I've got a great Saturday Night Special for you this evening, yet another unaired pilot that will just leave you scratching your head in wonder how it couldn't have possibly been sold to a network. No wonder I stopped watching TV back in those days because they weren't airing the cool stuff like this!
Orson Welles is just crazy brilliant cool, and fun to watch and listen to!
If I had to make a choice of five people from history to have dinner with, I'm pretty sure Orson would have been one of them!
"The Orson Welles Show" was done in a fairly straight forward talk show format, except they never show Orson and his guests in the same frame, at least as far as I can remember!
It's pretty damn funny, and they make like it's a coincidence that Orson and his first guest Burt Reynolds are both wearing red shirts!
Burt tells some truly funny stories and does a bit of an impersonation of Cary Grant!
Next guests up are The Muppets with Gonzo doing the cue cards!
Fozzie and Kermit get interviewed by Orson!
It's a crack up because it's all so serious!
Sometimes I get bored with a 30 minute or less show, but this show was 90 minutes long and felt like it got over too soon! It's that good!
Here's something you will never see again on a TV show, Orson Welles smokes at least three cigars over the course of 90 minutes!
Time to let the magic begin!
Sawing a woman in half wasn't good enough for Orson, he had to go for thirds!
Another Orson Welles feature you should absolutely see is his pseduo-documentary from 1973,
Not to be outdone by The Muppets, the next guests are the two main men behind The Muppets scene, Frank Oz, and Jim Henson!
Last but not least on the show is the beautiful Angie Dickinson, who doesn't say much, but instead is Orson's assistant in a couple more magic tricks!
In the "Don't Try This At Home" department, Orson's last trick is one that fatally failed when another magician from another time attempted it!
It's a form of Russian Roulette where Orson has to tell Angie when to stop firing before she hits the live shell.
Pretty Dramatic no doubt and you finally stop wondering why they couldn't sell this show!
Unfortunately Orson picks the wrong time to stop and is hideously killed by the speeding bullet!
Just kidding, but I'm sure Orson would have loved to have been carried off dead, and you didn't find out until the next week that it was all just a trick!
And while you're there check out the equally amazing radio shows by the guy who told me about this show,
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