Nancy Sinatra was the guest, FWIW.
The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread
- Thread starter The Old Mixer
- Start date
No biggie on that score, anyway. 
In the process of doing some post-Hulk catch-up....
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Batman
"The Curse of Tut"
Screaming at the sight of a statue is a bit much. And the trap is a bit underwhelming--how much damage could Tut hope to do to the Dynamic Duo with one blade popping out of the statue? He might have injured one of their hands.
It's a bit uncharacteristic of the show that they reference Yale in Tut's origin instead of a fictional counterpart. And a student riot seems kind of hardcore for the clean-cut youth culture of Batman's world...even when they bring in hippies, they'll be hippies who think that Batman and Robin are the grooviest.
And if Bruce knows who King Tut is, shouldn't he recognize him as the unwrapped mummy? Don't tell me that he didn't bother looking at a picture when he read up on this guy...this is a crimefighter who can (mis-)identify the dynasty of an Egyptian costume from across the park!
If Batman were going to Egypt, would he take a commercial flight as Batman? (The series never showed a Batplane, and he spoke of booking a flight.) There's an episode idea all by itself--Batman, in costume, sitting in coach on a transatlantic flight...!
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Batman
"The Bookworm Turns"
It also struck me as a particularly apt villain concept for the style of the show...they campily play up what a know-it-all Batman is, so give him a villain who uses literary references as the clues to his crimes! (Really just a slight modification of the Riddler concept, when you think about it.)
A Robin solo trap seems particularly comics-authentic.
The Dynamic Duo missed an opportunity to say that the Wayne Manor robbery was pulled off right over their noses!
Also...Alfred dusting the atomic pile!
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Batman
"The Curse of Tut"
Originally aired April 13, 1966
"The Pharaoh's in a Rut"Originally aired April 14, 1966
Screaming at the sight of a statue is a bit much. And the trap is a bit underwhelming--how much damage could Tut hope to do to the Dynamic Duo with one blade popping out of the statue? He might have injured one of their hands.
I was wondering about that.
It's a bit uncharacteristic of the show that they reference Yale in Tut's origin instead of a fictional counterpart. And a student riot seems kind of hardcore for the clean-cut youth culture of Batman's world...even when they bring in hippies, they'll be hippies who think that Batman and Robin are the grooviest.
And if Bruce knows who King Tut is, shouldn't he recognize him as the unwrapped mummy? Don't tell me that he didn't bother looking at a picture when he read up on this guy...this is a crimefighter who can (mis-)identify the dynasty of an Egyptian costume from across the park!
Didn't notice that in this episode, but the next two-parter had a moment that really jumped out at me as too much even for camp...when Batman was dramatically yelling about saving Robin while charging the bell. OTOH, in the same two-parter, I got a good laugh at his campily earnest "Don't interrupt! I'm trying to fathom the subconscious of a deadly criminal!"
And it's not even an intentional deathtrap, but rather a complication of Undercover Batman escaping from abduction.
If Batman were going to Egypt, would he take a commercial flight as Batman? (The series never showed a Batplane, and he spoke of booking a flight.) There's an episode idea all by itself--Batman, in costume, sitting in coach on a transatlantic flight...!
I thought that it was just a coincidence...that he had an inspiration that turned out to bear fruit.One thing I've always found weird is how the royal soothsayer's divinations accurately warned him that their hostage wasn't who they thought. I mean, they thought they had Bruce Wayne, but they actually had Batman!Umm... Wait a minute. So... the guy, who wasn't even a real soothsayer but just a hood working for a delusional professor-turned-gangster, was actually tapping into some sort of supernatural force that told him about the hostage switch... but that force somehow wasn't aware that Batman actually is Bruce Wayne? That is confusing on so many levels.
Ugh, yes...so it's not just me. And it happens yet again in the next two-parter (in which Batman makes the particularly careless mistake of leaving the engine running...)!
What's more, Alfred drove the Batmobile and hung out with the Dynamic Duo in front of Tut without wearing a disguise...that's really stretching things. Guess it's a good thing that he's insane and has a tendency to lose his memory,
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Batman
"The Bookworm Turns"
Originally aired April 20, 1966
"While Gotham City Burns"Originally aired April 21, 1966
Holy exposition about the new villain, Boy Wonder!
As mentioned at the time of your posting, it also holds a special place in my heart...if memory serves, the second part was my first-ever exposure not just to the show but to super-heroes in general.
It also struck me as a particularly apt villain concept for the style of the show...they campily play up what a know-it-all Batman is, so give him a villain who uses literary references as the clues to his crimes! (Really just a slight modification of the Riddler concept, when you think about it.)
Ah, so it wasn't just the result of syndication edits that we hadn't seen one yet...I was wondering.
Could've sworn we'd seen them already...haven't been keeping notes, maybe they used the parachutes without the pickup? Anyway, this time made me wonder how much it's costing the taxpayers of Gotham City to keep those guys on call with nothing else to do--Holy Maytag Repairman!
A Robin solo trap seems particularly comics-authentic.
The Dynamic Duo missed an opportunity to say that the Wayne Manor robbery was pulled off right over their noses!
Yes, this suited me better than actually having the police saving the Dynamic Duo from the deathtrap as in the Mr. Freeze episode.
I don't know...they could have used a double-bait...the promise of a reduced sentence (as if these guys serve such long sentences, I know) compounded with appealing to his criminal ego that nobody can be allowed to defeat the Dynamic Duo before he does! Anyway, I imagine that I must have been intrigued at the reference to another, unseen villain when I first saw the episode.
Also...Alfred dusting the atomic pile!
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^^ Gotta get rid of the excess particles.
Of course, I've had the annual Twilight Zone Marathon on all weekend. On New Year's Eve, I mixed that with the annual Three Stooges Marathon on Channel 38. From the sublime to the ridiculous. It's tradition!
Of course, I've had the annual Twilight Zone Marathon on all weekend. On New Year's Eve, I mixed that with the annual Three Stooges Marathon on Channel 38. From the sublime to the ridiculous. It's tradition!
Alas, I don't get SyFy these days...still miss the TZ marathon on New Year's Day.
On New Year's Eve, I happened upon the one TWILIGHT ZONE episode I've never seen, "The Encounter" with Neville Brand and George Takei. It was left out of syndication due to its controversial content (claiming there was a Japanese-American traitor at Pearl Harbor who guided the planes in), and it was the one episode still excluded when the other several unsyndicated episodes were finally released in the '80s. Apparently it was never re-released until last January. Anyway, it was no great loss, since it's pretty incoherent, though Takei gives an excellent performance. But it's kind of sad to see how familiar Brand's character's attitudes about race, immigration, and unexamined white privilege sound today. People like him haven't changed their views in half a century.
Also, at first I thought this must've been one of the TZ episodes to be shot on videotape, since it had a sharp image with none of the softness of film, but I checked out some others on Syfy this weekend and they all look like that. Apparently they've done some kind of restoration that removes the filmic texture. That's disappointing. I can understand them doing that on older Doctor Who with the Vidfire process, since those episodes were initially shot on video, with the only surviving versions being film copies made for overseas sale, so restoring the video frame rate and level of detail is part of recreating the original look and feel as closely as possible. But it doesn't seem right to do it here.
As remarked over in the MeTV Saturday thread, that network has begun showing the ABC Columbo revival episodes, to replace the original series which has moved to some other network. I haven't seen the revival episodes in a long time, so this is great news for me. Although it looks like they've altered the episodes to fit in a modern widescreen aspect ratio; I doubt they would've been shot in that ratio at the time.
The series begins with "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine," which is a classic, a nearly perfect episode with Columbo matching wits with a fraudulent psychic played by Anthony Andrews. I love it because it adds another layer of mystery on top of the usual -- we know who the killer is, and we know that he and his victim colluded to fake the psychic test, but we don't know how they did so, and seeing Columbo recreate the trick and explain it is great fun. I just enjoyed seeing a fictional TV show that was about debunking alleged psychic powers rather than treating them as real. (Max Dyson was clearly inspired by James Randi, the famous debunker of fraudulent psychics.)
But more than that, I loved the focus on magic and the illusionist community (the magicians' funeral was fantastic). Most of all, Columbo's mind games against the killer were masterful stuff, especially the bit where he gave Blake the rope to hang himself (pardon the mixed execution metaphor) at the psychic reading, then deflating the whole thing with "But it can't have been suicide." "But it can't have been an accident." Beautiful!
I did find the climax a bit of a stretch, though, with credibility taking a hit for the sake of a dramatic ending. Columbo took a real chance there, and it's hard to believe Blake didn't realize he was being set up, given how stupid Columbo would've had to be to unintentionally put his head on the chopping block (literally). Besides, it was unlikely that the police wouldn't have had the guillotine in evidence lockup ever since Max's death.
The series begins with "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine," which is a classic, a nearly perfect episode with Columbo matching wits with a fraudulent psychic played by Anthony Andrews. I love it because it adds another layer of mystery on top of the usual -- we know who the killer is, and we know that he and his victim colluded to fake the psychic test, but we don't know how they did so, and seeing Columbo recreate the trick and explain it is great fun. I just enjoyed seeing a fictional TV show that was about debunking alleged psychic powers rather than treating them as real. (Max Dyson was clearly inspired by James Randi, the famous debunker of fraudulent psychics.)
But more than that, I loved the focus on magic and the illusionist community (the magicians' funeral was fantastic). Most of all, Columbo's mind games against the killer were masterful stuff, especially the bit where he gave Blake the rope to hang himself (pardon the mixed execution metaphor) at the psychic reading, then deflating the whole thing with "But it can't have been suicide." "But it can't have been an accident." Beautiful!
I did find the climax a bit of a stretch, though, with credibility taking a hit for the sake of a dramatic ending. Columbo took a real chance there, and it's hard to believe Blake didn't realize he was being set up, given how stupid Columbo would've had to be to unintentionally put his head on the chopping block (literally). Besides, it was unlikely that the police wouldn't have had the guillotine in evidence lockup ever since Max's death.
A more complete Decades scheduling of the following week:
Mon., 01/16: Barnaby Jones
Tues., 01/17: The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Wed., 01/18: Hawaii Five-O
Thur., 01/19: Inauguration Day Through the Decades (specials covering various presidents)
Fri., 01/20: Inauguration Day Through the Decades continued
Sat., 01/21 - Sun., 01/22: Evidently The Love Boat...that would fit with a 1977 theme, though the theme is getting interrupted for a historical event
(Geez, I hadn't thought of it, but I may want to take that Friday off...how could I miss such a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle?)
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Batman
"Death in Slow Motion"
There's some consistency here with previous episodes in that Robin displays a penchant for solving many of the Riddler's clues before Batman can. Spiking the lemonade, though, seems more like a Joker gimmick.
Robin should be wary of girls in strange costumes bearing clues.
Did they use the same building ledge featured on I Love Lucy and Adventures of Superman?
Note the Batcopter reference...we haven't seen it yet, have we?
I'd say that Aunt Harriet's naivete was put to the test with the birthday surprise, but nobody else recognizes the obvious similarities between the Dynamic Duo and their civilian identities.
Mon., 01/16: Barnaby Jones
Tues., 01/17: The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Wed., 01/18: Hawaii Five-O
Thur., 01/19: Inauguration Day Through the Decades (specials covering various presidents)
Fri., 01/20: Inauguration Day Through the Decades continued
Sat., 01/21 - Sun., 01/22: Evidently The Love Boat...that would fit with a 1977 theme, though the theme is getting interrupted for a historical event
(Geez, I hadn't thought of it, but I may want to take that Friday off...how could I miss such a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle?)
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Batman
"Death in Slow Motion"
Originally aired April 27, 1966
"The Riddler's False Notion"Originally aired April 28, 1966
Holy triple feature, indeed--Actually a quadruple feature. There goes half my suggested motivation for the Riddler potentially helping the police last time.
There's some consistency here with previous episodes in that Robin displays a penchant for solving many of the Riddler's clues before Batman can. Spiking the lemonade, though, seems more like a Joker gimmick.
Well, it did have the sound effects!
Robin should be wary of girls in strange costumes bearing clues.
Huh...good question.
I was thinking the same thing. And it might have made more sense to walk Pauline and the Commissioner down to the car before applying the Bat-Gas. Also, why does Batman need to give the Commissioner a signal to use the Bat-Wake when Pauline's unconscious? And the truth gimmick is pretty far-fetched, especially since they just showed something resembling a conventional lie detector in the previous story.
Yet they had him walk right past the Batphone while missing an opportunity to have him react to seeing the other end of the line.Oh, Commissioner Gordon. You're such a groupie.
Yeah...that tattered-style dress didn't make for a convincing impoverished look, but I wasn't complaining.And ohhhhhh my gods, Sherry Jackson. Those legs...
Did they use the same building ledge featured on I Love Lucy and Adventures of Superman?
Note the Batcopter reference...we haven't seen it yet, have we?
I'd say that Aunt Harriet's naivete was put to the test with the birthday surprise, but nobody else recognizes the obvious similarities between the Dynamic Duo and their civilian identities.
Seems unlikely, since Superman and Lucy were shot at RKO/Desilu Studios (same studio with the name changed when Ball and Arnaz bought it) and Batman was shot at 20th Century Fox.
Must just be a standard style with the L-shaped section of ledge and part of the building on the left protruding out further so that there's a window facing the ledge.
Makes sense that if you're designing a "building ledge" set for a soundstage, you'd want it to have at least two exterior walls at right angles so you'd have some flexibility in camera angles without needing to worry about sky or cityscape backdrops.
Wow, that's too bad. No Sciffy, no MeTV. Although there's not really a lot on Sciffy to watch these days....
^ What's more, WZME, my old Me affiliate, is no longer my inferior H&I option, but a religious channel...part of the Sonlife Broadcasting Network, Wiki tells me.
What do you have for retro channels now? Just Decades?
No, I had two H&I's, now just the one I was watching; plus Antenna and Cozi.
Oh, good. Cozi has some good stuff, too. I don't think I've seen anything interesting pop up on Antenna.
Watching the pilot to the Jeff Foxworthy Show (1995).
Haley Joel Osmet is so l'll and adorable.
Haley Joel Osmet is so l'll and adorable.
They're still playing It's About Time twice a week, though I haven't put it on in ages. Looks like they moved it and My Mother the Car to Saturday morning.
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The Green Hornet
"Seek, Stalk, and Destroy"
Originally aired January 6, 1967
It's time to play "Will Paul Carr survive the episode?"
Umm...nope. @TREK_GOD_1 ...do you enjoy this episode, or is the pleasure of killing Paul Carr reserved only for yourself?
Anyway, a tank was an interesting challenge for our anti-heroes...they didn't even entertain the thought that the Black Beauty might be able to take it on. I guess that if your rockets have trouble with a bulldozer....
He sees dead sitcoms....Haley Joel Osmet is so l'll and adorable.
Aw, crap, I can't believe I forgot about that. Must DVR a few....
It's About Time...ugh. Arguably one of the worst sitcoms of the 1960s. Sherwood Schwartz was inhaling his own fumes with this Gilligan's Island clone. Instead of shipwrecked castaways on an island in the Pacific, you get two astronauts stranded during the Stone Age, running into a community of cavemen--many scanned and printed versions of GI characters and their situations. Cheap Schwartz even used many of Gerald Fried's cues from GI without missing a beat, as if the intent was to con audiences into believing the good 'ol hi-jinks from one series could be shared by another.
Most embarrassing of all is co-star Jack Mullaney's clone job, not only apeing Bob Denver's voice, but his Gilligan character, and even some behavior patterns of Denver's other landmark character, Maynard G. Krebs from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
Then, there was Joe E. Ross. If you've seen him monkey-mug for the camera once, you will never, ever need to see it again. His one comedic gimmick wore thin back in his Car 54, Where Are You? days.
The lone TV curiosity is that star Frank Aletter was a lost astronaut trying to return home, and would go one to play a human helped by lost astronauts in "Up Above the World So High," the final episode of the Planet of the Apes TV series.
[Echoing Mitchell Voice]Whether he's Lee Kelso, or this episode's Eddie Carter, its always good to see that doubting fool go out the hard way.
[/Echoing Mitchell Voice]I enjoyed the plot--veterans--all on the suffering end of life, bitter, but not all on the same page when things heated up. They made for unusual villains instead of the usual organized crime types.