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Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
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Ironside
"Five Days in the Death of Sgt. Brown: Part I"
Originally aired September 14, 1972
Season 6 premiere
The opening is altered to give Marshall and Hartman "starring in" spots after Burr and before the series title. Ed's traveled all the way to a marina in L.A. to bust Frank Harmon (Norman Alden) for buying narcotics...and he's so lonely for company that he's brought voiceover narration with him. After the exchange, Harmon is nabbed by local backup, but the seller dives into the drink, getting away but leaving the money floating in his wake. While Ed is testifying in court, a party in the gallery identified as Harmon's stooge, Al Bundy (Scott Walker, not Ed O'Neill), has to be dragged out for an outburst in which he threatens Brown.
There's a Day One card after the credits, as the defense attorney, Phil MacIver (Ed Flanders), calls for a recess and Team Ironside, all in town for the trial, are conspicuously introduced to his wife, Polly (Kathryn Kelly Wiget). TI are kvetching and discussing the facts while enjoying the terrace of their third-floor hotel room when a sniper takes shots from a facing room. The Chief has PTSD flashes of what I presume is the unseen pilot (Why isn't that in the syndicated series?), and in the aftermath, Ed is found to have not only been hit, but to have fallen from the balcony to the lawn below, limbs flailed awkwardly like a rag doll. While Ed's in emergency surgery at the Craig Institute, there's an uncharacteristically tender moment in which the Chief accepts an apology from a Fran for hysterically snapping at him. Dr. Craig, an old acquaintance of Ironside's, takes Bob into his office to tell him that there's been spinal injury.
Day Two: While Ed is laid up in what's apparently called a circle electric bed being overseen by future GMA host Dr. Hunter...
...a cavalier male nurse, Maurice Goodson (Lincoln Kilpatrick), reports to his friend the drug seller, Richard Wells (Russell Wiggins), about Brown's condition, with an unpleasant-looking third party present (Mark M. Giardino). The Chief has police protection brought to the hospital, led by the bow-tied Lt. Ben Rauch (Stephen Young), which is so tight that even Craig is carded. (From the way Fran introduces Mark after showing her badge, he doesn't seem to be on the force yet.) The Chief questions the incarcerated Harmon, who's unsympathetic but doesn't seem to be in the know. Ironside also takes it upon himself to break the news to Ed that his back is broken.
Goodson gets Wells in as a new nurse, so that they can more easily scope out Brown's situation. When Ed manages to wiggle his toes, David reports to Bob that he has a chance for full recovery. After a flashback to Ironside's own surgeon (uncredited David Sheiner) informing him that he'll never walk again, the Chief--having done some homework--demands that Dr. William Ritter (Vic Morrow) be brought in on Ed's case...though Craig is reluctant to let Ritter try the experimental neural repair technique that he hasn't even written up on a live patient. Meanwhile, Wells takes an interest in Ritter's daughter, Jan (Christina Hart), who limps in a leg brace and works at a hospital reception desk.
Day Three: Back at the hotel, Mark has a more immediate traumatic flashback...because they're still in the same suite! He proceeds to blame himself because he was the one on the terrace, closest to Ed, and wasn't watching him. He then gets a call from Rauch inviting him to come along as they tail and, after a high-speed chase, ultimately bust Bundy...who turns out to have an alibi for the time of Ed's shooting. (Ah, I sense an origin beat in Mark joining the force.) At the hospital, Ritter demonstrates spotty bedside manner as he examines Ed, whose legs are unreceptive to stimuli, and determines that the paralysis is progressing up the spine. Ritter argues that he has to operate using his technique, but Ed catches wind and refuses to consent, attempting to use Ironside as an example of learning to deal with his impending condition. The Chief enlightens him with a stern talking-to...
Ed admits that he's scared, as failure of Ritter's surgery will leave him out of options.
Wells brings his accomplice in as another nurse to make their move, trying to pick up Ed ostensibly for an X-ray...but Fran notices the accomplice's non-regulation shoes. In an ensuing foot chase with Mark, Fran, and uniformed CLE through the hospital corridors, Wells slips away while the accomplice bursts through an emergency exit and tumbles over a railing, sending him on a plunge to the pavement from a less survivable height. He's identified afterward as Vernon Duff and found to have been carrying a butterfly knife. Wells proceeds to his Plan B, which involves picking up Jan at her favorite club.
The episode ends with Ironside examining the knife and asserting to Mark that they have to find out who's been after Ed because he's going to try again.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART II
_______
The Bold Ones: The New Doctors
(syndicated as Ironside)
"Five Days in the Death of Sgt. Brown: Part II"
Originally aired September 19, 1972
Season 4 premiere
The opening credits of this part use a different version of the Ironside theme...possibly an edited version of the Quincy Jones rerecording (which I've read was used as the main theme for the later seasons...something that was possibly otherwise changed for syndication). The recap conveniently includes the day count and some of Ed's narration; and the inclusion of Polly MacIver's intro makes that bit of business even more conspicuous. We catch up to where Day Three left off with Ricky Wells claiming to have a back injury from 'Nam while striking up his conversation with Jan Ritter. At the Craig Center, Dr. Craig is surprised that Ironside's arranged to bed at the hospital the night before Ed's surgery, in case anyone makes another attempt.
Day Four: Bob shares with David his suspicion that the would-be killers disguised as nurses had inside help, which brings his and Mark's attention back to Maurice Goodson, who had an alibi for his outfits having been stolen. Goodson, pretending to be really enthusiastic about Dr. Ritter's experimental technique, arranges with a nurse named Lou (Janice Carroll) to be in the operating room for the procedure. Ritter's concerned when he can't reach Jan, indicating that she's been out all night. Fran gets upset to tears while trying to wish Ed luck and gives him a full-on mouth kiss, which Dr. Paul Hunter witnesses with bemusement. Polly MacIver also visits Ed, bringing him flowers while apologizing for her husband's role in defending the people responsible his condition. The Chief visits Ed after he's been given a sedative and is in the process of passing out while trying to remember something important. While Ironside has a reprisal of the origin flashback of his doctor informing him of his leg paralysis, Ed has an exaggerated dream of Part I's events, including being shot by Frank Harmon at the marina, Polly giving him flowers in court, and us actually seeing him falling from the terrace. (Unless surgical anesthetic has changed a lot in fifty years, that's not at all how it works. You're out before you know it and wake up with no sense of the passage of time.)
The operation proceeds, with Dr. Craig observing and Harmon administering the polypeptides...a word that had caught Ed's interest. Goodson slips out for a potty break, following which Wells makes a ransom call to Craig, demanding that Ritter appear on the terrace (which he's watching via telescope from a distant but facing apartment) in ten minutes. Wells gets notably upset as the time passes without an appearance, but Craig eventually interrupts Ritter to tell him about Jan, then indicates there's a way for him to make an appearance with stopping the delicate procedure. A figure appears on the terrace whom Wells is certain from a photo is Ritter, and thus Ed Brown will soon be dead.
It is Ritter, but with the help of a mic and monitor that Wells can't see, the doctor is guiding Craig through the procedure. After a while, Wells starts to notice how Ritter keeps turning away from the window and gets him on the phone, demanding that he stand still and face the window...but eventually gets nervous about the call being traced and hangs up. Ritter continues to guide the procedure, while the Chief and Mark use binoculars to try to spot where the doctor is being watched from. The investigation continuing outside that room, prints identify one of the fake nurses as Richard Wells, formerly an Army paramedic; and it turns out that Goodson was seen near files for Ed that temporarily went missing shortly after...causing the Chief to deduce that he was also a paramedic.
It's found that Goodson lives in a place within line of sight of the terrace. Lt. Rauch and Mark drive up to it stealthily and Fran distracts Wells by replacing Ritter at the window and doing exercises, so that the duo can bust in, extract Jan, and nab her abductor. Ritter is relieved at being informed, and Ironside uses the mic to notify the surgical staff of the viper in their midst. Goodson tries to escape, but is grabbed by Dr. Hunter.
Phil MacIver and the District Attorney (Herb Robins) are brought into Ed's recovery room so that Sgt. Brown, now regaining mobility, shares what he realized as he was going under, his memory having been spurred by Polly's visit and the mention of polypeptides. The name of a yacht he'd seen at the marina that he's deduced was Wells's ride, which was leaving as Wells jumped into the water, was Pretty Polly M.--MacIver's boat. Rauch arrests the attorney, and as Hunter's kicking everyone out, Ed demonstrates how he can wiggle his feet a bit.
If there was a Day Five card, I missed it.
_______
Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
_______
Ironside
"Five Days in the Death of Sgt. Brown: Part I"
Originally aired September 14, 1972
Season 6 premiere
Wiki said:
The opening is altered to give Marshall and Hartman "starring in" spots after Burr and before the series title. Ed's traveled all the way to a marina in L.A. to bust Frank Harmon (Norman Alden) for buying narcotics...and he's so lonely for company that he's brought voiceover narration with him. After the exchange, Harmon is nabbed by local backup, but the seller dives into the drink, getting away but leaving the money floating in his wake. While Ed is testifying in court, a party in the gallery identified as Harmon's stooge, Al Bundy (Scott Walker, not Ed O'Neill), has to be dragged out for an outburst in which he threatens Brown.
There's a Day One card after the credits, as the defense attorney, Phil MacIver (Ed Flanders), calls for a recess and Team Ironside, all in town for the trial, are conspicuously introduced to his wife, Polly (Kathryn Kelly Wiget). TI are kvetching and discussing the facts while enjoying the terrace of their third-floor hotel room when a sniper takes shots from a facing room. The Chief has PTSD flashes of what I presume is the unseen pilot (Why isn't that in the syndicated series?), and in the aftermath, Ed is found to have not only been hit, but to have fallen from the balcony to the lawn below, limbs flailed awkwardly like a rag doll. While Ed's in emergency surgery at the Craig Institute, there's an uncharacteristically tender moment in which the Chief accepts an apology from a Fran for hysterically snapping at him. Dr. Craig, an old acquaintance of Ironside's, takes Bob into his office to tell him that there's been spinal injury.
Day Two: While Ed is laid up in what's apparently called a circle electric bed being overseen by future GMA host Dr. Hunter...
...a cavalier male nurse, Maurice Goodson (Lincoln Kilpatrick), reports to his friend the drug seller, Richard Wells (Russell Wiggins), about Brown's condition, with an unpleasant-looking third party present (Mark M. Giardino). The Chief has police protection brought to the hospital, led by the bow-tied Lt. Ben Rauch (Stephen Young), which is so tight that even Craig is carded. (From the way Fran introduces Mark after showing her badge, he doesn't seem to be on the force yet.) The Chief questions the incarcerated Harmon, who's unsympathetic but doesn't seem to be in the know. Ironside also takes it upon himself to break the news to Ed that his back is broken.
Goodson gets Wells in as a new nurse, so that they can more easily scope out Brown's situation. When Ed manages to wiggle his toes, David reports to Bob that he has a chance for full recovery. After a flashback to Ironside's own surgeon (uncredited David Sheiner) informing him that he'll never walk again, the Chief--having done some homework--demands that Dr. William Ritter (Vic Morrow) be brought in on Ed's case...though Craig is reluctant to let Ritter try the experimental neural repair technique that he hasn't even written up on a live patient. Meanwhile, Wells takes an interest in Ritter's daughter, Jan (Christina Hart), who limps in a leg brace and works at a hospital reception desk.
Day Three: Back at the hotel, Mark has a more immediate traumatic flashback...because they're still in the same suite! He proceeds to blame himself because he was the one on the terrace, closest to Ed, and wasn't watching him. He then gets a call from Rauch inviting him to come along as they tail and, after a high-speed chase, ultimately bust Bundy...who turns out to have an alibi for the time of Ed's shooting. (Ah, I sense an origin beat in Mark joining the force.) At the hospital, Ritter demonstrates spotty bedside manner as he examines Ed, whose legs are unreceptive to stimuli, and determines that the paralysis is progressing up the spine. Ritter argues that he has to operate using his technique, but Ed catches wind and refuses to consent, attempting to use Ironside as an example of learning to deal with his impending condition. The Chief enlightens him with a stern talking-to...
Ironside: Well...let me tell you something. I don't live with it, I die with it every day and every way. Right now if someone offered me one chance in ten million, my life or my legs, I'd grab it! I couldn't live if I didn't do that. If you don't, you're a fool. I don't have time to waste on fools.
Ed admits that he's scared, as failure of Ritter's surgery will leave him out of options.
Ironside: My case was always hopeless. Yours isn't....You can't just lie there and not let them try.
Wells brings his accomplice in as another nurse to make their move, trying to pick up Ed ostensibly for an X-ray...but Fran notices the accomplice's non-regulation shoes. In an ensuing foot chase with Mark, Fran, and uniformed CLE through the hospital corridors, Wells slips away while the accomplice bursts through an emergency exit and tumbles over a railing, sending him on a plunge to the pavement from a less survivable height. He's identified afterward as Vernon Duff and found to have been carrying a butterfly knife. Wells proceeds to his Plan B, which involves picking up Jan at her favorite club.
The episode ends with Ironside examining the knife and asserting to Mark that they have to find out who's been after Ed because he's going to try again.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART II
_______
The Bold Ones: The New Doctors
(syndicated as Ironside)
"Five Days in the Death of Sgt. Brown: Part II"
Originally aired September 19, 1972
Season 4 premiere
Wiki said:
The opening credits of this part use a different version of the Ironside theme...possibly an edited version of the Quincy Jones rerecording (which I've read was used as the main theme for the later seasons...something that was possibly otherwise changed for syndication). The recap conveniently includes the day count and some of Ed's narration; and the inclusion of Polly MacIver's intro makes that bit of business even more conspicuous. We catch up to where Day Three left off with Ricky Wells claiming to have a back injury from 'Nam while striking up his conversation with Jan Ritter. At the Craig Center, Dr. Craig is surprised that Ironside's arranged to bed at the hospital the night before Ed's surgery, in case anyone makes another attempt.
Day Four: Bob shares with David his suspicion that the would-be killers disguised as nurses had inside help, which brings his and Mark's attention back to Maurice Goodson, who had an alibi for his outfits having been stolen. Goodson, pretending to be really enthusiastic about Dr. Ritter's experimental technique, arranges with a nurse named Lou (Janice Carroll) to be in the operating room for the procedure. Ritter's concerned when he can't reach Jan, indicating that she's been out all night. Fran gets upset to tears while trying to wish Ed luck and gives him a full-on mouth kiss, which Dr. Paul Hunter witnesses with bemusement. Polly MacIver also visits Ed, bringing him flowers while apologizing for her husband's role in defending the people responsible his condition. The Chief visits Ed after he's been given a sedative and is in the process of passing out while trying to remember something important. While Ironside has a reprisal of the origin flashback of his doctor informing him of his leg paralysis, Ed has an exaggerated dream of Part I's events, including being shot by Frank Harmon at the marina, Polly giving him flowers in court, and us actually seeing him falling from the terrace. (Unless surgical anesthetic has changed a lot in fifty years, that's not at all how it works. You're out before you know it and wake up with no sense of the passage of time.)
The operation proceeds, with Dr. Craig observing and Harmon administering the polypeptides...a word that had caught Ed's interest. Goodson slips out for a potty break, following which Wells makes a ransom call to Craig, demanding that Ritter appear on the terrace (which he's watching via telescope from a distant but facing apartment) in ten minutes. Wells gets notably upset as the time passes without an appearance, but Craig eventually interrupts Ritter to tell him about Jan, then indicates there's a way for him to make an appearance with stopping the delicate procedure. A figure appears on the terrace whom Wells is certain from a photo is Ritter, and thus Ed Brown will soon be dead.
It is Ritter, but with the help of a mic and monitor that Wells can't see, the doctor is guiding Craig through the procedure. After a while, Wells starts to notice how Ritter keeps turning away from the window and gets him on the phone, demanding that he stand still and face the window...but eventually gets nervous about the call being traced and hangs up. Ritter continues to guide the procedure, while the Chief and Mark use binoculars to try to spot where the doctor is being watched from. The investigation continuing outside that room, prints identify one of the fake nurses as Richard Wells, formerly an Army paramedic; and it turns out that Goodson was seen near files for Ed that temporarily went missing shortly after...causing the Chief to deduce that he was also a paramedic.
It's found that Goodson lives in a place within line of sight of the terrace. Lt. Rauch and Mark drive up to it stealthily and Fran distracts Wells by replacing Ritter at the window and doing exercises, so that the duo can bust in, extract Jan, and nab her abductor. Ritter is relieved at being informed, and Ironside uses the mic to notify the surgical staff of the viper in their midst. Goodson tries to escape, but is grabbed by Dr. Hunter.
Phil MacIver and the District Attorney (Herb Robins) are brought into Ed's recovery room so that Sgt. Brown, now regaining mobility, shares what he realized as he was going under, his memory having been spurred by Polly's visit and the mention of polypeptides. The name of a yacht he'd seen at the marina that he's deduced was Wells's ride, which was leaving as Wells jumped into the water, was Pretty Polly M.--MacIver's boat. Rauch arrests the attorney, and as Hunter's kicking everyone out, Ed demonstrates how he can wiggle his feet a bit.
If there was a Day Five card, I missed it.
_______
