MST3K: Do you even know what it is?

I was a huge fan of this show when i was in college. I used to really irritate my roommates because i would program the VCR to record it every Saturday night at 1am and normally they were partying during this time.

Yeah, that's right, we had to use a VCR with a TAPE in it and wait for things to come on at a certain time of day.... it's hard to imagine...

The basic premise behind this show is pretty remarkable, and only because it actually worked despite being exceptionally dumb.

The jokers that came up with it must have been very surprised that they actually received funding.

Here is how it works: The actors have a fake frame set up in the front of a fake movie theater

and they watch terrible movies and say funny things while the movie is going on. That's all there is to it!

I mean literally, that is the only thing they did and millions of people tuned in to watch it - ok not at first but now there is still a cult following numbering in the thousands! maybe more!. they didn't have to make a film, they didn't have to write a script (well, i suppose they did but not for the film,) they didn't have to pay for anything involved with the film's creation. They only had to sit there and say funny things while the film played.

For lots of people (at least most of the people i met,) this was dumb. However, i was a nerd and I LOVED it.

They almost always reviewed / made fun of films that happened long before i was born and I have to imagine that they carefully selected the ones that either had very low royalties or I suspect ones that had no royalties at all. I don't know the specifics but they didn't get sued into oblivion so it must have been ok.

The show followed the host Joel, which changed to Mike later, and the two robot pals named "Crow" and "Tom Servo"...

Crow, Joel, and Tom Servo... completely ridiculous

Crow, Mike, and Tom Servo, the lineup i liked better

Let me show you the intro so you can have some idea about how the show works and then you can pretend to care in the comments.

extremely high budget production

I suppose I am not doing it much justice but I want you to keep in mind that this show became wildly popular (kinda) and even ended up having a film of their own in a theater that very few people went to go see (i was one of them.)

In the meantime I would like to share with you one of my personal favorites from the early years (right around the time i was pissing off my college roommates i would imagine.)

that's right jerks, i am bigger than you and you will not turn off the VCR under any circumstances

This series went on to do more than 10 seasons and at least in my mind and many other fans' minds it was really creative and fun. Combine this with the fact that it was later considered an honor to be selected for inclusion in MST3K and i think we have a thing that people will talk about ages from now. Or if not that long, maybe a few years.

I honestly don't expect any of you to enjoy this because well, it wasn't terribly popular 20 years ago when my college roommates were getting upset with me for monopolizing the VCR. However, if i can bring just one nerd around to the majesty of Mystery Science Theater 3000, then my job is done.