MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night

[Christopher]

The Invaders is another Fugitive type show. made by many of the same people behind the Fugitive actually. dunno if that show was brought up or not.

Well, yes and no. It wasn't quite the same, because David Vincent wasn't on the run. At least in the first-season episodes I've seen, he somehow managed to maintain a job as an architect and a permanent residence where people could contact him about alien sightings, despite the fact that the aliens were constantly trying to kill him. (Even though the pilot established that they had no plans to kill him because it would attract too much attention. That's '60s TV continuity for you.) Although it did fit the anthology-esque format of a hero traveling the country (to investigate alien sightings) and getting involved in different guest characters' lives and problems in a different place every week. And it was about Vincent pursuing a quest and trying to convince the world to believe him. So it was a similar format, but not quite the same.

 

[Saga]

The Invaders is another Fugitive type show. made by many of the same people behind the Fugitive actually. dunno if that show was brought up or not.

Well, yes and no. It wasn't quite the same, because David Vincent wasn't on the run. At least in the first-season episodes I've seen, he somehow managed to maintain a job as an architect and a permanent residence where people could contact him about alien sightings, despite the fact that the aliens were constantly trying to kill him. (Even though the pilot established that they had no plans to kill him because it would attract too much attention. That's '60s TV continuity for you.) Although it did fit the anthology-esque format of a hero traveling the country (to investigate alien sightings) and getting involved in different guest characters' lives and problems in a different place every week. And it was about Vincent pursuing a quest and trying to convince the world to believe him. So it was a similar format, but not quite the same.

i am well aware of the differences. thats why i said it was a 'Fugitive type' show. and its been awhile since i watched the series, but i'm pretty sure David eventually abandons his residence and is actually on the run from both aliens and the law.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I remember watching Branded when I was a kid-- it must have been in syndication, because I remember watching in the afternoon (and I would have been a little young for the first run). The show kind of upset me. I found the opening sequence when they snapped his sword in half disturbing.

I don't think there was anybody actively pursuing him, though. I suppose you could say that he was dogged by his unjustified reputation.

 

[The Old Mixer]

As I recall, The Guns of Will Sonnett was previously submitted because of the effect that the unseen title character's reputation had on the protagonists' travels, so I was thinking along those lines. And H&I apparently recognizes the similarity of that show to Branded, as they're showing them back-to-back.

 

[Christopher]

As I recall, The Guns of Will Sonnett was previously submitted because of the effect that the unseen title character's reputation had on the protagonists' travels, so I was thinking along those lines. And H&I apparently recognizes the similarity of that show to Branded, as they're showing them back-to-back.

I looked Will Sonnett up on Wikipedia, and it sounds like it's one of the few shows of the era that had a series finale of sorts, with the characters actually finding the title character's son (the son was the unseen one, not the title character himself). But apparently that was intended just to be a transition to a new format for a third season that never materialized. Since it involved the leads settling down in a single town as lawmen, I suspect the retool was planned as a way of cutting the budget by relying more on standing sets and recurring characters. I'm reminded of the plans for the never-made second season of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., in which Bruce Campbell's Brisco would've become the sheriff of a town populated by the whole ensemble of colorful regular and recurring characters established in the first season.

 

[The Old Mixer]

That reminds me of an odd bit of business in one of the last episodes of The Rifleman...they spend an episode setting up the mostly-recast Jackman clan as comical lawmen in a new town. I don't know the actual background of the episode, but it smells of backdoor pilot to me; and the potential spinoff, if intended, was probably meant to cash in on The Beverly Hillbillies (the Jackmans having been comically rural types, with one of the new Jackmans bearing such a strong resemblance to Jethro that I had to look it up to verify that he wasn't the same actor).

Interesting historical angle on DECADES today...apparently November 7, 1966, was the date that NBC became the first network with an all-color primetime lineup...and they're showing episodes of Get Smart, The Man from UNCLE, and Star Trek to commemorate this.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I imagine there's an alternate universe out there somewhere where every backdoor pilot made it to series.

It must be a hellish place.

Interesting historical angle on DECADES today...apparently November 7, 1966, was the date that NBC became the first network with an all-color primetime lineup...and they're showing episodes of Get Smart, The Man from UNCLE, and Star Trek to commemorate this.

That sounds like a good one. Hopefully I'll get to watch a while.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I imagine there's an alternate universe out there somewhere where every backdoor pilot made it to series.

It must be a hellish place.

Yeah, if a rural comedy spin-off from The Rifleman, or the "Kelly's Kids" episode of The Brady Bunch ever made the cut.

It was bad enough when greed-motivated ideas actually ended up as series, evident in Happy Days giving birth to the mind-killing Mork and Mindy, Joannie Loves Chachi & Out of the Blue. Or, the Who's the Boss spinoff Living Dolls, and let's not forget the would-be cash grab from The Partridge Family called Getting Together.

Interesting historical angle on DECADES today...apparently November 7, 1966, was the date that NBC became the first network with an all-color primetime lineup...and they're showing episodes of Get Smart, The Man from UNCLE, and Star Trek to commemorate this.

Are the episodes from a specific date, or just random selections?

 

[Saga]

the mind-killing Mork and Mindy.

Shazbot!

Are the episodes from a specific date, or just random selections?

they played the second pilot of Trek. i'm not sure if the Get Smart or UNCLE eps were season openers or not.

 

[The Old Mixer]

The Man from UNCLE episodes were rotated so they played four different episodes over the course of the day, though they were the last four episodes of the previous season, from Spring 1966. The Get Smart and Trek episodes were the same for each 6-hour programming block. For Get Smart, it was "Hoo Done It," which originally aired Nov. 5, 1966. So no consistent rhyme or reason for the selections among the three series, other than that they were all color episodes of NBC shows from 1966.

I was certainly thinking that they could have rotated in other episodes of Trek....A couple of appropriate choices would have been "The Man Trap" for being the first broadcast episode, and "The Corbomite Maneuver" for being both the episode that aired the week of Nov. 5, 1966, and also being effectively the third pilot / first regular production episode.

Next weekend's Binge is Route 66, and it looks like they're starting from the beginning.

 

[Christopher]

^Not a third pilot, just the first post-pilot episode. We've gotten into the habit of using "pilot" as synonymous with "first episode," but it really means a standalone "tryout" episode intended to sell a series.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I was speaking figuratively. Some TOS fans (including myself) consider it to be a better "first episode" in setting up the premise of the series than the actual pilots or "The Man Trap" were.

 

[Christopher]

^I do too, but I tend to be more literal.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I've noticed that.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Wow, looks my cable company just picked up MeTV. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing as I have enough trouble getting my ass outside as it is.

EDIT: Hey! Is this the inspiration for the Joker art scene in Batman 89?

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

"Pop Goes the Joker" / "Flop Goes the Joker" was the final Joker story of season two, but was the hard beginning of Ceasar Romero turning the Joker into a screaming man child, which he would maintain until the end of the series.

Actor Jerry Catron guests as one of the Joker's henchmen, and Star Trek fans might recognize him as Mr. Montgomery, the security officer who loses a fight with Commodore Decker in "The Doomsday Machine."

Actress (if you can call her that)Diana Ivarson (Baby Jane Towser) is just horrible. It's one thing to lampoon the clueless rich girl stereotype, but at least hire an actress who could pull that off. Her bug-eyed, gaping-mouthed routine was grating. You would almost suspect she--like her character--got this job thanks to some rich parent pulling strings for her. It is no wonder her "acting" career did not last long.

The cliffhanger fails the moment you see the blades nowhere near Robin's body. Really, when the shot was set up, surely they could see selected angle compromised the implied danger of the death trap? Maybe they were lazy, or did not care.

The scripts were really running on fumes by this time. Sending up the pop art movement would have worked in early 1st season episodes, when the humor was subtle, but here, its just stale, coming off like an out of touch generation targeting something they did not understand. The Monkees' second season episode "Art for Monkees' Sake" (airing in the fall of that same year) presented a superior stab at the pretentious pop and performance art scene (with an assist from Liberace).

 

[The Old Mixer]

Meanwhile, the newly Me-less are catching The Green Hornet on DECADES. Nice to finally see entire episodes of this after all these years.

Interesting that more than one character outside of Kato is in on Reid's secret...all but one of the regular supporting cast. That sort of "Team Hornet" approach seems unusual for the time...a carryover from previous media incarnations?

A neat twist on Batman going to Gordon's office, the way that the D.A. goes to Reid's pad via his secret entrance.

How does the Green Hornet maintain a reputation as a criminal when he's never involved in a successful criminal operation? If anything, you'd think the underworld would either catch onto him or consider him to be bad luck when every operation that he expresses an interest in quickly gets busted.

I have to wonder how good it is for a car to keep it stored upside-down.

One episode involved modern criminals running a "1920s style" bootlegging operation...illegally distilling and smuggling alcohol. Has there been a market for that sort of thing in major cities since the end of Prohibition?

With only 26 half-hour episodes in the series, DECADES will be running the entire series three times plus a few more episodes in change by Monday morning.

And look who's in the current episode...and looking to be the villain of the piece--Jeffrey Hunter!

 

[Mr. Adventure]

[/I]Actress (if you can call her that)Diana Ivarson (Baby Jane Towser) is just horrible. It's one thing to lampoon the clueless rich girl stereotype, but at least hire an actress who could pull that off. Her bug-eyed, gaping-mouthed routine was grating. You would almost suspect she--like her character--got this job thanks to some rich parent pulling strings for her. It is no wonder her "acting" career did not last long.

I noticed she said her lines as if she was on stage and not a TV series with a microphone.

I kind of liked Alfred's elephant painting.

Joker's stunt double had orange hair even though Romero's looked green. Maybe a trick of the light at the time?

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Interesting that more than one character outside of Kato is in on Reid's secret...all but one of the regular supporting cast. That sort of "Team Hornet" approach seems unusual for the time...a carryover from previous media incarnations?

I thought Lenore "Casey" Case also knew his identity in earlier versions of TGH.

A neat twist on Batman going to Gordon's office, the way that the D.A. goes to Reid's pad via his secret entrance.

...and a clever lift mechanism in the fireplace.

How does the Green Hornet maintain a reputation as a criminal when he's never involved in a successful criminal operation? If anything, you'd think the underworld would either catch onto him or consider him to be bad luck when every operation that he expresses an interest in quickly gets busted.

He's seen as an extreme opportunist who ends up on the winning end of deals, even if "partners" lose, or end up in jail / dead, etc. In the Batman crossover, Britt Reid even alludes to the Hornet usually coming out on top. I think criminals entering into partnership with him do so knowing the risk, or not respecting the Hornet's reputation enough to be wary.

One episode involved modern criminals running a "1920s style" bootlegging operation...illegally distilling and smuggling alcohol. Has there been a market for that sort of thing in major cities since the end of Prohibition?

I cannot recall what kind of alcohol was smuggled in the episode, but at the time, there was a huge market for illegal moonshine in the U.S. Usually of the dangerous proof level.

And look who's in the current episode...and looking to be the villain of the piece--Jeffrey Hunter!

Notice how much weight he gained since "The Cage." I also think his graying hair was not the work of the make-up artist.

 

[Greg Cox]

Interesting that more than one character outside of Kato is in on Reid's secret...all but one of the regular supporting cast. That sort of "Team Hornet" approach seems unusual for the time...a carryover from previous media incarnations?

I thought Lenore "Casey" Case also knew his identity in earlier versions of TGH..

That's my understanding, too. When I wrote my GH story a few years ago, she definitely knew his secret I.D.