The Bootleg Files: Stick Around

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 803: “Stick Around” (1977 TV pilot starring Andy Kaufman).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Mostly likely due to rights clearance issues.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Probably not.

During the mid-1970s, Andy Kaufman began to percolate across television in a number of guest appearances on popular programs ranging from Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” to “The Midnight Special” to the premiere episode of “Saturday Night Live.” He was also a regular on Dick Van Dyke’s short-lived 1976 variety show “Van Dyke and Company,” where he used his Foreign Man persona for a running gag of coming out in the middle of a skit and interrupting it with sincere bafflement over what was transpiring on-stage.
Continue reading →

Attack of Moaning for “Monstervision”

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Felix Vasquez

In 1993, Monstervision on Turner Network Television in America was mostly a program that aired old horror movies and science fiction with the occasional hosting from magicians Penn and Teller. During the early nineties, many cable channels hadn’t yet solidified their formats, so a lot of the time slots were used on syndicated programs and adult programming, with the occasional time slot devoted to a rare original program here and there. Mainly though, the original appeal of cable television was watching old movies and television shows you couldn’t find on network television. To break up the monotony of airing the same movies over and over, they enlisted hosts to riff during commercial breaks.

Continue reading →

Masters of Horror: Or How I F*cked Up a Golden Opportunity

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Felix Vasquez

I don’t need a horror channel to remind me I’m a horror fan. I don’t need a channel to play the same old bullshit movies I have in my collection, and then turn into a quasi-horror channel months later playing music videos, and wrestling programs. A channel doesn’t make me an automatic solid horror fan.

I’ve been one since I was four.

But I wanted a great horror show god damn it. The show I wanted to be great, ended up being one giant dry hump sans the stained pants, while the show I expected to flop, ended up being damn good. I speak of “Dexter” in that last comparison.

“Masters of Horror” is a lot like that really hot chick you met in high school. She was good looking without or without makeup, presented many possibilities, you imagined every such situation, and position, and when you and she were finally alone, she really wasn’t much to talk about. And then you’re left with nothing but disappointment.

Continue reading →

Firefly: Ten Years Later

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Felix Vasquez

Back in 2005 I remember going to the movie theaters to see “Land of the Dead” with my mom an equally rabid horror fanatic, and sitting down to watch the previews. I remember fondly sitting in front of the screen watching the trailer for the upcoming movie “Serenity” and marveled at how interesting it looked. It wasn’t love at first sight, it wasn’t immense curiosity, but just a mild interest that made me think about it and push it in to the back of my mind for a good while.

Months later prior to the unleashing of “Serenity” in to theaters, the Science Fiction channel in America aired a marathon of the entire “Firefly” and when I sat down to watch it from beginning to end it dawned upon me why “Firefly” was cancelled and taken off television so quickly many people didn’t even know it was on. “Firefly,” during the marathon, often began every episode with a brief prologue from Nathan Fillion explaining the basic premise of the series. And then it kind of saddened me that the producers or network simply didn’t have confidence in the show. And worse, they didn’t have confidence that the audience could play catch up.

Continue reading →

The Walking Dead: Season Two, Episode One – What Lies Ahead

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Felix Vasquez

What we see in “What Lies Ahead” is a group of people trying to prove someone wrong. At the end of the first season they were told by Doctor Jennings from the CDC that there is nothing in the world, and there is simply no hope. Which is why he attempted to commit suicide with the group aboard. But the end of the episode showed that they were all willing to fight for their lives because there was hope. Hope had to mean something to him and to them. What we witness in “What Lies Ahead” is a group on the raggedy edge where they’re now laying witness to the wasteland where all hope is lost. But damned if they’re willing to admit to one another and to themselves that they were perhaps better off dying in a ball of flames at the CDC. What Rick’s dilemma ultimately is in this episode is a man searching for a miracle.

Continue reading →

Moaning for Monstervision

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Felix Vasquez

I mean with respect to Gore De Vol and Penny Dreadful, without a doubt my favorite horror host of all time is Joe Bob Brigs, a surly and veritably undeniable force of nature. He was one who didn’t need gimmicks and or a costume to please his audience. Joe Bob Briggs presented the new wave of horror hosting. To where fun individuals like Dreadful and De Vol dressed up and engaged in props and plays for their audience, Briggs always seemed very aware of his mortality.

Continue reading →