Far Out Space Nuts

Most kids who watched TV watched it with their family during prime time. Said programs had high production values and catered to a cross generational demographic; Mom, dad, brother, sis, kid bro or sis, even the dog.

So it always amazed me that when kids turned the tube on Saturday mornings we were treated with shows that looked like they were today's YouTube Star Wars fan film equivalents; with acting and special effects that were just as good (or bad) as the "professional" productions from years back.

And that's how I feel not just about "Far Out Space Nuts" but with all of the Saturday Morning sitcoms for kids.

Well, kids don't have money to spend, and what "disposable income" they do have they tend to spend on candy, our parents bought us toys. Ergo the exceptionally cheap feel of the shows, and in particular the Syd and Marty Kroft bombs that used to saturate Saturday Morning TV.

I didn't mind a situation comedy about a couple of impromptu astronauts. I didn't mind Bob Denver cast as the small of the two. Nor did I mind Honk, nor the fact that they used a lunar lander for interstellar travel, nor even some of the stories and gags. But it's like we, the young audience, had seen real sit comes and real scifi shows, and our expectations in terms of presentation were a bit higher.

I mean, you can't fault this show for what it is. The people working on it the best they could. But it took fifteen to twenty years for these jokers to catch up to Disney and to present something respectable, like Disney, to you audiences.

Kids may not be highly sophisticated, and where Far Out Space Nuts entertained on a certain level, to me, it felt like standard fare fed at a bargain cut rate. Slightly sub-par in the joke and presentation department, Far Out Space Nuts tries to deliver on an unspoken promise. It marginally succeeds, but could have been more.

Try it once, and see what you think.

As a 10 year old I watched avidly, but then any show that regularly took you to other planets and encountered weird aliens seemed pretty cool, and this was funny too.

I haven't seen it for years but I have warm fuzzy memories about it.

And wasn't there another show produced at the same time that used the same sets and props? Only instead of adults it featured a couple of kids?

Sid and Marty Krofft strike again!!!

The team who were behind the shows "H.R. Pufnstuf","Lidsville","The Bugaloos","Sidmund and the Sea Monsters",and "Land of the Lost" came back in 1975 with another off the wall kids show.....

And this one didn't make the cut.

"Far Out Space Nuts" was "Gilligan's Island" somewhere "Lost In Space". Again,everyone's favorite little buddy,Bob Denver returns to the same format and character that he played on "Gilligan's Island". Denver along with Chuck McCann(McCann also co-wrote some of the scripts)combined forces in this slapstick-oriented Saturday Morning entry which lasted one season on CBS-TV from September 6,1975 until September 4,1977. Only 17 episodes were produced of this series. The storyline deals with two dockworkers who were employers with NASA,Junior and Barney routinely went about loading meals onto a rocketship set for the far reaches of outer space. All went well until Junior(Bob Denver)absentmindely thought Barney(Chuck McCann) said "Launch" instead of "Lunch",and pressed a button that sends our two stowaways and the rocketship off into the unknowns reaches of space.

When they arrived on an unknown planet,a native creature who resembled a shaggy white dog with a horn for its snout befriended the hapless duo,and Junior named the alien being Honk(in costume portrayed by Patty Maloney). Barney however showed more concern than Junior did over getting the ship repaired and getting back home,but despite several opportunities they never seemed to make it,thanks largely to the incompetence and stupidity of Junior,who is just about every episode seem to cause chaos and mischief in their adventures. The show itself is not the best of the Krofft kids shows that emerge during the 1970's,and this one was in one perspective,became one of the biggest colossal failures in the history of children's television and the worst kids show in the history of children's programming at CBS. Reason? Bob Denver tried to milk ever aspect of his character that he portrayed on "Gilligan's Island",but basically this show was the exact same formula,with Denver as Gilligan and McCann as the skipper. In every episode,Junior does the impossible....again....with mixed results. Only the original episodes ran during the first season until September 4,1976. The second seasons consisted of repeated episodes where CBS moved the show from Saturday Morning to the graveyard abyss of its animated Sunday Morning program from September 12,1976 until September 4,1977.

I actually dug this show as a kid in the '70s, although, unlike the other reviewers, I watched it in the afternoon when I got home from school and honestly don't recall it being on Saturday mornings.

Anyway, yeah, I get the Gilligan's Island comparisons but, I gotta say that I found Denver and McCann's chemistry more akin to Laurel and Hardy and I'm willing to bet that's what they were going for.

Overall, it was a fun show and I wish it lasted longer than it did.

I remember this one too. It came on right before Ghostbusters and so I will always and forever associate the two. It was funny as hell, Bob Denver and Chuck McCann doing what they did naturally in the trad. slapsticky way, in the weird plastic orange/purple lime and yellow Krofft sets of the time. I remember alotta funny parts of the show-it was a satire of sorts on Trek and Sci-fi in general along with being fun period. John Carradine was a co-star for what it's worth(what Didn't he work on in his career??) too.

Fond memories from here...

*** outta ****, good fun.