TheArchive: Reviewing the Rare, Retro, and Restored

Fresh off binging last year’s Peacock reboot of “Saved by the Bell,” we decided to jump into TheArchive and see what old gems with the original cast we could find. And we did one better. We found Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell trying to revive Punky Brewster in a coma! This is not a Peacock marketing stunt gone wrong, but we’ll get back to that in a moment. If you thought the only time Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Soleil Moon Frye (honestly, typing those names is a nightmare) appeared in the same rarified air was in the revered episode of  Saved by the Bell , “Screech’s Spaghetti Sauce” circa 1992, guess again. Don’t mind if we do. Mark-Paul appeared  before  that in  Punky Brewster  as Punky’s tutor for whom she had a mad crush! Well the “chemistry,” was undeniable so they came together once more and we’ve got that only reunion on cel luloid, 1994’s  The St. Tammany Miracle . Directed by Joy Newton Houck Jr., best known for directing  Creature from the Black Lake  and being the son o

There are so many interesting stories embedded in TheArchive ’s deep archive. With a vast library of content and a rich history, we continue to distribute surprises every day.  For example, streaming on TheArchive now are all 39 episodes of 1956’s The Buccaneers starring the inimitable Robert Shaw, possibly best known for his iconic performance as Quint the shark hunter in Jaws, but an Oscar-nominee and Hollywood stalwart nonetheless, and a damn solid Buccaneer as well.  Talk about difficult schedules. 39 episodes shot over a single season, nearly a record, and only one number shy of Tom Brady’s record last year of passing touchdowns in a single season. That’s a reach in comparable statistics, but we  are  talking about the Buccaneers.  If you watch the series, one can see how amazingly, nearly 65 years later, art and life do continue to imitate one another. The plot centers around Captain Dan Tempest who as an ex-pirate, received a pardon from the King and turned privateer after his

Imagine Putin test-driving a Tesla gifted by the American people, with Trump riding shotgun!   What does an American President do when he knows his days are numbered?   One President indeed stepped down due to overwhelming pressure, the infamous Richard Milhouse Nixon, after some ridiculous stunts and justifications. One of the best made movies on Nixon is ‘ The Final Days ’ (1989) which premiered on ABC, with over 2.5 hours of live action mixed with archival footage, it captures all the details of Woodward and Bernstein’s best-selling book on the Watergate scandal.   Featuring a riveting performance from Lane Smith as Nixon, alongside legendary actors Richard Kiley, David Ogden Stiers, and Gary Sinise, we see the how Nixon and his staff navigate the intense scrutiny of his administration and the risky moves they made to extend his Presidency.   Under Nixon’s direction to ‘preserve the integrity of the Presidency’ and to ‘ensure national security,’ they inevitably allowed him to overru

Actor, author, and activist Michael J. Fox spent the 1980s playing a teen protagonist in massive TV series and movies, but he had a string of early roles that helped shape his future, including the role of Jay-Jay in the movie High School USA (1983).   This zany NBC pilot turned back-door M-O-W, is now on TheArchive , and features a who’s-who of TV stars like Todd Bridges, Dana Plato, Tony Dow, Ken Osmond, Bob Denver, and Dawn Wells, who unfortunately just passed away from Covid, to name a few; let’s just say the creators loved Gilligan’s Island, Diff’rent Strokes and Leave it to Beaver.  Other well-known actors rounded off this cast, including an uncredited Brad Pitt as a bumbling library nerd, but the highlights of this lovable American school title are the scenes with Crispin Glover, Nancy Mckeon and Anthony Edwards, with Edwards flexing his nerd-to-cool acting range just before starring in Revenge of the Nerds, Gotcha!, Top Gun and many other huge films and series like ER.    Whic

Fall asleep??? Not possible with Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, and Betty herself Ms. Bacall coming at you. And that would be some serious horror if Lauren Bacall could get to you. In her current state and all. So yeah you heard us - we have some A List stars up in TheArchive . Keitel, Law, and Bacall are in Presence of Mind . And so is Nilo Zimmermann. You know, Lydia Zimmermann's son. Their name has two Ns. So much name dropping here. They should have dropped the extra N though. And if you haven't unfollowed us after watching that gem we buried the leads: Mutant - which is a legit good little freaky creature feature. One Dark Night - Adam West. That's enough. Uninvited - this one features the OG "Flerken" that Captain Marvel clearly ripped off! And th ere's all kinds of Amityville horror t o watch. Not the original classic good one. You can get that on Amazon Prime.  While you're there download our app . Not that Ryan Reynolds one either. But we DO have th

One of the most exciting experiences for a motion picture archivist is to discover a movie or TV show that audiences haven’t seen in a long time, or have never seen at all, and to make that discovery newly available to viewers. At TheArchive , one title that gave us archivists that exhilarating opportunity for discovery is the early 1980s TV show  Tucker’s Witch . And what better time than Halloween to roll it out.... Tucker’s Witch  aired for only one season, from 1982 to 1983. The show is about a married couple, Amanda and Rick Tucker, played by Catherine Hicks and Tim Matheson, who run a detective agency, with the notable twist that Amanda is a witch who uses her psychic powers to help solve the crimes. The first episode of the show features a young Ted Danson as the villain, a serial killer. That episode aired only six days after audiences saw Danson in a very different role, on the premiere episode of  Cheers , the show that made him a household name. There is an interesting prod