Professor Griffin's Midnight Shadow Show was an American horror-host television program created and hosted by Joseph Fotinos as the character Professor Anton Griffin. The program presented horror films and related material in a hosted late-night format.
Premise and format The program featured Fotinos as Professor Anton Griffin, a horror host who introduced and framed horror films and related entertainment. A 2004 profile in The Austin Chronicle reported that the weekly program aired Fridays at midnight on Time Warner Cable Access Channel 16, with a repeat broadcast Sundays at 11 p.m. on Channel 15. Its short comic blackout sketches, featuring Professor Griffin, Usher, and Dan-Dan, traditionally bracketed a public-domain horror film such as Night of the Living Dead.
A 2005 book description for The Midnight Shadow Show: Prof. Griffin also described the show as a Friday-night horror-hosted television program and stated that Professor Griffin had hosted "Hollywood horrors and terrors" for five years.
Cast Contemporary coverage and surviving opening footage identify the following on-air cast members and characters:
Joseph Fotinos as Professor Anton Griffin Kim Shafer as Usher Gilbert Austin as Dan-Dan Forrest J Ackerman as Professor Bruno Lampini
Production Before creating Professor Griffin, Fotinos performed under the name Joseph Anthony with the Austin comedy troupe Monks' Night Out. In a 1997 first-person article for The Austin Chronicle, he described joining the troupe in 1994 and performing weekly at The Velveeta Room.
In a 2001 profile in The Austin Chronicle, Belinda Acosta described Fotinos as a local actor whose Professor Griffin character had appeared as Goodwill Industries' official Halloween Costume Spokesperson and as host of Halloween movie specials on KVC 13 and Fox 7. At the time, Fotinos was developing The Midnight Shadow Show as a year-round, locally produced horror-movie television program. The article stated that the show was produced with Shane Scott by Franklin/Nasty Cat Productions and featured Professor Griffin as host, along with a "creature-of-the-night sidekick".
By October 2003, the program was airing in both Austin and Houston. Fotinos said that he had developed Professor Griffin by combining his interests in acting and horror films after growing up in Houston watching Harold Gunn's Boo Theater. The Austin broadcast aired Fridays at 11 p.m. on Time Warner Cable Access Channel 16 and expanded to a four-hour Halloween marathon. The Austin Chronicle described the show's production values as unusually strong for cable-access television and identified Dan-Dan and Usher as recurring assistants.
In November 2004, Fotinos said that the program had been on the air for four years, while The Austin Chronicle identified Scott as its producer and director. A 2020 CBS Austin retrospective likewise reported that Professor Griffin's Midnight Shadow Show aired as a weekly series on Austin Access from 2000 to 2006 and presented full-length horror films. Before the weekly program, Fotinos appeared as Professor Griffin in brief movie-hosting segments on Austin's Fox 7 and CW affiliates. During the show's run, the character also returned for annual Halloween broadcasts on local television stations.
By 2004, Fotinos and Scott were seeking national exposure for the program while two proposed cable networks, the Scream Channel and the Horror Channel, were recruiting horror hosts for their programming. Scott said that the production team intended to continue developing the program whether or not either network selected it.
During the program's run, its characters also appeared at Austin horror-film events. In August 2003, Professor Griffin conducted a trivia contest at Camp Hacknslash, an Alamo Drafthouse and Ain't It Cool News event connected with the premiere of Freddy vs. Jason, while Usher performed a fire dance. In September 2004, Professor Griffin served as emcee for a three-night festival of insect-themed horror films at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, where the programs included trivia contests and live theatrical effects. The Austin Chronicle also reported appearances connected with a presentation of The Raven for Ain't It Cool News and the Alamo Drafthouse's Saturday Morning Film Club, and with the Austin premiere of Van Helsing, which led to a promotional arrangement involving Universal Pictures horror-film releases.
Publication In 2005, Fotinos published The Midnight Shadow Show: Prof. Griffin, a 273-page book through PublishAmerica. The book was described as a collection of essays, poems, short writings, and film reviews by Fotinos and his Professor Griffin persona on horror entertainment.
Legacy CBS Austin reported that Professor Griffin expanded into the national market as the horror host for Fangoria TV from 2005 to 2007. In January 2008, Professor Griffin appeared at Fangoria's first Weekend of Horrors convention in Austin. In a contemporaneous post on Ain't It Cool News, he announced that he would host horror-trivia events and moderate question-and-answer sessions with Donnie Dunagan, Gary Kent, and members of the cast and crew of Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood.
In 2019, Fotinos was inducted into the Horror Host Hall of Fame for his portrayal of Professor Griffin in Professor Griffin's Midnight Shadow Show. The 2019 induction ceremony was held on March 16 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In October 2020, CBS Austin announced the character's return in a half-hour special titled Professor Griffin's Midnight Theatre, scheduled to air at 12:35 a.m. on October 31. The special reunited the Professor Griffin, Usher, and Dan-Dan characters, played by Joseph Fotinos, Kim Standley, and James Fotinos, respectively. Produced and directed by J. Budro Partida and filmed at Griffin Manor in Austin, it focused on George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead and combined film clips, production information, trivia, and comedy.
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