Doctor Gonzo

It was on late friday and saturday nights, showed short films, concerts, and loads of other cool stuff - anyone else remember watching?

mllefoo

Absolutely!

They played the best videos and I saw many cult movies on that show including Ladies and Gentlemen the Fabulous Stains, Urgh! A Music War, and of course Fantastic Planet.

Night Flight is where I found out about Klaus Nomi.

Red Dog

Nope, but I do remember Gilbert Gottfried hosting USA Up All Night on Sat nights which featured cheesy movies from the 80s.

Pac-Rat

^They were on it too, werent they?

AGuyNamedMike

I watched Night Flight steadily. It was where I saw Duran Duran's Girls on Video and was introduced to The Art of Noise.

tonyc3742

Night Flight was cool. I think the only thing I remember, however, was 'Jekyll and Hyde--Together Again', and the video was Men at Work's 'Dr Hekyll and Mr Jive' or whatever.
I do remember that cool flying guitar bumper animation though.

I also liked Gilbert on Up All Night; I wasn't a huge fan of Rhonda Shear though.

But who I'd like to see make a comeback, at least in reruns, is Commander USA and his Groovy Movies. I think those were Sat daytimes, classic good/bad scifi/horror movies. And Hand, or whatever his name was.
Correction--Lefty.
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionC...ar31/USA13.jpg

John Sinnott

Yep! Loved it! I worked at a cable company putting on public access shows at the time. I'd have to work untill 3 am on the weekends, so I'd spend my free time (I had a lot) watching Night Flight. Great stuff.

-Videophile

Strafe

Yep, used to watch that in college. Thats where I first saw Schwarzenegger's Pumping Iron I remember they used to have some hillarious shorts, can anyone refresh my memory?

Buford T Pusser

Yes, I remember watching it. Good stuff. What years was it on?

Derrich

Night Flight is what MTV should have become. Good music videos and some great short films. The religion of Bob is still going strong.

bboisvert

Yep, Night Flight was my introduction to "Fantastic Planet" and lots of other great stuff. It's really too bad that there doesn't seem to be a market out there for a cable channel to show random, obscure stuff like this any more. I bet more than half of the things they put on have not been show on the air anywhere since...

Geofferson

Same here. I don't remember Night Flight, but Gilbert Goddfried's Up All Night is engraved in my brain permanently.

Numanoid

Night Flight was incredible! It captured the early '80s perfectly, showing videos before MTV, and exposing us to truly alternative music, film, and art. Bands such as Devo were quite often profiled, and it made short films such as Bambi Vs. Godzilla instant classics.

joefrog91

Yeah, Night Flight was pretty cool. I saw Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, Reefer Madness, a documentary about the Church of the Subgenius and Sex Madness. Those movies were crazy.

RichardW

I spent many Friday and Saturday nights watching that show. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound so good. Anyway, I found this link so we could all reminisce.

DRG

I loved Night Flight... you never knew what you were gonna get, but it was all entertaining for some weird reason (and I was only 9 or 10 years old at the time). I would love to have a channel with that same sort of random offbeat mentality, but it'll never happen. I especially love the gay Lone Ranger bit and Bambi Meets Godzilla.

DVDsucker

I remember it well - New Wave Theater & the Hilarious 'J-Men Forever'

Mondo Kane

I remember one night when they showed Jim Morrison's 16mm flick, "The Unknown Soldier"....Immediately followed by a Bugs Bunny toon!

Doctor Gonzo

Maybe USA network to bring it back - that would be cool. anyone watch a channel called Trio? (I know directv carries it) "Pop Culture Television" is their tag line, This would go over big on Trio.

philo

Yeah I remember seeing Night Flight as a wee lad but mainly when I went to Cape Cod because that's the only place we had cable. I would watch the Alfred Hitchcock Hour around that time too and movies like Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell.

I think Night Flight might have been syndicated later in its run and sorta changed formats but I remember seeing Bedhead, an early Robert Rodriguez short film and also part of David Lynch's Industrial Symphony #1. I think maybe Keith Gordon hosted it for a short time but maybe I'm wrong.

Funny to see that Commander USA pic. That's something I also vividly recall, (in that getup how could you not?) I saw that guy in some commercials not too long ago. I think maybe for an electronics store. Strangely, I thought of that guy when I first saw The Comedian character in Alan Moore's WATCHMEN.

Seems like TV used to be a lot more eclectic than it is today. We have many more channels but do they really offer more variety? I miss discovering odd/ rarely seen stuff on television.

Giantrobo

I remember Night Flight. Great show.

renaldow

I think this thread is definitely a litmus test for age!!!

Loved this show, I'd stay up all night watching it just about every weekend.

RichardW: Thanks for the link. For the past 20 odd years I've been trying to find a movie I saw on there, a documentary about Social Distortion's cross country tour. I found it there in about 3 clicks!!


Night Flight exposed a lot of people to things they otherwise wouldn' have seen, and ideas that they wouldn't have thought about. The movies ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime, but as a teenager sitting at home in the rural suburbs I soaked up more about pop culture than anyone I know. If it were still on today, I'd probably wach it.

Drive-In Nut

This show was outstanding! A couple of things.....Last year there was a monthly (3 months I think) revival of Night Flight on Directv pay per view called Midnight Rider(?). It had the same announcer chick that used to be the announcer on Night Flight too. I remember seeing this FREAKY old silent black and white film short about this psycho killer. Dont remember too much about it but it was pretty gory for an old silent film. VERY groundbreaking program.

Neitzl

Night Flight is where I was able to video the entire TheThe "Infected" videography. That was great. They showed some of the best music videos out at the time.

Chipmaker

Night Flight rocked. It played music videos that MTV wouldn't, and this was back when MTV was close to good. Plus they'd play long, thematic blocs of vids -- I've got a couple of shows on tape (4th and 5th anniversaries, IIRC), one with over an hour of animated vids, the other a huge Godley & Cream retrospective.; Wonderful stuff.

Porky Pig hammering away, smashing his thumb, and saying "Oh son of a-a-a b-b-, son of a-a b-b-b, son of a b-b-b- gun!" -- turns to camera -- "Ha ha ha! You thought I was gonna say 'son of a bitch', didn't you?"

Only on Night Flight.