The Hitchhiker

OK, I admit I have a misguided, nostalgic affection for this 80's anthology series because it was on HBO back when I was a young impressionable teenager, and the episodes always had a dose of gratuitous nudity back in the days before I had too much knowledge of real women (or had gotten Cinemax). The series is loosely tied together by the most blow-dried and handsome hitchhiker you've ever seen (Page Fletcher), who narrates to the camera, cocking his head slightly back and making portentious and often non-sensical comments that usually only peripherally connect to the story he's apparently narrating. He also never actually seems to get a ride, or really interact with anyone in the world of the series at all.(He has some great theme music though).

The stories are an uneven mixture. Some of them are pretty creepy, while others are more silly, and still others are downright stupid. Some of the best are "Man's Best Friend" with Michael O'Keefe, "WGOD" with Gary Busey, and "Face to Face" with Robert Vaugn and Sybil Danning in red lingerie (the better for Vaugn, playing a hedonistic plastic surgeon, to cut off with a scalpel so he can snort cocaine off her breasts). Both the good and bad episodes contain a lot of second-tier stars mercilessly chewing the scenery and sometimes each other (i.e. Vaugn and Danning). There's also some unusual appearances by European-based actors like Ornella Muti or Susan Anspach, or some actors who later went on to bigger things like Bill Paxton or Michael Madsen. If you look closely you'll also recognize some name directors in the credits like the Australian Philip Noyce back in his pre "Dead Calm", pre-Hollywood days.

The best way to see this series ironically is to buy the used, out-of-print VHS copies which mostly focus on the early seasons; the three US DVD compilations are totally random and have a pretty sorry good episode/lame episode ratio. The show was apparently Canadian and is also available there, but--buyer beware--the Canadian DVD seasons are completely different than the American ones (although I guess if you ARE Canadian you don't really need to beware). Not recommended for everybody, but you know who you are.

I remember being eight years old and would wait till my mother went to bed. I really like the show. I use to get goosebumps just listening to the intro. Page Fletcher was the best doing the intros. The stories would keep you on your seat. Second guessing. Best show on USA Network next to La Femme Nikita, USA Saturday Nightmares, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Swamp Thing. Best thing about these shows was the fact they were made in the 80s. Best decade ever.

When I was living in Barbados, CBC used to carry this anthology series in its late night (and by late, I mean around 10:30) Tuesday slot - they definitely didn't show all the episodes of this, or "Tales From The Darkside" (which replaced it). Not a patch on "The Twilight Zone," this anthology of tales about people who either got what they deserved or met their doom - and the two weren't always the same - was still effectively creepy, if a bit morbid, viewing.

Some of the most notable tales topped and tailed by Page Fletcher's wandering man: a story with Michael O'Keefe's dog getting revenge on his enemies, and driving him to his death when his girlfriend told him he was his own worst enemy; a tale with a man who thought his girlfriend was an escaped mental patient, and ended up getting killed by the real loony; "One Last Prayer," with Lisa Blount as a singer who invented an image for herself that was guaranteed to succeed, but worked TOO well and ended up replacing the singer in real life; and an episode with Harry Hamlin as a developer under a curse, which stood out as one of the few stories with a happy ending.

And yes, that music is very memorable. But Home Box Office's reputation was not built on this show.

This old 1980's show from HBO is 10 times better than the stuff the studio puts out today, like Sex in the City and Sopranos. The problem is it was well ahead of its time as proven by the success of a similar show, the X-Files.

The series was basically a set of independent shows, the only common them was the pre- and post-show dialogue from a mysterious hitchhiker who passes through each episode. Creepy and sexy, each show had its own moral as some (usually more than one) character would get their come-upance in the end. All sorts of Hollywood stars signed up for guest appearances, Gary Busey, Harry Hamlin, Kirstie Alley, Willem Dafoe, even KISS lead singer Gene Simmons, and many many more.

I've caught rebroadcasts recently on one of the gazillion HBO channels now being broadcast (HBO Zone is what I think it is called), so it is out there someplace. The last poster and I agree on one episode "The Legend of Billy B." was my favorite too. If I remember right, it starred Kirstie Alley as a reporter trying to track down an Elvis-like rock star who was supposedly dead.

Catch this show if you can.

This series played on Friday and/or Saturday nights through my youth and so it shaped me every bit as much as Tales From the Darkside, Ray Bradbury Theater, Friday the 13th the Series, Monsters, and other such programs. To my surprise, I recently found season one and two of The Hitchhiker on DVD at a local video store. I rented and re-watched them after more than a decade and found them to be not only happily nostalgic, but generally very entertaining (some, of course, being much better than others). There isn't much available on television any more that has the offbeat, cathartic campiness of every episode being taken from some short story of the horror or thriller genre. The Outer Limits is still on, but that's about it. While we're all in this dry spell of such programming, it is wonderful to find something like The Hitchhiker return on DVD (if not on TV).