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50th Anniversary Viewing
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Hawaii Five-O
"R & R & R"
Originally aired March 7, 1972
Season finale
Wiki said:
McGarrett seeks a killer whose targets have been wives of Army men who have come to Hawaii to meet their husbands on furlough.
NOTE: Final episode featuring series regular Zulu.
Upon arrival in Waikiki, Ella Syzmanski (Robyn Millan) is informed that her husband's arrival will be delayed. Cut to Vietnam, where we see that Augie's (Anthony Aiello) unit is engaged in combat, but they're extracted and Augie gets his leave, which is received with much enthusiasm. After spending some time on the beach with another wife, Ella hits the shower in her room, where she gets the Anthony Perkins treatment from an unseen assailant in sandals. Doc Bergman informs Steve that the murder weapon was a bayonet. Evidence indicates that while the assailant was a pro at killing, he was an amateur at breaking and entering. Steve and Army provost marshal Colonel Ken Hart (Richard LePore) question the friend, Betty Hurlburt (Jane Actman). McGarrett and Hart meet Augie on the airfield to tell him about Ella. While the sergeant is clearly distraught, Steve has to probe him with unpleasant questions, including regarding the possibility of her having had an affair. Background checks indicate that both Syzmanskis were honest and clean.
Another R&R wife, Leslee Nichols (Jackie Russell), is picked up at the airport by a man in a sergeant's uniform (Alan Vint) driving an Army limo. Putting on a show of hospitality, he takes her to a scenic lookout point, stabs her, and tosses her off the cliff. A fire rescue team has to rappel down the cliff to retrieve her body via Stokes stretcher. The limo and what turns out to be a second-hand uniform is found, from which Che is able to determine a lot about the suspect. The victim's husband, Captain Dan Nichols (James Davidson)--from the same unit as Augie, Echo Company--is also informed and questioned upon arrival.
The killer makes a follow-up visit to a Marine recruiting office to be informed that despite the alias he used, he's been identified as Thomas Robert Ralston, who was discharged from the Army despite earning a Distinguished Service Cross. Outside he makes a scene in front of several bystanders about how he won the medal by wasting eleven Charlies. Cut to Ralston posing as Captain Nichols to send a message to the wife of the next member of Echo Company arriving for R&R, Lt. Dennis Carter (Richard Kelton, whom I assume we met briefly back in Vietnam).
Going through the company records with Nichols and Syzmanski, McGarrett's attention is drawn to Ralston, who was discharged for unknown medical reasons--the captain assumes for having contracted malaria. An Army messenger arrives at the home of Carter's wife to find from her mother that she's left for Hawaii after being informed that her husband was arriving for R&R...despite the messenger being there to inform Amy that Lt. Carter has been killed in action. Steve and Col. Hart learn of this and get to work trying to find Ralston before Mrs. Carter's imminent arrival. It turns out that Ralston's discharge was a Section Eight for paranoia and violent tendencies; and that Captain Nichols allowed Ralston to be transferred out of the unit after a violent incident, rather than getting him medical attention, because of the medal he'd earned.
Policewoman Cathy Miller (Genevieve Nelson) is recruited to pose as Mrs. Carter, and Steve is put through to the plane's captain to inform him of the plan to have Amy Carter (Marie Cheatham; and note that the daughter of the governor of Georgia wouldn't have been on the national radar at this point) stay on the plane. McGarrett, Hart, and Miller board dressed as maintenance, a civilian, and a stewardess. Hart informs Mrs. Carter about her husband and of the plan to snare Ralston. Miller disembarks dressed as Mrs. Carter with McGarrett tailing her closely and the other Five-O'ers staking out the airport. Mrs. Carter gets paged for a call, which Ralston hangs up while scoping her out from afar. Fake Not Future First Daughter gets in a limo driven by Chin with a motorcade of Five-O'ers tailing her. Something Kono says on the radio makes Steve realize that Lt. Carter carried around a photo of his wife, so Steve rushes back to the plane to find Hart unconscious and Ralston holding his blade to the throat of the real Not Future First Daughter. Steve approaches to inform Ralston of Lt. Carter's death; Ralston thrusts at McGarrett; Steve grabs the blade, injuring himself, and shoots Ralston at close range. (That was pretty badass.) Mrs. Carter wraps Steve's wound and the two disembark soberly amidst servicemen on R&R being greeted cheerfully by their wives.
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Adam-12
"Eyewitness"
Originally aired March 8, 1972
Wiki said:
Malloy and Reed are searching for a missing six-year-old boy and they believe an elderly witness' inaccurate account may actually be for a different crime. They also respond to a suspicious dog complaint, a domestic dispute over a husband's desire to watch football, a college prank, and search the Travel Town railroad museum with a police helicopter for fleeing robbery suspects.
The episode opens with the officers questioning a woman on the street if she's seen the missing boy, Gary Colvin, who was reported by a friennd as having been picked up by a yellow car. Mac's coordinating the search from his planning table in the back of L-20.
While in the area, the officers see a Kenneth Ludlow (Vincent VanLynn) about a complaint of his dog barking. He has a story for how he was given the dog, but Malloy notices signs that the obviously unhappy Blackie is a seeing eye dog and finds an ID mark to verify it. Ludlow is arrested for suspicion of having stolen the canine.
The officers then see a previously absent neighbor named Naomi Ernst (Louise Lorimer) about Gary Colvin. Her eyesight is poor, and some of her details conflict with the friend's, but she thought the man and the boy he was carrying were covered in blood.
The officers subsequently pull over a yellow car with a boy in the passenger seat. The driver is Terry Colvin (Mitch Carter), Gary's (Tiger Williams) father. The officers bring Gary back to his mother, Beverly Colvin (Jessica H. Jones). Terry tells Bev how he has a new job and car. Terry's relieved that it's him, and they walk in together, seemingly on the path to an American-style reconciliation.
The next call is for a family dispute. At the address, the wife smashes a TV set in front of the officers, disgruntled with her husband's (Norm Crosby) obsession with sports. No police action is taken, though the husband wants them to sign off on an insurance report.
Following up on a hunch about what Mrs. Ernst said she saw, Reed makes a call to learn that a cab picked up a man and boy covered in blood and took them to a doctor (Howard Culver). The doctor takes them to the man, Frank Slater (Morgan Jones), who's watching over his injured son, Chris. Slater's story about how Chris was accidentally injured while helping him move seems sincere, so they leave.
The officers then see a Professor Mark (Frank DeVol) about a recovered vehicle. It turns out that his students disassembled his Volkswagen Beetle and reassembled it in his study as a prank.
Finally, the officers are assigned to intercept a 211 suspect's vehicle in Griffith Park with the help of Air-10. Two men get out and flee into the train museum, firing shots as they duck in and out of train cars on exhibit. Malloy wounds one of them. The other gets on top of an engine and Malloy exchanges covering fire while Reed climbs up and gets the drop on the suspect, wounding him in an exchange of fire.
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The Brady Bunch
"The Fender Benders"
Originally aired March 10, 1972
Season finale
Wiki said:
Carol is involved in a minor car accident with Marcia, Bobby, and Cindy as passengers. Carol and Harry Duggan (Jackie Coogan), the other driver involved, initially agree to pay for their own damage. Duggan later files a lawsuit against Carol, claiming the accident was due to her reckless driving and that he was injured as a result. Carol goes to court to dispute the exaggerated charges, and wins with a big assist from Mike.
Seems like they're repeating a
Partridge Family episode here. Carol and the three above-listed kids come home with the rear passenger side of the station wagon nastily scraped up. Carol's nervous about breaking the news to Mike, who can tell that something's wrong, but Greg waltzes in and accidentally breaks the news. Carol shows it to Mike and describes how she and another man backed out of their parking spaces at the same time, though she thinks the other driver is to blame. Mr. Duggan shows up at the house to settle things "man-to-man" with Mike. He tells the opposite of Carol's story and shares a higher estimate than expected, having included what seem to be unrelated repairs...coming to an outrageous total of $295! Mike tosses him out and he threatens to sue.
When told they may have to testify in court, Bobby and Cindy indicate that they didn't see Carol look before backing out. Peter considers Bobby to be a Benedict Arnold, while Marcia disputes Bobby and Cindy's account. Offering legal advice to Cindy, Alice references
The Bold Ones,
Owen Marshall, and
Perry Mason. (The middle one is new to me--looks like it ran from '71 to '74 and its cast included Lee Majors and David Soul.) Mike decides to reenact the accident to try to sort out the differing accounts, with Greg playing Duggan in Mike's car. It comes out that Bobby and Cindy were arguing at the time, making it likely that they didn't see Carol looking back.
Carol gets her day in court, where Duggan arrives in a neck brace, now claiming whiplash. He shows how he says it happened on a blackboard with (presumable magnetic) toy cars on it, and gives the judge (Robert Emhardt) his list of damages. The kids briefly testify, and as the judge weighs the conflicting accounts, Mike tosses his briefcase onto the floor behind Duggan, causing him to turn his neck and look. Given Duggan's proven dishonesty, the judge finds in favor of Carol.
In the coda, Cindy plays judge in a mock trial between Peter and Jan over a candy bar, her final ruling being to eat it herself.
A running gag has Mike and Carol both doing Charlie Chan imitations.
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The Partridge Family
"All's War in Love and Fairs"
Originally aired March 10, 1972
Wiki said:
A married couple tries to get the Partridges to perform at a benefit in order to aid Native Americans.
No teaser, but this time it doesn't feel like we're missing anything (possibly an early performance segment, as there's a song listed in the Wiki summary that wasn't in the edit I watched). The family is looking forward to leaving Las Vegas for a two-week vacation at an Arizona resort, but a mechanical breakdown results in the bus being towed to the garage of a backwoods mechanic, Cal Courtney (Harry Morgan), who acts matter-of-fact for their benefit, but excitedly reveals to his wife Amanda (Josephine Hutchinson) that they've got the Partridge Family staying with them, for whom they have charitable ulterior motives. Cal fakes further complications in getting the bus fixed in order to keep them there for the Papago Indian Fair at a nearby reservation. The family politely accepts the couple's hospitality, and the boys enjoy some fishing, but out in Cal's tractor barn while wrapping the fish, Keith finds a box of the lubricant that Cal claimed he was having difficulty procuring. Keith confronts the Courtneys about this with some detective-style questioning, but they improvise. There's some funny business in here where Keith declares that there's something fishy going on while brandishing a wrapped fish, and later Cal takes the fish with him and it turns out that it's been wrapped in a handbill Cal had printed up advertising the Partridge Family appearing at the fair.
Back in civilization, Reuben gets wind of this because it's breaching a contract, the family having refused to stay in Vegas those two weeks. He drives out to look for them, but the Courtneys give him false directions that take him to a bad road where he gets stuck. Having run out of excuses for the Partridges, the Courtneys ask for a bus ride to run an errand to the reservation, where the family sees otherwise happy children playing in squalid conditions. The Courtneys introduce them to Paul and Ruth Wanamo (Ivan Naranjo and Sandra Ego) and their young son Tommy (Lee Casey). A PSA ensues in which Amanda rolls off some exposition to Shirley explaining the poverty issue at the reservation, which includes low life expectancy, infant mortality, and unemployment. Shirley has just volunteered to have the family perform at the fair when Danny runs up with one of the handbills. Cut to the family performing "Come On, Love".
Meanwhile, Paul has kept Reuben busy by riding out to meet him with a group of locals dressed in traditional feathers and war paint, pretending to be stock Western Indians. In the coda, the Courtneys are explaining themselves to the Partridges when Reuben appears, having escaped captivity with a painted face and wrapped in a blanket.
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All in the Family
"Maude"
Originally aired March 11, 1972
Season finale
Wiki said:
The daughter of Edith's cousin Maude is about to enter a mixed marriage. This episode serves as the backdoor pilot for the spin-off series Maude.
The episode opens at the Bunker home, from which Archie and Edith are leaving to catch a bus. Cut to the Findlay home, where Carol (Marcia Rodd, not Adrienne Barbeau)--Maude's daughter from a previous marriage who's been previously married herself and has an eight-year-old son--is upset about the Bunkers coming because her groom, David, is Jewish. This leads to an argument in which Carol calls out Maude for her own, liberal-flavored preconceptions about Jews. We also meet Maude's husband, Walter (Bill Macy), who's laid back and lets Maude be the assertive one; and David (Robert Dishy) pops in. The Bunkers arrive and the verbal sparring between Archie and Maude commences.
Walter invites Archie to the bachelor party, but Archie isn't interested when he's told he'll have to chip in $10. He insists on staying at the Findlay house despite the bridal shower that's being thrown there, but is quickly motivated to return to the hotel. The guys return from the party, which was raided by the police, and Carol is upset to hear what was happening there, challenging her own liberal views. David lets slip that he's bought a house, and an argument commences about how he expects Carol to quit her job and start having kids. All three members of the Findlay household slip out anti-Semitic remarks in their own way, and the wedding is called off. When Archie returns, it turns out that the bachelor party was at his hotel and he was the one who called the cops, not knowing who was making the ruckus. Maude blames him for ruining her daughter's wedding.
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Emergency!
"Publicity Hound"
Originally aired March 11, 1972
Wiki said:
John is envious of the publicity given to another paramedic (Gary Crosby). John later becomes seasick after he and Roy have rescued a man in ship's rigging. A powerful tycoon (Gene Raymond) threatens to take Dr. Brackett to court because of the tycoon's son's diagnosis; however, with Dr. Brackett's and Dixie's help, Dr. Early eventually successfully calms the tycoon down. Dixie takes care of an already taken lady (Edith Diaz) whom John was going to see. The paramedics rescue a horse from a ditch and a child stuck in a well.
They've kinda got Gary Crosby typecast here, haven't they? You'd think they'd avoid using him in such a similar role in another Mark VII show with his role in
Adam-12 being so prominent. Johnny and some of the others are fuming over his character, Tom Wheeler, getting written up in the paper again by journalist Carl Evans when Squad 51 is sent to a marina for an incoming schooner bearing a skipper with a head injury. The paramedics join up with Captain Curtis (William Bryant) of Station 110 (Wheeler's station, Squad 110 said to be on another call) to take a harbor patrol boat out to meet the schooner. Johnny sees in monoculars (I assume you'd call them--binoculars on the looking-in end, but with a single lens pointing out) that the patient is hanging from a mast by his ankle. The other two passengers aren't experienced sailors, one being seasick belowdecks. Roy and Johnny climb up to the mast, pull him up, and apply an inflatable neck splint. The mast is lowered with Roy on it by Captain Curtis and a sheriff who appears out of nowhere, then Roy climbs back up with the tackle so Johnny can lower himself down with the patient. The skipper is placed on the stretcher in a position to prevent aspiration and loaded on the patrol boat.
The paramedics call in to Rampart for treatment while on the boat. Brackett then proceeds to a meeting with J.P. Dumont (Gene Raymond), who's irate about having been embarrassed in front of his associates about his son being diagnosed with epilepsy. Dumont blames Brackett for administering the wrong medication, but the doctor was misinformed by Dumont, who was lying to hide his son's condition. Dumont is now threatening a malpractice suit.
At Rampart's cafeteria, Roy and Johnny see Carl Evans (Bill Baldwin) shooting pictures of Wheeler with a girl whose fingers were stuck in her handlebars. Johnny tries to tell Evans about the schooner rescue, but he's not interested, claiming that there's no human interest angle. Early goes to work on the schooner captain while he and Brackett instruct a couple of students...one of whom is Dr. Morton, confusingly. Afterward, Joe chastises Kel a bit about having set off Dumont with his brusque manner, and offers to try to intervene with the tycoon, as he knows the lawyer. Later we see Early taking the carrot approach, trying to reason diplomatically with Dumont to save Brackett's career. (I assume this went well; it's likely a concluding beat was cut.)
Squad 51 is driving around the countryside between calls for unknown reasons when they're flagged down by Penny Fortas (Sallie Shockley), a rider whose horse is stuck in a trench. Johnny, who wants to impress the girl, ends up having to dig an incline with a shovel so Roy can pull the horse up with a rope attached to the truck, while Johnny pushes from the unenviable position of the horse's rear. In the end, Penny's affectionately grateful to Roy, who spent more face time with her while treating an arm injury.
The station later gets a call for a young girl who's fallen into a hole. Trying to pull her out doesn't work, so the rescuers decide to dig a wider, shored up hole fifteen feet away and dig across to her. Young Mrs. Diaz (Edith Diaz) talks to her daughter while a steam shovel gets to work digging the vertical hole, from which Johnny the Human Mole hand-digs a lateral hole over to the girl. They end up having dug a little too high and Johnny has to go back and angle down. Wheeler shows up eager to assist, but has to cool his heels while Johnny and Roy do the work. Johnny reaches the girl and pulls her out to the rescuers' hole, from which she's carried up on a ladder. Wheeler ends up being the last fireman in the chain, carrying Elena to her mother while a news camera rolls...but an exhausted Johnny is happy to let him bask in the limelight this time.
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