# The Bugaloos and their web of lies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [July 14, 2026, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659 "2026-07-14T12:46:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/1 "2026-07-14T12:46:15Z")
Remember the Bugaloos? Saturday morning live action show? Well, they showed up in my YouTube feed, and something was perplexing. Those wings don’t look nearly big enough for those guys to get airborne. I don’t care how slight they are, they’re human size and the wings are, what, a foot? A foot and a half? And yet, we see them again and again flying over Tranquility Forest. Come on! I’m beginning to think it’s all bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/2 "2026-07-14T13:01:23Z")
It was magic, not physics that let them fly. Actually as it was Sid & Marty Kroft, it was probably LSD that let them fly. That show made less sense than the other Sid & Marty shows, and that is saying something. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/QfOH6-6m1Kg/maxresdefault.jpg "The Bugaloos - Firefly, Light My Fire | Full Episode 1 | Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfOH6-6m1Kg) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/3 "2026-07-14T13:09:20Z")
To the OP: I’m very sorry to hear of your disillusionment at finding out that the world lies to you. It’s tough to learn the truth, at any time, even at your (presumably) not too tender age. When I was a little kid, around 5 maybe, I watched the Bozo the Clown Show, which regularly featured a magician named Mr. Houdini. I was kind of in awe of him, and thought his magic was real sorcery. My mom even took me to meet him when he made an appearance at a department store, and I couldn’t even speak to him, I was so intimidated. I asked my mom how he did his magic, and she patiently explained to me that it was all tricks-- that magic doesn’t exist. Then a few months later, when Christmas was coming up, I asked my mom how reindeer can fly. “Uhhhh…they’re _magic!_”. Busted! I was on to grownups then. “We can’t afford a new bike for you right now”? BS. “Broccoli is good for you”? I don’t think so. “Don’t play in the street; you’ll get hit by a car”? Grownup propaganda. They didn’t want us to have any fun 😏 In all seriousness, when I was older, long after I stopped believing in Santa, my mom confided to me that she was always uncomfortable with the Santa myth, because it felt like she was lying to her children. She actually always wanted to answer our questions accurately, like how she described to me that Mr. Houdini’s magic was really tricks, and I realized I kind of put her on the spot with the reindeer question. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/4 "2026-07-14T13:13:25Z")
Even if they were actually “in the air”, they weren’t _everywhere_. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/5 "2026-07-14T13:48:34Z")
I know that if I actually click on anything on this site, I’ll lose my whole morning, so I’ll just leave the link here… and never look at it, I swear! > **[The Bugaloos: Cast Updates](https://www.bugaloos.com/cast.html)** eta: Ooh, it says there’s also info on the Bugaloo-mobiles… built by Chuck Barris… NO! I won’t look! ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/6 "2026-07-14T13:53:45Z")
I loved this show as a kid. I don’t remember them having British accents. I looked the show up on IMDb, I didn’t even remember their names. I do know that I had a crush on Courage (John Philpott). ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/7 "2026-07-14T14:01:17Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Those wings don’t look nearly big enough for those guys to get airborne. I don’t care how slight they are, they’re human size and the wings are, what, a foot? A foot and a half? No, they weren’t human-sized, they were bugs. We’re looking at an anthropomorphized view of the bug world. Sparky was a firefly and he was about chest high to them. Benita Bizarre lived inside an abandoned jukebox that to her scale was like a highrise, along with Funky Rat and two sentient vacuum tubes. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/8 "2026-07-14T14:58:10Z")
> [@digs](#): > > eta: Ooh, it says there’s also info on the Bugaloo-mobiles… built by Chuck Barris George Barris, no relation to Chuck. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/9 "2026-07-14T15:14:59Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > I loved this show as a kid. I don’t remember them having British accents. I loved it too. Looking back, I’m not sure why. 🙂 But Joy is probably the cause of me thinking women with British accents are hot. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/10 "2026-07-14T15:18:22Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I know that if I actually click on anything on this site, I’ll lose my whole morning, so I’ll just leave the link here… and never look at it, I swear! > > [The Bugaloos: Cast Updates](https://www.bugaloos.com/cast.html) > > eta: Ooh, it says there’s also info on the Bugaloo-mobiles… built by Chuck Barris… NO! I won’t look! Holy Geocities, Batman! Okay - I’ll admit that I just learnt that Martha Raye was Benita Bizarre, and not Phyllis Diller, like had been embedded in my brain for the last forty years. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/11 "2026-07-14T16:28:23Z")
Raye was sort of a knockoff of Diller (or vice-versa). ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/12 "2026-07-14T16:32:13Z")
Raye was a comic actress and singer going back to WWII at least. See “[Four Jills in a Jeep](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Jills_in_a_Jeep)” where she is the comic relief but more than keeps up with the singing. I believe Diller didn’t even get going until the late 50s as a stand-up. But the character Raye played on Bugaloos was a bit of a Dillerish character. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/13 "2026-07-14T16:57:35Z")
The “Cast Updates” are from over 25 years ago. Newer Bugaloo news here: [Bugaloos - Home](https://bugaloos.net/) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/14 "2026-07-14T17:29:37Z")
I was more of a Lidsville fan as a kid anyway. That’s some real drug-fueled creativity. [![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNWQ2NzFiMWYtNjU4MS00MzkwLWIyNzMtMWI0NGU4NTk1MTY2XkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg) ](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNWQ2NzFiMWYtNjU4MS00MzkwLWIyNzMtMWI0NGU4NTk1MTY2XkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg) Which inspired a classic Mr. Show sketch, “Druggachusettes”. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/eOXQ2kRJ0wQ/hqdefault.jpg "Mr Show Druggachusets") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOXQ2kRJ0wQ) I always thought The Bugaloos were trying to be the next Josie and the Pussycats type show, just done in live action. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/15 "2026-07-14T17:41:37Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I always thought The Bugaloos were trying to be the next Josie and the Pussycats type show, just done in live action. I think it is described that way somewhere. I was a big fan of **H. R. Pufnstuf** and **Land of the Lost**. The rest of Sid & Marty’s stuff, not a big fan, just something on Saturday mornings. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/16 "2026-07-14T17:44:12Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I was a big fan of **H. R. Pufnstuf** and **Land of the Lost**. Ooh, Land of the Lost, I loved that show too. If I watch clips of it today, the dinosaurs and everything look so bad, but as a little kid they were awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/17 "2026-07-14T17:50:17Z")
Just about every Saturday morning children’s show of the era featured a pop-rock sketch. We discussed it some when this thread touched upon the Monkees and it segued from there. [Obvious things about a creative work you realize after the millionth time (OPEN SPOILERS POSSIBLE) - #6526 by Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6526) ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/18 "2026-07-14T18:07:31Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Ooh, Land of the Lost, I loved that show too. > > If I watch clips of it today, the dinosaurs and everything look so bad, but as a little kid they were awesome. The Sleestacks scared the heck out of me as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/19 "2026-07-14T18:11:18Z")
And yet despite the low production values the show attracted some serious science fiction writers of the time and many of the first two season episodes had some deep concepts. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659/20 "2026-07-14T18:13:51Z")
They also brought in a linguist to put together Chaka’s language. **Land of the Lost** did a lot right, too bad the movie had to be a forgettable Will Ferrell comedy. The special effects make it pretty much unwatchable now, but the show was really good in its day. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bugaloos-and-their-web-of-lies/1031659.md?page=2)