Svengoolie

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Jerry G. Bishop as the original "Svengoolie"

Rich Koz as "Son of Svengoolie"

Svengoolie ^[1] is the name of a long-running locally produced television program in the Chicago, Illinois area.

The show features various (and often low-budget) horror and science fiction movies hosted by horror host "Svengoolie" (currently played by Rich Koz), a horror host who wears face makeup, a wig, and a top hat. In between film breaks, Koz presents various sketches, tells corny jokes, and presents song parodies spoofing the film being played.

The character of Svengoolie debuted on the locally produced show Screaming Yellow Theater, which aired on WFLD (channel 32) from September 18, 1970 until late summer, 1973. Svengoolie was played in this series by Jerry G. Bishop, and one of the writers was Rich Koz, who was originally a fan who wrote in with some sketch ideas.

On June 16, 1979, a new series named Son of Svengoolie debuted on WFLD, with Koz in the role of the Son of Svengoolie. The show also aired for a brief period of time on other sister Field Communications stations in Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, and Detroit. This series ran until WFLD (at that time owned by Metromedia) was sold to Rupert Murdoch's Fox Television Stations Group on 1986 to become a part of the newly-created Fox network. The new management canceled the show after deciding it was not an appropriate fit for their new programming direction. After 334 shows, the final episode aired January 25, 1986. Koz later returned to WFLD in various capacities, mainly as the host of its "Fox Kids Club" and "The Koz Zone" weekday afternoon children's programming, even appearing as an announcer on the network's New Year's Eve broadcast in 1988.

The series returned to the air on December 31, 1994 on WCIU (channel 26), using just "Svengoolie" as its name; Koz once again resumed the role of Svengoolie when Bishop told him he "believed he was grown up enough now to no longer be just the Son." The show opens with a reference to early radio broadcasting--"Calling all stations, clear the air lanes, clear all air lanes for the big broadcast."

A running gag throughout the series is the repeated utterance of the word "Berwyn", the name of a Chicago suburb. Another recurring gag involves rubber chickens being thrown at Koz after a particularly corny joke, usually at the end of the closing sketch of each episode. Koz and the show have won numerous regional Emmy awards, including Koz being admitted to the Emmy "Silver Circle" in 2004 for "outstanding contributions to Chicago television." Svengoolie would appear to be the most "decorated" horror show host in the country due to these awards. (Koz has additional duties at WCIU, including hosting the weekly Three Stooges "Stooge-a-palooza" show.)

Besides WCIU, the series also airs on Chicago's WWME-CA ("ME-TV"), Milwaukee stations WMLW-CA and WBME-TV, and occasionally on WMYS-LP in South Bend, Indiana. All of these stations are owned by Weigel Broadcasting.

1 Universal Studio Monsters
2 Other
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Universal Studio Monsters

In August, 2006 it was announced that WCIU obtained broadcast rights to the classic Universal Studio Monster films of the 1930's and 40's. These films have been requested since Svengoolie aired in the 80's. By December of 2006, the show had featured four of the many Abbott and Costello "Meet" Series, with the Universal Studio Monsters, and several Hammer Film Productions, which had been distributed by Universal-International. On May 5, 2007, Svengoolie presented a one-time-only show featuring Bela Lugosi's Dracula (1931), which he claimed to be the first time the movie has been shown on local television in over a decade.

In June of 2007 word came out that several markets including Los Angeles (KDOC-TV) and San Francisco (KBWB-TV) would be "quietly" trying out Svengoolie-hosted movies.

On August 24, 2007, the new SonOfSvengoolieWeb.com was introduced.

[edit] Other

Svengoolie is visible as an easter egg in the Justice League graphic novel JLA: Liberty and Justice, where he is shown on a security monitor in Arkham Asylum as a patient alongside the Joker, Two Face and the Riddler.