# What do you think was the strangest t.v show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2003, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254 "2003-02-15T13:57:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/21 "2003-02-15T18:22:00Z")
**No Soap, Radio**. The program the phrase “It just don’t make no _sense_” was invented for. ---
**Author:** ![Aleq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@Aleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aleq)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/22 "2003-02-15T18:24:28Z")
Tossup between “Profit” and “Action.” ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/23 "2003-02-15T19:39:39Z")
The Prisoner, easily. Although I have an odd fondness for Pingu. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/24 "2003-02-15T20:03:55Z")
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/25 "2003-02-15T20:18:57Z")
I would also have to vote for Green Acres. Most people I talk to thought it was just stupid, but I always thought it was brilliantly surreal. Who can forget the hotcakes head gasket, or Dee Dees Dehrydificated Mason Dixon Chicken Dinner, or the toaster that wouldn’t pop up until someone said “Five”? (I assume the writers had their hands on some good drugs.) Sure wish they would show it on TV Land, I’m sick to death of Andy Griffith and Leave it to Beaver reruns. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/91b2a8/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_Sandwhich)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/26 "2003-02-15T20:24:32Z")
It was more of a one-time thing than a regular program, but Richard Nixon’s Checkers Speech was the strangest thing ever to appear on television. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/27 "2003-02-15T20:35:51Z")
No contest - Green Acres outstranges everything else by an order of magnitude. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/28 "2003-02-15T20:43:40Z")
**The Brak Show** is kinda bizarre… ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/29 "2003-02-15T21:22:06Z")
The Prisoner was strange, in fact, it made a great deal of sense. Like Twin Peaks, it was offbeat but very sharply conceived and written. You want pure senseless strangeness? Try “Pink Lady and Jeff.” I’ve seen an ep or two, and I WANT THOSE BRAIN CELLS BACK!! ---
**Author:** ![beajerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/30 "2003-02-15T22:00:24Z")
I remember a show in the late seventies, maybe early eighties, called Cliffhanger which was on one of the networks and featured three stories that ‘cliffhung’ every week until next time. I remember one was about some future society, one was a western maybe?, and I can’t remember if one was an Indiana Jones knockoff. The only one I remember for sure was the cheesy future one. It lasted a few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/31 "2003-02-15T22:09:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gundy \* > \*\*Cop Rock. \*\* That’s the one. Indescribably weird. ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/32 "2003-02-15T22:24:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by beajerry \* > \*\*I remember a show in the late seventies, maybe early eighties, called Cliffhanger which was on one of the networks and featured three stories that ‘cliffhung’ every week until next time. I remember one was about some future society, one was a western maybe?, and I can’t remember if one was an Indiana Jones knockoff. > The only one I remember for sure was the cheesy future one. > > It lasted a few weeks. \*\* I loved that show! The vampire story was pretty interesting, from what I recall. Of course, I was probably about eight years old when I saw it… ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/33 "2003-02-16T01:12:19Z")
The Young Ones (another brit-com) would get a vote from me, but the Prisoner should be the hands down winner. Also placing: Twin Peaks Cop Rock Monty Python’s Flying Circus ---
**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/34 "2003-02-16T01:23:04Z")
How about **VR5**? Really wierd from what I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/35 "2003-02-16T01:38:48Z")
For a short while there was a show on MTV that defied description called “Sifl and Olly”. It starred two sock puppets and was responsible for one of the two instances of me peeing myself laughing (the other was the Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show – keep in mind I was five). ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/36 "2003-02-16T01:58:24Z")
I remember Cliffhanger! I used to love it. But IMO, the strangest show ever made was [Freddy’s Nightmares](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0094466) that ran from 1988 to 1990. It was a horror anthology show that was totally surreal and weird. I only remember it vaguely, but it was one of my favorite shows at the time. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/no_me_ayudes_compadre/32/5224_2.png) [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Me_Ayudes_Compadre)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/37 "2003-02-16T02:12:27Z")
I still wonder if I missed any deeper meaning in **The Gigglesnort Hotel**. All of the late-1970s, early 1980s freak shows such as **Real People** , **That’s Incredible** and others had a sort of otherworldly feel to them. **Battle of the Network Stars** was sort of spooky, too. Especially when it featured Robert Conrad, and anyone in a kayak. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/38 "2003-02-16T02:34:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by grendel72 \* > \*\ ***No Soap, Radio**. The program the phrase “It just don’t make no _sense_” was invented for. \*\* Another vote for this one. (Wow, I can’t believe even two people besides me were watching.) _Green Acres_ was wonderfully surreal, but No Soap Radio had it beat by a mile. IIRC, it was on the same season as Police Squad. I wonder what they put in the networks’ water that year to let two such weirdly great and greatly weird shows on. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/39 "2003-02-16T02:34:23Z")
Did anyone see The Maxx on Liquid TV? Very, very strange. If anyone does remember it and knows how it ended, please tell me. ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/40 "2003-02-16T02:44:04Z")
If I am remembering correctly, The Maxx ended with the psychologist moving out after Maxx killed the creepy bald guy, and ended with a set up for a second season that never happenned. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254.md?page=3)