Ah, he's Luke, of Luke and Laura--didn't realize that. Ditto. Steve seemed OK with it...he came off as pretty self-assured. I'm not sure what else the actor is known for, but he had a Hestonesque quality to him. I should note that the scene of Steve confirming the truth to Archie gets played a lot in retrospectives as an example of the groundbreaking nature of the show. The general public wouldn't have been hearing the tapes until at least a few years later, by which point the show was firmly established. I'd say that Greg was Marcia's adversary...even if he didn't get to play Sunflower Girl, he was the driving force behind that. And boys not thinking that girls could do everything they could do rings true with my own childhood, which overlaps with the Bradys (though even Cousin Oliver was five years older than me). I never put it in those terms, but that helps put the finger on it. As I recall, whatever Mary said did seem to shame Lou into tucking his tail between his legs and calling Edie. Was MTM the original show about nothing...?
Maybe he was just keeping it from Archie specifically, because he knows Archie. Ah, right. Yeah, but from a story standpoint it would have been better if they went head to head. The plot contrivance of an age restriction makes me wonder if Greg objected to doing it. Oh, no. That was definitely not one of my favorite shows.
_______ 50th Anniversary Viewing Revisited _______ I just a few days ago realized that among the things that I do have available remotely are the more recently recorded Wild Wild West and Mod Squad episodes that I was planning to cover at an undetermined time; and that with the current gappiness in my viewing schedule, now would be a great opportunity to start picking away at them. We pick up with the previously missed second and third episodes from WWW's third season. _______ "The Night of the Firebrand" Originally aired September 15, 1967 West rides into the fort while under hot pursuit by a band of Iroquois. There he meets with Sean O'Reilley (a top-o-the-morning-accent-sporting Pernell Roberts; the Wiki contributor spelled his character's name wrong, despite it being prominently displayed in the closing credits), who attempts to pose as Major Jason, but Jim sees through his ruse. Jim takes down several of O'Reilley's men, but is knocked out by his lovely associate Sheila "Vixen" O'Shaugnessy, a senator's daughter who's believed to have been kidnapped, but is now a dyed-in-the-wool revolutionary. O'Reilley plans to blow up West--who's obligatorily hanging by his wrists shirtless--and the imprisoned compliment of the fort, and make it look like the Iroquois were responsible, but once O'Reilley and his men have left, Jim manages to swing to a water barrel to put out the fuse and frees himself using his boot dagger, to the delight of the real Major Jason (Len Wayland) and his men. They set off a blast outside the fort for O'Reilley's benefit, and Jim heads to British Columbia to get the stolen ammunition wagon back to the fort in time for an anticipated Iroquois attack. Up in the Great White North, Artie, posing as a hard-drinking trapper, is recruited by O'Reilley's contact, Andre Durain (Paul Lambert)...which includes having to face down right-hand man Briscoe (Russ McCubbin) with his back turned to him. One of O'Reilley's men, Clint Hoxie (Paul Prokop), drops in to arrange a rendezvous between O'Reilley and Durain. West sneaks into O'Reilley's camp, is caught by Vixen again, but puts her out with a nerve pinch before she can sound the alarm. West sets a wagon full of explosives to blow and gets away with the wagon he wants, now also carrying Vixen, but is pursued by O'Reilley and his men...who are surprisingly unscathed by what should have been a massive explosion in their midst, but just ended up being a rude alarm clock. A makeshift smokescreen helps Jim to temporarily evade his pursuers, but he subsequently suffers a wagon wheel mishap. While Jim finds himself in a standoff with O'Reilley--Jim using blowing up the wagon (which seems to be close enough to O'Reilley & co. this time) as his leverage--Artie rides into the scene as Pierre Beaumont, an emissary of Durain, and persuades O'Reilley to let Jim live...which involves being tied up outdoors again, but retaining his shirt. Artie slips Jim a concealed knife and Jim knocks out Vixen--who's showing signs of softening to West following the standoff--in his gentlemanly fashion again. He and Artie ride off with the wagon and Vixen (again), and are pursued (again). Jim hops off with a bundle of dynamite to cover for Artie and the wagon. Artie quickly finds himself with new pursuers--the Iroquois--but makes it to the fort in time, and Major Jason's men promptly dig into the arms. Back a bit further north, Jim manages to disperse O'Reilley's men enough that he finds himself in a melee with the top dog, who quickly falls down a ravine. The remaining men, though still armed, are intimidated into surrendering to Jim. In the coda, Jim and Artie are returning Vixen to her finishing school via the train, to get her "back into the feminine fold". When she objects, Jim takes advantage of her pressure point one more time. _______ "The Night of the Assassin" Originally aired September 22, 1967 Switch to south of the border--that train sure does get around! Jim and Artie are accompanying Ambassador Griswold (Donald Woods), who's being hosted by a Don Tomas (Ramon Novarro), when a man dressed as a priest smuggles a rifle into a bell tower to get a shot at Juarez (Frank Sorello), but is spotted by Jim, who confirms what he sees with his little pocket telescope. Jim spooks el presidente's carriage horses to throw off the assassin's aim, then races across rooftops to get to the gunman, but is opposed by an accomplice, who dies falling from a fall and turns out to be an American. A curfew is declared, during which Jim sneaks around at night and follows an artisan named Perrico Mendoza (Nate Esformes) to the assassin, Frank Halvorsen (Conlan Carter), who's also an American. While Jim's trying to get info from Halvorsen on the street, patrolling soldiers open fire on them and wound the assassin, while Jim takes refuge in a house, where he makes out with the attractive senorita (Nina Roman) to throw off the soldiers. Halverson is taken prisoner by Colonel Arsenio "Arsenic" Barbossa (Robert Loggia). Jim visits the prison escorting Artie, who's posing as Halverson's father, and bearing a visitation order from el presidente. While Artie chats with Halverson, Perrico is executed by firing squad. Halverson offers to talk if Artie can spring him and get him back to Texas, and Artie slips him a sleeping pill so he can evade being tortured prior to the escape. Jim and Artie proceed to Perrico's place and search for a letter that Halverson told them about, but find a few armed bandito types hiding within...and are confronted by the senorita whom Jim had previously made out with, who wants to know what Halverson told his "father," and is also looking for the letter. Jim and Artie fight off the banditos, with the senorita slipping out during the fight, then find the letter behind a portrait of Juarez. The letter concerns a meeting to discuss the assassination of Juarez, and mentions a key that unlocks the meeting place. Jim sneaks into the prison with the help of his trusty piton pistol and a stolen uniform, only to be caught within by Barbossa...but Jim is helped by Halvorsen through his cell door window. Artie is waiting disguised as an undertaker with a coffin for smuggling Halverson out. But when Jim makes his rendezvous with Artie outside the prison, he finds Artie tied up in the coffin, having been put there by the senorita, who took Halverson...but not before he told Artie that he doesn't even know who hired him for the assassination, and was able to reveal the location of the key. Back at Mendoza's place, the senorita is searching for the key when Jim reveals himself and shows it to her. She identifies herself as Col. Lupita Gonzalez of the Mexican Secret Service. She knows what the key opens, so they cooperate, and Jim finds himself ascending a hidden staircase into a room occupied by Don Tomas...who clarifies that he isn't the ringleader, though Barbossa is there to reveal himself. Artie and Lupita pop out of the staircase in time to help Jim deal with Arsenic's men, and Lupita shoots Barbossa, who falls from a balcony. In the coda, Jim and Artie are hosting Lupita on the train, and it turns into a double date when she reveals her bodyguard, Lt. Ramirez (Phyllis Davis). _______ Next we'll be skipping to the 1968-69 television season, and covering various previously missed Mod Squad Season 1 episodes before picking up where MeTV dropped WWW late in its fourth season. _______ As I recall, he said he just didn't want people making a big deal about it. And people were generally less open about the topic in those days. Kelsey knew and was OK with Steve, but approached Mike about it because he was also under the wrong impression about Roger, and was afraid of his place becoming one of "those places". You mean Barry Williams, I presume? Hey, he went full drag on M:I.
Coolness! He should be able to touch his toes without bending over by now. That renowned Iroquois punctuality. Hey, wrong show! If I was knocked out that many times, I'd be soft too. Hour's up! Something tells me she won't finish finishing school. I picture a bunch of guys laying down track about a mile ahead and another bunch picking it up again a mile back. The old make-out-with-the-attractive-senorita-to-throw-off-the-soldiers trick. Very secret indeed! They should have added her to the team. Beatrice from Vega$ Interesting. I wonder if that was before or after.
55th Anniversary Album Spotlight Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds The Yardbirds Released November 15, 1965 Chart debut: December 18, 1965 Chart peak: #53 (February 12, 1966) #353 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003) The album is neatly split between a studio side featuring Beck and a live side featuring Clapton. The album opens distinctively with the first studio track, "You're a Better Man Than I," written by Mike Hugg of Manfred Mann and his brother Brian, and first recorded by the Yardbirds: Next is "Evil Hearted You," which was originally released as a single in the UK, where it reached #3. This is one of two originals on the album written for the group by future 10cc member Graham Gouldman, who'd previously penned "For Your Love," the breakout single that caused Clapton to leave the group. Following that is Beck's reworking of the band's version of Bo Diddley's blues classic "I'm a Man" (charted Oct. 30, 1965; #17 US): The band's "rave-up" style is covered in more detail below. "Still I'm Sad" is the only track on the album written by band members--bassist Paul Samwell-Smith and drummer Jim McCarty. Wiki describes it as "a slow, brooding piece with psychedelic pop elements. Built on a mock-Gregorian chant, the song has seven vocal parts with producer Gomelsky adding a droning bass vocal under Relf's melody." Prior hit single "Heart Full of Soul" (charted July 31, 1965; #9 US; #2 UK) is the album's other original written by Gouldman: The studio side closes with "The Train Kept A-Rollin'," a cover of what had originally been recorded in 1951 as a "jump blues" song by Tiny Bradshaw, and subsequently in a 1956 rocakabilly arrangement by the Johnny Burnette Trio, upon which the Yardbirds' version was based: I was particularly struck by the Johnny Burnette version when it found its way into my collection, because it struck me as having a very British Invasion-era sound, such that I felt the need to verify that the version I was purchasing was the original 1956 recording. Side two features the 1964 recordings of the band playing live with that Clapton fellow. Historical perspective: The ravin' up commences with a cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning": Wolf's 1956 original is #285 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time--one of two entries on the list that induced me to take a bit more of an interest in his work. Next is "Respectable," originally a non-charting 1959 single by the Isley Brothers. Following that is the live, Clapton-endowed version of "I'm a Man". The album closes with another live rendition of a Bo Diddley number, "Here 'Tis". Typical of my listening preferences, I found the studio side to be of more interest, as it was bringing something cutting-edge to the table in its time. The live side may be of historical interest, but was already history by the time the album was released. _______ His toes do the touching, more or less. That did strike me as odd, but there was an anticipated pattern of attacks. Maybe she'll occupy the headmistress's office... Cullen Bohannon was in good with President Grant... Before, I covered it last season.
I never heard that before. It's good. Sounds like something that would happen on Facebook. Punctuation is important, guys. Same here. I generally prefer that an artist go into the studio and perfect it before it gets to me-- although the Yardbirds seemed to have the opposite feeling. America's first student takeover. There you go. His friends probably laughed at him and he vowed, "Never again."
55 Years Ago This Week Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week: Leaving the chart: "As Tears Go By," The Rolling Stones (9 weeks) "Day Tripper," The Beatles (10 weeks) "The Duck," Jackie Lee (14 weeks) "I Ain't Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore," The Young Rascals (9 weeks) "A Must to Avoid," Herman's Hermits (9 weeks) "The Sound of Silence," Simon & Garfunkel (14 weeks) New on the chart: "Get Ready," The Temptations (#29 US; #1 R&B) "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog," Norma Tanega (#22 US; #22 UK) "Magic Town," The Vogues (#21 US) "Daydream," The Lovin' Spoonful (#2 US; #2 UK) "19th Nervous Breakdown," The Rolling Stones (#2 US; #32 R&B; #2 UK) And new on the boob tube: Branded, "Yellow for Courage" 12 O'Clock High, "The Survivor" Batman, "The Thirteenth Hat" Batman, "Batman Stands Pat" Gilligan's Island, "Ship Ahoax" The Wild Wild West, "The Night of the Puppeteer" Hogan's Heroes, "The 43rd, a Moving Story" Get Smart, "I'm Only Human" _______ I thought you might make an exception here, as the live side features your god...
Classic Temptations. Never heard this one before. It's okay. Ibid, capitalized. Classic Spoonful. Classic Stones. I very well might. It's not like I hate live music or anything. The Boss did some great live stuff when he was sober, and I've got a couple of Who concerts on DVD. I did not know that. I don't think I knew that the two soaps were related, either-- did they cross over?
50 Years Ago This Week Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week: Leaving the chart: "Born to Wander," Rare Earth (11 weeks) "I Really Don't Want to Know" / "There Goes My Everything", Elvis Presley (9 weeks) "Love the One You're With," Stephen Stills (11 weeks) Re-entering the chart: "Timothy," The Buoys New on the chart: "Bell Bottom Blues," Derek & The Dominos (#91 US) "Celia of the Seals," Donovan (#84 US) "Soul Power (Pt. 1)," James Brown (#29 US; #3 R&B) "Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes," The 5th Dimension (#19 US; #6 AC; #28 R&B) "No Love at All," B.J. Thomas (#16 US; #4 AC) "What Is Life," George Harrison (#10 US; #31 AC) And new on the boob tube: Hogan's Heroes, "The Kamikazes Are Coming" Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Season 4, episode 23 All in the Family, "Mike's Hippie Friends Come to Visit" Hawaii Five-O, "The Bomber and Mrs. Moroney" Ironside, "The Riddle in Room Six" Adam-12, "Log 164: The Poachers" The Brady Bunch, "The Winner" The Partridge Family, "Road Song" That Girl, "Stag Party" The Odd Couple, "A Taste of Money" Love, American Style, "Love and the Heist / Love and the Love Potion / Love and the Teddy Bear" Mission: Impossible, "A Ghost Story" The Mary Tyler Moore Show, "Smokey the Bear Wants You" _______ One of those that surprises you with how mediocre it charted on the Hot 100 in the day...I'd say that the R&B chart was more on the mark here. Ditto, before I got it. You forgot the period. Punctuation is important. The latest in their string of goodies. A bit critically lethargic this morning? Anyway, I'd say that the Stones are on a...well, you know.
Yes, all of the ABC soaps* exist in the same universe. Characters have migrated back and forth between the shows. On occasion, characters on the shows played by the same actors, have wound up as relatives. *Except for Dark Shadows.
Good one. God is omnipresent. The brief, shining moment that we know as Donovan is over, but you can still see something of that brilliant poet among the too-awkward preaching. Yup, that was a James Brown song. Not one of their greatest, but the lyrics flow nicely, and what a voice. Not much to say here. But I absolutely love this one. Especially when you hear some songs that did chart higher. Damn it! I confess to a bit of lethargy lately. I'll be funnier soon. I never knew that. They beat the MCU to it. But then, so did The Beverly Hillbillies, now that I think of it. Do we know that for sure?
_______ 50th Anniversary Viewing Revisited _______ The Mod Squad "Bad Man on Campus" Originally aired October 1, 1968 We pick up Mod Squad with the first regular episode after the pilot/premiere. The episode opens with a middle-aged couple looking for bait or something under a pier when they find the body of Martha Carstairs, a young high school history teacher. The kids at the school were tight-lipped with the regular cops, so Greer sends the Mods in--Linc as the new history teacher, Pete as a gym teacher, and Julie as a transfer student. The students prove to be a rowdy, insubordinate, and overaged-looking bunch. Linc and Pete both find flashy local loan shark Gandy Schaffler (Clive Clerk) to be a handful, but he takes an interest in Julie. The Mods compare notes in the Library through the shelves, while we learn that Gandy is stealing cars for a man named Parker (Norman Alden). Greer speculates that Gandy uses kids who can't pay up to steal cars for him. Everyone's interested in the whereabouts of a student named Doc Lightner, who seems to have skipped town in relation to Carstairs's murder. Mr. Hayes takes an interest in a student named Leila (Judy Pace), whose recently declining grades coincide with Lightner's disappearance. Doc tries to pay a visit to Leila that night, and Greer is waiting, but Lightner runs and Greer loses him. Gandy gets called away from a date with Julie, and Pete and Linc follow him to a meeting with Doc (Booker Bradshaw) at the mortuary where Carstairs's body is lying. Doc, holding a gun on Gandy, accuses him of having talked, which resulted in Carstairs's death. He lets Gandy go and slips away before Pete and Linc can get to him. Afraid for Doc's well-being, Leila tells Linc where he's hiding--at a closed pierside amusement park. They find him playing harmonica in a tunnel attraction and nab and question him. He tells them how he got into debt with Gandy buying something for Leila, and then told Miss Carstairs, who was killed for knowing about it; and that he's now trying to find out who Gandy's working for. But as they're leaving the attraction, the trio are fired at by Parker and a couple of henchmen, who followed them from Leila's, and Doc is killed. A chase ensues through the park and under the pier, with Linc and Pete hightailing it down the shoreline. Parker & goons nab Julie, whom they saw with the other Mods, and bring her to Parker's boss--school lunch wagon vendor Mr. Oswald (J. Pat O'Malley). Pete and Linc lean on Gandy to get them and Greer into Oswald's lair, where more chasing ensues, with Linc taking down Parker outside. In the coda, Linc--now outed as the fuzz--tough-talks Leila into staying in school. Outside with the other Mods, Linc gets a laugh out of how somebody should have said the same things to him, then they walk off to the woodie. _______ The Mod Squad "My, What a Pretty Bus" Originally aired October 8, 1968 The episode opens with Linc sassily making a produce delivery to a prison, which gets him in a staged fight with embedded inmate Pete, during which Linc grabs a small box of smack from Pete's pocket. (Pepper Martin plays a prison guard who breaks up the fight.) Pete is subsequently approached by fellow inmate Herbert Mills (Henry Jones), who spotted this transaction and a previous one during a visitation from Julie. Somehow this doesn't clue him in that they're undercover cops--rather, he expresses to an accomplice an interest in using the three of them for a caper when all three inmates are oh-so-conveniently released the following week...after which he'll have to dispose of the young trio to avoid splitting the take too many ways. Greer's mission on behalf of the warden accomplished, Pete has a moment at Julie's pad in which he expresses to his fellow Mods how his fake incarceration affected him. Mills, now in civvies, pays a surprise visit, smooth-talking Julie and recruiting them for the caper, which first involves a warehouse robbery. Greer has them go along to find out what it's about. Linc gets caught by a watchman, and an alarm is sounded while a struggle ensues...which ends with Linc avoiding seriously hurting his opponent, whom he asks about later. Examining the scene after the Mods split the scene in the woodie, Greer finds that what they were stealing was blank paper...which turns out to be suitable for counterfeiting. Mills discusses the next phase of the caper over a dinner he makes at Julie's--having helped himself in while they were away--which is stealing a bus. They press him for more info, but he remains cool at the prospect of losing their help. Still stringing them along, he takes them to the community of Seaside, where he speaks the episode title while introducing them to their target--a colorfully embellished hippie microbus...which he wants them to photograph, inside and out. He then takes them to their new HQ, a beach house, and introduces them to his taciturn former inmate of an accomplice, Turk (Val Avery). Managing to search the place, the Mods find that another microbus is being shipped to Mills the next day; they also hear a printing press in another room. Mills has the Mods paint his new bus to match the one that they photographed. With the help of a distraction from Julie, Pete slips into Mills's trunk while he makes a rendezvous with a man apparently named Mason (Byron Morrow) at the garage where the original bus is parked. While they're waiting for Pete, Linc and Julie have a personal moment comparing notes about their backgrounds...but Morrow gets suspicious about Pete's absence, such that he has them at gunpoint when Mills returns. Pete hastily goes along with an overheard alibi about being out for a swim, wetting his hair with a hose before entering the house. With that matter settled, Mills informs the Mods that they'll be stealing half a million dollars the following day. To that end he has them count exactly $568,000 worth of his counterfeit bills and load it in bags for the Seaside Merchants Exchange. At the garage, Mason supervises as the Exchange's van delivers similar bags, which are loaded into the original bus as a means of covertly transporting the money. Julie in thigh boots on a motorcycle distracts the suitably disguised drivers, the first step in an intended switching of the buses...such that the counterfeit money will be taken to the Federal Reserve vault, so that nobody knows that the real money was stolen. Pete rides up on another motorcycle, fake harasses Julie to make her skid out on a beach, and the drivers get out to help while the buses are switched. (Notably, we see both vehicles in the same scene, and realistically, the paint jobs aren't quite identical.) While Linc and Julie are wiping the paint off the stolen bus, they succumb to Mills's drugged wine. Mills then shoots Turk, which clearly wasn't part of the plan they'd discussed. Back at the beach where the drivers had left him roughed up, Pete has to convince a motorcycle cop that he's a colleague to get in a radio call to Greer...and a ride. Meanwhile Linc and Julie come to and hitch a ride with a convertible full of hippies, coming upon Pete and his escort on the highway. They all head for the dock where the ship that brought in the second bus is, with Mills overhearing a follow-up radio call. The bus is forced into a crash and catches fire, but Mills is retrieved before it blows...these guys don't know how to take advantage of a good drinking set-up. Linc repeats the episode title in the coda, which is familiar from having later been used as the walk-off scene of "A Time for Remembering," the second season clip show, complete with... Linc: The Maharishi said, "Never drink champagne out of a paper cup." ...which now has some context. After a huggy moment among the trio, Greer joins them for the walk-off on the dock. (Alas, they don't walk off the dock...) The premise of a charismatic elder criminal schemer taking the Mods under his wing reminded me a lot of the previously viewed second season episode with Maurice Evans, "Never Give the Fuzz an Even Break". Pete meeting clandestinely with Greer. _______ "Jehovah & The Jacks"...? I included this because it was on the Donovan compilation that I bought. He is being times-signy with the ecology thing, and he's still pleasant to listen to. But this is almost it from him for our purposes in this timeline...he'll be popping up in a couple of years with one last Hot 100 single. Yup. Sounds like he's still jamming the same song as the last couple, but it's still funky. Bit of a snoozer, but these guys have still got some chart life ahead of them before they fade out...and it helps me to appreciate the egg-frying song a bit better. No opinion at all? Yeah, can't blame ya. [Insert massive album spotlight plug here.] Exactly! Gotcha. Certainly would have been a good explanation for a character suddenly leaving one of the shows. "Her body was found in Collinsport mysteriously drained of all blood."
At least they're not all students. Then again, this is TV. Always a favorite. Yikes. Wow. Is that the only time he ever played a villain? Sometimes the criminals come to you. Nice touch. Which makes him smarter than most TV detectives. "Swimming? Why, his hair's not even wet. It's a setup!" It kinda loses me at this point. Messy, after all that planning. It seems like this is a line from a song, but I can't place it. ...into the drink. "Thou shalt rock!" That would have been fantastic. And probably good for both shows.
_______ 50th Anniversary Viewing _______ All in the Family "Gloria's Pregnancy" Originally aired February 16, 1971 The episode opens with Archie and Mike having a discussion about chicanos (in the acceptable parlance of the time) protesting in California. Edith and Gloria come home from the doctor chomping at the bit to share some wonderful news. Alone with Gloria, Mike quickly figures it out for himself and goes into the customary unprepared father panic. They go out to tell Archie, and Edith hints at the news in such a way that it makes it sound like she's the one who's pregnant. While everyone else is ecstatic, Archie is speechless, and repeatedly glares at Mike. When the two of them have the room, Archie bawls out Mike about not being able to support the baby, and Mike declares that he'll quit school. In the time that it takes Archie and Edith to have a scene in the kitchen, Mike secures an apartment via a friend, but Archie remains skeptical that the Stivics will be going anywhere. Edith pressures Archie to tell the kids that they can stay. Then a very pregnant friend of Gloria's named Mona (Holly Near) drops by to congratulate her. Archie uses an argument about what kind of sausage he prefers to excuse himself to go to a diner, following which the subject of natural childbirth comes up. Everyone has a hearty laugh when Edith reveals that she was such a nervous mother that she never counted baby Gloria's toes, and Gloria starts to have complications. A doctor makes a house call and confirms that she's going to be fine, and will be able to have more babies. Then Archie comes in, not knowing what's happened, with a giant stuffed panda and announces that the kids will be staying. Mike and Edith break the news, and Archie visibly deflates. He goes up to Gloria's room and pays her a very gentle, fatherly visit, with few words but much love and understanding between them. In the coda, Archie's back to commenting about Mike and Gloria making out. _______ Hawaii Five-O "Dear Enemy" Originally aired February 17, 1971 Fast-talking real estate swindler Ray Tobias (Dub Taylor) has just arrived on a cruise ship and calls somebody trying to make a deal. He leaves a bar to make a rendezvous at a pier where he trips on a bad stair, is hit from behind, and his face is held in the drink by gloved hands. Tobias had been a witness in the conviction for murder of a man named Fred Whiting (John Lupton), which the papers try to make a connection to. McGarrett gets barked at to put and end to the story by state senator Amos Bolin (William O'Donnell), who's apparently subbing for the Governor this week. Steve then gets called to meet with attorney Henry Lockman (Gary Collins) and his client, Flora Whiting (Vera Miles), who's been in a mental hospital. Fred is said to have been a political rival of Bolin's for a US Senate seat, and Lockman was his campaign manager. Mrs. Whiting claims that Tobias wrote her offering to get her husband's case reopened, and seems erratic and desperate. Danno talks to the Harry the bartender (David "Lippy" Espinda) while Steve goes to the pen to talk to Fred about a piece of cuff link found at the scene of the murder that Flora thinks may be his. Fred describes how he met and had an affair and fought with the victim, Betty, and admits to having hit her when she threatened to blackmail him, but swears that he didn't kill her. Flora and Lockman then show up at Steve's office with a page from Tobias's letter. The other half of the cuff link is turned up, which comes to three complete cuff links, making it possible that somebody else was at the beach house where the murder occurred and may have framed Fred. We then see Lockman, wearing the gloves, knocking out a hotel maid while going through Tobias's stuff. Five-O discovers that Tobias called Lockman's office about a land deal the day before. They bring in Bill Makoto (Ah Vah), the assistant jeweler whom they believe made the cuff link, who was about to fly to Japan with a decent wad of cash, which suggest a payoff. Lockman and Flora are brought in, and when she reacts to seeing Makoto, it comes out that he'd just made the third cuff link for her a few days ago. Steve confronts her about having done what the Wiki contributor told us she did up front...if only Steve could read Wiki. She's taken away back to her hotel, and while Lockman is using one of Five-O's phones to call a doctor, he listens in on a conversation about a car that was used by the hotel attacker. In her hotel room, Lockman seems interested in making a connection between the sedated Flora and the balcony, but is stymied by the presence of a neighbor on her balcony. Flora wakes up and he fixes her a drugged drink. She pieces some things together, guessing that he ransacked Tobias's room and accuses him of having killed Tobias and Betty. He admits that Betty was threatening to expose him for setting her up with Fred, just as she passes out. He's finally carrying her to balcony when Five-O bursts in for some booking, explaining how Lockman needed to silence Flora because she knew that he was using the car that she'd rented. Steve gets a hug from Flora. _______ The Brady Bunch "Lights Out" Originally aired February 19, 1971 Unable to sleep, Cindy wakes up the other girls by turning on the light. When a commotion ensues, Mike gets involved and asks her what's going on. She wants to sleep with the parents, and tells them why when she's in their bed. It turns out that she saw the disappearing part at a birthday party, but ran out so she didn't see the assistant reappear. But even with the parents, she doesn't want the light turned out. Meanwhile, Peter takes an interest in doing magic for a school vaudeville show after having attended the same party. Mike takes Peter to a store, where the owner (Snag Werris) demonstrates a number of tricks. Peter practices one of them at home--making a bottle disappear from one tube and appear in the other--and Cindy takes an interest, so Carol suggests that Peter use Cindy as his assistant. He also bought a book for building his own disappearing cabinet, but Cindy doesn't want to do the trick. Peter tries to demonstrate with Bobby, but Bobby doesn't cooperate with the reappearing part, which reaffirms Cindy's trauma. (I know they're being coy about how the tricks work for our benefit, but it seems like Peter would have to show Cindy how it works, which might help her to overcome her fear.) Cindy bows out of assisting Peter, even after Bobby reappears, so Jan takes over, and Cindy won't even watch them demonstrate their tricks for the family. The show's tryouts come, but Jan can't make it because she sprained her ankle in gym class, so Peter goes out to solo what tricks he can, though he gets hung up on describing for the judges the good tricks that he can't do. Then Alice brings in Cindy in the nick of time, and she volunteers for the booth to help him win. The trick goes smoothly (so Cindy must know how it works), and Cindy overcomes her fear, wanting to do it again. _______ The Odd Couple "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" Originally aired February 19, 1971 Felix is developing photos he's been taking of babies all day for an ad campaign. While Oscar's on the phone with him, Felix hears a baby crying and finds him in the studio. Back at the apartment, neighbor boy Phillip (Christopher Shea) drops by on Oscar with his chihuahua, and I'm too distracted by the fact that he has Linus's voice to pay attention to why he's there or what the scene's about. Felix comes home with the baby in a bassinet, and is surprisingly good with him, though Oscar is less comfortable. Felix and Oscar are scheduled to perform a skit at a dinner, so when Nancy Cunningham comes over (apparently she'll be regularly recurring into the next season), she volunteers to wait for the mother to show up (Felix having left a note on the studio door). Murray comes by and Felix thinks that Oscar called him because Oscar thinks that the baby was abandoned deliberately; but he's there for a different reason. They usher him out without letting him see the baby, but then the baby comes up missing, and it turns out that Phillip took him, apparently to commandeer the bassinet for his dog. As the time for the dinner nears, Oscar reveals that he has since called Murray, but didn't tell him what it was about. Murray nevertheless hears the baby and figures it out, and is taking charge of the situation when Mrs. Lee (Lisa Lu) arrives. She tries to explain how she accidentally left the child in the studio, but breaks into rapid Chinese, so nobody understands her. In the coda, we learn that Felix and Oscar didn't win for best skit, but they start demonstrating their version of Abbott and Costello doing "Who's on First" for Nancy. _______ Mission: Impossible "Kitara" Originally aired February 20, 1971 In Bocamo, West Africa, a man named John Darcy (Robert DoQui), who says that he's a schoolteacher from another province, is chased down and caught in the jungle by a group of government police types. Their leader, Colonel Alex Kohler (Lawrence Dobkin), accuses him of being somebody named Kitara, who stole a military truck full of gold bullion. The method is so usual that Jim doesn't even have to be told anymore! In the briefing, Barney and Doug demonstrate and explain how a special bulb, placed in Kohler's bathroom ceiling fixture, will activate a drug that he's given to actually turn his skin black! In Bocamo, Kohler's questioning Darcy after letting him out of a hotbox when Colonel Jim and Dr. Doug arrive on the scene on fake behalf of Kohler's superior general, tasked with confirming that Kohler has the right man. Kohler doesn't heed Doug when he insists that Kohler be treated for his heat exposure. When Kohler has left the scene, they sow some doubt about Kohler's intentions in his aide, Captain Maxfield (Rex Holman). Posing as a reporter, Dana is treated to Kohler talking about his background, and slips the drug into his tea. Meanwhile, Barney sneaks into the colonel's bathroom and replaces the bulb. Over tea with Kohler and Dana, Dr. Doug describes how he's an expert in people attempting to pass themselves off as being of a different race, and exposits about a case when a nervous disorder caused someone to be revealed as an impostor. Barney, after having dropped his gear down to Paris in the bushes, gets himself captured as an intruder. Kohler showers under the light, and as he sleeps, his skin gradually darkens. In the morning, he wakes up to find himself in blackface, and tries to wash it off. Jim and Doug continue to express their suspicions about the colonel to Maxfield, including about how his wife died while pregnant, and what that might have revealed; as well as about how he always keeps his head shaved. Barney gets himself tossed in the hotbox, so he can tap a coded Swahili message to Kitara, filling him in on his role in the plan. By phone, Kohler agrees to let Doug examine Darcy, and Doug gives him a canteen, the lid of which he uses to exchange messages with Barney. A guard catches their noisy tapping, and takes Barney in to be questioned by Col. Jim. Kohler summons Dr. Doug, wanting to be given something to lighten his skin; Doug recommends a long, hot bath. Paris examines the tape of Barney's interrogation, which is littered with code-phrases that stand for letters, spelling out Sugano, the name of the village where the bullion is hidden. Dana brings Kohler an old picture from the house where he grew up, which matches one in Kohler's possession of him sitting on his grandfather's lap...but in this picture, his grandfather is black. She takes him to the shop where she bought the picture, which is run by Paris, who--now passing himself off as 1/16 black--rubs a chemical over Kohler's original photo to somehow "reveal" that it's been doctored and that the grandfather is actually black in that copy as well. (I suspect that a photo-switching was involved, but I didn't catch it.) Then Dana knocks him out with the usual ring, and Doug comes in talking about his susceptibility to hypnotic suggestions while under the drug's influence. Meanwhile, Kohler's manservant, Hawn (Jason Wingreen), has tipped Maxfield off about some of the strange goings-on with Kohler, and Maxfield heads for the shop. At the shop, Paris, disguised as the fake grandfather (Ken Renard), plays out a fake recovered memory from Kohler's childhood, revealing how he's perpetrated the deception that Kohler is white. Kohler passes out again and Paris resumes his shopkeeper role, reviving him. Maxfield arrives and sees Kohler with his new complexion; then Paris draws a gun and offers Kohler an escape. Dana brings Maxfield up to speed on Kohler's fake background, and Col. Jim promotes him to Kohler's position. Paris brings Kohler to the hut where the gold is hidden, but Maxfield's men quickly swoop in and a chase ensues, while Maxfield finds the gold in Kohler's fake hideout. Col. Jim convinces Maxfield that Kohler is actually Kitara, and is subsequently allowed to drive off with Barney, Darcy, and the gold. Mission: Accomplished. The problems with this episode from a modern perspective are obvious; but also, Dobkin in blackface simply wasn't convincing as an actual native African. _______ The Mary Tyler Moore Show "A Friend in Deed" Originally aired February 20, 1971 The guys are talking about how overly friendly the new receptionist is, when Twinks comes in and pounces on Mary with a hug. Mary doesn't recognize her, and has to be reminded of how they knew each other. This appears to be another case in which the old friend is more attached to that moment than Mary, as Twink has a camp scrapbook and talks about how she's still getting the camp's newsletter. Lou: I went to a Notre Dame reunion...it was terrific! Mary: I didn't know you went to Notre Dame! Lou: I didn't, but those guys really know how to throw a bash. Word to the wise, Mary...the best kind of reunion is one where you don't know anybody. Twinks visits Mary's apartment and tries to impose herself in all of Mary and Rhoda's plans, including a potential vacation to Hawaii. (They should take her...imagine Five-O fishing Twinks out of the drink...) Back at WJM, Twinks continues to be an annoyance to Lou for routinely hugging him despite his deliberate rudeness toward her. Then Twinks springs the news that she's getting married, cornering Mary into serving as her maid of honor, and Rhoda into being a bridesmaid. Mary isn't enthusiastic about her maid of honor duties, and finds the pink dress that Twinks picked out to be horrendous. Then Twinks drops in and breaks the news that her best friend who wasn't going to be able to fly out for the wedding will be able to make it after all, so she's going to be the maid of honor as originally planned. With some egging on from Rhoda, Mary expresses to Twinks how used she feels over the whole ordeal...and Rhoda realizes that she's still stuck being a bridesmaid, in the purple version of the horrendous dress. _______ There was actually a gag about that--when Greer tells them he's putting them undercover at the school, Linc objects that they're too old to pass as students, and Greer drops the bomb that he's putting Linc in as a teacher. Linc's objection was perhaps lampshading that all of the other students looked like they were in their 20s as well. Dunno. Also, after knocking the guard out, Linc put a makeshift pillow under his head! Not at all...it was definitely part of Mills's plan the entire time. He was reducing how much he'd have to split the take even further. What was messy was that he didn't actually off the two Mods who were at his mercy (which Turk was supposed to do)...but then, I don't think he found out they were cops until the very end, so if he was skipping the country, he probably thought that leaving them behind was sufficient. The secret identity reveals for characters who don't figure out for themselves that the Mods are really cops tend to be fun bits of business to watch for. Here, Pete's interaction with the motorcycle cop was more entertaining than my summary got across. The cop is completely stone-faced, clearly thinking that Pete's bullshitting him, and Pete's saying something like, "Look, what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm..." [cut to Greer on the phone] "...exactly what he says he is!" The first search result is quoting Linc; the rest are about whether you should drink wine from paper/plastic cups.
Between The Bob Newhart Show and The Rockford Files, Pat Finley had some pretty good recurring gigs in the '70s. Then she pretty much vanished (though she did appear with Asner again on Lou Grant).
Talk about unprepared father panic. Archie wants nothing to do with the nuts-and-bolts of pregnancy. She must be only a few weeks, so that would be common. This is why people wait to say anything. This is the sort of thing that really elevated the show. They made a point to humanize the characters, rather than just use them as mouthpieces for dueling tirades. They're no longer waiting for people to just fall in. Yeah, it seems that it's been a while since Steve was barked at. And what does a state senator care? Especially odd since it's a Hawaiian word. And the state senator nods curtly, turns on his heel, and exits. Fear of the dark is obviously a good theme for a show about kids, but the disappearing act trigger seems to be stretching it a bit. Secretly hoping that he can make all his stepsisters disappear. Jerk. He should have turned it into a standup act. "At this point I would have made my sister disappear, but she already disappeared on her own." Why didn't he just use Alice? She's game for just about anything. Okay, was this about a fear of the dark or a fear of being disintegrated by a magician? "I'm here to tell you the good news about the Great Pumpkin, Oscar Goldman.." Good grief, Felix Unger! "The Great Pumpkin demands sacrifice, Unnamed Baby." Y'know, the next time could be in a parked car. Call Social Services, Murray. Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama... That would make a lot of gold soup! I wonder if Jim has ever actually met the voice. They should have developed the voice character a bit more. Even Charlie got in on the action a couple of times. Imagine Phelps activating the tape recorder and hearing, "You've got to save me, Jim..." And then he has to resign and apologize on Twitter. Mission: Accomplished! I think it's time for an intervention at this point. A Photo Shop, if you will. You just use the "Replace Color" tool. "Sorry, voice, we didn't find any gold." It reminds me of that Mork & Mindy episode where Mork encountered the KKK. He uses his Ork powers to turn them all different colors. "Welcome to America." Which is actually pretty believable, I think. "I just couldn't take it another minute!" "Book her, Danno." Always the Bridesmaid of Frankenstein. "This is not 21 Jump Street." Awww. I know, but with all that elaborate planning, wouldn't he have included a plan to kill him in a safe place and dispose of the body where it would never be found? Greer's a good guy. He doesn't disavow his operatives. Damn. It's still on the tip of my brain.
Apparently the murder was a source of scandal for him because the guy convicted of it was his political opponent...or something. [rimshot] Too old? It was a school contest. Are we bringing another show into this? Did Oscar win six million dollars? Hadn't even though of that! Guess he was counting on hightailing it out of the country taking care of that loose end.
Ah, okay. Probably true, even if she was just an assistant. He has plans for Felix. BIG plans. He got impatient at the end and it made him sloppy. I would never do that. Not that I would ever do that.
He has the technology. Better...stronger...maybe a little less fussbudgety and allergy-prone. I didn't get that impression at all. Offing his partner was part of his plan all along...patience was stringing the guy along for the entire scheme. His mistake was not sussing out that the Mods were cops. "And I would've gotten away with it, too, if not for you meddlesome undercover hippies!"