# Your TV "holy grails" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099 "2012-03-18T01:41:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/121 "2012-03-21T07:05:24Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Also, looking for kiddies show\*\* Pip the Piper\*\*, small, limited distribution, even though it was from California, or maybe Philly. I remember having a coloring book featuring the show, and I colored the arms of the female character, Miss Nelly?, either purple or brown! Miss Merrynote–but I couldn’t find any episodes, either. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/122 "2012-03-21T13:30:39Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Sadly, the boy died in 2007. ☹ I should have added that the boy was actually 36 when he died. I believe he died from choking on some food, actually, not an illness. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/123 "2012-03-21T14:58:14Z")
I was about to post a “grail” myself. But when I looked on YouTube, there it was! ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/124 "2012-03-21T16:29:33Z")
I have a few that I thought I’d never be able to find but finally did. - When I was a kid (probably around 10, so mid-‘70s) there was a show on one of the local (LA-area) channels called “That’s Cat.” It was a kids’ show and it had a cat on it–the thing I remember most about it was that they used “cat” as an adjective, meaning “good” or “proper” (for example, “It’s cat to brush your teeth every day.”) I don’t _think_ I’m making it up, but…oh, wow. Last time I checked there were no references to it online, but now it’s on [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That%27s_Cat). 😛 - The original [Make Me Laugh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_Me_Laugh) game show. I used to watch this with my mom when I was a kid. Lots of now-big time comedians were on this show when they were nobodies. - [Treasure Hunt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Hunt_%28U.S._game_show%29), a game show with Geoff Edwards (who was a radio host on one of the LA stations when I was a kid). - Hodgepodge Lodge, a PBS kid’s show that had a woman who lived in a cluttered house and taught kids about nature and crafts. For a long time I wondered if I’d ever see this again, but then I found [a clip on YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT4KtEPjDAo) posted by one of the kids who’d been on the show. - One I lost, then found, and now lost again because I can’t remember the title: Movie from the 70’s about a boy who finds a cat and takes care of it in an abandoned building. Some bullies find him and the cat and end up scaring it out into traffic where it’s hit by a car. This movie traumatized me when I was a kid. I found it again many years later by accident and saw the ending where the boy was given a litter of kittens, but it was still a sad movie. I’ll bet somebody here can remember the title. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/125 "2012-03-21T16:43:08Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > - One I lost, then found, and now lost again because I can’t remember the title: Movie from the 70’s about a boy who finds a cat and takes care of it in an abandoned building. Some bullies find him and the cat and end up scaring it out into traffic where it’s hit by a car. This movie traumatized me when I was a kid. I found it again many years later by accident and saw the ending where the boy was given a litter of kittens, but it was still a sad movie. I’ll bet somebody here can remember the title. [JT](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0158681/) And thanks for reminding me about HodgePodge Lodge! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/126 "2012-03-21T16:47:28Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Two or three years ago I had no trouble finding a copy online. From Europe. Price wasn’t unusual. > > On North American format DVD. Poor quality copy from tape. But if I remember correctly, it was even on Laserdisc overseas. > > And it’s an awful movie, IMO. I’ve never liked Disney movies anyway, and SOTS’s premise of “Happy Slaves” is offensive as hell. There are no “happy slaves” as there are no slaves at all. The film (and the original tale) were set in the post-Civil war reconstruction period. > **[Song of the South](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_the_South)** > > Song of the South is a 1946 American live-action/animated musical film directed by Harve Foster and Wilfred Jackson, produced by Walt Disney, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It is based on the Uncle Remus stories as adapted by Joel Chandler Harris, stars James Baskett in his final film role, and features the voices of Johnny Lee, Baskett, and Nick Stewart. The film takes place in the U.S. state of Georgia during the Reconstruction era, a period of American history after the end of the Ame... ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/127 "2012-03-21T16:51:48Z")
> [@bup](#): > > [JT](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0158681/) > > And thanks for reminding me about HodgePodge Lodge! Yep, that’s the one. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/128 "2012-03-21T18:10:14Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I have a few that I thought I’d never be able to find but finally did. > > - The original [Make Me Laugh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_Me_Laugh) game show. I used to watch this with my mom when I was a kid. Lots of now-big time comedians were on this show when they were nobodies. > > - [Treasure Hunt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Hunt_%28U.S._game_show%29), a game show with Geoff Edwards (who was a radio host on one of the LA stations when I was a kid). Which version of MML - the original (1950s, I think) version, or the 1970s one with Bobby Van? (There may have been a more recent version than that as well.) As for Treasure Hunt with Geoff Edwards, there are two versions of this as well - a weekly one from around 1975 called “The New Treasure Hunt” (called that to differentiate it from the Jan Murray 1950s version), with a $25,000 top prize, and a later one called just “Treasure Hunt”, where the top prize could be as high as $50,000. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/129 "2012-03-21T18:24:33Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > There are no “happy slaves” as there are no slaves at all. The film (and the original tale) were set in the post-Civil war reconstruction period. > > [Song of the South - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_the_South) Interesting. I’ve seen the movie and didn’t realize that. The sharecroppers lived a lot like slaves, though - all in their row of hovels on the plantation. As I recall, they sang almost mournfully as they went off to work. I found it mostly just embarrassingly antiquated, not \*actively \*offensive. Anyway, whoever it was that’s missing it - you’re not missing much. Uncle Remus is the only likeable human in the whole thing, and I think the interstitial cartoons about Br’er Rabbit are available. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/130 "2012-03-21T18:36:47Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Which version of MML - the original (1950s, I think) version, or the 1970s one with Bobby Van? (There may have been a more recent version than that as well.) > > As for Treasure Hunt with Geoff Edwards, there are two versions of this as well - a weekly one from around 1975 called “The New Treasure Hunt” (called that to differentiate it from the Jan Murray 1950s version), with a $25,000 top prize, and a later one called just “Treasure Hunt”, where the top prize could be as high as $50,000. Yeah, I’m talking about the '70s version in both cases. I wasn’t around in the '50s, and by the '80s I was in college and not watching too many cheesy game shows anymore. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/131 "2012-03-21T19:58:12Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Yeah, I’m talking about the '70s version in both cases. I wasn’t around in the '50s, and by the '80s I was in college and not watching too many cheesy game shows anymore. 🙂 I also loved that show. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/132 "2012-03-21T21:03:44Z")
https://www.youtube.com/embed/fYunBWiiS8I?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque It’s better than nothin’ 🙂 UT > [@Lamia](#): > > Years ago I saw the end of the 1966 British period piece/black comedy _[The Wrong Box](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wrong_Box)_ on cable, and enjoyed it so much that I kept checking the movie listings until I found it was going to be on again. I taped it and watched it many times…until I went away to college. The VCR was definitely on the way out by then, and I’ve never owned one myself. I tried repeatedly to find it on DVD, but for some reason it was only released in Spain – which is Region 2 and no good to me as an American. > > This story has a happy ending, though. Just a few days ago I idly decided to search on _The Wrong Box_ and found that it’s been available as a burn-on-demand DVD from Amazon since last year: [Amazon.com: The Wrong Box : Michael Caine, John Mills, Peter Sellers, Bryan Forbes: Movies & TV](http://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Box-Michael-Caine/dp/B004H9X4CG) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/133 "2012-03-22T02:10:46Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > There are no “happy slaves” as there are no slaves at all. The film (and the original tale) were set in the post-Civil war reconstruction period. > > [Song of the South - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_the_South) Shows you how carefully I watched it. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/134 "2012-03-22T18:55:26Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > “Star Wars Holiday Special”. Missed it the first time although I saw a 10 minute youtube compilation, just to give enough to show that Lucas is either a shameless money grubber or a stoned cokehead to allow this. I have a copy, but have not been able to sit through the whole thing. And this from a guy who thought the Bruce Willis movie _[Hudson Hawk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Hawk)_ was awesome. My seven-year-old son wanted to know if I could edit him down a version that just has the (animated) Boba Fett part. > [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > There was a kids cartoon in the early 1960s called “Space Angel”. Nine episodes have been released but not the full run. I especially the one when new recruits are asked to name their home planet, one drawls “Texas” … The Wikipedia entry says nine episodes have been released on DVD, but I know a lot of these early animated (if you want to call them that) shows like _Clutch Cargo_ and _Colonel Bleep_ were released on VHS as “video comics” by a now defunct company called Streamline Pictures. Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, they were trying to make a profit on dubbed anime (I still have my copy of _Robot Carnival_ on VHS), and with so little to go on (back _then_, of course - the market has veritably exploded over the last 15 years or so), somebody at Streamline must’ve dredged up ancient American fare to see if they could get some nostalgia business. I didn’t realize Alex Toth was involved with _Space Angel_. I’ve always loved his work (_[Herculoids](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculoids)_, anyone?). Maybe I’ll have to hunt that one down. > [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > … and later when pursued by the enemy spacecraft “Let’s play hide and seek in the rings of Saturn”. Speaking of nostalgic anime from the 80’s, that strategy actually worked in _[Robotech](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Robotech_episodes)_ (c.f. episode 6, “Blitzkrieg”). I’d like to get my hands on the Donny and Marie Christmas special where they sang a twisted version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. They explained that they had planned an elaborate production, but that not all of the things in the song were available; they had to get by with what they could round up. Even though my wife and children have never seen it, we still sing about “two falling gloves and chicken in a banana tree” at Christmas time. I’ve heard rumours that it’s available as part of some obscenely expensive boxed set, and that really doesn’t fit my budget. ---
**Author:** ![stanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@stanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stanger)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/135 "2012-03-22T19:54:10Z")
Back around 1974-1976 timeline, I went to a friends apartment late one night and we watched some television on the local Spanish station. There was a show we saw that looked like it was originally a Japanese show that was dubbed in Spanish (which is funny enough just by itself). It had three Japanese girls that seemed to be sort of a “Charlies Angels” type of thing. Maybe they were vigilantes of some sort, but they went around looking for bad guys to beat up. The whole point of the show was for them to find the bad guys and start beating the hell out of them. The girls were young and cute, and I believe they wore short shorts, so even without understanding the dialogue, it was obvious that the show was an excuse to show off the girls. The thing that really stands out about it was that, although they used some kind of judo chopping like fighting moves occasionally, every fight had a lot of the girls kicking the guys in the testicles rereatedly. I mean, that was their main fighting move. I’ll admit to being easily amused, but watching cute Japanese girls fight bad guys by using repeated crotch kicks, and speaking rapidly in badly dubbed Spanish, was hilarious. I have never found anything about this show. My friend says it came on each week, so it wasn’t just a movie. Anybody? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/136 "2012-03-22T19:58:24Z")
Ok, I admit. These was some show on Spanish language TV I used to watch once in a while. It was a comedy. But they had girls in the tiniest outfits possible, in fact they would not be allowed on US broadcast TV today. Any idea of the name of this? It was actually quite funny (when I got the joke), but I admit I watched mostly for the girls. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/137 "2012-03-25T02:00:07Z")
> [@deadindays](#): > > Mid-70’s. I remember watching something with the letters SST. I asked my brother if he remembers SST but now he thinks it was a sponsor or something and not the title of the show. Here’s an episode I remember: a man is investigating a medium who can conjure an Indian head float out of nowhere. The investigator, thinking it’s a trick, tears down the curtains around the floating head and tries to look for a hidden compartment. In the end, it turns out the medium is the real thing and the floating Indian head shoots him with an arrow. I remember this one. Somehow, I want to swear it was from Night Gallery, but, the ESP reference makes me kind of doubt it. Still, I’m hanging onto NG. Another one, and I’ve asked about it before on the Dope, was some kind of "Our Home’ or something like that Saturday morning kids? show. Kind of Edward Albee reminiscent, tho. When the father would find something, say a pair of socks for which he had been looking, he would say, “You know this reminds me of our old school fight song: Three cheers for Grovesley? Heights; it’s our socks that make us fight.” Next time, it would be a chicken leg, or whatever, inserted in place of the socks. I had always hated it, since I wanted cartoons, but, now, I want to know if it was good or not. Seemed too slick to be locally produced. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/138 "2012-03-25T02:13:36Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > Miss Merrynote–but I couldn’t find any episodes, either. I’m impressed,\*\* Sam A Robrin!\*\* I have found a website or two, and I may even have seen a few pics. Brings back good memories. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/139 "2012-03-25T02:25:54Z")
Wait…just remembered another that I have been searching for for a long time. The Man from UNCLE…if you check YOUTUBE now, you’ll find an opening sequence where Napoleon andIlya go into a tailor shop, or launderer’s or something like that. In the one I’m thinking about, Napoleon Solo is running through, IIRC, UNCLE headquarters…alarms are going off…he runs all around, etc… till a door opens (automatically?) and behind it is…Napoleon Solo. I also think one of the Napoleons fires three bullets…and it’s bullet proof glass, a mirror, who knows what…I would swear it used to be one of the opening sequences when I would watch it… ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099/140 "2012-03-25T03:16:28Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > I’m impressed,\*\* Sam A Robrin!\*\* > > I have found a website or two, and I may even have seen a few pics. Brings back good memories. I can’t even answer your question about whether it was national or local, as I lived in the Philadelphia area, too. I tend to think not, as most Philly MCs had thick local accents, and the cast of that show didn’t (if I’m remembering correctly). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-tv-holy-grails/616099.md?page=8)