In the beginning, the airwaves were without weirdness or alternatives. The truly unique is rarely allowed to shine in the corporate controlled land of commercial television. But now, imagine setting your video blender on frappé, throwing in a handful of the bizarre, and adding some bleeding-edge music videos, a dash of the peculiar, and all the other things your mom warned you about and you end up with Weird TV: the first independent, nationally syndicated, underground show — ever. Peculiar phenomenon, the surreal, unreal, and avant-garde are just some of the ingredients of the show which offers an innovative, open look at the strangeness in America. The show is produced almost entirely with the Video Toaster, Toaster Flyer digital non-linear editing system and LightWave 3D.Weird TV executive producer Todd Stevens was unsatisfied with the bland offerings on TV, prompting him to call on past associate Arthur Maturo (producer of the Sci-Fi Network’s Mysteries Beyond the Other Dominion). Maturo, who is now an executive producer with the show, began working with Stevens on this labor of love in early 1994. The goal was to provide true alternative television by examining the bizarre and peculiar, and they’ve succeeded in creating a show unlike any other.
Meanwhile, Chuck Cirino, another executive producer of the series, was on a parallel course, searching the highways and byways of America for the strange as he produced his own TV series. Maturo hit Stevens with his concept of airing Cirino’s and other bizarre shows via satellite transmission. Stevens saw this as an opportunity to bypass the normal corporate network executive mentality that deemed weirdness and alternative programming as “commercially unacceptable.”
Filling another important spot on the Weird TV team is artist extraordinaire Paul Marshall. As Weird TV’s supervising producer and main editor, Marshall also conceptualizes and directs various segments on the show.
Marshall and the Weird TV team, along with the very capable Mark Stross of LA-based company Marmalade, hooked up to the Toaster and Flyer to produce a show that would cost a small fortune to produce otherwise. Stross, who is one of the early Flyer test pilots, knew that incorporating the video dynamic duo of the Flyer and LightWave into the editing bays at Weird TV Central would deliver video excellence at a reasonable cost.
“The Flyer is very cost-effective, and the video output is superior to other editing systems, like the Avid system,” said Stross. “The Toaster keeps us very competitive, and with a Y/C signal, Waveform monitor and Vectorscope, we can rival the quality of the ‘big’ shows.” The cost of producing Weird TV’s entire season is less than the expense of one or two of the other shows they go up against in the weekly rating wars. “It’s substantially lower - a fraction of what the other shows spend, where millions of dollars is the norm,” added Maturo.
Low-Cost Quality
The two editing suites feature Amiga 4000s with stock 040 accelerators and 16 MB of Fast RAM, Video Toaster 4000 boards and the Flyer NLE system. The Tower enclosures hold the massive hard drives available for production with several 9 GB Seagate Elite AV drives and others. Add to this configuration a Y/C Plus card for capturing the best video resolution possible. “By staying with a Y/C signal path, we are able to provide great resolution and buy ourselves two or three generations in post-production,” asserted Stross. If you have ever watched Weird TV, you may have noticed the Toaster’s ChromaFX, great graphics and some very crisp and effective LightWave 3D animations. Industrial Betacam SP video decks are used for laying down the Flyerized footage to tape.Another fact about the show that’s truly amazing: It’s shot on a relatively low-cost, three-chip Hi8 camera. Perhaps you thought that you had to spend mega-millions to broadcast a television show of this quality, but that’s just not the case.
“Weird TV is a fascinating look at the wonderful world of the bizarre! It’s the home for the surreal and the offbeat,” said Cirino, who is one of the creators responsible for the look and feel of the show. From the start, Weird TV established its own style with MTVish quick cuts, wild ChromaFX and an irreverent rock-and-roll adult attitude. Some of the slogans cut into the show include “Weird TV - leaving a dark brown stain where your brain used to be!” and “Strap in and leave the channel changing to us!”
Onward!
Weird TV made its domestic broadcast satellite debut on July 11, 1994, and the show has rapidly grown to over 30 television markets. The show’s producers have recently signed agreements with mega-distributor MG Perin Inc. for U.S. distribution and UnaPix for overseas broadcast. Weird TV is also now offering home video releases of some of the show’s highlights. “We are very excited to be doing 26 more episodes in 1996,” said Marshall. “Successful syndication both domestically and in overseas markets is also beginning to happen. We’re now seen in Chile and Thailand, for example, and more stations in the U.S. are considering airing Weird TV.”With more story lines than your average soap opera, watching Weird TV is really an experience. You’ll see everything from potato cannons bazooka-ing their vegetable masses to car hunting in the desert to what Weird America leaves behind at the local no-tell motel. Al of this insanity is presented to the music of the extremely out-there band Cake.
The hosts also unleash their own brand of savvy. One saucy tidbit is “Weird America,” produced by Panama hat-wearing Cirino. He leads us through America’s back roads, unveiling what this country is really doing. “If it isn’t a neo-pagan ritual or a tour through the sponge-o-rama museum its something equally strange. ‘Weird America’ reveals it all!” he said. Viewers consider Cirino, who delivers his monologue while driving in his vehicle, the Charles Kuralt of Weird TV minus the Winnebago motor home.
Cirino’s also the producer/director of the “Shadoevision” segment of the show, hosted by Shadoe Stevens. You may remember Shadoe from the Dave’s World TV sitcom and as the host of American Top 40 radio countdown show. His segment offers its own brand of excitement, which includes corporate conspiracy laced with mind-blowing effects and illusion.
There’s also “The Dr. Ruehl Show” (yes, he is a doctor and he does play one on TV). Hosted by Dr. Franklin Ruehl, a noted phenomenologist, this segment of Weird TV keeps the world in touch with cases of strange phenomena such as ESP, ghosts and one-of-a-kind inventions.
The “Weird Fiction” part of the show is brought to you by Paul Marshall. His brand of intriguing excitement features such characters as Hogman of “Hogman’s Pork and Bean Emporium.” And don’t miss Video Dave’s “UFO Clip of the Week” where host Dave Aaron examines the most recent sightings from all around the world, relayed from his secretly located fortress. Video Dave’s “UFO Clearing House” has also been spotlighted on such national shows as Sightings and Encounters.
The next piece is called “Weird TV Theater.” It contains twisted and unusual video clips submitted from viewers all over the world. This venue provides a good place to send those unique animations that are cluttering up your hard drive. “Submit your video’s today - we’re always looking for new and interesting footage,” said Marshall. (If you’re interested in submitting your material, please see address and phone number at the end of this article). Last, but not least, is “Weird News.” Downlinked from the Reuters News Service, the latest unusual news is collected from all over the world. My bet is that you’ll never see any of these clips on the local evening news.
The War
Recently, the Weird TV team has marched headfirst into the ratings wars. They have not heeded any warnings, tackling some thirty television markets, including San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and Houston by using unorthodox promotions and relying on word of mouth and channel surfers. Their biggest test has been the shark-infested waters in their hometown of Hollywood. “The support from LA viewers has been awesome, and it’s all been from word of mouth,” said Maturo.Their advertising strategy has been to drive the streets of Los Angeles in a Shark-mobile to attack the competition head on by spreading word of the show. This and a lot of hard work have garnered them a spot on L.A.’s KCOP-TV in the time slot adjacent to NBC’s Saturday Night Live. With their never-say-die attitude, these guys recently scored a 1.6 overnight (6 share) in their ratings, beating out a big budget lead-in show called Nightstand. What else is in store for the Weird TV crew? You can bet these visionary entrepreneurs are gearing up to wreak havoc in New York and other major markets.
What’s hard to decide is if the guys from Weird TV are geniuses or just insane for tackling the tough TV markets in such an unorthodox manner. One thing, for sure, is that the combined effort of all involved along with the Flyer, LightWave 3D and Video Toaster will continue to push the boundaries of normalcy. What the success and quality of Weird TV again points out is that it’s now possible for you or I, with our limited equipment, to put on a professional television show of our very own. These guys have shown us how to shatter the high-cost barrier of broadcast TV production.
For those of you lucky enough to experience Weird TV in your area, be sure to catch it. If you’re not sure where it’s playing currently, check your local listings. Or better yet, call your local TV stations and proclaim, “I want my Weird TV!”
Copyright 1997 - 2008 Donna Berna - The Story Book Group
~~~all rights reserved~~~