Shark Bytes

It's easy to rip on Sid and Marty productions now with the benefit of hindsight (and jaded adulthood) but at the time they were released every kid I knew (including myself) were totally enthralled by these shows (and no we weren't slobbering, indiscriminate morons, we just had a love of fantastical worlds and imaginative adventures).

As to "jumping", this show wasn't really on long enough to jump. I think it only lasted 15 episodes or something. It was, undoubtedly, a clone of "Pufnstuf" and suffered in reputation because of that, and I agree that Butch Patrick might not have been the best choice for lead actor. Regardless, the images of this show (CNR flying around in a giant magician's hat, etc.) are pretty much immortal and I salute the brothers for another wild, entertaining, though admittedly bizarre, concept.

What did Hoodoo want with Mark anyway? It's not like he had a golden flute, like Jack Wild in Puff n' Stuff.
However the "crossover" episode was interesting, where Witchie-poo visited Lidsville and fell in love with Hoodoo.

"S&M Kraft" -- perverted leather bondage and cheese!
I can't believe that a major network couldn't come up with anything better than live-action costumes projected on blue-screen miniatures.

I can't tell you how many Saturday mornings I WASTED with this crap, depressed with the horrible plots and sets. The sad part is, this was the LEAST offensive of the S&M Krap business, having ZERO talent, creativity, or capacity for making ANYTHING that didn't look like it was made in their fricking BASEMENT!

As for Butch Patrick, I could hardly believe, even when I was that age, that EDDIE MUNSTER could have landed himself such a HORRIBLE gig, after proving himself on "The Munsters!"
Pugsley Adams, maybe-- but Eddie Munster?

The WORST part, meanwhile, was the "Gilligan's Island" theme of him "trying to get home."
And of course he never does.

S&M Kraft SUCK!

Just when you think you've broken away from S. & M. Krofft, they suck ya back in!

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Marty Kroft was the biggest acid freak on the planet.

And this show is prima facie evidence.

(Sid ran the business side of things so I thing he was clean).

Sure, we're all so sophisticated NOW, and say the Krofft stuff sucks...but lemme tell ya.

All the Krofft shows have the same power now as they did then - for little kids. Little kids are the intended audience.

We showed an episode of Lidsville to my 4 year old nephew, and he was mesmerized.

H.R. Pufnstuf also held his attention quite well, as did the dinosaurs and Sleestaks of Land of the Lost.

That said...yes, Butch Patrick was visibly uncomfortable, and it's equally uncomfortable to watch him. If he thought he was too good for the show, he shouldn't have taken the gig.

I remembered being scared by the first episode. 1. because the idea of falling freaked me out, and 2. For some reason I suspected that the hats were dangerous.

After a couple of episodes I adjusted and tried to enjoy the adventures, but by then, it was too late. I think I had outgrown such nonsense in a matter of weeks.

I'm actually afraid of seeing the show again now because I suspect that it will reveal my childhood sense of taste as being severely atrocious.

O-M-G! The Krofft Brothers were EVERYWHERE in the '70s, weren't they?

I can confess (since I'm not using my real name here) that I used to watch this and the other Krofft creations back in the day. They *were* fun, to a 9-year-old. However, just thinking about it now gives me the chills -- *were* these dudes tripping something?

I MUCH preferred CNR as a Match game panelist over his Hoodoo persona, even back then!

Ohmigod, did Sid and Marty Kroft ever suck ass. I know everyone loves nostalgia, but if you watch an episode today - oh, brother. A dumb, dumb show.

It was a pretty much a re-run of 'HR Pufnstuf', only without Pufnstuf. An improvement there, and Hoodoo was a fair enough comic villain, but Butch Patrick was conspicuously too old for the role (so was Jack Wild, but he had that upbeat 'cheeky chappie Artful Dodger' quality, while Patrick was slightly wooden), and there an alarming upsurge in all-round cutesy-ness. Moreover, we also have the same old 'Johnny one-plot' problem (boy, taken to strange place, tries to get back home in various ways). As to jumping the shark, those first few Krofft shows were cartoonishly zany enough to hold attention for most of a season, but this one seemed to have the least charm, perhaps because of its late-teen lead. Let's therefore call the JTS moment at five shows into the first season.

I MISS THE OLD WORLD OF SID AND MARTY KROFT AMUSEMENT PARK. IT WAS INDOORS IN THE OMNI BUILDING IN ATLANTA. IT HAD TO BE THE WORLDS FIRST INDOOR AMUSEMENT PARK BACK IN THE 70'S. I GOT TO GO THERE 2 TIMES AS A KID AND I LOVEED IT.

Loved ya, Chuck.

Okay, I must agree with many of the previous posters that Lidsville lent itself to weirding me out. But even as a young child during the 70's when this was on nothing but nothing compared to the creep factor Syd & Marty churned out on The Bugaloos.

Now THAT my friends was one wild psychadelic trip that to this day still sends me to tripping when I think about it. Thankfully, I don't remember all that much about it other than the fact that I tuned in (no pun intended) each week in the hopes that some - any - explanation would be provided as to what the heck was going on. I'm still wondering to this day ... but not too much, my mind can't keep dwelling on it much longer.

P.S. Syd & Marty, I need your address to forward my psychiatric bills to.

Charles Nelson Reilly... what a character. I liked his depiction of Hoo-doo more than anything else in Lidsville. He was always foiled, but you had imagine him having a blast zipping around in the Hatamaran.

None of the characters was very well-fleshed out, but they were enough for a real twelve-year old. And even though he was playing an evil character, even though he was unhappy with the makeup and the producers, I always got the impression that Hoo Doo, at least, knew where he was coming from and that bad guys always have more fun!

Steve

Horatio J Hoodoo - RIP