The Orange Hat Hour

by Kim Martin

   The world of public access cable TV broadcasting was forever changed in early 2002 with the debut of The Orange Hat Hour, a weekly 30-minute-long show that chronicles the real and imaginary adventures of Atlanta's finest psychedelic pop band. Though rumor has it no more than a dozen eyes ever behold the show's broadcast, the cast and crew remain undaunted in serving up an original palette of Monty Python and Monkees-inspired hilarity every Saturday at 5 p.m. on Atlanta's PeopleTV (channel 24 if you have cable inside the Atlanta city limits). Learn how to program your VCR and capture this timeless classic on VHS before it vanishes into the ether (or Christo drops dead from editing exhaustion, whichever comes first)!

   The show's first season focused mainly on the band members as they shrunk themselves to wander about in refrigerators and backyards and traveled full-size into aural astral planes. And that was just  the beginning. The mysteries of wax museums and mannequins were fully explored in between hefty helpings of eye-popping music videos and  montages. Recurring character Curtis brought us his culinary expertise in his "Nasty Cooking" segment, while Grandpa Hester offered up the kind of Southern-fried wisdom that only comes from age, experience and insanity.

   All 50 episodes are chock full of way too much to go into here, but to summarize: The Theodor Adorno Jazz Quartet wax existential; Orange Hat holds open mic nights, round table discussions and casting calls, only to have the Grim Reaper show up; Christo and Zeus whip up the "music of the future" in their top-secret laboratory; literary figures Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde and William Faulkner talk about pies; and Armand Burge wishes us "good evening." Repeatedly.  The now-classic "Orangebournes" episode marked the beginning of a new direction for the show: a cast including females!

   Coming soon: hilarious blind dates and other "reality show" parodies; "The Maltese Rubber Chicken";"Museum of Surrealism"; and much, much more. Strap yourselves in, kids, for the wonders of The Orange Hat Hour! Check out orangehat.com for details!