLES sequel, and I guess they were going to get it done one way or another.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

And yet, it never even ended up happening.

 

[D'Snowth]

I'm almost certain the store set was borrowed from Mr. Drucker from PETTICOAT JUNCTION and GREEN ACRES.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Did the "Black Bart" aborted series ever have a scene with beans?

Warner Bros. must've had some pretty deep pockets to spend all that time and money on a series that never aired. Anybody else (like you or me) would be bankrupt.

 

[D'Snowth]

Did the "Black Bart" aborted series ever have a scene with beans?

Could you even fart on television back then? I mean even in the 70s, you still couldn't show a toilet on-camera (something Uncle Phil lampshaded in THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE: "One bathroom for nine people, and I never saw a toilet.")

But, I digress. I wish I was alive when shows were switching to color, just because it seems like it was such a magical experience to see . . . just look how NBC really sold the idea of "living color":

And it also seems like a lot of shows back then just had some really rich, bright, vibrant colors: I DREAM OF JEANNIE, many episodes of HOGAN'S HEROES, and H.R. PUFNSTUF, in particular, have stunning color on DVD. Even that MUNSTERS pilot, despite its macabre settings, has really nice color.

One thing I just don't care for though was videotaped shows. Videotape technology was still really primitive back then, and it seems like it took well into the late 80s for videotape to become compariable to film. When look at old videotaped shows like ALL IN THE FAMILY, post-Pufnstuf Krofft shows, and the earlier seasons of SST, they just look awful, and it really dates them: colors are off, contrast is either too high or too low, the picture is incredibly fuzzy, and sometimes the master tapes will have occasional defects in them (though, that's not to say film didn't have its share of problems). I remember listening to an interview a guy did with Caroline Ellis of THE BUGALOOS, and he told her he felt the show being videotaped instead of filmed gave it more of a timeless and ageless look and feel to it - I completely disagree. I know the Kroffts were looking into every area they could to trim their budgets, and switching to videotape was one of their first moves, but I really wish they stuck with film: given how bright, vivid, and colorful the worlds they created were, they really needed the benefit of film to capture it . . . again, just look at Pufnstuf in comparison to their ensuing shows.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

Anyone up for a game?

http://www.jenniradio.com/images/StarList.pdf

You have to match the sitcom star to the show they belong to.