Action Pack (television)

Action Pack
Type Syndicated television programming block
Country  United States
Owner MCA (1994-1996)
Universal Studios (1996-1998)
Studios USA (1998-2001)
Launch date
 1994
Dissolved 2001

Action Pack was a series of television movies and television series created by Universal Television that aired in syndication from 1994 until 2001. The Action Pack included two hours of various television series produced by Renaissance Pictures and distributed by MCA TV (later known as Universal Television Enterprises and Studios USA Television Distribution).

Series history

Following an abortive one-season attempt by Universal Television to offer a three-series Hollywood Premiere Network[1] in 1990-91, in 1994, the Action Pack initially ran a series of television movies, which led to the run of several television shows the following year.[2] [3] From January-June 1995, the series included Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Vanishing Son.[4] From September 1995 through January 2000, it included the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and its spinoff, Xena: Warrior Princess.[3][5] After Hercules ended its run in January 2000, the Universal Action Pack launched the Back2Back Action Hour and picked up two thirty-minute series: Jack of All Trades and Cleopatra 2525 to air alongside Xena.[6] The lineup lasted until January 2001. For the final six months of the package, Jack of All Trades was dropped and Cleopatra 2525 was increased to an hour long show.

After Xena, the most successful series on the Action Pack, completed airing its final season's reruns in the summer of 2001, Cleopatra 2525 also stopped production and the Action Pack series was discontinued.

Many of the stations that aired the Action Pack also aired Warner Bros.' Prime Time Entertainment Network. Some of the other stations that aired the Action Pack also aired Paramount's Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (and The Next Generation before it).

Television movies

The television movies aired during the Action Pack's first year included:

Hercules series:

TekWar (Based on the books by William Shatner):

Midnight Run films (Spin-offs of the 1988 Robert De Niro film):

Bandit films (Based on the Smokey and the Bandit films):

Vanishing Son films:

Starting as a series of four made for television movies in 1994, the series debuted on January 16, 1995. Vanishing Son I, Vanishing Son II, Vanishing Son III, and Vanishing Son IV, were aired on February 28, July 18, July 25, and October 10, 1994, respectively. The series was ground-breaking for the casting of an Asian male in an attractive leading-man role.

An additional movie was a part of the initial lineup and was even shown in an early version of the block's introduction sequence, titled Fastlane; it was set to be directed by John Landis and would concern two friends finding a spaceship/car hybrid vehicle. However, for unknown reasons the project never actually made it to air and was instead replaced by Knight Rider 2010 in the lineup; the "shell" prop for the spaceship/car (which was designed to fit over a Pontiac Fiero) was auctioned off in 2007.

Theme song

The theme song is used in the Action Pack opening sequence, sponsorships, as well as the full version of the theme used in promos for the TV movies. The theme was composed by Velton Ray Bunch.

References

  1. ↑ Hollywood Premiere Network was an early attempt by Universal Television to create an ad hoc syndication network. The series (and the subsequent Action Pack) aired on many of the stations that would later become either UPN or WB affiliates. She-Wolf of London premiered along with two other shows, Shades of L.A. and They Came from Outer Space on October 9, 1990
  2. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1994-01-16/entertainment/ca-12369_1_prime-time-programming/2
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mysteries Surrounding the Creation of the Syndicated Television Show XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS Whoosh Online Edition. Issue Three. November 1996.
  4. ↑ IMDB Vanshing Son Plot Summary
  5. ↑ Bevis King's Xena: Warrior Princess website
  6. ↑ After Hercules, Rob Tapert takes on Cleopatra By Patrick Lee. SciFi.com. January 24, 2000.
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