Deep Dive: Out Of The Trees

What do you get if you take a little Monty Python and mix in the mind behind The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy? Apparently this sketch comedy show pilot that aired on BBC 2 in 1976 (in a time slot with little promotion so it wasn’t seen by many).

OUT OF THE TREES was written by Graham Chapman (of Python fame), Douglas Adams (the creator of Hitchhiker‘s Guide) and Bernard McKenna (who may not be well known but he did write for the DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE series and for several Chapman films). The show runs about 30 minutes and in addition to featuring Chapman in several key roles (and Adams in a few minor ones), future HHGTTG stars Simon Jones and Mark Wing-Davey (Arthur Dent and Zaphod Beeblebrox, respectively) appear in some sketches.

Now let me be honest and say that while this never aired on PBS to the best of my knowledge, I think fans of Monty Python and Douglas Adams will find this interesting. Some of the humor is dated (and has been done elsewhere before and since – arguably better) and there’s far too much feline abuse for my personal taste but OUT OF THE TREES has some genuinely enjoyable bits and a occasional actual laughs. That makes it worth the look as far as I’m concerned.

If you concur, check it out for yourself…

Flashback: 3 August 1983

What were we airing on the UNC Center for Public Television? take a look and see…

THIS OLD HOUSE was up to its renovating goodness at 7:30. Hosted by Dame Margot Fonteyn, THE MAGIC OF DANCE was up next. This week: the rise of the male superstar featuring Fred Astaire, Rudolf Nureyev and Sammy Davis, Jr. At 9pm, a profile Princess Di was on tap, followed by a unique look at monarchy in the 20th century. Britcoms ended the day (we signed off a midnight back then) so the day could end with laughter thanks to MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS and DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE.

Flashback: 6 July 1983

Here’s what we were airing 40 years ago on what was then the UNC Center for Public Television…

Flashback: 25 August 1982

What was on the schedule 40 years ago? If you’re a longtime viewer (or simply old enough to remember a pre-digital age) you well know that there was only one channel, as opposed to today’s multi-channel, multi-platform, multi-screen landscape. So the then University Of North Carolina Center For Public Television with its eight-station statewide network had the single broadcast signal that was beamed out to transmitters and translators across the Tar Heel State. Were you watching? If so, here’s what you viewed.

Wednesday Trivia Question

What was the name of the hospital where the med students studied in DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?

PBS NC fans need to go back 40 years to remember DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE. It was a situation comedy based on a series of books (and film) by Richard Gordon about a group of boisterous medical students studying at a fictional London hospital. Originally aired in several series under different titles over the course of about 20 years, the Britcom was packaged under the DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE name for broadcast in the states. I know we aired several of the series in the early 1980s, following the students through the trials of med school and even past graduation into practice. From a little research, it seems we may have shown the original DITH series and its two followups – DOCTOR AT LARGE and DOCTOR IN CHARGE (although perhaps not every episode as sometimes happens with overseas syndication).