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.

"More than music, more than television: it's FM-TV!" Tonight, let us take you on an incredible journey through 1980s entertainment ephemera. FM-TV was Night Flight creator Stuart Shapiro's short-lived prime time cable companion series aimed at a slightly different demographic. Fresh from the archives, this relic from 1983 features a dance sequence in between every segment. Alright!

Night Flight takes you for an exclusive look inside "Joe Coleman’s Carnival," the artist’s curated exhibition at Jeffrey Deitch Projects in New York City. Filmed on-site in June 2025, this special hour-long presentation follows Coleman as he personally guides Night Flight through the gallery, revealing works that directly connect him to the carnival world, including his portrait of Tod Browning (Freaks) and a world-renowned collection from sideshow legend Johnny Eck, all culminating in his magnum opus: a life-size biographical portrait of his wife and muse, Whitney Ward. “I believe that the carnival is a kind of profane, holy place,” Coleman says, “where the private desires, fantasies, and fears of a society are given uninhibited free expression.”

Your original Night Flight programming returns with a 1988 episode of Flash Tracks. Tonight we have neo-60s psychedelia Australian style with Hoodoo Gurus, gritty english rock Flesh for Lulu, and from Bradford, England it's "Sanctuary” for your soul with The Cult! And for a timely bonus, stay tuned at the end of this episode for Australia's roaming reporter Norman Gunston who pays a visit to the 1979 Grammys!

On tonight’s episode of “20 Years of Rock ’n’ Roll Style” Night Flight covers Glam Rock. “Twilight fell on the grassroots hippie sixties, and it was time to put the glitz and glamor back into rock,” Pat Prescott tells us before introducing T. Rex. From there we travel through Freddie Mercury solo cuts, D.A. Pennebaker’s live video for Bowie’s “White Light, White Heat” cover and much more.

“Take Off” to Animation is one of the most beloved original Night Flight formats, as true today as it was in the 1980s. Like our other animation specials, this 1987 arrival from the vault is a one-of-a-kind time capsule from an era when music videos and animation technologies were evolving side by side. Featuring Grace Jones’ multi-media visual spectacle, vibrant cel animation for Wally Badarou’s “Highlife,” and David Bowie’s rotoscoped video for “Underground” from Labyrinth (also streaming on Night Flight Plus), the episode highlights hybrid formats and emerging tools like early 3D computer animation at the height of the cultural zeitgeist.

Tonight, we look at the progenitors of the music video genre. Night Flight was born at bleeding edge of the music video era, and tonight's exhibit of gorgeously preserved early adopters shows it. Within you'll find slices of video brilliance from some of the pioneers of the genre including Michael Nesmith (whose "Rio" kicked off the music video art form), Devo, David Bowie and Todd Rundgren.

A spoof of educational films about gravity.

Night Flight's video profile of one of the seminal bands of the 1980s, Manchester England's innovative New Order. Highlights include their music video for "Confusion" which contains scenes filmed inside legendary NYC nightclub 'The Funhouse' along with rare footage of revered dance music producer Arthur Baker at work in the studio.

Welcome to Night Flight’s “Take Off” to Rock Around America, with songs and videos that celebrate American life, it’s people, the land, and its musical history. Born out of a revolt against society, and nurtured by a rebellious of the ‘60s, Rock has often carried the banner of Revolution. Featuring Matthew Wilder’s “The Kid’s American,” Randy Newman, Frank Sinatra’s smooth jazz cut “L.A. Is My Lady” (from his final solo album), western-tinged new wave act Rubber Rodeo, and nu-pop crooners Randyandy.

Traffic's Jim Capaldi sat down with Night Flight for a 1983 Video Profile to promote his new solo record, Fierce Heart. He talks about meeting Steve Winwood in a record shop, coming from a musical family, and his love for Little Richard. Capaldi reminisces about the "16-century cottage" years and a jam session with Bonzo: "I stood in the room and it was another world." Indeed.

Night Flight's independent filmmaker showcase featuring Ilene Segalove's "Why I Got Into TV and other stories," Daniel Reeves' "Thousands Watch," "Mirage" and a special directions in Jazz special, featuring members of Steely Dan's live band.

"Coming up tonight, we have some of the heaviest metal ever!" - Twisted Mr. Bill. Welcome to tonight's edition of Hit Parader Magazine's Heavy Metal Heroes from April 1985 featuring music from Ratt and Iron Maiden, a revealing interview with Gene Simmons (sans makeup) and all the latest news on all your favorite headbangers.

A special on legendary rock band Bauhaus, dubbed the "originators of Goth Rock," featuring interviews with members, videos from later spin-off band Love and Rockets, as well as the solo career of frontman Peter Murphy.

This first part of this classic Night Flight broadcast from 5/6/88 features music videos from legendary British goth rockers Bauhaus and their spin-off group Love and Rockets along with dark entries from singer-gone-solo Peter Murphy. Videos from the Attic revives several classics from Blancmange, Eurythmics, Billy Idol, Fine Young Cannibals, Peter Gabriel, and More.

Get ready for an epic border-crossing original episode of Night Flight. In this Take Off special from 1985, Night Flight heads north for a special survey on Canadian Rock. Featuring Bryan Adams, Corey Hart, Platinum Blonde, Honeymoon Suite, Parachute Club, Idle Eyes, Rush, Loverboy, and Canadian super-charity-group Northern Lights. This episode is rich with Canada’s unique input in ‘80s music landscape. Enjoy!

Thirty-six years ago to the day. Tonight’s Night Flight original mixes chart-toppers and heatseekers to provide a complete snapshot of music circa January 20th, 1984. With the top-ten countdown, you get a suite of the year’s trending music videos and tucked inside the Rising Stars section, a peak at bands on the rise like Sons of Heroes, Howard Jones and Wendy and The Rockets.

In tonight’s original episode of Night Flight (Air Date 4/19/85) we Take Off to Rock Documentaries. Hop on board for a journey through some of the most famous Rock Films in history starting with the 1964 T.A.M.I. Show up through the Talking Head's Jonathan Demme-directed classic "Stop Making Sense." In between we'll cover Rock Docs like Neil Young's Rust Never Sleeps (Distributed by Night Flight creator Stuart Shapiro), Bob Dylan's "Don't Look Back," and much more.

A criminal duo commits bizarre, lemon-based crimes.

Welcome back to Night Flight. Tonight we celebrate the incredible life and career of Aretha Franklin with our 1987 Video Profile of the legendary artist. "She was the daughter of a preacher and by the late 60's the undisputed Queen of Soul" - Pat Prescott. With over a dozen million-selling albums, Aretha forever fused the passion of Gospel, the sensuality of R&B, and the precision of Pop. Tonight's episode is an incredible survey of Aretha's 1980s output, in true Night Flight Style. Featuring all of Aretha's 1980s cuts including: Rock A Lot, Freeway Of Love, Another Night, and George Michael collaboration Knew You Were Waiting.

Tonight, Night Flight’s “Take Off” goes around the world in 1984. “It’s a rock ’n’ roll travelogue” Pat Prescott says, before introducing an eclectic mix of videos united by their on-location shots in unique and famous places around the world. Featuring Juluka's "Umbaqanga," Blancmange in Egypt, a tour of the US with Randy Andy and a new age city flight with Jean Luc-Ponty’s “Individual Choice.”

Night Flight's special feature on Politics, featuring videos by Talking Heads, Tracy Chapman, Sting, Billy Bragg, Midnight Oil, Living Color, and many more!

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.

Featuring Chris Rock, Lorne Elliott, Rosie O'Donnell and more...

"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

Hosted by Judy Tenuta, Night Flight's 6th Anniversary special from 1987 relives some of the best segments from Night Flight's history including moments from Mr. Bill, J-Men, Neil Young's Rust Never Sleeps, Tunnel Vision, and more. Make sure to stick around for a classic Tenuta accordion set to close out the evening!

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."

Night Flight’s 1987 episode of New Sounds is teeming with deep cuts and lost treasures. Mondo Boffo with Scorpio (!), Prince proteges Wendy and Lisa's excellent tune "Waterfall," Squeeze's Dali-esque video painting and more.

Everyone's invited to this massive survey of 80s music and fashion. Jump right in to relive the iconic movements represented over the decade.

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.

"Good Evening, ladies and gentlemen," 1990s syndication host Tom Juarez exclaims, "and welcome to Night Flight: a beacon of fun, fantasy, and pure entertainment..." What follows is a hand-picked rerun of some classic Night Flight segments including a Bruce Springsteen Video Profile and an hour of cult classics. "You may as well put on another cup of coffee, because no matter how sleepy you think you're feeling, you're going to want to stay up for tonight's wild ride." You bet!

In "Take Off to Comedy IX," enter Jackie Mason's mind with the brilliant compilation “The World According To Me,” Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi get Brian Wilson out of bed to go surfing in a long forgotten clip that was one of our most popular stories on the blog last year. Other gems include Divine’s “These Lips Were Made For Kissing,” Dweezil Zappa, Weird Al Yankovich and an original segment with comedian Ritch Shydner’s hilarious bit in the Night Flight studios.

This 1987 episode of Night Flight features classic Comedy Cut segments and England's favorite comedy team: Assaulted Nuts. Then Night Flight goes to the movies with features on Angel Heart, The Good Wife, Tin Men and John Hughe's Some Kind Of Wonderful.

Night Flight’s here to help you keep those New Year’s Resolutions! In our Self-Help Video Break (a video mashup from the NF editors similar to Atomic TV and Rockin’ Ronnie), we’re treated to “words of wisdom” from artists who have lived life in the fast-lane. Featuring RAD drug PSAs from Gene Simmons and Jon Bon Jovi, Carrie McDowell's "Uh Uh, No No Casual Sex" and of course, inspiration mantras of Will Powers’ (Lynn Goldsmith) "Adventures of Success!" Don’t miss a music video message from Jefferson County, KY Public School Students: "Say Nope to Dope!"

This week, Night Flight puts the focus on the visionaries behind some of the most experimental and interesting music videos of the 80s. This unique ‘Take Off’ takes music video directors as it’s subject, focusing specifically on the work of Creme & Godley and Zbigniew Rybczyński, including candid and creative interviews with the directors. Lol Creme and Kevin Godley (originally of the band 10cc) discuss the videos they created for Visage, The Police, Herbie Hancock (the excellent robotics video for "Rock-it"), the uncensored Night Flight favorite “Girls on Film” for Duran Duran and gorgeous video for their own song "Cry." For Part 2 of this special, Night Flight takes off to the work of Academy Award winning Polish director Zbigniew Rybczyński, featuring videos the surreal, groundbreaking music video classics for Art Of Noise, Chuck Mangione, Grandmaster Flash, and mysterious Columbia Records supergroup Iam Siam .

Episode #2 of Midnight Rider, a late-night DirecTV series that brought Night Flight creator Stuart S. Shapiro back to producing an irreverent mix of music, comedy, and cult programming.