About a little more than a year after BOB WILKINS left KTXL, he returned to do a One Time Special in 3D of the Universal Classic: REVENGE OF THE CREATURE. It was shown on SATURDAY NIGHT on JULY 17, 1982 at 8:PM and then repeated again at 11:PM. While the 3D effects was mediocre, it was a joy to see BOB WILKINS back on the Tube. The 3D Glasses sold for $1 at CARLS JR. In fact, if you saw the vintage commercial on the KTXL Anniversary Show, you could spot a Teenage ROBBY WILKINS just behind Bob at the CARLS JR. Ironically, a BOB WILKINS WANNABE (Forgot His Name) on a show called DISASTERPIECE THEATER on competing INDEPENDENT TV STATION KRBK-TV Channel 31 had their 3D Special of their own one week later with a DOUBLE FEATURE of GORILLA AT LARGE and a martial arts movie called DYNASTY. BOB WILKINS also hosted a 3D REVENGE OF THE CREATURE on SAN FRANCISCO'S KBHK-TV 44 during the same month with a competing 3D show on JIM GABBERT'S KTZO-TV 20.
Bob Wilkins, the iconic and laconic host of the late night "Creature Features" bay area television show in the 1970s, died Wednesday in Reno at age 76 from complications of Alzheimer's disease.
ReplyDeleteA memorial service is scheduled for 2PM Jan. 24th in Oakland's Montclair Presbyterian Church, 5701 Thorn hill Drive, to celebrate the life of the slender who stared at the world through horn-rimmed glasses and greeted viewers to his show by lighting a candle stuffed in the top of a skull, then settling into a wooden rocking chair to enjoy a cigar and the outrageously awful horror films that became another trademark.
A fan celebration of Wilkins will be scheduled sometime in the coming months.