Great, short piece by Kevin C. Smith at DangerousMinds.net: “Do You Remember ‘Night Flight?” We do–as a crucial, freaky centerpiece of TV-hooked 80s teendom. What it was:
A lot has been made of MTV’s launch on August 1, 1981, but Night Flight—appearing on the fledgling USA Network—beat them to the punch by nearly two months premiering on June 5 of the same year. Though Night Flight played its fair share of videos and music films, its scope was much broader encompassing all manner of cult films and shorts extending back over several decades. However wide-ranging its programming, though, it was always informed by a subversive, outsider sensibility. The show had no host, just a disembodied female voice accompanied by (at the time) cutting edge computer animation of the Night Flight logo (unsettlingly similar to the 80s cheese rock band Night Ranger’s own logo) flying over darkened landscapes.
Just watching the logo flying around through the digital nightscape stirs memories of awe and confusion. And fatigue. It’s past your bedtime, go to sleep already.
Much more video with the DM post and around the net.