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It's too bad they don't have shows like this anymore. I know there's a Ripley's show on today, but that seems to focus more on the strange human stunts like contortion-ism and pulling cinder blocks with your ear lobes. The original Ripley's talked more about History and traditions of other cultures. To me it seemed much more educational.

When this show first came on (I was about 10 years old), it kind of scared me because they showed scenes from "The Elephant Man" and "The Howling", which were brand new movies back then. I was a little squeamish with the effects from those movies, but now I love them and own those movies today. Wish I could own episodes of Ripley's, because after I got over my squeamishness, I really grew to love that show.

Jack Palance made the show. He put a real flare on his presentations that only he could pull off. I liked how he would end a sequence with "Believe it........... Or Not!". He would always put that breathless type of enthusiasm behind his narratives, so that you felt he really loved the subject matter. The female co-hosts did great jobs too. I liked his daughter Holly the best.

I can still see and hear the opening credits in my mind. This was just a quality show that you don't see too much of these days. Forget "reality TV" today, we should go back to these showcase shows like Ripley's, That's Incredible and Real People.

I wish they would bring this version of Ripley's to DVD. Not just a "Best of", but the entire series. Like I said, it was more educational and family oriented and I think we need to bring that back.

Believe it...... Or Not!

I loved watching this show when I was in high school. Jack Palance and his daughter Holly did a wonderful job in putting together an amazing show. He had a ball hosting it and he took us along for the ride. I loved it when he acted out certain parts. Jack is a ham but he is always a joy to watch. I remember when he won his Oscar for City Slickers and did push ups on the stage! and that wonderful speech he gave! (Billy Crystal...I crap bigger then him!)I think that my favorite story that they did on this show was the one about Phineas Gage. He was a Vermont railway worker who suffered a horrifying accident in 1848. He was shot thru the skull and brain with a heavy iron bar and lived a normal life for another thirteen years!

I absolutely love this show! Jack Palance was excellent as the host! I loved it on ABC in the eighties. I last saw this show in 1997 on the SCI-FI Channel and I miss it terribly! I was able to tape many of the episodes off of TV, but I have watched them so much that they are getting worn out. Some tapes from 1984 and 1985 are literally on their last legs! I wish this 1982-1986 version of Ripley's Believe it or Not would get a release on DVD as Season Box Sets. So far, there is only the Dean Cain 2000-2004 version on DVD and it was only released in a BEST OF-style DVD. I did write to Columbia Pictures a while ago, but there has been no response. I urge Ripley's fans to write and beg for this excellent show to be released on DVD! That's my rant! Bodger1.

Ripley's Believe It or Not with Jack Palance was a quality show. Jack Palance would travel all over the world for his on-site introductions to show segments. It is another of the missing TV shows that belong on DVD. The first season was the best. In season two, when Holly Palance came in as co-host, the writing and production staff was cut, from the credits I saw on the shows I taped from the series. Jimmy Sangster, of Hammer Film Studio fame, was one member of the writing team in season one and part of season two, before the apparent budget cutbacks. The closing credits show the effort that went into this show, credits crammed with the names of professionals who worked on this documentary series. I have read that the budget for this show was $1.5 million per episode, a lot of money in the early 80s. All that money bought a lot of photographers, negative cutters and support staff then. The segments on the shows varied from the serious (the WW2 man who wasn't there) to the goofy (supposedly Jack Palance, in an ape suit, riding around Las Vegas in an open air convertible prior to introducing the Marquis performing chimps). ABC should reissue season one of this show on DVD.

This program was never number 1 in the ratings which means either the ratings are more political than real, or a whole lot of folks missed an excellent program.

Jack Palance is tour DE force doing this show. A lot of his opening sequences were classic. The show had lots of material to draw from as Robert L Ripley never seems to run out of facts that are astonishing. What is even better is how they were assembled by Palance & Crew. The Mancini theme & storytelling has rarely been done better than it was here.

Holly Palance was excellent support on these shows too. The shows were never boring as a lot of major work in production of sequences show quality in every part. A fine program that was better than a lot of them when it aired. If you look at the syndicated attempt made since & compare it with this show, you will see the quality of production difference immediately.