Short: (1947) Young Johnny wanders around the 1947 Canadian National Exhibition after his negligent parents lose track of him.
Movie: (1959) A coffeehouse owner wants to knock off an armored car, and gets three losers to help him.
First shown: 12/12/92
Opening: Joel has something really scary to read to the bots at bedtime
Invention exchange: The Mads demonstrate their “quick primp kit,” while J&tB present their paint-by-number Mark Rothko
Host segment 1: Crow tries record album acting lessons with Scott Baio
Host segment 2: J&tB discuss what to do during a four-hour layover in Chicago
Host segment 3: J&tB have a writing workshop, with Merritt Stone in mind
End: Tom “Hercule” Servo tries to ferret out the mystery of Merritt Stone (and his head explodes. In Deep 13, Frank is equally confused
Stinger: “I am bugged!”
(191 votes, average: 4.27 out of 5)
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• This is the beginning of a stretch of good to really excellent episodes, with everybody on the staff firing on all cylinders. The riffing of the short is classic, and it carries over into the movie. The movie itself is pretty static and dull in the first half, but finally gets going once the robbery starts, giving them plenty to riff on. The segments aren’t all classics, but there are no real clunkers either.
• This was included in Rhino’s “The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 12.”
• Clearly the Brains’ don’t like “Life’s Little Instruction Book,” (which I had never heard of when I initially saw this show). Two decades later, it is still available.
• The quick primp kit is a favorite invention exchange of mine, especially Frank’s Fonzie-esque “ayyyy!”
• What a great short and despite Joel’s admonition, they get plenty dark … you know, the way we like it.
• I’ve exchanged emails Charles Pachter, who at the age of 4 played little Johnny (he has only vague memories of the whole thing) and who now is a fairly prominent Toronto artist. Find out more about him at his web site. Those were his real parents playing his parents, by the way.
• I love the little record player they use in segment 1; and that’s Mike’s voice, of course, as Scott Baio.
• What would YOU do with a four-hour layover in Chicago? (Although if it’s a plane layover, it would take you two hours to get into town from O’Hare and two to get back, so…) Me, I think I’d take the architecture boat tour of the Chicago River and note how the structures of so many of the buildings tend to draw my eyes upward … oh, okay, I’d go Navy Pier and get hammered. By the way, I believe what Tom refers to as the Continental Bank building is now the Bank of America building, unless it’s been sold again.
• I was glad to see they kept the “Get Smart” jokes to a minimum, though that’s fairly typical. They don’t like to beat one reference to death … usually.
• Obscure reference: “Bizarre” with John Byner.
• The “chasing Ed Platt dressed as a priest” scene features every hymn and church song the guys could think of, as well as plenty of religious patter, i.e.: “I. am. in. a. state. of. GRACE!”
• Alright, let’s settle this once and for all. Tom’s right, he’s not Merritt Stone. In fact, Merritt Stone is not IN this movie. He’s Gene Roth. Merritt Stone played the spider-eaten dad at the very beginning of “Earth Vs. The Spider,” the clergyman in “Tormented,” and the King Grady in “The Magic Sword.”
• Can anybody tell me what that’s a picture of on the Rhino DVD face? It looks like a pizza to me … how that relates to the movie I have no idea.
• Cast and crew roundup: director Gene Fowler Jr. also directed “I Was A Teenage Werewolf.” Cinematographer Karl Struss also worked on “Rocketship X-M” (and later in his career won an Oscar). Special effects guy Augie Lohman also worked on “Lost Continent.” Art director David Milton also worked on “The Corpse Vanishes.” Set builder Joseph Kish also worked on “Phantom Planet.” Score composer Paul Dunlap also worked on “Lost Continent” and “I Was a Teenage Werewolf.”
In front of the camera, In addition to Gene Roth, Don Sullivan, as Tom notes during the episode, was in “The Giant Gila Monster.” Robert Shayne was in “Teenage Caveman” and “The Indestructible Man.” I. Stanford Jolley is also in “The Violent Years.” Byron Foulger is also in “High School Big Shot.” Gloria Moreland was also in “Phantom Planet.” Smoki Whitfield was also in “Jungle Goddess.” Carey Loftin was also in “Radar Men from the Moon.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Trace Beaulieu.
• Fave riff from the short: “Jiminy, thinks Johnny, if only could get a ride in one of those.” Honorable mention: “Johnny feels dark hands pressing him onward. The voices in his head start to get meaner.”
• Fave riff from the movie: “And be sure you have your tickets ready. They’re really strict about that.” Honorable mention: “It’s Officer Not Appearing In This Film!”
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Actually, with this, and especially with “Here Comes the Circus” later this season, I find Joel’s constant yammering about “Stop being so dark!” very irritating. I just want to reach in and slap him, saying “Shut up and let them talk!”
Host segment 2 is a riot! One of my favorites.
I didn’t think all that much of the movie though…the riffing was all right but it’s not one of my favorites. Although I DO like the bit where they’re trying to decide what goes in the hole: “Garage sale, hole, church bazaar,…”
The DVD picture is a top-down view of a bongo drum.
And that’s my favortie riff, too.
I have a Merritt Stone-ish question though. Your site occasionaly mentions that Lorne Greene may have been the narrator for the short. Where does that info come from? It doesn’t really sound like him.
I gave this one 5 stars for the short. Johnny At The Fair is to me one of the funniest bits they ever did making fun of a short subject. Some of their best work ever from beginning to end. Too many funny lines to quote, but the naughty one about getting “a ride in one of those” is definitely on the list. The movie itself is a average episode for me, very watchable, but not amongst my favorites.
I always liked when Joel warned the bots to not get too dark. I took that as their way of warning us that it was, in fact, going to be dark. Hilarious results ensue!!
The short? Some of MST’s best ever. The movie? … Not so much. I dunno. I just… really couldn’t get into it. Maybe it’s the sheer boringness and tortoise-on-quaaludes pace of the movie. I mean, there’s not even that wonderful air of complete and hilarious incompetence that you get from, say, an Ed Wood “crime thriller”. This is just gray people doing gray things in a gray way and taking their gray time doing it.
“In nomine Patri!”
Some of my favorite riffs and scenes in all of MST3K are in this episode, from the great host segments, to the short (“Besides, the Mariners are playing so who cares?”) to the guy-chasing-a-priest scene at the end of the movie. I agree with you that the team was really working well together at this point.
I was listening to a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band best-of CD for the first time a few months ago, and realized “Adolf Hitler, looking relaxed on vibes” is a reference to the Bonzos’ piece “The Intro and The Outro.” The more you know, the funnier MST becomes.
I’ve always thought it was amusing that Episode 415 The Beatniks is about rebels and Episode 419 The Rebel Set is about beatniks. Then again, I’m easily amused.
My reflection on this episode boils down to two words: Merritt Stone. (Who is NOT in “The Rebel Set” but in several other MSTed movies).
In my estimation, the whole Merritt Stone / Gene Roth / Jack Kosslyn thing may be a reference to some (if vague) resemblance among the three actors.
I can’t remember who suggests going to Gurnee in the “four-hour layover” sketch, but as a Chicago-area native, let me just say there’s no damn way you’re going to have time to do much in Gurnee and still come back to Union Station in time to make your train. (If it’s O’Hare and a plane, you have absolutely no hope.)
I love all of the ‘death’ jokes they make and this one is full of them. One that sticks out in my head is “Forgive me father for I have murdered” Clasic
To be positive, though, let me add that the Art Institute would be a terrific idea, because it’s easy walking distance from Union Station.
Also, I’m surprised no one mentioned that probably the most dated thing in the episode is the Merritt Stone sketch itself. Today, they’d just look him up on IMDb. No fuss, no muss, no heads exploding.
Regarding the dated Merritt Stone sketch…when I watched this one for the first time in a few years when the DVD set came out, I actually had the same reaction. Like “how could they not know, just look it up”. Took me a minute or two to remember that back then there was no place to look things like that up. How did we ever live through those days… :shock:
What an amazing set of host segments in this one. Overall just a very smartly written episode. A classic example of season 4 style MST3K.
This one has some of my favorite riffs, especially during the final chase scene (“Gangs of chain-wielding priests, on the next ‘Geraldo’.”). Although, now I’m going to have to get the upcoming “Mannix” DVD set to look for a scene of him in a cassock. (“Da-da-da-Dum! Amen!”)
Wonderful wonderful short, movie definitely so-so (though I never get tired of the film’s idea of beatniks, performing odd dances to absurd music, and the one-eyed beat poet and his recitation). Overall, I think M “Oops, Sorry Dad” Sipher has the best description I’ve seen; “tortoise-on-Quaaludes pace of the movie” is spot-on. Still fun to watch.
My primary beef with Rebel Set is it just blended in with one of the two major categories of MST3K: Horror and gangster movies, which always leave me disappointed in why the selection couldn’t have been more diverse… less repeated themes, but oh well.
I voted five stars for this one, this is my all time favorite episode. I agree with Sampo on two points: The restraint on Get Smart riffs(I mentioned this in my review on TV.com) as well as the fact that the riffing is great. I have always thought that the fourth season was the best of the Joel era seasons. Joel, Trace and Kevin really settled into a rhythm that built up throughout the season and began to peak with this episode and ended with Manos. I often wonder if Joel decided not to leave, would it have continued, or would it not be the show it became with Mike?
A few other rememberances:
Fave riff: When Tucker is seen on the train as a priest, Crow says, ‘Platt Point!’
I remember reading somewhere (maybe it was here) that the ideal movie for riffing was one with a lot of non-talky scenes for Joel and the ‘bots to fill, and this one had several, most notably the one where Tucker and his crew buried all the evidence of the crime in the hole. All the ‘hole’ jokes were great.
If you ever wondered what any of the ‘bots looked like asleep, watch Gypsy during Crow’s speech on what he would do in Chicago; her ‘eye’ closes, meaning her light went out and Joel nudges her ‘awake,’
My dated reference: When Karen misspells ‘heel,’ Crow says, ‘She’s Danielle Quayle,’ which also means Dan Quayle. I feel sorry for the poor guy who has to put up with all the ‘potato-e’ jokes.
Something else that happens quite often, Crow’s voice is heard when his beak isn’t moving. During the dance in Ray’s apartment, you can hear Crow saying, ‘The forbidden dance of Laura Petrie,’ but his beak doesn’t move. I learned that these lines are added later in post-production, even though it seems like a goof. I think it adds to the charm of the show.
This episode had a lot of ‘over-your-head’ references, like Mark Rothko and Charles Mingus(I appreciate the show for expanding my overall knowledge), but also a lot of ones that everyone knows, like Red Goose Shoes or the Mickey Mouse Club song. This is a good balance; one that I think they tried to accomplish and did more often than not.
Which category does “The Rebel Set” fit in? I don’t remember them EVER doing a gangster movie. :???:
And there were quite a few non-horror/monster movies in this season – 401, 403, 404, 408, 410, 412, 413, 415, 416, 417, 419, 420, 422. That’s over half the season where they hit other genre’s.
And other seasons were much more diverse. In season 6, you’ve only got maybe 6 or 7 movies that would fall into that category. Same with season 5, at most you could put only 5 or 6 of those movies loosely into the horror genre.
This episode definitely has a great short, which is very memorable, but the movie has apparently created a black void in my mind. When I’m searching through my complete collection of MST3k episodes to watch and I run across this one, I always stop and think, “Hmm? Now which movie is this one, and what the heck happens in it?” And when I actually watch it, I realize it is a pretty good episode, but the movie… that darn movie… I guess if I can learn to associate it with “Johnny at the Fair” then this episode will get more viewings from me.
…oh… and I never got Gene Roth mixed up with Merritt Stone, because Gene Roth was in several of the later Three Stooges shorts and I’m a huge fan of The Three Stooges.
Oh… one good thing about this movie is that it is a movie about Beatniks (an episode I DO fondly remember) and actually has beatniks in it, like Skenderberg cleverly observed.
“Visions of the Mekong Delta flash through Johnny’s head”.
“C’mon kid it’s funny”.
“Hey Johnny can you loan the champ some money” (para.)
I have mixed feelings about this episode. Like some of the previous posters, I loved the short and the host segments, but the movie’s really hard to get through. I can make it through the scene where they rob the armored car, but the rest of the movie’s a blur to me.
The “layover in Chicago” segment is a classic.
And the “Jiminy” riff from the short might just be the funniest riff they ever did.
I just wish Servo had said “little gray cells” instead of “little gray matter” during the Poirot segment. That one always bugs me.
I agree with Mark 100%, this is a great episode full of sharp one-liners in the theater and hysterical segments outside of it. I’m definitely in the minority when I say this, but I thought, as MSTied movies go, the plot wasn’t half-bad. Granted, the last ten minutes where “our hero” gets his ass kicked by the robbery ringleader i.e. elderly priest is silly, but the story leading up to and during the heist is actually watchable.
The short is a sure-fire Top 5 of the series. Joel’s warning of being “too dark” is just him playing the parent. The ‘bots (and even Joel on occasion) still make some brutal remarks with very comical results. Other shorts, like “Here Comes the Circus” and “Last Clear Chance” were just as dark but funny as well.
Tucker, disguised as the priest, mentions that he’s from Pembroke, New Hampshire. Being a Granite Stater, I always wondered if whoever wrote the movie had any ties to my state, or if they just threw a dart on a map and it landed somewhere in central NH.
Oh, the stupid things I ponder!…. :neutral:
I have seen the
best mimes of my generation at beatnik bars
owned and operated by criminal parsons
employing goofy underlings
What’s not to like?
‘Johnny at the Fair? I know it’s another band from Seattle.’ Yeah, another grunge era comment from when Seattle exploded. I was in Sea Town yesterday and not a plaid shirt to be seen.
‘…Johnny transmogrifies, he’s a shapeshifter, and he breaks the seventh seal.
This episode holds a very special place to me. It was the very first episode I ever saw all the way through. I was aware of MST3K for some time before by I was always more into the Higgins Boys & Grueber or (especially) Night After Night. After they ended I was looking for something to get into I guess and I came across this episode around Christmas of ’92 (sounds right).
A friend of mine committed suicide 2 days after New Years ’93 and my tape of this episode kept me halfway sane the entire winter. I may have only been 16 at the time but my emotions were frazzled and (luckily) I had a pretty good sense of popular culture so when I began watching this episode I couldn’t stop. It was fast and furious and I was completely hooked on MST3K (for life) after watching 419.
Absolutely Top 10 of all time, IMO. :mrgreen:
Favorite Riff: “It’s John Candy!–Hey that was John Candy”. Gets me everytime.
i like this episode, the overly complicated scheme and doublecross of the plot. The “priset be nimble, priest be quick” line always cracks me up. the short is, of course, one of the greats.
For a long time I would watch “Johnny at the Fair” and wonder why, when Johnny is taken to the “Lost Children” playground, they didn’t make a joke about “The City of Lost Children”.
For some reason, it actually took me a while to snap to the fact that this episode was made several years before that movie.
Has that kind of thing happened to anyone else when watching these shows so long after they aired?
Another example of a strong short but a so-so film. Lots of great material in the short for Joel and the ‘Bots but the Rebel Set just didn’t really measure up as one of their better efforts, especially during a season in which they hit their stride and had so many memorable episodes. It’s not bad but not one I go back to watch repeatedly.
“Jiminy, thinks Johnny,if only I could get a ride in one of those…” Priceless!
Every time I see these shorts, I can’t help but wonder, “Were kids really supposed to be inspired and educated by these? They’re so weird!”
#1, I agree with you wholeheartedly. They were always funnier when they went dark during the shorts, especially in “Circus On Ice.” As for this ep, my favorite riff has to be “Chief, that’s sick!” Everytime I watch this ep, and that riff comes, I always blurt out Ed Platt’s classic line,”Don’t call me Chief!”
Hey guys, I just found out that the little ice skating rink on Gerrard St. in Toronto (right across the street from the Delta Chelsea, the hotel I always stay at when I go to Toronto) is named after that charming young lady in the short whom Joel calls “the Cher of her time,” the lovely Ms. Barbara Ann Scott! So, next time you go to Toronto, have a little skate at the Barbara Ann Scott Skating Park!
@#1 (over a year later):
You do understand that Joel is not actually stopping them from being dark, right? The writers are playing off Joel’s character’s role as father figure to the bots. He’s playing straight-man, and he does it to excellent effect.
They also could be using Joel’s warnings to the bots as a veiled apology to the audience–MST3K was always dark, especially in the Joel/Trace/Frank years, and the circus shorts brought out extra-darkness. They were aware that children watched the show with their parents.
Totally agreed. Still an all-time favorite.
Sampo, why no screen grab from the short?
Wow. Life’s Little Instruction Manual really is some sickening tripe. I’m a cynic and as such those types of books/motivationals/etc… just rub me in all the wrong ways. So this is another data point showing Joel could occasionally be quite mean. He isn’t quite always the loving father to the bots.
I’ve got agree with other posters who say that doesn’t sound anything like Lorne Greene narrating the short.
Kind of ironic we get this Scott Baio sketch before his more famous high school classmate Bill Corbet joins Best Brains.
What would I do with a four-hour layover in Chicago? I’d hit the nearest White Castle. I don’t have one where I live. But I have to admit I like Tom’s idea too. “Then I’d start tossing out bodies at seven minute intervals. Oops. Better get back to the train.”
Favorite Riffs:
The baby horse licks the bigger one. Crow “Oops. Sorry dad.”
Narrator “He’s about so high.” Joel “Yes there was a Mr. Barty here.”
The fat heckler acts up at the Beat club and two “bouncers” carry him away. Joel “Do you mind if we dance with your dates?” [We don’t get too many Animal House references but that was a good one.]
George smiles at the old lady. Tom “Don’t wait up for me Irma.”
Crow “Ah the Blue Ridge Mountains of Chicago.”
Stuff is being buried in the hole. Crow “The movies not over yet and they’re striking the set.”
At the close of the movie: Tom “So all this happened because Johnny got lost at the fair?”
i find alot of the shorts interesting due to the fact that at some time, some place somebody had to watch it for purely educational purposes. Maybe the missing ingredient in our schools these days is a good dose of ‘Posture Pals’ or ‘Johnny at the Fair.’ some good, grainy, old fashioned wisdom to help stimultate young minds and inspire teens to pull their pants up over their hinders. there, i yield the soap box to the distinguished gentleman from Altoona. The movie itself is one of those that isn’t really that bad. and we get ‘nudeman’ making a cameo so huzzah’s all around.
Joel’s admonishing the Bots over getting too dark may be a carryover from the writing room. In the interviews featured on the Gamera DVD, Frank remarked about how they would get especially dark with riffs concerning Kenny to the point where Joel asked them to tone it down some.
@ #19: While MST3K may not have featured any gangster movies per se, many of them did prominently feature gangsters. I Accuse My Parents and Racket Girls come readily to mind, and I’m sure there are other titles folks could mention.
I love this episode…probably watched it a gazillion times, too. It’s actually about 10% beatnik and 90% heist movie (should be the other way around)…
I think Frank’s “Quick Primp Kit” is great, as well as all the beatnik references and the appearance of the heroic Gene Kelly (“Gotta Dance!!”) in the final fight scene. And of course Tom as Inspector Piorot!
Favorite Riffs:
[beatnik party] JOEL: “Hi honey, I’m…oh my God…”
[during an extended xylophone riff] CROW: “Turn Zappa down!”
Movie Star Mom: “I’ve decided to come home and be a real mother to him…” [attendants pull out casket] CROW: “Scratch that!”
and my personal motto: “He’s very hip at home!”
I suspect that the short is really just one big infomercial for the CNE. “Come to Toronto, lose your kid, and he’ll meet a bunch of celebrities, including the Prime Minister!” (well, meeting Mackenzie King would have been worthwhile–Stephen Harper, not so much). It’s still one of my favourites, especially after Johnny’s trip to Chemical World (“A whiskery man gives Johnny a package–‘The first one’s free.'”). How come the bots don’t call Joel on his own dark riffing near the end?
The movie is definitely a lesser event for me. It’s definitely watchable, but not inspired. The three “rebels” are just such chumps that they deserve what they get, and Edward Platt’s tiresome verbosity makes him one of the most annoying of MST villains. The riffing is kinda slow until the second half–although I do like all of the priest/church riffs during the chase scene (“The heist is ended. Go in peace” is absolutely brilliant). At the risk of being tiresome myself, can I point out a Latin mistake that Kevin should have caught–it should be “In nomine patris.” I guess you can ignore proper grammar when you’re whacking someone with a seat-stick.
4 stars from Droppo.
Love the short. One of their best.
I enjoy the movie and there are stretches that are hilarious.
Not a classic, but, an excellent episode and the Merritt Stone bit is one of my favorites.
I really enjoyed this one. Lots of laughs for me — although I find the host segments here a little ‘hit and miss’ for my taste.
The odd thing is that I watched this one on Hulu about a year or so back when I was first trying to get into the show and kinda-sorta “got it” but felt like something was missing. Now, having reached this point watching all the episodes in order I found that I enjoyed it much more and got a lot more of the jokes, spirit, and general humor.
Anyone else think it’s funny that “The Beatniks” contained NO Beatniks but “The Rebel Set” contains at least some attempts at “Beat” culture? It’s almost like the two movies were ‘switched at birth’.
And “Johnny at the Fair” seemed more like an advertisement type of a thing than an educational film. Still, wickedly, wickedly funny riffing there.
I gave this one 4 stars. Loved the short. The movie had its good points, but was a thoroughly average episode.
I echo Sampo and everyone’s “Jiminy, thinks Johnny, if only could get a ride in one of those.” being the best riff from the short. The jokes when the hero guy is chasing Mr. T when he was dressed as a priest were funny, especially the “In Nomine Patris!” as Tucker strikes the hero.
The Rebel set features, if you can call it that, Gregg Palmer. Norwegian by heritage and a San Franciscan by birth, brown-haired, brown-eyed Gregg Palmer (born Palmer Lee on January 25, 1927) broke into show biz as a radio announcer. After an early ’50s stint as a contract player at Universal, he turned to freelancing, closing out the decade by starring and co-starring in a number of detective, Western and sci-fi adventures. In the ’60s, Palmer drifted into supporting roles and much TV work, and reinforced his growing rep with Western fans by becoming a regular member of John Wayne’s latter-day stock company. He is in one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies of all time—From Hell It Came. He played Kimo and is the one that is betrayed by his wife, killed, buried and returns to seek vengeance as the Tabanga–tree monster. In The Rebel Set he plays John Mapes.
Favorite lines (Johnny at the Fair):
Johnny’s car rolled and burned.
Half the pain of having feet is Red Goose shoes.
[Horse nursing] Oops, sorry Dad.
Johnny’s hydroplane disintegrates on impact.
“…perhaps Olsen and Johnson, the Hellzapoppin’ boys can cheer Johnny up.” But if you’ve seen their act you’ll know that’s not likely.
Favorite lines (The Rebel Set):
You know, this is the hippest Red Lobster I’ve been to.
Murray, use a coaster.
Ernest does a nickel up at Attica.
Get your paws off me you damn dirty beat.
Do you mind if we dance with your date?
Just burped up a little egg salad.
Traveling with Gertrude and Alice
Gary Busey after the accident
Priest on a hot tin roof.
Final Thought: This one should have been called the Beatniks—at least it had some. I give this one 3 out of 5 stars.
I love it when they reference things from way back in our pop culture and during this one Joel starts singing, “It’s a hap-hap-happy day” and that is from a song from the 1920s. Awesome!!!
Agreed, they should’ve switched the titles of this one and The Beatniks.
@Stressfactor: wait a minute, you started getting into MST about a year ago and have since watched the entire series and comment on a fan site all the time? That’s dedication. I would’ve taken you for a long time fan.
This has one of my favorite moments in MST when Gregg Palmer is chasing the ‘priest’ Edward Platt. Here are the songs the priest sings during his getaway: (in order)
A Mighty Fortress is Our God
Sons of God (Hear His Holy Word)
It Only Takes a Spark
So Low, So High, So Wide
Rock-a My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham
How Great Thou Art
Classic Ep, if for nothing else than the Merritt Stone controversy seminar. This movie had a lot of cheese but actually had a real plot, characters and redemption, unlike most MST fodder. BTW Sampo, I did the architecture boat tour of Chicago during my visit recently; but I’d love to do Crow’s sensible walking tour, maybe plus a visit to Pacific Garden Mission, to attend a live recording of the “Unshackled” Radio drama.
The paint-by-number Mark Rothko is a classic invention.
What is it with these B&W dramas where you just can’t remember detail 1 about them? All I recall about this is a train, Ed Platt’s laughably lame “disguise,” him sitting on his fold-out-walking cane, the reaction to same – “Chief, that’s sick!” – the Chief beating the crap out of the hero at the end. I’ve watched it more than a few times over the years, too. Still enjoy the riffs! But there’s just nothing memorable about some of these films, and this is a good example.
Now, coming up next week we get one of my all time faves – ehT namuH srotaclipuD! This flick stuck in my mind in a big way.
@ J Bagles,
Actually, I haven’t watched EVERY episode… yet. I was chugging along at clearing a couple of episodes a week but I’ve since slowed down and am now running about the same pace as the site here — one episode a week. So as the site is going back through the episodes I’m pretty much tagging along here.
And thinking back on it — I actually probably started getting into the show about a year and a half ago. I kind of went in ‘fits and starts’ as the old saying goes. Everyone always said you could just “jump in anywhere” so I tried jumping in on the stuff on Hulu and just couldn’t quite “get it” so I quit for a while then I did a little research on the show’s history and decided to try starting from the start and working my way up. For me, personally, that worked. I “got” stuff a lot more when I could see how everything built.
And on top of all of that…. I have no life so that helps. : >
Great episode, the season 4 hits just keep coming. I found host segment 1 absolutely hilarious as I had the misfortune of viewing/airing all of the shows mentioned as a television master control operator. Crow’s “No! No! Take it from the top” has me ROFLing every time. I am admittedly partial to these type of ’50s movies. Other favorite lines/parts:
Frank’s performance in the invention exchange when Dr. F suggests they are supposed to be in line for Out on A Limb is where He says they would be seated already and silently says “There’s no way.”
Missed riff: No Supertrain reference when they were making all the train show/movie references.
Dated riff: Even mentioning Out on a Limb. To me a dated riff is one that you would have zero chance of getting if you had not been around in 1992 (or whatever year the episode came out). As I recall, Out on a Limb was a movie that bombed and was quickly forgotten starring Goldie Hawn and Mel Gibson.