D.C. Follies: Reagan Tries to Wipe Out National Debt with TV Home Shopping Show

D.C. Follies: Reagan Tries to Wipe Out National Debt with TV Home Shopping Show
Syndicated
December 8, 1987
Satire
VHS
B-

Although three more episodes aired before the year closed out, this episode focuses on everyone's New Year's resolutions, with Reagan's attempt to wipe out the national debt creating moments not unlike the Fred Willard 1979 movie Americathon.  Ed Asner is the live guest star, mistaken for Gorbachev.

D.C. Follies: Nixon Gives Fred Financial Advice...and He Loses His Shirt

D.C. Follies: Nixon Gives Fred Financial Advice...and He Loses His Shirt
Syndicated
November 3, 1987
Satire
VHS
C+

Just in case you thought we were done with the bizarre world of the Krofft Brothers, we now look at a show somewhat inspired by Spitting Image, the British puppet show that satirized politics and pop culture.  DCF isn't especially funny (and wasn't really at the time), but it's interesting in a time-capsule sort of way.  The premise is that Fred Willard, playing "Fred," owns the titular bar, which is a hang-out for politicians, sports figures, entertainers, etc.  The puppetry (design, movement, and voicework, including by Joe Alaskey, who could be seen at the time on Out of This World) are quite good, but the puppets aren't given very good material.

Bob Dolan Smith and E. Jeffrey Smith wrote this episode where, yes, Nixon gives Fred bad financial advice.  Robert Klein is the live-action guest, as Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's new representative.  This is one of thirteen episodes Rick Locke directed.

The Brady Bunch Variety Hour: #4

The Brady Bunch Variety Hour: #4
ABC
March 4, 1977
Variety
DVD
C+

By this point, the show, which was airing irregularly, had been revamped.  The Bradys got yet another house, Rip Taylor was added to the cast, and the tackiness had been toned down.  Not that it wasn't still tacky, but the jaw-dropping was less than on the Pilot.  This episode has Greg, who must be 21 by now, wanting to move out and the family devastated by it.  The worst part of the writing though is probably all the frigging explanations, where everyone, including the audience, is considered to be moronic.  (Mr. Brady doesn't know what "siblings" are?)  The musical numbers are blander.  This might've been a C but a few of Robert Reed's line readings sound realistic, and Vincent Price gives it his all.  (Greg of course fails to recognize his former kidnapper.)

Besides the Kroftettes, the Krofft regulars include Van Snowden, who was on The Bugaloos and Lidsville, and I think here he's playing Pufnstuf, the gosh-what-a-casting-coup musical guest.

The Brady Bunch Variety Hour: Pilot

The Brady Bunch Variety Hour: Pilot
ABC
November 28, 1976
Variety
DVD
B+

The grade obviously doesn't so much reflect quality as the level of my eyes bugging out and my ears doing double-takes.  Yes, I watched this at the time.  Duh, it was the Bradys and I even watched the variety shows for the Captain & Tennille (I loved the "Bionic Hat" sequence) and for Shields & Yarnell (mimes).  Catching an edited down version of this on Nickelodeon about fifteen years later, with a suitably cheesy introduction by Casey Kasem, enough time had passed for me to watch in disbelief.  Honestly, if I hadn't lived through the '70s, I would think this was all, as the Bradys would've said, a put-on.  Let me just copy down from my mental list, and forgive me if I've left anything out:

• Blindingly glitzy sets and costumes in a rainbow of colors;
• Mostly good singing, matched with ridiculous choreography and/or cheesy orchestration;
• "The Hustle" and "Shake Your Booty," with special guest star Alice;
• Special guest star Tony "I do everything professionally" Randall reciting poetry to people in animal costumes and telling Bobby, "Well, up your nose with a rubber hose";
• More ABC plugs than they even dared to do on Welcome Back, Kotter, including the in-joky "Barbarino in a bubble" reference, while Robert Reed is sitting right there saying nothing;
• Marcia complaining that Dad bent her Led Zeppelin album, so Greg tells her about when Mom and Dad were their age in the '50s, seguing to
• A sequence set in a roller rink, where the Brady guys ogle the Brady girls, but it's OK because they're playing other characters, with names like Pitsy and Hickey, and everyone except a coked-up McCormick thinks the way to sound '50s is to have a vaguely New York accent;
• Donny & Marie as the Donz and his sister (it sounds like Carol calls her the Nazz, but that can't be right) show up and deliberately fall on the floor while skate-dancing, unlike Williams, whose earlier spill looks unscripted;
• Bizarre line readings, from Marie sounding vaguely Chinese on "The Donz really wants to be liked" to Carol's "Do you think your father likes wearing tights?  [Awkward pause] No," as well as,
• Bizarre lines, like Marcia's suggestion that her critical siblings stop "hitting on dad";
• A Risk game parody for the scene where Peter (who's now in college and "majoring in girls") learns the lesson that "the trouble with lying is you always get caught";
• Greg claiming their old house didn't have a bathroom (it was actually the toilet that was missing); 
• Fake Jan "at that emotional age";
• Flashbacks to the Bunch pilot and "Kitty Karry-All Is Missing," so we get a glimpse of Eve Plumb;
• A Rocky Horror reference; 
• Underwater fire-fighting clowns.  Underwater.  Fire-fighting.  Clowns.  UNDERWATER FIRE-FIGHTING CLOWNS!!!

So why not an A- or higher?  Well, there were lulls where I didn't question my sanity, or theirs.

Far Out Space Nuts: It's All in Your Mind

Far Out Space Nuts: It's All in Your Mind
CBS
September 6, 1975
Children's
DVD
C+

This is obviously a lot like "Gilligan in outer space," with McCann filling the Oliver-Hardy-esque Alan Hale role, but it shouldn't be confused with the '80s cartoon Gilligan's Planet.  Or for that matter with the cartoon The New Adventures of Gilligan, which was airing an hour earlier, over on ABC, right after Lost Saucer.  (And meanwhile that Fall, NBC had Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and Land of the Lost.)  I probably watched this around the same time as Lost Saucer, but it stayed with me less, maybe because there were no child characters, or because Honk wasn't as cool as the Dorse.  The theme song is also more forgettable (except for the "lunch"/"launch" thing that MST3K would reference years later), although the incidental music has a somewhat funky vibe, like cop shows of its era.

Note that Denver's hair has already gone gray at this point, and while he could pass for his early 20s on GI, he now looks all of his 40 years.  (And this is his 100th program I've reviewed.)  As for the Kroffts, well, they weren't done hiring Sherwood Schwartz alumni but that is a tale for another year.

Joan Gerber, who did some other Krofft shows as well as the voice of Irma Boyle on Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, here voices the computer GAL 36-24-36, which is a surprisingly suggestive HAL parody, especially when she tells Junior that he'll be inside her and they'll become one.

The Lost Saucer: 894X2RY713, I Love You

The Lost Saucer: 894X2RY713, I Love You
ABC
September 6, 1975
Children's
DVD
B-

I probably watched this show at the time, although it did air opposite Scooby-Doo.  If I didn't catch it in first run, when I was seven, I probably saw it at least during summer reruns.  Alice Playten, who played Alice, was also Alice on the local (Southern California) program, That's Cat, and I remember being a fan, maybe because she had that great mid-'70s fluffy hair, or maybe because her characters were Danzaly named.  I'll admit there's not much in this show to entertain an adult-- I certainly have a lower tolerance for Buzzi & Nabors slapstick-- but there are still some cool things about it, and not just the campiness of the special effects or the probably already dated by '75 slang and topical references of the little black boy Alice babysits.  (I know "Here come da judge" was from Flip Wilson and had been referenced on the Jackson 5ive cartoon three years earlier.)

The theme song remains a great example of power kiddie pop, and the line "They can't get off of this crazy ride!" sounds like it could've come from something in the Top 40 of the time.  Also, I still think the dorse (dog-horse hybrid) is neat.  I remember as a kid I liked the heavy-handed morals, and this one, about people in the future being faceless numbers, hasn't exactly dated itself.  By the way, Si Rose wrote for several previous Krofft productions as well.

Land of the Lost: Cha-Ka

Land of the Lost: Cha-Ka
NBC
September 7, 1974
Children's
DVD
B

Premiering an hour after Hong Kong Phooey but on another network, this was a departure for the Krofft Brothers, with no singing, laugh track, or psychedelia.  I don't know if I watched it in first run (though I probably watched HKP) and I don't really remember it as one of my favorites later in the '70s.  Ironically, it seems to have held up better than their other shows.  Yes, the special effects aren't great, although a big improvement over The Bugaloos, but the action and acting are generally solid.  The world-building is about right for a pilot, enough for kids to absorb in one episode, but with room for future complexity.  This is the only episode I have, although I've got two more Krofft pilots left.

Sharon Baird is the only Krofft veteran here, as Sa.  Dennis Steinmetz would also direct a What's Happening!! episode.  Note that the 1970s have now passed the 1960s, with more than half the decade to go.  (And I have a lot of Carter-era shows that are awhile off.)

Sigmund and the Sea Monsters: The Monster Who Came to Dinner

Sigmund and the Sea Monsters: The Monster Who Came to Dinner
NBC
September 8, 1973
Children's
DVD
B-

If proof were needed that the '60s were basically over by this point, consider how un-psychedelic this show is compared to the three major Krofft productions preceding it.  Here you simply have two junior-high-age boys trying to hide a friendly sea monster from their Aunt Zelda (63-year-old Mary Wickes, a former child star who kept acting for another twenty years after this).  OK, and meanwhile his mean family resent him leaving.  The show is topical in a different way, with Sigmund's father, given to saying "dingbats" and "stifle," clearly modeled on Archie Bunker, and the shellivision offering Serpent and Son.  I watched it either at the time or later in the '70s partly because of the parents-free beach setting and partly because of a mild pre-teen (or maybe it was a pre-pre-teen) crush on 13-year-old Johnny Whitaker, who I knew from Family Affair.  He sings pretty well, like Beach Boys Lite, with an extended version of the theme song in this pilot episode.  The title by the way refers to Great-Uncle Siggie, although I guess it could also be taken as an anti-police statement considering who Zelda's dinner guest is.  (Joe Higgins had been a Staff Sergeant on That Girl, and the role of Sheriff here is one he'd often play on various programs.)

This time the Krofft regulars include Sharon Baird (as the body of Big Daddy Ooze, with important supporting roles on H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, and Lidsville), Billy Barty (as Sigmund, and earlier Sparky on The Bugaloos,) Walker Edmiston (as the voice of Big Daddy, and by then a veteran of Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, and Lidsville), and Van Snowden (as Sweet Mama Ooze, previously Tweeter on The Bugaloos).  Si Rose wrote for all three of the previous Krofft programs as well.  Five-year-old Sparky Marcus is credited as Shelby, although I didn't see him, and would be on The Bob Newhart Show around the time he was Ape Face in Freaky Friday.  This episode incidentally aired at the exact same time as The Brady Kids second-season premiere, so I went alphabetically.

Lidsville: World in a Hat

Lidsville: World in a Hat
ABC
September 11, 1971
Children's
DVD
C+

This might well be the strangest Krofft production, although not the most entertaining.  A post-Munsters Butch Patrick faces evil magician Hoodoo (Charles Nelson Reilly), with the help of the gender-confused Weenie the Genie (Billie Hayes).  And almost everyone else is a hat, except for Raunchy Rabbit.  As pilots go, this is OK.  It sets up the setting, characters, and conflict, but I wasn't particularly drawn in.

Si Rose wrote for this as well as Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos, while Tony Charmoli also directed Bugaloos.  The Krofft regulars this time:

1. Sharon Baird
2. Joy Campbell
3. Buddy Douglas
4. Walker Edmiston
5. Joan Gerber
6. Jerry Maren
7. Angelo Rossitto
8. Felix Silla
9. Van Snowden
10. Hommy Stewart
11. Lennie Weinrib

The Bugaloos: Firefly, Light My Fire

The Bugaloos: Firefly, Light My Fire
NBC
September 12, 1970
Children's
DVD
B-

Because Pufnstuf wasn't psychedelic enough.  Martha Raye as Benita Bizarre wants the British human-insect hybrid band the Bugaloos to be her back-up but they refuse.  Hey, it beats sitting around watching a witch try to kidnap an annoying talking flute every week.  In fact, everything is better here, except the acting by the Brits and the special effects.  All I have is the pilot, so I don't know if the series stayed at this level.  It seems like it got less airplay in the '70s than Pufnstuf and it was never my favorite but it was fun when I saw it.

This time the Kroft regulars are:

1. Sharon Baird (playing the Nazi rat sidekick that Raye had as Boss Witch in the Pufnstuf movie)
2. Billy Barty
3. Joy Campbell
4. Walker Edminston
5. Joan Gerber
6. Van Snowden

Si Rose would go on to write for Lidsville, while John Fenton Murray had already written a bit for Gilligan and Brady, among many others.  Tony Charmoli would also direct Lidsville.

H.R. Pufnstuf: Jimmy Who?

H.R. Pufnstuf: Jimmy Who?
NBC
December 27, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

In this episode with a title that anticipates the reaction to the '76 Carter campaign, Jimmy gets amnesia from a bump on the head, which is cured by, you guessed it, a bump on the head.  This isn't bad for a clip show, since all four flashbacks are to musical numbers.

The series averages out to a high C+, which is what I would've predicted.  It was never my favorite Krofft show (we'll talk about what was as we go along) and it is pretty repetitive when it comes to plotting.  The look of it, and sometimes the music, make it worth watching, in small doses.

H.R. Pufnstuf: Whaddya Mean the Horse Gets the Girl?

H.R. Pufnstuf: Whaddya Mean the Horse Gets the Girl?
NBC
December 20, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

Shirley Pufnstuf and her director return, and the latter gets kidnapped by the witch so that he'll direct her script for Gone with the Witch.  The horse, who has a crush on Shirley, goes to the rescue, swallows the witch's wand, and starts blasting people.  And you tell me the Kroft Brothers weren't doing drugs.

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Almost Election of Witchiepoo

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Almost Election of Witchiepoo
NBC
December 13, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

The election season on Living Island is a lot dirtier than at Fillmore Junior High.  Witchiepoo uses a love bomb to win voters.  When Jimmy claimed that Puf is more honest than the witch, I couldn't help thinking of how the good guys have resorted to lying, vandalism, and theft.  OK, they don't kidnap as often, but that's not much of a moral high ground.

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Visiting Witch

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Visiting Witch
NBC
December 6, 1969
Children's
DVD
B-

No musical number but a better plot than usual, even if this time Pufnstuf gets kidnapped instead of Freddie.  Jimmy's costume for Boss Witch (the role Martha Raye would play in the movie) is one of my favorites on the show.

H.R. Pufnstuf: Tooth for a Tooth

H.R. Pufnstuf: Tooth for a Tooth
NBC
November 29, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

Orson is able to use the witch's wand to transform her into a little girl so she can get a dental appointment with Dr. Blinky, but apparently he can't cure her toothache himself.  Meanwhile, Dr. Blinky invents a love potion, but it's more general love than romantic love.  This concatenation of circumstances makes Puf think this is the perfect time for Jimmy to steal the Vroom Broom and head home.  The highlight for me was the good and evil trees fighting and then dancing.

H.R. Pufnstuf: Flute, Book and Candle

H.R. Pufnstuf: Flute, Book and Candle
NBC
November 22, 1969
Children's
DVD
B-

Freddie is turned into a mushroom and can't even talk, hurrah!  Unfortunately Jimmy and Puf want to cure him, which involves theft and vandalism.  Well, at least Jimmy dresses like a Dickensian beggar and sings a song that rhymes "spectacular" and "Dracula."

H.R. Pufnstuf: Dinner for Two

H.R. Pufnstuf: Dinner for Two
NBC
November 15, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

Grandfather Clock is going to use his time machine to send Jimmy back to the day before he came to Living Island, but the witch, after singing a song about her loneliness, does a long-distance zap that causes the machine to age Jimmy 60 years (to 72).  Then she falls for Jimmy, not realizing his identity, while he doesn't remember much of anything.  She plans their wedding and has a stunning dress.  (I don't mean that sarcastically, it looks great.)  Puf, Cling, and Clang rescue Jimmy and get him de-aged.  And another plan to escape from Living Island is abandoned.

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Horse with the Golden Throat

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Horse with the Golden Throat
NBC
November 8, 1969
Children's
DVD
C

This is the weakest episode so far, without even a musical number.  Horse swallows Freddie, thinking he's a carrot, and most of the rest of the twenty minutes is spent trying to get the flute out.  (No one suggests inducing vomiting.)

H.R. Pufnstuf: You Can't Have Your Cake

H.R. Pufnstuf: You Can't Have Your Cake
NBC
November 1, 1969
Children's
DVD
B-

Judy Frog teaches the gang to do the Moonwalk, pre-Michael-Jackson, and it actually helps in this week's rescue of Freddie.

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Box Kite Kaper [sic]

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Box Kite Kaper [sic]
NBC
October 25, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

This time Jimmy and Freddie hope to escape by using a box kite.  Marked down from a B- because Jimmy doesn't sing, although Witchiepoo does.  Note, she gives Puf and friends drugged chocolate.