Shark Bytes

Why's everyone dissing Mysties on this site. I love MST3K and I love Cheap Seats too. What's the problem here? I have not read all the posts apparently other Mysties were dissin Cheap Seats also that don't make sense either. Both were great shows.Also to those who don't know Mike Nelson on Sci-fi is not the beginning of MST3K. It has been on the air in some form or another since 1988, but don't get thrown off nothing is wrong with either of these shows. Both make me smile and both are funny. So relax and enjoy two funny different shows that both use the same concept to the same funny ends.

Is the name of your show patent protected. We know of a sports bar that goes by the same name

Cheap Seats never jumped the shark. And if it's any consolation to the show's fans Mike Nelson's annoying fans don't just hate Cheap Seats they hate all those bad movie shows that came before their precious little puppet show, too. They always become such whiners and flamers if people discuss those shows since they delude themselves that MST3K was the first of its kind.

People like Bob Wilkins, John Stanley and Joe Bob Briggs came before that puppet show and they were all funnier in one minute than someone like Mike was in a year. Cheap Seats was a terrific addition to these types of shows.

Cheap Seats was a pretty good show as long as the Sklars weren't taking themselves too seriously (ie political comments and high horse stances). Other than that, I like(d) the show. Still watch it occasionally on ESPN Classic.

Randy and Jason were great and they never jumped the shark! I think the lack of a sense of humor in some parts of the sports world is what proved fatal to Cheap Seats. At least it lasted as long as that dopey puppet show from the Sci Fi Channel did. Oh, yeah, they weren't puppets, they were "bots". (Snicker!)

I'm so glad to see people here shutting Mumbling Mike Nelson's fans up by reminding them of how many shows like MST3K and Cheap Seats were on the air long ago! To mention a few that people forgot there was Stella on Saturday Night Dead in the 80's to early 90's, plus Crematia Mortem, Macabra, Laraine Newman's Canned Film Festival and the great Mad Movies!

I would love to have seen that show the other posters were talking about where insults to the bad movie being shown would come up on screen like Pop Up ***** remarks!

Cheap Seats was great at getting laughs without puppets or a guy in an ape suit or the unbearable Mary Jo Pehl!

Cheap Seats never jumped! It was hilarious from start to finish! What better subject to have fun with than the often over-serious sports world. I'm also sick of Mike "I don't make movies. I make crap." Nelson's fans freaking out over Cheap Seats and I'm glad it's finally being pointed out to them how many bad movie shows were on the air long before MST3K.

I too remember that one from the 80's where the jokes about the bad movie came up on screen like the remarks on Pop Up ***** and I think it was called Doctor something's Show or Doctor something's castle. I may be wrong.

The main point is there were bad movie shows like MST3K on since at least the 50's. Ghoulardi was another one nobody has mentioned, plus Moona Lisa who had her own moon base set that she hosted from. And Randy and Richard were the guys on that Film Vault thing. And who doesn't love Svengoolie?

Cheap Seats was a great addition to these types of shows and it was great how they approached a sports show with a movie host show sensibility. My favorite sketch was the one where they pretended to interview the guy who walked out on the end of that Cal-Stanford game. Their show was always much funnier and far more polished than the one with the amateurish Mike Nelson and Mary Jo Pehl.

Cheap Seats never jumped the shark! And it's great to see people finally pointing out to misties that that Sci Fi Channel puppet show was hardly original since there were dozens of shows making fun of bad movies on the air long before the Sci Fi Channel launched that stupid thing. I remember Chuck's Choice Cuts or whatever the title was, from Canada where the guy made fun of old educational shorts and things like that. And that was in the 1980's!

Cheap Seats was in fact more original than MST3K by making fun of the sports world instead of bad movies. It was also much funnier and far better written than "Mumbling Mike" and Mary Jo Pehl's lame show. Misties need to stop whining about Cheap Seats and take a look at all the similar shows that came before the Minnesota puppet show.

This show never jumped the shark and it always left you wanting more. I had forgotten about that show from the 1980's that had insults to bad movies show up on the screen like Pop Up ***** remarks! When you combine that with all those other old shows it sounds like if any show should be accused of "ripping off" other shows it's MST3K. "Mumbling Mike" Nelson's fans could try to be mature for once and just accept the fact that MST3K and Cheap Seats were both just keeping a long tradition going. Maturity from "Mysties"? What am I thinking! Hey, at least Randy and Jason didn't need to hide behind puppets and ape suits, they just manned up and made with the jokes as themselves.

Perfect take by Garyx about how superior Cheap Seats was to Really Pretentious Puppet Show 3000. Any show that does not use puppets and a guy in an ape suit is automatically better than one that does. And for people who think Cheap Seats "ripped off" the Sci Fi Channel Puppet Show they need to remember that that show was itself just a large-scale version of the countless bad movie shows of the past like Svengoolie, Vampira, Elvira, The Film Vault, Commander USA, etc. There was even that show in the 80's where the insults to the bad movie showed up in writing on the screen like on Pop Up ***** so this concept has been reworked over and over and the Minnesota Dweeb Showcase hardly originated it.

Randy and Jason were funnier than the incredibly awkward, pretentious and unlikeable Mike Nelson any day of the week!

This show never jumped! And it was always much better than that lame and overrated Sci Fi Channel puppet show that only lasted a few years itself! At least Randy and Jason didn't use stupid puppets and sing brainless songs like Mumbling Mike Nelson did! This show's sketches were funnier and didn't involve stupid things like destroying planets and ancient Rome and all that. Give me two guys sitting there "riffing" on things and I'll take that over puppets, songs and a guy in an ape suit every time. Not even mimes are as lame as puppet shows. Randy and Jason ruled!

The hour-long Garvey Celebrity Billfish Tournament/Bobby Bonilla Bowling Tournament is the funniest episode of any show in t.v. history. This episode should be shown in World History classes as the example of the finest usage of the visual medium that the world has seen.

I liked it better when it was Mystery Science Theatre. For shame !!

I agree that the show kinda sucked with the studio audience, but it was only there for a few episodes. When they dropped it, the show went back to its original greatness, therefore "un-jumping the shark".

This wasn't classic tv, nor was it intended to be, but this Mystery Science Theater ripoff went in the toilet when it had the studio audience thing, and seemed to rely more on in-house skits, like it was some MadTV wannabe. The superstars competitions and spelling bees were great, but then they got into weird stuff. I just don't think they cared anymore. And now, the boys have gone onto stardom ranking down celebrities on 'E'.

This show is utterly brilliant. I actually had the honor of meeting Jason and Randy. They are very cool hombres. My favorite episode is the bullriding competition. This episode included the rap song that paid homage to Pam Menick and also it featured Eddy Raven singing "I Wanna Hear it from You". Classic.