It was ultimately a failed pilot, but The Orson Welles Show is a thing of beauty and magic now.
"That Time Orson Welles Had an Insane Variety Show" was originally published on Film School Rejects for our wonderful readers to enjoy. It is not intended to be reproduced on other websites. If you aren't reading this in your favorite RSS reader or on Film School Rejects, you're being bamboozled. We hope you'll come find us and enjoy the best articles about movies, television and culture right from the source.
"That Time Orson Welles Had an Insane Variety Show" was originally published on Film School Rejects for our wonderful readers to enjoy. It is not intended to be reproduced on other websites. If you aren't reading this in your favorite RSS reader or on Film School Rejects, you're being bamboozled. We hope you'll come find us and enjoy the best articles about movies, television and culture right from the source.
- 4/29/2015
- by Scott Beggs
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
In 1956, mega-talent slash genius slash quasi-madman Orson Welles shot the pilot episode for “The Orson Welles Show," an anthology program akin to “The Twilight Zone.” Developed for Desilu (Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s production company), the show never took off, but the pilot still exists to this day. Even better, you can watch it here. Just a friendly heads up—the actual content of the video doesn’t start up until about the 58 second mark, and Welles’ setup of the episode (which includes a description of the Fountain of Youth as “a silly fountain”) doesn’t wrap up until, well, it never really quite ends. The creative team behind the pilot—namely Welles, who not only starred in and directed, but also wrote, produced the music, and did the art direction—made some interesting structural decisions. Welles narrates throughout, which in itself isn’t that strange, but his voiceover (and on-screen presence,...
- 11/13/2014
- by Zach Hollwedel
- The Playlist
As their name indicates, viral videos spread like wildfire. But most videos are fairly benign, whereas the one that crossed my Twitter feed a few hours ago is, like any virus worth its salt, legitimiately pernicious. First the clip: from BuzzFeed via Nerdcore, a "crazy" video of a never-aired interview between Orson Welles and Jim Henson and Frank Oz. It's from the pilot of "The Orson Welles Show," a proposed 90-minute weekly series that never made it off the launching pad.
Certainly, Welles' delivery doesn't inspire the warm-n-fuzzies (though I do love the way he derisively refers to television as "the box"). But the main source of the creep factor -- the weird footage of a lifeless Miss Piggy and a suicidal Kermit the Frog -- is not from "The Orson Welles Show." It's actually an excerpt from a very funny sketch on "Late Night With Conan O'Brian" called "Muppet Faces of Death.
Certainly, Welles' delivery doesn't inspire the warm-n-fuzzies (though I do love the way he derisively refers to television as "the box"). But the main source of the creep factor -- the weird footage of a lifeless Miss Piggy and a suicidal Kermit the Frog -- is not from "The Orson Welles Show." It's actually an excerpt from a very funny sketch on "Late Night With Conan O'Brian" called "Muppet Faces of Death.
- 4/13/2011
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
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