The show featured bands who were largely coming out of the local underground and avant garde scenes. The music was largely New Wave and Punk. Some of the bands featured proved to be legendary acts within their genre who still have many fans worldwide to this day. These included Black Flag, X, The Dead Kennedys, The Circle Jerks and Fear. Other bands featured made a relatively small impact in the greater scheme of music history, but in many cases still made really great music. A band called Heroic Struggles did a particularly memorable performance on the show in which the lead singer also played the oboe.
In some ways, New Wave Theatre was shot like any network show that featured musical performance. The bands performed on a stage, and were filmed from multiple camera angles. However, the New Wave Theatre featured a very creative video style that set it apart from other shows. The footage of the bands playing was often intercut with archival footage. Sometimes this footage pertained to the song, but sometimes it did not, creating a bizarre atmosphere. Many videos were run through analog effects processors as they were being shot, resulting in abnormal shapes and colors.
One essential element to the show was its host, Peter Ivers. Ivers was a charismatic character whose sense of humor worked well with the content of the broadcasts. Ivers, who was a Harvard graduate, was also a musician. One of his most famous compositions was the song "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)," which was featured in the David Lynch cult classic film "Eraserhead." Still, he is probably best known for hosting New Wave Theatre, a role he played for the entire run of the show. Ivers' life ended under tragic and mysterious circumstances. In 1983, his body was discovered in his Los Angeles apartment. He had been bludgeoned to death. To this day, it is unclear why he was killed.
Although the show hasn't aired in nearly 30 years, several ways to watch episodes of the show and featured performances exist. In 1991 Rhino released a compilation tape with highlights from the show called "The Best of New Wave Theatre." It is available on both DVD and VHS. In addition, many performances from New Wave Theatre are available for viewing on YouTube. Although there may never be anything quite like New Wave Theatre on television again, it lives on through the Internet, which allows latter-day underground musicians an outlet for distribution and performance similar to that provided by public-access TV.