For decades now, film critic Joe Bob Briggs—a.k.a. the gleefully smart-about-being-dumb redneck persona of movie writer and author John Bloom—has extolled the virtues of crap cinema, whether by keeping meticulous indices of a particular B-movie’s nudity count in his long-running newspaper reviews, or introducing fans to stuff like Red Dawn, Phantasm 2, and The Legend Of Boggy Creek on fondly remembered late-night movie shows like MonsterVision or Joe Bob’s Drive-In.
Anybody who’s been missing Mr. Briggs’ slightly cranky, ever-glib, and always-informed energy from their lives is in luck, though: Shudder has just set a premiere date for his new series, The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs, meaning that, starting March 29, you’ve got a nine-week Friday night engagement with a tallboy and a guaranteed minimum of indoor bullcrap.
The series pick-up comes on the heels of last year’s 24-hour marathons of Briggs and some of his favorite flicks, the first of which was popular enough to crash the streaming horror service’s servers when it initially debuted. Bloom is an institution in the world of schlock film, and for good reason: 30-plus years into the Joe Bob schtick, he’s still capable of whipping out commentary that’s equal parts funny, informed, and affectionate, and it’s a legit thrill to have him back, kicking ass, as a regular part of our movie-going lives.