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The 12 Nerdiest Cult Shows That Still Need to Be on DVD


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?What do Automan, Muppet Babies and Tales of the Gold Monkey all have in common? If you said that they are all awesome (or, depending on your viewpoint, shitty) shows from the 1980s, you’d be correct. But that’s not the answer I was looking for. These dubious classics share something more than just a common decade: they are all cult shows that have never been officially released on DVD. As we here at Topless Robot constantly remind you, our world is full of demented injustice. How else can you explain why the Bewitched spin-off Tabitha is available for purchase but the 1960s Batman show isn’t? There are a variety of nerd-beloved series that haven’t yet been released for a variety of reasons. Most commonly, legal issues that are too complicated to think about unless you have had several bottles of lager are to blame. But even if our puny human brains could comprehend the complexities of proprietary rights and equal partnerships, that still wouldn’t change the fact that we can’t enjoy the 1967 Fantastic Four cartoon on DVD in the comfort of our homes unless we buy crappy bootlegs of it. That’s no fun at all. Sigh. So let’s take a look at some of the nerdiest cult shows that have yet to be on DVD. Let the Internet petitions commence!


12) Max Headroom

It must be 20 minutes into the future by now, so where the hell are the DVDs of this show? Sheesh. Between The Ropers, this and the still incomplete-on-DVD The Larry Sanders Show, Jeffrey Tambor fans are really getting the shaft.


11) The Peter Serafinowicz Show


Best known for his involvement with such cult faves as Look Around You, Spaced and Shaun of the Dead, British comedian Peter Serafinowicz is currently enjoying some well-earned mainstream success in Couples Retreat. In 2007, his eponymous BBC sketch series included amongst its subversive sketches bits about a foul-mouthed Stan Laurel, a zombie game show and a vampire co-host on a home shopping channel. The above clip — featuring a lovesick Darth Vader — is arguably the series’ finest moment. The show aired briefly in the US on Spike, but if you didn’t catch it then you are shit out of luck. The BBC has no plans to release it on DVD in the near future. Bastards! FYI: Serafinowicz was also the voice of Darth Maul — but don’t hold that (or his needlessly complicated last name) against him.


10) Liquid Television


The MTV animated anthology series that gave us Beavis and Butthead and Aeon Flux deserves better than the hastily compiled “best of” DVD that was released in 1997 and went out of print shortly thereafter. Ideally, there would be a complete box set of the show available along with commentary from the various creators involved with the series and a collectible Mitey-O’s ring. Due to the sheer volume of different artists whose work was featured over the course of the series’ three seasons, it’s likely that Liquid Television will remain in video purgatory forever thanks to clearance issues. Dog Boy, we hardly knew ye.


9) The Uncle Floyd Show


Like Forrest Gump without the mental retardation, New Jersey’s Floyd Vivino wandered through the cultural landscape of the ’70s and ’80s encountering greatness at every turn. His no-budget variety series The Uncle Floyd Show made its debut in 1974, growing from its roots as a demented children’s show to become a cult phenomenon. Given the show’s underground status, it became a home for new wave and post-punk acts during their East Coast tours. Squeeze, The Ramones, The Lords of the New Church, The Bongos and Cyndi Lauper all made their U.S. television debuts on the show. It wasn’t just a stomping ground for musicians either, Monty Python’s Graham Chapman and Howard Stern were also guests in the show’s heyday. Unlike the rest of the shows on this list, there are a few quasi-official Floyd DVDs available, namely a lame “best of” and some DVD-Rs that are for sale through Floyd’s website. Sadly, these releases don’t include any of the classic NJN shows or famous performances. Because of the diversity of so many of the series musical guests, this seems like the perfect DVD project for Shout Factory’s curatorial geniuses. To borrow the title of David Bowie’s song about Floyd, it would be tragic for the show to simply “slip away.”


8) Journeyman


Remember Boomtown? Me neither. Like Journeyman it was another NBC series that was hyped then dropped when it underperformed in the ratings. Yet Boomtown is available on DVD. Kevin Falls’ time travel drama never found an audience during its initial run, but thanks to being featured on Hulu.com it is finally getting some posthumous praise. Of course this happened too late to encourage the suits at NBC to order any more episodes, but at least it will silence the mouth breathers who dismissed the show as the bastard off-spring of Quantum Leap and The Time Traveler’s Wife.


7) Bigfoot and Wildboy


The opening sequence of Sid and Marty Krofft’s Bigfoot and Wildboy is visual poetry. Given how fucked up most of the pair’s other shows were, this seems like a normal premise by comparison. A friendly Bigfoot raises a feral child who possesses perfect diction and together they encounter aliens and supernatural beings. Also, they learn lessons about friendship and grooming. Still not sold? Here’s a nugget you may not be aware of: Peter Brady once appeared on the show…as A GODDAMNED WEREWOLF.


6) Little Muppet Monsters


A companion show to Muppet Babies, Little Muppet Monsters aired on CBS briefly in 1985 before Jim Henson decided that he was unsatisfied with the program and had it yanked from the network. To this day, the fifteen episodes that remain unaired are the Holy Grail for Muppet enthusiasts. When viewing the three installments that actually hit the airwaves (all of which are available on YouTube), you’ll be treated with an uneven blend of new Muppets, favorite characters and great cartoons. These may not form a cohesive whole, but they are still better than most kids shows of the era. Particularly fun are the “Kermit the Frog, Private Eye” and “Pigs in Space” segments, which illustrate how great an animated Muppet series featuring the fully grown characters could have been. It’s still not a bad idea, especially if Roger Langridge of the excellent Muppet Show comic was brought in to write it.


5) The Amazing Spider-Man


Stan Lee may not have enjoyed this series, but as a kid whose world pretty much revolved around Spidey I sure did. Yes, the Webhead’s rogue gallery of villains has been replaced with a string of mad scientists and other generic bad guys, but there’s a lot of 1970s charm to be found here (cue the porntastic theme song). Many viewers have balked over Nicholas Hammond’s sometimes wimpy/hammy portrayal of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. But he also has genuine charisma, something that is sorely lacking from Tobey Maguire’s portrayal. Given the series’ ubiquity on VHS, it is just plain aggravating that it hasn’t made the leap to DVD yet. Someone get the Disney people on the phone…


4) The Six Million Dollar Man


Those smarty pants Europeans have been able to enjoy Steve Austin’s bionic adventures on DVD for years. Same deal for The Bionic Woman. There’s no sign of any forthcoming domestic release either. The moral of this story is that if those aliens who control the Bionic Bigfoot attack the Chunnel or the Eiffel Tower or somewhere not in America, Steve Austin needs to stay at home and let the fancy foreigners solve their own problems. USA! USA! USA!


3) Maniac Mansion


You’d be forgiven if you didn’t realize that there was a sitcom loosely based on Lucasfilm’s classic point-and-click computer game. It aired on the basic cable halfway house known as The Family Channel during the early 1990s (where it was regularly paired with a sitcom starring celebrity trainer to the stars Jake Steinfeld). That unpleasantness aside, the series was a mini-SCTV reunion. Its executive producer was Eugene Levy, and it starred Joe Flaherty as a well-meaning scientist and devoted husband who accidentally transformed his toddler son into a hulking adult and his brother-in-law into a fly. The offbeat premise was mixed with warm family sentiments, making it unique albeit schizophrenic viewing experience. Being a Lucasfilm production, the show was peppered with references to the Star Wars universe — the most notable example being when Flaherty mutated a neighbor into Return of the Jedi’s Ree Yees. It’s little moments like this that make all the soul-crushing moments of life that a geek must endure worthwhile.


2) In Search Of…


D.B. Cooper and the citizens of Atlantis are less elusive than this show on DVD. I suspect that when this show finally does surface, it will be the crappy Mitch Pileggi version. If that happens, there’s going to be some pissed off cryptozoologists and conspiracy theorists clogging the aisles at Best Buy.


1) Batman


Here’s a quick rundown of the legal clusterfuck that is keeping the classic Adam West Batman series off of DVD shelves.
1) Fox owns the rights to the series, Warner Brothers owns the characters.
2) They both hate happiness, making money and Batfans.
Granted, that may be oversimplifying things, I’m no lawyertician. Batman is the most demanded TV show never to make it to DVD, and every couple of months another rumor surfaces explaining why the show hasn’t been released or how it will be soon. Lies, all lies. The show’s star has gotten so tired of this nonsense that he recently released Adam West Naked!, a two-disc set that details his memories of life on the Batman set. I guess we will have to make do with that for now until the glorious day when we can finally see Cesar Romero’s makeup-covered moustache in all of its digital glory.