Big ups to Adam Ross for including me in his legendary Friday Screen Test at his DVD Panache blog. I began reading Adam's blog last year and immediately added it to my list of daily online stops, never thinking in a million years that I'd get to be a part of it. This is only the second time in my life I've ever been interviewed for anything, so it was a lot of fun. Please stop by and take a look.
Before this, the only time anyone ever interviewed me was in 1991. My friend John Riley and I had just started a late-night movie program on KBSI-TV, the Fox affiliate in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. None of the four broadcast stations in the market were on the air 24 hours, and KBSI wanted to be the first, so they asked John if he would host some crappy movies that would air from 1:30-5:00am Saturday morning. He agreed, but only if I could co-host. And since we were the only show on the air during that time, discounting cable, we called the show THE ONLY THING ON.
We did intros and outros and did segments going into commercial breaks. We gave away prizes and fooled around. We even had our own T-shirts that I think our director Kevin Huyck designed. And never once, by the way, did we do the show live; we taped on Wednesday afternoons.
After a few weeks, John got a call from Carbondale Nightlife, Carbondale, Illinois' weekly alternative newspaper, which wanted to do a piece on THE ONLY THING ON. Each of us spoke to the reporter individually, and it turned out to be a pretty good piece. I still have a couple of issues floating around here. If I think of it, I may try to track them down and maybe scan them.
THE ONLY THING ON, by the way, ran for about 14 months on KBSI, finally ending its run in September 1992. Considering our weekly budget was, literally, $0 per week, and KBSI's technical standards were not terribly high, I think we did a good job, generally. We had fun, for sure, and I know most of the prisoners at the local penitentiaries had a good time, 'cause we got letters.
Not much exists of THE ONLY THING ON, as far as I know. Someone has placed an episode on YouTube, as well as a few promos and bumpers we did. Not the best show we ever did, but not the worst either.
Great story, and thanks for being a part of Friday Screen Test. Did you guys mostly show public domain movies on the show?
ReplyDeleteNope, all the films were legitimately bought/leased by KBSI, though we could only show what they already had in their library. They never bought anything specifically for THE ONLY THING ON.
ReplyDeleteSome of the films (that I remember) we showed:
THE ALCHEMIST
BLOOD DINER
MY BLOODY VALENTINE
THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS
C.H.U.D.
GHOULIES
TIMES SQUARE
THE ANNIHILATORS
MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD
SLAUGHTER HIGH
That's all that come to me off the top of my head. Also, KBSI often ran a half-hour infomercial for Jessica Hahn's Love Phone between the two movies, which we never liked. Occasionally, a TWILIGHT ZONE would air in its place.
Marty, just want to say I found you through the DVD Panache story, and I love your blog! Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks, man. I read your blog occasionally too. Loved the Oscar live-blogging, though I hated THERE WILL BE BLOOD's score. It's funny--I had the same thought you did when I read that crawl about Molly Ringwald's birthday.
ReplyDeleteGreat interview. I'm glad you got on there, as yours is, as I've noted on a number of occasions, one of my favorite blogs.
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