primary crew

Producer Storm Bennett
Technical Director Michael W. Mowery
Audio Technician Noel B. Hepp
Camera Operators Autumn Moore, Cindy Strauss
Writers Storm Bennett, Michael Mowery, Bill Bendelow, Raj Kaup
Floor Manager Dar Much

 

On Air Talent

Storm Bennett
HOST
Bill Bendelow
SPECIAL FEATURES
Michael W. Mowery
SPECIAL FEATURES
Lee Stanford
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
Jay Walker
COMMENTARY
Dar Much
SPECIAL FEATURES

 

The Really, Really Big Show is the spin off to the father of Salisbury State University television "On The Air...with Dave and John". This show will go down as one of the most controversial of all time. It is a variety show which showcases the Salisbury community as well as the campus. The show will feature in studio guests, special features by the crew and drop in footage. This video will feature 3 episodes from the fall 1994 season as well as the final episode from the Spring 1994 season. Until recently it was believed that episode was lost

Golden Roll Productions creator Michael W. Mowery served as the technical director for the series and got the distribution rights to the seasons episodes. For Golden Roll Productions, this is the second television attempt. The pilot episode of Hollywood Creations was the first.

episode #1
This show features a high energy opening which features the Salisbury State University campus. Michael W. Mowery being one of only two students who could use the chroma key effect made this an integral part of the show. Behind host, Storm Bennett, we see footage of the Flying Club. The Flying Club is where Storm and Mike worked. Mowery can be seen on the dance floor. Another person that can be seen is Jean-Marie Williams. She worked as a cocktail waitress at the club. Viewers remember her as the date in the 3 year anniversary edition of Buddy Boys: The Movie. There are two main fixtures on the show which the audience could come to rely on; the first is Entertainment News with Lee Stanford (he was seen in Hate Speech 101). Lee is a long time theatre personality at SSU. The second is the Commentary with Jay Walker.

The crew members are also involved in the production of segments for the show. In this episode, Michael W. Mowery produced two pieces. The first was "Does Anyone Know Who Storm Bennett and Bill Bendelow Really Are?" Basically what this is, the crew wanted to publicize the show and Mowery and Bennett went around interviewing students to see if they knew the stars. The segment segment Mowery produced was "Lets See If We Can Get A Homecoming Date." This piece was done for comedic purposes only. However, when a comment was made in reference to SSU-TV12 General Manager Lucinda Buntings' (who does appear in the clip) butt, it caused a major controversy on campus. Lucinda wanted to cancel or censor the show. When this was known, Storm rebutted with his first amendment rights. The station said that such verbal attacks would hurt the development of SSU-TV. Storm threatened to take the matter to the University council and that's when the station backed off. In every upcoming episode, The Really Really Big Show would make a references to Lucinda's ass. The irony of the situation is that the worst part of the clip never made it to the air. Another interesting thing about this situation is that the producer of the segment Michael W. Mowery was also an officer of the television station. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.

Another independent segment was produced by Kathy Piechota entitled "What Does SSU Think About Kissing?" This little segment went around and caught students kissing on camera. The segment also raised questions as one shot showed two females kissing.

The final segment was a joint effort between Raj Kaup and Bill Bendelow. The piece is called "No Smoke". It's a spoof report with a gentleman from No Good, No Smoke Tobacco products on the dangers of cigarette smoking. The guest saw nothing wrong with smoking and was unclear on all other answers. It was a long segment that was a bit confusing.

episode #2
This show starts off with Dar Much and Amy Wilkinson sitting on the couch as an opening eye catcher to pull in the audience. That goes immediately into the show's opening. Storm starts off with his regular's hello and introductions and gets then gets the ball rolling.

Jay Walker and Lee Stanford were back with their respective segments. Throughout their pieces, jokes about the first episode were made as well as some hate mail. These guys are starting to be a solid fixture on the show.

Dar Much makes his first independent clip as he produces a video about his day off. Basically this piece is to stereotype all college students by suggesting that the only thing they do is drink. The piece shows a day in Dar's life. He is never seen without a beer in hand.

Michael Mowery brings a little piece of Buddy Boys: The Movie to Salisbury State University as he present the desert training sequence in this episode. This was done to fill space in this episode as well as bring Golden Roll Productions first feature film into a new market area.

Kathy Piechota keeps the sexual theme in her second segment. This time around, she focuses on sexual fantasies of the SSU students. This clip also received some negative news as the show was still being judged in a bad light.

The final segment in this show is another wild imagination creation of Bill Bendelow and Raj Kaup. This time they created a segment where they were urinals. They talked about their day and the life of a urinal as well as responding to being urinated on.

Episode 3
This episode was strange as it had no drop in footage and Lee Stanford wasn't present. What did happen was a first in that Michael Mowery had a camera on him in the control room so that people could see him. The cast reflects on the season and talks about the future. Storm also officially hands the show over to Kathy Piechota in this episode.

Screen Captures from The Really, Really Big Show

Storm
with Chroma Key
Segment
with Mike and Chris
Jay, Noel, Storm
and Kathy
Mike in the
control room
Dar, Storm
and Amy

 

episode 4 - The Lost episode from The Really Big Show
This is a special treat to anyone who watches this video. Episode 4 is the transition show between "On The Air...With Dave and John" and "The Really Big Show". This is an actual talk show where Storm and Bill Bendelow interview guests.

The one thing that marks this episode as special is that Dave Kilkeary makes a special guest appearance. The guest on the show were SSU basketball star Chuck Harvey, WSUR DJ's Brian Combs and Pete Christian, actor Damien "Doc" Daugherty, and a spoof on Richard Fay by Raj Kaup. This show also appears on the set that Dave Kilkeary built. Retro commercials are featured including some unorthodox ones by Bill Bendelow for sexual products and Storm Bennett's original "Flying Club" commercial. A nice touch is that the big sponsor, "Four Star Pizza" is seen delivering pizza's to the set.

Primary Crew
for
The Really Big Show

Producer & Host Storm Bennett
Co-Host Bill Bendelow
Director Scott Bethke
Technical Director Jamie Howeth
Floor Manager Gabe White
Character Generator Jan Carroll
Camera Operators Lisa Cox / Kristen Lanaham
Audio Technican Michael Mowery
Video Toaster Graphics Jeff Disharoon
Teleprompter Raj Kaup

 

 

Screen Captures from episode 4

Original Logo

Bill and Storm
Dave Kilkeary
Bill and Storm

 

college credit awarded to Storm Bennett for this production

These shows contain material which may be offensive to some viewers
average running time: 30min
Video Release: 12-15-94