Here's a real rarity! It's nearly impossible to find anything online relating to Kenneth Johnson's short-lived 1979 series, Cliffhangers!, so this vintage NBC promo clip is quite the find. The show was a modern "take" on the theatrical movie serials of the 30s and 40s, with three, 15-minute chapters of three different ongoing stories in each episode.
The one that most fit in with the Space: 1970 aesthetic was "The Secret Empire," an update/rip-off of the 1935 Gene Autry vehicle, The Phantom Empire. Both dealt with cowboys battling the inhabitants of secret underground scientific super-cities. In the Cliffhangers! version, the leader of the villains was portrayed by none other than Mark Lenard of Star Trek and the Planet Of the Apes television series.
Of course, the real gem was "The Curse of Dracula" with Michael Nouri as a very 70s undead Count...
Oh wow, I had completely forgotten this. I only watched The Secret Empire segments from what I can recall, because I couldn't stand watching anybody but Christopher Lee playing Dracula.
ReplyDeleteI am continually amazed at what you dig up!
Kenneth Johnson went on to co-created the blockbuster ABC series Shadow Chasers with a pre-Imagine Entertainment Brian Grazer.
DeleteTo this day, it annoys me that they cancelled the series the week prior to the finale, so we never saw the concluding episodes of "The Secret Empire" or "Stop Susan Williams."
ReplyDeleteI loved that show when I was a kid, but as you say it seems to have vanished into oblivion. Thanks for digging up that promo!
ReplyDeleteMr. Bloch, your are right! Cliffhangers was one of the best serial-drama formats NBC has ever developed.
DeleteI LOVED this show back when I was in high school! Back then, it was a great time to be a serial fan as PBS would show the FLASH GORDON serials and things like ZORRO'S FIGHTING LEGION on the weekends. So, I was primed to see this! Alas, if only it had come out/been brought back a year or two later when RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK was out and all the media were going on about the old serials.... Incidentally, each of the three serials on the show were discussed in depth at Television Obscurities, http://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/cliffhangers/
ReplyDeleteThe above ground parts of the SECRET EMPIRE were "filmed in beautiful black and white" as the announcer would say.
ReplyDeleteDespite it's VERY brief run, and my very young age (8), this show left a huge impression on me. I remember it like a strange, vivid dream...and for many pre-internet years I was half-convinced that in fact that was all it was. I would love to get to see it again.
ReplyDeleteI watched his back when I was in Jr. High....I hated it when they did not air the final chapters....I was able to get my hands on a bootleg dvd about 6 years ago and finally show the complete story
ReplyDeleteYou can find a fair to low copy of all the parts on ebay from time to time....they have the final chapters of all of them...
I wonder why this was never part of the SciFi Channel rotation back when they were big into re-runs. If you can run GEMINI MAN and FANTASTIC JOURNEY, you sure as hell should be able to run CLIFFHANGERS.
ReplyDeleteThe show definitely lived up to its name when it was pulled off the air before they wrapped up the storylines. I don't remember much about the show other than the long shot off the underground city and the general vampire plot, but I do remember loving the format and being very disappointed when it was canceled.
ReplyDeleteThis is now making me think of another TV show from that time- can't remember the name- but it dealt with a group of people that get caught up in the Bermuda Triangle and end up captured on an island where they are marched through the jungle to the tune of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". (Or am I mixing it up and combing two different shows?)
Are you thinking of THE FANTASTIC JOURNEY?
DeleteSounds like you're thinking of The Fantastic Journey...
DeleteI remember watching this show with my brother every week. We couldn't believe it was taken off before showing two of the parts as well.
ReplyDeleteThey don't make 'em like that anymore. I wondered why I never saw any of this stuff around that time, but probably because I had to work shift work. It would be fun to see some of this now however.
ReplyDeleteI completely missed this back in the day; this is the first I've ever heard of it. But it looks like something I would've grooved on... too bad it's vanished so completely. Love the Dracula tagline: "He's dead and living on the West Coast!"
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