WELCOME TO NIGHT FLIGHT! With those words, USA Cable Network ushered in one of the most unique (and sorely missed) television programs on TV. Night Flight was a frequent companion to me in the 80's on late night television. In the words of the "Night Flight Memorial Journal", Night Flight was a "half-televised, half-hallucinated masterwork of television finery" that aired starting at 11PM Friday and Saturday nights all through the 80's (1981-1988 to be exactamundo). The show showed a delirious mix of music videos, odd movies (such as "Reefer Madness" or "Fantastic Planet"), old 50's atomic bomb movies, cartoons, interviews, vintage commercials (like the old game "Mystery Date") and anything else that seemed to take the fancy of obviously addled programmers. The very lateness of the hour combined with the often surreal and off-the-wall choices of subject matter were a perfect combination for viewers either trying to fight insomnia or returning drunken from a wild Saturday night; Night Flight was the perfect way to veg out in front of the TV in your PJ's. Sadly, such an eclectic show could never survive on TV today (and, in fact, has not). Does anyone else remember this bizarre slice of TV history? I'm not sure exactly when I first started watching Night Flight but it was VERY early 80's. The first time I saw the truly bizarre animated 1973 French sci-fi film "Fantastic Planet" or the rock film "Breaking Glass" was on Night Flight. A particular favourite, J-Men Forever, was a film by Firesign Theater's Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman which took 30's serial cliffhangers and re-edited/re-dubbed them (a la "What's Up, Tiger Lily") to make a wacky stoner movie. Here was also the first place I saw that famous B&W blooper of Porky Pig hitting his thumb with a hammer and stuttering "Son of a b-b-b-b-bitch!" Night Flight would also mix up disparate things in one evening's broadcast: Kate Bush's 1979 concert film "Live at the Hammersmith Odeon" could be followed by an old Fleischer Studios "Superman" cartoon from the 30's followed by a short film of the Church of the Sub-Genius followed by Laurie Anderson's 8 minute "O Superman" video followed by an interview with Frank Zappa followed by a collection of "Duck and Cover" 50's PSAs followed by Cat Stevens' animated short film for his song "Moonshadow" followed by a chapter of the old Buster Crabbe "Flash Gordon" serial followed by the silent Melies' film "A Trip to the Moon" followed by.... well, I think you get the picture. The show was 2-4 hours in length and would be immediately repeated when it finished (to take you right thru the night). It's really a tragedy that TV in this day and age is so non-adventurous as to prohibit such an interesting show any airtime whatsoever. The thing that jogged my memory about Night Flight was finding it discussed on the Jump the Shark website where the general consensus is that the show never jumped. I also hear tell that the son of Night Flight's creator is trying to launch DVD's of the show; that would be a nice surprise and a treasure to we bloodshot-eyed night zombies who soared along through the night along with that Night Flight logo (and the seductive disembodied voice of announcer Pat Prescott seen below) in those dim, daffy nights of the 1980's: when it was still OK for TV to be experimental, unexpected and out of the mainstream. *Sigh*