"The Krofft Supershows" was an anthology of cheerfully absurd television series, nothing incredibly deep but a rather sweet introduction for the single-digit age to both slapstick and social commentary.
The various series were a wonderfully child-friendly introduction to the history of shtick and vaudevillian broad comedy. Jay Robinson and Billy Barty took glorious delight in hamming up their mad scientist characters, so that I had a more skeptical perspective years later as a teenager when watching those over-serious SF films that tried futilely to be profound. Ruth Buzzi brought some of her brilliant shtick, honed in live theatre and Laugh-In, to her role in The Lost Saucer, and many of the one-shot characters were played by retired comic actors whom the Kroffts had somehow convinced to ham it up one more time on a children's television show. Most of the actors playing villains in Electra Woman and Dyna Girl were clearly having the time of their lives.
The slapstick and social commentary are important: at that age, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton and Danny Kaye are a bit too sophisticated even in their slapstick for small children, but the slapstick comedy of the various Krofft series helped prepare a child for a later appreciation. Similarly, while the social commentary was over-obvious by adult standards (particularly in The Lost Saucer), it helped prepare a child to notice the social commentary in other programs.
Also, compared to 1980s "And knowing is half the battle" moralizing, even The Lost Saucer was comparatively subtle! Finally, I knew many teens who watched the series not only for the leisurely goofiness but because they enjoyed watching sexy Deidre Hall in her tight Electra Woman costume and watching cute blond Joseph Butcher in his half-Tarzan half-surfer dude costume as Wildboy.
The various series were a wonderfully child-friendly introduction to the history of shtick and vaudevillian broad comedy. Jay Robinson and Billy Barty took glorious delight in hamming up their mad scientist characters, so that I had a more skeptical perspective years later as a teenager when watching those over-serious SF films that tried futilely to be profound. Ruth Buzzi brought some of her brilliant shtick, honed in live theatre and Laugh-In, to her role in The Lost Saucer, and many of the one-shot characters were played by retired comic actors whom the Kroffts had somehow convinced to ham it up one more time on a children's television show. Most of the actors playing villains in Electra Woman and Dyna Girl were clearly having the time of their lives.
The slapstick and social commentary are important: at that age, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton and Danny Kaye are a bit too sophisticated even in their slapstick for small children, but the slapstick comedy of the various Krofft series helped prepare a child for a later appreciation. Similarly, while the social commentary was over-obvious by adult standards (particularly in The Lost Saucer), it helped prepare a child to notice the social commentary in other programs.
Also, compared to 1980s "And knowing is half the battle" moralizing, even The Lost Saucer was comparatively subtle! Finally, I knew many teens who watched the series not only for the leisurely goofiness but because they enjoyed watching sexy Deidre Hall in her tight Electra Woman costume and watching cute blond Joseph Butcher in his half-Tarzan half-surfer dude costume as Wildboy.