# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/61 "2003-02-17T15:44:02Z")
Now I don’t recall the title of this show, but some of you might recall how networks for a long time filled some of the dead air in the summer by airing the pilots that didn’t make the cut. One of those was aired once by CBS which was a musical set in a strip mall with the camera following people around and they’d sing about things (the most memorable being a song about making donuts by the donut shop worker). Musicals are by default strange worlds all their own and setting it in a strip mall just made it worse. As I recall it wasn’t a bad program but it was pretty obvious why that pilot didn’t become a series… ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/62 "2003-02-17T17:38:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Just Some Guy \* > \*\*Now I don’t recall the title of this show, but some of you might recall how networks for a long time filled some of the dead air in the summer by airing the pilots that didn’t make the cut. One of those was aired once by CBS which was a musical set in a strip mall with the camera following people around and they’d sing about things (the most memorable being a song about making donuts by the donut shop worker). Musicals are by default strange worlds all their own and setting it in a strip mall just made it worse. As I recall it wasn’t a bad program but it was pretty obvious why that pilot didn’t become a series… \*\* Reminds me of “Night Walk” - a show, on late at night, where some guy just walked around Toronto with a tv camera - occasionally getting on the subway - while depressing Blues tunes played. Strangely compelling. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/63 "2003-02-17T18:29:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Evil Captor \* > \*\*The children’s TV show with the hostess in the short shorts was Xuxa, I think its name was Llevatelo. Xuxa did in fact pose for an R-rated calendar, but it wasn’t a big deal in Brazil, since they’re comfortable with adults being adults. They don’t have that weird meme we have on the subject. \*\* Xuxa was famous as a nude model before she started her kids show. I can’t recall whether her films and pics were only of the softcore variety. **Whoops** A yuppie executive. A hooker. A small town school teacher. A coroner. A homeless guy. An average joe. All living on a farm after an accident starts a nuclear war that destroys civilization. It was a sitcom. IIRC it lasted 5 episodes. **Los Luchadores** The super powered masked wrestler (luchadore) has been a part of Mexican pop culture for a long time. This was Fox’s attempt to bring it to the US. This was a live-action kids show. 3 masked wrestlers fight evil. The main villain was The Whelp. Once an innocent chihuahua, he was the subject of bizzare experiments. He now has cybernetic parts and a genius IQ. When things got rough, he donned a huge steel combat suit. I honestly don’t know why it went off the air or why Fox hasn’t put it back on. Shortly after it went off, the WB introduced a luchadore character, El Toro Fuerte, to The Jackie Chan Adventures. A few months after that, the WB premiered Mucha Lucha, a cartoon based entirely on masked wrestling and peppered with Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/64 "2003-02-17T19:06:18Z")
I always thought _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ had a bizarre premise. I can’t for the life of me figure out who thought of making a ninja cartoon with turtles. Let’s see…ninjas, ok. Even mutant nijas, ok. What animals should we use? What comes to mind when you think of ninjas? Ummm, turtles? The slowest, calmest, most non-agile or ninja-like animals ever? ---
**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 17, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/65 "2003-02-17T19:31:21Z")
I’ve seen Mucha Lucha and it cracks me up. The kid wears a wrestling mask. The mom wears a wrestling mask while cooking breakfast. Dad, of course, wears a wrestling mask, as do all the other kids. The ep I saw centered around the kid losing his wrestling mask and the agonies he went through trying to get by without it, as the thought of being seen in public without your mask was too horrible to contemplate. ---
**Author:** ![jaimeshawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jaimeshawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaimeshawn)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/66 "2003-02-17T19:32:53Z")
Does anyone remeber **Quark**? Cloned Betties; Gene-Jean; a cowardly robot; a space garbageman? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/67 "2003-02-17T19:39:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Velma \* > \*\*I always thought _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ had a bizarre premise. I can’t for the life of me figure out who thought of making a ninja cartoon with turtles. Let’s see…ninjas, ok. Even mutant nijas, ok. What animals should we use? What comes to mind when you think of ninjas? Ummm, turtles? The slowest, calmest, most non-agile or ninja-like animals ever? \*\* Kevin and Peter Laird created TMNT in the 80’s. At the time mutants were a big trend in comics and ninjas were very popular(remember the show Master Nnja?). Turtles were picked as being the opposite of all the traits a ninja would need. At that time, a lot of small publishers were putting out black and white comics. Laird and Eastman put out a single issue as a joke. It was very successful and they started a series. The original comic was largely serious. The turtles weren’t hip, pizza maniacs. The Shredder was a master of the martial arts and a mob boss(well clan boss), not the ray-gun-toting super villain of the cartoon. A year or two ago, Fox did a live action series. At first, it was written as an action show. Eventually, it switched to campier and goofier than the Batman of the 60’s. Two weeks ago, Fox premiered a new TMNT animated series. So far it’s more faithful to the comic and with a lot less comedy or traditional Saturday morning cartoon elements. The pilot implies that the Shredder kills a henchman who fails him. -----Geek Facts— TMNT is also a parody of DareDevil. Matt Murdock acquires his powers after pushing a man out of the path of a speeding truck and being sprayed with chemicals. The turtle’s are mutated when the young man who buys them pushes an old man out the path of a speding truck and is sprayed with chemicals. A chemical cannister breaks the turtle’s bowl and they and the cannister fall into the sewers. DareDevil is trained by a sensie named Stick. The turtles are trained by a sensei named Splinter. DareDevil fights a clan of ninjas known as the Hand. The turtles fight a clan of ninjas known as the Foot. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/68 "2003-02-17T19:55:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DocCathode \* > \*\ ***Whoops** > A yuppie executive. A hooker. A small town school teacher. A coroner. A homeless guy. An average joe. All living on a farm after an accident starts a nuclear war that destroys civilization. It was a sitcom. IIRC it lasted 5 episodes. > > \*\* Ah, the early days of Fox, back when they had only two nights of original programming and seemed willing to air damn near anything. Good times, good times. (IIRC, Whoops almost lasted 8 eps, getting yanked just before the Christmas special aired.) ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/69 "2003-02-17T20:57:21Z")
**Push, Nevada** was pretty stange, I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/70 "2003-02-17T22:54:55Z")
I was going to cast a lonely vote for _Kung Fu_ because there was nothing at all like it, before or since. I miss it. If it were still on, I might actually watch TV. Yeah _Green Acres_ and _Twin Peaks_ win for deliberately surreal weirdness overall. But _Kung Fu_ really moved to the beat of a different drummer. ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/71 "2003-02-17T23:51:29Z")
For those who have asked about **The Maxx**. No, he wasn’t a steroid freak. The Maxx was a kind of wanna-be superhero in the violent wasteland of a big, crime-ridden city. His life’s ambition was to protect Julie, a free-lance social worker who was brutally raped years earlier and had created a fantasy world of a kind of post-apocolyptic Australlian outback to escape from the tragedy and disappointment of every day life. The Maxx was also able to access this fantasy world, and at times it bled through into the real world until he wasn’t sure which world was real and which was fantasy. The catalyst to all of this was an evil villian named Mr. Gone. The end of the cartoon was Julie finding out everything about her past, and deciding that she needed to move on and leave The Maxx behind. The Maxx was afraid that there would be nothing left of his life without Julie, but it turns out that he was a gardener, and the cartoon ended with him walking into a greenhouse to tend his plants. However, the whole show was based on a comic, and I think that there were some significant differences between the two. Oh, and can I just say…I never understood why people thought that **Twin Peaks** was so bizarre and freaky. I mean, yes, it’s definitely got some strange parts to it, but for the most part it was just a very well done, very intriguing and original crime noir murder drama. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/72 "2003-02-18T00:51:06Z")
Hasn’t _The Red Shoe Diaries_ crossed anyone’s mind? Weirdass little soft-porn narratives that are each truly quite bizarre – it’s on after _Oz_ so if we don’t switch to _Ab Fab_ quick enough we’re actually exposed to the most moronic “plots” ever conceived. David Duchovny narrates (talking to his dog who, I’m sure, is throughly enthralled by it all). ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/73 "2003-02-18T01:16:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RikWriter \* > \*\*My father was in a German prisoner of war camp in WW2 and he LOVED Hogan’s Heroes. It was a very funny show. \*\* Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen it in rerun, and I think it’s hilarious, but it just strikes me as BIZARRE that they made a sitcom about it, and not very long after the war. What was it, like 20 years? That’s really cool that your dad liked it. ---
**Author:** ![Hobbes72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Hobbes72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hobbes72)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/74 "2003-02-18T06:34:19Z")
Do any of you remember Friday the 13th the series? That was a pretty strange show with absolutely no association to the movies of the same name. It was about an old guy, a young guy and this hot little redhead who would go around and try to recover cursed antique objects which some unsuspecting sap would gain control over and eventually figure out that by using it (more often than not) to murder someone, they would get something in return. One of the more retarded of these episodes was an antique wood chipper which, if you pushed someone into it, they would get mauled but money would shoot out the other side. Priceless! It was actually a pretty cool show believe it or not. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/75 "2003-02-18T13:47:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DocCathode \* > \*\*Kevin and Peter Laird created TMNT in the 80’s. At the time mutants were a big trend in comics and ninjas were very popular(remember the show Master Nnja?). Turtles were picked as being the opposite of all the traits a ninja would need. At that time, a lot of small publishers were putting out black and white comics. Laird and Eastman put out a single issue as a joke. It was very successful and they started a series. \ \*\* This is why I love SDMB. Someone always knows the answer. Ok, so that explains how it was created, but it is still a pretty odd premise.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/76 "2003-02-18T14:50:27Z")
I remember back in highschool (1979) there was a couple of shows that came on Thursday night that lasted only a month or so. One was **Highcliffe Manor**. (I know because I somehow found it on IMDB) Shelly Fabares is a widow/daughter? who inherits a mad scientist’s castle and tries to put some cheer into it. She’s now the boss of other mad scientists, creepy housekeepers and deformed lab assistants. It was a kind of Green Acres setting, where the cheerful but absolutely clueless millionairess was trying to fit in with bizarre circumstances. There was a show that followed it that was a murder mystery game show called **Whodunnit** , hosted by Ed McMahon. 3 panelists were shown a short film of a murder mystery, and afterwards got to interview the characters in the film. The actors always stayed in character. If it was a gruff business man type, he’d stay in character and demand to speak to his lawyer. The panelists essentially got to be murder mystery detectives. Both of these were cool shows, but I guess they were too offbeat for mainstream audiences to latch on to. ---
**Author:** ![Osakadave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@Osakadave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osakadave)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/77 "2003-02-18T15:08:05Z")
Not USAian, but late night Japanese TV often tops regular TV from back home (and I’ve seen stuff that would top late night Public Access, on occassion!) in weirdness. The off the wall dating show that featured 4 poor female souls who couldn’t get a date: 1 transexual, 1 young unmarried mother, 1 who7s father was “a scary buddhist temple priest”, and 1 who was into “costume-play” (if you don’t know it, think trekkies gone way bad). They were introduced to a bunch of guys and picked 2-4 each. the victems were subjected to a test - a room full of kids, a haunted house, a closet full of costumes to choose from, and a gay night club. The housewifebath show was pretty weird: take a looser with no girlfriend. Bring him to a cute young housewifes house while her husbands away. She gives him a bath, and supposedly that solves all his problems. And my all time favorite: take a popular day/night time talk show host and his crew of guyts. Presnt them with 8 prostitutes, each with a different specialty. 1 by 1 they sample the wares behind a curtain then report. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/78 "2003-02-18T17:23:08Z")
I know it was a kid’s show, but I must make mention of “Bananas in Pajamas”. The main characters were B1 and B2, who were…Bananas in Pajamas. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/79 "2003-02-18T17:40:57Z")
No mention yet of **PeeWee’s Playhouse**? My wife actually mentioned it at a school meeting last week. They were talking about vocabulary building through using a “word of the day.” To her credit, Ms. D. asked if upon hearing the word, the students would “scream real loud.” She said a couple of moms chuckled, while the rest stared at her as tho she had grown a second head. Come on. Chairy, Penny, the King of Cartoons, Conky, Jambi, the Cowntess, Cowboy Curtis, Miss Yvonne, … Need I go on? ---
**Author:** ![Fingolfin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@Fingolfin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fingolfin)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254/80 "2003-02-18T18:12:40Z")
**My Living Doll** [http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/8035/dollstory.html](http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/8035/dollstory.html) :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-was-the-strangest-t-v-show/155254.md?page=5)