The TV Wheel (1995)

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Screenplay: Judd Apatow, Nick Bakay, Morwenna Banks, Paul Feig, Joel Hodgson, Nell Scovell

Cast: Joel Hodgson, Nick Bakay, Morwenna Banks, Steve Bannos, Doug Benson, John Carney, Lilly the Chicken, David Cross, Clark the Dog, Paul Feig, Andy Kindler, Melissa Samuels, Fred Stoller, Lawrence T. Wrentz

Synopsis: Devised as a return to live comedy where mistakes were part of the thrill of viewing them, the creator of Mystery Science Theatre, Joel Hodgson, divised the "X-Box", a giant segmented wheel where various sets are built upon whilst the camera is fixed in one place, the audience witnessing a flurry of sketches as the cast have to move quickly as the wheel does.

So let's begin with the obvious, that barring their infamous episode covering Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966), I've never seen Mystery Science Theatre 3000, the legendary cult series where trashy films were commented on by its creator Joel Hodgson, playing a janitor on a space station forced to watch "bad films", at least for four seasons, and a gaggle of robots. For better and for worst, MST3K is legendary, beloved, but also with the stigma of having birthed the idea of ironic viewing of films where improvising jokes rather than watching the film is encouraged. I don't think its Hodgson's fault for that one, just a minor slight out of his hands as - after ten original seasons, a 1996 theatrical film, and two Netflix series so far from 2017 - his creation gained a fan base with a lasting effect. Hell, I have to thank him just for bringing Manos to existence, no one knowing of the film until it was dusted off for an episode, where even the jokes themselves were losing to that feature's madness, and helping that creation of a literal fertiliser salesman with a camera have a cultural legacy. After Hodgson left the series mid-way through, he would devise The TV Wheel, an attempt to recreate the unpredictability of live comedy he grew up with, involving a very curious piece of set sized equipment known as the X-Box, and an ideal to literalise the television screen as a window.

The premise isn't as convoluted as the twenty or so minute introduction by Hodgson himself makes it. Originally, this was a HBO project before Comedy Central picked it up and screened the one-off pilot with a newly filmed segment where the creator explains his premise with literal diagrams; the introduction nearly killed my engagement with the episode, a long and utterly convoluted elaboration by Hodgson which, as much as I admire his love for his idea, echoes the sentiment "kill your darlings" in how long he goes with the premise. It tries, the playful almost Michel Gondry nature of the diagrams and boards moving in front and behind him, alongside the funny attempt at livening the segment up by having puppets staging a strike in the midst of his introduction, complaining CGI is going to replace them, but the intro takes too long and would've immediately killed the chances of the idea getting a whole series as it'd put viewers off.

As simply as I can try to explain the actual TV Wheel, he built a revolving "carrousel-like" stage originally called the X-Box which, whilst the camera stayed perfectly still in one fixed place, which rotated with segmented and various different sized sets, some merely a window, some larger, and one great running gag about ridiculous mini-golf courses in the gag off the stage itself, which interchange when the wheel itself spins. The point was that the performers and their stage itself, rather than camera edits and movements, were dynamic and changed quickly. In the midst of this, many recognisable figures from in front and behind the camera for comedy in the next few decades - including future director Paul Feig and with material written by Judd Apatow - have to hastily switch between costumes or improvise as they have a set time limit for the episode. Any cockups would be included, any sense of ad-lib welcomed, and Hodgson's obsession with puppets is found here alongside all manner of optical gags and (Gondry-like) inspired set production with paper signs and windows.

It's far from perfect, and the humour isn't as punchy as it should've been, especially as the live audience heard is more bemused at points then on-board with the concept, but the result is gleefully weird. As much as there are compromised to Hodgson's own introduction, not one single take but cutting to the top of the wheel and figures like the live orchestra to show its mechanics, it's a fascinating experience which I think could've worked. Its definitely one of the strangest sketch comedies I've seen in a while in structure and aesthetic design, knee deep into the nineties and (even in fuzzy VHS sheen) with bright plastic colours and moments weirdly reminiscent of Cafe Flesh (1982) but with significantly less porn. That doesn't stop it from having moments which could've come from such a cult film, such a robot which recommends drinks only to seduce a guy's girlfriend, the miniature golf gag starting from the Mouse Trap board game to heaven itself, and those aforementioned puppets.

Whether it's a snide comment on racism, as red robots claim their servant race will be inferior because they're green robots, or the Thunderbirds piss-take, everything has a jaunty and off edge tones to it which for its moments of light humour and pure silliness also gets dark, helping with even the failed gags. One of the female comedians, when her gag immediate fails before it starts, takes her top off with the creepy darkness found in her desperate question to the camera "Is this what you want?", follow by one of the male comedians in his way to also say the exact same words and take his shirt off, as if the TV Wheel is some perverse trap for comedians. That a man is later naked and being tortured on a giant pinball machine for one gag is also pretty bizarre just as an image, more so as it turns into the machine being used to get him to confess to an alcohol problem.

Not all the humour is this weird - the KISS sketch, where everyone is just heads on mannequin bodies and Gene Simmons is annoyed everyone has a gimmick in the band unlike him, is one of the best including the Foghat reference - but even apparently innocuous jokes get odder. Paul Feig, whilst not a great director if Bridesmaids (2011) is an indication of his work for me, is great onscreen as a charismatic magician welcoming the audience to his living book of gags and tricks, all the while his monkey sidekick warns us that he's been locked in the book like it's a horrifying Lovecraftian never space. The joke is among the best as it uses the TV Wheel and the production design to its advantage, like the Thunderbirds sketch, in both having the wheel move backwards and forwards but, in using the various windows and paper craft, creating clever live tricks of manipulation with special effects, the Thunderbirds one switching between live actors and puppets for a perfect live close-up of someone accidentally sabotaging a test craft with coffee on the control panel. Sometimes in other sketches, they just resort to actual magic tricks like the unfortunate, connected to Feig's sketch, which turns his dog into a chicken with one of his items but doesn't know how to change the dog back.

Clearly, the premise, the literal TV Wheel, is a prop which had to be carefully put together and probably the other factor which might've doomed it is that sketch comedy shows can be made with merely a host and guests trading off jokes to an audience, doing away with prop comedy for the most part. This is a shame to consider as, with fine tuning or even a simplified version of the premise, The TV Wheel itself was a unique viewing experience which, by itself including the end credits being literally taped onto the screen and rushed through, was charming enough but could've gone further than this.

Abstract Spectrum: Handmade/Quirky/Weird

Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None): Low

Personal Opinion:

Just by premise along, it's a peculiar creation from mid-nineties American television, and in spite of the over long introduction it has a lot to admire as a concept. Even if it was an idea to weird and complicated to get off the ground, a few more polished examples of the show would've sufficed at least.