Danger Theatre – Nostalgia Central

3 Views

1 9 9 3 (USA)
7 x 30 minute episodes

This weekly FOX series – featuring a pair of short (15-minute) parodies of crime shows hosted by Robert Vaughn (“I’m not an actor but I play one on TV”) – billed itself as the show “that dares to take a bite out of the butt of crime”.

The Searcher

“Someone needs help, so they called me. That’s what I do. I help people. They call me the Searcher.”

This segment introduced a mysterious leather-clad motorcycle-riding avenger (Diedrich Bader) who found nothing but trouble in his effort to help people.

He rode a hog (“That’s my motorcycle”) and dressed in black like his hero, Marlon Brando from the 1954 film The Wild One (“That’s my favourite, not Brando’s”), but – despite his heart of gold – was terminally accident-prone.

“You can call me toll-free. Just dial 1-800 Search Me.”

Tropical Punch

This spoof of Hawaii Five-0 starred Mike Morgan (Batman star Adam West), the fundamentally clueless Captain of the feared Tropical Punch Unit of the Hawaiian Police Department.

Tom McCormick (Billy Morisette) and Al Hamoki (Peter Navy Tuiasopo) assisted him.

Tom was the wise-cracking, eager-beaver cop, while 300-pound former Sumo wrestler Al lived to eat. Mike rarely took a chance and sent in Al and Tom to face all the danger.

357 Marina del Rey

In the final telecast of Danger Theatre, ‘Tropical Punch’ was replaced by a segment entitled ‘357 Marina del Rey’, which starred Todd Field as Rake Rowe and Ricky Harris as Clay Gentry in a spoof of shows about private detectives living and working in sun-and-fun vacation locales, such as 77 Sunset Strip, Surfside 6, and Hawaiian Eye.

Recent college graduates, Rowe and Gentry were private investigators but took a greater interest in wearing the right fashions and visiting the local cappuccino bar than in solving crimes.

The series aired in the UK on BBC2 in May and June 1994.

Host
Robert Vaughn
The Seacrher
Diedrich Bader
Captain Mike Morgan
Adam West
Detective Tom McCormick
Billy Morisette
Detective Al Hamoki
Peter Navy Tuiasopo
Rake Rowe
Todd Field
Clay Gentry
Ricky Harris