Director Cameron C. Smith elaborates. "There is a lot out there that people are interested in that the media chooses to ignore. We shed light on the endless depths that are not being seen. We provide programming to make people think."

Guttervision's segments include art, music, film, performance art, animation, short films, poetry/spoken word, uncensored expression and anything else that catches the eye of the men behind the show. "Anything creative goes. Usually our segments have an edge, make a statement. Even if we don't agree with what the artist is saying if we feel they have a valid point- it airs."

Past Guttervision shows have featured interviews with subjects as varied as super-sadomasochistic performance artist Bob Flanigan (who has been known to nail his penis to a board) and artist Liz Young (recently featured at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Flanigan, who is suffering from cystic fibrosis, discussed his efforts to keep pursuing his art in spite of the disease. Young, confined to a wheelchair, discussed her work in such traditionally masculine media as iron, wood, and steel.

As Smith explains the structure of Guttervision is simple. "We like to keep the show well rounded and mix it up. Two music segments, two animation, whatever flows. We don't do themes per se. Sometimes the world has a 'buzz' about something and we mirror that. Regular television just plods along in its blinded tunnel, oblivious."

Music videos by such artists as Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction, deemed unacceptable by MTV, find their place here. "The M stands for merchandising misguided, mundane,

monotonous, and musical c'naiieng " laughs Czaika.) Local bands, like Life of Agony, El Magnifico and My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult, are also featured.

"We take music from almost every category," says Smith. "The only requirement is that it has to be amazing visually, something that I've never seen before. MTV, VH 1, The Box, they're all redundant. If they won't play it, if it doesn't meet their standards or might upset someone, we want it."

Other music-related segments included an interview with Artie Cornfeld, one of the promoters of the original Woodstock. The segment pointed out the money-making machine that has resulted from what was supposed to be an event celebrating noncommercial values. While roadies are doing college tours, Cornfeld is living in obscurity- having lost money on the concert, he receives no proceeds from the movie or any merchandise.

Art segments on Guttervision include painting, photography, graphic arts, sculpture, performance art, illustration, tattooing, and more. Shows have featured controversial performance artist Ron Athey (who was banned by the NEA)@Z the Quay brothers from Czechoslovakia, and on-the-rise photographer/video director Dean Karr. Poetry and spoken word segments range from a 70-year-old toothless man to a naked woman in her twenties (covered by a superimposed image with strategically-placed tape) doing a piece on censorship.

As Czajka says, "The artists we profile are really expressive people. They can't be pigeonholed into one category. What we try to do is capture the first spark of creativity, before it becomes a flame and everyone sees it. Most people we interview are on the verge of greatness. They have that spark inside ready to explode."

"In the art world:' adds Smith, "big artists go to the smaller shows and adapt that unique style into their own work, then commercial artists adapt that, mass media picks it up and further adapts it. When it's all said and done, there's only a hint of the original artist's concept left he's working at Burger King. We're trying to change that.

Czajka and Smith don't worry about who they offend in their quest to expose injustice. An upcoming show focuses on the concept of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" video. As outlined shot-by-shot by the producers the from original artwork by Joel brothers. "We're planning to g says Czaika.

Rounding out the show hilarious that are as as they are offensive: like Sick And Twisted's "Bulimiator" take-off of The Terminator, and short films is actually taken the Quay of the tape," like Jeff Valencia's Hugli "On Breasts and Politics" which compares breast size during Republican and Democratic tenures. (Republicans are bigger.) Another segment simply outlines the "12 Rules of Being a Serial Killer/Politician Without Being Caught" such as "Don't Tell Anybody," "Wear Gloves," and "Don't Tell-Anyone You're Mad at the Target." And who can forget Mr. Methane, Englishman who specializes in extinguishing candles through the forceful passing of gas you figure it out.

"Guttervision is not 'our' show," explains Smith. "All we do is funnel the world into the TV If you don't like the show, take a look around.

"This show isn't just for shock value," adds Czajka. "If someone says that, they just don't get it. The show may be really raw, but that's reality." In the year and half since Guttervision began, word of the show has spread among the underground like wildfire. The show is 'syndicated,' for lack of a better word, in eight states (New York, New Jersey, California, Washington, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and Texas) with more in the works. The program has met opposition in some parts of the country. Guttervision was banned by Jersey City Cable because of what it considered "obscene content," but Manhattan Neighborhood Network awarded the show a weekly public-access t bringing to mind the old adage, "I don't know what pornography is, but I know it when I see it."

Czajka and Smith are unfazed by these developments. As Czajka puts it, "We push a lot of buttons. We push a lot further than people are used to. We don't filter it and edit it to make it palatable. Even if people don't like the show, they'll think about it, Even 'if they're looking at it in a bad light, they're thinking, and that's good."

"You can't censor reality,' I asserts Smith, "and we're real, not watered-down crap they try to pass off as cutting-edge. Some of what we focus on makes people uncomfortable, but we think these things should be brought into the light. When you turn the light on, you real there's not a monster in the closet. Things scary in the light."

Czaika believes that more and more mainstream entertainment companies are looking to public access television for ideas. "Public access is a mecca for people who are very creative but have no money. After all, it's easy to make a show with $100,000, but try making a good show with $100. That requires creativity."

"We didn't even have a camera when we first started doing the show," interjects Smith. "We actually sent a copy of our first show to Canon, who lent us a camera to continue shooting episodes. We've always had a tiny shoestring budget."

Despite the lack of mega-funding, the makers of Guttervision have some definite plans for the future of the show, "I envision the show on a bigger scale, not just in Los Angeles, but international, what's going on in Japan, Germany," says Smith. "We want to feature what's new and exciting, and not just prime the audience for commercial "fluff."

"We don't ever want to be stagnant," adds Czajka. "We're not afraid of change. After all, the world is constantly changing. MTVs problem is that it's not following the world, it's going in the wrong direction."

Ask Czajka to describe Guttervision and he replies, "It's a riddle, wrapped up in a mystery, inside an amoeba."

Producer Frank Czajka on Guttervision, -"it's a riddle, wrapped up in a mystery, inside an amoeba."