MonsterVision

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MonsterVision

MonsterVision title card.
Directed by Greg V. Feta
Starring Joe Bob Briggs, Renner St. John
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
Production
Camera setup Single
Running time Roughly 4 hours.
Broadcast
Original channel TNT
Picture format (SDTV)
Original run April 1993 – 2000
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

MonsterVision is a television horror show on TNT (1993-2000), hosted by Joe Bob Briggs from 1995-2000.[1] The show was known for showing classic 1960s, 1970s and 1980s B-movies and cult films.

Penn and Teller guest-hosted MonsterVision marathons before Briggs came on board as the full time host. [2] Late in its run, the show changed formats, discarded "Last Call," and became Joe Bob's Hollywood Saturday Night and "MonsterVision."[3]

Contents

[edit] Format

MonsterVision would typically show two films per night, with the more well-known movie usually getting top billing. The second movie was billed as Joe Bob's Last Call. After commercial breaks, Briggs would talk about the films and other subjects. Briggs would host the segments from inside and outside a trailer and was visited by his mail girl, Rusty, played by Renner St. John[4] Occasionally, the program featured guests, such as rapper, actor and blaxploitation film buff Ice-T (Surviving The Game), cult director John Waters (Hairspray) and Mel Stuart, director of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and the documentary Four Days in November (both shown on Monstervision).

Joe Bob Briggs
Joe Bob Briggs

Before each film, Briggs would usually give the "drive-in totals," a list of what he considers the high points of the movie. For example, in his introduction to Phantasm II, Briggs said:

"Twelve dead bodies. Exploding house. One four-barreled sawed-off shotgun. Dwarf tossing. Ten breasts. (Of course, those are scissored out of the TNT version). Embalming needles plunged through various parts of various bodies. One motor-vehicle chase, with crash-and-burn. Ear-lopping. Forehead-drilling. Wrist-hacking. Bimbo-flinging. Grandma-bashing. Devil sex. Crematorium Fu. Flamethrower Fu ... Four stars. Check it out."[5]

MonsterVision would occasionally stray from horror and science fiction in showing western, blaxploitation, kung-fu, dramas, comedies and other film genres. Trivia given by the host during commercial breaks might include controversy associated with a film, such as when John Carpenter was accused of racism by Asian activists for Big Trouble In Little China, a Kurt Russell film almost exclusively co-starring Asian actors and well-known martial artists imported from Hong Kong! Or how the 1979 movie The Warriors supposedly promoted gang violence (more recently spun-off into a computer game by the same name, set just before the events of the movie). After both movies were shown, TNT would air a third film presented as 100% Weird, which Briggs did not host. [6]

The show often featured Briggs giving a monologue about certain things in life, including his four ex-wives (usually "Wanda Bodeine"). He often made fun of the "scissoring" (editing) of the films, saying "Has Ted (Turner) been crackin' down on us again?" This led to a famous running gag during a Halloween marathon of Friday the 13th movies in which strange occurrences kept happening throughout the night, leading up to Joe Bob realizing that it was Ted Turner trying to kill him, the final scene of the event led to Joe Bob giving an impassioned apology to Turner, claiming he was an amazing person, before the video feed cut off eerily. A similar stunt was staged in Blair Witch-themed host segments for a marathon showing of Carrie, Child's Play and Phantasm one night, with the host mysteriously missing. For Super Bowl Sunday in 1997, he hosted a 16-hour marathon of monster movies from New Orleans starting with The Omen.

[edit] Cancellation

Late in its run, the program changed formats to show mainly Hollywood films. Briggs has said he believes TNT showing fewer horror and drive-in movies may have led to the program's fall.[7] Briggs' last time hosting the show was in July 2000, but the last time the show aired was in September of that year. [8]

Before joining TNT, Briggs hosted a similar program on The Movie Channel called Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater. [9] Briggs went on to host MonsterVision for four years, before TNT executives decided to change the station's format.[10]

[edit] After the cancellation

Since the cancellation, Briggs has remained an active speaker and writer, and has contributed commentary tracks to several DVDs. [11] Briggs is planning on hosting a similar program on the yet-to-be-launched network HorrorNet. [12] [13] Also a petition has been created to get Joe Bob Briggs and MonsterVision back on the air that is currently linked on his website The Joe Bob Report.

[edit] References

  1. ^ John Bloom (I)
  2. ^ YouTube - TNT's MONSTERVISION - Penn & Teller
  3. ^ "Monstervision" (1993) - Release dates
  4. ^ Monstervision TV Show - Monstervision Television Show - TV.com
  5. ^ feature
  6. ^ YouTube - TNT 100 Percent Weird
  7. ^ At The Drive-In - An Interview with Joe Bob Briggs
  8. ^ The Joe Bob Report
  9. ^ "Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater" (1987)
  10. ^ The Joe Bob Report
  11. ^ The Joe Bob Report
  12. ^ ACME Joe Bob Briggs
  13. ^ HorrorNet
  1. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0089185/
  2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QyMGrMX070
  3. http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0158420/releaseinfo
  4. http://www.tv.com/monstervision/show/8211/summary.html?q=&tag=search_results;title;1
  5. http://www.joebobbriggs.com/mvtranscripts/phantasm2.html
  6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxEJFvr3SqM
  7. http://www.dvdtalk.com/interviews/at_the_drivein.html
  8. http://www.joebobbriggs.com/jbfaq.asp
  9. http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0296360/
  10. http://www.joebobbriggs.com/biography.asp
  11. http://www.joebobbriggs.com/
  12. http://www.acmewebpages.com/joebob/index.html
  13. http://www.horrornetwork.tv/

[edit] External links