If I could credit one person for my love of horror, without a doubt I'd say Dr. Paul Bearer. Bearer hosted Creature Feature on WTOG in Tampa, which came on Saturdays after my cartoons of choice. He was a real treat to watch, as a kid, I got the impression he was a class act in spite of being a creep. But his appeal was pretty wide, he made frequent appearances around town and hosted a number of other similar feature shows. At the time, I had no idea the local horror host program was a national phenomena, but Creature Feature turned out to be a little different. The show was the longest running of it's kind, ending in 1995 after 21 years when Dr. Bearer passed away. And his fans are still many, have a look at this archive of his shows, incredible! I've never forgotten his famous sign off, the always eerie, "I'll be lurking for you..."
I heard there was an attempt to revive the series a few years ago with Professor Bearer, Dr. Bearer's long lost nephew. But it didn't last long. I'm sure most of you remember weekly camp movie presentations on cable like USA's Up All Night with Rhonda Shear and Gilbert Godfried, Monster Vision with Joe Bob Briggs and Mystery Science Theater 3000. Where has this lost art gone?! Bring back the creature features!
Check out some other amazing local horror tv show title cards, and you can find many more linked here:
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I had Doctor Madblood in Norfolk, Va., back in the '70s. He was great and, even though I was really young, I was able to follow him around his various timeslots for a few years.
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- Simon
It was a little weird navigating his site, but it looks like madblood is back on the air? i'm really fascinated by these hosts! all doing virtually the same gig in their own regional ways.
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