Night Flight (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Night Flight is a variety show
that originated on the USA Network
. An eclectic mix of short films, cartoon
s, B movies, stand up comedy, documentaries, music video
s and more, Night Flight was broadcast, in various incarnations, from 1981 to 1996.
's Saturday Night Live.
The series originally ran from 1981–1988, for four hours on Friday and Saturday evenings. USA Up All Night
starring Caroline Schlitt and Gilbert Gottfried
(and, later, Rhonda Shear
) replaced it in 1988.
It was later revived through syndication in 1990, with a single season of new episodes before the format was changed to "best of" shows from the USA years with host Tom Juarez. These shows were seen as late as 1996.
, Word, Sound and Power, and--Yessongs
. Night Flight was also one of the first American television shows to display the music video
as an art form, rather than purely as a promotional tool for the artists. And, with the freedom had by them on early (and late-night) cable television, they would at times show portions of videos that were censored (or in some cases, banned) by MTV
and other outlets.
In the original format of the show, there was no formal host. Voice-over introductions were made by Pat Prescott before segments started. Recurring segments included:
Bela Lugosi
's Monogram
films were recurring features. Other segments included condensed parodies of low-quality, out-of-copyright black-and-white-era movies and serials
, as well as letters from viewers.
The show would also highlight movies that were regarded as cult hits. Examples include:
, Night Flight's Director of Programming Stuart Samuels, was interviewed about the show. He is introduced as having a doctorate in the History Of Ideas, having been a former professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania
, a teacher of annual seminars at the Cannes Film Festival
, and as the author of a book on cult film
classics titled Midnight Movies. He describes their intention as wanting to "...put the videos together in some kind of thematic categories...so that the videos were saying something to each other and were letting the audience make conclusions from them." He also states that they never felt in competition with MTV, as they wanted to be; "...a little more selective... intelligent and... stimulating." He claims they were the first to put director's names on the videos, interview the bands, create band profiles, show uncensored videos and longform 12" remix videos; as well as the first to put together politically oriented shows about subjects like apartheid in South Africa
. He states that their intention was not to be "...heavy-handed, but do 'here's-something-that's-in-the-news' shows". Samuels and the interviewer also speak of a backlash against the stagnation and repetition of rock video (circa 1986), which inspired Night Flight to program even more animation
, cult and camp films. Samuels also gives the background of Senior Producer Stuart Shapiro as having run a company that was instrumental in the distribution of cult, midnight movie and campy films like Tunnelvision.
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
that originated on the USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
. An eclectic mix of short films, cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
s, B movies, stand up comedy, documentaries, music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s and more, Night Flight was broadcast, in various incarnations, from 1981 to 1996.
Broadcast history
Jeff Franklin, head of American Talent International, and Stuart S. Shapiro, head of International Harmony, approached USA Network about developing Night Flight in February 1981. At the time USA was having difficulty defining itself as a network and decided to take a chance on the series. The first episode of Night Flight aired on June 5, 1981, timed to take advantage of a writers' strike that had halted production on NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Saturday Night Live.
The series originally ran from 1981–1988, for four hours on Friday and Saturday evenings. USA Up All Night
USA Up All Night
USA Up All Night is an American cable television series that aired weekly on Friday and Saturday nights on the USA Network. The show aired from 1989 to 1998.-Synopsis:...
starring Caroline Schlitt and Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried is an American actor, voice actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his trademark comedic persona of speaking in a loud, grating tone of voice. He has played numerous roles in film and television, perhaps most notably voicing the parrot Iago in Disney's Aladdin , and...
(and, later, Rhonda Shear
Rhonda Shear
Rhonda Shear is an American television personality, comedienne, and actress.-Early life:Shear was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a Jewish American family. She attended Loyola University, earning a B.A. in Communications...
) replaced it in 1988.
It was later revived through syndication in 1990, with a single season of new episodes before the format was changed to "best of" shows from the USA years with host Tom Juarez. These shows were seen as late as 1996.
Format and contents
Night Flight was one of the first places to see films and shorts not generally aired on broadcast television or on the pay-per movie channels such as HBO. It was the first place many Americans were able to see music documentaries like Another State of Mind, The Grateful Dead MovieThe Grateful Dead Movie
The Grateful Dead Movie, released in 1977 and directed by Jerry Garcia, is a film that captures performances from the Grateful Dead's October 1974 five-night stand at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. This end-of-tour run marked the beginning of an extended hiatus for the band, with no...
, Word, Sound and Power, and--Yessongs
Yessongs
Yessongs is the first live album from the English progressive rock band Yes, released on Atlantic Records. The album is formed of recordings from their supporting world tours for their studio albums, Fragile and Close to the Edge, between February and December 1972...
. Night Flight was also one of the first American television shows to display the music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
as an art form, rather than purely as a promotional tool for the artists. And, with the freedom had by them on early (and late-night) cable television, they would at times show portions of videos that were censored (or in some cases, banned) by MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and other outlets.
In the original format of the show, there was no formal host. Voice-over introductions were made by Pat Prescott before segments started. Recurring segments included:
- Take Off - A segment grouping together music videos on particular themes as well as a mix of interviews and snippets from movies, to help round out the segment. Examples from the show are Take Off To Animation, Take Off To Sex, Take Off To Violence, etc. Legendary San Francisco news reporter Dave McQueen did the voice-overs.
- New Wave TheatreNew Wave TheatreNew Wave Theatre was a television program broadcast locally in the Los Angeles area on UHF channel 18 and eventually on the USA Network as part of the late night variety show Night Flight during the early 1980s. The show was created and produced by David Jove, who also wrote the program with...
- Hosted by Peter IversPeter IversPeter Scott Ivers was an American musician, best known as the host of New Wave Theatre.Ivers was born in Illinois, but raised in Brookline, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. He attended the Roxbury Latin School and then Harvard University, majoring in classical languages, but chose a career in...
, the show featured punk and New WaveNew Wave musicNew Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
acts, chiefly from the Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
area. - The Video Artist - A segment covering artists working in the then-new world of video and computer graphics.
- The Comic - Profiles of various comedians, consisting of stand-up bits interspersed with interview segments.
- Video Profile - A segment featuring videos by one particular band or artist. works included Suspicious Circumstances, by Jim BlashfieldJim BlashfieldJim Blashfield is an American filmmaker and media artist, best known for his short films such as Suspicious Circumstances and The Mid-Torso of Inez, and his music videos for musicians Talking Heads, Joni Mitchell, Nu Shooz, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, Michael Jackson, Tears for Fears, "Weird Al"...
, and works by the Brothers QuayBrothers QuayStephen and Timothy Quay are American identical twin brothers better known as the Brothers Quay or Quay Brothers. They are influential stop-motion animators...
. - Atomic TV - A segment featuring various Cold WarCold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
-era footage - Love That Bob (Church of the Sub-Genius)Church of the SubGeniusThe Church of the SubGenius is a "parody religion" organization that satirizes religion, conspiracy theories, unidentified flying objects, and popular culture. Originally based in Dallas, Texas, the Church of the SubGenius gained prominence in the 1980s and 1990s and maintains an active presence on...
- A serialized presentation of the Sub-Genius video Arise! - Rick Shaw's Takeout Theater
- DynamanKagaku Sentai Dynamanis the seventh installment of Toei Company's Super Sentai series. It aired on TV Asahi from February 5, 1983, to January 28, 1984, with a total of 51 episodes...
- An English-dubbed parody of six episodes of the Super SentaiSuper SentaiThe is the name given to the long-running Japanese superhero team genre of shows produced by Toei Co., Ltd., Toei Agency and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi...
series Kagaku Sentai Dynaman - J-Men ForeverJ-Men ForeverJ-Men Forever is a 1979 comedy film by Philip Proctor and PeterBergman of the Firesign Theatre. The film is a pastiche using film clips from Republic serials, re-dubbed with comic dialog to tell a tale of world conquest by sex, drugs and rock and roll....
- Space Patrol - An early 1950s U.S. sci-fi television series
- Tales of Tomorrow
- Heavy Metal Heroes
- The Some Bizzare Show, featuring the artists of the Some Bizzare label
- Snub TVSnub TVSnub TV or simply Snub was a alternative culture television programme that ran from 1987 to 1989. Originally produced as a part of the Nightflight in the USA, it went on to success in the UK and other countries...
Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
's Monogram
Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures Corporation is a Hollywood studio that produced and released films, most on low budgets, between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram is considered a leader among the smaller studios sometimes referred to...
films were recurring features. Other segments included condensed parodies of low-quality, out-of-copyright black-and-white-era movies and serials
Serial (film)
Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials, Film serials or Chapter plays, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. They were related to pulp magazine serialized fiction...
, as well as letters from viewers.
The show would also highlight movies that were regarded as cult hits. Examples include:
- Fantastic Planet, the EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
title of La Planète Sauvage (literally "The Savage Planet") an animated 19731973 in filmThe year 1973 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces his second wife, Barbara Blakely. Blakely would later marry actor/singer Frank Sinatra....
science fictionScience fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
filmFilmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by René LalouxRené LalouxRené Laloux was a French animator and film director.-Biography:He was born in Paris in 1929 and went to art school to study painting. After some time working in advertising, he got a job in a psychiatric institution where he began experimenting in animation with the interns...
. - The Kentucky Fried MovieThe Kentucky Fried MovieThe Kentucky Fried Movie is an American comedy film, released in 1977 and directed by John Landis. The film's writers were the team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker. This same team would go on to write and direct Airplane!, Top Secret! and the Police Squad! television series and its...
, an AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comedy filmComedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
, released in 1977 and directed by John LandisJohn LandisJohn David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...
. - Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous StainsLadies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous StainsLadies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains is a 1981 film about three teenage girls, played by Diane Lane, Laura Dern and Marin Kanter, who start a punk band. Shot in British Columbia, Canada, the film also featured Ray Winstone, Christine Lahti, ex-Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, along with...
, the story of a proto-riot girl band, directed by Lou AdlerLou AdlerLou Adler is an American record producer, manager, and director.-Life and career:Adler was born in Chicago, Illinois in December 1933, and raised in East Los Angeles. In 1964, Adler founded and co-owned Dunhill Records. He was President of the label as well as the chief record producer from 1964...
. - Music of the Spheres, a low-budget psychological science fiction mystery, directed by Philip Jackson and starring Peter Brickmanis and Anne Dansereau. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076426/
- Rude BoyRude Boy (film)Rude Boy is a 1980 British film directed by Jack Hazan and David Mingay and filmed in 1978 and early 1979.The film, part fiction, part rockumentary, tells the story of Ray Gange, a Clash fan who leaves his job in a Soho sex shop to become a roadie for the band...
, a punk rockPunk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
drama featuring The ClashThe ClashThe Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
. - Breaking GlassBreaking GlassBreaking Glass is a 1980 British film starring Hazel O'Connor, Phil Daniels and Jonathan Pryce. The film was co-produced by Dodi Fayed and written and directed by Brian Gibson. The film was screened out of competition at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival....
, a musical drama starring Hazel O'ConnorHazel O'ConnorHazel O'Connor is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of a soldier from Galway who settled in England after World War II to work in a car plant...
and directed by Brian Gibson. - Flesh for FrankensteinFlesh for FrankensteinAndy Warhol's Frankenstein or Flesh for Frankenstein is a 1973 horror film directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Andy Warhol, Andrew Braunsberg, Louis Peraino, and Carlo Ponti and starring Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Monique van Vooren and Arno Juerging...
and Blood for DraculaBlood for DraculaBlood for Dracula is a 1974 film directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Andy Warhol and Andrew Braunsberg. It stars Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Maxime McKendry, Stefania Casini, and Arno Juerging...
, two horror satires directed by Paul MorrisseyPaul MorrisseyPaul Morrissey is an American film director, best-known for his association with Andy Warhol.Morrissey attended Ampleforth College, a private Roman Catholic boarding school and Fordham University, both Roman Catholic schools, and later served in the United States Army...
and initially presented by Andy WarholAndy WarholAndrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
.
Programming intentions
In issue #77 of the entertainment magazine Boston RockBoston Rock
Boston Rock was a tabloid format entertainment magazine published in Boston, Massachusetts. Its focus, as stated on the cover was: fashion, style, and entertainment. The main focus was on the local music scene and indie rock....
, Night Flight's Director of Programming Stuart Samuels, was interviewed about the show. He is introduced as having a doctorate in the History Of Ideas, having been a former professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, a teacher of annual seminars at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, and as the author of a book on cult film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
classics titled Midnight Movies. He describes their intention as wanting to "...put the videos together in some kind of thematic categories...so that the videos were saying something to each other and were letting the audience make conclusions from them." He also states that they never felt in competition with MTV, as they wanted to be; "...a little more selective... intelligent and... stimulating." He claims they were the first to put director's names on the videos, interview the bands, create band profiles, show uncensored videos and longform 12" remix videos; as well as the first to put together politically oriented shows about subjects like apartheid in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. He states that their intention was not to be "...heavy-handed, but do 'here's-something-that's-in-the-news' shows". Samuels and the interviewer also speak of a backlash against the stagnation and repetition of rock video (circa 1986), which inspired Night Flight to program even more animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
, cult and camp films. Samuels also gives the background of Senior Producer Stuart Shapiro as having run a company that was instrumental in the distribution of cult, midnight movie and campy films like Tunnelvision.
Films shown on Night Flight
- Assassin of YouthAssassin of YouthAssassin of Youth is an exploitation film directed by Elmer Clifton. It is a pre-WWII movie about the supposed ill effects of cannabis. The movie is often considered a clone of the much more famous Reefer Madness...
- The BrainThe Brain (1988 film)The Brain is a 1988 Canadian science fiction horror film depicting a giant brain like alien that terrorizes. The film has developed a small cult following.-Plot:...
- Daughters of DarknessDaughters of DarknessDaughters of Darkness is a 1971 Belgian horror film , directed by Harry Kümel...
- Dementia 13Dementia 13Dementia 13 is a 1963 horror thriller released by American International Pictures, starring William Campbell, Patrick Magee, and Luana Anders. The film was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Roger Corman...
- Fantastic PlanetFantastic PlanetFantastic Planet is a 1973 animated science fiction film directed by René Laloux, production designed by Roland Topor, written by both of them and animated at Jiří Trnka Studio. The film was an international production between France and Czechoslovakia and was distributed in the United States by...
- Kentucky Fried Movie
- Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous StainsLadies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous StainsLadies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains is a 1981 film about three teenage girls, played by Diane Lane, Laura Dern and Marin Kanter, who start a punk band. Shot in British Columbia, Canada, the film also featured Ray Winstone, Christine Lahti, ex-Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, along with...
- The Red House
- Reefer MadnessReefer MadnessReefer Madness is a well-known 1936 American propaganda exploitation film revolving around the melodramatic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to try "marijuana" — from a hit and run accident, to manslaughter, suicide, attempted rape, and descent into madness...
- Scared to DeathScared to Death (1981 film)Scared to Death, also known as The Aberdeen Experiment and Scared to Death: Syngenor, is a 1981 B horror/science fiction film directed by William Malone.-Synopsis:...
- ShameShame (1988 film)Shame is a 1988 Australian Film directed by Steve Jodrell and starring Deborra-Lee Furness as 'Asta', for which she won both the 1988 FCCA 'Best Actor' and Golden Space Needle 'Best Actress' awards; as well as the FCCA awarding 'Best Screenplay' to both Beverley Blankenship and Michael Brindley.-...
- Spooks Run WildSpooks Run WildSpooks Run Wild is a 1941 film and the seventh film in the East Side Kids series, starring Bela Lugosi, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, and Bobby Jordan. Released in 1941, it was directed by Phil Rosen, in his first and only outing in the series, and produced by Sam Katzman . It is based on an original...
- Taking OffTaking Off (film)Taking Off is a 1971 film comedy. It was Czech director Milos Forman's first American film. It tells the story of a group of parents whose children have run away from home...
- The Pace That Kills
- The TerrorThe Terror (1963 film)The Terror is an American horror film produced by Roger Corman, and famous for being filmed on leftover film sets from other AIP productions, including The Haunted Palace...
- The Terror of Tiny TownThe Terror of Tiny TownThe Terror of Tiny Town is a 1938 American film produced by Jed Buell, directed by Sam Newfield, and starring Billy Curtis. It is the world's only musical Western with an all-midget cast....
- Urgh! A Music WarUrgh! A Music WarUrgh! A Music War is a British film released in 1982 featuring performances by punk rock, New Wave, and post-punk acts, filmed in 1980. Among the artists featured in the movie are Magazine, The Go-Go's, The Fleshtones, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, XTC, Devo, The Cramps, Oingo Boingo, Dead...
- Concerts For The People Of Kampuchea (Clips)