NOWHERE MAN - "His Life Was Erased" (1995-96)

On this July 4th, I've got a loaded Saturday Night Special for you called "Nowhere Man," because that's what this day of Independence 2020 feels like, confused, lost and alone!

 "Nowhere Man" was a TV series I completely missed back in 1995-96 that was on the air for one season and 25 episodes! This is a very disturbing photo that is going to cause one man to have a whole life of misery in a short amount of time, and it sure seems like the government has a whole lot to do with it!

 Considering the quality of this show, cranking out that many episodes in such a short amount of time deserves more attention than it probably ever got.

 The next time you decide to get hitched, don't forget that the Lewis Motel has bridal suites!

 Bruce Greenwood is Tom Veil, a talented photographer!
In his lenthy career, Bruce has been everything from Kennedy in 2000 to being in stuff like "Hollywood  Homicide," "I, Robot," and "The World's Fastest Indian." He's still active and working today!

 Tom is having his first big gallery show. Everybody loves his work, but he's already ready to go! The first two episodes are directed by Tobe (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) Hooper, and are probably about as good as TV gets!

 Tom and his beautiful wife Alyson bug out and go get a celebratory bite to eat!
Alyson is played by Megan (Star:Trek:Deep Space Nine) Gallagher.

 Tom and Alyson get into a bit of tiff, and Tom goes into the bathroom and smokes a cigarette, and when he comes back...............

............Alyson is gone, and this couple is sitting at his table! Not only is his wife gone, but his whole life is now gone too!

Employees at the restaurant that he has known for years suddenly don't know who he is, and when he starts making a scene, he's rudely shown the front door!

Desperate, he calls home, but the number is not good any more!

Tom gets a cab and goes home, Alyson opens the door and acts like she doesn't know who he is, and this other guy is now her husband! He still thinks it's some kind of horrible prank!

Just nothing is right, and he can't figure it out! How can it possibly be? Even his keys won't open familiar locks any longer!

With desperation growing deeper, Tom hides in the back of Alyson's car so he can talk to her alone. She's so scared, she goes along with him for a while, but when she gets a chance, she blows the whistle on him, and continues to act like she does not know him!

Of course, to everybody else but himself, Tom is nuttier than a fruitcake, and ends up in a straitjacket in this warm and comfortable hospital!

The Doctor takes him to his studio, but the photograph in question is no longer there, and only Tom knows where the negatives are, and he ain't talking!

Tom gets out of there, and goes to see his best friend, only to find him in this condition on the top shelf in a closet!

Then Tom goes to visit his estranged Mother, but finds himself staring into a potential face full of bullets instead!


The second episode is also directed by Tobe Hooper and revolves around Tom trying to rescue this woman named Ellen Combs who has been brainwashed, but she ends up turning on him too.
Ellen was played by Mimi Craven, who was born on September 28. 1957, and was in some movies like "Swamp Thing and "Nightmare On Elm Street." She was born Millicent E. Meyer, but took on the Craven last name when she was married to Director Wes Craven for five years.

The third episode was directed by 60's teen heart throb James (Moondoggie) Darren, and is about this psychic boy named Derek, who can't see, but knows more than anybody else about what's happening to Tom!

If you combined "The Fugitive" and "The Prisoner," and booted it thirty years into the future, and then you just might get a feel for what "Nowhere Man" is all about!
In the fourth episode, Tom gets captured again, and they try to reprogram his memory to make him think he was married to another woman, and by the sixth episode he finds out they are filming his ordeal as a TV show, ala "The Secret Cinema." So far, I've really enjoyed it, and am looking forward to see if they can keep up the momentum for the full 25 episodes! I hope so!
Many thanks again to Lord Litter, 'The Renegade of Culture Since 1984, for informing me about this show, and speaking of shows, do yourself a musical favor and go listen to one of his radio shows, they are simply the best!

CAPTAIN VIDEO AND HIS VIDEO RANGERS / 1949-55

There's nothing like opening up a can of worms with some of our posts, like today's for example... First there was no title card, I would have had to read story lines from six years of episodes to try and find even the title of this episode that makes very little sense and the audio was bad. I told that idea to go to Hell! So, what we gots is this incoherent selection from that series... This was the very first kid's space adventure show ever on TV!

Here's some info on the show - "Guardian of the Safety of the World", private citizen-scientist Captain Video is assisted by his teenage helper and an army of Video Rangers. Their aim is to preserve the peace on Earth in the far-flung future, fighting the likes of evil Dr. Pauli (of the Astroidal Society) and a pile of other bad guys like Nargola, Mook, Kul, Clysmok! The show appeared nightly Mon-Fri and featured many outlandish weapons and techno-gimmicks.

Al Hodge plays Captain Video, here, he hears a strange story from I think a general, who knows? Anyway, something's rotten in Denmark, and the Rangers need to get on the stick!

Cut to this guy, he a mad scientist building some kind of super plane to screw with you know, people! He's running around his lab muttering to himself about taking over the world and all.

Then, there's this freaking weirdo, another scientist off his rocker, he's talking with some dude from France or something. He's telling him about his new device that can destroy the whole damn universe! Wait a minute, say WHUT!! Man, these guys really ham it up!

Cut to commercial!.. Time to make some money. So, here we have a Video Rangers ring that kids can send in for.

I swear, the guy says something like, kids, if you ever get in a scrape with a cop or someone of authority, well, just show them your Captain Video ring and they will know you're on the right side of crime fighting!

Just mail in two Powerhouse candy wrappers and 10 cents to get your own Video Rangers ring!

Back to the action... the Captain communicates with his Rangers in their plane. They're looking for something but can't seem to locate it... Bor-ing!

I guess this was part of the show when they hit the doldrums, the Cap goes over to his video viewer and turns it on. A western movie comes on the screen...

The star is none other than Buster Crabbe, that guy was my hero in the fifties. To start with, Buster was the 1932 Olympic 400-meter freestyle swimming champion. He played Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Tarzan and Billy the Kid, who I believe is him here.

Him and his pal punk the sheriff and help their other buddy escape from jail and then ditch the posse, they play another commercial and that's it. I'm guessing Eegah!! will have something cool for us tomorrow, sees you then.

THE FILM FAN - "Porky's Day Out" (1939)

Here's a great little Weird Wednesday distraction! It's a 1939 Warner Bros. cartoon titled "The Film Fan." Originally made in black and white, it was colorized once in 1968, and then again with a computer in 1992.

This one stars a very youthful Pork Pig as a boy with a short attention span!

A local movie theater is just getting ready to have their grand opening!

There are all kinds of gags of course!

And more jokes!

Porky Pig has been sent by his Mother to go to the market to get a loaf of bread, and a bottle of milk, so as he walks he's repeating her words to him......."A loaf of bread, a bottle of milk, and come home right away" over and over!

But when he walks by the theater, his brain automatically changes the verse to "A loaf of bread, a bottle of milk and kids admitted free."

At that point, he stops dead in his tracks, and makes a beeline into the theater!

Back in the day, the theaters would show cartoons, and short newsreels before the movie started!

Good time for more gags!

This scientist named Professor Widebottom is responsible for coming up with this super prismatic microscope that allows humans for the first time in scientific history to see germs in their blood stream!

Not really that funny any more!

The scientist turns out to be a big goof that you wouldn't really want to trust to do anything!

It was free, but Poky got a seat all the way in the back, but then he sees that there is a vacant seat in the front row so he bolts down the aisle!

A film teacher in college told me movies were made to be bigger than life, and you should always sit in the first 10 or 12 rows, so you won't have any distractions!

In 1978 when "Superman" came out, the show was almost sold out, and I think we got the two last tickets, because the only seats available were in the front row, and it looked exactly like this!

More gags!

I love this shot of all the kids really enjoying the show! It reminds me a lot of going to a matinee on Saturday morning when I was about Porky's age.

I guess the reference point will be a moot point soon!

That will no longer be a problem!

The Usher gets an angry call from Porky's Mother and makes the announcement.....

"If there is a little boy in this theater that was sent to the store by his Mother, he better get home right away!" and Porky slithers out of his seat and runs away up the aisle!

The story ends with the whole theater emptying out and deflating because every kid there was doing the same thing!