Whatever happened to …

… Count Stupid?

OK, this one may be a little obscure for many of you but stick with me.

Growing up, on a very cloudy night, we could sometimes get television on Channel 4 from Detroit, Michigan.  I guess rather than heading off into space, the signal somehow bounced off the clouds.

Then, I ended up moving to Essex County.  I remember reading a story once that, except for New York City, Detroit had more media channels (current listing) than anywhere else in the world.  Of course, at the time, this meant over the air.  There really wasn’t a need for cable television.  As long as you had an antenna, you were good.  You had all of the major stations from both sides of the border (except CTV) and could pretty much be entertained any time you wanted.

So, how do you stand out from the crowd given all this?

Well, in October, WDIV and then WKBD featured Shocktober.  It was basically showing of older, lesser known horror movies that was hosted by Count Scary, who without the makeup was local radio personality, Tom Ryan.

How do I know all this?  I love horror movies and so was a frequent viewer.

But, not the modern type with all the blood and gore.  I like the older ones that were either created with low budgets or the really early ones that were black and white attempts to bring classic horror stories to the screen.  Do they have Bela Lugosi bumper stickers?

Anyway, back to Stupid.  There was another Detroit radio station that featured a couple of disk jockeys and one did a parody of Count Scary (the market was really competitive) called Count Stupid.  So, instead of the Count Scary tagline “Oooooh, that’s scary”, he’d do a silly comedy bit and close with “Oooooh, that’s stupid”.  Driving to work, it was real entertainment.

For a Sunday, your thoughts via comment below, please.

• Are you a fan of horror movies?  If so, modern or classic?
• If you’re from the area, do you remember Count Stupid?
• If you’re from the area or your cable provider carried the Detroit stations, do you remember Count Scary?
• Maybe you’re not from the area but there have been other such hosts.  Do you remember Sir Graves Ghastly or Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (if you do know of her, I have to declare no relation)
• If none of the above, did your favourite channel have a horror movie parody as a host?
• Do you remember how the second show at drive-in movie theatres was often an older horror movie that tacked on to the big name title that was the first show?  Do you remember how the lot emptied after the first movie?
• Whatever happened to horror moviethons?  Have they gone the way of Hallowe’en and have an orange and black alternative?  Thankfully, this week we have TCM.
• What’s your favourite horror or Hallowe’en media moment?

As we lead into Hallowe’en this week, you can’t avoid seeing all the decorations.  How about decorating this post with a comment below?  If you’re not a consumer of the genre, let us know why.

Bonus Count Scary clips can be found here.

This is part of a regular Sunday series of posts.  They can all be accessed here.