Most Bizarre Shows Ever on Television.

[Rusty Muck]

I'd say "Turn On" was the most bizarre show I've ever watched on TV. I and the rest of America only watched it once. The ABC skit comedy was considered so controversial that it was cancelled within days of its first epidsode in 1969. Some ABC affiliates in the West, after hearing how East Coast viewers had reacted, wouldn't even air the first episode.

Wikipedia says Chuck McCann and Theresa Brewer were supposed to be regulars, while Tim Conway was the guest star. As I remember, there was no formal beginning or end. The credits to the show ran all during the program. The skits were done similar to Laugh-In but were not presented in any logical way. It moved very fast, although Laugh In also moved fast too, for its day.

I'm sure if we watched it today, we'd wonder what all the fuss was about.

Gregg
[email protected]

Has there ever been even part of Turn On to show up on the web anywhere?

Snippets of the unaired second episode were aired in a brief minute-long story about the show on an NBC News program in the early 80s. (NBC even called it the "Titanic" of ABC's primetime lineup...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zny4LxAC0C8

Also part of this piece was a short interview clip with "Turn-On" creator George Schlatter. Here, Schlatter claimed that out of the affiliates to cancel the show during the broadcast, one GM went in front of a camera during the break to address the audience: "The remainder of this program will not be seen this evening, or ever."

 

[desertv]

Yes, it's a classic, but Mary Martin playing Peter Pan. A middle aged woman playing a little boy? Then you could see the wires.

Apparently you haven't watched Mexican kiddie shows!

 

[mjlarochelle]

Yes, it's a classic, but Mary Martin playing Peter Pan. A middle aged woman playing a little boy? Then you could see the wires.

Apparently you haven't watched Mexican kiddie shows!

I saw a locally produced one on XHMOR in Morelia last year (a statewide public station). It was really low budget. Same station had a news program where all the news anchors and people being interviewed in the studio were wearing face masks while trying to talk to each other. It was during the H1N1 outbreak there, but I never saw face masks on presenters on Azteca's or Televisa's newscasts. (If you've ever seen Azteca 13's morning show or Hoy on XEW-2, the female presenters don't wear much to begin with.)

Some of the kiddie shows on Radio-Canada are really bizarre too, although I haven't seen any in years. One of the English networks in Canada had a really good parody of one of those shows a few years ago.

 

[blackgold]

T.V.O., which was a Mexican children's TV show with a couple of actresses serving as the hostess. Or how about the ABC game Shinanegans?

 

[mleach]

I'd say "Turn On" was the most bizarre show I've ever watched on TV. I and the rest of America only watched it once. The ABC skit comedy was considered so controversial that it was cancelled within days of its first epidsode in 1969. Some ABC affiliates in the West, after hearing how East Coast viewers had reacted, wouldn't even air the first episode.

Wikipedia says Chuck McCann and Theresa Brewer were supposed to be regulars, while Tim Conway was the guest star. As I remember, there was no formal beginning or end. The credits to the show ran all during the program. The skits were done similar to Laugh-In but were not presented in any logical way. It moved very fast, although Laugh In also moved fast too, for its day.

I'm sure if we watched it today, we'd wonder what all the fuss was about.

Gregg
[email protected]

Has there ever been even part of Turn On to show up on the web anywhere?

Snippets of the unaired second episode were aired in a brief minute-long story about the show on an NBC News program in the early 80s. (NBC even called it the "Titanic" of ABC's primetime lineup...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zny4LxAC0C8

Also part of this piece was a short interview clip with "Turn-On" creator George Schlatter. Here, Schlatter claimed that out of the affiliates to cancel the show during the broadcast, one GM went in front of a camera during the break to address the audience: "The remainder of this program will not be seen this evening, or ever."

The Paley Museum website in the past has been known to put at least the first 10 minutes of "Turn-ON" on their website even though recently I had noticed it wasn't there. However anything associated with the story about Turn-ON and Denver's then-KBTV channel 9 cutting off the show in mid broadcast which had appeared in a few books over the years well that is false thanks to the Denver Post/KHOW-AM 630's Penny Parker who had killed the story about KBTV cutting off the show in mid-broadcast with some guy playing the piano saying that rest of the show "won't be seen"...according to Penny Parker that wasn't true...at least that what she had said in the now defunct Rocky Mountain News back in 2008 anyway when Parker had interviewed some long time employee of KUSA/KBTV who had retired.

 

[bpatrick]

Yes, it's a classic, but Mary Martin playing Peter Pan. A middle aged woman playing a little boy? Then you could see the wires.

Apparently you haven't watched Mexican kiddie shows!

Traditionally (Robin Williams excepted) the role of Peter Pan is played by a woman, dating back at least to an early-20th-century actress named Maud Adams. Gymnast Cathy Rigby is another who has played the part on Broadway, and she was well past her competitive years when she started playing Peter Pan.

 

[LKellerIII]

Yes, it's a classic, but Mary Martin playing Peter Pan. A middle aged woman playing a little boy? Then you could see the wires.

Apparently you haven't watched Mexican kiddie shows!

Traditionally (Robin Williams excepted) the role of Peter Pan is played by a woman, dating back at least to an early-20th-century actress named Maud Adams. Gymnast Cathy Rigby is another who has played the part on Broadway, and she was well past her competitive years when she started playing Peter Pan.

I thought Maud Adams rang a bell, but your post seemed a little off. Actually, the early 20th century actress was Maude Adams:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maude_Adams

According to Wikipedia, she was a major super-star of her times, earning more than a million dollars per year. Thanks for posting that - very interesting bio

The Maud Adams (no "e") I was remembering was the 70s Swedish born model and late 70s - early 80s actress:

actresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maud_Adams

 

[bpatrick]

Sorry about that. Somewhere in the distant past I seem
to recall seeing Maude Adams' name spelled without the "e,"
and I've certainly heard of the '70s/'80s Maud Adams.

Regardless, Maude Adams established the tradition of a woman
playing Peter Pan; the only male I can think of who played the
role was Robin Williams in "Hook," although there may be others.

Anyway, thanks for clearing that up.

 

[blackgold]

How about the Canadian show "Fifteen," a teenage soap opera which was known on its home turf as "Hillside?" It was about an alcoholic jock, a "little miss perfect," a budding musician, and a couple of bad girls who broke the joke and the "perfect one" up! And of course, there were a lot of characters in that show who were concerned with themselves or each other.
It's enough to have everyone talking behind your back.