KTLA-TV - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

• KTLA gained a bit of notoriety among fans of the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 on November 30, 1991 with the airing of their mockery of the movie War of the Colossal Beast. In the movie, there are scenes of a KTLA news anchor predicting where the title character Glen Manning will end up next. That anchor is the real KTLA reporter Stan Chambers. The anchor ends up pronouncing the station's call letters as "KIT-lah". In a skit segment later in the show, Joel Robinson, portrayed by Joel Hodgson, mocks the anchor's "KTLA Predicts" style of newsreading and parodies The Amazing Criswell. The phrase "KTLA Predicts" became a catchphrase among fans of the show.
• During the 1950s, while Paramount owned the station, that company was also producing Popeye cartoons. In one cartoon, "Punch and Judo" (1951), Popeye's nephews turn on their television to "chanel number 5" (not the perfume, but channel 5 – KTLA).
• KTLA has also been featured in other media (usually with its newscasts). Hal Fishman was featured reporting for Channel 5 News at Ten in the movie Malibu's Most Wanted. In one scene in the 2002 movie Showtime, the KTLA SkyCam 5 (later renamed the KTLA HD Telecopter, now renamed to Sky 5 HD) was seen among a group of helicopters surrounding the Bonaventure Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.
• A fictionalized version of KTLA is seen on occasion on the Nickelodeon TV show Big Time Rush. It is identified as KULA and is seen on channel 6 instead of 5.
• Another fictionalized version of KTLA is seen in the movie Blue Thunder. It is identified as KBLA and is seen on channel 8 not 5.
• In the film Friends with Benefits, Dylan (Justin Timberlake), and Jamie (Mila Kunis) appear in a news story seen on KTLA.