Truly Weird TV Shows You've Seen

[FloridaJudy]

Several nights ago I had a bad case of insomnia, and decided to hit the Internet to check out whether one of my strangest childhood memories had any basis in fact.

Back in the fifties, I was a sickly child. Every now and then my parents would take me to my Grandmother's house on school days to recover from whatever bacteria or virus I'd come down with. My grandmother was the only one in the family with a TV, and she'd plunk me down on the sofa next to her while we both sipped herb tea and watched the tube. My grandmother was an intelligent, articulate woman, but she had possibly the most atrocious taste in television ever. I became familiar with "December Bride", "I Married Joan" and "The People's Choice" . Her absolutely favorite TV show was something called "Korla Pandit's Magical Music Hour".

Folks that I have described this phenomenon to invariably blink a few times before declaring "Judy, you did too many psychedelic drugs in the sixties. You hallucinated the fool thing. There was no such show!"

Korla Pandit was a self-described "Indian Mystic" who wore an elaborate white turban, and sported an enormous jewel in the middle of his forehead. He played the organ - nope he played *three* organs: one with his right hand, one with his left, and one with his feet. He never spoke, but just looked soulfully into the camera, while the voice-over announcer entoned some pseudo-Asian mystical bullflop like "Rubies are precious, but not as precious as wisdom".

Folks, Korla Pandit was real! There are numerous web-sites devoted to his memory. This guy's life story would make a fascinating novel; just ignore web-sites that treat him as some sort of icon, and read the ones that tell you his real autobiography (for one thing, the guy was an African-American minister's son from the deep South). Actually read both, if you want to enjoy just how strange Television can be, and if you appreciate how people can re-invent themselves to take advantage of the cultural Zeitgeist.

[DUreader]

1. I saw part of 'West Wing' with some politically unaware friends

Most surreal recent experience in my life

These people cringe and do the ostrich at the mere mention of anything

political but life is on hold once a week cause they can't miss

the most important show on tv

I do not own a tv

[Fenris]

2. Cool!

That's a very interesting story. He was the first African-American to have his own television show...on which he played an Indian (well, presumably) mystic. You couldn't give a black man a TV show in the 1950s, but you sure as hell could give a black man impersonating an Asian mystic one!



He has phenomenally powerful eyes.

Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[Scaramouche]

3. Do you remeber Genesis II???

Everytime I mention Gene Rodenberry's futuristic, post Star Trek, show about women with two belly buttons and taking Bart around the Western US people blink and think I'm on the funny stuff...

Well here's some proof: http://home.att.net/~paxteam21/G2/g2.html

I feel for you...

[Ein]

4. Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.

Crazy Japanese show they dub over with ridiculous statements, as people get stuffed into plastic balls and roll through a downhill obstacle course. or run headfirst at a wall with 6 doors, and all but 1 are painted on. or run across a river on rocks, but some are foam that sink when you step on em. OUCH. Great Show, thx TNN. But damn you for that hunk of garbage called Stripperella.

[XanaDUer]

5. Greg the Bunny

'Bout a year ago. Off the air now, totally surreal.

[BritishHuman]

6. Fabricated-Americans!

I've seen a few episodes of GtB. It had Seth Green, and a number of vaguely familiar human actors, and a bunch of muppet show parodies.

Great show.

[XanaDUer]

7. Yup.

Of course, now it is off the air, and all these stupid reality shows are on the air.

I live in reality. I want magic.

[Colin Ex]

9. Oh, man! I loved that show!

My all-time favourite moment was when Greg and Seth Green's character got high on marijuana brownies and decided to tie bottle rockets to Greg's roller skates.

They hoped to go fast enough to go back in time and stop Back to the Future III from being made.

I laughed for about ten minutes.

-C

[short bus president]

8. "Monkey Walken"

Not sure how I stumbled upon it, but the local access channel had this show on once called "Monkey Walken." It was a cartoon monkey's impression of Christopher Walken. Short, but funny.

[Archae]

10. Scorch!

Several years ago there was a sitcom where a guy has a small fire-breathing dragon move in with him, and ends up working with him at his job on a local TV station.

Only his daughter and him know the dragon is real. The rest think it's a ventriloquist's puppet.

I mention it and get that "What were you smoking, man?" look.

[Ratty]

11. The Paula Poundstone Show

Wow, how long did it last? Two whole episodes, or was it just one? Her running joke was how long it would last before it was cancelled. It was bizarre and wonderful. Like her interview with some senator (Arlen Spector?) about the economy ... while riding on Disneyland's spinning cups ride.

I loved that show, I loved her. I still do. I hope she makes it back onto TV again soon.

I also loved the Ben Stiller show, but that was mostly because I was hopelessly in love with Stiller himself.

[soothsayer]

12. Cop Rock

An ABC show in the '90s. It was a police drama where everyone would suddenly and inexplicably break into song during various scenes during the show.

Wild, baby, wild!

[mitchum]

13. Hands down the most absurd show

[Chicagonian]

14. El Gran Juego De La Ocha.

by a very wide margin...

"...Explosivo! jump Mr.T...JUMP!..."

If you never saw the show, there's no way to explain it...but there has never been a more off-beat show.

[NightTrain]

15. "Quark," "My Mother, The Car," and "When Things Were Rotten"

"My Mother, The Car" has become notorious as the worst TV show of all time. Having managed to see a few episodes, I'm inclined to agree. That show was horrible beyond words!

"Quark" and "When Things Were Rotten" both ran for a short time long about 1976. Both were bizarre sitcoms, the former about the crew of an interplanetary garbage scow, the latter an absurdist take on the Robin Hood legend.

[mac56]

16. "No Soap, Radio"

It lasted about three weeks back in spring of 1982. Starred Steve Guttenberg, Bill Dana (a/k/a Jose Jimenez), and Edie McClurg (you've seen her a million times - Mr. Rooney's secretary in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off").

The closest thing to surreal comedy I've ever seen on American TV. Set in a seedy hotel in Atlantic City. Lots of sight gags, blackouts, and other non-sequiturs. Too weird for the times, I guess.

---

I remember the title was part of a real-life grade school prank. A bunch of kids would gather, and everyone would be in on the gag except one poor soul. One of the kids would tell a joke:

Two guys meet on the street. One guy says, "Soap?"
The other guy replies, "No soap. Radio!"

Then all the kids would start laughing hysterically, except of course the kid who wasn't in on it. If he or she started laughing too, all the other kids would stop abruptly and ask him or her what was so funny. (Gulp...) Ah, peer pressure.

[Norbert]

17. It's About Time

A mid-1960s show if I remember correctly was two astronauts that viered off course and went back into pre-historic times. Imogene(sp) Coca was one of the stars and I don't think her career recovered from that show for a while.

Pretty bad stuff.

[mac56]

18. Bad, but "good bad".

About halfway through the show's run they figured out a way to get them all back to the 1960s. This was early 1967, mind you, so the cave people dressed in modern clothes prompted a lot of "hippie" jokes.

[mitchum]

19. OMG! I was singing the theme song last night