Chadzilla ROARS!!! (The Official Blog of Chadwick H. Saxelid, Writer): TV Stuff

Two weeks ago I shared the second stop on my childhood genre viewing weekends, KTVU's "Saturday Morning" genre potpourri, Chiller Diller. During that particular remembrance of things past, I made mention of KBHK's answer to Chiller Diller, the Monstrous Movie. If I am remembering right, the Monstrous Movie started at 12:30, and I spent many a Saturday afternoon attempting to click back and forth between the two programs. No wonder so many of my childhood movie memories seem to be confused jumbles of clip scenes!

No video of the intro to Channel 44's "Monstrous Movie" seems to have survived the passage of time, but there are plenty available for KBHK's Saturday afternoon replacement for the Monstrous Movie, the Son of Svengoolie!

Although the movies that Son of Svengoolie showed could be rank*, the man's hilarious skits were a breath of fresh air. By 1983 I was sixteen years old and, perhaps, could be considered a tad too "old" to be enjoying such foolishness with such gusto, but enjoy it I did. (And still do, I would watch Son of Svengoolie again in a heartbeat.)

*Son of Frankenstein, however, is NOT rank. Anybody that says different is a stupid old poopy-head!

Like many so many other kids, I grew up watching as much television as my parents would allow me to watch.* Being a horror/monster genre fan, and this being long before we had either cable televison or even a VCR, I would scour the TV Guide listings for the best horror, science-fiction and fantasy movies and series episodes airing that week. The very best days for that kind of programming always seemed to be late Friday night and all day Saturday.

My genre binge viewing weekend truly began at 11:30 Friday night, when the CBS Late Movie would air a double feature of an "old" Kolchak: The Night Stalker rerun with an appropriate genre movie co-feature:

For me, there could be no better way to start the weekend.** Kolchak: The Night Stalker, which would become my all-time favorite TV series, was fresh to my eyes then, and the horror movies never failed to disappoint (even though they did, at times). I saw Phantasm for the first time on the CBS Light Night Movie. I also remember watching Shock Waves, Beyond the Door, Barracuda, The Bermuda Depths, Kingdom of the Spiders, Creature from Black Lake and countless others. One of those others, I am reasonably certain, just not one hundred percent so, includes the double bill being introduced in the above sample clip.

Regardless, for me it wasn't the weekend until the CBS Late Movie came on. Only then did the magic truly begin.

William Faulkner once said that "the past is never truly past." As I grow older, I realize what he meant. Looking back at those years of childhood magic and wonder, it feels like it was only yesterday to me, not thirty years ago. As long as I live and can remember them, programs like the CBS Late Movie will be as fresh and new to me as when they originally aired.

*Since they gave both my brother and I television sets for Christmas in either 1981 or 1982, I think it is safe to say they let us watch a lot.

** Until KTVU Channel 2 countered the horror themed Friday night CBS Late Night Movie by airing Creature Features at 11:30, then I had to bounce back and forth between the two broadcasts. Not fun.