Defend the TRULY Indefensible and yet Stupidly Genius -- NBC's early 1979 effort _CLIFFHANGERS!

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Oh man, people, you have no idea. I even remember this ad in TV Guide.

http://www.tvobscurities.com/img/70/cliff04.jpg

Read about it here. Return and comment. (It turns out I was barely eight when the show started, no wonder I loved it.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 16 May 2005 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

STOP SUSAN WILLIAMS!

― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 16 May 2005 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)

"It was during this first phase of the investigation that the serial's most famous moments came to pass. Susan had returned to her hotel room to take a bath and, while relaxing in the tub, someone snuck into her room and released a snake.

"While Susan luxirated oblivious in the tub, the snake edged ever closer to her neck. The first cliffhanger!"

I don't even remember this show, though that was a prime TV year for me. I think my folks had some must-see bullshit like Upstairs Downstairs or something that pre-empted it. It sounds like a good idea for a show, even if it wasn't well executed.

― andy --, Monday, 16 May 2005 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)

NBC replaced Cliff Hangers with The Greatest Heroes of the Bible.

― Huk-L, Monday, 16 May 2005 18:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I just saw that comment! My god, I remember that too! (It was awful.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 16 May 2005 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Some of the cast lists are great:

Susan Anton as
Susan Williams
Ray Walston as
Bob Richards
Michael Swan as
Jack Schoengarth
Albert Paulsen as
Anthony Korf
Marj Dusay as
Jennifer Selden
Alex Hyde-White as
Danny Armstrong
John Hancock as
Goldtooth
T. Miratti as
Accomplice

Geoffrey Scott as
Marshal Jim Donner
Carlene Watkins as
Millie Thomas
Tiger Williams as
Billy
Pamela Brull as
Princess Maya
Diana Markoff as
Princess Tara
Stepfanie Kramer as
Princess Tara
Mark Lenard as
Emperor Thorval
Sean Garrison as
Yannuck
Peter Breck as
Jesse Keller

---

Michael Nouri as
Count Dracula
Stephen Johnson as
Kurt von Helsing
Carol Baxter as
Mary Gibbons Louise Sorel as
Amanda Gibbons Antoinette Stella as
Antoinette
Mark Montgomery as
Darryl
Bever-Leigh Banfield as
Christine

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 16 May 2005 18:21 (twenty-one years ago)

These new shows would premiere in January and February of 1979. Turnabout was another of the midseason crop, along with Mrs. Columbo, Little Women, Supertrain and Hello, Larry.

I remember all of these shows and actually watched Mrs. Columbo and Supertrain when I could.

Whatever happened to Fred Silverman anyway?

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 16 May 2005 18:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Hold on to your hat, Elvis -- unless I'm VERY wrong, he was the guy behind Thicke of the Night, and even appeared in the first episode.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 16 May 2005 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Susan Anton's deathless charisma:

http://www.tvobscurities.com/img/70/ssw04.jpg

http://www.tvobscurities.com/img/70/ssw05.jpg

Dudley Moore just couldn't resist.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 16 May 2005 18:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll watch anything with Ray Walston. Is he still alive?

― Huk-L, Monday, 16 May 2005 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

UPDATE: No.
Date of death (details)

1 January 2001
Beverly Hills, California, USA. (following a six-year battle with lupus)

― Huk-L, Monday, 16 May 2005 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Walston's IMDB page led me to this, which was the most riveting thing I ever saw on TV at age 12.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097553/

― Huk-L, Monday, 16 May 2005 18:37 (twenty-one years ago)

ah, Kim Richards from Hello, Larry.

― laurence kansas (lawrence kansas), Monday, 16 May 2005 18:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Hold on to your hat, Elvis -- unless I'm VERY wrong, he was the guy behind Thicke of the Night, and even appeared in the first episode.

Hmmm... Nothing about it in his bio, but IMDB kicks over the rock where it's been hiding.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 16 May 2005 19:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahahah.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 16 May 2005 19:45 (twenty-one years ago)

five years pass...

The mention over on the 80's SF TV series thread plus a read through its Wikipedia page reminds me of the whole WTF regarding this thing. Though in light of Cowboys and Aliens coming out I guess this show was the way I first learned about that kind of hybrid...

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 18 April 2011 15:40 (fifteen years ago)

Thankfully, Jack arrived just in time to save Susan. He then left, telling her to give up her investigation and go home. Instead, she flew to Narobi where she met the man who had tried to kill her with the snake (she had no way of knowing that at the time) and he told her he knew who killed her brother. Believing him was a mistake. He forced her into a pit where she was nearly eaten by a lion. After escaping, she almost fell into a river filled with piranha and later came close to being covered in molten lead.

As you do.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 18 April 2011 15:50 (fifteen years ago)

Watched this as a youth (embarrassingly, I was 20...) but had completely forgotten about it until now. Thanks ilx!

― Hardcore Bangage (Dan Peterson), Monday, 18 April 2011 17:48 (fifteen years ago)

nine years pass...

*bump*

― The Ballad of Mel Cooley (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 21 February 2021 18:19 (five years ago)

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Defend the TRULY Indefensible and yet Stupidly Genius -- NBC's early 1979 effort _CLIFFHANGERS!_