The Krofft Superstar Hour with the Bay City Rollers

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y morning! "The Krofft Superstar Hour" was NBC's successor to ABC's "The Krofft Supershow," featuring The Bay City Rollers, who replaced hosts Kaptain Kool and the Kongs (though the triple-K's made frequent appearances). In addition to the obligatory musical and sketch performances by the Rollers, this show had two regular segments: "Lost Island" and "Horror Hotel."

"Lost Island" was a bizarro modgepodge that featured characters from all of the previous Sid & Marty Krofft Saturday morning shows thrown together on the Land of the Lost, usually battling the nefarious Dr. Deathray (Jay Robinson, previously known as Dr. Shrinker -- why they changed his name is anyone's guess).

"Horror Hotel" featured H.R. Pufnstuf's nemesis Wilhemina W. Witchiepoo (Billie Hayes) running a hotel where wacky guest checked in and wackier antics ensued. Aiding Witchiepoo was her usual band of cohorts, along with Living Island's Dr. Blinky the owl and Lidsville's Horatio J. Hoodoo (now portrayed by Paul Gale, who took over the role in subsequent Krofft productions because Charles Nelson Reilly proved to be so cantankerous).

After less than two months on the air, the show was cut down to a half hour, retitled "The Bay City Rollers Show," and the "Lost Island" segments were dropped altogether. The show limped into cancellation, thus ending the Saturday morning reign of Sid & Marty Krofft along with the careers of The Bay City Rollers. The show has never had an official home video release and it hasn't aired anywhere since 1979. Each of the show's segments were taped individually for the entire season, so one can presume there are "Lost Island" skits that have never seen the light of day.

In addition to the series, there was also a Saturday morning preview show which aired the night before the "Superstar Hour" debuted, titled "The Bay City Rollers Meet the Saturday Superstars." In addition to performances by the Rollers and Kaptain Kool and the Kongs, and an original "Horror Hotel" segment, it includes appearances by guests Joe Namoth, Erik Estrada, and Scott Baio. And the latter two sing!

Copies of a few episodes of the show are circulating in fandom, as well as the "Saturday Superstars" special, though the quality isn't the greatest. One 12 minute "Horror Hotel" segment was included on Vivendi Entertainment's 2011 "H.R. Pufnstuf: The Complete Series" re-release, but as of 2012, the rest of the series has not been officially issued on home video in any format.