One of the show’s creators points out that someone else liked Downtown.

I’ve got to start posting Downtown videos again.

One enterprising newspaper writer looked up what television programmers ultimately had to air during previous writers strikes. During the 153-day long 1960 strike the networks resorted to the following:

L.A.’s seven broadcast channels were loaded up with old movies. About a month before the strike ended, KTLA was reduced to prime-time “Wrecks Galore on Destruction Derby,” and on one desperate evening, two channels ran simultaneous previews of the Ice Capades.

Sounds bad? It gets worse:

And yet strike-time prime time was also chockablock with travelogues, like a journey to Shakespeare’s London, and an adventure documentary by Charles Darwin’s great-grandson. Channel 4 aired “Startime,” a remarkable hourlong “anthology” series that mixed documentaries, dramas and comedy. It aired an episode during the strike with Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy and Adlai Stevenson telling Americans why they should vote.

I want to see the Nixon, Kennedy, Stevenson thing! My favorite threat, which didn’t come to reality, was from Saved by the Bell favorite Brandon Tartikoff:

During the 1988 strike, NBC’s Brandon Tartikoff threatened to bring out scripts for old short-lived or never-seen shows and just recast them and reshoot them.

While I’m not a big fan of strikebreaking in this instance, this could actually be a really fun idea. Remember all those critically acclaimed shows that just didn’t quite get off the ground?  We can give them another chance with a new cast! Freaks and Geeks mark 2, MTV’s Downtown version B, Wonderfalls: the Next Generation… I can’t wait to see who they cast as Daria. Let’s just hope the casting directors don’t go out on strike before this all comes together. (PS. are the casting directors in a union?)

Fruity gets caught up in a James Bond-esque musical opening and is caught off-guard by treacherous staples, from episode 2:

Alex wants to buy a toy Mr. T from the comic book store, from episode 1 (this is the second of two Downtown clips on YouTube that I didn’t place there myself, hence the weird Eastern Western European subtitling):

Goat borrows Alex’s credit card and makes an unfortunate purchase, from episode 5:

You’ll be glad to know that I’ve encoded another bunch of Downtown clips, so for the next two weeks you’re going to see a new one online every other day or so. I know you’re ever so excited. Maybe I shouldn’t have started with underage midget porn, but it seemed like a real sweeps-week type winner.

More Downtown Clips.

From episode 1, Alex is critiqued by his sister for owning too many dolls; Alex isn’t perturbed:

Chaka and Mecca are confronted by a disturbing subway salesman and his unusual wares, from episode 3:

More Downtown Clips.

Jen thinks she’s found a way to empty a disturbing club, quoting from Taxi Driver and referencing the Beastmaster all in one short speech, from episode 3:

More Downtown Clips.

Jen is exceedingly upset about the advance of trendy hipster culture and slips into Planet of the Apes parody, from episode 3.

Alex is not pleased by Jen’s impression of techno dance music, from episode 3:

More Downtown Clips.

Matt tells Fruity a story about a loose gun in the subway, from episode 3:

More Downtown Clips.

Matt and Fruity discuss Fruity’s social/romantic options, from episode 3:

More Downtown Clips.

Goat passes out from the stress of a quick jog, and sees a disturbing vision of the future (from Episode 9):

My fascination with MTV’s Downtown continues with this limo driver’s tale of the praying prostitutes from Episode 8:

While I’m on this MTV’s Downtown kick, I wanted to point out that while you can’t buy an official DVD of the show from any actual DVD outlet, the creators of the series (for a nominal shipping fee) are selling the whole series on promotional DVD. Go buy yours so you can be like me.

Alex is concerned that he might be a spineless loser (from MTV’s Downtown Episode 9):

In my never-ending effort to marginalize myself by championing television shows that are not only off the air, but not available for purchase in any format, I’m going to start posting clips from MTV’s Downtown on YouTube and featuring them here. The show’s been off the air for years, only had one season, and will never be available on DVD. Plus I’m not certain that anybody actually watched it.

Here’s my first clip, which was merely a test clip and doesn’t really portray the show in a good light, but what the heck… I give to you “The Worst Smell in the World”: