Commander USA
Real name: Jim Hendricks
Years active: 1985-1989, USA Network
Now here is someone that was rather close to my heart.
Commander USA, host of Commander USA’s
Groovie Movies, ran on the USA Network from 1985 to 1989. The twin hit of
lacking cable and not being allowed to watch the kind of movies that typically
aired on the show (when visiting relatives who had cable) meant I was
tantalized by this strange red, white, and blue guy in a mask who oversaw monster
and kung-fu movies.
When I had the free time to watch, and always minutes at
best, I found myself more entertained by the host than the movies. Broadcasting
from his secret headquarters under a New Jersey shopping mall, Commander USA
oversaw everything from badly dubbed Hong Kong B-Movies to (heavily edited)
slasher flicks like Friday the 13th
Part 3 and Alone in the Dark.
Before characters were welcome, the USA Network tended to showcase cheesy films
and Commander USA hosted the best of them. Unlike local hosts, Commander USA
(and similar hosts on this list) had the benefit of a larger film library and wasn’t
constrained by one station’s library, a single film package, or whatever was
available in the public domain. The downside of all that is most of the films
would be censored plus the show would be at the whims of corporate.
Of course by the time we had acquired cable and I had the
time Commander USA has become a victim of more restructuring. In his place USA
offered USA’s Up All Night, but that
is an article for another day.
Jim Hendricks is still around and acting.
"Keep your nose in the wind and your tail to yourself"
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