Tonight, we present esteemed animator Bill Kopp’s original short “Mr. Gloom,” from an episode of "Toone Theatre." The psychedelic animation is hand-drawn theatre of the absurd. Kopp’s credits myriad credits include voice over work for none other than Night Flight animated “freak-out” classic, Jac Mac and Rad Boy Go! Also in this episode, the experimental animation “Machine Song,” a video collage from Chel White, who back in 2015, described the film to us as "as a minimalist vision of the post-industrial human condition, depicted in xerox cutout animation."

Tonight we’re going to turn your living room into the after hours club of your dreams. Not only are you on the A list, you’ve got a ringside seat to the hottest talent The Big Apple has to offer. That’s right, tonight we “Take Off” to New York City Rock, featuring Lou Reed, The Ramones, Blondie, Grandmaster Flash, Yoko Ono, Run DMC and more. From the Velvet Underground in the ‘60s, to the Punk Explosion in the ‘70s and the ascendance of Rap in the '80s, let Night Flight be your guide to the metropolis that has it all.

A rhythmic collection of sounds, textures and images.

Tonight we Take Off to some of the "best bets of ’86!” That’s right, we’re talking about the mid-decade buzz bands (was that even a term in the '80s?) that landed on our radar. As you'll see, Night Flight was prescient in it's curation—many of these prospects went on to become massive acts. The episode includes The Hooters, Waterboys, Charlie Sexton, Tom Petty approved Del Fuegos and we think this episode is pretty special for its interview with Mr. Mister. Watch it tonight!

Eclectic music video magic from Amazulu, The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite & Thrashing Doves

For this edition of Night Flight, Morris Day, Prince collaborator and bandleader of The Time, sits down for an exclusive interview where he discusses what it was like acting for the first time in Purple Rain. Also featuring a special report on super-producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, including music videos from their hit songs with Janet Jackson and Robert Palmer.

Tonight's Night Flight original comes in the form of a 1987 Short Film Showcase and Classic Video Medley. Kicking off with directors Michael Nankin and David Wechter's short film "Gravity" (the pair created another Night Flight Plus exclusive Junior High School) and eventually arriving at an alien abduction psychedelic fever dream called "Skin Deep From Outer Space," Night Flight once again delivers the ultimate rarities. Stay tuned for Side B of this episode which is a Video Classic segment featuring videos by the Buggles, Devo, Falco, the Pretenders, Talking Heads and much, much more!

This 1988 special Night Flight episodes has 1930s beauty tips, cult classic cartoons and a lost interview with heartthrob Mick Jagger. "For decades moviegoers have fulfilled their romantic fantasies by watching the big screen," host Pat Prescott tells us before kicking off the segment "Greatest Love Scenes and Lovers."

Tonight's new Short Cut dives into the theme of money in music, showcasing cash-and-capitalism themed videos from Talking Heads, the pioneering 3D-animated classic "Adventures in Success" by Will Powers, playwright Sarah Tuft's commercial collage, and the Pheromones' send-up of the '80s yuppie class in "Yuppiedrone."

In this original episode of Night Flight, we take a look at the mysterious art rock project the Residents and have a profile of the San Francisco Rock scene that includes. music videos from Santana, Starship, Grateful Dead and more. Original Air Date: 2-18-86

Tonight we’ve got a comprehensive survey of the music and visuals of Australian band INXS. (“The band from down under who've come out on top!” - Pat Prescott.) In 1983, Farriss brothers and co. came out of Sydney to become part of America’s “Aussie Invasion.” This episode tracks the band’s rise to the top with excellent visuals (like Director Richard Lowenstein's clip above), concert footage and a one-off interview with the the Farriss brothers brainstorming a future music video. Watch with us tonight.

"Boy isn't heavy metal a lot of fun!" says Mr. Bill at the start of Night FLight's special "Take Off" to Heavy Metal Comedy, (before an untimely death by anvil.) And Mr. Bill is right: Heavy Metal is a reliably comedic genre, intentional or not. This episode kicks off with Alcatrazz's "God Blessed," a satire of MTV that doomed its chances of airplay on that channel, (but of course got play on Night Flight), Keel's "Right to Rock", Accept's kaleidoscopic video for "Midnight Mover," Japanese rockers Loudness and Ireland's Mama's Boys.

Take a ride down the glory days of the Sunset Strip, featuring some of the hardest-rocking and hardest-partying bands of the era including Poison, Great White and Kik Tracee, as well as legendary venues such as the Rainbow.

Today Night Flight focuses on New York's downtown and the music that it spawned, including videos from Blondie and Sonic Youth, as well as a special on the downtown Club Kids.

Two back-to-back classics in one from the Night Flight vault. First up- Night Flight teamed up with Hit Parader magazine in the mid-80s for the series "Heavy Metal Heroes". This installment features legends like W.A.S.P., Triumph and Accept along with cult-favorite also-rans Vandenberg, Raven and Van-Zant. Next on deck is a spotlight on Eighties movie soundtrack tie-in videos! Late greats David Bowie and Glenn Frey both make a showing with their hits from "Falcon and The Snowman" and "Beverly Hills Cop" respectively. A rare cut from "Porky's Revenge" by Dave Edmunds, El DeBarge's contribution to the "Last Dragon" soundtrack and a rarely seen video promoting "Amadeus" starring the inimitable David Lee Roth round out the set.

"Hi, I'm Divine. And tonight we're going to be taking a looking at my career, from the early years in Pink Flamingos, to my performances and right up to my current hollywood film." He was one of america's most glamorous, campiest, and outrageous movie queens and Night Flight's interview is one of the most treasured parts of our library. Watch Divine discuss the legacy of Pink Flamingos, meeting John Waters and more, tonight!

“Female impersonator Divine portrays women from the sleazy to the sublime,” Pat Prescott says at the start of Night Flight’s “Take Off to Drag.” The episode is another timeless Night Flight classic that also features Joey Arias, David Bowie and more. It begins with scenes from 80s Canadian Drag star Craig Russell in clips from the film Too Outrageous! (1987), also featuring impersonations of Mae West and Barbara Streisand.

This newly added special segment from our 5th year anniversary goes deep. Featuring hilarious two-bit animation from Stop's "Wake Up," Columbia University grads The Special Guest's cubist anthem "Paul Cezanne," the sample-based ratings controversy inspired "Explicit Lyrics," by Blackwell Project, and a reverb drenched vocal take on techno-pop from act Growing Up Different. 

A series of gruesome and gory horror shorts, including Alex Winter and Tom Stern's wacky "Aisles of Doom," and the hilarious zombie parody "Dawn of the Night of the Dead: The Musical."

"Take Off To Animation" takes a colorful look at the use of animation in music video over the previous few years in styles ranging from experimental camera technique to 'Saturday morning cartoon'. Many of the videos compiled for this episode first became well-known due to their repeat exposure on Night Flight. Bona fide Night Flight classics here include Tom Tom Club's "Pleasure of Love", Randy Andy's "The People (Livin' in the USA)", Machinations: "Pressure Sway" & Will Powers: "Adventures In Success". Night Flight's innovative "Take Off" series dispensed with playlists, bland VJ set-ups and the usual tired video countdown format and instead cleverly programmed music videos and performance clips by theme. The series regularly featured hits from Eighties pop icons juxtaposed against obscurities from not-ready-for-MTV cult favorites. Original Air Date: 2-17-84

Episode 272. An original episode of Radio 1990 from 1984 featuring Tracy Ullman, Devo and Lisa Robinson's interview with Mick Jagger.

This special ‘90s syndication episode feature host Tom Juarez introducing multiple classic Night Flight segments. PAL Tape 2 features a survey of music from the ‘60s.

Night Flight's video profile of John Carpenter arrives! The master of horror sits down with Night Flight for this special 1988 director profile and talks his influences, the role of music in his filmmaking and much more. Featuring clips from his films to help tell the story of the auteur's unique vision, this special episode is peak Night Flight and not to be missed!

Night Flight transports you to the wacky world of celebrity rap singles, featuring bars from such hip hop luminaries as Mel Brooks, Rodney Dangerfield, the Chicago Bears and Mr. T. Don’t miss Night Flight's wild ride through this uniquely '80s genre phenomenon!

“They’re the flashiest bands in Rock ’n’ Roll” Pat Prescott says at the start of tonight’s new ‘Take Off’ arrival from the archives, “Musicians who express themselves as much through packaging as playing.” What follows is a high chroma, technicolor video mix featuring Fishbone’s “Modern Industry,” We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It!, Kid Creole and The Coconuta, and more.

Tonight we salute the overworked and underpaid women who made it all possible, our Mothers! We bring you two hours of original Night Flight in the form of a 1991 Mother’s Day Weekend Special. This episode joins our “As Aired,” section, which means the commercials are Intact. (And WOW are there a lot of late night call in commercials!). Anyone who watched Night Flight in the 90s know that the syndication episodes took on an almost manic, break-neck editing speed. Look out for a myriad of strange 90s animation, oddball short films and video mashups, with the episodes top billing goes to the special feature: Mothers of Punk, looking at the music of Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde, X’s Exene Cervenka, and Nina Hagen. Sit back and tune in for Night Flight, the show that tucks you in at night (just like your momma!)

A classic "Take Off" episode highlighting European rock including videos from Peter Schilling, Nina Hagen, Scorpions and more.

For tonight's Night Flight Originals, we start with a “Take Off” to LA Rock. Since the ‘60s, LA’s been a mecca for the music industry. Night Flight brings us up to date (1987) with LA’s bustling music scene that finds us watching and listening to videos from The Untouchables in their award-winning video for “Free Yourself,” Oingo Boingo, Concrete Blonde, Suicidal Tendencies, and Thelonius Monster. For part two tonight we take a look at a strange phenomenon of the 80s, Sport Rock! “Today’s fitness craze even spreads to rock,” Pat Prescott declares, as she introduces the first videos, including the Los Angeles Rams’ theme song, questionably named “Let’s Ram It,” and The Chicago Bears’ “Super Bowl Shuffle.” Both worth the price of admission alone. Next up, the wrestling mania of the '80s peaked with this Allstar line up known simply as The Wrestlers. “Land of A Thousand Dances,” the euphoric, almost mystical work from seminal 1985 album “The Wrestling Album,” will go down in history as an icon of the vibrant period we now refer to as the Rock ’n’ Wrestling connection. This is Night Flight, pure and true. We thank you for watching!

Blue Oyster Cult stops by the Night Flight studio in this fantastic early NF special from 1983. Band members Allen Lanier and Joe Bouchard (we know, we know, their names are spelled wrong!) sit down for a lengthy and informative conversation about the band with tracks including the somewhat controversial and oft-banned “Joan Crawford” and “Veteran of the Psychic Wars,” a dark, brooding track featured on the Heavy Metal soundtrack.

An underachiever is fired from his construction job.

Welcome to Night Flight circa 1993. “Ten years ago,” Pat Prescott tells us “The Replacements played their first ragtag gig in a church basement in Minneapolis. Much to everyone’s surprise, including their own, the ‘Mats became one of the hottest underground bands in the world.” Tonight’s Video Profile shows off some of the band’s finest moments and features ultra-candid interviews with Paul Westerberg. Part B of Night Flight's Original Episode tonight is the German-surrealist short film "Balance." Created by twin brothers Wolfgang and Christoph Lauenstein, this stark experimental animation allegory won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 1989. Another treasure of the archive.

This 1986 interview with Dolly Parton delves into her latest business venture: Dollywood, the singer's Tennessee theme park. She discusses her larger-than-life branding and how she operates in a male-dominated industry.

Tonight’s original episode comes from 1983, i.e. the early days of discovery on NF that often featured uncut performance footage. Here, we see Toyah’s 1981 show at London’s Rainbow Theatre with the irrepressible performer at the top of her game. Listen up for excellent tunes like "War Boys," "Neon Womb" and more. 

Phil Morrison directed "Tater Tomater" for his NYU Film School Senior Project. It started out as a short skit written by Angus MacLachlan, who like Morrison was a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1979-1980. It then appeared in several comedic revues, and whenever it was performed, Beth Bostic -- who played "Doris," the not-quite-all-there cafeteria worker -- never failed to bring down the house. "Tater Tomater" was screened at a film festival in New York and reviewed -- by Frank Rich in March of 1990 and by Jami Bernard -- in the New York Times. In January of 1992, it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival, and before then we believe it made its national broadcast debut on PBS's "American Playhouse," before appearing during the '90s syndication era of "Night Flight."

This special ‘90s syndication episode feature host Tom Juarez introducing multiple classic Night Flight segments. PAL Tape 6 is an in-depth review of the Motown Sound.

"You're watching Night Flight: where music, movies, cartoons and comedy collide with the unexpected!" - Pat Prescott Tonight’s a mystery box of uncut Night Flight. First up? A long-lost “adult” cartoon from Bob Godfrey, famed UK animator and ideas man on the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine." The main act for this episode is a New Edition Video Profile, which covers their myriad off-shoots and solo projects, including Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison,” a heavy dose of post-modern R'n'B and New Jack Swing. 

Night Flight’s classic “Video Essays” were a completely unique programming concept for the era. Lead by Night Flight’s writer Stuart Samuels (an instructor at the Cannes Film Festival), editors crafted hypnotizing video collages sourced from public domain archive footage and lost video artifacts - all linked by a common theme. Tonight’s original episode is the Video Essay “Machine Medley,” an adventurous mix of industrial sights and sounds featuring SPK’s “Machine Age Voodoo,” Swinging Piston’s “I Love The Sound Of Machines “ and more.

Tonight we present another edition of Politics in Music Video with John Lennon, Nena, U2, Men at Work and the Fixx. As we dig through the massive vault of Night Flight tapes, we see more and more that politics were a recurring theme for our 1980s writers. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise if you read Night Flight creator Stuart S. Shapiro’s recent book "Identifi Yourself" where he reminisces about his time as “one of the go-to concert organizers from D.C. to Boston for the anti-war movement.” Night Flight was born from the inextricable connection between art and politics.

Night Flight's 1989 Video Profile of "The Man and The Band" Bon Jovi, who made "Metal-lite safe for teenage consumption" according to Pat Prescott, arrives tonight on Night Flight Plus. The late-era Night Flight special episode covers all the essential Jovi Cuts, including the original videos from the New Jersey native for "Runaway," "In And Out Of Love," and more.

In this 1983 Video Gallery, Night Flight Take’s Off to Politics. “Rock Music has always had a strong political connection,” Pat Prescott says. This tour of rock politics takes us through the '60s with Bob Dylan, Hendrix, and The Plastic Ono Band’s “Give Peace A Chance.” After this tour of protest rock Night Flight, takes on Politics in the Nuclear Era with campy twist, fast forwarding to the ‘80s where we find ourselves enjoying the incredible experimental animation of Donald Fagen’s “New Frontier,” Men at Work’s ominous tune “It’s A Mistake,” and a little known promotional clip for the 1982 film WarGames by Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Night Flight profiles rock’s 'rude boy' Billy Idol in this classic segment from 1985. “I don’t want to see the no flabby, boring old Billy Idol trying to be what he was when he was 21… I’m young, I need to move about.” he tells Night Flight in an excellent, candid interview, in which he talks about the role of New York City on his art, how he views his critics, and what inspired his name change. Classic and essential Night Flight right here folks.

In this 2016 feature, 60 Minutes Australia covers the career of the singular Cyndi Lauper, from her 80s pop stardom to her career revival on Broadway. Featuring an interview with Lauper herself.