Last night I watched Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H for probably the 50th time (well, it did happen to be on, so why not watch it?). I still find it inherently funny and I’m still discovering new lines that I haven’t picked up before (thanks to Robert Altman’s habit of having 5 conversations within one scene going on at the same time) and as usual I had a wonderful time. It’s probably like seeing one of your favourite grandparents: they will always tell you the same stories, but you enjoy yourself anyway, even if you heard them fifty times before. It’s not the actual stories, it’s how they are told.

borrowed from flattland.com

Anyway, while watching M*A*S*H (btw, no comparison to the dreary sitcom that came later), I suddenly had an epiphany:  John Schuck, a.k.a. Capt. ‘Painless’ Waldowski (he who is significantly endowed) played the lead in one of my favourite seventies cop shows. I was certain about that, I just had no idea what it was called. All I knew that it was all about a grumpy policeman and his polite sidekick, an android who looked remarkably like Capt. Painless. A quick hop to IMDB confirmed my suspicions: John Schuck was indeed Gregory ‘Yoyo’ Yovonovich and the show was called ‘Holmes and Yoyo‘.

Pic from Timstvshowcase.com

According to the reviews, it was one of the worst shows ever and was cancelled after one season. My nine year old self certainly would disagree.

But John Schuck popped up again and again in my personal panthenon of risibly rubbish TV and movies: There was ‘Misfits of Science’, then a role as the Klingon ambassador in Star Trek IV AND VI, and even in Babylon 5. One might say that he appears as much as William Shatner in my DVD collection.

Which is maybe the worst thing I have ever disclosed on this blog