Tiki on television

Mannix season 5 (1971): no tiki. A few of those "California wharfside" type bars, the kind of places that you would expect to visit on a JOHN-O tour:

Mannix season 6 (1972):

According to the storyline this place was in Malibu, but it could have been anywhere. And those likely-made-in-Phillipines masks could have been put up just for the shot. Anyone recognize this place? It almost looks like a just-starting-to-devolve Pieces of Eight...

Also Sinbad's and the old Santa Monica pier, the Brady Bunch house interior, and the proper way to don a lei:

In the Season 2, Episode 23 of The Jeffersons ("The Wedding), there is a three-footed nautilus mug. Perhaps a Fitz & Floyd?

The mug is on the middle shelf of the case visible through the bedroom door.

Watched the Sinatra documentary on HBO tonight. 41 minutes in theres a nice tiki graphic on the backdrop and a tiki to the right of the famous crooner. The graphic is PNG inspired and the tiki is unfortunately too dark to even hazard a guess . At 1 hour 1 minute in Frank is wearing a cool “tropical” shirt. I can’t wait til part 2 of this doc.
Cheers

The MAD MEN tiki episode that Never Was

Here's a Slate piece about Matthew Weiner's wish list for MAD MEN's final episodes.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/05/29/matthew_weiner_s_wish_list_for_mad_men_s_final_episodes_revealed_at_writer.html

Take a look about two thirds of the way down to the crossed out line that starts with "Hawaii".

Though they did go to Hawaii in the season opener a while back and the shot of Lou's bar mentioned further up the thread, neither really delve much into the "Tiki Style" part of that entry.

Did we miss out on the reproduction of a long gone tiki destination? Is Weiner a closeted tiki fan?

Jack Benny radio show now on KGU, Honolulu
NBC publicity photo auction image 11/8/1934
http://martiantiki.com/jackbenny

Recently finished the last season of Mannix (1975). No more Witco, less tiki. But some ... among the beachbum shacks and mid-century architecture shots

A down and out tiki bar in a fictitious small Latin American country, Waikiki aka Rose's Bar

Searching the harbor ... is this Marina del Rey?

and Pieces of Eight??

From the parking lot

Have to admit these tiki pickings are pretty slim in this season. But wait, what's this, on one of the very last episodes -- someone call tiki central, I think we've spotted something in the harbor!

rick and morty season 1 episode 9
super scientist rick vs the devil in a cursed antiques shop.
there are other primitive masks in the scene too.

The Tonga Lounge on Seinfeld Season 6 Episode 17 "The Doorman" 1995. Seinfeld was set in New York but actually filmed in LA. Was that real or studio? Would they go to the trouble of making a neon sign for a 3 second walk-by background?

I'll bet if there is now, or ever had been, a real place named the Tonga Lounge - in New York, L.A., or anywhere - WE would know about it! :)
I expect the sign was in some prop warehouse, left from a previous use, and ready to be hung in any set window.

Here's another capture, from that episode:

"The rum's the thing..."

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2015-08-15 11:12 ]

"...WE would know about it!..." That's what I figured

On 2015-08-15 09:06, Limbo Lizard wrote:
I'll bet if there is now, or ever had been, a real place named the Tonga Lounge - in New York, L.A., or anywhere - WE would know about it! :)
I expect the sign was in some prop warehouse, left from a previous use, and ready to be hung in any set window.

Here's another capture, from that episode:

Yea we would. Seinfeld was shot at CBS Studio Center studio in Studio City (same place as Gilligan's Island, and MANY others). There is a New York Street area where this was shot.

CSI, season 2, episode 8:

Tonight's, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown was visiting the Bay Area
and spent some time at Trader Vics Emeryville, At a BBQ hosted by Ralph Gracie, towards the end of the show
in the back ground was a tattooed fellow wearing a vintage orange & black barkcloth shirt I think I recognized
can anyone who saw the show, ID him?

Side note: some of the music on the show was from Harley Flanagan (Cro-Mags etc.)
and the show started out at Sinbad's on Pier 2 (No eviction for Sinbad's.
The restaurant had filed for bankruptcy. They are protected under bankruptcy laws now.)

bump

On 2015-03-10 14:43, howlinowl wrote:
Season 5, Episode 10 of Mission Impossible.

Beginning of the episode, before the opening credits/theme. The team is in a white ruled south african country, extracting an imprisoned black leader from a government hospital. Barney, disguised as a white man is injured and left behind. He stumbles into a seamstress shop and collapses. The mute seamstress goes to the kitchen to get a towel to tend to his wounds.

Tiki Bob guest-stars as "South African drinking vessel":

SAG award winning performance!!

howlinowl

just saw this last nite, but howlinowl already posted it here!

OK, heads up, Pacific Time Zone... you can still catch this!
Tonight's Big Bang Theory episode, "The Positive Negative Reaction" (Episode 16, Season 9), features two sequences in a tiki bar. Not sure if it's an unusually elaborate set, or someplace real. Float lamps, PNG masks, Hawaiian tikis, etc.

Update: OK, after looking at some pictures, I believe it's the Tonga Hut.

:down: Leonard appeared to be drinking from one of Frankie's "Bearded Clam" mugs. :down:

(There are more angles with more details, in the show - I grabbed these pics from CBS website)

"The rum's the thing..."

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2016-02-18 21:54 ]

Looks like it was outfitted with items from Oceanic Arts.

We just watched it. Looks like a set, but the designers have definitely been to Tonga Hut (Hollywood.) The area where they were doing Karaoke, with the couch-type seating and stove really shows that. The real place is smaller, with better music. :)

[ Edited by: bamalamalu 2016-02-18 22:13 ]

It was confirmed on facebook, by someone who works on the show, that it was a set, but was inspired by the Tonga Hut.

Initially, I assumed it was a set, because it was such an expansive space. But the level of elaborate detail, and how right they got it, was extraordinary. Notice the wear on the edge of the bar. I began to doubt they'd go to that much trouble (and expense, even) for a couple of scenes in a single episode. So maybe, I thought, they just cleared out most of the seating in an existing place, to make room for the cameras and other equipment. Looking at various pictures, I noticed matching details from the Tonga Hut (I've never been), and thought, that's it!
After looking at more pictures, the Hut doesn't seem to have enough room to clear out that much space. But as was mentioned, they appear to have very specifically mimicked features of the Tonga Hut's decor. That free-standing metal fireplace... that, especially, is what tricked me!

At one point, Sheldon says, "This place is terrific. Why have we never been here before?" I wonder... did they put that much effort into the set, because it will be a recurring hangout, in future episodes? I hope so.

Not tiki, but some Witco wall art on the Netflix series Love.

Just a few more pictures for posterity.

Last night we were watching Billions and Dan thought he saw a Witco. Sure enough when we ran it back there it was. Wendy

The latest episode of Bob's Burgers was titled Pro Tiki/Con Tiki featuring his restaurant going full tiki but most of it looked like it was done by Party City with many painted tikis and a talking pineapple wearing sunglasses, good title though.

[ Edited by: naugatiki 2016-04-26 12:25 ]

last week's episode of Archer had him leaving Tiki Bar quite drunk - some good shots

season 7 episode 4

Route 66 Season four. An episode called A Cage in Search of a Bird. Not a tiki but, as Todd Stiles pulls the Corvette up to the bank, we see a sign for Trader Vic's (Denver)

Season 1 Episode 19 of "The Rookies" (1972). Episode title "Three Hours to Kill". A couple of shots of Don the Beachcomber's in the background. Show was shot in the LA area, I'm guessing that this is the "UFO" building at Marina Del Rey.

howlinowl

Yes, that was it.

Season 4 Ep 12 Dr. Kelso's 'best day in medicine' from TV series Scrubs

Bird in Paradise filmed in 1932 about yachtsmen landing in Hawaii is currently airing on FOTV.

On 2016-02-18 17:48, Limbo Lizard wrote:
... Big Bang Theory episode, "The Positive Negative Reaction" (Episode 16, Season 9)

Just caught this tonight on syndication ... FANTASTIC set indeed! Awesome mugs, background art & carvings, the midcentury fireplace on the karaoke stage --- well done!

Loved it when Sheldon said at one point, "...a room full of inaccurate depictions of Polynesian religion..." ha! I don't think they actually used the word "tiki" in the episode though?

it looks like Undertow in Phoenix is going to be featured on Blue Collar Backers this Friday (sept 9th) on discovery

Don the Beachcomber gets a quick makeover for this KFC ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJET1-zKVr8

[ Edited by: tikigreg 2016-09-19 06:21 ]

Thanks TikiGreg for posting this Ad. When I first saw it I was floored. I wasn't really paying attention till the end. Wow nice tiki bar I thought. After some digging in YouTube I found the commercial and I watched it with high anticipation.
Unfortunately I was confused after seeing it. The art direction like the tikis or the blowfish lights were not very good. Then the third time I watched it I realized all the items that make a tiki bar a tiki were changed to a "chicken" version of everything. So the weird pufferfish light were actually bloated chickens, the craved tiki were not your Polynesian type images but chickens craving like a seahawk on a Northwest totem pole, etc. After realizing this I loved the thought that went into it. Now it's one of my favorite commercials. Hope everyone can follows TG link to watch it. I call everything "tiki" in the ad "chiki" So it's a Chiki bar with lots of chikis in it. haha It helps to have a mid century actor in it also.

Just saw a new version of the KFC commercial. This one has tiki (chiki) masks on the bamboo wall behind.

Here is the YouTube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOu8tEss-6A

[ Edited by: creativenative 2016-09-24 15:50 ]

On The Golden Girls Season 7 Episode 16 Blanche meets a man at a Polynesian Hotel.

The bar pops out of the wall with a remote

and so does the bed, what a headboard.

Another great find Naugatiki. Tiki Central at it's best. Will soon add your find to southseascinema.org. Much Mahalos! And great screen shots too!

P.S. I was raised in Moses Lake, WA.

I keep mentioning a separate commercial thread but at least these commercials are on TV. With talk about appropriation on other threads here is an ad that I feel crosses the line. In the new Honda 2017 Summerbration series one ad shows a hula bobber then widens to a white male, complete with a framer tan, in a female hula outfit (note the coconut bra top), with a plastic lei and strumming a ukulele??? Don't get what Honda is trying to say here. Is this funny to an average hula student, who spends hours a week trying to perfect their craft and traditions. There is a couple good looking big tikis in the scene but they are painted blue to go with the color theme of the scene. There has been many non-Polynesians in hula outfits, which can be construed as an American experience, and for fun many males have worn women's clothes (Milton Berle, Jamie Foxx)and even hula grass skirts and coconut bras and I think its funny also but this disturbs me and I can't explain why. Maybe because its not trying to be funny but again what is it trying to be?

Here is a screen shot. Wait a minute, is that a bar in the scene, a tiki bar?

Season One, Episode 2 of Dice, you get a twofer. an outside shot of Frankie's and the interior is shot at The Tonga Hut.
The show is set in Vegas so hopefully there will be more tiki bar scenes. It is actually really weird and funny.
http://www.sho.com/dice

Monk. There's a Jade Tile on the wall of the San Francisco mayor's office

Wait, there is a white male in a commercial?
That must be a mistake as you almost never see that anymore, at least in Ohio.

But yeah, that commercial is stupid.

Odd Couple (Oscar's bedroom)

just spotted this while re-watching Flight of the Conchords - season 1 episode 11

On 2017-12-21 11:41, The Below Decks wrote:
Odd Couple (Oscar's bedroom)

Tiki Bob is quite the character actor, he's starting to build an impressive resume.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=28706&forum=1&vpost=739050&hilite=mission%20impossible%20tiki%20bob

howlinowl

Reefer Madness is a musical satire of the 1936 cult classic Reefer Madness that opened in Los Angeles in 1998.
In 2005, Showtime released a movie musical adaptation of the show.

Here is the dance number that occurs when the hero first smokes the reefer. I think there is a tiki in the background but whenever I try and get a good look at it, I get easily distracted.

Reefer Madness: What happens when you smoke marijuana

Found some Getty Images old photos of Bill Murray playing Nick the lounge singer at Trader Nicks Tiki bar from the May 24, 1980 Saturday Night Live. Quite an elaborate Tiki bar set up with Orchids of Hawaii lamps and real Tiki mugs. Sabu posted links to the video of this a long time ago, but the videos are no longer on Youtube.

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DC

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
Bannon Custody Battle

YouTube: Harvey Birdman, Season 1 Episode 1

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This week in March 2018 American Pickers flashed this photo and called it a Man Cave. Anyone know the man?

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Wendy