I realize it now. When it's 2am and I am flicking channels, skimming over the endless infomercials. I am looking for something, anything that might be as cool as Night Flight was. It was the most influential television show in my life, exposing me to so much that I am still interested in 20 years later.
This is the TV show that introduced so much of middle America to cult movies, punk rock, reggae, deconstructionist video, the Church of the Subgenius and so much more. Television had never been so anarchic and probably never will be again.
Highlights are showings of the silent short, "Mystery Of The Leaping Fish" with Douglas Fairbanks playing a drugged up detective named Coke Ennyday, showings of the reggae movie "Countryman" , Peter Ivers on "New Wave Theatre" presnting Punk bands from dingy clubs. Black & White cartoons, old commercials, showings of school films, atomic bomb scare films and anything they could find.
Sadly with the homogenization and demogrification of TV (as well as most media), we won't see a show like this again. Infomercials now rule the late-night landscape and it is apt to stay that way, informercials bring in income, shows like "Night Flight" only brought in viewers, and who cares about them anymore? And due to copyright infringements by the show, they were very casual about obtaining permission to air stuff on 'Night Flight' it will probably never be shown on repeats, not as it originally aired anyway. Those who saw it, enjoy your memories.
