I have the best memories of waking up early on Saturday mornings in the mid-1990s and watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 on TV, often with my sons who were just becoming old enough to get why this show was funny. I was very interested to read this cultural history of one of my favorite shows and I enjoyed it. The book was more serious and scholarly in tone than I expected, but I did appreciate learning about the show's history and how it reflected the counter-culture. I will have to say, though, that my favorite parts of the books were the authors recounting some of their favorite riffs. Many made me laugh all over again and made me want to get online and rewatch old favorite episodes. The target audience for this book is obviously true fans of the show, and for those readers, I'd recommend this one.

As someone who was raised on the newer and original editions of MST3K, I was very excited to have the chance to read a history of the show that has brought me so many laughs over the years. Although the book can feel a bit dry when describing a humorous topic, I appreciate the academic and serious effort that is applied to the analysis. Overall, I thought the authors did an excellent job of providing an entertaining and interesting history of the show and exploring its cultural impact. If you are a fan of the show or simply interested in cultural studies and television, I would highly recommend this book!

★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 300: A CULTURAL HISTORY ABOUT?
This is a retrospective of the show—its history, development (highs and lows), spin-offs, and latest formats. It's also an examination and consideration of the impact the show has made to its viewers and on the industry of entertainment, and the ripple effects it has had on pop culture.

It looks at how MST3K was shaped by the upbringing of its cast and writers—focusing on the tone and style of the hosts—as well as the network (or lack thereof) that brought the show to the audience.

It wraps up with an Appendix listing twenty episodes that best capture the show for new viewers—between the riffs, the movies themselves, and hosting segments—with each host being represented. They truly picked some gems—good for new viewers and established fans to go back and revisit some highlights.

THE WORST WE CAN FIND
"Hey, wait a second, H.C.," I can hear some of you thinking, "you talked about this book last July." Well, no. But I can understand the confusion. That was actually the book, The Worst We Can Find: MST3K, RiffTrax, and the History of Heckling at the Movies by Dale Sherman.

I haven't done this a lot, but every now and then I read a book that is someone taking all/part of their doctoral dissertation and reworking it/part of it for a wider/popular audience. In many ways, that's what this felt like—Foy and Olson's work was the technical/academic book for those of a more scholarly persuasion, and Sherman's was the version for the wider audience. Except that Sherman's was longer, and it usually goes the other way.

This is not a criticism of either book—at all. They both over their respective emphases and quirks. They're both dependent on interviews and articles produced by others; both are written by fans who've dedicated a good deal of time to both the research and production of the book—propelled by a greater deal of time developing an appreciation of MST3K; and both are the kind of things that die-hard fans will sink their teeth into. One's just a bit more highbrow than the other.

DISSECTING SOME FROGS

Analysts have had their go at humor, and I have read some of this interpretative literature, but without being greatly instructed. Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the purely scientific mind.


The idea has been variously ascribed, but it seems that E. B. White and Katharine S. White first put it into print. Whoever said it first, the idea floated through the back of my mind at more than one point while reading this book.

There were repeated explanations of various jokes throughout the book—and not one of them was necessary (if you ask me, anyway). Maybe one or two of them will help younger readers who are not familiar with the pop culture of the 90s or earlier, but I think context alone will take care of the questions a reader will have. And you understand the authors' impulse to explain them and maybe even admire their attempt while rolling your eyes at the outcome.

FLIRTING WITH SEMANTIC SATIATION
The term Intertexuality appears so often in this book, that you can imagine Tom Servo and Crow riffing on it. But it's not like there are a lot of synonyms available, and it's a real focus of the authors and a strong point of the book. Still, the SOL crews would hammer them on it.

The consideration of how MST3K has trained a couple of generations in approaching intertextuality, media consumption, and responses to them is the intellectual core of this book. The show, in all its various incarnations, has shaped both the viewers and other shows, internet content, and general internet discussion in ways that are larger than the show's ratings may suggest. The cultural footprint is oversized given viewership (the tapes did keep circulating, at least metaphorically).

I, for one, had given this very little thought until Fry and Olson pointed it out—along with their discussion of MST3K and its spin-off projects being at the forefront of newer delivery systems for media and programming. Given their humble beginnings, it's really quite remarkable.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOU MYSERY SCIENCE THATER 3000: A CULTURAL HISTORY?
I've read two other books in this series (and keep meaning to read others), Friends and Gilmore Girls, comparing this to those, I'd say it captures the strengths of both and avoids what I recall as the shortcomings of the Friends volume and the spirit of the Gilmore Girls book. If nothing else, the diversity in these three installments demonstrates a strength of the series. You're not going to get cookie-cutter approaches to the various series in consideration. Each author/team of authors is going to approach the show in question differently, reflecting the preferences and focus of the authors.

The only shortcoming I can think of (outside the attempted academic explanations of humor) is the lack of space given to Emily's hosting/riffing style compared to the other hosts. I'm certain that this is a function of how few episodes she has appeared in, but it would've been nice to get a little more about her.

I was entertained by the book—both due to the authors' style and the memories it conjured. I thought about the show and its legacy in ways I hadn't before. I kicked myself for not taking part in the crowdfunding efforts I didn't participate in. I was inspired to watch a couple of episodes I'd somehow missed—and just to make time for the show in general. Mostly this was an exercise in getting to know more about old friends, and seeing them in a different light.

I'm a sucker for anything MST3K related, so you know this worked for me. Do I know if you'll appreciate this book if you're not a fan or a media studies student? I doubt it's for you. But if you're either of those things—you'll get something out of it.

What do you think, sirs?

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Rowman & Littlefield via NetGalley—thanks to both for this.

A charming romp through the early, nearly forgotten days as a midwestern public-access TV show, spanning the entire franchise from Joel to Mike to Patton Oswalt, this book provides fun behind-the-scenes information, but also shows how the culture of snark and irreverence the show fostered has shaped the wider culture. Recommended reading for both the fanatic and the hanger-on.

I love MST3K... and liked this book. There were some fun and kooky facts I never would have learned otherwise but it didn't keep my attention the way I thought it would.

This fascinating and funny work on the history of perhaps the greatest cult-tv show ever. One that shaped comedy forever. We will be ordering this for our library. Great stuff!

A fabulous primer for both long time fans of MST3K and a solid entry point to folks new to the world. It seriously examines the show as not just a cultural project but as an ripple point to how modern entertainment is currently consumed.

Many many years ago I was channel surfing and came across a show where shadows in the corner of the screen were making fun of movies. At first I surfed on by but something made me go back and watch some more and just like that I was hooked on Mystery Science Theater 3000. This book is a comprehensive review of MST3K starting with the very beginning at KTMA in Minneapolis, the various spin-offs, and right up to its most recent failed crowdfunding attempt. I was aware of some but not all of the spin-offs and I found it to be fascinating reading. I also enjoyed the brief snippets of episodes from all the variations of MST3K – some of which I remember well and others I never saw (but hope to some day). There are also mentions of other people/groups who riff on movies, TV shows, even video games. All of this is fascinating and brings back some fond memories (I still get my MST3K fix in one form of the other every so often). The one thing that I struggled with when reading this book is that it was written by two college professors and at times reads more like a thesis than a fun relaxing book.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

This book is about Mystery Science Theater 3000 (heretofore MST3K), the 90's television show that invented modern culture.1 The book is a history of the show's production, up to the failed crowdfunding in '23, a discussion of the show's fiction, and a critical analysis of the show's function: how it does what it does and why it works. This is not the first critical look at MST3K, but it is the most affordable.

The book has problems, but it accomplishes what it intends to do. It is a general, well-rounded history of MST3K, including the new seasons. It creates a taxonomy of the jokes (heretofore riffs) of the program, categorizing them by form and function, and thinking about their meanings and what sort of humor they are. It looks to explain the show's history in relation to the authors' theory of the show's methods, and the ways in which that is distinctive to the show or as part of comedy as a whole.

There are two problems with the book, one major and one minor.

The minor problem is the structure. Blending together the history and the crit produces few insightful juxtapositions and is moderately distracting. It has the result of giving insufficient attention to the recent seasons,2 or distancing the analysis of them in a way that is at least unfair to them and frustrates the authors' thesis of something that we can talk about as a MST3K riff.

The major problem is that I do not think that the authors understand comedy.

I do not mean that the authors are not funny. With a few exceptions in the end notes, they are not making jokes. This is fine.

I do not mean Hodgson's Law. It is valid to question how any given riff works, or how they fit together as a sort of message about the world.

I might mean how the authors use 'problematic' in an idiosyncratic way, even with an invocation to Merriam-Webster.3

Comedy is subjective, and in reviewing a book, I try to skew towards the coherence of the argument rather than my agreement with the argument, but a lot of the interpretations here are weird. The book identifies correct readings to the corpus of riffs, then picks out examples that do not support it.

I think that a book like this needs performers, or at least cultural critics with a focus on comedy. Like when the book discusses the leveling effect of the jokes, there is no discussion of this type of joke elsewhere. Specifically in terms of referential humor the authors assert MST3K as being unique, but do no work with that other material to show the difference.4 And while MST3K was conscientious about the targets of its jokes - woke before it was cool - it is clearly a case of what targets are acceptable, which is different than the authors' even Homer nodded view. And while more conscientious interpolaters are mentioned, some discussion ought to go to the more negative ones.

The appendix is a list of essential episodes. With the amount of detail put on the jokes in the body of the text5 it feels like this is the book that the authors wanted to write. Like if the history was summarized and observations about the jokes mixed with this 'best of,' it would be an insightful guide. Instead it ends up a book trying to do both too many things and not enough.

My thanks to the authors, Christopher J. Olson and Matt Foy, for writing the book, and to the publisher, Rowman & Littlefield, for making the ARC available to me.6

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers for an advanced copy of this look at a show that has brought joy and groans to so many film fans, and one that keeps going on and on, no matter how many times big media gets in its way.

I remember it was a comic book convention and I was looking at a table loaded with anime and movies that had yet to make to VHS, ie bootlegs, and I heard two other customers talking about a show that one of them had seen traveling to role playing convention on that had a bunch of robots making fun of bad movies. The guy explained it was literally these robots sitting in front of a movie while it played, cracking jokes, and was darn near the funniest thing he had seen. I had no idea what this guy was talking about. A show about watching robots, watching a movie. Why? I put it on my mental list of things to look for, but being the pre-Internet days I never did. Until I saw a show on Comedy Central, one of the few that wasn't old HBO specials, that blew my mind. Yes robots making fun of movies. Well puppet robots making fun of movies with a human, drolly making comments. And I was hooked. Mystery Science Theater 3000 was a gateway drug that I needed so desperately, combining my love of bad films, and humor. Mystery Science Theater 3000: A Cultural History by Matt Foy and Christopher J. Olson is a look at the show, the history and the many iterations, told in a more scholarly rather than episode guide.

The book begins with a comedian getting burned out, and coming home. However coming home to Wisconsin didn't mean a death to his creativity. Slowly, based on Joel Hodgson's career as a stand-up along with producer Jim Mallon an idea appeared, and a channel in need of content was happy to put it on TV. The idea was simple. A man is kidnapped, his soul needs to be crushed, so bad movies are shown to do so. The only problem is the man makes robots for friends, and these robots and the man make fun of the films. So instead of breaking, the man thrives, at least for that week. And Mystery Science Theater 3000—or MST3K as many call it was born. Soon Comedy Central, at the time a niche channel, again in need of product would come calling, but getting bigger meant growing pains, as in Joel and others leaving. A move to the SYFY channel would come, along with a movie, and then cancellation. Other projects, books and Internet watch-a-long ideas, until finally a return to streaming, and streaming again.

The book does a very good job of telling the history of the show, and does not get caught up in gossip as many books would. This is again more of a cultural look at the show, more than an episode guide, so there is a lot more outside influences and discussions of things dealing with the show, rather than the show itself. The idea of riffing on movies, making up jokes to fit what is said, unsaid or shown. The book looks at how smart the humor has to be even when the movie is as dumb as can be. That said there are some dry points of the book and a bit of repetition of themes. However these are minor quibbles, what does come across is the love that everyone had and has for the show, coming back and working hard to make us laugh. And in these times we really need to laugh.

Fans of the show will like the history, and probably the analysis of the humor, and how the different hosts treated the subject matter. A good gift for someone who watches, or a good introduction to someone who you want to share the show with.

A perfect history of my one my favorite TV shows. Nothing super groundbreaking or new, but I loved the straightforward history of a show that has a lot of it. I wish it was a little more lively, as the writing can get a bit dry for such a fun topic, but I thought it was still a great entry point for a much needed history.

The low budget show, a beloved cult hit was created in Minneapolis by its first star Joel Hodgson and producer Jim Mallon. It featured a man (briefly a woman) trapped in space by dastardly comic book villains (for various reasons, depending on the season of the show.) He is forced to watch the worst movies of all time and does so alongside robots he created from spare parts lying around his ship, Tom Servo and Crow (there are also Gypsy and Cambot, but they don’t watch the movies.) The trio comment on the movies while they are watching them and are seen in shadow in the lower right hand corner. It’s genius and hysterically funny.

This book is a deep, deep dive into the show and its cultural influence. While it is certainly thorough, and for MST3000’s biggest fans a chance to revisit some of their best riffs, it’s also very dry and academic, sucking some of the life right out of this gloriously fun show. It didn’t have to be this way; one need only look to the wonderful SEINFELDIA by Jennifer Armstrong to understand that one can make a great book from a great show.

Plus, if these guys described Minneapolis as “cow town” one more time…. I think they teach at places like Northern Iowa University, hardly located on upper Broadway. And you couldn’t think of any other way to describe “rural” Minneapolis other than “cow town?”

I love the show (even though I’ve never seen any episodes featuring anyone but Joel and Mike) and I wanted to like this book more than I did.

Pros: One of my favorite memories from church youth choir trips was watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 on the bus, specifically Pod People. (We also watched Manos: The Hands of Fate, but Pod People was always the favorite.) The clever jokes made on MST3K became inside jokes with my friends, and we still reference them 20+ years later. I enjoyed learning about the show and how it has inspired pop culture that followed. It feels like the commentary on MST3k was like live tweeting decades before live tweeting was a thing. I think people who grew up watching MST3K will love revisiting it through this book and, like me, will want to rewatch their favorite episodes. (And will use the appendix list of best episodes to choose others to watch!)

Cons: This really isn't a con but on a personal note, I would have loved to read more about Pod People, just for the nostalgia of it for me. However, I think most MST3k watchers probably feel this way about their favorite episode(s).

Thank you to NetGalley and Rowman & Littlefield Publishers for the opportunity to read this book.

I absolutely love MST3K. So I was disappointed to find that this book is a bit meh. Yes, you learn facts you might not have previously known, but the format in which they are presented made it difficult for me to sustain long periods of attention. I kept going to other books. The synopsis made it seem like there would be more episode analysis, but that’s not the case—that’s shoved to the very end of the book, along with Rifftrax and the renewal of MST3k of Netflix.

I’m giving it a 3 because I have to rate it here on Netgalley, but I won’t rate it anything on Goodreads.

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and Rowman & Littlefield, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thanks to NetGalley and Rowman & Littlefield for the ARC of this title.

I absolutely devoured this book. This knocks it out of the park on every level - I've picked up a few of the other academic-minded books on MST3k and felt left at arm's length as a layman, but the writing here is deeply readable and manages to hit the perfect high-/low-culture blend that's a trademark of the show it's providing cultural context to.

Beyond pulling the myriad how-did-this-show-happen sources into one timeline, this also does some really essential work of putting MST3k in the cultural context of what allowed it to be created and thrive in the wild west of UHF/early cable, and explaining what it's contributed to overall media culture and toolkit. I also love how this contextualizes the show's humor in both the ways it succeeds (the deep Midwestern nature of the show) and fails (in particular, a series of jokes from _The Incredibly Strange Creatures..._ that were in poor taste at the time of airing and have only gotten worse with time).

All in all, this is a concise, thoughtful explanation of why this show won a Peabody Award and created a full paradigm of movie riffing that continues today that's compulsively readable.

As a fan of MST3K, I really enjoyed learning the history of not only the creators, but, of how the show started from it's roots.