I thought of this show a few weeks ago when I started to see the commercials for Billy Bob Thornton's new movie, The Astronaut Farmer, about a guy who builds his own rocket in his barn so he can blast into space.
Salvage 1 was a short-lived show that starred Andy Griffith as a salvager who sells scrap that he finds and goes on various adventures with his cohorts (rescuing people, battling fires, getting involved with crooks, that sort of thing). The series co-starred Joel Higgins (Silver Spoons), Trish Stewart (whatever happened to her?), and Richard Jaeckel (Spenser: For Hire), and it was based on a TV movie of the same name in which Griffith built a rocket on his own and blasted off into space.
I can't tell you how much I loved this movie when I was a teen. If you had asked me in the late 70s what the best movie of all time was, I probably would have said this one. Sadly, the show died after only a season and a half. It couldn't quite match the charm of the pilot, but was pretty darn entertaining.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-26-2007 @ 4:01PM
Angel said...
Thank you. When I saw the ads for that movie, my thoughts were, "man, someone is remaking that old show about the rocket and the guy from the scrapyard." I could not remember for the life of me the name of the show. I thought at the time it was an ok show, but certainly nothing memorable (heck, I could not remember Andy Griffith was the scrap man).
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2-26-2007 @ 4:35PM
ScottH said...
I loved this show as a kid, too--especially the theme music! I can hear it now :-D
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2-26-2007 @ 5:33PM
Ratphink said...
Just the other day my wife saw an ad for The Astronaut Farmer. She then went on to say it was a ripoff of the BBCA show Rocket Man. I then corrected her and said, there all ripoff's of Salvage 1, which she then replied, "what's that." I remember enjoying the show alot when I was a kid.
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2-26-2007 @ 5:11PM
Benjy said...
Me too! I've had the "Salvage 1" theme song bouncing around in my head for years. It had this carnival-esque bouncy quality to it!
This was a really fun show! The cast was great together. It's a shame more people remember Joel Higgins for "Silver Spoons" than for "Salvage 1."
And yes, when I saw the trailer for the Billy Bob movie, I actually said out loud in front of my friend "Wow! They're ripping off Salvage 1!" (To which my friend replied, "Huh?")
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2-26-2007 @ 11:44PM
Rob said...
I loved Salvage 1. I remember watching it as a kid, and my best friend and I would watch it "together" by staying on the phone together through the whole show. I'd love to see the pilot movie again.
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2-26-2007 @ 5:34PM
klb said...
I loved the theme music also. You can listen to it here: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/9782/salvage1b.wav
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2-27-2007 @ 1:27PM
Jim Kosmicki said...
and maybe they'll put it out on DVD to coat-tail on the Astronaut Farmer's eventual DVD release???
and Joel Higgins should also be known for his starring role in Best of the West, a great little-remembered ABC sitcom set in the Wild West (that wasn't really so wild).
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2-27-2007 @ 2:15PM
Scott said...
"Best of the West" -- there was ANOTHER great theme song! I can't find the lyrics, but here's a link:
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/sounds/BestoftheWest.wav
And the greatest line from the series:
"It's a dirt floor."
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