Tiki on TV....

WGN is running repeats of WKRP in Cincinnati.
On one episode there is a Suffering Bastard mug on Herb Tarlek's desk.
It was on one show only and I never saw it since.

Caught a "Law & Order" (I think it was an SVU) and one of the interiors was "Brenda's Tiki Bar", Not a tiki in sight, just rolls of reed fencing (ala Home Despot) and light up fake palm trees. The waitresses were all in Bikinis, too. It was rather dark, though and the main suspect was drinking out of a Dynasty bamboo mug (Everyone else seemed to have a beer battle in their hand).

There is a show on Cartoon Network called Total Drama Island. It is a cartoon version of Survivor. In on episode, a girl takes a forbidden idol of a haunted island.

In a later episode, when they interview the castoffs, There is a pool bar with tikis. But those tikis were the neon paint jobbers and don't deserve a pic.

Last night on "Life on Mars" the chief of police and one of his dead buddy's son had a drink called a "Burning Question" (mentioned through out the episode) served to them (in a nudie bar) in what looked like darker green OH R-5. When ABC gets the episode up I'll do a screen shot.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/8002/starsky-and-hutch-bounty-hunter

about 12 mins into it..

Last night I was watching Moonlight on the SciFi Channel and the main guy is flashing back to the 50's and you should see the house, the clothes, the decorations...it's right out of a SHAG painting (or vice versa)! The music was also great. Not my favorite type of show but there was nothing else on! I'm glad I watched!

Oh, in case you're interested, the episode was called "Dead Ringer."

"Something, something, something, Dark Side, something, something."

[ Edited by: beadtiki 2009-03-07 11:40 ]

Some tiki mugs showed up on SNL last night (March 7, 2009) in the 'Hawaiian Hotel' sketch. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Fred Armisen portray Hawaiians who aren't particularly happy with their lot in life:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/hawaiian-hotel/1056148/

I saw it last night and thought it was pretty funny (and a lot of truth in it too.)

:music: Hano Hanooo!!... :music:

Tikis on the Maui Melon Mint Orbit gum commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyiV12WdJew

(or was it Maui Melons :lol: ?)

Just saw the latest episonde of "Bones" on Fox. There is a carved Tiki featured in a safari-themed used car dealership, in the first half of the episode. The whole dealership is very cool, lots of bamboo and thatch, more tiki than safari, really.

This Saturday, TV LAND is running multi-part Hawaii episodes of The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son, & The Brady Bunch (weedle-eedle-loo).

Mad Men is a show about 1950s advertising executives working on Madison Avenue. The show is not really tiki but it is a feast of eye candy for people who love 1950s style. Everyone smokes and drinks and political correctness has not been invented yet.

On the first episode the main character takes a client out to a bar and she orders the "Special Mai Tai".

That is one tasty looking drink.

In the 1969 Brady Bunch episode 'Dear Libby', Alice is drinking out of a (non-tiki) coffee cup.

The sticker on the bottom of the cup seems to be the famous yellow/gold Otagiri foil sticker.

Note sticker on bottom

A shot of the cup

Was Robbie the Robot Tiki? Look here and you decide:http://www.flickr.com/photos/drzarkov/2302303231/

On 2008-12-24 22:15, JOHN-O wrote:
Remember Anne Francis as private detective "Honey West"? It was a B&W TV show that ran for one season in 1965. They just re-issued it on DVD. In the episode "A Neat Little Package", Honey goes undercover as a cigarette girl in a Tiki restaurant. I'm not sure if they used a set or if it was filmed at an actual business. The exterior shots show a bamboo-thatched Polynesian-style restaurant with the sign "Golden Lotus" (which might have just been stuck there). There is also a small artificial lagoon with tiki torches adjacent to what looks like the rear of the restaurant. Anyway there were a lot of tikis for the interior shots. One poor tiki gets a machete chop in the head. :(

Anne Francis was also really cool in "Forbidden Planet" which has a (kind of) tiki-headed robot.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2008-12-24 22:42 ]

Last season's CSI had a funny show, rare for them, written by the writers of Two and Half Men about a vain TV star who is murdered. In one of the final scenes where Grissom and Brass confront the murderer (who gets away with it) on a TV soundstage, you can briefly see a giant Tiki head lurking behind them.

For those of you with cable, several networks are running reruns of Malcolm in the Middle. In one of them, Malcolm's mother and father make the kids turn their garage into a Tiki Lounge -- and they do a damn fine job of it, too. Every day the parents retreat there to relax, drink out of Tiki mugs and get away from the world, until of course something ensues to destroy their paradise. If you can, also catch the Burning Man episode -- no Tikis in this one and no, in spite of what you see on screen, there are no cacti in the Black Rock Desert -- but the show is hilarious. My wife and I attended Burning Man so we have both episodes stored permanently on our DVR.

On 2009-09-22 13:15, Dr. Zarkov wrote:
Was Robbie the Robot Tiki? Look here and you decide: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drzarkov/2302303231/

On 2008-12-24 22:15, JOHN-O wrote:

Anne Francis was also really cool in "Forbidden Planet" which has a (kind of) tiki-headed robot.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2008-12-24 22:42 ]

Dr. Z.

I fixed your link. I'm glad you saw the connection.

JOHN-O

Years of watching "I Love Lucy" and I never caught this before..

Episode #128 titled "Lucy Visits Grauman's" (Season 5 - Air date Oct.3, 1955 - The famous episode where Lucy steals John Wayne's footprints.)

Lucy complains to Ricky she didn't have any souvenirs from Hollywood.

Ricky retrieves a box of Hollywood memorabilia. Inside the box: an orange autographed by Robert Taylor. A grapefruit signed by Richard Widmark. A tin can squashed by Cary Grant's left rear wheel. Menus from the Brown Derby. Matchbook covers from Ciros. Ashtrays from the Beverly Hilton..and

CHOPSTICKS from "THE BEACHCOMBER!"

Does anybody know if Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz have their chopsticks on display at Don The Beachcombers in reality? Just wondering.

I can't believe no one has posted this, yet! During the first season of Happy Days, on April 2, 1974, an episode aired called: "Because She's There". Potsie sets Richie up with a blind date for Ralph's masquerade party. The blind date is Diana Canova, (from SOAP), she's dressed as the Statue of Liberty & she towers over Richie. The party is held in Ralph's basement, complete with rattan furniture, Hawaiian travel posters & a round, rattan shelf on the wall with Tiki mugs in it. The only mugs I can identify are a couple of Tiki Bob's. You guys need to check this out. I was playing it over & over again looking for more details, but now I can't get my DVD player to work. CRAP!

I'm a little embarrassed to post this, but what the hell.

This is from a 1995 episode of Roseanne titled Sherwood Schwartz: A Loving Tribute.

Not quite on Telly but on Radio 4's "That Mitchell and Webb Sound - Series 4 - Episode 5" about three minutes in a great piece of radio comedy about "the big stone heads of Easter island"

Its still up for the next five days..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00mr4w3/That_Mitchell_and_Webb_Sound_Series_4_Episode_5/

On an Overhaulin' episode titled "Sema--Radical Roadster" they had a woman with MS who is into all things '50's and when they interviewed her there were Tiki's around and a Miehana mug on a shelf next to her as well as a Drei Moai Scorpion Bowl. Her Husband said she wanted the car painted "Tiki Green".

Watching The Rockford Files right now. Jim & his dad were eating in a restaurant with tapa on the walls & drinking out of hollowed out pineapples. On their way out, there was a big glass float hanging over the door & a good sized Tiki in front of the building.

*Watching The Rockford Files right now. *

"$200 a day, plus expenses." Nobody was cooler in the 1970's than James Scott Rockford. No-body. Greatest private investigator series ever to grace the airways. Find a better theme song, g'head, try!

In the early episodes Rockford's trailer was not in the more well known West Cove location but rather was in a parking lot right near the Malibu Pier. Viewers would see him leave the trailer and head south down PCH, and thereby catch a brief glimpse of the infamous Tonga Lei. Perhaps the location of said scene?

To me, Rockford seemed like a Navy Grog kind of fellow.
midnite

I caught this commercial one Saturday morning.

Sadly, I don't know (nor care) who these boys are (I don't have kids, so I'm no longer "hip" to today's trends LOL), but they are promoting a kids yogurt. In the commercial, they are playing the "I crush" game I think started by the comedy troupe "Kids in the Hall". Anyways, here's a link to the commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK1tueX3QVM

On 2009-11-16 23:53, midnite wrote:
*Watching The Rockford Files right now. *

Nobody was cooler in the 1970's than James Scott Rockford. No-body.

To me, Rockford seemed like a Navy Grog kind of fellow.

That's a bold statement. :)

The 1970's were a great decade for coolness. Jim Rockford was a nice guy but the 1970's were the time for Blaxploitation and Kung Fu fighting. During that time no white TV cop/PI was cooler that Ron "Superfly" O'Neal, Richard "John Shaft" Roundtree, Sonny "The Street Figher" Chiba, and of course the late great Bruce Lee. Also I think Pam Grier could have kicked Jim Rockford's ass.

And if you want to talk about white TV cops, Starsky and Hutch might have been cooler than Rockford but Baretta definitely was. Their opening themes were way cooler than Rockford's hokey "progressive rock" music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2458hQ5EDc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRa9uhiAPBs

I'll give him this credit though, Jim Rockford was a bourbon guy. He would have considered a tropical cocktail kind of swishy.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2009-11-17 09:12 ]

John-O -

Blaxploitation & Kung-Fu? 1970s?

We must must pay homage to legendary Rudy Ray Moore as DOLEMITE - a 1975 film

Who can forget Dolemite's all-girl army of KUNG FU KILLERS?!!!

(sorry for the slight derailment...back to the TV discussion...:wink:)

TikiG

tiki since '67!

[ Edited by: TikiG 2009-11-17 09:03 ]

On 2008-08-20 11:59, VanTiki wrote:

and a carpet detail:

Go Team Venture!

Looks an awful lot like the Melinamade fabric I covered my rattan chairs with....

On 2009-11-17 08:49, JOHN-O wrote:

And if you want to talk about white TV cops, Starsky and Hutch might have been cooler than Rockford.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2458hQ5EDc

Hey I just noticed this in the youtube video I referenced above.

That leopard skinned stripper that Starsky (or is that Hutch?) is eye-balling. She's dancing inside what appears to be a Tiki bar !!

That's Hutch! :up:

On 2009-11-17 08:49, JOHN-O wrote:
And if you want to talk about white TV cops, Starsky and Hutch might have been cooler than Rockford but Baretta definitely was. Their opening themes were way cooler than Rockford's hokey "progressive rock" music.

Might have been cooler? What kind of on the fence statement is that? I guess it's the kind you use when you don't know who Starsky and Hutch are (See above). Get it together JOHN-O!

Well I was never entirely sure about Starsky and Hutch. :)

These guys are definitely cooler. Wait... Which one is Ernie and which one is Bert ??

And no, I'm not hijacking another thread again. Check this out.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2009-11-17 13:39 ]

John-O, I don't clearly see any tiki but have not watched this video, just saw your still shot above. But I see a few African looking masks and what looks like an elephants' tusk. Don't think those are very common in tiki bars. But then I could be completely wrong.

Rockford was "Lounge Cool" &, as a car guy, I'll take Rockford's Firebird over that hideous, bulbous Torino of Starsky & Hutch anyday. Cool Tiki/Stripper scene, though!

On 2009-11-17 13:48, 8FT Tiki wrote:
John-O, I don't clearly see any tiki but have not watched this video, just saw your still shot above. But I see a few African looking masks and what looks like an elephants' tusk. Don't think those are very common in tiki bars. But then I could be completely wrong.

Here's the entire episode on-line - http://www.hulu.com/watch/8002/starsky-and-hutch-bounty-hunter

Yeah, it looks to be more of a Jungle theme than a Tiki theme. I think I did see some Tikis though, especially the Tiki totem pillars at the A-framed entrance. I wonder if they repurposed an existing 1970's-era Tiki joint for the scene. I didn't recognize the exterior shot.

Update - could it have been this place?

It does appear to be downtown LA. I remember going to the punk/goth club "Scream" in the Embassy's basement during the mid-1980's.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2009-11-19 08:19 ]

This one is a toughy! My first reaction for these scenes is always that in 85% of the cases they are sets. Even if not built on a sound stage, they are often some generic location dressed up as a tropical place. That is after all how Oceanic Arts survived the Tiki-desert of the 80s, by renting to the studios. And they supplied both, real bars and fake sets, so an O.A. piece does not simply make it either/or. Even for me, being a Tiki authority AND a cinematographer, it is often difficult to tell if it's a real place or a set, BECAUSE:

A.) One basic fact about Poly pop decor is that it IS very much like film set art direction. It is in part why I believe Poly pop was born in Hollywood, with Don The Beachcomber, who advised on South Sea films and had friends in the industry.

B.) Even if it was a real place, it would never be shot "as is". The art department would go in and add and embellish the theme, and it would
also be completely re-lit for shooting it. This adds to the impression of a real location being a set.

C.) SOME angles might be shot in the real place, some on a set. For example, in this Starsky and Hutch episode, their reverse angles from the stage, when they stand by the entrance, the entrance looks very fake. (the bar scenes begin at minute 10:00)

I am really intrigued by this conundrum, so let's analyze some of the angles:

First, the exterior:

Though solid, the face of the A-frame looks a little bland. On it we see a Maori wall hanging made by Oceanic Arts. The Tiki posts are painted 70s-style. The neon name "Jungle Club" sounds very generic, like "we don't wanna get in trouble using a real place's name" -like a film prop. Though the fact is: it was shot on a real LA street, not a studio lot, (like that "Jeannie" exterior we saw here recently):

BUT: Much more elaborate Tiki exteriors have been built as sets before, case in point is this impressive entry from a British film, for a a place that, according to seasoned British Tiki archeologists, never existed in London:

So my verdict on the" Jungle Room" exterior would also be: A set, propped onto a real club entrance

But back to Starsky and Hutch. Next: The carvings:

Have not seen this one at O.A., but studio prop houses had lots of their own "primitive art". Though this one somehow looks in situ.
Verdict: Could be on location

Next: the stage, towards the entrance:

The Jungle Room sign again. Looks like they used the same one inside first, and later outside. The old foot lights look very hoakey.
Verdict: A set

Next: The area behind the stage:

It not only has a lot of depth, with several booths lined up, but it has a BAMBOO CEILING!
Verdict: On location

Next: long shot towards the stage:

Makes the place look big, with a lot of depth. But that's done with an old trick: Put two blokes and a table right in front of camera, dress some palm fronts around the frame, and Voila!, you have lotsa depth.

All in all this place just reeks of a set to me. Starsky and Hutch was a very successful show at that point, so they would have had the budget to build such a place. Or it was a combination of various levels of location/ set dressing/ studio. We will probably never know. :)

Another fascinating analysis Bigbro. Thanks !! I really want to believe however that was the actual Jungle Room at the Embassy Hotel.

This would be a great theme for a new bar. I like the idea of a leopard-skinned Bettie Page cocktail waitress serving up an Everclear-laden Jungle Juice cocktail.

Having indoor Tiki torches does seem like a fire hazard though, especially with all the flammable bamboo decor.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2009-11-19 15:10 ]

Very exciting news for those who like to watch TV completely plastered or enjoy the fine art of the fart joke...

Larry the Cable Guy's Hula-Palooza Christmas Luau

"Nothing says Merry Christmas like bamboo huts and coconut shell bras." Larry the Cable Guy

It's essentially a variety show shot live. They did a pretty swell job on the set. Considerably less effort was spent on the script.

It debuted on Country Music Televison (CMT) the other night so they'll probably run it a few million times between now and February.

CMT listing.

DVD at Amazon
(The show might be useful for those with redneck relatives who don't get the whole Tiki thing.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-yKocNxodE#t=1m00s
From the British Series "the Champions"

On 2010-01-11 16:06, martian-tiki wrote:
From the British Series "the Champions"

That hideously painted tiki they're standing in front of is apparently a well-used prop in British film and television. Most recently, I've seen it pop up in the Christopher Lee film, "Theatre of Death" and the Hammer film, "She" with Ursula Andress.

I just saw a new Target commercial that has Tiki mugs in the background.

Just finishing up watching Hawaii 5-0 season 1 & 2 on dvd and several episodes have some great tiki in them. They're proving well-worth a watch just for all the cool things in the background. Disclaimer - I was also excited to spot a spinning Union 76 ball sign above a service station in one episode...

I was watching a Twilight Zone episode on cable the other night. "I Dream of Genie" episode 114 from season 4 in 1963. The guys in the accounting department are all going out to celebrate the secretary's birthday and the boss announces they are going to "Club Tiki". Alas, the protagonist goes home alone and we never get to see this "Club Tiki".

I just saw an episode of Hoarders on A&E where the guy had lots of collections including a collection of matchbooks. When they showed an aerial shot of his matchbooks the main matchbook on top was from the Kahiki! I know, not the sexiest spotting of tiki on TV :)

The only thing that comes close to my love of all things tiki is my love of all things paranormal (UFOs, ghosts, Cryptids). So when the Syfy (formerly sci fi)channel's Destination Truth combines both, I'm in heaven. A few weeks back the show went to New Zealand to look for the Taniwha, a serpentine river creature that has long been a part of Maori legends. Besides looking for the creature the show gave some nice shots of Maori carvings and a small look at Maori beliefs. This epsisode is on the channels website.

But wait there's more coming from Destination Truth. On the season finale airing this week (on Wed. 4/21) the show is going to Easter Island to look for the ghosts of the island amongst the Moai! I can't wait.

I watched Destination Truth last night - the Easter Island / New Zealand episode.

The Easter Island segment could have had a little more historical information shared with the audience to help with the context of the "haunting".

I was hoping the psychoactive effects of the herbal tea (which a local Rapa Nui prepared the tea for them)used in conjunction with a paranormal investigation would given a full resolve and not ignored as it was.

It does seem the Aku Aku energy in a remote cave did come to life, and my impression was the Aku Aku didn't appreciate the 'Truth investigative team invading their 'space'.

The New Zealand segment was a little less interesting in subject matter, but this segment provided the funniest moment I ever witnessed on this program...Josh Gates falling into a pit while chasing a mysterious beast thru the woods at night. Ouch.
I must have hit the rewind button a half-dozen times just to watch his facial expressions as he falls...hilarious!!

Just watched part of a Funny or Die sketch on HBO where a group of drunk parrot heads make friends with an evil date-raping Jimmy Buffet t-shirt. The sketch might have been called "Another Day in Margaritaville." Several of the interior shots were done in the Tonga Hut, though! No mistake about it. The pecky cedar boards, the green booths, and even the anniversary banner visible in one shot...

It was just wrong on many levels...

Anybody else see this? I searched for a mention of it. I'm not sure if it just aired for the first time or not.

I just did a search and found out the episode of Funny or Die with the Tonga Hut is the very first episode.

http://www.funnyordie.com/promos/funnyordiepresents-episodes

The blurb for the sketch reads: "A T-shirt outparties a bunch of Parrotheads at a Margaritaville"

If I find a still, I'll try to post it.

[ Edited by: Trader Tom 2010-05-27 01:21 ]

On 2008-12-24 22:15, JOHN-O wrote:
Remember Anne Francis as private detective "Honey West"? It was a B&W TV show that ran for one season in 1965. They just re-issued it on DVD. In the episode "A Neat Little Package", Honey goes undercover as a cigarette girl in a Tiki restaurant. I'm not sure if they used a set or if it was filmed at an actual business. The exterior shots show a bamboo-thatched Polynesian-style restaurant with the sign "Golden Lotus" (which might have just been stuck there). There is also a small artificial lagoon with tiki torches adjacent to what looks like the rear of the restaurant. Anyway there were a lot of tikis for the interior shots. One poor tiki gets a machete chop in the head. :(

Definitely looks like a set - check out the deep background in the wide room shots. Seems to be an apartment or office set redressed as a restaurant.

Screen grabs from this episode:

There is an episode of Bewitched from late in that series run titled "Samantha's Witchcraft Blows a Fuse", where the owner of a Chinese Restaurant, Ah Fung, has invented a new trademark Tiki Cocktail for his restaurant and serves it to Darwood & Samantha. The drink utilizes a rare ingredient, Himalayan Cinnamon, whichx has an ill effect on Samantha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHg0SaQH-40