I hope those of you with a cable supplier that gets RTV - Retro Television, are catching WOLFMAN MAC'S CHILLER DRIVE-IN (most affiliates carrying RTV seem to be showing it on Saturday nights from 10pm to midnight). It's a regional Horror Host show from Pontiac, Michigan that got the gig after they dumped the previous horror host show they were playing (which was pretty lousy, even by horror host standards) and now plays nationally wherever they happen to put RTV on the lineup (they also show ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, which is pretty cool). Wolfman Mac is an affable host in full werewolf makeup, bowling shirt and cool 50's greaser persona, his sidekick is Boney Bob, a skeletal ventriloquist's dummy with popping 3D eyes, and there's a load of other characters (although none of them play as well to the camera as Mac and Boney). Since MST3K re-invented the genre, they just can't *play* the movies, of course, so purists should avoid, as all kinds of messing around is done with the film including obvious edits, audio overlays, sound effects - they usually include an old cartoon or some old commercials as well. It's a lot of fun and informed by a Subgenius sense of humor, so that means obscure B-Movie references, fart jokes and overlaid Dobbs imagery. I just love the low-rent American tradition of vaudevillian buffoonery, costume clowning and regional spookshow thrills that make up horror hosting, so if you're looking for a fun way to spend a Saturday night, check it out. Fans of MST3K especially. So far I've seen episodes with PHANTOM PLANET, THE SHE-BEAST, WEREWOLF IN A GIRL'S DORMITORY and I BURY THE LIVING.
They were showing OFF-BEAT THEATER in the midnight to 2 am slot, a exploitation film show hosted by beatniks that originated in Buffalo (or Syracuse, I forget), but seem to have stopped running that one.
