The first American Punk Rock TV episode?

I've spent the last few hours going down an obscure sitcom rabbit hole on Youtube, and happened to recall the short-lived late-70s show Sugar Time, which focused on - Bob Mould take note - Sugar, a trio of female singers, the most notable of which was Barbi Benton. When looking at the list of episodes available on Youtube, I saw that there was one titled "Punk Rock" from May, 1978. I don't know if that makes it the first punk-themed tv episode on American TV (not counting band performances on Midnight Special, SNL or the like) but it had to be a pretty early one. It predates the Scum of the Earth episode of WKRP by five or six months.

It also predates Gilda Radner's Patti Smith impersonation on SNL by six months.

The "humor" of the thing is pretty abysmal even by the standards of third-rate 70s sitcoms, but the "punk" song they perform midshow is actually pretty fun. As it should be, given that, as the closing credits fly by there's one for a "Punk Rock Consultant" - one Jane Wiedlin. I don't know what month in 1978 the Go-Go's formed, but Wiedlin's involvement in this might have predated that. Jane would've been 19 years old when this was filmed, so God only knows how she ended up consulting on a sitcom.

I'm curious if any of the older goats around here remember any earlier punk-themed episodes of scripted American TV? I'd previously figured the earliest was the aforementioned episode of WKRP, which would've been from Fall 78. I had no recollection of this episode of Sugar Time, although I did watch every episode - I was a 14-year-old straight boy and the opening credits were Barbi Benton jumping on a trampoline. Of course I watched every episode, all ten or twelve of them.

Anyhow, it's very cringe-worthy all around, but the punk song is fun and Barbi Benton was awfully pretty, so it's not a total loss. Terry Kiser, 10 years out from his greatest fame playing a corpse, is Sugar's sleazy manager.

[www.youtube.com]



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2023 05:30PM by breno.

The website Ultimate Classic Rock (sez who?) lists a few "punk rock episodes" of TV talk shows and sitcoms. It mentions a 1978 episode of the Don Rickles sitcom CPO Sharkey, in which two members of Sharkey's company sneak out to go to a punk bar. Don's character goes to the bar, to catch his two errant boys and drag them back to the base. The scene includes a bit of performance by the Dickies!

Judging from the other episodes mentioned on this site (including the episode of Sugar Time), this appears to take the lead. Wikipedia claims that "Punk Rock Sharkey" aired in March 1978.

Was the punk band contest in UP IN SMOKE the first punk-related material in a Hollywood movie? Wikipedia says it came out in Sept. 1978.

Here's the CPO Sharkey episode featuring the Dickies.

[www.youtube.com]

This wasn't until 1982:

Quincy M.E. discovers the bizarre connection between a murder and the Los Angeles punk rock scene, which becomes a disconcerting experience for him.

I am pretty sure I remember an episode of CHiPs with a punk band, but I doubt it was before 1982.

[stops typing to find info on the episode]

From IMDB:

S5.E16 Battle of the Bands - aired Jan 31, 1982
Violent troublemakers in a punk band break into a van belonging to the new wave band Snow Pink. They both are performing in the Battle of the Bands. Ponch also demonstrates his singing talents.

William Forsyth--sporting a mohawk and nasty attitude--plays the psychotic leader of punk band Pain. I got sucked in watching clips on YT. It's some pretty funny stuff. There is a band performance of their song "I Dig Pain" a few times. Forsyth is not totally unconvincing. Susan Richardson plays the leader of Snow Pink. You might remember her from Eight Is Enough.

I remember that episode of CHiPS. (Typing those words actually made my stomach churn a little.) The producers seemed to want to exaggerate everything that was ugly and stupid about punk and everything that was gimmicky and cutesy about new wave (or what was passing for new wave on MTV in 1982).

And how did the producers tie it all together at the finale? With Ponch getting up onto the stage at the club where the inevitable punk vs new wave conflict had just reached its zenith, all dressed to the nines in silk shirt, flares and polished dance shoes, and exorcising all the leftover bad vibes in the club by regaling the crowd with his rendition of Kool & the Gang's "Celebration." This, Ponch seemed to be saying to the audience -- both the one in the club and the one watching TV at home -- is music.

Up In Smoke is a pretty good guess for the first Hollywood movie with a punk scene. Jubilee had come out in February of 78 in the UK, and that was a small, independent movie. Given the lead time it takes for a Hollywood production to get made and distributed, September of 78 for Up In Smoke is actually pretty early to have gotten anything punk related onto the screen.

Learned historians of today will insist that punk was dead and buried by 1978, but for the majority of people at the time it seemed like it was just getting started. Punk and New Wave were still synonymous in 1978. The first major Hollywood Punk Rock movie, Times Square, didn't come out until 1980.

I had a feeling we were covering some familiar ground in this discussion...but I wouldn't have guessed it was so long ago:

https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,30996,30996#msg-30996

I can’t come up with anything earlier than any of you… but for one of the BEST uses of punk in a tv show, I have to recommend ‘freaks and geeks’.
The episode where Daniel decides to check out punk rock and sits there listening to ‘damaged’.
That show really captured being a teen in the early 80s.

I thought this may have been an attempt to get The Standells on The Munsters rebirthed yet again.

Time for a "garage rock on TV" thread?