Bozeman's Simplex

"Bozeman's Simplex" Scenes form David Lynch's, On the Air, 1992

My favorite cultural reference I can never use is the Bozeman's Simplex running gag from David Lynch's short-lived 1992 anti-sitcom On The Air .

Narrator: Blinky Watts is not blind. He suffers from Bozeman's simplex. He actually sees 25.62 times as much as we do. If we were to see what Blinky is seeing right now, it would look something like this:

and then they show Santa Claus and puppies and ballerinas superimposed on the scene.

Bozeman's Simplex would be an extremely handy reference when talking about those who see more than the rest of us see, but almost nobody remembers On the Air. Too bad, for it made fine post-Laverne & Shirley use of Squiggy and, as sitcoms go, was as artfully unfunny as we were gonna get in 1992.

The only way to be more egregious in my cultural posturing would be to make Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman references, a show even I never watched but my parents did. I remember her getting out of the cabinet under the sink a lot but that's about it. And this:


Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

Classic TV is awesome! I wouldn't've been sure that I hadn't made up No Soap, Radio were it not for the IMDB entry.

This trip down obscure media lane was brought to you by HTMLGIANT, and their posting of David Lynch's The Alphabet.


David Lynch, The Alphabet (1968)