rant · moment 8 of 31
Weeki Wachee Mermaids, Sea Hunt, and Florida's Lost TV Golden Age
from Episode 149 - Ron Bennington (Live from Moontower) · #149
3 min
Ron describes his mother's job as a real Weeki Wachee mermaid entertaining truckers, then discusses classic Florida-filmed shows like Sea Hunt, Flipper, and Gentle Ben, lamenting Florida's decline into bath-salts headlines.
- Sea Hunt, a 1960s show starring Lloyd Bridges, filmed at Weeki Wachee—about a scuba diver who solves underwater crimes.
- Tim describes Sea Hunt's premise: every week someone would cut the protagonist's air hose.
- Tarzan movies were also filmed at Weeki Wachee, and when the movie companies left, they let the monkeys loose.
- Sea Hunt was an oddly canceled mid-episode show that represents the golden age Trump wants to recapture.
- Flipper, another Florida show, was a dolphin that solved crimes.
- Gentle Ben featured a bear solving crimes in the Everglades, with Ronnie Howard's little brother as the star.
- Every episode of Gentle Ben ended the same way: the bear would rear up on somebody and they'd fall backwards.
- Florida brought a lot of art to the country but hasn't produced any new TV shows in a while.
- Bath salts ruined Florida's cultural output, replacing quality programming with 'Florida man' headlines.
- Florida headlines always involve bizarre visual scenarios like a woman choking a pitbull.
Sea HuntFlipperGentle BenFloridaDonald TrumpLloyd BridgesWeeki WacheeRon Howard