The award-winning television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988-1999) has been described as "the smartest, funniest show in America," and forever changed the way we watch movies. The series featured a human host and a pair of robotic puppets who, while being subjected to some of the worst films ever made, provided ongoing hilarious and insightful commentary in a style popularly known as "riffing." These essays represent the first full-length scholarly analysis of Mystery Science Theater 3000--MST3K--which blossomed from humble beginnings as a Minnesota public-access television show into a cultural phenomenon on two major cable networks. The book includes interviews with series creator Joel Hodgson and cast members Kevin Murphy and Trace Beaulieu.

Table of Contents


Preface

¿1.¿Beginning

¿2.¿An Independent Actress

¿3.¿Two for the Seesaw and The Miracle Worker

¿4.¿Mel Brooks

¿5.¿Mother Courage and Her Children

¿6.¿The Graduate

¿7.¿Max Brooks

¿8.¿Fatso

¿9.¿Agnes of God

10.¿Neil Simon's Broadway Bound

11.¿Keeping the Faith

12.¿The End

Appendix: Stage, Film and Television Performances

Bibliography

Index

Robert G. Weiner is the popular culture librarian at Texas Tech University. His work has been published in the Journal of Popular Culture, Public Library Quarterly, Journal of American Culture, International Journal of Comic Art and Popular Music and Society, and is the author/editor/coeditor of numerous books related to popular culture. Shelley E. Barba is an associate librarian at Texas Tech University. She has published in such journals as College & Research Libraries, The Reference Librarian, and Texas Library Journal. She lives in Lubbock, Texas.