The Worst of Hollywood

The Worst of Hollywood

"The Worst of Hollywood" was a 1983 television series presented by Michael Medved and screened on Channel 4.

Overview

Following the success of his "Golden Turkey Awards" books Medved had become a popular guest on British TV chat shows. The series screened late on a Friday night in what became established as Channel 4's slot for 'post pub television. In each programme, Medved would introduce that week's B movie with a comedic lecture to a studio audience pointing out flaws in the film and relating funny stories about the production. This format contrasted with the established 'high art' approach to presenting cinema of the BBC channels. Following a commercial break the film would be shown with humorous subtitles and captions pointing up poor special effects and dialogue.

Films featured

The featured films were:

*"Plan 9 from Outer Space"
*"The Creeping Terror"
*"The Wild Women of Wongo"
*"They Saved Hitler's Brain"
*"Mars Needs Women"
*"Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster"
*"The Thing With Two Heads"
*"Eegah"
*"Robot Monster"
*"Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" - the Christmas edition

After the film Medved would return with a short summary concluding each week with "..the worst is yet to come".

Medved's opening lectures usually followed the line that there was only a narrow distinction between critically panned films such as these and the types of films Hollywood continued to produce.

Production

The series was produced by Stephen Woolley with the opening lectures being filmed at the Scala Cinema he owned and managed. The commercial breaks usually featured adverts for cult films being distributed by Woolley's Palace Video.

Clive James' documentary

The ten week run was preceded by a one hour documentary presented by Clive James, who was already established as Channel 4's critic in residence and featuring Medved as an expert. The documentary included clips from more cult and underground films that UK television could not screen at that time.

Legacy

The popularity of the series encouraged the Channel to embrace programming more Cult film and commission similar late night strands presented by Jonathan Ross.

ee also

*Mystery Science Theater 3000
*The Canned Film Festival


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • List of films considered the worst — The films listed here have achieved notably negative reception as being called the worst films ever made. The films have been cited by a combination of reputable sources as the worst movies of all time. Examples of such sources include Metacritic …   Wikipedia

  • The Golden Turkey Awards — is a 1980 book by film critic Michael Medved and his brother Harry Medved. This book is credited with giving the movie Plan 9 from Outer Space by Edward D. Wood, Jr. the reputation of being the worst movie ever made .The book awards the fictional …   Wikipedia

  • Vote for the Worst — Infobox Website name = VoteForTheWorst.com favicon = Vftwfav2.jpg caption = Accessed May 8, 2008 url = http://www.votefortheworst.com commercial = Yes type = Entertainment website registration = Optional owner = VoteForTheWorst.com author = Dave… …   Wikipedia

  • The Shining (film) — The Shining Theatrical release poster Directed by Stanley Kubrick Produced by Stanle …   Wikipedia

  • The Dukes of Hazzard (film) — The Dukes of Hazzard Theatrical release poster Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar Pro …   Wikipedia

  • The Fifty Worst Films of All Time — is a 1978 book by Harry Medved, with Randy Dreyfuss and Michael Medved. This book represents their subjective nominations for the 50 worst sound films ever made, in alphabetical order. The book features a story synopsis for each film, the authors …   Wikipedia

  • The Chevy Chase Show — title card Format Talk Show Developed by Cornelius Productions …   Wikipedia

  • The China Probrem — South Park episode Indiana Jones being stripped to his briefs and about to be raped by George Lucas and Steven Spiel …   Wikipedia

  • The X-Files: I Want to Believe — Theatrical release poster Directed by Chris Carter Produced by …   Wikipedia

  • The Marriage Ref — title card, featuring host Tom Papa Language(s) English No. of seasons 2 …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”