Q & A: Man from Atlantis, “Invitation to Hell,” Wizards and Warriors
I get a lot of e-mails from people asking me about television shows, made-for-TV movies or miniseries they remember from years or decades past. I try to answer each question as best I can. Every now and then I like to dig through my inbox and pull out a few choice e-mails to answer here at Television Obscurities for everyone to read. Keep reading for today’s questions and answers.
Please give me a name or some information about a series during the seventies with an aquatic (as in part fish!) main character who was a rescuer of sorts. He had this strange undulating “stroke” which wasn’t really a swimming a stroke, more like a dolphin?? I think there was one season only.
Thanks.
Katie
That would be Man From Atlantis, an hour-long drama that starred Patrick Duffy and aired on NBC. Duffy played a mysterious man who was supposedly the sole survivor of Atlantis (although his identity was never truly revealed), who was given the name Mark Harris. He had webbed hands and feet, could see and breath under water, and did have a unique way of swimming.
Four made-for-TV movies were broadcast in March, May and June of 1977 to test the waters, to to speak. The first, simply called “Man from Atlantis” and shown Friday, March 4th, ranked 46th the week it aired; the fourth, titled “The Disappearances” and aired Monday, June 20th, 1977, ranked 1st [1, 2].
A weekly version of Man from Atlantis premiered on Thursday, September 22nd, 1977. The show as pulled after only nine of thirteen produced episodes had been aired. The remaining four episodes were burned off in April, May and June of 1978. Other members of the cast included Belinda Montgomery (as Dr. Elizabeth Merrill, the love interest) and Victor Buono (as Mr. Shubert, the villain).
Man from Atlantis joined the history books when, in October of 1979, it became the first television series made in the United States to be sold into syndication in the People’s Republic of China. The four made-for-TV movies and thirteen hour-long episodes were sold to the Chinese Central Television Station of Peking by Taft H-B International Inc. to be shown three times during four years [3].
There was a TV show -or- made for TV movie about a family who moves to a neighborhood and in the middle of the neighborhood is a health club, which everyone is a member of…The Husband is either a NASA scientist or a former Astronaut, he has a wife and two kids. He comes to find out that once you join this health club (like his wife and kids eventually do) the people from the health club separate their souls from their bodies and their souls go to hell…but they don’t realize it- as in hell, the neighborhood is the same and the TV Show when they show Hell- is all filmed in red light…The husband investigates the club, finds out about what happened to his family, gets some experimental space suit from NASA and is able to go to hell, get his family’s souls and returns them home…I think at the end of the TV show, the health club burns down…and his family is safe.
Ring any kind of bells??? I was a young kid watching this, around the age of 9 to 11, so it would have to be 1979 to 1981-ish..I thought I was nuts about other shows I remembered that no one else did…and I found those in the last two days- The Secret Empire on NBC (1979) and Otherworld on CBS (1985)…So I know this show I am looking for the name of was real.
Kyle
It was a made-for-TV movie called “Invitation to Hell,” starring Robert Urich and Susan Lucci, originally aired by ABC on Thursday, May 24th, 1984 as part of its May sweeps stunting. It ranked 13th for the week [4]. And, remarkably, the telefilm is available on DVD (Amazon.com)
can you tell me the name of a television show from the 1980’s it was set in medieval times and the hero ’s name was greystone. he was always rescuing a princess in trouble. the show had magic and unicorns and i remember that how the show would end would be the scene frozen and end up in a fairy tail book. kind of like the beginning of shrek. please help i loved the show and i cannot remember the name of it. i was maybe 6 or 7 at the time. please help!!!
heather
The show you are thinking of is called Wizards and Warriors and ran for just eight episodes from February to May of 1983 on CBS. Tom Shales of The Washington Post had this to say about the series: “Children with nothing better to do may have fun with “Wizards and Warriors,” [...] but to be blunt, children should have something better to do” [5]. The premiere tied for 55th in the Nielsen rankings and the show disappeared quickly [6].
Works Cited:
1 “’50s Sitcoms Keep ABC Atop Nielsens.” Los Angeles Times. 9 Mar. 1977: F18.
2 “‘The Man From Atlantis’ Swims to Top in NIelsen.” Los Angeles Times. 29 Jun. 1977: H18.
3 Associated Press. 4 Oct. 1979: AM Cycle.
4 “Neighbor Helps ABC Win the Ratings Race.” Globe and Mail. 1 Jun. 1984: E.11.
5 Shales, Tom. “‘Wizards,’ Nonmagic.” Washington Post. 26 Feb. 1983: C4.
6 Carmody, John. “The TV Column.” Washington Post. 2 Mar. 1983: B12.
Related:
October 15th, 2009 at 3:15AM
“WIZARDS AND WARRIORS”, produced by Warner Bros. Television, indeed lasted 8 episodes, and was “buried” on CBS’ Saturday night schedule (it replaced “WALT DISNEY” at 8pm). Genie Francis was originally offered one of the lead roles {Princess Ariel}, but held out until her 1982 CBS/Warner Bros. mini-series “BARE ESSENCE” became a weekly version on NBC [though short-lived] in 1983. Julia Duffy got the part, and moved on to bigger success on “NEWHART” the following season.