Saturday Morning Serials, Please!

[Waldo Lydecker]

What happened to the slate of chapter plays that were a staple of TCM's Saturday mornings? Some were cheesy, some were dreadful, but  they not only entertained and brought back cherished memories of my youth! During the '40s and early '50s, I was an Army brat constantly on the move around the country, and too often missed chapters which revealed how the hero(es) or heroine escaped the spiked walls closing in on their escape-proof dungeon, or the speeding sedan hurtling over a cliff, so I was an avid Saturday morning TCM watcher to catch up on missing chapters and unseen serials 70 years later. C'mon, TCM, don't bail on me now!

[Waldo Lydecker]

No one out there a fan of the Serials? Mebbe TCM has discontinued them?

[wbogacz]

This Saturday morning, 09:30 EDT, is episode 1 of a new serial, from TCM schedule:

Electrical Brain, The (1943)

26m | Action | TV-G

The Caped Crusader battles a Japanese scientist turning people into zombies.

Director

Lambert Hillyer.

Cast

Lewis Wilson, Douglas Croft, J. Carroll Naish

Here's a link to a wiki of the first episode for further reading (SPOILERS).

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Batman_(1943_Serial)_Episode:_The_Electrical_Brain

[JamesJazGuitar]

2 hours ago, Waldo Lydecker said:

No one out there a fan of the Serials? Mebbe TCM has discontinued them?

I wasn't sure what serials you were mentioning.   E.g.  The Bowery Boys?       Serials like The Crime Doctor or Boston B-l-a-c-k-i-e? 

 

[wbogacz]

Bit late getting to it, but I just watched the first episode of Batman (1943) serial from last Saturday morning.

Supposed to be the first non-comic appearance of "The" Batman ("The" is used throughout).

Plot involves fictionalized evil Japanese, (free and non-interned, none of that "camp" business here), taking over the USA by zombie-fying the populace with an electrified headband and brainwashing.

Starts right into the action without any introductions or expositories. Not needed, I guess, because the target audience of youngsters would be familiar with the protagonist hero. First episode ends on a cliffhanger (or really a fall-l-l-er).

[Carol Anne]

I too enjoyed last week's episode of "The Batman" (Tweeted my pleasure at recognizing Earle Hodgins' voice). But where is the next episode? Shouldn't there be a "new" one each Saturday? 

[Carol Anne]

On 5/22/2021 at 9:52 AM, Carol Anne said:

I too enjoyed last week's episode of "The Batman" (Tweeted my pleasure at recognizing Earle Hodgins' voice). But where is the next episode? Shouldn't there be a "new" one each Saturday? 

It's a SUNDAY morning serial I find. Just have to wait an extra day. 

[wbogacz]

50 minutes ago, Carol Anne said:

It's a SUNDAY morning serial I find. Just have to wait an extra day. 

What location is THAT?

Here, East Coast USA, it is on at 9:30 AM EDT. I find that it is labeled on the schedule with the "Chapter" name. "The Bat's Cave" yesterday morning.

It is currently available for streaming for me at WatchTCM (https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/films) . Look near the prominent Popeye image. YMMV?