Rumble Falls is the kind of sleepy mining town where the neon flickers, the saxophone never sleeps, and somebody is always “accidentally” falling into a shaft. Into this glitter-dusted grit strolls a most 80s power-couple: Tycho Brahe—yes, the 16th-century Danish astronomer with the polished brass nose—reborn by unexplained TV science and forever quoting the heavens, and Mrs. Longfellow—cocktail-wielding socialite, magazine maven, and problem-solver who can spot a murder motive faster than she can finish a bourbon. Think Hart to Hart chemistry, Simon & Simon stakeouts, and Murder, She Wrote coincidence—all poured over crushed ice and served with a cheeky umbrella.

The unaired two-hour pilot drops our lovers into “A Case of Miss Dynamite,” where a pageant queen goes boom, a mayor sweats rosewater, and a foreman insists a lit stick of dynamite is a “romance candle.” Crane shots you can practically hear, freeze-frame laughs you can definitely feel, and a theme song that says “lighthearted crime show” before the first commercial bumper. Tycho charts trajectories and blood spatter like star maps; Mrs. Longfellow reads people like a society page. The clues point left-handed, the alibis go right out the window, and every time Tycho’s about to solve it, she solves him instead. Do they crack the case? Eventually. Do they sizzle? Constantly. (Cue the rim-lit promo still, police tape just out of focus, and a jet that keeps “turning around” for one more kiss.)

In true 80s fashion, the town’s brass can’t stand them, the townsfolk adore them, and the captions were supposed to explain everything… not that anyone read those during the key change. The result is a gloriously anachronistic, neon-noir valentine to prime-time sleuthing: part telescope, part tumbler, all chemistry.

Credits (1985 pilot)

• Written & Directed by Tom Konkle
• Produced by Tom Konkle and Kurtis Bedford (Mindstream Audio)
• Stephanie Dulli … Mrs. Longfellow
• Tom Konkle … Tycho Brahe
• Jude Gerard Prest … Mayor Gribbons
• Kurtis Bedford … Lt. Hassellhoff
• Jill Maglione … Darla / Barmaid
• David Beeler … Foreman Steve
• Andy Hartson-Bowyer … Narrator

(Never aired. Cult status inevitable.)

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Comedy - Faux-cumentary Podcast episode from Radio that explores the baffling, invisible world of certain radio genres. Through interviews with delusional producers, haunted technicians, and emotionally unstable tap soloists, this satirical audio documentary uncovers the lost legacy of those who danced for the ears… and sometimes against common sense. The Radio Dance Teams is a tribute to the forgotten, the footlighted, and the deeply confused. Written, Edited, and Directed by Tom Konkle

Cast (in alphabetical order):

• Kurtis Bedford as Clarence Klomper / Bobby “Big Breath” Mulligan / Big Tony Radio Announcer 3
• David Beeler as Foxtrot Radio Announcer 2 / Neville Spon
• Jude Gerard Prest as Big Tony Two Feet / Radio Critic
• Tom Konkle as Cecil Periwinkle / Various Radio Announcers / Ventriloquist and Dummy / Disenchanted Dancer
• Les Marsden as Trev Coddlington
• Jill Manglione as Doris Mabel “Mabby” Smoot-Haversham / Midge / Mabel Dobbins / Chesty
• Pete Lutz as Intro Announcer / Edgar
• Zander Schaus as Skip McDaniel
• Stephanie Stearns Dulli as Glenda / Dorothy “Dotty” Sweeney / Myrtle Finkelbaum
• Gino C. Vianelli as Lorne Cagney / Sid Gersback

Music, sound sound effects editing and post sound by Tom Konkle

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Comedy Sketch - A man enters the Economy Bookstore to complain about a book he just purchased. Written by Tom Konkle. Performed by David Beeler as the shopkeeper and Tom Konkle as the customer

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