I don’t know if something like this has been covered, but I’m wondering if we can collect a “required viewing” list of shows, movies, or music that is most often referenced in MST3K. My best example is Hogan’s Heroes – I never watched this show while MST3K was on the air, but it was one of my husband’s favorite shows from childhood that he introduced me to a few years ago and I couldn’t believe all the MST3K references I recognized after I first watched one or two episodes! Are there other movies, or tv shows – or particular episodes of tv series – that are recommended viewing for fans to understand the sources of some of MST3K’s more frequent jokes/references?
I checked and we have done required movies and required music threads, but not one for TV. So let’s get to it!
My pick is an easy one: “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” They’ve done dozens of references, so they clearly love it. The Minneapolis setting of the show didn’t hurt either. “A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants…”
What show would you suggest?
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Gilligan’s Island. Also, “Chief! McCloud!”
Two selections (perhaps of varying literary merit).
We report, you decide. :)
1)
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a three hour tour, a three hour tour.
The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed,
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The minnow would be lost, the minnow would be lost.
The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle
With Gilligan
The Skipper too,
The millionaire and his wife,
The movie star
The professor and Mary Ann,
Here on Gilligans Isle.
2) Lord of the Rings/Middle earth.
I would say Leave it to Beaver, My Three Sons, MASH, and Make Room for Daddy (AKA The Danny Thomas Show.
To clarify LotR selection (It’s been on tv so often- and
referenced by Mike, Joel, etc. I included it). A rumor of
an actual tv series based on Middle earth seems to have been just that.
So if not approved as a selection, how about Gunsmoke? Don’t forget
Festus in the Deadly Hunt ripoff movie.
TV: Monty Python
Music: Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
Comedy: Firesign Theatre
of course, Sea Hunt, starring Lloyd Bridges, “by this time my lungs were aching for air”.
and what was the TV show referenced all the time whenever they saw a light in the dark?
Mannix is a must, for the incidental music during fight scenes if nothing else.
Bewitched, for many of the “sam!” riffs.
WKRP in Cincinnati, which will allow people to have a full appreciation for the voice Josh Weinstein used for Servo.
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon. You get to hear the inspiration for some of the voices & lines often used (the Great Karnak, McMahon’s laugh, etc).
#6, that was the NBC Mystery Movie.
The Rocky And Bullwinkle Show got referenced a lot in the early years, so that’s my pick, as it’s also a childhood fave of mine. I have to confess, though, to still having never seen an episode of “Sigmond And The Sea Monster”, so “I’m a-comin’ Beanie Boy!” is still lost on me. Also, someone told me years ago where “Dreezle drazzle drozle drome, time for this one to come home” was from, but I’ve still never seen the original. Anyone know?
The “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” TV series. Gypsy says it’s required! Also one should see “This is Spinal Tap” as they are used as riffs in several episodes.
The Beverly Hillbillies: “Oh, Mr. Drysdale!” and “Jethro Wants to Be A Rock Star! Heh heh!” never fail to crack me up; Trace’s character voices are hilarious.
And to follow up on the first comment, the whole running “Chief! McCloud!” riffs in Pod People include a monumental number of television (as well as film and literary) references. Off the top of my head: McCloud, Family Affair, Green Acres, the Waltons, Hardcastle and McCormick, Alf, the Beverly Hillbillies, the Courtship of Eddie’s Father… The acting is brilliant and keeps getting funnier and funnier.
It’s one of the reason Pod People is among my favorite episodes.
STAR TREK- BOTH TOS AND TNG.
Howcome, whyizzit, Mission:Impossible never made the cut in jokes about Peter Graves?
Apart from that, these twelve posts may have covered the rest!
MPSh from Lowell (#5):
Along with Python, I’d add Brit-coms in general. Aong with Python, they’ve referenced “Fawlty Towers” and “Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin”. And those are only the ones I can think of right now.
Interesting coincidence: last night I was in Barnes & Noble and saw a book called “If You Like Monty Python…” It lists a whole lot of movies & TV shows that fans of Python would probably enjoy. And, yes, MST3K is listed.
There’s a surprising amount of Bonanza references including the immortal “right in the Little Joe” from the fight scene in “I Was A Teenage Werewolf”. I agree with Neros, the Miss Hathaway impressions NEVER get old for me!
Gosh….this list would have incude just about every major TV show made from the mid 50’s to the 90’s….I’ll just mention one [just because it is one of my favorite childhood shows]….it was used for riffing a few time but obviously not a lot…LAND OF THE LOST….Marshall, Will and Holly, Grumpy, Chaka and of course, the Sleestaks….loved those lizard men!
Seems like we’ve done this one before, but:
Various classic rock, including Rush and Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
Was it the NBC Mystery Movie that had all the episodes with “Murder” and “Death” in the title?
“Tonight’s episode” Honey Bunches of Death!”
“The Prisoner”, as mentioned in 902-Phantom Planet. “We’ve got all the episodes on tape! Great show!”
And my dad actually does have all 17 episodes beautifully restored on DVD. I have only watched the first 3. I really need to get back to it. My summer vacation is about to start, I smell a project!
“Davey and Goliath” and the “Banana Splits”.
Required TV show viewing for MSTies, to name a few. I can tell you I watched all this stuff at some point, which is one reason the show got inside my head so quickly:
– Hawaii Five-O (with Jack Lord, Zulu, James MacArthur)
– Beanie And Cecil (cartoon)
– Cannon (with William Conrad, Quinn Martin Production)
– Longstreet (with James Franciscus)
– Barnaby Jones (with Buddy Ebson, Quinn Martin Production)
– Romper Room
– Seahunt
– Diver Dan
– Thunderbirds and Stingray (Supermarionation by Gerry And Sylvia Anderson)
– NBC Mystery Movie
– TV Movies, at least a few, from the 1970s
– Killdozer (TV movie)
– Then Came Bronson
– TV direct response ads for music, handy products, etc. (e.g., Popeel Pocket Fisherman, Sessions music collections, K-tel music collections, etc.)
and many more!
“Twin Peaks” for those who wonder what those “Owls are not what they seem” riffs are about.
Oh, #19: They snuck in a “Prisoner” riff in “Laserblast”.
So many of the TV references are from commercials; we could start a list of them that would fill the rest of the comments. Some of those commercials are really dated now, too – I find I have to explain several references to my 23-year-old daughter, who loves the show. Some from off the top of my head include the Tasters’ Choice couple from the 90s, Alka Seltzer (Plop plop fizz fizz), all the old car ads, the old WGN movie bumper music, etc.
Also, it helps when watching the end of Outlaw to know that those cheesy USA Network movie titles were not THAT different from what actually aired, with all those same actors (RIP, Jeff Conaway).
“The Rocky And Bullwinkle Show got referenced a lot in the early years, so that’s my pick, as it’s also a childhood fave of mine. I have to confess, though, to still having never seen an episode of “Sigmond And The Sea Monster”, so “I’m a-comin’ Beanie Boy!” is still lost on me.”
I’m appalled. “I’m a-comin’, Beany Boy!” is from the Beany and Cecil cartoons (originally a puppet show, created by Bob Clampett).
It’s like they don’t teach the classics in school anymore. It’s sad. (Beany and Cecil, for those of you who’ve never seen it, is hilarious. Absolutely, laugh-out-loud, almost-seizure-inducing hilarious.)
The More You Know…
@Lance “drizzle drazzle” is from the Tooter Turtle cartoon.
The Brains made a lot of references to Lost in Space so that should be on the list. But I agree with Monty Python as the most referenced show.
“Twilight Zone” and “Batman” from the 60’s.
What can I say, rural Kansas TV in the 70’s didn’t offer everything I would need later in life. At least I got the Mannix and Adam-12 jokes. :)
If no one else among the writers, Kevin seems to be a big fan of Oklahoma!, what with refs to The Surrey with the Fringe on Top and Poor Jud is Daid. I was actually listening to it once and when I turned it off and went to watch The Thing that Couldn’t Die, Poor Jud was the first thing I noticed being riffed.
The Rockford Files.
The Greatest American Hero.
Knight Rider.
LUCILLE! The Lucy Show might be a good one.
Definitely agree with #5 about Frank Zappa as required listening.
Is that a real poncho or a Sears Poncho?
“It’s a Wonderful Life” it’s mentioned in almost every show.
@24: Beany and Cecil is criminally under-distributed these days: there have only been two “best-of” style DVD releases, and I’ve only seen one episode shown on TV ever, as part of Cartoon Network’s (long since ended) Bob Clampett Show. The only cartoons with less exposure IMO are the Walter Lantz cartoons (Woody Woodpecker, Chilly Willy, etc.), which I can tell you never made it to Vermont in the ’80s.
With Star Trek, you could probably limit the required list to two episodes: “The Paradise Syndrome” from the original show (and source of, “I Am Kirok!”) and “Evolution” from TNG (for the nanites). And, if you want to be generous, “Amok Time” (the episode where the show’s famous “fight music” originated).
Fred Garvin: Male Prostitute. A few SNL references over the years.
Wizard of Oz pops up numerous times.
The Hooterville Trilogy. I believe The Beverly Hillbillies has already been mentioned, but Green Acres and Petticoat Junction also got some MST3K love.
People really don’t read the discussion topic carefully.
The Osmond Brothers…make numerous references over the years.
Soupy Sales.
They still have some reruns on… JLTV I think. One of the “wat” grade high-end channels.
ANYTHING that’s a Quinn Martin Production!
Re: Sea Hunt, mentioned above….
I’ve watched a few episodes of this recently, as it is running on METV. However, I’ve not yet come across the show’s iconic line.
Does anyone know in which episode(s) “By this time, my lungs were aching for air” appears? Or is it like trying to find “Play it again, Sam” in Casablanca?
Misfits of Science, Firesign Theater,
#34 (Geko) – I believe there is at least one Wizard of Oz reference in every episode (excluding the KTMA era, I’m not as familiar with those). Or there is a WoO reference in at least like 97% of the episodes. Does anyone know for sure, is there documentation on this topic somewhere?
You definitely have to have seen the Wizard of Oz to get many MST3K riffs and references, though.
No they don’t, Jbagels (#36), do they?
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Anyway, not much to add, the only shows I’ve watched BECAUSE of MST have been Sea Hunt and Mannix. Required viewing otherwise would include Star Trek (both TOS and TNG), the NBC Mystery Movie, Gilligan’s Island, Monty Python, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, The Twilight Zone, and Twin Peaks.
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What about SCTV? I wanna say that they made references over the years, but I am failing to recall any at the moment..
Certain episodes of The Simpsons would work. They seemed to reference that show more than a few times.
One of the best jokes was in City Limits when Crow says, “Look, Smithers, I’m Davy Crockett!”
@GarrettCRW
How can you forget the Elias Sandoval episode of Star Trek: This Side of Paradise?
Crow: I’m not going back Jim!
—-
Gotta go with: The Dick Van Dyke Show
Laura Petrie, NO! Laura Petrie, YES!
SCTV and Monty Python’s Flying Circus are the first two that spring to mind. If you know those two, you’ll advance a long way into understanding many riffs. If you don’t know those two, your sense of humor will also be quite lagging.
Looks like alot of classic TV shows have been covered so far, except for one: The Andy Griffith Show. I’m really suprised no one has mentioned that yet!
@32 – Definitely “Paradise Syndrome”, “Amok Time” and “This Side of Paradise” for the Joel/Crow re-enactments, and might want to stick in “The Corbomite Maneuver”…Lots of refs to annoyingly-dubbed midgets drinking Tranya. (Especially once Mike got into the canon-specific fanboy-baits.)
As for refs to Lance Link and Supercar, it just helps to know what The Higgins Boys & Gruber were showing on the Comedy Channel in 1990.
@13 – M:I got fair representation as “The Other Peter Graves Series When They Got Tired of Saying ‘Biography'”. (In the Film Crew “Killers From Space”, we hear Bill humming the M:I “Skulking-around theme”: “Da dada, dada, da daa…Dada-dada-DUMB.”)
Someone above mentioned “Land of the Lost” but I suspect another Sid and Marty Krofft show was referenced somewhere–“HR Pufnstuf” (I think there’s a “Witchypoo” ref in at least one of the Russian movies.) Since we’re on the subject of 60s/70s kid’s shows (which I spent far too much of my early life watching) I know “The Banana Splits” have been mentioned, too. They also do “Popeye” references (another after-school staple for me, c. 1970–tho’ they weren’t technically done as TV shows). Heck, a lot of my misspent, TV-watching childhood gets brought up in MST episodes.
Unrelated question: in the “Mary Tyler Moore” refs, Tom (usually) sings the line “How will you make it on your own?”, whereas I remember the line as “You’re gonna make it after all.” Any ardent MTM fans who can explain the difference–early/late seasons?
“Pee-Wee’s Playhouse”,”The Paper Chase, “Married with Children” have been referenced a few times.