Created by Chuck Cirino in 1994, this is the pilot for the “Weird America” show, which ultimately became a regular segment inside the greater Weird TV format, which was released a year later. This 30 minute pilot is the blueprint for Cirino’s off-the-grid explorations into the weirdos, subcultures, and outsider art savants that populate the US of A.
This is the hour-long Shadoevision Special created and hosted by radio personality Shadoe Stevens and directed by Chuck Cirino in 1986 for the Cinemax Comedy Experiment. It features an accountant who finds himself thrust into a multi-dimensional talkshow broadcast. Segments from the “Shadoevision” broadcast are featured prominently in the Weird TV series.
The premiere episode of the cult series Weird TV features a trip to the Hot Dog Hall of Fame, a tattoo convention in Anaheim, Hogman’s Pork and Beans Emporium, an art-rock tribute to the game Pong, and one man’s enormous wallet.
In this episode, Cirino himself checks in from a makeshift shrine in the desert, stuffed animals are shot to shreds in a “Drive By Shooting Range,” video art by Iimura Takahiko, the Los Angeles chapter of the Cacophony Society opens their doors, and a visit to steampunk sculptor and inventor Clayton Bailey’s studio.
Episode 3 features Peoplehaters Fabrication Shop, a “tasteless toon” called Rudolph the Rabid Reindeer, a Mine tour in Nevada, a naked Queen Elizabeth in Australia and the mixed media, found object installation art created by Beatrice Wyatt in her front yard.
Belladonna from Tattoo Magazine takes us on a tour of Melrose Ave’s Fetish Gallery, a short film subject covering suicidal house plants, demented hand puppets Francis & Buzz in “Trash,” Outsider art from Robert Williams, and insane automobiles from Burning Man.
This episode features the debut of Weird TV’s serial: “Möbius - Outsider in the World of the Living Dead.” We’re also on the scene of a “Prehistoric Party” with Don Glut: preeminent Dinosaur Collector and Prehistoric Expert, 5000 hand-sculpted brasiers, and an interview with the proprietor of a bone store in LA called Necromance on Melrose Ave.
This episode kicks off with super-powered Potato Cannons at Burning Man, followed by outsider artist and family dentist Kenneth Fox describing his monumental sculptures, strung out hand-puppets Francis & Buzz, and ‘90s stoner rock from Monster Magnet.
This episode kicks off with man on the street style interviews with revelers celebrating Saint Stupid's Day in San Francisco, a Dr. Rhuel segment highlighting the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles, Zatar the Mutant King, and a were-caterpillar romance in “Weird Love.”
We’re back at Burning Man where “Bonsai Boy” shows us his flame spitting superkart. Plus, a very Night Flight-esque comedic overdub of Häxan (1922), a visit to the outsider art installation “The Eagles Nest” by Sylvester Williams, an interview with para-psychologist and psychic healer John Hubacher. and Cake’s video for “Rock ’n’ Roll Lifestyle."
Weird TV visits a “shrine to swine,” aka the home of a woman who collects and creates signage related to pigs (“I’ve been crazy about pigs since I was four years old…” ). Plus, outrageous vehicles at the “Art Car” weekend in Houston, Texas, the original Weird TV serial “Babe in a Bottle,” Video Dave’s UFO sighting of the week, and handwriting therapy.
Explore a new species of big game hunting in Nevada: remote controlled cars from the ‘70s. Plus Spongearama!, a museum featuring the largest selection of natural sponges, microbots from Japan, Goop Boy at Burning Man, and the video for Silverchair’s “Pure Massacre.”
An audience-selected “Best Of” episode of Weird TV with the interactive first person CD ROM “game” Sparky! featuring a dog’s-eye view of Los Angeles, piesexual performance artist The Pie Man, sculptor Al Honig’s assemblages created from manufactured objects, and Weird TV’s “Weird Eye.”
A compilation episode of Weird TV focused on the shows’ wacky original serials: a “Trash” origin story with hand-puppet burnouts Francis & Buzz, Zatar the Mutant King, Möbius, and Babe in a Bottle. Bonus: the Ramones Spiderman song video recorded in 1995!