ObscureMedia

This is the dumbest cartoon ever made. Nothing will ever come close.

James Norcross, former astronaut, is elected president of the United States. He's also a superhero named Super President. He has a sort of Batcave place through a secret door in the Oval Office.

Despite the fact that his name is Super President, only one person knows that President James Norcross is Super President, his advisor Jerry.

Super President came under fire from critics and TV watchdog groups, including Action for Children’s Television, for its depiction of a national leader who was an invincible superhuman (especially since it debuted less than four years after John Kennedy’s death).[2] The National Association of Broadcasters said: “An all-time low in bad taste, with the President of the United States in a Superman role. NBC was responsible for this direct ideological approach to totalitarianism. We fear that there may be other broadcasters who are irresponsible enough to keep it in circulation”.[3]

In The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows, David Perlmutter says that the show is “perhaps the worst animated program in the late 1960s (its producers admitted it themselves)” and calls the superhero president “arguably the most implausible superhero narrative idea ever invented”.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_President

Most of the full episodes are unavailable, but this one, which includes 60s kids commercials and a slightly less stupid but still stupid cartoon as part of that half-hour programming block called Spy Shadow about a spy who has a living shadow that can help him out.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0342143/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n9Rf5mS6Qhg&pp=ygUJYm9ybiByaWNo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris%27s_List_of_Covent_Garden_Ladies

Just a warning, some of them are pretty depressing:

I watched this religiously because it showed games I had never seen and hoped to play. The Dragon's Lair special (Episode 38) blew my mind.

It's also really weird to see adults compete against 10-year-olds. The girl in episode 1 totally smokes the adult.

I have the hard copy of this book and I absolutely love it. I've pored over it time and again.

There are free Scribd downloaders, but they're all annoying. You can search for them, but I'm not going to link to one. Otherwise Scribd will make you pay to download it. You can read it on Scribd for free with ads though.

If you ever wanted to know what would happen to all the Christians when the communists take over, the Reverend Estus W. Pirkle has the gory answer.

Directed by Ron Ormond, an exploitation filmmaker who found Jesus but still used his exploitation sensibilities to make this film. Rev. Pirkle is not very charismatic, but Ormond apparently thought very highly of him. The "actors" he was able to find for the film are not exactly talented.

Keep an eye out for my three favorite scenes, all three about kids:

• The kids in the classroom with the candy
• The kid who wants to know where his parents are
• The kid and the two communists who have a stick.

There is an LP version of the sermon in this film. The band Negativland sampled it for their song Christianity is Stupid from the Escape From Noise album, which is where I first heard any of this.

By the way, almost every single person in this movie is ugly. Like it's kind of amazing how ugly everyone is.

Edit: found a collage of screenshots.

I love this group of Andean folk musicians. You might know one of the tracks. El Condor Pasa was essentially stolen by Paul Simon who recorded the song If I Could over it. He didn't give them adequate compensation.

The rest of the album has never had an official CD or any other type of digital release.

Warning: do not watch this movie. This is a terrible movie. It stars no one, it's boring, it has terrible music, and it's only barely shot competently. The only compliment I can give it is that it's only 55 minutes long.

Greedy locals are trying to turn some beach property into a tourist attraction, and a computer expert sets out to use is knowledge of computers--along with the help of several local "beach bunnies"--to stop them.

This movie is only for people like me who absolutely have to watch a movie called Computer Beach Party. And if you're someone like me, you will not be disappointed.

Within the first 10 minutes, you get some of the worst acting you've ever seen, boobs, and a car shaped like a giant chicken.

Also, I'm going to tell my grandchildren that this was how we did social media:

There's a hair metal band that plays all the beach parties. They are Panther. They want to be Van Halen so badly. Here is their amazing hit, Hot Rockin' Beach Party:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj5xFOxqxcI

I'm not lying. This is an objectively horrible movie. The screenplay was written by someone who once walked past a movie theater playing a comedy movie and decided it meant they could write a comedy.

These discussions were held in front of an audience at Columbia University Law School back in an era where you had to be cordial even if it's clear you hated each other, so it's a pretty interesting series of discussions.

They do a decent job of trying to balance voices from the left and right.

Warning, there are some super assholes who represent the right.

1. Executive Privilege and Delegation of Powers
   Can the President's conversations with advisors remain secret when Congress demands to know what was said? Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski, former President Gerald Ford, and Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox bring first-hand experience to this topic.

2. War Powers and Covert Action
   If the president, as commander in chief, decides to declare war, can Congress restrain him? Debating the issue are Gerald Ford, former CIA deputy director Bobby Inman, former secretary of state Edmund Muskie, and others.

3. Nomination, Election, and Succession of the President
   A tangled web of issues is involved in electing a president. Edmund Muskie, former presidential press secretary Jody Powell, party officials, and others discuss the role of political parties, the electoral college, and what to do if a president becomes disabled.

4. Criminal Justice and a Defendant's Right to a Fair Trial
   Should a lawyer defend a guilty person? This and other questions are debated by Bronx district attorney Mario Merola, former New York mayor Edward Koch, CBS News anchor Dan Rather, and others.

5. Crime and Insanity
   Is a psychiatric evaluation precise enough to be allowed as testimony in a court of law? U.S. Court of Appeals judge Irving Kaufman, Hastings Center president Willard Gaylin, and others discuss the use of psychiatry in law.

6. Crime and Punishments
   Cruel and unusual punishment, from overcrowding in prisons to the death penalty, is debated by U.S. Court of Appeals judge Arthur Alarcon, Federal Bureau of Prisons director Norman Carlson, government leaders, civil libertarians, and journalists.

7. Campaign Spending
   Do limits on campaign spending infringe on First Amendment rights? Political consultant David Garth, Washington Post columnist David Broder, Bill Moyers, and others explore the issues.

8. National Security and Freedom of the Press
   What right does the public have to know about national security issues? Former CIA director and secretary of defense James Schlesinger, former attorney general Griffin Bell, and others debate the issue.

9. School Prayer, Gun Control, and the Right To Assemble
   A series of events embroils a small town in First and Second Amendment controversies. Featured are Griffin Bell, former secretary of education Shirley Hufstedler, and civil liberties counsel Jeanne Baker.

10. Right To Live, Right To Die
    Gloria Steinem, Joseph Califano, Rep. Henry Hyde, Phil Donahue, and others discuss the right to make intensely individual decisions about dying, abortion, personal freedom, and privacy.

11. Immigration Reform
    The rights of legal and illegal aliens to employment and to medical and educational services are debated by U.S. Court of Appeals judge Arlin Adams, Notre Dame president Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, and immigration officials and journalists.

12. Affirmative Action Versus Reverse Discrimination
    Are quotas based on sex or race unconstitutional? Participants include Ellen Goodman, former EEOC chair Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington Post columnist William Raspberry, and United Federation of Teachers president Albert Shanker.

13. Federalism
    How much power the federal government can wield over state and local affairs is debated in this final episode. Among those featured are Senators Orrin Hatch and Daniel Moynihan and Columbia University professor Diane Ravitch.

I used to have this episode on tape.

I had it, but I never unrolled it to look at it.

Jack Horkheimer was the director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium and a wonderfully nerdy guy with a PBS astronomy program that was originally called Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler and then later Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer. His catch phrase was a cheery, "keep looking up!"

Jack left us in 2010, but I will never forget his infectious, charismatic nerdiness.

This show is much better than I remember it.

Definitely done because of the success of Star Wars and also, oddly, Upstairs Downstairs. Don't expect to laugh. You won't.