{"id":40805,"date":"2023-08-25T21:19:59","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T01:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=40805"},"modified":"2023-08-25T21:19:59","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T01:19:59","slug":"the-bootleg-files-turn-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/the-bootleg-files-turn-on\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: Turn-On"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 840:<\/strong> \u201cTurn-On\u201d (1969 television series that was cancelled after one episode). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> None.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> No perceived reissue value.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> It would be a great subject for a straight-to-DVD documentary, but a standalone release is unlikely.<\/p>\n

Referring to any creative output as \u201cthe worst\u201d is the ultimate exercise in futility. For starters, it is impossible for anyone to declare a single endeavor as \u201cthe worst\u201d unless you have experienced every work within that school of creativity. Seriously, how can anyone say \u201cPlan 9 from Outer Space\u201d is the worst film of all time \u2013 have you seen every film and concluded that the Ed Wood anti-classic is truly to bottom of the barrel?
\n<\/p>\n

Also, criticism is highly subjective \u2013 and no matter how loud or clever your arguments might be, you will never get everyone to agree with you. For example, I don\u2019t know anyone who agreed with the snarky Medved Brothers when they smeared \u201cPlan 9 from Outer Space\u201d as the world\u2019s worst film in their book \u201cThe Golden Turkey Awards.\u201d If anything, \u201cPlan 9 from Outer Space\u201d is a goofy but endlessly entertaining film \u2013 I could crash your bandwidth listing films that are much more painful to endure than Wood\u2019s little sci-fi romp.<\/p>\n

And that leads me to the subject of this week\u2019s column: the 1969 comedy series \u201cTurn-On,\u201d which is often cited as being the worst television program of all time. Granted, the series has a lamentable history \u2013 it was canceled after a single episode was broadcast on February 5, 1969, and in one market it was taken off the air before the first half of the show was completed. But in watching the supposedly notorious episode and a second episode that was shot but never aired, it becomes obvious that \u201cTurn-On\u201d was not the worst television program of all time. Yes, it had problems \u2013 but its demise might have been a result of sabotage.<\/p>\n

In the late 1960s, American television began to tiptoe away from safe, benign and slightly dull situational comedy and take on social and political commentary with a sharp comic tinge. \u201cThe Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour\u201d on CBS and \u201cRowan and Martin\u2019s Laugh-In\u201d on NBC offered pointed barbs at the hot button issues of the day including the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, the women\u2019s liberation movement and the drug culture. ABC, however, had nothing similar to offer. In fact, ABC had a reputation of planting new shows that pleased no one. Indeed, Milton Berle once wisecracked, \u201cThey’re going to put the Vietnam War on ABC, and it’ll be cancelled in 13 weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to catch up with the other networks, which were generating huge ratings with their edgy shows, ABC agreed to air \u201cTurn-On,\u201d which was co-created by George Schlatter, who was one of the minds behind \u201cRowan and Martin\u2019s Laugh-In.\u201d In some ways, \u201cTurn-On\u201d seemed like a facsimile of \u201cLaugh-In\u201d with a cast of young and mostly unknown performers doing fast skits that took sharp aim at current events and trends. <\/p>\n

But unlike \u201cLaugh-In\u201d or the Smothers Brothers\u2019 show, \u201cTurn-On\u201d was strictly sharp humor \u2013 the other programs included old-favorite guest stars and skits aimed at middle-aged (and supposedly nonpolitical) audiences. The Smothers Brothers also had musical guests on their show \u2013 some were politically focused, like Harry Belafonte and Pete Seeger (in a blacklist-breaking appearance), but others were non-threatening entertainment like Liberace and Jack Benny. <\/p>\n

Even more peculiar, \u201cTurn-On\u201d had no audience for its taping, nor did it rely on canned laughter. Instead, it had a disconcerting noise on its soundtrack that was made by a Moog Synthesizer \u2013 this was because the concept of \u201cTurn-On\u201d relied on the insistence that the show was created by a computer and not comedy writers. The opening of the show presented a pair of computer technicians at a huge console who were supposedly fiddling with dials to create their comedy.<\/p>\n

To its credit, \u201cTurn-On\u201d went further than its competitors with the severity of its humor. One gag had a Black man and a White man standing face-to-face, with the Black man sourly complaining, \u201cMom always did like you best.\u201d (That was supposed to be a takeoff of a Smothers Brothers punchline.) Gay humor, a rarity for that era, turned up with an animated figure of an effeminate man carrying a sign that said \u201cGod Save the Queens\u201d and guest star Tim Conway as the unlikely figure of a mock-commercial for exotic eye make-up. One gag involved a woman trying to buy birth control pills from a vending machine, only to have her product stuck in the machine after she paid for it. <\/p>\n

Maybe the most cutting joke involved two men studying a large globe. One man asks for the location of the capital of South Vietnam and the other points to Europe and says, \u201cOver here, mostly in Swiss bank accounts.\u201d <\/p>\n

Unlike the ensembles of \u201cThe Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour\u201d and \u201cLaugh-In,\u201d the ensemble on \u201cTurn-On\u201d didn\u2019t get a chance to develop personalities that could resonate with audiences. There were several sexy young women in mini-skirts who did go-go dancing between jokes, but they were mostly interchangeable \u2013 one, Teresa Graves, later appeared as a regular on \u201cLaugh-In\u201d and would later have her own series \u201cGet Christie Love.\u201d Chuck McCann turned up in skits as a dumb cop and Bob Staats in his was a sleazy pitchman for mock-commercials, but neither were laugh-out-loud funny. Carlos Manteca could have been a breakout star in his politically incorrect (but nonetheless amusing) characterizations of a Mexican bandito and a Cuban hijacker.<\/p>\n

One person who was not laughing was Donald Perris, the general manager of WEWS-TV in Cleveland. Schlatter would claim that Perris was furious that ABC cancelled its prime-time soap opera \u201cPeyton Place\u201d in favor of \u201cTurn-On\u201d and lobbied to have the new show removed \u2013 going so far as to yank it from the air after its first commercial break and insist his station\u2019s switchboard was flooded with calls from angry viewers \u2013 Schlatter pointed out the \u201cswitchboard\u201d consisted of a single phone with two lines that was answered by a young woman who was not overwhelmed the night the show aired. Schlatter also claimed Perris tried to encourage other stations to jettison \u201cTurn-On,\u201d adding that Perris sent a telegram to ABC President Elton Rule that said, “If your naughty little boys have to write dirty words on the walls, please don’t use our walls. Turn-On is turned off, as far as WEWS is concerned.”<\/p>\n

A few stations on the West Coast opted not to air the show\u2019s first episode, citing their discomfort with the adult nature of some of the humor. The television critics unanimously hated \u201cTurn-On,\u201d and ABC abruptly axed the show despite having a contract with Schlatter for a 13-week run. A second episode with Robert Culp as a guest was produced but was never broadcast.<\/p>\n

Mercifully, the two \u201cTurn-On\u201d episodes are on YouTube, thus enabling people to come up with their own opinions on this ill-fated endeavor\u2019s merits. I would invite you to watch them and share your comments on whether you feel this is the worst program of all time. <\/p>\n