The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by The Old Mixer, Jan 11, 2016.

  1. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    He rates. :bolian:

    Lucky for the good guys that these obscure cults favor obvious indicators of membership.

    That's convenient, and weird. I wonder who's responsible for that. :rommie:

    "Other duties as assigned."

    It's kind of a miracle that the Southwest didn't collapse like a big sinkhole.

    I went to a lair like that once.

    I wonder if this was the inspiration for Doctor Girlfriend on Venture Brothers. :rommie:

    I seem to remember that this was one of the last episodes I saw before WWW was replaced by the Stooges.

    What was the call about? Was this when her dad was roughed up the first time?

    Mister C!

    Of course he doesn't. :rommie:

    Now there's a crossover I never considered. :rommie:

    Tom Bosley is more agile than I would have guessed.

    It's Parole Day in Gotham.

    Harsh ending to a relatively minor offender-- or am I just prejudiced because Tom Bosley is so lovable? :rommie:

    Stock footage from Gilligan's Island? That's fantastic. I wonder if that's the most extreme anachronism ever on the show.

    He died for the sake of establishing the atmosphere. :rommie:

    Perhaps Calendar is not dead after all.

    "Do come out of your drug-induced stupor, old boy. There's a good chap."

    Nice.

    These guys are like mice.

    That's a pretty good twist. Here's another character that would have made a good recurring nemesis.

    And this rather contrived demise suggests that the show thought so too. But all in all, this sounds like a really good episode.

    How hard could it have been to have aired the episodes in the correct order? I don't get the logic of messing things up like that.

    Ah, Lava Lamps. Those were the days. :D

    Yeah, but that's more like an ode to addiction. :rommie:
     
  2. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    If you mean cutting it, Artie.

    This was New Orleans...do they even have basements down there? They definitely weren't the norm in Florida. And as was often the case in Florida, I recall from visiting Louisiana that lots of houses were actually raised up on blocks.

    If it had been, I would have recorded and watched it then. As I recall they got to what would have been the first part of the "The Night of the Winged Terror," but skipped the two-parter for "The Night of the Sabatini Death" (Alan Hale's appearance).

    I think so.

    It's a little more understandable when the Mods like to strike out on their own and do something off the books...they're not exactly conventional cops. But it is becoming drinking game material.

    Indeed, he did at least part of that himself.

    He was pretty slappable here. But I was a little put off by how high-stakes a box of cash stolen from a grocery store was being treated. You'd think that Wells and his accomplice had knocked off a bank.

    And one of them is always Red West, of course.

    It was fun despite being so derivative of Holmes and mystery tropes, and so busy with red herring business.

    I get why episodes aired out of production order originally...in Trek's case, it was the episodes with more post-production work that tended to fall behind (e.g., "The Corbomite Maneuver," which was the first regular episode in production order, but aired 10th in the season). The problem is that since it became common to release TV seasons on home video, original airdate order has become the standard even when it makes a lot less sense than production order, like Trek Season 1, or WWW Season 4. You may recall me citing Tarzan Season 1 as another apparent example of this phenomenon, with the settlement and its supporting characters appearing in some but not all early episodes...which were likely consecutive in production order.

    Sock it to him, Joe!
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2021
  3. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Oh, I thought he found it.

    Probably. That's Bayou country.

    Hmm. I do remember seeing it....

    A case of the writers being too close to the material, I guess.

    I dig these little pastiches.

    I guess it makes sense if the episodes aren't ready. But the DVDs should definitely be in production order.
     
  4. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    55 Years Ago This Week



    Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

    Leaving the chart:
    • "The Cheater," Bob Kuban & The In-Men (11 weeks)
    • "Get Ready," The Temptations (7 weeks)
    • "I Fought the Law," Bobby Fuller Four (11 weeks)
    • "Inside, Looking Out," The Animals (7 weeks)
    • "One More Heartache," Marvin Gaye (8 weeks)

    New on the chart:

    "Nothing's Too Good for My Baby," Stevie Wonder

    (#20 US; #4 R&B)

    "The More I See You," Chris Montez

    (#16 US; #2 AC; #3 UK)

    "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore," The Walker Brothers

    (#13 US; #1 UK)

    "A Groovy Kind of Love," The Mindbenders

    (#2 US; #2 UK)

    "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," Bob Dylan

    (#2 US; #7 UK)

    There ya go, Bob! :techman:


    And new on the boob tube:
    • Branded, "Headed for Doomsday"
    • Batman, "The Curse of Tut"
    • Batman, "The Pharaoh's in a Rut"
    • Gilligan's Island, "'V' for Vitamins"
    • The Wild Wild West, "The Night of the Murderous Spring"
    • Hogan's Heroes, "Cupid Comes to Stalag 13"
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2021
  5. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    That's a toe tapper.

    Pleasant enough.

    Ditto.

    Now here's a Happy 60s classic.

    Uber Classic from the unique world of Robert Zimmerman.

    Who says Bob Dylan has no sense of humor? :rommie:
     
  6. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

    Joined:
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    50 Years Ago This Week




    Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

    Leaving the chart:
    • "Amos Moses," Jerry Reed (24 weeks)
    • "Cried Like a Baby," Bobby Sherman (9 weeks)
    • "One Bad Apple," The Osmonds (15 weeks)
    • "Take Me Home, Country Roads," John Denver (1 week)
    • "When You Dance I Can Really Love," Neil Young (1 week)

    New on the chart:

    "Albert Flasher," The Guess Who

    (#29 US)

    "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be," Carly Simon

    (#10 US; #6 AC)

    "Bridge Over Troubled Water," Aretha Franklin

    (#6 US; #40 AC; #1 R&B)

    "Brand New Me," Aretha Franklin

    (#6 US, #1 R&B as double A-side w/ "Bridge Over Troubled Water"; #72 AC)


    And new on the boob tube:
    • Ironside, "Walls Are Waiting" (season finale)

    _______

    Not one of his bigger classics, but enjoyable in its own right if you ignore its similarity to "Uptight".

    Makes the elevator ride a little more bearable.

    (Ugh, I can't even imagine getting in an elevator nowadays...)

    Enjoyable in its own right if you ignore their similarity to that other Brothers act.

    Enjoyable in its own right if you forget that Phil Collins covered it in the '80s. Interestingly, the Mindbenders' version was also a cover...

    Surprising that this did so well as a single in a time so prudish...it must have been benefitting from that thing where people were still associating the term "stoned" with getting drunk.

    On that note, I was reminded of the reason why the Shadows of Knight version of "Gloria" did better as a single than Them's original...the Shadows replaced the line "she comes to my room," which was considered too objectionable for radio.
     
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2021
  7. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Well, that was odd.

    This is a great song.

    That's a very different interpretation. Sounds nice enough, but the original is the original.

    Now this is the Aretha I want to hear.

    Think of it as a turbolift.

    Which I had. :rommie:

    Interesting indeed. I've never heard this version or of these ladies.

    Amazing. :rommie:
     
  8. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    _______

    50th Anniversary Viewing

    _______

    Hogan's Heroes
    "Rockets or Romance"
    Originally aired April 4, 1971
    Series finale
    The prisoners are on a work detail filling shell holes when Major Heintzen (Norman Alden) drives up with a flat tire and insists that the prisoners change it...eventually threatening to shoot Hogan. But as Schultz and the others go to change it, it turns out that the Major is a contact, sharing intel with Hogan about the three mobile rocket launchers...one of which Hogan is tasked with finding. Then the launcher drives right past them to the stalag. The prisoners listen via coffee pot when Burkhalter visits to explain that the launcher will be used against England the next day. Mama Bear informs Hogan that they'll have to take out that launcher themselves. There's also the matter of having to radio the bombers to the other locations from a lookout shack, which is considered a suicide mission because of radio detection trucks in the area. Hogan volunteers, and his underground aide there turns out to be Lily Frankel (Marlyn Mason, reprising a role that she originally played in "Six Lessons from Madame LaGrange"). Back at the stalag, the prisoners try to gain access to their launcher in broad daylight by distracting Klink with food business, but Burkhalter gets on top of the situation.

    Hogan uses the opportunity to get flirty with Lily, but as the bombers approach, their mission is stymied by the launchers not being in sight of the shack. When the prisoners contact Hogan for advice about taking out their launcher, Lily comes up with the idea of sabotaging its gyroscope. One of the trucks picks up their coded exchange with the bombers...with the prisoners hearing the news when Klink gets a call. More food business gets LeBeau and Carter close enough to use a magnetic device in a stove to mess with the gyroscope, while Newkirk and Baker go out into the woods with a transmitter to decoy the truck. Hogan and Lily watch as the bombers hit their targets, then are about to get on with other business when their saviors drop by the shack.

    In the coda, Hogan is back in camp to activate the magnetic device himself as Klink launches the last rocket, only to watch it go wild and end up dropping in the vicinity of the Burkhalter's house.

    I did not catch a reference to Munich, but it may have been cut for syndication.

    And that's the end of the show, though I'll soon be getting back to those missed February episodes, after which I'll be circling back to the first season as delayed 55th anniversary viewing.

    DISSS-missed!

    _______

    All in the Family
    "The First and Last Supper"
    Originally aired April 6, 1971
    Season finale
    The episode opens with Archie reading from the Bible over the dinner table because he and Mike are in the middle of an argument over evolution, which transitions to Mike and Gloria's criticism of the bad things done in God's name, which has Archie making repeated use of a racial slur in reference to the Vietnamese. After Archie leaves the room to shave, Lionel arrives to tell everyone that Edith accepted an invitation from the Jeffersons to come over for dinner, which Edith has clearly kept mum about. In addition to what you'd expect, the situation is complicated by Archie having tickets for a Mets game that night. When Archie comes down, Gloria breaks part of the news, and she and Edith try to explain the situation while remaining evasive about who's invited them to dinner. When the Jeffersons' name is finally dropped, it takes Archie a moment to realize who they are. Archie expresses his objections in ways that would never make it onto TV today, and brings up how he's been working with Jim McNabb on a petition to keep other black families out of the neighborhood. Archie calls Mrs. J with an excuse about Edith having a twisted ankle, following which Lionel promptly drops by again, plays Archie a bit by informing him that Mr. J isn't keen to break bread with "whitey" either, and maneuvers them into having the Jeffersons bring the dinner to the Bunker home.

    Mike and Gloria prepare to leave for the Mets game, with Archie having some words about Gloria's hot pants. Mr. McNabb (Bill Benedict) comes by with the pledge as the Jeffersons are about to arrive, and Archie tries to rush him out the back door; but he's still there to witness Louise coming in with That's Not George (Mel Stewart), whom Edith invites to sit in Archie's chair. Not George finds the petition, making a crack about the Unwelcome Wagon. Not George also notices Archie's Apollo 14 ashtray and the debate commences with the subject of spending $20 billion to send people to the Moon to hit golf balls; which transitions into an argument over whether God and Jesus are white or black; which transitions into black athletes and back to white astronauts; and climaxes with a repeated exchange of raspberries between Archie and Mr. J. Edith is caught on her feet and confesses to the lie about her injury; and Louise in turn confesses that the Mr. J present is actually George's brother Henry...who informs Archie that George is at Shea Stadium catching the Mets game.

    In the coda, Archie's reluctant to admit how much he enjoyed the dinner.

    According to the mini-documentaries, Henry had to fill in for George because Norman Lear had Sherman Hemsley in mind to play George from the get-go, but he wasn't available for the episode.

    _______

    Adam-12
    "Log 125: Safe Job"
    Originally aired April 8, 1971
    Season finale
    The episode goes straight into the officers getting their first call, about a 459 safecracking at a record store. (Album covers on display that I recognized, both recent, were American Beauty and Dylan's New Morning.) The method used on the safe matches a known perp who's now out of prison named Johnny Delaney. Following up on a suggestion from the detective on the scene, Reed and Malloy visit Delaney (Michael O'Shea), who lives in their patrol area. They find that he's now taking care of an orphaned niece and nephew, both tykes, and that they're currently pretending to be on vacation, which includes leaving papers and milk bottles in front of the house. Delaney takes great pride in his skill at his old craft, and he and Malloy tell Reed about how Malloy busted him years prior because he'd left his lunch pail at the site of one of his jobs, with his name and address in it! He tips them off to a nearby boutique that has a similar safe, which is the type that his signature method is used on.

    Next the officers respond to a 415 fight at a motel, where they find a man with a bruised face who registered with a woman under obvious aliases. He's evasive at first, then identifies himself as Albert Cook (Charles Robinson), and tells of how a woman he brought there robbed him with the help of a male accomplice. He was willing to let the matter go until he noticed that they took a Saint Christopher medal that stopped a bullet for him back in 'Nam. They see the woman, Lisa Bonelli (Mary Angela), who tearfully tells them that the man she was working with, Antonio, brought her to America after the death of her husband (his distant cousin) to make her work for him by holding her baby hostage; and produces the medal, which she says she's been using to pray. The officers bring a couple of detectives with them to bust Antonio Minetti (James Luisi). Malloy finds the baby lying in an open drawer and returns her to her mother.

    That night the officers scope out the boutique that Delaney told them about, and see a flashlight in use. After summoning backup and the shop's alarm service, they enter to find the safe job interrupted while in progress, and after searching for the culprits, pretend to both leave while Malloy stays behind in the dark. Delaney's niece and nephew, Denise and Danny (Victoria Paige Meyerink and Todd Starke), promptly come out of hiding to finish their work. When they're caught, they indicate that it's part of a game that they're playing with Uncle Johnny, which involves them hiding in stores until after closing time, and that the things they're taking belong to him. Delaney is intercepted coming to pick them up and arrested. He says that he was only doing it to get college money for the kids; and Malloy speculates that, as with the last time he was busted, Delaney signaled what the next job would be because he really wanted to get caught. The officers indicate that a good home will be found for the children.

    _______

    Yeah.

    I find it all the more impressive with age and immersive retro context. Sort of a song of Boomer (more or less) growing pains, informed by the emerging Women's Lib movement. Note that it's the woman who has cold feet here, and how she'd like to get out on her own for a while rather than move from one dependent situation to another.

    This is Carly's big breakout as a solo artist, but her professional musical career goes back to 1964, when she and sister Lucy had some modest success as a folk duo:


    The rearrangement couldn't help giving me the impression that she'd rather have been singing a different song.

    Also a cover, of Dusty Springfield's last Top 40 hit in '69, but done more straight up.

    Only if McCoy's on it with his tricorder and medkit.

    Nor had I. From what I read, I don't think it was even released in the States.
     
  9. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Interesting finale, and it makes me wonder if they knew it was the last episode when it was being put together. It was set close to the end of the war, so maybe so. But the return of a former guest star implies that they may have intended to bring her back as a recurring character, so maybe not-- or maybe they intended to imply that she and Hogan would get together after the war, but didn't. The close call with Burkhalter gave them a chance to kill him off. It's almost like they planned to make it more of a finale, but couldn't because the network or studio required that episodes be showable in any order. I'm probably just overthinking it, but it makes me think about what a M*A*S*H-style finale would have looked like.

    They really brought it all out for the final act. :rommie:

    That's interesting. He was such a perfect counterpart to Archie, it was wise of Lear to wait for him. I'm having another Stretch Cunningham moment, because the way I remembered it, the other guy played George for a while, then they recast the part and explained it by saying that the real George didn't want to meet his White neighbors.

    Hmm. Product placement or serendipity?

    I love it when they meet an old buddy of Malloy who turns out to be somebody he busted. :rommie:

    That's evidence! You should know better, Malloy!

    Double shift, I guess.

    Indeed, while also being written to express a more universal dissatisfaction with the conventional lifestyle. The song certainly spoke to me when I first heard it.

    Interesting. Very folksy.

    :rommie:

    He's a doctor, not a damn elevator operator.
     
  10. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    _______

    50th Anniversary Viewing Revisited

    _______

    The Mod Squad
    "Child of Sorrow, Child of Light"
    Originally aired March 18, 1969
    The episode opens with Trish Whalen (Fredricka Meyers), accompanied by a friend, Maryann (Heidi Vaughn), confronting Mr. and Mrs. Jackson (Foster Brooks and Claudia Bryar) about how she wants the baby that they've adopted back, though they thought they'd settled the matter through a lawyer. When the girls leave, their car explodes while a shady fellow looks on. Trish is killed, but Maryann is thrown clear and hospitalized, so Greer puts Julie in the hospital as a pregnant patient recovering from an attempted overdose of sleeping pills. Julie acts insular and edgy about being questioned by cops to draw out Maryann's talky side.

    Meanwhile, Linc visits the Jacksons, who own a motel, posing as a credit & loan man to nose around. He meets their adopted infant son, Daniel, and catches a lawyer named Del Vecchio trying to call. Meanwhile, Pete catches a guy coming out of Bliss House, which Maryann is using as an address, tails him, and learns that his name is Phil Moreno. Greer identifies him as a racketeer with a history of assault and has him busted; and turns up that the owner of the house, Iris Potter (Ida Lupino), used to run a call girl racket. So Pete visits Potter posing as a colleague of Phil's looking for work.

    Maryann talks, and clams up when the shady guy, Milo (Dan Travanty, a.k.a. Daniel J. Travanti), pops in to take her home, acting really creepy and overbearing. Maryann fearfully swears that she didn't talk to anyone. She also points Milo to Julie, thinking she'd fit in at the house, so Milo goes into creepy recruitment mode. Meanwhile, Linc visits the office of Del Vecchio (William Zuckert), pressing him for info about Will Jackson by claiming that Jackson listed Del Vecchio as a business reference. The lawyer claims never to have heard of Trish, but knows that she was a young lady. Greer, who's operating under the cover of running a used car lot for some reason, sends Linc to the house disguised as a repairman to place bugs. At the house, Pete greets Julie at the door, and Milo takes her to meet "Aunt Iris," who in turn takes her and Pete out in the field for a meeting with Del Schaeffer (Alan Baxter), a well-to-do man whose recently adopted baby is said to resemble Julie. Iris starts playing hardball with him about finalizing the adoption, presenting Julie as the baby's mother, who wants her back.

    Pete and Julie report to Greer that with Pete's help, they milked Schaeffer for $10,000; and Greer tells them that Maryann's body was just found under a pier. Linc goes to work fake-checking the house wiring, and Del Vecchio visits to warn Iris about Linc's visit while he's there, though he avoids being spotted. Iris brings house physician Dr. Reston (Jim Boles) to examine Julie...so she confesses that she's not pregnant and improvises a story about how she was looking for a place to stay. They keep her in the scam, and when they leave to visit another client, Pete digs out Iris's ledger and runs through its contents while speaking in the bug...but is caught by the doctor, who sneaks up and chloroforms him, then calls Del Vecchio, turning him onto the news that Julie may be fuzz (having somehow figured that out for himself). At a park rendezvous, Iris pulls the same scam on the Washenskis (Fred Holliday and Susan Brown), and Mrs. W pleads with Julie very dramatically, bringing up a history of breakdowns, such that Julie blows the scam to reassure her that they won't take her baby. Iris and Milo start to drag Julie away when Del Vecchio arrives, with Greer and the boys in blue hot on his tail. Julie helps take Iris into custody and a brief park chase ensues in which Greer nabs Del Vecchio and Linc tackles Milo.

    In the coda, the Mods commiserate by the park's lake about the unpleasantness of what they have to do for the job and wonder how the pregnant girls ended up in Bliss House, then do their walk-off.

    _______

    WWWs4e22.jpg
    "The Night of the Cossacks"
    Originally aired March 21, 1969
    Jim makes a Vasquez Rocks rendezvous with the caravan of Prince Gregor of Karovnia (Guy Stockwell), but is attacked by some of his cavalry...as a test...while the sinister Count Balkovitch (John Van Dreelen) watches from afar. Jim is to escort Gregor and his party to the largely Russian settlement of New Petersburg. He meets Gregor's aunt, Duchess Sophia (Nina Foch), whose husband, the grand duke, was recently killed by Balkovitch; Gregor's sister, Princess Lina (Jennifer Douglas, a.k.a. Mary Frann), who was educated in Western Europe; and Captain Zaboff (Donnelly Rhodes) of Gregor's guard, whose dislike for West grows throughout the episode. Gregor and his party proceed to enjoy the hospitality of a successful Karovnian immigrant named Petrovsky (Oscar Beregi). Gregor's servant, Maria (Alizia Gur, the other fighting gypsy girl in From Russia with Love), dances on a table, which everyone enjoys but the prudish Lina, who makes a scene and causes Maria to run crying to the stable. Gregor goes after her and tries to comfort her...but is ambushed by several men in the rafters, and is rescued by Jim's intervention.

    In New Petersburg, Artie pays a visit to the local sheriff (Norman Leavitt), who's anticipating from local scuttlebutt that blood's about to be spilled between Gregor's and Balkovitch's parties, and plans to keep his head low and stay out of it, to Artie's disdain. Back at Petrovsky's place, Gregor explains to Jim that he and Balkovitch are both after the sacred MacGuff...icon, which was brought to New Petersburg by Karovnia's bishop and would establish its holder as the rightful ruler. Balkovitch pays a social call to suggest a merger via marrying him to Lina, while Zaboff's men are drugged via spiked liquor. Artie hooks up with Jim and company, while Lina, lured outside by a note from somebody she knows, is abducted by Balkovitch, who tries to get the location of the icon out of her via branding iron. Jim intervenes, but ends up falling onto a ledge in a pit with boiling water below--what else are piton pistols for?

    Gregor's party arrives in New Petersburg, where Gregor and Jim call upon Bishop Kucharyk (Ivan Triesault). After the prince and the bishop exchange a passphrase and engage in the customary joining of broken medallion halves, the bishop produces the icon. Soon afterward, Balkovitch offers a trade of Lina for the icon. Jim returns from an outing carrying an unconscious prisoner whom he says will reveal the traitor in Gregor's camp. This turns out to be a ruse to cause the traitor to expose themselves...and it proves to be Duchess Sophia, as Artie had already deduced from having the note translated. Jim sneaks into the upper level of Balkovitch's lodging while Artie distracts the count and his men by posing as the icon-bearing bishop. Jim frees Lina and a brawl ensues in which Jim and Obvious Artie Stunt Double mop up Balkovitch's men...with the sheriff showing up after it's over to take them into custody.

    The coda finds Zaboff apologizing to Jim, and Gregor announcing his intention to marry Maria. The train does not appear in this episode.

    Note that while we still have a couple of episodes to go in airdate order, this was the final episode of the series in production order.

    _______

    I imagine that they knew it was the final season, but I think you are overthinking it. Proper series finales were a rare bird in those days, and they may not have known while it was in production that this would be the last episode aired. It played like any other episode, which is what I'd expect in this era.

    I wouldn't be surprised if in this case they knew this would be the season finale...it was definitely an event episode.

    Henry might be back before the real George is revealed, I haven't checked.

    I figured just authenticity.

    :lol:

    I was under the impression from previous episodes that their watch is from sometime in the afternoon into the night.
     
  11. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    He's actually moonlighting.

    Greer realizes this is much better than the used-car gig.

    Much less dramatic than blowing her up in a car. What was that all about, anyway?

    Four out of five TV doctors recommend chloroform.

    That's not the only thing I'm wondering about. Like why bother to use pregnant girls to run the scam when non-pregnant girls would work as well or better. And why Trish and Maryann were killed-- and why the first attempt was a flashy car bombing.

    Every week another test. I think his patience is being tested at this point. :rommie:

    Joanna on Newhart.

    Guy just hasn't been tested enough.

    The fabled Votus Electoricus.

    He's still too sick to be an action hero. :(

    It was out looking for work on Gunsmoke and Petticoat Junction.

    They just loved showing things out of order. :rommie:

    My specialty. :rommie:

    I wonder if patrol cops really get follow-up assignments like that. It seems more like something that would be assigned to detectives.
     
  12. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    _______

    50th Anniversary Viewing Revisited

    _______

    The Mod Squad
    "Captain Greer, Call Surgery"
    Originally aired April 1, 1969
    The story opens with the Mods already embedded in Metropolitan Hospital, and Greer making contact with ambulance driver Pete while pretending to be a visitor, carrying flowers. He also sees orderly Linc being chewed out by chief nurse Delores Sutton (Kim Hamilton)...who's then attacked by a hoodlum (an uncredited Charles Horvath) in the linen closet, but not too severely. Student nurse (I assume--like a candy striper outfit without the stripes) Julie rubs down terminal patient Mr. Butorac (David Opatoshu), and learns of his estranged relationship with his son, Mike (Solomon Sturges), who's also an orderly there. Greer questions Sutton in the office of the administrator (Willis Bouchey), who's in on the undercover operation to sniff out a potential narcotics robbery; and Linc starts to take a liking to Delores, who also runs a nursing school in Watts. A creepy man with glasses (Edward Andrews) approaches Sutton, who's apparently worked for him before but wants out.

    Pete "gains the confidence" of a nurse named Holly (Sheilah Wells), but after he drops her off from a date, he hears her scream from outside and finds her comatose. Greer comes to investigate and dismisses Lt. Howard (Frank Schuller), who isn't in on the secret, so he can talk to Pete. At the hospital, we find that both attacks were to persuade Delores to cooperate...but Linc sees her with Mr. Glasses and figures that he's up to no good, and we see that he's using Mike as well. Delores pilfers the requested drugs and passes them to Mike, who delivers them down to the garage...all while Linc shadows them. Mike pockets some of the drugs, and leaves the bag, where it's picked up by the hood...who senses Linc following him, circles behind him, and gives him the TV Fu treatment.

    Going through the book at HQ, Linc identifies his attacker as Ernie Sachs, a.k.a. Samson. Linc has told the other Mods, but not Greer, about Delores's involvement--DRINK! Back at the hospital, Julie learns that Butorac deserted his wife and son ten years earlier, but wants to reconcile before he dies. Holly recovers, and Pete shows her a picture of Sachs, but she doesn't recognize him. Linc visits Delores at home to ask her what's going on, trying to persuade her by describing speed addiction, and telling her what he saw at the hospital. When she's incredulous because he's just an orderly, he tosses her his ID. Now cooperative, she identifies the man with glasses as Vineland, who's been blackmailing her with a narco charge from her youth. What neither of them knows is that Sachs is bugging her apartment, and records their conversation.

    Linc comes up missing, and Vineland confronts Delores about her conversation with Linc. Mike visits his father and talks to him as he's nearing the end, and Butorac is able to die satisfied, encouraging his son with his last words to to stand on his own feet as a man. Julie sees Mike suffering symptoms while grieving over the time he wasted not speaking to his father, and gets him help. Then Delores comes up missing, too, and Pete and Julie find her outside on the edge of the roof. Pete goes up to talk her down, asking her about Linc. She tells Pete that they've killed him, and they rush to the funeral home that Vineland runs, where Vineland's about to shoot Linc up with something and treat him to a complimentary service. Greer gets there in time with a couple of uniformed officers, and Pete arrives to chase the escaping Vineland back inside, taking him down quickly.

    Delores steps down as chief nurse and leaves the hospital with Greer. Pete expresses his confidence to the others that she'll bounce back from this, and the Mods don't really walk off, they just start getting in the woodie as the camera zooms out.

    _______

    WWWs4e23.jpg
    "The Night of the Plague"
    Originally aired April 4, 1969
    A stage is stopped to give Jim, not in his usual attire, a lift; then its passengers are mysteriously stranded in a town, while the stage proceeds with dummies inside and a Wells Fargo box, and is tailed by Jim. One indignant passenger (Lana Wood) sneaks aboard so she can get to Fort Cordovan. The coach driver, Ben (Steve Raines), stops to intervene in a lynching, and it turns out to be a ruse to rob the coach. Then Jim reveals himself, and has the upper hand on the whole gang of robbers until the girl unexpectedly pops out of the coach and is taken hostage. The gang rides off with her and the box, except for one bandit whom Jim shoots while for trying to get in a parting shot. Ben takes the bandit to a doctor and summons Artie. The doctor immediately inoculates Artie and Ben for Noguri's Syndrome, a rare Asian disease. The outlaw dies, but not before deliriously quoting Hamlet.

    Colonel Richmond and a Mr. Guild from the territorial banking commission (John Hoyt) call on Artie at the train, but Artie can't make a move until he gets some info from Washington that will help him to determine where Jim might be. Elsewhere, the bandits open the box to find that it's a phony; and the girl attempts to bargain with them by revealing that she's the territorial governor's daughter, Averi Trent. A bandit is sent to the fort, but waylaid by Jim, and ends up falling to his death during the struggle, though Jim finds the ransom note that was on him. Jim proceeds to the bandits' camp and uses a telescoping, windup arrow-firing gadget to cause a diversion so that he can sneak into the other side of the camp and grab Averi, but she puts up a fight and he's caught by the bandits. Meanwhile, word of Averi's identity has gotten out, and the bandit leader (William Bryant) having also quoted from The Merchant of Venice indicates that the visiting Olympic theater troupe may be involved, so Artie proceeds to the town where they're playing.

    Staking out a bar, Artie seizes an opening in the troupe, auditioning on the spot when they find their Falstaff too drunk to perform at an adjoining table; and then being persuaded by a gun when he acts uninterested. He searches the dressing room of the troupe leader, Malcolm Lansing (James Lanphier), and finds a dressing trunk with a false back that has loads of cash behind it. He also finds a signed photo that indicates that the bandit leader is Duncan Lansing, his brother. He then gives Malcolm a forged note from Duncan asking Malcolm to come meet him immediately. Back at the bandit camp, Averi continues to be treated as an honored guest by Duncan while Jim is trussed to a wagon wheel. Jim gets loose and takes Averi prisoner, riding off with her on a horse that rides up out of nowhere.

    Averi accuses Jim of spoiling her plan, so he shows her the ransom letter, which threatens her death. As they continue to try to stay ahead of the bandits, Averi tells him that her fiance, Donald, is waiting at the fort. Figuring that the heat will soon be on them, the bandits abandon the pursuit to go their hideout, Red Rock Cave. Jim follows them to the cave and tussles with several guards outside, but the others come out armed. Then Malcolm rides up and Averi tries to get him to help, but they nab her and take her in the cave while the firefight continues. Artie rides up in their wake and immediately inoculates Jim. Jim sneaks in the cave and nabs Averi while Duncan and some of his men start to succumb to the disease. From behind cover, Jim and Artie clue them in to what's going on and persuade them to surrender in order to receive the serum; after which Averi burns their infected money.

    In the coda, Donald arrives at the train to pick up Averi, causing Jim and Artie to do a double take, as he's played by Robert Conrad with a mustache.

    _______

    I wasn't 100% clear on how they normally operated or what was going on at the beginning, but I assume that their normal M.O. is to actually use pregnant girls because that's also where they get the babies from. Trish went back on the deal on her own because she actually did want her baby back.

    The latter only had another year to go at this point.

    Seems like the whole Delaney affair was on their own initiative, but yeah, it is the kind of thing that Malloy was lecturing Reed about early in Season 1.
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2021
  13. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2003
    Location:
    RJDiogenes of Boston
    The greatest creepy man with glasses ever-- his tour de force is "Third From The Sun."

    Is that what the kids are calling it these days? Er... those days?

    :rommie:

    Was she konked on the head or injected with something or what?

    Well, that's a little condescending. :rommie:

    Pretty messy way to go when you've got all those drugs-- not to mention inconsistent thematically.

    Cute, but probably self-defeating evil-plan-wise.

    Yeah, Edward Andrews was great, but not much of a physical threat. :rommie:

    I think I saw this one before MeTV dropped the show, too.

    So Ben is also Secret Service or somesuch? I was thinking it was cool that a random stagecoach driver would stop to intervene in a lynching.

    I wonder if he was drinking Falstaff beer. :rommie:

    "Have things come full circle for our hero? Is this his final roll? Tune in tomorrow!"

    He's got a horse whistle in his utility belt.

    Hmm. Seems like there was no setup for that. It also seems like it should have been "Night of the Shakespeareans" or "Night of the Governor's Daughter," rather than "Night of the Plague."

    Oh, so it was a Black Market Baby thing. I thought they were just scamming people who never met their baby donor, like they were doing with Julie.
     
  14. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2002
    Location:
    The Old Mixer, Somewhere in Connecticut
    _______

    50th Anniversary Viewing Revisited

    _______

    WWWs4e24.jpg
    "The Night of the Tycoons"
    Originally aired April 11, 1969
    Series finale
    Jim rides into Denver to pay a call on the offices of the Jupiter Corporation, and enters the boardroom just in time to foil an attempt to bomb it via a grinder monkey in a cavalry outfit who climbed in via the window. Afterward, chairman of the board Amelia Bronston (Jo Van Fleet) and her secretary, Kyra Vanders (Joanie Sommers), enter the room, and Bronston openly lampshades the suspicious timing. Jim tells of how two of the defense contractor's board members have already been killed and a letter indicating murder was received by President Grant. While she supports West's credentials, Bronston votes no on a motion to allow him a free hand in seeing to the board's security.

    Jim later meets with a board member named Gorhan (Tol Avery), who admits to having written the letter. He tells Jim of how the two killed board members were planning to engage in a scheme to dump their stocks on the market to cause a panic; but a woman enters Jim's restaurant booth as a distraction while Gorhan is taken outside and killed. Some acrobatic, multi-story tussling ensues, but Jim loses. Jim then pays Bronston a visit via piton pistol and winch gadget after being denied entrance, and she explains her disdain of the board for their obstructionism while her deceased brother was building the corporation up. Their conversation is interrupted by her nephew Lionel's (Steve Carlson) boxing practice; and West gets on his bad side by revealing that he's using weighted gloves. Then he drops the bombshell that he believes Simon Bronston was also murdered.

    This causes the Bronstons to come calling at the train, after which Amelia strongarms the board into accepting a motion to make Jim acting chairman to see to its security, and forces Lionel to assist him. After Jim proves who the alpha dog is between scenes, Lionel goes to work investigating the dump-and-panic scheme, and turns up an address used by several buyers. He checks the place out himself to find that it's a circus-themed bar, and ends up in a back room with several toughs. After getting the address from Kyra, who's seeing Lionel, Jim follows up and ends up attacked by an explosive ball-tossing trained seal, a pin-juggler, and a group of clowns (one of whom is Red West). Jim overcomes them all to find Lionel trussed up in the back room, and the two of them discover a replica of the Jupiter boardroom with dummies in the seats...except for a couple of people made up to look like dummies, who take them by surprise during the commercial.

    With the help of an acid pellet in Jim's shoe, he and Lionel work together to free themselves from a deathtrap involving being tied in chairs with a large crossbow set to fire on them by means of a burning candle. They rush to the real boardroom just in time to save the board from a mass execution via machine gun, following which Amelia enters to reveal that she's the one behind it all, having been the secret brains behind the corporation while her brother was running it as her puppet, and that she was the one buying the stocks. She threatens to kill them all with a grenade, but backs into an accidentally open elevator shaft.

    In the coda, Lionel visits the train to thank West, announce that he's been made the new chairman, and invite Jim to his and Kyra's wedding. Like Trek and That Girl, the series ends on a note of misogyny. Earlier in the episode, Jim had made a comment to Amelia about having issues with women who don't acknowledge that it's a man's world. His last line in the series is telling Lionel that "you gotta break these women in right".

    In production order, this was the last episode before Ross Martin's return; but unlike the episode produced before it, there's no mention of Artie or his absence here.

    _______

    And I vaguely remembered him having popped up in something else recently...glancing over his credits, probably an H5O.

    The kid kops, at least. Solid.

    Beaten or strangled, I think. The idea was intimidation.

    Oh, there was more where that came from. Their main bonding scene was on an elevator, in which she was speculating about how he seemed too good for pushing a broom. And for his part, he was affecting something of a laid-back slacker persona.

    Eh, she was distraught, it was dramatic.

    Then it must have been someplace else, or much earlier when they'd previously run the episode.

    That much wasn't clear.

    Same West-Time? Same West-Channel?

    I thought that might have come up before, but I didn't catch him using it. Actually, he has a utility Spanish-style jacket, whatever you call those things...except he wasn't wearing it this episode.

    Indeed, there was no sign of recognition or acknowledgment of the resemblance on her part.
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2021
  15. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2003
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    RJDiogenes of Boston
    Did they have organ grinders in the Wild West?

    President Grant gets a lot of mail.

    The Circus of Crime! Where's Princess Python?

    I'm a little surprised we weren't getting "Biff!" and "Pow!" during the fights at this point.

    And another villain defeats herself by taking a nasty fall.

    Sexism, not misogyny. Pet peeve. But at least it makes more sense in the context of a period piece than it does on feminist or futurist shows.

    It's a real shame that the last episode that aired was missing Artie.

    He was all over the place in those days. One of my favorite character actors.

    Overthinking it again, I would have had her overdose while the bad guys shot up Linc, then parallel their emergency treatment, and have them meet up in recovery. More drama and some closure for their brief, episodic relationship, which they don't seem to have had.

    Must be my memory playing tricks, because I don't think there was anyplace else showing it.

    He certainly manages to carry a lot of stuff with him. :rommie:
     
  16. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2002
    Location:
    The Old Mixer, Somewhere in Connecticut
    _______

    50th Anniversary Viewing Revisited

    _______

    The Mod Squad
    "The Girl in Chair Nine"
    Originally aired September 23, 1969
    Season 2 premiere
    So...how 'bout that Moon landing, huh?

    The episode opens with "paragnost"/clairvoyant Dr. Eric Santos (Cesare Danova) in the college classroom of Professor Aaron Tanner (John Stephenson), reading impressions from numbered chairs of the students who will soon be randomly occupying them. His impressions are remarkably accurate--including of Julie, describing the double life she leads with two men in vague detail. Chair number 9 remains unoccupied, as he predicted. The missing student is Gail Whitney (Veronica Cartwright), and Santos has flashes of her tied up to a bed. At HQ, Julie is trying to get a skeptical Greer involved when he receives a call about a notification that Gail Whitney has been kidnapped, but without a ransom demand.

    Greer doesn't want Santos involved, but Mrs. Whitney (Angela Greene) insists, and the psychic is able to describe a person of interest from impressions. Linc is assigned to tail Santos in a very efficient manner, by acting as his driver. Santos describes how he was an architectural engineer who gained his abilities after an auto accident, his first vision being of the murder of his wife and daughter. Then he receives more detailed flashes of the suspect, indicating that she's at a coffee house. Elsewhere, Julie hears from a fellow student, Barbara (Iris Rainer), that Gail's actually out of town dealing with a certain condition. Julie claims to be in the same condition (because she has experience playing that), and Barbara points her to the guy who made the arrangements for Gail, Tory Peterson (Gary Crabbe), who hangs out at a hip coffee house. Julie proceeds there and learns that her contact will be the proprietor, Big Mama (Sylvia Hayes), who perfectly matches Santos's description of the person of interest.

    But back with Linc, Santos receives a psychic update that he was getting his women of interest mixed up, and the real one is now an older woman with a hearing aid. Julie arranges to bring Pete along to get her contact info, against Mama's wishes, as her baby daddy and source of funds. Outside the cafe, another student, Jerry Bronson (Robert R. Cannon), who frequents the bookstore across the street, tries frantically to stop Julie based on his religiously informed moral objections. When Julie and Pete go inside, he reports it to the woman who runs the bookstore (Lillian Bronson)...who matches Santos's updated flashes. As Mama is making back-room bus travel arrangements to a location south of the border, Tory comes knocking, desperate to know what happened to Gail as she never checked into the Mexican hotel that's the final destination in the chain. As things gets heated, Julie calls in Greer, and he and the boys in blue take everyone in for questioning.

    Meanwhile, Santos gets more flashes in bed and calls Linc for service in the middle of the night. They're still riding around in the morning when Santos realizes that they've been circling the location of interest. Linc calls Julie with details of the envisioned book shop near a coffee house; then he and Santos locate it. The wheelchair-bound bookstore proprietor identifies herself as Jerry's Aunt Margaret, who acts guileless and indicates that Jerry may be upstairs. But Santos doesn't ring for him with the pull-rope, sensing that Gail is up there, instead opting to call Greer...and we see that Jerry is upstairs, with Gail tied and gagged on his brass bed. It turns out that the baby is his, and he's trying to prevent her from getting the abortion, and is trying to persuade her to marry him instead...though she's understandably resistant to that option. Then he resolves to take her to Mexico, and chloroforms her...cuz yeah, he keeps chloroform in his bedroom with his brass bed and ropes.

    Linc drops his cover to persuade Greer to come running with the boys; and he and Santos decide to bust the joint while they're waiting. Linc breaks in upstairs while Jerry is trying to quietly carry Gail downstairs, where he grabs some cash and a gun from the cash register, but makes enough noise that Auntie M hears him, and then finds himself surrounded by Santos and Linc. He escapes with Julie to his car and is pursued by Greer and his men. When they run him down, Greer tries to reason with him, but Santos intuits that Jerry's gun isn't loaded, boldly approaches him, and is proven right.

    After Greer declares that Jerry will probably be getting psychiatric help and Gail may be granted a legal abortion, he, Santos and the Mods do a walk-off outside the bookshop.

    I'm all for more concise and less spoilerish Wiki descriptions, but the contributor might have mentioned that there was a psychic in the episode. The most unintentionally funny moment was when Santos called Linc in middle of the night, and Linc delivered the standard "Who is this?". How could you be working every day with a guy played by Cesare Danova and not recognize his voice when he calls? Linc must've been pretty out of it!

    _______

    The Mod Squad
    "My Name Is Manolete"
    Originally aired September 30, 1969
    The episode opens with an adult man (Rex Holman) boosting a small, barefoot, Latino boy (Fabian Gregory) through a transom window to open the door of a jeweler's shop. While the man is robbing the place, the boy accidentally trips an alarm. The man immediately splits to get away with the driver (Bruce Watson); but the boy lingers like a deer caught in the headlights and is seen by the proprietor (Hal Smith) when comes downstairs. The boy then flees and hides in a nearby vehicle...which just happens to be the non-woodie station wagon that the Mods are using this week. They drive back to Julie's after a Chinese dinner with Greer, and Pete finds the boy in the back hiding under Julie's sweater. A lighthearted tussle ensues, with the boy putting up a good fight against Pete and Linc combined. After they carry him inside, the boy pretends not to understand English, though Pete speaks Spanish and the boy gives himself away early, so they make a point of saying things in English to get reactions out of him. He tells them that his name is Manolete and claims that he ran away from a cruel aunt named Lupe Lopez who lives in Long Beach. Julie agrees to let him stay the night, though Linc deduces from his own childhood experience that Manolete's story isn't true because his callouses indicate that he's never had shoes, and thus has no family. Manolete sneaks in a call at night to the burglars, and the one who was in the shop, Jonah, tells him to stay put and not say anything.

    Pete and Linc come by in the morning with Manolete's clothes cleaned and a new pair of shoes for him. He admits to having lied to them about his aunt, but still doesn't tell them the truth. They take him to the rooming house of a Lupe Lopez in Long Beach (Alma Beltran), who has a strong negative reaction to him and says that she's not his family...and we see that Jonah and his partner are watching from their room upstairs. The Mods then take Manolete for a picnic and some kite-flying in the park, and call Greer to come, planning to tell him at first...but Greer talks about how he's been investigating the series of jewelry store robberies, and when he tells them about the jeweler having seen a small Mexican boy, they clam up. However, Manolete promptly runs up and outs himself, and Greer plays it cool.

    Over a surprisingly good dinner prepared by Manolete at Julie's, Greer tries to get info out of him without letting on what it's about, and the boy admits to being a thief who was caught by the two hombres while stealing their hubcaps. Greer tells the Mods that even if charges are dropped against Manolete, he's liable to be deported unless they can get him adopted. Pete and Linc go back to the rooming house to bribe information about the burglars from Lopez. She identifies them as Jonah and Marv Richmond, but afterward tells her tenants about it, so the Richmonds determine that they have to silence the kid.

    Greer contacts a couple he knows who already have nine adoptees, Paul and Nora Stedman (Paul Sorensen and Jeane Byron), who have the extended Mod family come to their ranch for Thanksgiving...though neither Manolete nor the Mods are happy that they're not having the more intimate dinner among amigos that they'd been planning. The Stedmans take to Manolete despite his antisocial behavior, but he finds out why he's there from one of the other kids, Leon (Eric Lee), and runs away, feeling that he's been betrayed by his amigos. The Mods return to Julie's to find that Manolete left the shoes there, while the boy returns to the rooming house. Jonah and Marv try to beat info out of the boy, so he makes a run for it, and the Mods arrive in time to intervene in the chase. A playground brawl ensues with Pete and Linc taking the Richmonds down.

    In the coda, the Mods visit the Stedman ranch after Manolete's been living there for a month, and find that he's well-adjusted to his new family. He also admits to one last lie, that his real name is Pepe. Their relationship with the boy have been informed by their own broken home experiences, the Mods are disappointed to find that they're no longer the closest thing he's had to a family, and do a ranch walk-off to their wagon.

    _______

    A quick search indicates that they were around then, so I don't see why not in a city like Denver. I read that they became especially common in New York City around 1880 because of Italian immigration.

    Indeed. He should have stepped down from national office and gotten a syndicated column.

    Is any of this Wild Wilder than in earlier seasons? I guess I'll find out soon enough.

    Contrived to keep our heroes gentlemanly.

    I'll buy that. I always thought the term "misogyny" had become overapplied, but that's what rolled off my keyboard thanks to common exposure.
     
  17. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2003
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    RJDiogenes of Boston
    Mods on the Moon? Ah, The Moon Squad. There's a name for a show. :rommie:

    So Mrs Whitney couldn't find Gail, hired a psychic to read the classroom, Julie was there when he did it, tried to get Greer to investigate based on that but he wouldn't, then Mrs Whitney called in the kidnapping based on the psychic's findings, and they're going with that?

    Hmmm.

    I must be psychic.

    Wouldn't that make it legal?

    And yet, Love, American Style keeps rejecting his scripts.

    All this seems to imply that psychic powers exist in the Modverse.

    Each carrying an Edgar Cayce paperback.

    He was dreaming sweet dreams. :rommie:

    There's something you don't see anymore.

    So unwise in so many ways.

    Drink!

    That kind of turns the corner on this pair.

    He doesn't want to be adopted or he misunderstands their intentions?

    These guys need to fall off a cliff or down an elevator shaft.

    They should have done that the other way around.

    Well, Julie's been practicing being pregnant....

    Yeah, it seems like an urban, back East kind of thing. Interesting.

    There's an interesting alternate universe. :rommie:

    Maybe I'm just noticing it more. It's definitely Wilder than season one, but it was probably a gradual Wilding process.

    That was my thought, but then I remembered the guy who adopted his arch enemy's identity went off the cliff.
     
  18. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2002
    Location:
    The Old Mixer, Somewhere in Connecticut
    55 Years Ago This Week



    Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

    Leaving the chart:
    • "Elusive Butterfly," Bob Lind (13 weeks)
    • "Listen People," Herman's Hermits (9 weeks)
    • "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)," Four Tops (9 weeks)

    Re-entering the chart:

    "Gloria," Them
    (charted May 22, 1965, reaching #93 US; reaches #71 US this run; #208 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)


    New on the chart:

    "Hold On! I'm Comin'," Sam & Dave

    (#21 US; #1 R&B)

    "Double Shot (of My Baby's Love)," Swingin' Medallions

    (#17 US)

    "Dirty Water," The Standells

    (#11 US)

    "Barefootin'," Robert Parker

    (#7 US; #2 R&B; #24 UK)

    "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?," Nancy Sinatra

    (#7 US; #19 UK)


    And new on the boob tube:
    • The Ed Sullivan Show, Season 18, episode 31
    • Branded, "Cowards Die Many Times"
    • Batman, "The Bookworm Turns"
    • Batman, "While Gotham City Burns"
    • Gilligan's Island, "Mr. and Mrs. ???"
    • The Wild Wild West, "The Night of the Sudden Plague" (season finale)
    • Hogan's Heroes, "The Flame Grows Higher"
    • Get Smart, "Shipment to Beirut"

    _______

    Stan prefers The Miraculous Moon Mods.

    Nonono...he wasn't hired first, he was at the classroom on a speaking tour gig (said to be promoting a book by the skeptical Greer). He read the chairs before class, while they were empty, and the professor recorded what he said. Then the class came in, chose their own chairs, and the tape was played, with his impressions from three chairs, identified by their numbers. Nobody in the class knew that Gail had been kidnapped except Jerry; and the one girl knew she'd be absent because she was getting an abortion, but didn't tell the class. Mrs. Whitney got a note about Gail (apparently a ruse on Jerry's part), but without a ransom demand. Santos apparently showed up at Whitney's place on his own (and was said to have worked with the police before in other cities), and she was a believer.

    They were killed in a violent uprising while he was out of town; he had the accident while trying to rush back home.

    TV wasn't ready for that yet!

    Indeed...no attempt was made to make him look fraudulent in the episode, and we were omnisciently privy to his very accurate visions.

    Fairly innocent in those days.

    Well...at least they were planning to tell Greer before they found out the kid was involved in a crime.

    At the time, he wanted the Mods to be his family.

    Who needs that when Linc and Pete can do the job...? (And their stunt doubles can do dramatic leaps off playground equipment, of course.)

    He chose his alias in an attempt to intimidate the Mods, as it was the name of a famous bullfighter.

    Ask President Carter - SNL - YouTube

    Everything after Season 1 was Wilder, because it was The Wild Wild West...IN COLOR!

    Well, he was an elder fellow. They may have also been attempting to evoke Holmes's fake death.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2021
  19. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2003
    Location:
    RJDiogenes of Boston
    This is a good one.

    This is okay.

    This is a fave. :rommie:

    Fun, Summery song.

    Yeah, boots, walking, we get it.

    I like it. :D

    Ah, okay, I get it.

    True.

    It's not like they're cops or anything. :rommie:

    Aww. He could have been their Rick Jones or Snapper Carr.

    Yeah, but they can't send them to their poetically just deaths.

    Oh, cool.

    That's great. A man of the people. :rommie:

    I consider myself fortunate to have been alive when scientists discovered color.

    That's exactly why I thought they were planning to bring him back.
     
  20. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2002
    Location:
    The Old Mixer, Somewhere in Connecticut
    _______

    50 Years Ago This Week



    Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

    Leaving the chart:
    • "Free," Chicago (9 weeks)
    • "You're All I Need to Get By," Aretha Franklin (9 weeks)

    New on the chart:

    "I Don't Know How to Love Him," Yvonne Elliman

    (#28 US; #15 AC)

    "Don't Knock My Love, Pt. 1," Wilson Pickett

    (#13 US; #1 R&B)

    _______

    55th Anniversary Fly-on-the-Wall Listening

    A delightful excerpt from the April 20, 1966, session at Abbey Road:


    And a seasonal offering for American flies on April 21:


    _______

    Yep...they've got that good, driving sound. And I now associate them with their namesakes on Dark Shadows.

    It's got a good oldies radio vibe.

    Who'da thunk?

    It's in my "Summer!" playlist.

    Yeah, she seems to have disregarded Robert Parker's advice and left 'em on for this one. Still, it's kinda catchy.

    Cops with hearts, social conscience, parental issues, and all that stuff.

    I should add that overall, this was a lighthearted episode that focused more on the boy's developing relationship with the Mods than on the crime that he was involved in. The beating him for info amounted to hearing some offscreen smacking through a window. And it's still more satisfying to see Linc and Pete whalin' into the baddies than to have them fall into the abyss of contrivance.