Disasterpiece Theatre
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Disasterpiece Theatre is a TV show from 1980 hailing from XETV-TV in San Diego, California, although the show was actually recorded in Tijuana, Mexico. The premise of the show was simple: showing the worst movies ever made and making fun of them. Movies shown were "Shriek of the Mutilated", "Monster on Campus", "The Thing That Couldn't Die", "The Mummy's Hand", "Born to Speed", "Big Boy Rides Again", "First Spaceship on Venus" and "Curse of the Undead." Comments would be written as subtitles over the airing show. In a showing of "Track of the Moonbeast", a character says: "I'm somewhat of an..." {IDIOT} "(laughs) an adventurer." Sometimes music would be added and, in some cases, redubbing by the writers would occur. On a showing of "First Spaceship on Venus," the soundtrack is replaced by the writers' voices arguing about which television show they are going to watch, similar to the overdubbing idea in What's Up, Tiger Lily?.
Jay Curtis hosted the show as Sal U. Lloyd, a play on the word celluloid. Bruce Meuller played "The Other Guy" and would often dress up as The Mummy, A Lion Tamer, and the Network Producer. Curtis and Meuller wrote and produced everything in the show. San Diego radio announcer Gary Cocker appeared on the show many times. Guests included Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Simmons, and J. Michael Straczynski. The show was done so cheaply, the producers would tape over the same reels thus erasing the previous episode. In the show, Curtis and Mueller's microphone chords are easily visible, but it is the poor production quality that makes the show more humorous.
Sal U. Lloyd was portrayed as a big loser who hates his job. In one episode, he explains his position: "I'm sick of television... I wanna be a rock and roll star. I wanna make some money." He is often seen receiving some kind of brain damage after showing a movie. Several times, Lloyd has a run-in with the network producer, George Mucas (obviously a parody of George Lucas), who hates the show. In reality, Curtis had a strong rivalry with the actual network producer of XETV, who eventually cancelled the show.
The show became quite successful generating a loyal following, and beating Saturday Night Live in the ratings several times. However the show was eventually cancelled due to creative control with the station. Although the show is not widely acclaimed, it is mentionable for inspiring a generation of cult television shows that used the same premise, such as Mystery Science Theater 3000.
In 1993, Animaniacs had an episode of the same title.
