Night Flight

Simply put, Night Flight was to TV in the '80s what FM was to radio in the '70s - a threat. FM was soon tamed after a few years, so it became as mainstream and predictable as any AM station, and so was Night Flight.

I would just set the VCR and go out, knowing I could come home and watch something I had no opportunity to see or hear anyplace else on cable or network TV. There were nights I chose not to go out to whatever great new club, since Night Flight was always far more interesting.

Unfortunately, it had to end, and it did - one night, there were no more banned music videos, no more unedited films, no more questionable shorts and cartoons, no more head trip, all of the brilliance was replaced first by some inane English rock show that seemed to be made for an audience of 12 year olds, and then Gilbert Gottfried up all night, which put me to sleep.

I assume USA had to let it go, since it wasn't pay-per-view or a premium cable channel, and therefore was too risky for advertisers afraid of offending those good parents who wanted to use safe family channels like USA as their electronic babysitter, even at 11:00 pm.

This show, which left you COMPLETELY clueless as to what to expect each Friday and/or Saturday night, other than knowing you were going to see some kinda bizarre or otherwise unusual movie, some good pre- AND post- early ('79 or '80 to around '83 or so?) MTV rock/new wave/punk/etc. videos, weird movie shorts, and so much other stuff (rare interviews with bands - one on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young comes to mind, the Doors, and so on, and on...), etc., etc., etc...

And another good thing about it (I think each "Flight" was either 3 or 4 hours long) was that it repeated itself, first starting at 10 or 11 PM, maybe even midnight in the Central time zone and lasting until daybreak! 6 AM if I'm not mistaken - just the thing for a Night Owl like myself, AND making it possible, if there was another movie that you just HAD to see that was on for a couple of hours, you could watch it and still be able to catch up with what you had missed on the second airing (which seems to have become the norm with a LOT of cable stations today - airing shows back to back, and most of them you wish they wouldn't!).

It was just a perfect show for a Rock loving weirdo like me, or for anybody who wanted to see some weird short films, hear some music, or to get some inside info on the Sex Pistols, David Bowie, or any of a number of bands of various genres backstage - footage that now seems to be something that would be impossible to get a hold of. I wish I had taped every episode (kinda like the way I wish I'd taped every episode of "Beavis & Butthead" when they ORIGINALLY aired, with them commenting on the different music videos they were always watching and "huh-huh-huh-huh-huhing" to all the time, the copies of the old cartoons you can buy today are alright, but you just don't get the whole "B&B Experience without their "Commentary"), because I doubt there's anyway to get copies of it now.

It'd sure be nice if USA still had all the old shows in their entirety, I'd love to see them ALL again.

An overall GREAT TV show and one that I would love to see revived - with no changes - just exactly like it was.

I used to see this show very late at night. It was always on around 2 or 3 AM late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. It was a great mix of music videos, short films and off the wall cartoons ("Bambi vs. Godzilla" was one of them). Very cool late night viewing for night owls such as myself. I believe most of episodes centered around different themes, and everything that was shown flowed smoothly within the subject matter. I wish there was a similar show like it on today; however, there was better music to work with back them.

What another great USA Network show from the 1980's, daddy-o! Night Flight was a great showcase for rock videos, cult and B-movies, and off the wall shorts. I always did kinda have the hots for the babe who did the voice over work for the show too. And Frankie Pace was a comedy stud as the host of Rick Shaw's Takeout Theater too! Long live Night Flight! I miss the show's opening CGI footage of those mountains too.

If the early 1980s marked your high school/college years, there's a good chance you either held-on for dear life to the decomposing remains of that beast called disco, or you embraced the European invasion of punk/new wave subculture which was rarely brought forth to the general American public before this iconic show emerged. "Night Flight" was a brilliant clip-art collage incorporating cutting-edge/avant-garde music, challenging art-cinema, hi-camp vintage Americana, racially insensitive old cartoons, and a whole lot of fashion incentives(VERY "Fiorucci"). This was an exotic dish lovingly prepared for a very select target audience....a unique and conceptually inceptive experiment which, for a short time, separated "us" from "them", aesthetically speaking.

Unexampled, unforgettable 80s time capsule...we need another show like this one NOW, and more than ever. 10/10