Landmark Comedy Series Leaves TV After 15 Hilarious Years; Experts Available For Comment and/or Interview As "Mystery Science Theater 3000" Ends Its Run

"Mystery Science Theater 3000," the hilarious, Peabody Award-winning cult comedy series that began, more than 15 years ago, as a television experiment and went on to become a critically acclaimed flagship series for three different national cable TV networks, will finally leave television, probably forever, at the end of January.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: PRESS ADVISORY

(PRWEB) November 1 2003--Landmark Comedy Series Leaves TV After 15 Hilarious Years; Experts Available For Comment and/or Interview As "Mystery Science Theater 3000" Ends Its Run

Mystery Science Theater 3000, the hilarious, Peabody Award-winning cult comedy series that began, more than 15 years ago, as a television experiment and went on to become a critically acclaimed flagship series for three different national cable TV networks, will finally leave television, probably forever, at the end of January.

The Sci-Fi Channel, the series most recent home, stopped ordering new episodes in the spring of 1999; Best Brains Inc., the suburban Minneapolis company that produced the series, shut down its production operations that summer. However, reruns are still shown weekly on the Sci-Fi Channel; in fact, in 2001, the channel renewed its contract so that it could continue showing reruns of MST3K, as its known to its ever-loyal fans. But, after seven years on the Sci-Fi Channel, that contract is about to expire. Host Mike Nelson and his robot pals Crow and Tom Servo will make their final trip to the "Mystery Science Theater" on Jan. 31, 2004, more than 15 years after stand-up comedian Joel Hodgson created the series out of spare parts and his fertile imagination.

But dont look for MST3K to pop up on "Nick at Night" or "TV Land," where other memorable TV shows live on in endless repeats. The unique and complex legal issues surrounding this TV show-each episode contains an actual movie, so a network that wanted to run MST3K would have to purchase the rights to all those movies, in addition to purchasing the episodes themselves-mean that this series will probably never be seen on TV again.

We think youll agree that makes this a very special moment in TV history. As any "MSTie" (which is what fans of the show call themselves) can tell you, the off-the-wall premise of Mystery Science Theater 3000-a hapless human is stranded in space and forced, as part of a bizarre scientific experiment, to watch one bad movie after another, with only a pair of wisecracking robots for companionship-is the jumping-off point for a series that, like its contemporary The Simpsons (both shows arrived on national TV in 1989), has examined and satirized just about every nook and cranny of pop culture and modern life. Maybe thats why public figures as varied as Al Gore, Stephen Spielberg and Keith Olbermann have all publicly expressed their admiration for it.

Since 1995, two of the series most devoted fans, Christopher Cornell and Brian Henry, have run the most complete and authoritative Web site devoted to MST3K. In 1997 Best Brains selected Cornell and Henrys site, "Satellite News," to be their official fan club Web site. You can visit the site at www.mst3kinfo.com.

At Satellite News, in addition to the most complete and up-to-date information about the series former cast members, you can read the official MST3K FAQ, check out a complete episode guide, read interviews with many of the shows stars, get exhaustive information about every single movie shown on the series and much, much more. Time Magazine columnist and media critic Richard Corliss called the site "fair, fun and authoritative!"

Chris and/or Brian are available for comments or phone interviews, and can assist with any coverage that is being contemplated. Some topics on which Chris and/or Brian can offer commentary include:

* The role its fans played in supporting the series - perhaps more than any other TV show before or since, it was the collective voice of its fans that kept MST3K on the air. Fans were directly involved in saving the series from cancellation on at least three separate occasions, and were instrumental in getting Universal Pictures to make a film version of the series. Series producer Jim Mallon once called it "probably the only major-studio movie ever made because of popular demand."

* The long and complex history of the series, from its earliest days as a primitive offering on a Twin Cities UHF station, to its first tentative episodes on the (now defunct) Comedy Channel, to its halcyon days as the "flagship series" on Comedy Central and its successful rebirth on The Sci-Fi Channel. This show never jumped the shark!

* The answers to questions your readers/viewers/listeners want to know, such as "Where did they find those awful movies?" "Why did Joel Hodgson leave the series?" "Why did Comedy Central cancel the show?" and "What went on behind the scenes during the making of 'Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie that made it such a ordeal for the cast?"

* Those awful movies - more than 150 were featured on the series, and Chris and Brian have a ton of strange and funny trivia about where they came from and why they got made.

* The complex and unique nature of the legal issues surrounding the series, which mean that, unlike just about every other TV show, MST3K will probably NEVER be seen on TV again.

###

We look forward to working with you.

Contact:

Christopher Cornell

610-529-1193

msampo@aol.com

Chris is based in suburban Philadelphia

and/or

Brian Henry

913-669-8855

erhardt4@aol.com

Brian is based in Overland Park, KS