The Incredibly Strange Film Show

.....then by all means let me know directly at the above e-mail address so that I may arrange for a copy (or copies) for you. Shades of "Fawlty Towers" --- a brilliant British series that was apparently too good to last beyond twelve episodes. What a crying shame, for just like John Cleese's brainchild it had not yet begun to fight, so to speak, with so much promising ground left to cover. But alas, it was not to be. Still, host Jonathan Ross makes the most of his time spent profiling a baker's dozen (actually more) of some of the most compelling folks to have ever emerged from pop culture's most enticing nether region: Psychotronica. The charismatic Ross comes off like Michael Weldon crossed with Robin Leach, and has a 'reel' flair for tributes to his arguably historic subjects without a trace of condescension. Too bad he hadn't been calling the shots on the set of "It Came From Hollywood," but that's another story.

And if you love movies, it should be your favorite, too!

This series, which I had discovered on A&E way back when, featured British host Jonathan Ross doing hour-long documentaries on various denizens of the world of film who, even though many of them didn't exactly create great films, created memorably "Strange" ones.

You'll know what I mean when I read off some of those featured in this series: Ted V. Mikels, Ray Dennis Steckler (and long-time partner Cash Flagg), Herschell Gordon Lewis, Jackie Chan (before shooting to world-wide super-stardom), Tsui Hark (whose first films were almost hallucinogenically hyper Kung-Fu chop-em-ups), a retrospective on Ed Wood (with several friends and leading ladies interviewed) and there was even a show about the movies which featured that "Masked Mexican Wrestler" whose films went from the '50s and beyond! You know the guy, right?

Anyway, it's all good fun with Ross' wry commentary throughout making every single moment even more fun than normal (you even see Ross get to play a bit part in one of Steckler's "latest" films!) and the subjects are more than willing to prove to the rest of the world that in spite of their output - YES, as a matter of fact, they ARE geniuses.

There were only a handful of these shows made and a small beacon of joy went out in the world when they stopped producing them. I wish they would have released them on video.

Ten stars and a "Good Showmanship" badge for "The Incredibly Strange Film Show" and for Jonathan Ross, who hopefully had as much fun making this series as I did watching each episode of it.