Macabre & Mysterious Media (Special Edition): MeTV & Svengoolie

MeTV & Svengoolie

For  a couple of months now, I’ve been enjoying the offerings of a channel called MeTV. It’s a haven for paranormal folks, especially old-school types and those of us who … have been consuming macabre media for a while now, and who enjoy a dose of nostalgia.

Here’s what I catch when I have time:

• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
• Columbo
• The Fugitive
• H.R. Rufnstuf (!!)
• He Man and the Masters of the Universe (Ok, I’m a child.)
• Night Gallery
• Perry Mason
• Thriller (with Boris Karloff)
• The Twilight Zone …

…Oh, there’s just so much. (Lots of westerns, from Rawhide to Bonanza & comedies from Make Room for Daddy to Bosom Buddies & more.) You can see the complete show line-up here: MeTV Featured Programs

I’m going to be honest, I don’t often watch these blast-from-the-past shows from start to finish. I’ve found the station to be great when I just want to catch a little something while I eat a quick bowl of cereal, or when I’m trying to fall asleep.

There is one show, however, that I actually record to watch: Svengoolie.

I discovered MeTV, in fact, because I was looking for an old-fashioned Horror Host — someone like Elvira, Sir Cecil Creape, The Ghoul, or Vampira — that I could watch now. I went off on google quest one day and found that I could get Svengoolie via my cable provider, Comcast / Xfinity.

I wasn’t looking for stuff that I could watch on my computer; I really wanted something that would be similar to my experiences as a young teen, when I’d watch Hammer House of Horror movies in the late night, or to an even earlier time, when our non-network channel (remember those?) played some b&w syndicated horror host from Chicago on Sunday afternoons.

The closest thing I’ve found so far is Svengoolie.

I have to say, I’ve seen better. (After all, Mystery Science Theater originated here in Minnesota, for God’s sake. It’s hard to compete with that.) And we’re all spoiled by the slick re-packaging that was done for the the likes of Elvira. Still, there’s fun to be had watching Svengoolie.

This guy is camp and schlocky. He’s a big fan of puns and rubber chickens. The movies he introduces, however, are pretty good. He just wrapped up a series of Creature From the Black Lagoon spin-offs. This week, he’ll be doing Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman. (Click that link to see the promo that is running right now.)

The show is broadcast on Saturday nights, at 10/9C.

I have to manage my DVR-ing because my provider doesn’t list the program as “Svengoolie” but rather as the name of whatever movie he’s featuring. With any luck, your provider will be smarter.

Find your provider here: MeTV interactive map.

I’d love to live-tweet with some of you one night while watching. Let me know if you’re up for it.

PS: Because of a fabulous comment that came in to this post, I have to share a video clip of one of the horror hosts, Sir Cecil Creape, at work. Imagine meeting this guy when you’re five. You’d probably scream in his face too … even if he was a personal hero.