That's Incredible!
| That's Incredible | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Reality |
| Created by | Alan Landsburg Productions |
| Presented by | John Davidson Fran Tarkenton Cathy Lee Crosby |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Alan Landsburg |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | March 17, 1980 – April 30, 1984 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Incredible Sunday |
That's Incredible! is an American reality television show that aired on the ABC television network from 1980 to 1984.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
In the tradition of You Asked For It, Ripley's Believe It or Not! and Real People, the show featured people performing stunts and reenactments of allegedly paranormal events. The show was co-hosted by John Davidson, Fran Tarkenton and Cathy Lee Crosby, and was produced by Alan Landsburg Productions. Originally aired as an hour-long program, episodes were later re-edited into 30 minute segments for syndication.
A number of the stunts performed were quite dangerous, including juggling knives, staying inside a small box for hours, and one involving a man catching a bullet between his teeth. The dangerous nature of these stunts eventually prompted producers to augment the footage with the caption "Do Not Try This Yourself". Steve Baker also known as "Mr. Escape", was frequently featured on the show.
The show has been cited as an influence on hip-hop culture in New Zealand, where much television programming in the 1980s was American. In 1983 the show featured several dancing crews, giving youth of Pacific Island and Maori heritage, many of whom were interested in hip-hop culture and dance, a sense of connectedness to global youth culture.[1] The Floormasters hip hop dance crew appeared on the show in 1983.[2]
[edit] Nielsen Ratings
The show was a Top 30 hit for its first four seasons, and a Top 10 show during its first season, but fell out of the Top 50 in its final season.
- 1979-80: #3 (25.80 rating)
- 1980-81: #22 (20.50 rating)
- 1981-82: #28 (18.40 rating)
- 1982-83: #22 (18.30 rating)
- 1983-84: #58 (14.14 rating)
[edit] Revival
That's Incredible! was revived in 1988, hosted by Davidson, Cristina Ferrare, and Tracey Gold and was renamed Incredible Sunday. It lasted only during the 1988–1989 season.
[edit] Syndication
The show was seen weekends on select Retro Television Network affiliates but now no longer airs.
[edit] In popular culture
- On February 14, 1983, the Fray children, as adults, appeared on the program following the premiere of Who Will Love My Children?, a film about the life of their mother.[3]
- On February 21, 1983, That's Incredible unwittingly gained video game immortality by broadcasting the North American Video Game Challenge—an international video game tournament filmed at Twin Galaxies in Ottumwa, Iowa -- which since then has gained recognition as being history's first video game world championship.[4]
- MAD Magazine produced a feature cartoon in 1981 titled That's Real Incredible, People, mocking the blurred distinction between That's Incredible! and Real People. A later issue of MAD had "Wanted posters we'd like to see", one featuring a network executive "wanted for keeping The Dukes of Hazzard and That's Incredible on the air, while depriving the country of better shows such as Paper Chase and Fame!"
- The television show Tom Goes to the Mayor features a parody of That's Incredible! titled That's Amazing!. The parody shows up multiple times throughout the series. Before TGTTM, an episode of Whatever Happened to Robot Jones? featured the same title, That's Amazing!.
[edit] See also
- Is It Possible? - a similar show on the Discovery Channel
- Those Amazing Animals - animal-related spinoff of That's Incredible!
[edit] References
- ^ Henderson, April K. “Dancing Between Islands: Hip Hop and the Samoan Diaspora.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 180-199. London; Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press, 200
- ^ Hip Hop Firsts
- ^ O'Connor, John (14 February 1983). "TV: Ann-Margret Plays a Dying Mother of 10". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E5D6143BF937A25751C0A965948260&sec=&spon=. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
- ^ "North American Video Game Olympics". Twin Galaxies. 21 February 1983. http://www.twingalaxies.com/images/generalinfo/navgo.gif. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
