Doctor Madblood

Doctor Madblood,^[1] a horror host character, was created by Jerry Harrell, who had played Bozo for Richmond's WTVR until 1974, for a Halloween television special that aired on WAVY-TV in Tidewater, Virginia on November 4th, 1975. The special was a series of comedy vignettes wrapped around a horror film, Universal’s House of Frankenstein. Two weeks later, the show became a weekly series, airing at 1:00 a.m. on Saturday nights, right after the new NBC show, Saturday Night Live.

Each week Doctor Madblood's Movie presented a film from the Universal 77 Horror Hits package, and in segments wrapped around the film, detailed the adventures of a retired mad scientist from Pungo, Virginia, and his collection of friends, fiends, and foes, which included Brain (played by a car sponge in a fishbowl and voiced by Jess Holland, and later by Joe Penque), his lab assistant Volly (Mark Young), his pals Count Lacudra and Dusty the Cropduster (Mike Arlo), his neighbors Betsy (Sherree Bernardi), Velma, and Tiffany Von Basketcase (Both played by Susie Davis).

Other friends included Princess Lygia and Queen Mumenkara (both portrayed by Donna Stamm), Elmo Hummer (Joe Penque) Luther McCoy (Don Davis) and The Audio Shadow (Jim Stanley). The doctor’s two main nemeses were Dr. Rader and Reverend Fernwald (played by Penque and Stanley).

The weekly series proved so popular with the target audience of viewers 18-49 that it routinely drew larger Arbitron ratings than the six o’clock news on any station in the market. It quickly spawned its own fan club and several fan conventions.

The show had several cast changes over the WAVY years, including the departure of Mark Young, Jess Holland, Joe Penque and Donna Stamm, and the additions of Craig T. Adams, Susie Scheeler and Dennis Nelson.

In 1982, following a seven-year run on WAVY-TV, the series moved to the Tidewater public television station WHRO-TV, where it was re-named Doctor Madblood's Nightvisions and syndicated to public television stations in Virginia. Following a two-season run, the show continued in weekly syndication on six cable outlets in New England throughout the 1980s.

The Doctor also returned to Tidewater television screens with a prime-time Halloween special on WAVY-TV in 1984, Doctor Madblood's Halloween Howl, which wrapped around the 1960 Hammer Studios film The Brides of Dracula. For the first time, this special incorporated the doctor and his gang into the action of the movie itself. Another Halloween special on WAVY-TV followed in 1986, with an all-night triple feature marathon.

In 1989, Doctor Madblood's Movie returned to weekly television in Tidewater on the local Fox affiliate WTVZ-TV. In this incarnation, Madblood was joined by series regulars Mike Arlo and Craig T. Adams, who had become the voice of Brain as well as many other characters, and newcomer Penny Palen, who portrayed the doctor’s nurse Patience Dream. Also joining the regular cast was Carter Perry, who became one of Madblood’s monsters, Ernie K. Carter’s affiliation with the program began as an editor on "Nightvisions" and "Halloween Howl," and as a director and producer during the WTVZ-TV years.

The program continued on WTVZ until the spring of 2002. During that time, the show celebrated both its 20th and 25th anniversaries, re-uniting cast members from various versions of the series.

In the fall of 2002, Doctor Madblood’s gang moved into a weekly prime-time slot on WSKY-TV, which was broadcasting from Powell’s Point, North Carolina and was seen in the Tidewater (now known as Hampton Roads) market on cable channel four. In this incarnation, known as Doctor Madblood Presents The Friday Night Frights, the show wrapped around episodes of classic television series, like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Boris Karloff’s Thriller.

In 2004, the program moved to prime-time on Saturday nights, becoming simply Doctor Madblood Presents, and wrapping around Rod Serling’s Night Gallery. This version of the show included the celebration of Doctor Madblood’s 30th year on television.

Doctor Madblood Presents concluded its run on WSKY-TV in August 2007, bringing to a close the doctor’s television career. Or so we all thought.

Spending Halloween 2007 working on the madblod.net website, gave the Pungo Gang a bit of a break, but when PBS affiliate WHRO-TV showed an interest in a special for Halloween 2008, everyone jumped at the chance to get the band back together.

"Doctor Madblood's Halloween Horror Express" went back to the "Halloween Howl" idea, and this time put Nurse Dream, Dusty the Cropduster and Grinfield into the movie "Horror Express" while Madblood and the gang got ready for the annual Halloween party. This also brought the return of Susie Passanisi as Velma, now a countess.

For 2009 the gang returned again with "Doctor Madblood's Haunted Halloween" with Grinfield and Kid Exorcist becoming a part of House on Haunted Hill" to win the money Vincent Price's character was handing out. The gang all returned, and for the first time the party scenes were benefitted by a live band, Phoebus Rio.

For Halloween 2010, the gang reunited yet again and celebrated the 35th anniversary of the series' debut with a party and a showing of Christopher Lee's Horror Hotel as well as 35 clips from the WAVY, WHRO, WTVZ, and WSKY years.

References

1. ^ Watson, Elena M. (2000). Television Horror Movie Hosts: 68 Vampires, Mad Scientists and Other Denizens of the Late Night Airwaves Examined and Interviewed. Jefferson, North Carolina, United States: McFarland & Company. ISBN 0786409401. http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-0940-2. 

External links

• Doctor Madblood's web site - Official web site
• Virginia Creepers Documentary film site dedicated to 50 years of horror hosting in Virginia