Saturday, September 25, 2010

Saturtainment: Marlo & the Magic Movie Machine (1977)

Marlo & the Magic Movie Machine was a syndicated series that was well ahead of the curve. If it were launched today, it'd have the FCC's "E/I" designation as being both educational & informative. Here's the opening:



Laurie Faso starred as Marlo Higgins, employed by the L. Dullo Computer Company, but whose office was near the basement. Good enough to hide the Movie Machine, built from Dullo tech. Marlo would queue up old movie or documentary footage, and play challenging games geared for the viewing audience. Faso would later return to Saturdays as a game show host (I'm Telling!) a decade later. Marlo lasted three seasons, but after being a 1 hour show the first year, it was chopped in half for seasons 2 & 3, for reasons known only to CBS affiliate WFSB of Hartford, CT., where the show was taped. To be sure, it was way ahead of its time.

Rating: B.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

WOW!! I thought this show was only in my imagination, because no one seems to remember it but me!!! Glad to see it was real!

hobbyfan said...

Oh, it definitely was, Ellis. Too bad no one wants to bring it back right now.

Unknown said...

I remember it well.

Unknown said...

I too thought it was a long lost figment of my imagination or that I somehow slipped to a parallel earth where it never existed. Took me decades to remember the name. If anyone has full episodes, I would be so overjoyed!

hobbyfan said...

The fact that it isn't out on DVD might have something to do with folks forgetting it existed.