Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries - Salute Your Shorts: Cast Photo

Salute Your Shorts aired from July 1991 until June 1992 on Nickelodeon.

Shades of Camp Runamuck. This slapstick comedy was set at Camp Annawanna, a summer camp for kids where seven lively teens enjoyed schemes and pratfalls at the expense of their extraordinarily dopey counselor, "Ug" (Kirk Baily). Long-haired Bobby ( Danny Cooksey) was the number one schemer , abeted by athletic Michael ( Ian Giotti), chubby Donkey Lips (Michael Bower), and brainy little kid Sponge (Tim Eyster). Ronald ( Blake Soper) joined the cast in 1992 replacing Michael. Counter-plotting were the girls, sensible Telly ( Venus De Milo)Dina the princess (Heida Lucas), and Z.Z. the dreamer (Megan Berwick). Dr. Kahn was the unseen camp owner, heard only over the PA system. A real skinflint, his main interest was to cut costs. The series was filmed primarily at Griffith Park Boy's Camp.

A Review from The New York Times

Reviews/Television; Summer Camp Humor In 'Salute Your Shorts'

By JOHN J. O'CONNOR
Published: July 4, 1991

It's time for summer camp. The youngsters and counselors are circling one another warily. Social hierarchies are being established, with wheeler-dealers at the top and hapless victims at the bottom. Elaborate pranks are being devised. The campers are ready for anything. Most parents are simply relieved.

The familiar rituals have hardly been overlooked by producers of programming for young audiences. NBC's "Camp Candy" has long been a staple of Saturday-morning cartoons. Now Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, one of the three cable channels operated by MTV Networks, is offering "Salute Your Shorts," a live-action series set in the fictional setting of Camp Anawanna (say it fast and it comes out "I don't wanna"). The show is being given a sneak preview today, at 9 A.M. and 5 P.M. on Nickleodeon, and at 8 P.M. on Nick at Nite. It begins its regular run -- Saturdays at 5:30 P.M., Sundays at 11:30 A.M. -- this weekend.

Actually, the preview turns out to be an episode plucked from the middle of the series. Viewers partial to coherence would do well to tape the preview and then watch this weekend's episode first. If nothing else, it explains what the show's title is all about as Michael (Eric MacArthur) arrives at camp only to run into the bullying tactics of Bobby Budnick and Donkey Lips (Michael Bower). In no time at all, Michael's bag is opened and his underwear is being run up the flagpole. What should he do? Go home? "I suggest," says Budnick, "you stand at attention and salute your shorts." Welcome to summer camp.

Created by Steve Slavkin, "Salute Your Shorts" is inspired by a book of the same name written by Mr. Slavkin and Tom Hill. Nickelodeon is producing the series in association with Propaganda Films, co-producers of "Beverly Hills 90210" and two David Lynch projects: the television series "Twin Peaks" and the film "Wild at Heart." The credits alone indicate, accurately, that "Salute Your Shorts" will settle with nothing less than being offbeat.

The cast of characters includes a stereotype to cover just about all bases. There's the gawky, not overly bright counselor (Kirk Bailey) called Ug. The character's name is actually Kevin Lee, which quickly got transformed into Ugh Lee, then into the handier Ug. Sponge (Tim Eyster) is the brainy camper, his wits compensating for his slight frame. There seem to be more boys than girls at this camp, but the girls are generally smarter, or at least hipper, when it comes to knowing the real name of the singer George Michael or what precisely Johnny Depp's tattoo says. The female contingent is headed by Dina (Heidi Lucas) and ZZ (Megan Berwick).

Today's preview gets Sponge involved in a radio quiz that could have a payoff of $1,000, which prompts just about everyone else to demand a piece of the action. Only Dina retains some perspective, refusing to get terribly excited. "For a million I'd run," she explains, "for a thousand I'll just walk a little faster." In the weekend episode, Budnick and Donkey Lips force Michael and Sponge into initiation rites that include a raid on the girls' cabins.

Some things never change, evidently. The humor is traditional adolescent, with a pronounced fixation of the grosser bodily functions. Camp can be fun. It can also be a torment. "Salute Your Shorts" captures just about all of the experience with verve and goofy affection.

For the Danny Cooksey Shrine go to http://www.chaoticworks.com/cooksey/

For an interview with Michael Bower go to http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1718495

For a Website dedicated to Heidi Lucas go to http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/8570/

For another Heidi Lucas Website go to http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/3324/

For more on Salute Your Shorts go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salute_Your_Shorts