Back in the day, USA Network offered a more eclectic lineup than they do now.
Evidence of this was in the late night movie anthology block, USA Up All Night, which ran initially overnights on Saturdays, then added Friday night-Saturday mornings about six months in. Actor-comedian Gilbert Gottfried (ex-Saturday Night Live), fresh from a stint on MTV, was the first host, but most people might associate the series with its longest tenured MC, comedienne Rhonda Shear, who did a lot of on location interviews in addition to comedy sketches during commercial breaks.
Up All Night ran for 9 years (1989-98), and was cut when former Fox executive Barry Diller took over USA, and decided to make some changes. The movie roster during the series run was eclectic, all right, a mix of familiar feature films that the network had broadcast rights to (i.e. "The Blues Brothers", "Swamp Thing") and B-movies, such as "Rebel High" & "The Curious Female", the featured films (which we won't see) in a December 1991 installment. The video package has Rhonda alternating between the studio and a 10th anniversary party for the radio version of Rockline (the TV version of which, of course, was over on MTV).
From Rhonda's own YouTube channel:
Giving a "sizzle kiss" on the butt of a Bart Simpson doll? Funny, yes, but it probably wouldn't fly today.
Rating: B.
4 comments:
I remember Up All Night; it was kind of a pre-MST3K (showcasing such 'classic' movies as Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid, Joysticks, A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell, Cheerleaders Wild Weekend and Hot Times at Montclair High), only with all the riffing being done during the bumpers leading into and out of commercial breaks. UAN replaced Night Flight, a late Friday night collection of music videos and other assorted stuff (one night they aired a festival of WB's Private Snafu shorts, another night they aired the lone Doonesbury TV special and a recurring segment was Mr. Bill) which was one of several programs intended to attract the audience for MTV, which was still showing music videos at the time (see also TBS's Night Tracks and NBC's Friday Night Videos).
Plans call for covering Night Flight, FNV, & Night Tracks down the road. Also going to try to find some UAN with Gilbert Gottfried......
My kids and I used to watch Up All Night religiously. One episode that made us laugh the most was Chris Aable's interviews with dozens of the stars from the movies they would show, the best in-between interview being when Aable turned the tables on Gilbert Gottfried who tried to be his usual obnoxious character but Chris kept bringing him back to a civil discussion - rarely seen from Gottfried.
I have to find that.
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