This archeological excursion into Philadelphia’s spotted
underbelly answers those perennial questions:
Did Frank Rizzo really
have doves flying from his armpits? Are the mummers true Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
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tists? Are
you really safe? And finally, how many Philadelphia criminals can you
identify in this program…. Tune in and find out.
Segment
Video
Artist
Collaborator
Role
Action News Open
Tarot Reading
Termite
Beth Reisinger
Community Member
Rizzo Quotes
Michael Kuetemeyer
Ben Johnson
Actor
Peep Show
Mary Clare Stevens
Sales and Closings
Jim Ospenson
Mummers
Jim Ospenson
Mummers
Performer
Brain Autopsy with Dr. Gene Hoenig
Jim Ospenson
Dr. Gene Hoenig
Community Member
Test Promo with Martha Star
Meryl Perlson
Martha McDonald
Actor
Pot Hole of the Week
Mike Grundmann
Rizzo Quote
Michael Kuetemeyer
Ben Johnson
Actor
Safety
Meryl Perlson
Peep Show 2
Mary Clare Stevens
Police Chief justifies violence
Police Chief
Community Member
Penn is on Top
Michael Kuetemeyer
Squirrels
Mike Grundmann
Martha and Blaise Tour the City
Perlson
Martha McDonald
actor
Mummers 2
Jim Ospenson
Mummers
Performer
Rizzo Quote
Frank Rizzo
Community Member
Summer 1968
Jim Ospenson & Meryl Perlson
Barbara Smith
Poet
Rizzo as Ubermench
Jim Ospenson + Meryl Perlson
Lou Pepe
Actor
Credits
George Kuetemeyer
Musician
by andrewz | Posted in Season #1 (1992) | Comments Off on RIZZO’S BRAIN |
Where were you when the bombs started flying? Watching the war on CNN
of course… Relive those magic moments, as Termite TV telescopes its
own historical spin on the events, with old favorites like Wolf, Norm,
and that greatest magician of all, George. Remember, in order for the
trick to succeed, you must keep the audience distracted.
Segment
Video
Artist
Collaborator
Role
TV Reverse Open
Poster Reverse
TV War
Meryl Perlson
Desert Storm My War
Jim Ospenson
CNN Logos
Michael Kuetemeyer
Information is obsolete text
Michael Kuetemeyer
Peace is everyone’s Goal
Michael Kuetemeyer
Art of Misdirection
Michael Kuetemeyer
Read his Lips with Gulls
Michael Kuetemeyer
CNN Wall Street Response
Michael Kuetemeyer, from CNN
Military Shopping
Jim Ospenson
Can’t Eat Weapons
Jim Ospenson + Meryl Perlson
Jobs For Peace
Performer
CNN Reporters gobble rhetoric
quotes from Tarbel’s Book of magic
CNN Gas Attack
Michael Kuetemeyer, from CNN
Military Shopping w. crawl
Jim Ospenson
CNN No Gas Attack
Michael Kuetemeyer, from CNN
CNN Advice for Obsessed
Michael Kuetemeyer, from CNN
Iraq is Haunted
Jim Ospenson
Victor Thompson
Community Member
Reflection on Protests
Meryl Perlson
PRESSA
Source video
Black Board Kill Ratio
Jim Ospenson
Fuel Air Bombs
Jim Ospenson
Anti Body Count
Jim Ospenson
Repeating a trick/the Witch is dead
Michael Kuetemeyer
Peace Now
Connie Coleman & Alan Powell
Credits with Industrial Wolf Blitzer
Michael Kuetemeyer
by andrewz | Posted in Season #1 (1992) | Comments Off on DESERT STORM |
Hear the true confessions of a producer as he makes a sacrificial
offer to St. Clare, patroness saint of television. Bow your head to
the gleaming giants at the Manayunk antenna farm. Figure out how much
it costs to watch your favorite programs. Learn how to change the channel.
How many hours of television do you watch a day?
Follow “Only a Test” as we go undercover to a
meeting of Victoria’s Secret addicts, to discover if feminism and lingerie
are really compatible. This half-hour will reveal the true connection
between mall grazing and hunting/gathering, and leak the secret about
the color of colas. How much does watching TV really cost?
Segment
Video
Artist
Collaborator
Role
Action News Open
Poster
Do You Like Shopping
David Kluft
On the Street
Interviews
Obsession
Dan Kuetemeyer and Ben Johnson
Coke Pepsi Garden of Eden
Michael Kuetemeyer
What Mall are You From
Products in Progress
Todd Kimmel
Film Collector
Jane on Shopping
Michael Kuetemeyer
Janet Hoefling
Interview
Underwear
Mike Grundmann
WOW Bill Board
Jim Ospenson
Tube Fare Magic Number
Jim Ospenson
Flag
Jim Ospenson,Stern, Leuthold, Lyons, Wolfe,
Green
Buy American from a Multinational?
Cola War
Michael Kuetemeyer
Victoria’s Secret Society
Jennifer Kay Baker + Lisa Marie Russo
Tube Fare Quiz
Michael Kuetemeyer / Jim Ospenson
Prez Candy
Jim Ospenson
Q-TIP
Mike Grundmann
Camel Cash
Jim Ospenson
A Short History of Pain Suppression
Jim Ospenson
So Many Tampons
Meryl Perlson
Tube Fare Watching TV is Work
Jim Ospenson
Cola Race War
Michael Kuetemeyer
Credits
Michael Kuetemeyer
by andrewz | Posted in Season #1 (1992) | Comments Off on CONSUMERISM |
Sugar and spice and testosterone and reproductive states of emergency…
Termite TV plays doctor with contemporary notions of male and female,
and explores constructs like fashion, fishing and feminism. Androgenous
babies and obsolete men are just two of the possibilities raised in this
show, which poses a final dilemma : are women’s bikes really liberating?
“A peculiar fact about termite-tapeworm-fungus-moss art is that it moves
always forward, eating its own boundaries, and, likely as not leaves nothing
in its path but the signs of eager, industrious, unkempt activity.” – Manny
Farber, 1962
This fluid amalgam of shorts questions the
tension between the natural, non-human world and our innate drive to manipulate,
codify, create and control the environment.
Segment
Video
Artist
Collaborator
Role
Peculiar Fact about Termite Work
Michael Kuetemeyer
TV Smash
Nature Culture
Michael Kuetemeyer
Humans and Baboons
Erik Gunneson and Michael Kuetemeyer
Gone Swimming
Connie Coleman & Alan Powell
Museum Culture
Jim Ospenson
Graffiti Washing
Meryl Perlson
Resurf
Michael Kuetemeyer
Aim and Control
Meryl Perlson
Lava Play
Michael Kuetemeyer
Gone Swimming 2
Connie Coleman & Alan Powell
Analog Nature Culture
Michael Kuetemeyer
Philipa Counting
Meryl Perlson
Philipa Hernandez
Interview
Tree and Fence
Michael Kuetemeyer
Jesse and Bees
Jim Ospenson
Jesse Jane Lewis + David Frankel
Performer
The Bee is Angrily Buzzing in My Ear
Michael Kuetemeyer
Ben Johnson
poet
Digital Nature Culture
Michael Kuetemeyer
Credits with El Time Lapse
Jim Ospenson
by andrewz | Posted in Season #1 (1992) | Comments Off on NATURE VS. CULTURE |
THIS IS ONLY A TEST’s most controversial show provides a Theory of Everything
linking the Kennedy Assassination to the texture of day-old Wonder Bread,
Automatic Teller Machines, birth control, disturbed loners, and pussycats.
A high priest of conspiracy theology outlines strategies of resistance.
Autofocus on health and the body. Pathology of the discovery of a large
intestinal worm. Reflection on the illness called “menstruation.”
Talking with the dead. Bladder control and French Toast with a degenerative
nerve disease. Macro closeup on recovery from brain surgery. Finding a
deProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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ist when you’re HIV positive.
Segment
Video
Artist
Collaborator
Role
Smash TV
Life and Death Font
Channelled Info on Death
Michael Kuetemeyer
Lynn Zoe
Interview
Worm Discovery
Meryl Perlson
Jim Caiola
Interview
Glass Jaw excerpt
Michael O’Reily
When Angry Ghosts Vanish
Michael Kuetemeyer
Lynn Zoe
Interview
Lost Teeth and AIDS
Jim Ospenson
Gary Bailly
Interview
French Toast
Jim Ospenson
Jesse Jane Lewis
Performer
Lightning
Michael Kuetemeyer
Sara Shapiro
Interview
Endo
Michelle Hughes
More on Worms
Meryl Perlson
Jim Caiola
Interview
Must have Humor
Michael Kuetemeyer
Lynn Zoe
Interview
Cemetery
Mike Grundmann
Credits with final live take
by andrewz | Posted in Season #1 (1992) | Comments Off on LIFE AND DEATH |
Termites ponder the idea of “taboo” across a continuum ranging
from venial sin, differing standards of physical hygiene, dominant/submissive
relationships and, yes, gay sexuality and masturbation. Shame!
Segment
Video Artist
Collaborator
Role
Pipa Doody in her Panties
Meryl Perlson
Philipa Hernandez
interview
Smash TV Open
ECU Vibrator
Meryl Perlson
who among us has not sinned
Confessions
Lou Pepe
vibrator and Jesus
Meryl Perlson
Religion is the opiate of the masses
The Surreal Thing
Mike Kuetemeyer
Rob McKellar
Community Member
Vibrator in the garden
Meryl Perlson
on the road to salvation
Hitchhiking Moral
Meryl Perlson
Ablution
S. Ashraf Meer
Do unto others. . .
House Boy
Jim Ospenson
Spryte
Community Member
vibrator on pillow
Meryl Perlson
if it feels good, do it
Why I Masterbate
R Brenin
If Pussy Could Talk
Karen Lefkovitz
by andrewz | Posted in Season #1 (1992) | Comments Off on CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS |