Shark Bytes

I miss Skip Stephenson. Back in the early 80's I used to watch "Real People". I loved it and I had a crush on Skip (even way before I knew what a crush was or what it was like to be "in love" about someone; I was about 5-6 years old). He will be greatly missed...RIP, Skip...

I hope Real People will be on DVD one day. I can't wait...Thanks...

The show had noplace to go but downhill after they did their funniest bit ever..."We'll Send You Skip!" On one episode, the hosts said that if someone would send in a "really big self-addressed stamped envelope," they'd put Skip into said envelope and mail the parcel back. Of course this was supposed to be a joke, but darned if somebody didn't actually send them a self-addressed sack, big enough to hold a person, so they put Skip into the sack, put him on a Fed Ex plane, and shipped him to the sender! Great fun, a wonderful human-interest story, but what could they do for an encore?

Skip died of a heart attack, not cancer. He was 52.

A long time ago I was told by a co-worker that the famous San Francisco (Condor Club) stripper Carol Doda was featured on Real People. This would have been around 1980 or 81. After all these years I have found nothing to support my co-workers' claim. Does anybody here know whether or not Real People did a segment on Carol Doda?

Thanks,

Gray

I loved this show when it first came on (esp. Sarah.....a sweetie pie). That little four-eyed fat kid killed it. I blame him 100%.

Day one. This show should have been called "Real f'ed up people".

In 1980 I was in the Marine Corps, I was trained as an interogator MOS #0251, but there was no war and we needed to keep busy. Some General deceided to set up a mock prisoner of war camp to train Marines how to evade interogation and escape. The real people crew showed up to tape us with the condition that it would be approved by the higher ups. The segment never aired, I never did get my 15 minutes of fame.

This show could not have jumped! Why, because they did not do the piece on my family! Real People came to my house, and filmed my family, and our 'unique' hobby of building model sets. Sounds boring, eh? See, they were going to air this, but got cancelled before it happened. They saw that shark comin', and paddled for shore! I really wish they had shown my family, but we did all get 'Real People' T-shirts, anyway!

They did a piece on the town where I went to high school. The episode had a short story about the Texas Mosquito Festival in Clute, Texas. It was all downhill from there. The show went off the air before I got to send in my funny street sign photo in order to get it on the air and get my free Real People t-shirt. Shucks!

Messy Marvin was the McCauley Culkin of his era, and like Mac, his career was over around the time puberty set in. One movie does not make a career, which explains his presence on RP. Where are you Captain Sticky? We need you!

As Skip introduced Arnold Schwarzenegger, Byron Allen steps in to make sure he doesn't slip in a racial slur. Skip: "Arnold Schwarze-" Byron: "Watch it.." Skip: "NEGGER!!". That always stuck with me, like, what kind of abuse did poor Byron suffer in his youth to be so friggin' paranoid? Let it go, man!

Peter Billingsley jumped it for 'em. I think it was when they brought him around that it really got crappy. Of course, by the time That's Incredible and Those Amazing Animals were put out, it really brought all of the programs into a "Who can jump the most sharks?" contest. *****SIDE NOTE****** In response to an earlier reader's comment: " I heard his (Peter Billingsley) costar from "A Christmas Story," the one who got his tongue stuck on the flag pole, is doing porn now. That rocks! Guess he sticks that tongue on other things nowadays huh? " Actually I got the chance to talk to this guy not too long ago. I was on Ebay looking for an autographed picture for my future wife's christmas present. The guy I bought it from and I struck up a conversation when I called to give him credit card info. I asked how he got into the business and he told me that he had been a child actor. I asked in what and he told me that he was that kid who stuck his tongue to the pole in "A Christmas Story". I later checked his name and it was the guy. The funny part was that he said he used his 'contacts' in the business to get the autographs. What kind of contacts do you get by being the guy who stuck his tongue to a flag pole in one movie?

I blame THIS show as the start of the Reality TV cycle (not Candid Camera). Thanks to this crap TV execs realized they could pull down decent ratings without spending money on actors, sets or scripts.

I loved this show as a kid. I especially liked the segments when they showed funny pictures, and if yours was used, you got a Real People T-shirt! And I still remember everybody wearing a dress to make fun of Sarah. But it all went downhill when Sarah interviewed a radio personality named Dr. Demento, who played novelty records and gave "Weird Al" Yankovic his start. I didn't believe for a minute his house is entirely filled with records! I thought I would find out his real name and what he does off the air. Instead, I got this crap about how he loves records and wouldn't tell Sarah anything about himself. In real life, he was some sort of music instructor/professor at UCLA. I know people who took his class thinking it would be easy, only to drop it when they found out how serious this guy was! Did I learn anything about him on Real People? Hell no. For me, that was when the show became a sham. Real People? Try Real Lies.

This show had something like half a dozen hosts, none of whom was particularly famous or talented. And at the beginning of the show each host was introduced individually and walked down the aisle smiling and waving at the cheering crowd, while some variation of Pomp and Circumstance was played in the background, as though each individual host was a conquering hero. By the time all the hosts were introduced, the show was half over. It was like going to a high school graduation and not knowing or caring about anyone who was graduating. Classic example of what was on TV when there were only three networks and you were pretty much stuck with whatever piece of cut-and-paste no-talent crap they wanted to slap together.