Danger Theatre

Danger Theatre is an American half-hour comedy anthology series for television, produced by Universal Television and originally aired on the American Fox network from July 7 to August 22, 1993.

Danger Theatre
Created byPenelope Spheeris
Presented byRobert Vaughn
Composer(s)Lalo Schifrin
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes7
Production
Running time30 minutes
Production company(s)Universal Television
Release
Original networkFox
Original releaseJuly 11 (1993-07-11) –
August 22, 1993 (1993-08-22)

With two exceptions, each half-hour-long show consisted of two comedy segments, each a spoof of a familiar action/anthology format. The style of the comedy was somewhat similar to that of films like Airplane! and TV shows like Police Squad!

Robert Vaughn was the host for each episode, introducing to camera each fifteen-minute segment with mock earnestness. The jokes ranged from humorous or preposterous dialogue to visual gags and slapstick designed to poke fun at the serious dramatic formats being lampooned. The score for the series was composed by Lalo Schifrin.

Danger Theatre ran for seven episodes before cancellation, but was syndicated beyond the United States, airing in the United Kingdom on the BBC in 1994.

The Searcher

One segment in each episode centered on a motorbike-riding, leather-clad hero called only “The Searcher", played by Diedrich Bader. A spoof of both the stereotypical motorbiking renegade from movies and the “one man on a mission” format of series such as Knight Rider, Renegade, and many others, this segment is perhaps the most commonly remembered element of the series.

The Searcher would always appear coming over the horizon on his motorcycle, with a dramatic backing chorus, narrating :

Someone needs help, so they called me. That’s what I do. I help people in trouble... They call me: The Searcher”.

A recurring visual gag would have the Searcher conclude a scene with a quizzical stare directly at camera, utter a thoughtful, sound, and then suddenly be squashed by a vehicle or falling object.

The popularity of this segment led to two of Danger Theatre's seven episodes ("Go Ahead, Fry Me" and "An Old Friend For Dinner") being given over in their entirety to a 30-minute adventure for the Searcher.

Tropical Punch

In four episodes of Danger Theatre, the other segment of the show was called "Tropical Punch", a send-up of Hawaii Five-O, with Adam West playing the bumbling Detective Morgan, a police detective with no clue as to what is really going on. Morgan only solves crimes because his partner McCormick, played by Billy Morrisette, does in fact know what is going on and saves him from failure constantly.

357 Marina del Rey

In the final telecast of Danger Theatre on August 22, 1993, "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 Six, and Hawaiian Eye. Recent college graduates Rowe and Gentry become private investigators and encounter the worst criminals in town, but take a greater interest in wearing the right fashions and visiting the local cappuccino bar than in solving crimes. Only one episode of "357 Marina del Rey" was produced.[1][2]

Airing history and other details

Original US airdates
Sundays, Fox, 7:30pm
July 11–August 22, 1993

Original UK airdates
Fridays, BBC2, Approx. 11.30pm (exact airtimes varied with region)
13 May - 24 June 1994

Credits
Series Produced by:
Kevin G. Cremin ....Producer
Robert Wolterstorff....Executive Producer

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References
  1. Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, Sixth Edition, New York: Ballantine Books, 1995, ISBN 0-345-39736-3, p. 238.
  2. Terrace, Vincent, Encyclopedia of Television Shows 1925-2010, Second Edition, 2011 (no publisher indicated; not paginated)., ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7
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