Weigel Broadcasting owns the American broadcast television network MeTV, which stands for Memorable Entertainment Television. The network, which bills itself as "The Definitive Destination for Old TV," broadcasts a wide range of classic television shows from the 1950s to the late 2000s.
In the years since, MeTV has spun out four sister networks: male-targeted Heroes & Icons, sitcom-oriented Decades (joint venture with CBS Television Stations), film-focused Movies! (joint venture with Fox Television Stations), and female-targeted, drama-oriented Start TV.
In most markets, MeTV is broadcast on digital subchannels of affiliated television stations. However, some MeTV-affiliated stations broadcast the network as a primary affiliation on their main channel, and a small number of stations broadcast select MeTV programs alongside their regular general entertainment programming, with a few carrying the network in high definition.
The network is also accessible on DISH Network channel 247, free-to-air C band satellite through SES-1 in the DVB-S2 format, AT & T U-verse channels 136 (in standard definition), and 1136 (in high definition), and cable television via cable TV providers in certain regions. Weigel Broadcasting's corporate offices on North Halsted Street in Chicago, Illinois, house MeTV's activities.
Buck Rogers in the Twenty-First Century is a Universal Studios science fiction adventure television series set in the twenty-first century. The series aired on NBC for two seasons, from September 1979 to April 1981, and the series' feature-length pilot episode was released as a theatrical picture before it aired.
Glen A. Larson and Leslie Stevens produced the film and series based on Philip Francis Nowlan's character Buck Rogers, who had previously appeared in comic strips, novels, a serial film, and on television and radio.
NASA astronaut William Rogers meets with a freak accident, causing his boy to be frozen in time. Scientists revive him during a nuclear war in 2491, after which he embarks on several adventures. The series was developed by Quinn Martin, who was looking for a replacement for The Fugitive, which was ending its run in 1967. Larry Cohen, the show's creator, had previously produced two other programs that were similar to The Invaders.
In Branded (1965) and Coronet Blue (1967), in which he played Michael Alden, a man suffering from amnesia who was being pursued by a powerful group of people, Chuck Connors played a soldier court-martialed for cowardice who traveled the West looking for witnesses and proof that he had acted valiantly.
In his mind, just the words "Coronet Blue" remained. Another source of inspiration was the ten-year-old trend of "alien Doppelgänger" films, exemplified by Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Quatermass 2 (1957), renamed Enemy from Space in the US.
While extraterrestrials living among us, posing as humans while plotting a takeover are usually associated with a Red Scare subtext, Martin just wanted a plot that would keep the hero moving and explain why he couldn't go to the authorities (i.e. not only had some aliens infiltrated human institutions already, but most humans would dismiss a claim of an alien invasion as a paranoid delusion).
As the series progressed, however, various 'disappearances' of characters in episodes (killed by the Invaders, such as Vincent's partner Alan Landers—played by James Daly—in the pilot, etc. ), those installed alien figures revealed to be aliens by Vincent and thus having to withdraw (such as Edward Andrews' character in "The Mutation," etc.) became more common.
However, the inclusion of one or two key human witnesses in most episodes (from the third episode onwards) helped early on to transform the show's basic premise to something deeper and more thought-provoking. The ABC Television Network, or "The American Broadcasting Company Television Networks," as it was referred to in the end credits, co-produced Season 1.
The Invaders is an American science-fiction television program created by Larry Cohen that aired on ABC for two seasons, from 1967 to 1968. Land of the Giants is a two-season American science fiction television show that premiered on ABC on September 22, 1968, and ran through March 22, 1970. Irwin Allen developed and produced the program.
Allen's science fiction television series Land of the Giants was his fourth. The program was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and broadcast on ABC. The series lasted 51 episodes and was completely shot in color.
Gary Conway and special guest performer Kurt Kasznar starred in the program. In 1968 and 1969, five books based on the television series were released, three of which were written by renowned science fiction author Murray Leinster.
When a sub-orbital transport spacecraft crashes on a strange planet, the survivors must band together to save themselves from unknown creatures. The United States is preparing to occupy space on October 16, 1997. The Jupiter 2, a future saucer-shaped spaceship, is now completing final preparations on its launch pad. Its goal is to transport a single family to an Earth-like planet circling the star Alpha Centauri for a five-and-a-half-year trip.
The Robinson family (Billy Mumy) consists of Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams), his wife Maureen (June Lockhart), and their three daughters, Judy (Marta Kristen), Penny (Angela Cartwright), and Will (Will Ferrell).
Major Donald West of the United States Space Corps is accompanying the family (Mark Goddard). The Robinsons and Major West will be cryogenically frozen throughout the journey and will be unfrozen once the spaceship arrives at its destination. Alpha Control's doctor, Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), is revealed to be a saboteur working for an unidentified country.
Smith reprograms the Jupiter 2's B-9 environmental control robot (voiced by Dick Tufeld) to damage key systems on the spaceship eight hours after launch after disposing of a guard who finds him onboard the spacecraft. However, Smith gets stuck on board the Jupiter 2 during launch, and his additional weight pushes the spacecraft off course, leading it to collide with asteroids.
This, along with the robot's rampage, leads the ship to activate hyperdrive prematurely, stranding the expedition in the limitless depths of space. Smith's selfishness and idleness often jeopardize the mission, although his position becomes less menacing as the story progresses.
Due to unforeseeable circumstances, the Robinsons, a family of space colonists, crash-land on an unknown planet. Now, they must fight for survival and escape, despite the dangers surrounding them. Rich Koz (pronounced "Koze") plays host "Svengoolie," a telescoping of the words Svengali and ghoul, who wears thick skull-like makeup around his eyes and cheekbones, a mustache, goatee, and long wig, all in black, and a black top hat with a tuxedo jacket over a bright red, open-collared, button-down shirt. Before and after commercial breaks, Svengoolie does skits, makes dumb jokes, and performs song parody spoofs of the film.
Some shows were presented in what was later dubbed "Sven-surround" – a pun on "Sensurround," a brand name theater audio system – in which Svengoolie would joke as the film aired, sometimes with humorous sound effects, in what was later dubbed "Sven-surround" – a pun on "Sensurround," a brand name theater audio system – in which some shows were presented in what was later dubbed "Sven- (The makers of Mystery Science Theater 3000 drew inspiration from Svensurround).
Due to popular demand, this stunt was revived after a short break, although as a clip piece that aired outside of the movie. The show's simultaneous use of Twitter with the hashtag #svengoolie, which allows spectators to comment on the broadcast, is a relatively new feature.
The host Svengoolie talks about various horror movies, gives an introduction to them and performs an act during the intermission. Bill, MeTV's "cartoon curator," and his puppet buddy Toony the Tuna present the program in live-action portions. Each episode features five animated shorts from classic series such as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, Tom and Jerry and Tex Avery-directed MGM shorts, Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios' Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons, and DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and United Artists' Pink Panther and other cartoons.
The first edition of the program drew over 500,000 people throughout the country. With a live-action presenter, humor, and puppet parts in between vintage cartoons, Toon In with Me harkens back to locally produced children's shows that ran from the 1950s through the 1980s.
Bill the Cartoon Curator hosts the program from the MeTV studios (Bill Leff). Toony (Kevin Fleming), a cartoon-loving tuna puppet, is his co-host, and Bill is responsible for him while Toony's owner, Goldie Fisher (Leila Gorstein), is on a global tour.
Bill and Toony deal with different problems in the studio, video chat with Goldie, and get helpful knowledge from game show host Mr. Quizzer as they showcase various cartoons (also Fleming). Other roles played by Fleming and Gorstein include.
Toon In with Me is an American live-action/animated anthology comedy television series that airs weekday mornings on MeTV and weekday nights on MeTV Plus, with most elements of the series being aimed at children. Elzie Crisler Segar developed Popeye the Sailor Man, a fictitious cartoon character. On January 17, 1929, Popeye made his debut appearance in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre, and eventually became the strip's title. The character has also been featured in live-action and animated television shows.
When Popeye first appeared in Segar's Thimble Theatre comic, it was in its tenth year, but the one-eyed sailor soon became the strip's primary emphasis, and Thimble Theatre became one of King Features' most popular products throughout the 1930s.
Thimble Theatre was carried on after Segar's death in 1938 by a group of authors and painters, including Segar's assistant Bud Sagendorf. Hy Eisman continues to write and draw the comic in first-run episodes for the Sunday edition.
Reprints of classic Sagendorf tales appear in the daily comics. For Paramount Pictures in 1933, Max Fleischer turned the Thimble Theatre characters into a series of Popeye the Sailor theatrical cartoon shorts.
These cartoons were among the most popular of the 1930s, and Fleischer—and subsequently, Paramount's Famous Studios—kept making them until 1957. Turner Entertainment currently owns and distributes these animated shorts, which are released by Warner Bros.
Popeye has also featured in comic books, television cartoons, video games, hundreds of commercials, and ancillary goods ranging from spinach to candy cigarettes, as well as in Robert Altman's 1980 live-action film starring Robin Williams as Popeye.
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar. The character first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929, and Popeye became the strip's title in later years