_______
50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2)
_______
"At the Drop of a Budget"
Originally aired October 16, 1969
Wiki said:
Under hypnosis at the dentist (guest star Monty Hall), Ann is mistakenly told to buy anything at the drop of a hat at the same time Donald is trying to help her work on a budget.
This time around it's Ann who's insisting on Donald keeping a budget for her, so despite the subject matter, they're eating in a decent-looking Italian restaurant in the teaser, not at a hamburger stand...and Ann lets Donald take the check. It's while they're discussing her expenses that it comes up that she's been putting off going to the dentist and Donald recommends one in his building who uses hypnosis in lieu of anesthesia. While Dr. Pullman is in the process of hyponitizing her, he takes a call from his wife and reacts to news of her latest spending spree by exclaiming, "At the drop of a hat you'll buy anything!" Now people dropping their hats becomes an unsually regular occurrence, and every time it happens, Ann is compelled to indulge in excessive binge-shopping...the first instance being buying an entire carton of gum at a newstand, which she tries to repurpose as a gift for Donald.
Hamburger Stand Don actually kvetches about Ann's culinary choices when she tries to make a budget meal from items she bought in the unlabeled cans section, which includes commenting on the vintage of his glass of water. The motivation for Ann's budget consciousness is getting a new regular gig on a soap opera. We see the ABC logo displayed on set. She even has a binge-shopping incident during the filming of a scene, causing her to go off-script.
Don figures out what's going on when he accompanies Ann on a follow-up visit to the dentist, when Pullman mentions that at the drop of a hat, his wife will buy anything. There's an unnecessary flashback sequence to all the incidents we just watched, like they didn't expect the audience to get it. In the meantime, however, the post-hypnotic suggestion is undone as part of Pullman's latest hypnosis...so Donald tries to demonstrate her trigger afterward in the waiting room and it doesn't work.
Overall, this is an episode with a memorably kooky premise.
"Oh, Donald" count:
14
I knew we were in for a big one when there were five in the teaser alone! I'm making a note that this one was written by Ed Scharlach and Warren Murray, in an attempt to determine if there's a correlation between writers and high "Oh, Donald" counts.
_______
Ironside
"A Bullet for Mark"
Originally aired October 16, 1969
Wiki said:
Two attempts are made on Mark, leading Ironside to investigate the motive.
Mark is first shot by a guy who looks a lot like Paul Carr but isn't at an awards ceremony for the Amateur Chefs of America, which Ironside is attending as a nominee. The Chief initially assumes that it was an attempt on him...as does Commissioner Randall, who assigns police protection against Ironside's wishes. Mark goes into surgery with a 50/50 chance of making it. There are brief flashbacks of the Chief recruiting Mark and the shooting that crippled Ironside (showing before and after but not during) that look like they may have been from the pilot movie that I never saw. After receiving news of Mark's recovery having successfully started, the Chief talks to the floor nurse to find that a man has been repeatedly calling asking about Mark's condition, which tips him off that the bullet was actually meant for Mark. Ironside and Ed get to Mark's room just as the armed, would-be killer is about to make his second attempt, and he flees and is shot by police outside.
Team Ironside suspects an old acquaintance who tried to get Mark to pull a job with him and assumed Mark ratted on him, but that doesn't pan out. Eve comes up with the idea that Mark may have witnessed something that he didn't know was incriminating to the person who hired the killer. Questioned about his recent routine, Mark remembers being confronted in night school by a black militant with whom he had disagreements, but that doesn't pan out either. Eve's investigation then narrows in on an Ironsidemobile gas stop at an out-of-routine location. Questioned about the details, Mark recalls a mechanic acting jumpy when Mark saw him holding up a package while working on the underside of the car. A quick phone call confirms that this was an attempted narcotics smuggle as the package was later found by the police and the incident had been covered in the papers. Team Ironside questions the station's owner (
Adam-12 stoolie Robert Donner) and finds that the car belonged to a Mr. Farrell (Donald Barry), and that the employee who was servicing the car recently stopped showing up. They subsequently learn that the lube man's body has been found.
Looking for a supplier to Farrell's courier, they turn up another unusually frequent car servicee named Walter Thorne (Robert Alda). They and some SFPD stake out the station when Thorne's getting his car serviced and recognize the new lube guy as Jim Saunders (Pat Renella), an ex-con. Farrell's is the next car serviced, with Saunders transferring the package to the second vehicle. When the undercover police have gathered enough footage, the Chief calls in the boys in uniform to make the bust. Back at police HQ, all three parties involved are confronted with the incriminating footage. Ironside initially lets Farrell and Thorne go on the premise that they were both unknowing participants. I wasn't clear if this was supposed to be a ruse or not, but the Chief quickly gets Saunders to squeal on them when it becomes clear that he'll be charged for attempted murder.
In the coda we get a humor beat very similar to a memorable one from last season...Mark is wheeled into the Ironsidecave in his own chair, and challenges the Chief to a race around the building once he's feeling strong enough.
_______
Get Smart
"Widow Often Annie"
Originally aired October 17, 1969
Wiki said:
The Chief orders Max to romance and betroth Ann Cameron, a beautiful widow suspected of murdering her 12 CONTROL agent husbands for their life insurance money, which she then donates to KAOS. Unfortunately, the wedding coincides with The Smarts' first wedding anniversary, much to 99's dismay. The title is a spoof of Little Orphan Annie.
Yes, somebody's recognizing that the spoof is just in the title for a change! And wouldn't Max's marriage to 99 be public knowledge? Or at least known of by KAOS?
Guesting Dana Wynter as Ann Cameron and Raoul Franck / Peter Frank as her KAOS accomplice, Schroeder.
Ann [watching Max play tennis]: I'd better move very fast to kill this one.
Schroeder: Why do you say that?
Ann: Because he's liable to kill himself first.
If the show were in real time, the pregnancy should have played out through the season. 99 now looks very far into it, and the baby will be dropping in a few weeks our time.
99: You don't love me anymore because I'm fat and unattractive!
Max: That is ridiculous, 99--just because you're fat and unattractive doesn't mean that I stopped loving you!
The Chief poses as a priest for the fake ceremony...
Max: Oh, Chief, you've got your collar on backwards.
The Chief: It's supposed to be that way, Max, I'm marrying you today.
Max: Oh, has there been a change in plans? I thought I was marrying Ann Cameron.
99 is also at the ceremony, crying the entire time. To make things worse with her than they already are, Max didn't think to bring a ring, so he has to go ask 99 for hers. When the Chief gets to the "let him speak now, or forever hold his peace" part, everyone turns to look at 99.
Max and Ann stay at the Plaza (the first place the Beatles slept in America). KAOS has rigged the terrace to collapse when Max steps onto it. The terrace doesn't collapse when the Chief, Larabee, and 99 hide on it to eavesdrop on Ann's confession when she tries to force Max onto the terrace at gunpoint. Schroeder goes out to check why it didn't collapse and takes out the last bolt, so that it collapses while he's on it. It turns out that Larabee neglected to turn on his tape recorder for Ann's confession, but 99 took the initiative of providing backup in that department.
_______
Hogan's Heroes
"The Gasoline War"
Originally aired October 17, 1969
Wiki said:
When a gas station is installed at Stalag 13, the prisoners must find a way to sabotage the war effort without revealing their home base.
Of course the prisoners get their information about the purpose of the station, which is to refuel forces in France while being bomber-proof in a POW camp, from the usual suspect...
Schultz said:
If I would know something, I wouldn't even tell myself.
They also force a "surprise inspection" from Klink to get that possibility out of the way for Hogan's meeting with an underground contact, by letting Schultz hang around while they loudly plan an escape.
Hogan's contact, code-named Eskimo, is highly regarded TOS guest Marianna Hill, here sporting long, sandy hair. Eskimo notes that the pump must be destroyed "in case of an invasion," which sets this episode at least sometime prior to D-Day. But Klink is making prisoners sleep in a barracks over the tank to ensure that there won't be sabotage within the camp.
Klink: If you set fire to the gasoline, you will be setting fire to your fellow prisoners!
Hogan: You sure run a friendly gas station.
Hogan's plan: "If you can't blow up the gas station, blow up the convoy."
Hogan sends Newkirk, disguised as an old lady, to make the second contact with Eskimo to pick up supplies. During the operation, Newkirk disguised as a mustached German soldier provides cover for LeBeau and Carter setting charges under the trucks as they fuel while Kinch provides lookout in the bushes from which they're sneaking in. Cloudy-minded Klink has a face-to-face conversation with Newkirk. After the trucks blow, Hogan has a bit of a Bond moment when the others are trying to radio him while he's making out with Eskimo.
In the coda, Klink is just happy that the sabotage didn't happen on his turf, and plans to get rid of the gas pump.
DIIIS-miiissed!
_______
Adam-12
"Log 83: A Different Thing"
Originally aired October 18, 1969
Wiki said:
Malloy and Reed are called to investigate a hit and run which soon begins to look like a homicide.
Reed and Malloy first answer a call about a disturbance at an apartment. They hear yelling and are about to bust down the door when a woman opens it and it becomes clear from their outfits and floor mat that she and a friend are engaging in karate practice. The woman's husband comes in from the next room to reveal that he was the one who called the police. He's already sporting a black eye, and as they're leaving, the officers can hear him being used as a practice dummy again, but they decide not to intervene.
Next they hear a call in their area for a unit that's not responding, so they take it. At the scene there's a young woman lying dead in the street with a crowd formed around her. The first thing they learn about her is that she'd been involved in a fight with a man at a bar. The emergency medical unit that arrives on the scene appears to be a precursor of the paramedics on
Emergency!, but they're wearing what look like police uniforms. Tire tracks support that the woman, Barbara Stewart, was run over deliberately, and further questioning of those who witnessed to the fight indicate that it was over a pregnancy and that she wanted the man, Eddie Troy, to take her with him out of town. Back at the station the officers consult with a detective, but he doesn't think they have enough to go on to investigate it as a homicide, so he tells them to go to AI (which I assume stands for Accidents Investigation).
Having found contact information from a previous fighting incident with another man that Troy was involved in, the officers go to the man's address but he's either not in or pretending to be. They subsequently find his car parked nearby, with some damage in the front that includes a snagged piece of the woman's clothing. They park inconspicuously nearby, and thinking about how they need to catch Troy to have a case, Malloy calls him from a pay phone pretending to be a witness to what happened to lure him to the car. Troy (Gene Rutherford) shows up with a suitcase and they rush him as he begins to open the trunk. As they wrestle him to the ground and cuff him, he begins to cry and blubbers a confession that confirms what the witnesses heard in the fight, and indicates that she made him mad because she wouldn't get out of his car's way. Back at the station, he tries to change his story and sell it as an accident. The final twist: an AI investigator informs the officers that the medical examiner has determined that Barbara was not in fact pregnant.
_______
I should also point out that Santana's next charting single--which won't be coming our way for about a year and will be their biggest hit of the era--is also a cover, of a song written by Peter Green and originally recorded by early Fleetwood Mac as their first charting single on that side of the pond (charted Apr. 13, 1968; #37 UK):
