Svengoolie
Svengoolie [1] is the name of a character from a long-running series of locally-produced television programs in the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan area. It has been added to other markets around the United States via Me-TV.
The shows re-air various (and often low-budget) horror and science-fiction movies, hosted by horror host "Svengoolie" (a play on the word Svengali), currently played by Rich Koz, who wears face makeup, a wig, and top hat. Just before, and just after, commercial breaks in the film, the character presents various sketches, tells corny jokes, and presents song parodies spoofing the film being aired. Some shows were even presented in what was later dubbed "Sven-surround" (a pun of "Sensurround") in which Svengoolie would make jokes as the film aired (similarly to MST3K); but, sound effects would be played over the movie, as well. This was discontinued for a short time, but brought back due to viewer request -- though only as a clip segment aired outside the actual film, not as the previously-done over-dub.
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[edit] History
Svengoolie debuted on Screaming Yellow Theater, which aired on WFLD (Channel 32) from September 18, 1970 until late-summer 1973. Svengoolie was played in this series by Jerry G. Bishop. In later seasons, Rich Koz -- a fan of the show who used to send-in sketch ideas -- became one of the show's writers.
On June 16, 1979, Son of Svengoolie debuted on WFLD, with Koz in the title role. The show also aired briefly on other sister (i.e., Field Communications-controlled) stations in Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, and Detroit. This series ran until WFLD (at that time owned by Metromedia) was sold to Rupert Murdoch's Fox Television Stations Group in 1986 to become a part of the newly-created Fox network. The new management canceled the show after deciding it was not an appropriate fit for their new programming direction. After 334 shows, the final episode aired January 25, 1986. Koz later returned to WFLD in various capacities, mainly as the host of its Fox Kids Club and The Koz Zone weekday afternoon children's programming, even appearing as an announcer on the Fox network's 1988 New Year's Eve broadcast.
The series returned to the air on December 31, 1994 on WCIU (Channel 26), using just "Svengoolie" as its name; Koz took over the role of Svengoolie when Bishop told Koz that he "believed he was grown up enough now to no longer be just the Son." The show opens with a reference to early radio broadcasting: "Calling all stations, clear the air lanes, clear all air lanes for the big broadcast." Koz also hosts a weekly Three Stooges Stooge-a-palooza show on WCIU.
A running gag throughout the series is the repeated utterance of the word "Berwyn", the name of a Chicago suburb. (This was a parody of the way "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" and Johnny Carson would jokingly refer to "Beautiful Downtown Burbank.") Another recurring gag involves rubber chickens being thrown at Svengoolie after a cornier-than-usual joke -- usually at the end of each episode's closing sketch. Koz and the show have won numerous regional Emmy awards, and Koz was admitted to the Emmy "Silver Circle" in 2004 for "outstanding contributions to Chicago television."
The series also airs on Chicago's WWME-CA ("ME-TV"), Milwaukee stations WMLW-CA and WBME-TV, and occasionally on WMYS-LP in South Bend, Indiana. All of these stations are owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Beginning on April 2, 2011, Svengoolie's show also became available in many other markets over the Weigel-owned Me-TV network.[2]
A complete account of the Svengoolie story, including interviews with Bishop and Koz, may be found in Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: From Shock Theatre to Svengoolie by Ted Okuda and Mark Yurkiw (Chicago: Lake Claremont Press, 2007).
[edit] Universal Studio Monsters
In August 2006 it was announced that WCIU obtained broadcast rights to the classic Universal Monsters films of the 1930s and 1940s. These films had been requested since Svengoolie aired in the 1980s. By December 2006, the show had featured four of the Abbott and Costello "Meet" series, with the Universal Studio Monsters, and several Hammer Film Productions, which had been distributed by Universal-International. On May 5, 2007, Svengoolie presented a show featuring Bela Lugosi's Dracula (1931), which he claimed to be the first time the movie has been shown on local television in over a decade.
[edit] Syndication
In June 2007 word came out that several markets including Los Angeles (KDOC-TV) and San Francisco (KOFY-TV) would be "quietly" trying out Svengoolie-hosted movies.
[edit] Sightings
- Svengoolie is visible as an easter egg in the Justice League graphic novel JLA: Liberty and Justice, where he is shown on a security monitor in Arkham Asylum as a patient alongside the Joker, Two Face and the Riddler.
[edit] References
- ^ 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.
- ^ Hageman, William "Svengoolie scares up a national show" Chicago Tribune April 1, 2011
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Jerry G. Bishop at the Internet Movie Database
- Rich Koz at the Internet Movie Database
- Svengoolie at HorrorHosts.com
- Svengoolie is coming...(to L.A.)
- Svengoolie Nation website
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