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Subject: 80's TV - Name that show

Written By: Arkitekt on 04/14/06 at 1:29 pm

I may be crazy, but I swear that there are TV shows out there that nobody but myself and my brother watched.  I would really like to know the names of these but my descriptions are going to be semi-poor.  Here'goes:

The show was about a guy who could change into animals... a hawk (or maybe an eagle), a tiger, etc.  I think it was called Manimal.  That's all I can really remember but I swear it was a real TV show... for maybe one night.  Anybody?

This next one was called (or maybe had a character called) Automan.  It was about a guy who had a car and a motorcycle made out of what looked like electricity...?  I remember that the graphics looked a lot like the Tron graphics; maybe a tad better.  The car and motorcycle could travel extremely fast and if I remember right, they were actually an electric type of man that could transform into these things from man-shape...

Could someone save my sanity and confirm that these were real shows?

Subject: Re: 80's TV - Name that show

Written By: Sammy Reed on 04/14/06 at 2:16 pm

Yep, you're sane, because these things were on.
You may have been driven insane by these shows (as we all were), but that's here or there.
They weren't one-shot things, but did last several months, if not a year.
Automan was a computerized man, played by the guy who went on to do those Zyban commercials recently. The human was Desi Arnaz, Jr.
Here are some sites that may interest you.

From the Jump the Shark website:
http://www.jumptheshark.com/a/automan.htm
http://www.jumptheshark.com/m/manimal.htm

The IMDB entries:
Automan - http://imdb.com/title/tt0084978/
Manimal - http://imdb.com/title/tt0085051/

Subject: Re: 80's TV - Name that show

Written By: Arkitekt on 04/14/06 at 2:43 pm

Thanks so much for the info and the links.  Seems that I should be happy that I remember very little about either show but at least my sanity is intact! 

Subject: Re: 80's TV - Name that show

Written By: Sammy Reed on 04/14/06 at 3:13 pm

Now I'm finding out that "Manimal" only lasted 8 episodes.
I guess like "Pink Lady & Jeff", this was another show that was short-lived, but somehow sticks out like a sore thumb.

Subject: Re: 80's TV - Name that show

Written By: JamieMcBain on 04/14/06 at 3:34 pm

Manimal was one of my favorite shows, back then.

Subject: Re: 80's TV - Name that show

Written By: Arkitekt on 04/14/06 at 3:50 pm

I didn't remember enough to put Manimal at the top of my list of favorite shows, but I do remember that my brother and I used to "play" Manimal, pretending to be able to change into whatever we wanted.  And of course we took it to the extreme: I don't remember an episode were he turned into a dinosaur or any type of dragon what-so-ever.  ;)

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