Horror Host 2014: Joe Bob Briggs
Joe Bob Briggs
Real name: John Bloom
Years active: 1990-2000, The Movie Channel, TNT
This time out we take a look at the hosts who haunted the
hallways of basic cable and syndication. The first one we look at Joe Bob Briggs, who went from
the Movie Channel to TNT and dominated the field of horror through the 1990’s.
On the strength of his one man show, Joe Bob Dead in
Concert, Bloom was invited by the Movie Channel to bring his drive-in loving
redneck to the channel and their program Drive-In
Theater. He was such a hit that he was made the host of the now retitled Joe Bob’s Drive-In. The show was a smash
hit, running from 1990 to 1995, ending only when TMC decided to reformat.
Normally this would spell the end for most, but Joe Bob was
quickly picked up Turner Network Television and made the host of the newly
revised Monstervision on TNT in 1995.
The show Monstervision had actually
been around since 1993 without a host, although magicians Penn & Teller
would occasionally sit in between commercials.
Joe Bob would oversee films ranging from the classic to
bizarre, offering his commentary and statistics for the film. Number of bodies,
motor vehicle chases, amount of nudity shown, etc. The show ran continuously
until 2000 when TNT (and most of the Turner owned properties) was absorbed in
the AOL-Time-Warner merger.
Joe Bob was one of
the first hosts I watched regularly and Monstervision
was where I saw the original Friday the 13th films, the works of
George Romero, and plenty of masked weirdoes stalking barely clad teens. The
films I saw there inspired me to haunt the local video stores to see if I could
find the same movies without the edits. After a brief stint on the
Daily Show, Joe Bob is still around. His website hosts his reviews and he
is still fighting the good fight for drive-in exploitation
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