Atari on TV - Page 2

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Page two of our exhaustive list
By Atari Fans

May 6, 1997

MAD TV There was a "The Price Is Right" sketch on the show Mad TV that had an Atari 2600 in it. - Brett Gladson

Magnum, P.I. One episode shows an Atari 600XL.

Married...With Children In an episode where Bud "went off to college", his dad came to visit. In the background you can see an Atari ST in his room.

Miami Vice Check out the end of the episode "Milk Run," on the B side of the second disc. Near the end of the episode, Crockett and Tubbs are in a store at an airport, where a kid who had been involved in a drug deal gets blown away by a shotgun. In a couple scenes, it looks like there is a video game system box on a shelf behind them, but it was too blurry for me to make out what it was. I suspect it's Atari, because there seems to be the fuji symbol and enough letters to make out the name. I'm at least pretty sure it's a game system of some type, because I can make out what appears to be a console with two controllers attached on the box. - Brian R.

Muppet Show, The One episode shows an Atari 8-bit computer (XL I think, to long ago, to remember.)

My Secret Identity This Canadian show starring Jerry O'Connell (of Sliders & Stand By Me fame) was about a teenager who was a secret super hero. On the closing credits it said "Computers supplied by Atari (Canada) Corp."

My Two Dads Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan played 7800 Pole Position to show the effects drinking and driving to their daughter.

Mystery Science Theatre 3000 An Atari 800 was used as a "security system" display in some really cheesy mummy monster movie they did.

Numb3rs In the debut episode, a guy was seen playing a Tempest machine in an arcade. - Darryl B.

One Game, The 1988 British TV min-series "The One Game" is about a computer programmer, and there are lots of Atari computer boxes littering his office, and he uses a 130XL in the last episode (the logo is clearly visible on the keyboard.) The series is available on DVD in R2, and was broadcast on PBS stations in the USA in the late 1980s. -- Christopher Krisocki

Outer Limits I remember an episode of "Outer Limits" where the main characters had to hide in a bunker deep below zero, because of an incoming alien attack. the bunker also contained 2-3 arcade coin-op games, starring Missile Command, Asteroids and another Atari game/coin-up I do not remember.

Parker Lewis Can't Lose The producers of this Fox Television show must have really loved Atari products. I remember seeing a Lynx, Atari VCS, Atari 800, Atari Portfolio, and I think an Atari ST. The kids bedroom had an Atari poster, and Atari products popped up all over the place. (Now I wished I had watched this show!)

Pointman In this short-lived TV show, they had a virtual game of holographic fighters, where they used a yellow colored Jaguar controller!

Pirates of Silicon Valley (TV Movie) There was a scene where Steve Wozinak was in a hospital room after his plane crash and he was playing a Atari 2600. It had a cartridge in the slot and two controllers connected. But the game on the screen wasn't any 2600 game. The graphics looked too good for the system. It was a side scrolling game and looked more like an Apple II game. I can't remember the title but it looked familiar to a side scrolling shooter made by Sirius Software.

Sabrina The Teenage Witch Anyone else catch this? There was a spell in her book about Atari.

Sesame Street One old episode shows an Atari 800, a newer one shows an XL computer.

Silver Spoons This show had several arcade machines as props including a Tempest machine as seen here.

S Club 7 in Hollywood Yesterday I've saw a strange thing - S Club 7 in LA it's called :) And the one of the main protagonists, Paul, is dressed in cool NATARIN T-Shirt :) http://www.a8maestro.com/atari/info/ballmt.htm

Simpsons, The In a Halloween episode, the family is abducted by aliens. These aliens show the puny humans their advances in video games with their awesome game of Pong! In a flashback scene, Homer and Marge were at Moe's opening in the 1980s. Homer, drunk and concentrated on Asteroids, asked Marge to feed him nachos while he played. He beat the high score. He said: "This is the best night we've ever had together. I love you, Atari."

Taxi Marilou Henner's character on Taxi had a 2600 in her apartment as a background prop. Don't know if it was in more than one episode though. - Candiru

That 70's Show There is an episode where they operate on a Pong machine to make the paddles smaller to make it harder. Also, I think some of the kids are seen playing a 2600 in another episode.

Three's Company In the episode titled "Furley vs. Furley," Ralph is fired by his brother Bart as the building manager. In the very first scene of the show Jack and Janet are playing with a 4-switch Atari 2600. Jack complains to Janet, "You can't kick an 80 yard field goal!" "Why not?" she says. "It worked, didn't it?" Jack gets upset and says, "Forget it. My team's walking off the field." Janet responds, "Oh, you are such a big baby." Jack replies, "I am not. Phhbbhhhttt." There are a few errors in the scene. Firstly, the sounds of the football game are completely fabricated. Probably to be as annoying as possible because Mr. Furley tells them he is going to "penalize the both of them for unnecessary beeping!" Another big error is that there isn't even a game plugged into the system! This must have been two takes edited together, because you can see the cartridge on the table near the popcorn after Janet calls Jack a "poor sport." Also, the 2600 isn't even plugged in (you can see the silver power jack exposed) and Jack isn't even holding the joystick correctly. Despite the little errors, it's a great scene mixing my favorite sitcom with my favorite video game. In another episode titled, "Diamond Jack" which first aired October 19, 1982, there is a Space Duel coin-op in a roller rink Jack goes to. And in this picture, it looks like Larry is wearing a Missile Command sweater! This sweater was actually worn in several episodes by Larry and it was also draped over the shoulders of the "director" from when Jack was on that LA Today show cooking poached salmon in aspic.

Undressed (MTV) This appears to be from the MTV show called "Undressed." http://www.a8maestro.com/atari/info/ballmt.htm

V: The Mini-Series Two of the secondary characters (one alien, one human) are seen here appropriately playing 2600 Space Invaders. (Don't they do this in EVERY movie about aliens trying to conquer the earth?)

Wild & Crazy Kids On this old Nickelodeon show they did a game called "Human Space Invaders" that was played with water balloons and people. To explain to the viewers at home how the game was to be played, they used clips of the Atari 2600 version of Space Invaders.

Weird Science Reports are that the characters are playing a game of ALIEN Vs. Predator on a Jaguar.

Yes, Dear In the Space Jam episode, Greg takes his old stuff to a U-Store-It place. In it he plays 2600 Defender on a Black & White TV set. - Spud

You Can't Do That On Television You may have seen it on Nickelodeon. In 1982 there was an episode about addictions, and a lot of it was about video games. It was wild - Lance Prevert got hit by a missile like in Missile Command - complete with the 2600 sound effects. Some of the characters got "eaten" by Pac Man at the end of the show.

One on One (Hall & Oats) I was watching the video for the Hall & Oates song, "One-On-One," and in one scene Daryl Hall is walking down a city street and stops in front of a store window. In the display in the window, just over his shoulder, you can plainly see an Atari 5200 in the box!

Everything Counts (Depeche Mode) In the Depeche Mode's "Everything Counts" (live 1987) video movie, you can see the singer playing an Atari Game. -- Bazino

Miscellaneous Look for the sound effects from 2600 Pac-Man and Donkey Kong which are *always* cropping up in movies and TV whenever someone is playing a video game. It's as if there haven't been any new games since 1981. These were most recently used in the new Circuit City ads proclaiming their new video game tryout section.

Go to Page 1!

Thanks to the following people for their good memories:
Clay Halliwell, Stephen Anderson, Cj, B.N.V., Cougar, Jason, Doctor Clu, Toby Wickwire, Sneedy, Eckhard Stolberg, Keith Stover, JMa5534740, Kirk Spradling, Aaron Howald, Peter Perpetua III, Dan@AVC, HorseAsh, Alan Syrop, Prototype_501, Millsshark, Ben Combee, Tony MacDonald, Jim Oaks, Glenn Bruner, Jim Wertz, J. Goebel, TheGamePeddler, Ickyboy1, Joey Kay, Paul Freitag, Yendor20, MiKRO, Andreas Magenheimer, Joseph Till, liveinabin, King of Atari, The Night Phantom, Atari Ken 64, Ri, Devo, Krytol, Tony Roy, Trenton Ray, Eric Butzow, the Ultimate Atarian, Michael Hodges, Dan Shott, Bazino, phil7101@aol.com, Curt Vendel, Brett Gladson, Brian R., Bill Merrick, Will Bausch, Darryl B., Spud, Christopher Krisocki.

If you know of any other film or TV show that Atari games, computers, or even just controllers have appeared, please let us know!