Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Daytime Heroes: Clutch Cargo (1959)

Cambria Studios' infamous use of Synchro-Vox began with 1959's Clutch Cargo, regarded now as one of the worst series of all time. Its only real flaw was the use of Synchro-Vox as a cost-cutting measure in order to beat tight deadlines.

Synchro-Vox actually was first put in use earlier in the 50's in some shorts that purported to have animals talking, but that was just a gimmick. Speaking of talking animals, a local business in my area has resorted to this method to make its canine mascot talk in recent ads.

Clutch Cargo was off the air by the time I was able to start watching television in the mid-60's. After looking at the first minute or two of "The Haunted Castle", I can see how people see it in such low esteem.

Courtesy Internet Archive:




On a national level, talk show host Conan O'Brien has used Synchro-Vox to conduct fake interviews. At the end of the last decade in WWE, Mike "The Miz" Mizanin and John Morrison (Hennegan, now known as Johnny Mundo in Lucha Underground) borrowed the gimmick for their in-ring interview series, The Dirt Sheet, on a couple of occasions, but, given the poor creative quality permeating WWE, it didn't work as hoped. Such is Clutch Cargo's legacy, more than 55 years later.

Rating: C.

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