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The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries

These are my reviews of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries from seasons 1 and 2.  These are all either Hardy Boys or Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew crossover episodes at the moment, but after I finish season 2 I plan on circling back around and reviewing the Nancy Drew solo episodes.
 

Batman - Classic 1966 TV Series

These are my reviews of the 1966 Batman TV series.  I was writing these in 2016 for the 50th anniversary of the show, and my plan was to do two reviews a week, on their orignal airdates, but I wasn't able to write them fast enough and they eventually fell down to once a week, and then not at all.  Hopefully I'll do more of these someday, but until then, here's what I have:





Haunted Television

These are reviews of Horror or Halloween themed episodes of various TV shows.

Saturday Morning Horror - 1966
Counting down the top 6 spooky, scary, or monster-filled cartoons that were available to kids on 1966 Saturday mornings, starting with the least scary, and working my way up to the most horrifying!

Hanna Barbera Horror  
Hanna Barbera's adventure, fantasy, sci-fi, and superhero cartoons often explored horror movie subjects, although in a generally safe, kid-friendly way.  Let's enjoy a few highlights for Halloween! Featuring reviews of:
Frankenstein Jr. - The Shocking Electrical Monster
Space Ghost - Creature King
Dino Boy in the Lost Valley - The Vampire Men
Space Ghost - The Haunted Space Station
The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians - The Fear

 

Halloween With The Addams Family (1964) 
Halloween - Addams Style (1965) 
Halloween with the Addams Family takes place on Halloween, as the Addams family prepares for the holiday.  Wednesday and Pugsley get dressed up in their costumes for a night of trick-or-treating, while the rest of the family prepare punch and other party favors for any guests who may show up at their door.  They receive two guests in the form of a pair of bank robbers (one of whom is played by Don Rickles!) on the run from the police.  They think the Addams mansion will make a good place to hide out, but soon realize they've gotten more than they bargained for in the Addams's twisted house of comedic horrors.  In Halloween - Addams Style, the family tries to summon the spirit of their dead aunt to prove to Wednesday that witches are real

Beavis and Butt-Head - "Bungholio: Lord of the Harvest"
"Bungholio: Lord of the Harvest" was the Beavis and Butt-Head Halloween Special that aired on Halloween night in 1995.  It starts out like a normal Beavis and Butt-Head episode, with the boys sitting at home watching TV.  Eventually, trick-or-treaters coming to their door alert them to the fact that it is Halloween.  The boys decide to throw together some quick costumes so they can go out trick-or-treating and score some candy.  Beavis puts underwear on his head and says he is a "nad."  Butt-Head pours hot cheese sauce over his head and says he is "nachos."

What follows is some typical Beavis and Butt-Head comedy as the boys travel door-to-door and interact humorously with the people in their neighborhood, including regular characters like Mr. Van Dreissen, the hippie high school teacher, and old man Tom Anderson.  But things take a dark turn into horror when Beavis ingests so much candy that the sugar rush transforms him into his alter ego "Cornholoio,"  and his insane meanderings lead to a series of violent incidents culminating in his own death.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - "Space Vampire"
Buck and Wilma are dropping off Twiki for a tune-up at a space station, when a derelict space-freighter crashes into the station.  The ship is the I.S. Demeter, carrying 8 crew members and 1 passenger, with all on board appearing to be dead.  The passenger was a bounty hunter named Helson.  If these names sound a little familiar, that's because "Demeter" was the name of the ship that Dracula traveled from Transylvania to England on in the novel "Dracula," and "Helson" is derived from Professor Van Helsing.  That's right, this episode is Buck Rogers vs. Space Dracula

CHiPs - "Rock Devil Rock"
"Rock Devil Rock" has gotta be one of the best episodes of CHiPs, and it's a Halloween special, to boot.  It features Donny Most (AKA Ralph the Mouth from Happy Days) as "Moloch," a Satanic KISS-styled shock rocker!  I just LOVE corny fake rock bands on old TV shows from the '60s, '70s, and '80s, and CHiPs had more than it's fair share.  Casting a gigantic dork like Ralph Mouth as the rock star is just the icing on the cake!  The twist is that mysterious events are placing his life in danger, and it seems as if the Devil himself is plotting to kill the singer.  Elvira guest stars in an episode directed by John (Gomez Addams) Astin!

CHiPs - "Things That Go Creep in the Night"
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, returns for her second episode of CHiPs as Ponch and Company try to solve the mystery of a frightened young woman (played by Kelly Preston in one of her earliest roles) with amnesia who is being stalked by a comic book sea-monster that has come to life!  This is a pretty wacky episode of CHiPs that is jam-packed full of tasty horror movie and comic book nonsense.

CHiPs - "Trick or Trick"
It's Halloween, and Ponch and Jon are on patrol in the suburbs, looking to keep the trick-or-treating kiddies safe on the streets.  During the night the duo hunt down a liquor store robbing ghost, search for a runaway boy, nab a candy-snatcher, and explore a haunted house.

Knight Rider - "Halloween Knight"
How much Halloween kookiness can be crammed into one episode about the adventures of a vigilante crime-fighter and his talking car?  So much your brain will hurt.

Galactica 1980 - "The Night the Cylons Landed"
 Halloween themed episode of the horrible sequel series to Battlestar Galactica.



Holiday Specials

Christmas, Thanksgiving, or any other TV holiday special other than Halloween goes here.  And yeah, that includes "Life Day." 

The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
I recently had the opportunity to use my time machine to travel back in time, and have my 6 year old self liveblog the Star Wars Holiday Special as he watched it being broadcast on TV on November 17, 1978...

The Ren & Stimpy Show - Son of Stimpy (1993)
A husband and wife are torn apart after their son runs away from home.  The wife frantically searches through the snow-covered streets for him during the holiday season.  Will the family be reunited in time for Christmas?  It sounds like a holiday tearjerker, doesn't it?  Wait, did I mention that the husband is an angry, violence-prone chihuahua, the wife is an obese, idiot cat, and the lost son is a stinky FART?  This, my friends, is The Ren & Stimpy Show's holiday episode, "Son of Stimpy."


Beavis and Butt-Head Christmas, Part 1: A Very Special Christmas With Beavis and Butt-Head
Beavis and Butt-Head Christmas, Part2 :Beavis and Butt-Head Do Christmas 
Beavis and Butt-Head had two Christmas specials.  The first was "A Very Special Christmas With Beavis and Butt-Head" and it originally aired on December 17, 1993.  It consisted entirely of Beavis and Butt-Head sitting on the couch, commenting on Christmas music videos. 

The second was "Beavis and Butt-Head Do Christmas" which originally aired December 19, 1995.  It featured two animated segments that parodied A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life, and several short bits with Butt-Head dressed as Santa Claus (and with Beavis as a reindeer) answering Christmas letters from the show's fans.  These segments were interspersed with clips of Beavis and Butt-Head sitting on the couch watching Christmas videos that were taken from the first Christmas special. 

Twilight Zone: Night of the Meek
"The Night of the Meek," a Christmas episode of the Twilight Zone features this introductory narration from Rod Serling: "This is Mr. Henry Corwin, normally unemployed.  Who, once a year takes the lead role in a uniquely popular American institution, that of the department store Santa Claus, in a road show company version of "The Night Before Christmas."  But in just a moment, Mr. Henry Corwin, ersatz Santa Claus, will enter a strange kind of North Pole, which is one part the wondrous spirit of Christmas, and one part the magic that can only be found... in the TWILIGHT ZONE."

South Park: Woodland Critter Christmas
One of several Christmas episodes produced by South Park, "Woodland Critter Christmas" starts off like a typical children's Christmas special, before descending into twisted, satanic madness.  Two weeks after posting this, it was all ready my most read post of all time. 



 

Complete List of Television Posts:













3 comments:

  1. JessAugust 7, 2013 at 7:10 PM

    Will there be Seasons 2 and 3 of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries to come in the near future?

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    Replies
    1. Joshua RaymondAugust 8, 2013 at 12:42 AM

      I will definitely be doing them at some point. I haven't had much spare time to work on this blog, lately, but I've been itching to watch more episodes of The Hardy Boys lately... so hopefully it won't be TOO much longer.

      Delete
    2. Joshua RaymondOctober 12, 2013 at 1:17 AM

      For any Hardy Boys fans who might be reading these comments: My current plan is to start reviewing Season 2 in November, after the Countdown to Halloween is finished.

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