Thursday, January 24, 2008

Kaptain Kool & the Kongs

Oh, dear readers, did you forget 1977 entirely? Not that I blame you, but come on!

Kaptain Kool & the Kongs were the hosts/house band for the awful Krofft Supershow back in the 1970's. The first season, they were a glam rock band that (although it was never admitted to) apparently huffed a lot of paint. They looked like this the first season:



As if that weren't scary enough, you can see them introduce themselves here.

The show was an awful, and not even in a good way, mixing of horrible shows that Sid & Marty Krofft couldn't foist on the public individually. The first season included Wonderbug:



and Deidre Hall hoping you didn't see her in the title role of Electra Woman:



Just to make you afraid to ask me to remember any more about this train wreck of a television program, here's the opening intro from a first season show.



After the first season, someone apparently put the bong down long enough to see that this was pretty bad, even by Saturday morning network television standards, and cleaned up the show. Sorta. First, they dressed Kaptain Kool & the Kongs like the Fonz:



And they replaced all the mini-shows except Wonderbug with more dignified programming like Bigfoot & Wildboy, the heartwarming tale of a Sasquatch and the kid he was raising for some reason, although the guy who played Wildboy was easily in his twenties:



And, before you accuse me of going totally off-topic, there was even a comic book put out by Whitman. So there!



It lasted six issues. And before you turn up your nose at the fact it only lasted six issues, keep in mind that this is half of the lifespan of Nextwave, so it's not like we know good stuff when we see it these days, either.

Be careful when you ask me questions, dear ones. Sometimes, the answer is this.

Now, just to freak you out even further, the guys in the band actually have some cred. The guy who played "Flatbush" was Bert Sommer, who played a solo gig at Woodstock and the guy who played Turkey was the drummer for Three Dog Night. A halfway decent performance can be found here.

And, by the way - the guy who played Kaptain Kool became a well-known director, having directed a slew of popular sitcoms and the last two installments of the Santa Clause movies. He also won an Emmy for his work on Friends (yes, the one with Jennifer Aniston).

You'll find as you go through life that really strange things happen....

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow.
Just wow.

Also, we need more Nextwave

Sea-of-Green said...

Thanks for that, Alan! Wow. Believe it or not, I remember ElectraWoman and DynaGirl (Dyna-terrific! Dyna-wow!), and I vaguely remember Bigfoot and Wildboy. But I don't remember Kaptain Kool & company AT ALL.

Maybe I just blocked 'em out of my mind ... :-)

De said...

That stain on the wall behind my couch is an indication that my mind has been blown.

Gah.

And of course, I watched all of this stuff. Hooray for callow youth.

Anonymous said...

the pilot for the 2001 remake of electra woman and dyna girl is sheer genius, it is possible one of the most appalling things I've seen

SallyP said...

Ah, the 70's, a kidney-stone of a decade.

I can honestly say that I don't remember this is in the least, but then I was in college and actually got married that year, so perhaps my mind was on other things.

sasseriansection said...

the Kroft comic book (one pictured) was actually one of my first introductions to the funnybooks. I remember stealing that, Batman, a Green Arrow / Green Lantern book, Casper and various others.

From what I recall, the story was mildly entertaining, though I had the faint childhood feeling of "the people that make this have got to be on drugs".

Anonymous said...

Fortunately, in England we were not mind-mushed with this pap. Give me The Banana Splits any day. Now THAT was a real show!

Anonymous said...

I actually bought the comics recently intending to mock them.

Make fun of them is almost pointless though.

But I filed them away planning to blog about Kaptain Kool & the Kongs. You beat me to it man.

Good job.

Anonymous said...

I remember watching Wonderbug as well as Bigfoot & Wild Boy. Both shows were awesome. Bigfoot & Wild boy was one of my friends favorite show.

Anonymous said...

Right on, Mr. Said. Don't know why "bloggers" must always be synonymous with "bitchers." The show wasn't a train wreck to you then was it? Were you really a kid watching it going "ew, what a godawful train wreck of a show?" These were fun shows, I loved them. Why does sasquatch have to be raising the kid "for some reason," as though it were a gaping plot hole that was never explained on the show every time in the opening credits? It's no less ludicrous than any other kids' show. Gimme a break. Admit that you loved this stuff, it ruled.

Anonymous said...

I think that I am one of the few people that remember this show fondly. It was completely insane, over the top and pointless. Who cares? I was 10 years old. The garbage on now is no different with the exception of the a slightly larger budget than Sid & Marty.

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