Solarman began as the brainchild of writers David Oliphant & Barbara Kalman in the 70's, in response to the national energy crisis. In 1989, Oliphant landed a deal with Marvel Comics, but the comic book lasted just 2 issues.
Then, Oliphant struck a deal with Marvel's television arm, leading to a 1-shot pilot that aired on Fox in October 1992. Marvel Productions had sold a number of series to Fox during this period, including Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.Solarman, however, would not go beyond the one episode.
More than 2 decades later, Oliphant is still trying, but the character has now been rebooted into a bi-racial teen who's been bullied, which speaks to the social issues facing today's youth.
In 1992, Solarman's alter-ego is that of an aspiring artist who wants to pursue his career over the objections of his father, who runs a gym in California. The first mission? Solarman has to stop a despotic alien dictator from destroying the sun.
The poster assumed it was 1991, but it was actually a year later.
Everyone knows that the X-Men eventually would star in their own hit series after guest appearances on Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends. However, while the series we know launched in 1992, airing in syndication and on Fox, an earlier pilot suggests a completely different take on the team.
X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men is a loose adaptation of events in Uncanny X-Men that took place beginning a decade earlier, as created by Chris Claremont & John Byrne. Young Katharine "Kitty" Pryde (Kath Soucie, The Real Ghostbusters) arrives at the X-Men's mansion headquarters in New York, scared of what she has discovered via a letter she received from Professor Charles Xavier (John Stephenson).
The long & short of it is predictable fare. Kitty sneaks aboard the team's jet, the Blackbird, and lends a hand in defeating Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutant "terrorists" (otherwise, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from the comics), who number Emma Frost, the White Queen, among their membership. In the books, Frost was a member of another evil group, the Hellfire Club, but later spent time with the X-Men, as did Magneto. The Brotherhood of this story is an amalgam of Magneto's original team, which includes the Toad, and a later group fronted by the shape-shifting Mystique.
Opening as it does with a cheesy theme song composed in the style of Marvel Productions' action entries of the day (i.e. G. I. Joe), Pryde of the X-Men received mixed reviews when it first aired in syndication on Marvel Action Universe. Of course, when the team was finally granted its own series three years later, Kitty wasn't a regular part of the team, and her role as the juvenile mutant-in-training was taken by Jubilee.
Here's Pryde of the X-Men, the last Marvel Productions entry narrated by Stan Lee.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer had ended production. However, series creator Joss Whedon felt there were still some stories to be told.
In 2006, Whedon, working with TV & comics writer Jeph Loeb (now at Marvel Studios, unfortunately), pitched an animated pilot to Fox, which had discontinued its daytime children's programming slate 4 years earlier. Fox turned it down, and, ultimately, so did everyone else.
The following video was first leaked online in 2008. Most of the regulars returned, save for star Sarah Michelle Gellar, who, presumably, had decided to move on. Allyson Hannigan would later move on herself, to How I Met Your Mother.
Subsequently, any continuation of the previous series would be done in comic book form at Dark Horse, where it continues today. This had some promise. It's just too bad no one was willing to give it a shot.
Six years after the film "Clerks" became a cult hit for writer-director-co-star Kevin Smith, the filmmaker decided to return to his Viewaskewniverse for an animated primetime series. ABC bought the show, which was co-produced by two branches of the Disney family tree at the time, Miramax and Touchstone, although Disney's animation department did have a hand in it, too.
Unfortunately, Clerks was a total dud at ABC, which aired two episodes out of order, then cancelled the show due largely to low ratings, but more likely, someone at ABC got cold feet about airing the show. Comedy Central picked it up, but only ran 4 episodes, including the series opener, which ABC had ignored.
Smith reprises, if you will, as Silent Bob, as part of an ensemble that also included Jason Mewes and Alec Baldwin. The series was released on DVD a year after its aborted TV run with all six episodes intact.
We all know that Paul Winchell had hosted the American version of Runaround back in 1972. What we didn't know was that Winchell had tried his luck with hosting kids' games 10 years earlier.
Ziv contracted with independent producer Jerry Hammer to develop Quick on the Draw, which had plenty of promise, but Ziv-United Artists couldn't find a network willing to take a chance.
Winchell is accompanied by Jerry Mahoney, which would also be the case on Runaround. As you'll see, Jerry is set up on a window ledge while Paul sits beside the contestants.
It's too bad Hammer wasn't able to shop Quick on the Draw to anyone else, because this was actually pretty good.
Y'know, pilgrims, I'm not even sure this next Looney Tunes entry has actually aired on television, 'cause I haven't seen it on either Cartoon Network or Boomerang or anywhere else until today.
20 years ago, Chuck Jones served up "Superior Duck", giving Daffy Duck another opportunity to parody Superman. As it happens, the Man of Steel makes a cameo appearance in the film. Anyway, this is set in a futuristic, yet unnamed city. Thurl Ravenscroft narrates, but the big surprise is that Daffy's voice is performed by iconic impressionist Frank Gorshin. Porky Pig shows up as the Eager Young Space Cadet, Duck Dodgers' sidekick, which makes one wonder if Superior Duck wasn't really Duck Dodgers after all, two sides of the same coin.
In the mid-to-late 80's, WWOR in New York had a small hand in children's programming. Romper Room anchored their weekday morning kids' block. In fact, at times, it was the kids' block. On Sundays, the station served up a in-house produced comedy hour that was the local answer to CBS' Pee-Wee's Playhouse, to an extent.
Steampipe Alley ran for five seasons (1988-93), hosted by comedian Mario Cantone. Think Pee-Wee Herman crossed with Jerry Lewis, with a dash of Charles Nelson Reilly, and I'm sure you'd get the idea. Cantone created a series of characters that were parodies of celebrities. For example, there was Joe Rivers, the fictional brother of Joan Rivers. And, then, there was a parody of "Goodfellas". Meet the "Nerdfellas":
There were also games for children in the studio audience to play, including a send-up of The Dating Game. Long time studio announcer Ted Mallie was the show's announcer, billed as a parody of New York legend Don Pardo (Saturday Night Live).
Steampipe Alley was just the beginning of Cantone's career in front of the camera. He'd parlay it into a few movie roles, and a recurring gig on Sex & the City. Seeing him on Match Game last night spurred some memories.
No rating. Didn't watch the show, but was familiar with the promos airing on a regular basis.
