Shark Bytes

I think the first muscic video I ever saw was on Night Flight...something by the Police, IIRC. I think they also played the Bolero segment from Allegro Non Troppo, which blew my little 12 year old mind away.

This show never jumped the shark. The USA original run and the syndicated version were both awesome...

Night Flight coming back???? That would be pretty cool. Videos from the Gorillaz and Radiohead are definately Night flight material of today....

God I use to love Night Flight. My kid sister woke me up late one night and got me into watch the show which use to come on here in Dallas on ABC at 2 in the morning Friday and Saturday nights.
I remember watch old Siouxsie and the Banhees and the Cure videos, and some odd comedy skit that resembled Edward Sissor Hands. But one show that stands out in my mind would be an interview with Johnny Rotton of the Sex Pistols who was in Pil at the time, actually spitting at the camera if I remember correctly. Anyways the show was an eccentric mix of music and oddball comedy but was way cooler than Mtv at the time. But the show started to jump the shark when other video channels like Mtv and the Jukebox started to get more popular in the late 80 and early 90s. Also I just read that the rights to Night Flight have been bought and will be coming back. When and how it will be done I dont know. But Im looking forward to it.

I loved this show. I graduated HS in '80. After a year of college, I took a few years off to work, etc... Like other reviewers, there was nothing better than to come home blottoed and catch some Night Flight. Videos, Refer Madness, bad dubbed films from Japan - what an eclectic mix! Someone mentioned seeing the Art of Noise video for the first time. That was "Close to the Edit". To show how good Night Flight was; in England, they banned the original version for showing musical instruments being destroyed. Night Flight showed both versions. I finally graduated college in '88. Night Flight had gotten more video and main stream prior to its shut-down. But you can never deny that this was cutting-edge quintessential '80's.

Absolutely fantastic from day one on USA to the final two-hour edited version that aired in early 96. There was always something cool on this show to watch. Where else could you see a block of David Johannson videos, followed by a documentary of Adam Ant, followed by a Bela Lugosi film, followed by Neil Young videos, and then wrapping it all up with Star Trek bloopers!!!!Incredible for those that new this show existed. For those that did not ever see this show....too bad..

I remember Night Flight on the air in 1981. I had just started high school. I remember seeing the video for Joan Crawford by Blue Oyster Cult along with Merle Haggard being interview in the same show.
The show was all over the musical map.
I didnot think anybody else I knew watched Night Flight.

TedSalad:

was it not "Night Flight". i must say that i can't remember it, although i'm trying hard to "hear it" in my head.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Flight_(song)

i remember the episode with Ozzy after he shaved his head. it was right before he was coming to town for a concert. one of the best concerts i ever saw. Oz is an amazing showman and i honestly believe he gets more out of his shows than the audience.

Night Flight brings back lots of very fond memories and many late nights stumbling home way past my curfew!

i'd love to find a copy of that episode, but i don't know if there are of the Night Flight shows floating around anywhere. if there are any, i'd appreciate someone dropping me a line. :D

If poster Steve Baron is serious about being one of the producers I need to thank him for supplying me with allnight entertainment when I needed it the most. Yeah, it was a show for druggies. So what? Cheech and Chong based their movie career on that concept and made a lot of cash.

Anyone know the Led Zepplin song that was used in the opening credits? I can hear it...but I can't find it...and have no idea what the title is..

Reading all this stuff really blows me away. I was one of Night Flight's Producers between 1983 and 1988. I always tell people it was like college radio on television... and at that time 30 million homes. It really was like the you tube of it's day - I had this huge library of public domain(I use that turn loosely) and
any music I wanted to play. I really got to entertain my own tastes - we definitely counter programmed what was on MTV. If they were playing it we didn't. My musical tastes are very eclectic as were the other producers I worked with. A lot of people have told me Night Flight kept them alive int the drug fueled 80"s...watching at 5 in the morning. I remember when USA had us play Dragnet for a while - I went through every program synopsis and only played the ones with drug themes. We would get a lot of angry mail that our programming catered to the drug crowd - I guess that would be hard to deny.
It was really amazing what we got away with on a major cable network -
It was like the wild west back then - I am so grateful that I had this priceless experience of a lifetime and am so glad Night Flight still live in forums like this.

I wouldnt say Night Flight is is forever dead yet.

Stay tuned boys and girls

How could I even begin to describe what must have been the COOLEST TV show on earth!! Growing up in the 80's,I always took Night Flight for granted,thinking it would air forever.I could recall countless weekends during my High School and College years,coming home extremely wasted and flicking on some Night Flight and seeing that indelible flying logo accompanied by that distinct heavenly voiceover!!(I coulda married that voice,man!).....It was on Night Flight that I first learned about Cult Status,Punk Rock,Unheralded Gems and Way Too Cool Films and Music Videos..what a great late night education,who cares how "blitzed" I was....I will always remember seeing that Art Of Noise video on that channel FIRST and how that little girl kinda scared me. I remember seeing the "unedited" version of Girls On Film by Duran Duran,and also seing my 1st ever snippets from Pink Floyd:The Wall and A Clockwork Orange!!Does anyone remember seeing this one particular short about this dude playing this insane video game in an arcade,he inserts his dollar into the machine and becomes part of the game I think?...It was straight up WACKY!!I could probably recall more,but like I said,I was always so wasted,channel surfing,that I never watched it long enough!!...Looking back though,I wished I never would have changed channels!!

Never jumped!!! Discovering this show when I was 12 was a huge EUREKA! moment. This show was what cable TV was, and should be all about. Something way different, something really special. Not for the masses. Where is that kind of show today?

This was one of the best shows ever. While everyone else was watching Saturday Night 'Dead', I would be glued to the USA Network until 4 am. I can't imagine my Junior High School/High School year without this great show. I couldn't believe they showed the stuff they did, some of it was so weird I can't imagine any Network exec green lighting it. And this show was on ALL NIGHT! Another thing I couldn't believe. This show had every obscure piece - The Residents 'Minute Movies', old movie outtakes (with Costello saying 'I gotta go pee!'), Fantastic Planet, art videos from Europe, The Church of the Subgenious, and so on. Sometimes they would play entire concert films. And it just went on and on and on and on!!! allll night! I remember the 1/2 hour or so segment that started the show every week called "Take Off" which featured cutting edge music and art stuff. This show is one of my fondest t.v. memories ever!!!! And actually, it was re-ran in a condensed format in about 91' or so in the New York area (I think it was only an hour or so). I was in college by that time and it was very sad to see. All the shows were just patched together reruns. The freshness was no longer there. The memories lingered from a time gone by when t.v. (or at least USA Network every Saturday Night) would be fearless and cutting edge and fun and too cool for words!!! LONG LIVE NIGHT FLIGHT!!!!!!