The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

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Post-50th Anniversary Viewing

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Ironside
"Five Days in the Death of Sgt. Brown: Part I"
Originally aired September 14, 1972
Season 6 premiere

The opening is altered to give Marshall and Hartman "starring in" spots after Burr and before the series title. Ed's traveled all the way to a marina in L.A. to bust Frank Harmon (Norman Alden) for buying narcotics...and he's so lonely for company that he's brought voiceover narration with him. After the exchange, Harmon is nabbed by local backup, but the seller dives into the drink, getting away but leaving the money floating in his wake. While Ed is testifying in court, a party in the gallery identified as Harmon's stooge, Al Bundy (Scott Walker, not Ed O'Neill), has to be dragged out for an outburst in which he threatens Brown.

There's a Day One card after the credits, as the defense attorney, Phil MacIver (Ed Flanders), calls for a recess and Team Ironside, all in town for the trial, are conspicuously introduced to his wife, Polly (Kathryn Kelly Wiget). TI are kvetching and discussing the facts while enjoying the terrace of their third-floor hotel room when a sniper takes shots from a facing room. The Chief has PTSD flashes of what I presume is the unseen pilot (Why isn't that in the syndicated series?), and in the aftermath, Ed is found to have not only been hit, but to have fallen from the balcony to the lawn below, limbs flailed awkwardly like a rag doll. While Ed's in emergency surgery at the Craig Institute, there's an uncharacteristically tender moment in which the Chief accepts an apology from a Fran for hysterically snapping at him. Dr. Craig, an old acquaintance of Ironside's, takes Bob into his office to tell him that there's been spinal injury.

Day Two: While Ed is laid up in what's apparently called a circle electric bed being overseen by future GMA host Dr. Hunter...

...a cavalier male nurse, Maurice Goodson (Lincoln Kilpatrick), reports to his friend the drug seller, Richard Wells (Russell Wiggins), about Brown's condition, with an unpleasant-looking third party present (Mark M. Giardino). The Chief has police protection brought to the hospital, led by the bow-tied Lt. Ben Rauch (Stephen Young), which is so tight that even Craig is carded. (From the way Fran introduces Mark after showing her badge, he doesn't seem to be on the force yet.) The Chief questions the incarcerated Harmon, who's unsympathetic but doesn't seem to be in the know. Ironside also takes it upon himself to break the news to Ed that his back is broken.

Goodson gets Wells in as a new nurse, so that they can more easily scope out Brown's situation. When Ed manages to wiggle his toes, David reports to Bob that he has a chance for full recovery. After a flashback to Ironside's own surgeon (uncredited David Sheiner) informing him that he'll never walk again, the Chief--having done some homework--demands that Dr. William Ritter (Vic Morrow) be brought in on Ed's case...though Craig is reluctant to let Ritter try the experimental neural repair technique that he hasn't even written up on a live patient. Meanwhile, Wells takes an interest in Ritter's daughter, Jan (Christina Hart), who limps in a leg brace and works at a hospital reception desk.

Day Three: Back at the hotel, Mark has a more immediate traumatic flashback...because they're still in the same suite! He proceeds to blame himself because he was the one on the terrace, closest to Ed, and wasn't watching him. He then gets a call from Rauch inviting him to come along as they tail and, after a high-speed chase, ultimately bust Bundy...who turns out to have an alibi for the time of Ed's shooting. (Ah, I sense an origin beat in Mark joining the force.) At the hospital, Ritter demonstrates spotty bedside manner as he examines Ed, whose legs are unreceptive to stimuli, and determines that the paralysis is progressing up the spine. Ritter argues that he has to operate using his technique, but Ed catches wind and refuses to consent, attempting to use Ironside as an example of learning to deal with his impending condition. The Chief enlightens him with a stern talking-to...

Ironside: Well...let me tell you something. I don't live with it, I die with it every day and every way. Right now if someone offered me one chance in ten million, my life or my legs, I'd grab it! I couldn't live if I didn't do that. If you don't, you're a fool. I don't have time to waste on fools.​

Ed admits that he's scared, as failure of Ritter's surgery will leave him out of options.

Ironside: My case was always hopeless. Yours isn't....You can't just lie there and not let them try.​

Wells brings his accomplice in as another nurse to make their move, trying to pick up Ed ostensibly for an X-ray...but Fran notices the accomplice's non-regulation shoes. In an ensuing foot chase with Mark, Fran, and uniformed CLE through the hospital corridors, Wells slips away while the accomplice bursts through an emergency exit and tumbles over a railing, sending him on a plunge to the pavement from a less survivable height. He's identified afterward as Vernon Duff and found to have been carrying a butterfly knife. Wells proceeds to his Plan B, which involves picking up Jan at her favorite club.

The episode ends with Ironside examining the knife and asserting to Mark that they have to find out who's been after Ed because he's going to try again.

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART II

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The Bold Ones: The New Doctors
(syndicated as Ironside)
"Five Days in the Death of Sgt. Brown: Part II"
Originally aired September 19, 1972
Season 4 premiere

The opening credits of this part use a different version of the Ironside theme...possibly an edited version of the Quincy Jones rerecording (which I've read was used as the main theme for the later seasons...something that was possibly otherwise changed for syndication). The recap conveniently includes the day count and some of Ed's narration; and the inclusion of Polly MacIver's intro makes that bit of business even more conspicuous. We catch up to where Day Three left off with Ricky Wells claiming to have a back injury from 'Nam while striking up his conversation with Jan Ritter. At the Craig Center, Dr. Craig is surprised that Ironside's arranged to bed at the hospital the night before Ed's surgery, in case anyone makes another attempt.

Day Four: Bob shares with David his suspicion that the would-be killers disguised as nurses had inside help, which brings his and Mark's attention back to Maurice Goodson, who had an alibi for his outfits having been stolen. Goodson, pretending to be really enthusiastic about Dr. Ritter's experimental technique, arranges with a nurse named Lou (Janice Carroll) to be in the operating room for the procedure. Ritter's concerned when he can't reach Jan, indicating that she's been out all night. Fran gets upset to tears while trying to wish Ed luck and gives him a full-on mouth kiss, which Dr. Paul Hunter witnesses with bemusement. Polly MacIver also visits Ed, bringing him flowers while apologizing for her husband's role in defending the people responsible his condition. The Chief visits Ed after he's been given a sedative and is in the process of passing out while trying to remember something important. While Ironside has a reprisal of the origin flashback of his doctor informing him of his leg paralysis, Ed has an exaggerated dream of Part I's events, including being shot by Frank Harmon at the marina, Polly giving him flowers in court, and us actually seeing him falling from the terrace. (Unless surgical anesthetic has changed a lot in fifty years, that's not at all how it works. You're out before you know it and wake up with no sense of the passage of time.)

The operation proceeds, with Dr. Craig observing and Harmon administering the polypeptides...a word that had caught Ed's interest. Goodson slips out for a potty break, following which Wells makes a ransom call to Craig, demanding that Ritter appear on the terrace (which he's watching via telescope from a distant but facing apartment) in ten minutes. Wells gets notably upset as the time passes without an appearance, but Craig eventually interrupts Ritter to tell him about Jan, then indicates there's a way for him to make an appearance with stopping the delicate procedure. A figure appears on the terrace whom Wells is certain from a photo is Ritter, and thus Ed Brown will soon be dead.

It is Ritter, but with the help of a mic and monitor that Wells can't see, the doctor is guiding Craig through the procedure. After a while, Wells starts to notice how Ritter keeps turning away from the window and gets him on the phone, demanding that he stand still and face the window...but eventually gets nervous about the call being traced and hangs up. Ritter continues to guide the procedure, while the Chief and Mark use binoculars to try to spot where the doctor is being watched from. The investigation continuing outside that room, prints identify one of the fake nurses as Richard Wells, formerly an Army paramedic; and it turns out that Goodson was seen near files for Ed that temporarily went missing shortly after...causing the Chief to deduce that he was also a paramedic.

It's found that Goodson lives in a place within line of sight of the terrace. Lt. Rauch and Mark drive up to it stealthily and Fran distracts Wells by replacing Ritter at the window and doing exercises, so that the duo can bust in, extract Jan, and nab her abductor. Ritter is relieved at being informed, and Ironside uses the mic to notify the surgical staff of the viper in their midst. Goodson tries to escape, but is grabbed by Dr. Hunter.

Phil MacIver and the District Attorney (Herb Robins) are brought into Ed's recovery room so that Sgt. Brown, now regaining mobility, shares what he realized as he was going under, his memory having been spurred by Polly's visit and the mention of polypeptides. The name of a yacht he'd seen at the marina that he's deduced was Wells's ride, which was leaving as Wells jumped into the water, was Pretty Polly M.--MacIver's boat. Rauch arrests the attorney, and as Hunter's kicking everyone out, Ed demonstrates how he can wiggle his feet a bit.

If there was a Day Five card, I missed it.

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Now I wasn't clear if his suspension was supposed to have happened before the episode or somewhere during it.

He could've been in the service or something before he was a cop.

For the novelty:

Probably cut out the long instrumental break.

It aired in '67, but it doesn't seem to have made it into the syndication package.

Not that I caught; just that they were old buddies, possibly having served as Army paramedics together.

Yeah, I had to wonder about that. It's like the initial show of security was lampshading the later laxity.

I think he'd be better known for Combat!

Are you familiar with the TBO? I'd heard of it, but don't think I've ever seen it in syndication.

I think the stakes would have been much lower if it was Craig, as he'd presumably be too responsible to go for an untried surgical technique; and presumably he didn't have the daughter to be held hostage. Also, I read that they were between third leads at this point, John Saxon having been the previous one, so Ritter was a fill-in for that role.

Not sure, other than to make her more vulnerable and less able to escape.

Your accent's leaking through...

It was an office. He was in remote contact with the OR.

I should note that somewhere along the way--to Jan at the apartment, I think--Wells indicated that he was being paid by someone else to go after Ed.

 

I'm not a fan, but that is a bit surprising now that you mention it.

From what I read, it was originally a wheel series with alternating segments featuring different professionals like police and lawyers. By the time of the Ironside crossover, The New Doctors was the last segment standing, and thus promoted to a full standalone series; and this proved to be its last season. So I suspect that the crossover was an act of desperation to increase exposure to TBO.

Also, I have no first-hand familiarity with the show's usual format, but it was a medical drama, so it may have had a semi-anthology story style with the focus more on the guest characters and their situations of the week...in which case the focus on the Ironside guests and the guest doctor driven to put his experimental procedure into practice may have been in keeping with the show's usual format.

Fun fact: The TBO subseries dealing with law enforcement, The Protectors, co-starred Leslie Nielsen.

The defense attorney. He was motivated to keep Ed from remembering the yacht and fingering him. By comparison, Wells was portrayed as in a bit over his head...as the scheme proceeded, he was becoming flustered under pressure.

 

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Post-50th Anniversary Viewing

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The Mod Squad
"The Thunder Makers"
Originally aired September 21, 1972

Guess they've dropped having teasers before the credits this season. A group of dirt-bikers swoop down on a dam construction project and ride around the site making general chaos and causing workers to scurry to safety. The foreman, Sam (John McLiam), is accidentally knocked over by one of the bikes and its rider stops to express concern, addressing Sam by name. Sam lifts his visor and recognizes the rider as Buddy Farragut (Sherman sporting a light 'stache). As Greer and the Mods investigate the aftermath, the company owner, Clinton Farragut (John Lasell), announces his intention to hire armed guards. As Farragut's leaving, Sam asks his boss about Buddy--not having shared what he saw--and tries to caution Farragut about hiring the guards. Elsewhere, Buddy--motivated to impress the gang, led by Danny Johnson (Paul Carr), and to get under his old man's skin--proposes a plan to use his knowledge from having worked a desk job for the company to knock over a payroll truck so that he can play hero by "recovering" the money.

Scoping out biker hangouts on their own wheels, Pete and Linc are met with suspicion at the gang's "private club," but Pete defuses a potential fight by challenging Danny to a race. Recreational sport stunt work ensues in the finest '70s TV tradition, with Danny coming in first but pleased with Pete's skill. Back at Greer's office, Sam tells the captain and Julie about Buddy off the record, displaying a parental protectiveness of the youth and relating how he and Mr. Farragut go back to when they were both hardhats before Buddy was born. Now in the gang, Pete and Linc sit in on a detailed briefing of the heist, and promptly overhear how the others are planning to take advantage of the situation to knock over the truck for real. Pete tries to ride out to alert the captain, but is stopped by the gang.

Julie puts her waitressing experience to work at the biker hangout and catches the attention of Danny's right-hand man, Chico (Frank Ramirez). Sam drops by the gang's desert shack lair to talk to Buddy, trying to get him away from the gang and to persuade him to mend fences with his father; and Buddy implies that Sam's his real father. As the gang is applying the wash-off black paint to their bikes that they use on their jobs, Buddy sees his old man to drop the bomb that he knows Farragut isn't his real father--having found a business agreement between Farragut and Sam when he was working in the company office. Farragut asserts that he's been Buddy's father, but Buddy walks out unsatisfied. Greer dons his fishing hat to make contact with Julie at the cafe; then, in an effort to find the guys, drives a camper on the bikers' turf so they'll stop and harass him. Linc manages to give Greer a quick tip-off about the robbery under cover of an altercation. The gang is subsequently found to have vacated their lair.

Greer calls Farragut to get info about the payroll delivery and tells him of Buddy's role in the impending robbery. As they're trying to track down the armored car (the crew choosing their own route as a security precaution), Farragut tells Greer and Julie about the arrangement he made with Sam after Sam's wife died. As the gang are about to make the hit, Buddy learns of and objects to the gang's intention to use potentially deadly force; following which Danny shares with Chico his intention to dispose of Buddy, Pete, and Linc after the job. En route to the job, Pete, Linc, and Buddy take advantage of an oncoming pickup truck to break away from the gang and hit the offroad. The gang make their move, one of them feigning an accident to stop the truck, then shooting the driver; and the others using a smoke grenade and explosives to deal with the other guard and blow the truck open. Greer sends in the squad cars, and the Mods arrive on the robbery scene to delay the gang. You're up, Lucy!

(It's hard to tell, but he's tackling a guy on a moving bike.) Sam arrives to rush to the side of a fallen Buddy, and Pete has an offroad rematch with Danny that ends with the latter taking a nasty tumble down a hillside.

In the coda, Buddy's doing hardhat work at the site on probation under Sam's supervision; Farragut tells Greer and the Mods of how he and Sam are now taking 50/50 responsibility for the lad; and Greer drives the Mods off the construction site.

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Ironside
"The Savage Sentry"
Originally aired September 21, 1972

A thief robs a jewelry store with a caged guard dog who, a tape reveals afterward, mysteriously quiets down. The team consults with Mr. Dunlap (Anthony Zerbe), whose business supplied the guard dog; and an unidentified clicking noise is heard on the tape. The thief calls in a ransom demand, and the risk-averse insurance company agent (Dana Elcar) advocates his company's willingness to pay, but reluctantly consents to a stakeout of the pickup at Golden Gate Park...where Ed, while looking for the thief, is bowled over by a large dog that flees the scene, and is deduced afterward to have been trained to retrieve the satchel of money.

Theorizing that the thief may have military dog training, the Chief bones up on the subject and visits Dunlap's training ground under a cover story--though this doesn't involve an alias or disguise or serve any real purpose in the story. Against Dunlap's objections, the Chief insists on training one of the dogs, and takes a liking to the most challenging subject--a German shepherd dubbed Crazy Otto who only obeys the head trainer, Frank Barnes (Gary Wood). To Dunlap's astonishment, after a few days the Chief literally has Otto eating out his hand, and proceeds to condition him with combat commands--"zip" to attack and "flag" to stand down. When the Chief's about to leave the ground, he's intrigued at a Rottweiler named Banner going passive as he's releasing the brake of his wheelchair.

Fran turns up that the dogs who were on guard during the burglaries were acquired from a kennel owner named Walter M. Taggert--an ex-Marine who trained war dogs and otherwise completely fit a profile worked up from the ransom call. To test his theory, Ironside returns to the kennel and insists that Banner be ordered to attack him...but Banner goes and remains docile as the Chief repeatedly uses a clicker to counter the attack commands.

At this point we're introduced to Taggert (Bo Svenson), whose inside woman is Dunlap's secretary, Mary Ellen Wells (Mariclare Costello)--the only purpose of the Chief's cover seems to be that she wasn't in the know. She becomes reticent to continue with the scheme as it becomes clear how much Taggert enjoys the game he's playing, and voices her suspicion that he's just been using her. He promises to quit cold turkey, but proceeds to pull another job--this time using his own trained Dobermann, Jinx, to deal with a human guard who's replaced one of the Taggert-trained guard dogs. Taggert having been spotted with Wells at the compound, the Chief and Ed confront her, telling her of the latest job and the hospitalized guard. CLE subsequently swoops in on Taggert's pad, but he slips out an alley window, siccing Jinx on one of the officers.

The Chief devises a plan to lure in Taggert by having a famous diamond exhibited at a museum. Taggert takes interest at a newspaper write-up and proceeds to woo a mousy clerk named Martha Lane (Jessica Rains) to gain expedited access to the museum's plans. He takes interest in a tunnel that used to connect with a since-demolished building across the street and blasts his way into it after hours, as Ironside stakes out the exhibit accompanied by Otto.

When Otto reacts to the muffled explosion, Ironside calls for backup, then goes out to the corridor to intercept Taggert. When the thief attempts to sic Jinx on him, Ironside unleashes his secret weapon--the clicker, which counteracts Taggert's commands. When Taggert attempts to flee the scene, the Chief unleashes Otto to subdue him.

That's a good boy!

In the coda, Dunlap visits the Cave, ostensibly to apologize to Ironside for being wrong, but really to underscore how Anthony Zerbe was the top-billed guest but didn't play a villain. Ironside promises to visit Otto, who's soon recruited for a cushy gig at the Royal Ontario Museum.

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50 Years Ago This Week


May 12

• The Republic of Iraq executed five Kurdish activists by hanging, including Leyla Qasim, after the group had been convicted in a nationally televised trial on charges of attempting to hijack an airplane and to kill President Saddam Hussein.
• With the best four of seven championship of the National Basketball Association tied at 3 games apiece, the Boston Celtics defeated the host Milwaukee Bucks, 102 to 87, to win the title.
• Australian John Newcombe won the $50,000 World Championship of Tennis (WCT) final over Swedish teenager Björn Borg, after losing the first set and then sweeping the next three of the best 4-of-7 match. The score was 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

May 13

• By a margin of 29 for and 51 against, the United States Senate rejected a bill filed by Senator Bob Dole of Kansas to allow states to raise the U.S. highway speed limit from 55 miles per hour (89 km/h) to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h).
• KMS Industries of Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced the achievement of nuclear fusion on a small scale using laser light.
• In the U.S. state of New York, Mohawk residents of the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation in Franklin County and of Canada's Akwesasne 59 Mohawk Nation reserve began an occupation of the abandoned Moss Lake Girl Scouts camp near Old Forge, New York, in Herkimer County, reclaiming it as traditional Mohawk land.

May 14

• Dr. Donald Coggan, the Archbishop of York, was appointed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury by Queen Elizabeth II on the recommendation of Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
• In Central Park in New York City, 13-year-old John F. Kennedy Jr. was mugged by a boy of around 18, who took the young Kennedy's bicycle and tennis racket.

May 15

• An attempt by Israel's Sayeret Matkal to free 115 hostages, most of them students at the Netiv Meir Elementary School in Ma'alot-Tarshiha, resulted in the deaths of 25 captives and the injury of 68 others. All three of the terrorists, members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine who had crossed over from Lebanon into Israel, were killed. Prior to seizing the school the terrorists had killed five other civilians. The next day, Israeli planes retaliated by bombing Palestinian targets in Lebanon, killing more than 20 people.

May 16

• Helmut Schmidt was elected as the new Chancellor of West Germany by the Bundestag by a vote of 267 to 225 along party lines.
• In South Vietnam, the Battle of the Iron Triangle began in the Binh Duong Province to repel an invasion by North Vietnam, and would last more than six months. Although the South Vietnamese repelled the invasion and thousands of soldiers of North Vietnam's People's Army of Viet Nam (PAVN) were killed, the South's Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN) lost hundreds of soldiers. The counterattack came on the same day 5,000 North Vietnamese troops overran the Dak Pek Camp and its 369-member South Vietnamese Rangers battalion.

May 17

• UVF terrorists killed 33 civilians and injured more than 300 in the Republic of Ireland in four simultaneous car bomb explosions in County Dublin and County Monaghan. The event marked the highest number of casualties in any single event in The Troubles.
• In Compton, California, a shootout between members of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) terrorist group began at 5:50 p.m. local time at the terrorist group's hideout at 1449 54th Street. The firing of tear gas canisters into the residence was followed by a fire that killed six of the SLA members, burning their bodies beyond recognition. The shootout and fire were broadcast on live television in Los Angeles, preempting national news programming. Six SLA members died during the incident. SLA leader Donald DeFreeze (aka Commander Cinque), 30, shot himself to death. Camilla Hall, 29, and SLA co-founder Nancy Ling Perry, 26, died after being shot by police. Patricia Soltysik, 24, Angela Atwood (aka General Gelina), 25, and Willie Wolfe (aka "Kahjoh"), 23, died of smoke inhalation or burns.
• The first Synchronous Meteorological Satellite, SMS-1, a weather satellite placed in geosynchronous orbit, was launched from Cape Canaveral, to be placed at a point 22,951 miles (36,936 km) above the Earth's equator and the 100th meridian west.
• John Lennon spent two days helping out WFIL, a Philadelphia radio station, in its charity fundraising drive.

May 18

• India became the sixth nuclear power, with the successful test of a low-yield weapon at the Pokhran Test Range in the state of Rajasthan. Taking place on Buddha Jayanti, celebrated as the birthday of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, the test was code-named Project Smiling Buddha. The other nuclear powers at the time were the U.S., the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, and the People's Republic of China.

T-minus 83 days and counting.


Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

Leaving the chart:

• "Jet," Paul McCartney & Wings (14 weeks)

New on the chart:

"Come Monday," Jimmy Buffett

(#30 US; #3 AC; #58 Country)

"I'm Coming Home," The Spinners

(#18 US; #3 R&B)

"Takin' Care of Business," Bachman-Turner Overdrive

(#12 US)

"Sideshow," Blue Magic

(#8 US; #35 AC; #1 R&B)

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Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month and Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day, with minor editing as needed.

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To us, pretty much; but broadcast-wise, it was a different season.

As is often the case with these stories, the incident we saw was one of a series that was threatening the progress of the dam.

In story he was supposed to be 19.

Capped.

Too physical.

Unclear; it might have been part of the arrangement.

A better look at Linc's helmet:


Also, I neglected to mention that the stunt riding footage included rainbow lens flare!

I knew something was missing.

There was some more detail than I got into, like how the business arrangement involved Farragut needing Sam to run the practical end of the business; how Sam was at Buddy's birth and Farragut wasn't; and I think that part of the motivation for the arrangement was how hard losing his wife affected Sam--he may have hit the bottle afterward or something. I don't think Farragut's marital status came up.

Baskerville.

They'd have to be able to get ahold of the Dobermann first, I'd think.

From that minimal Wiki description, my first impression was actually that it sounded lame, but it turned out to be pretty enjoyable. It made me wonder if Burr was a dog lover, and it seems that he imported and bred Portuguese water dogs.

 

It's kind of funny that I guy who always seemed like such an old fart would be trying to get the speed limit raised. He was 50 at this point.

Maybe the mugger had a Russian accent.

A pleasant, mellow debut for the subtropics-evocative artist. The album was on the chart for a while and had dropped off, but reentered this week. I suspect the same thing will happen with the Blue Magic album, which dropped off just last week after a very short run.

The sound kind of reminds me of "The Rubberband Man".

Another classic rock radio staple.

It has a vague familiarity from oldies radio exposure.

It was the helmet he brought with him.

They'd still have to find the guy, and he didn't seem to be carrying paperwork around with him.

 

Where are moose and squirrel when you need them?