Page one of our exhaustive list By Atari FansMay 6, 1997
During its lifetime, Atari was in many prominent television
shows due to the fact that they were owned by a very large movie company: Warner Communications. While there is no doubt there are dozens of more examples, here are some of the better known.
Also, check out the Atari On Film section that
covers Atari's forays into movies!
Also, if you happen to have any screen captures of Atari on
TV, please send them to me! Thanks!
The later (crappy) version of
Airwolf that was picked up and produced by some Canadian TV company that
didn't have Hawk and Dom in it, in the "Lair" there are ST's and in the
"Company" office, in a few scene's and ST is on some desktops. - Curt
Vendel
There is a 2600 in this show. Ironically enough, it
appears to be a Vader model and the show was on in the late 80's. Anyhow,
one one episode ALF and Brian are playing Space Invaders, ALF makes a shot
and comments "Easy shot! No wonder the Martians are extinct!"
In the cartoon on the Cartoon
Network, there are several episodes centering around "Space Invader" (boxy
and pastel) looking aliens. The aliens curse, shoplift, drink, and shoot
extremely slow square bulllets! - Will Bausch
On a recent episode of CSI Miami, the investigators rummage through a "time
capsule" to help them solve the crime. Inside (under the Rubik's Cube) is an
Atari 2600.
Randy Quaid and Jonathan Winters starred in this short-lived show about an elementary school principal. I distinctly saw a faculty member walking down the hallway with an Atari 1040 ST under her arm!!
In the episode "Shootout at the O.K. Arcade," which first aired in fall 1982, there are several arcade games; the only Atari game I remember is a
cabaret Centipede but there may have been others.
I don't know how many people watch the show "Do
Over" on the WB, but there was an Atari 2600 game in the episode called, "Rock
'n' Roll Parking Lot." During one part of the show when the guy, his buddy, and
sister were in the living room they were playing on an Atari 2600. They didn't
show the system but all during the scene you can hear the sound effects from one
of Atari worst games: That's right it was Pac-Man
and you can see either the guy hold the 2600 joystick or the sister holding the
joystick.
In one episode, Joel had a 2600 on top of his TV in his room and
his old man came in and took it away.
I know of at least two references to Atari in Family Guy. The first is in the episode entitled "Mind Over Murder" Peter is under
surveillance after he was put under house arrest. You see him running side to side in the living room. It cuts to a screen that looks like the
surveillance video, but in reality the surveillance people are just slacking off and playing
Pong.
The second is in the episode "Stuck Together Torn Apart" Peter says to Lois splitting up didn't help Pac-Man and his wife. You then see
Pac-Man sitting in his home with the ghosts trying to
cheer him up. They go I know what will cheer you up and turn blue and start saying things like "watch out, he's gonna eat us, we're turning blue" As they start to fade back to their original colors one of them says, "it's not working, let's go over to Q-Berts."
A show set in the early eighties showed one of the lead actors in a department store surrounded by Atari 2600 and 5200 games! Too bad most of those games wouldn't actually be out for another 3 or 4 years if the show is set in 1981. The kids are also seen later playing a 2600, although the game shown on the screen is obviously the ARCADE version of
Asteroids, not the 2600 version. The episode is called The Garage Door.
In one episode Danny Tanner goes to a house where his daughter
Stephanie is staying for co-ed slumber party. One of the boys there is playing a
model II Lynx, and Danny picks it up off the coffee table and messes around with it,
without ever actually powering it on.
In "Anthology of Interest II," the Fry asks the Professors "What If?" machine what life would be like if it were a video game. This
segment is about how our world must defend against the evil "Nintendo 64" empire who
is out for our quarters so they can do their laundry.
To start the episode, a full game of Asteroids is
being played. The Asteroids ship lands and we see Richard Nixon's head
signing a treaty with the aliens from the planet Nintendo 64. (And if you watch
the original animatic, they were going to be from the planet Atari 2600!) However, Donkey Kong breaks the treaty, climbs
to the top of the building, and knocks down the girders! Mario pursues.
Afterwards,
our heroes are taken to "Milatari HQ" that is guarded by several BattleZone tanks.
As the cast is being lead down the halls, there are several doors with different games
on them. Missile Command, Secretary of Defender, and Moon Patrol. Once they
reach the command center, they are greeted by General Pac-Man! (In the
animatic, General Pac-Man even says to Fry, "What do you know about the Atarians?") The video screens in the background
have Centipede running on them instead of radar scopes!
General
Pac-Man leads them through the maze, and soon afterwards Fry blasts the aliens in a Space Invaders
type scene. Tragedy ensues as General Pac-Man is killed by blaster fire. He disappears in his
trademark fashion from the game. Ms. Pac-Man is terribly distraught!
The
last alien ship makes it past Fry, who says he was never able to destroy it. The evil Nintendo 64 aliens
emerge, including Donkey Kong, a Berzerk robot, Q*Bert, Mr. Egg (from Burgertime), and
the Brain from Robotron 2048!
All in
all, a great episode for Atari (and all-around classic) gamers.
(You can see this clip
now on YouTube.)
Another show that had a 2600
was "Get A Life." I remember seeing it on the set but I don't remember how
well it could be seen in any of the episodes. It was on a dresser to the
left of Chris's bed. - Bill
There
was a 7800 seen several times and
they actually play it once in a
while, in the earlier years.
In the episode "Up Your Alley," which first aired on January 7, 1992, there are some scenes set in an arcade and in the last arcade scene a
Lunar Lander coin-op briefly appears.
I caught a King of Queens
rerun last night, that featured a cameo by an Atari
7800! Doug and Arthur were playing Video Olympics on it...weirdly
enough, they
showed the screen, and it was in black and white. Just thought that was
interesting that they used a 7800.
In one episode KITT needs the help of a Computer - most probably an Atari
800XL.
I saw a video game played in an episode of Knight Rider. Titled: "Nobody Does it Better" (April
1983) episode: 57331. The game was called Space Cadet. But I don't know if it really exits. We see it near the
beginning of the episode for almost 4 minutes. Other games seen in an office are arcades of
Jungle Hunt, Alpine Ski, and Q*bert.
At the start of the episode of Knight Rider title:
"Soul Survivor" (Nov. 1983) David Hasselhoff is playing the arcade version of
Pac-Man, but he's not using an Atari joystick to play it. It's hard to make out but
it looks like he as a high score of 6290(?). And 1up 3240 is flashing in the top left corner. The sound
effects are authentic. Later on we see a computer hacker using a computer keyboard with
a Joystick from Atari 2600 to drive KITT the car. He also plays Pac-Man
with the same (Atari 2600) Joystick.
