Belated 50th Anniversary Viewing
Ironside
"Riddle at 24,000"
Originally aired March 14, 1974
Wiki said:
A medic helps Ironside with his investigation of a disguised murder. This is the only episode where Don Mitchell does not appear.
Ed's driving the Chief down the coast when the van gets a flat, and they find that the spare is empty as well, both due to bad valves. They call to their destination, the office of Dr. Juan Domingo (Special Guest Star "Hey, Lucy, I'm home!"), getting his receptionist, who's known as Big Sue (Linda Foster), while the doctor is going to an airfield to see to a patient, Laura Blaine (Patricia Smith), who's being talked through landing a prop plane after her husband, Walter, has a heart attack. Domingo finds Walter dead and becomes curious about an oxygen valve and a Thermos that became shattered on the inside. Domingo picks up the Chief on his way back to the office, and the Chief becomes curious about the Blaine matter. Domingo shares that he found traces of chloral hydrate in the Thermos's coffee, calling into question how Walter died.
Juan drives Robert down to look at the plane, describing how he found the oxygen tank empty as well; indicating that Walter was drugged and his oxygen was drained. Domingo, apparently having a rep for being an amateur detective, plays his cards close to his chest with local law officer Lt. Mark Cardiff (L.Q. Jones), not sharing his clues or telling him who Ironside is. They proceed to the Blaine home, where the Chief conspicuously stays in the van and we meet some suspects--Walter's stepson, Denny Blaine (Michael Richardson), a skinhead to whom Juan recently prescribed chloral hydrate to help him get off drugs; and Walter's business partner, Wescott (Ralph Meeker), who's openly pleased in front of Laura, with whom he's apparently been having an affair, that Walter's out of the way of both them and his taking control of the business...which makes Laura upset. Laura describes to Juan what happened in the air, which upsets her more, and when asked, she refuses to give her permission for an autopsy.
A call to Fran turns up that the business was contracted to go to whichever partner survived. Ironside, Domingo, and Ed follow Denny to a bar to find him with Wescott's wife, Taffy (Dolores Dorn), and learn that he made a pledge to grow his hair back when his stepfather was dead. The Chief questions him about his motives for killing his mother and stepfather; and when Taffy demonstrates the same sort of bigotry toward Juan that her husband did earlier, the Chief gives her a Fridayesque lecture about Domingo's qualifications and history, including the circumstances under which he escaped from Cuba. As they're leaving, Juan driving his own vehicle, his steering goes out and he crashes into a house.
The next morning, as we're learning that Domingo and Big Sue have something going, it comes up that the Blaines have a second doctor that Domingo didn't know about; the broken Thermos goes missing; and Cardiff is now in the loop as it's discovered that the car's tie rod was sawed. When questioned by Cardiff with the Chief present, Wescott openly admits to his animosity with Blaine, while strongly objecting that he didn't kill him. Domingo finds the mechanic who sawed the rod with little explanation. In the hangar, Domingo has Sue re-create Laura's movements when she exited the plane, noticing that the fuel mixture knob would have been in covert reach. Then he has a good Thermos put in a pressure chamber to simulate rising altitude, and it shatters inside at the titular altitude. With Domingo present, Cardiff accuses Laura of having covertly obtained a pilot's license, of taking the plane up to that altitude to kill Walter, and then bringing the plane down and pretending to not know how to fly it. Among the tip-offs were how she knew which things to turn off after landing, including the mixture. In the coda, it's pointed out that Laura never met Ironside, thus she didn't know there was a master detective tagging along with Domingo.
This episode felt like a backdoor pilot (asserted by a brief blurb on IMDb with no further details), with the focus on Desi's character leading the investigation, and the Chief largely on the sidelines; right down to establishing a couple of supporting cast members who were prominently featured yet didn't have much to do. There was even a multi-scene subplot about a teenager (Kevin McCarley) coming to Domingo's office to treat his merganser, with Juan objecting that he wasn't a vet but ultimately agreeing to do it under the table, finding that the not-duck was also not male and pregnant. And of course, it would answer the previously speculated upon question of why Desi was doing such a rare guest appearance. Note that this was the last regular episode of Season 7 before the
Amy Prentiss pilot movie, which aired in May.
The Six Million Dollar Man
"The Rescue of Athena One"
Originally aired March 15, 1974
Wiki said:
Steve is launched into space to rescue two astronauts stranded in a crippled space capsule. However, when his bionics begin to malfunction due to space radiation, the return trip to Earth becomes endangered.
Note: The first of four appearances that Lee Majors' then-wife, Farrah Fawcett Majors, made on the show. She appeared in each season except the final one, playing a different character each time.
The episode opens with Steve chewing out Major Kelly Wood (Farrah would make the short list of 1970s icons) as she botches an Athena One capsule simulation.
Steve tries to get out of the assignment, but Oscar informs him that Washington won't have it, given the high profile of the mission. Relations cool between them when Steve expresses his concern for her welfare in a TV interview they have with Jules Bergman (himself). After the interview, Steve catches a stage light that threatens to fall on her, and when pressed, he obliquely tells her of his origin without getting into the bionics.
Steve serves as Flight Dynamics Officer at Mission Control for Kelly's real mission. When the capsule's in orbit, an explosion in the capsule knocks out Kelly's co-pilot, Major Paul Osterman (Dean Smith), so she's directed to dock with Skylab, where another craft will be sent to pick them up. But Kelly finds that the hatch is jammed, so Steve questions her in a way that she'll understand about whether he might be able to get the hatch open, and she confirms.
Steve gets himself assigned as commander of the rescue mission, on which he's accompanied by Dr. Richard Wolf (Paul Kent). The Rescue capsule docks with Skylab and Steve makes his way through the station to the hatch, which he manages to open with his arm...or "can opener" as he refers to it with Kelly. Wolf gets to work examining Osterman, but Steve determines that a solar panel will have to be fixed to enable full power so Wolf can operate; so he and Kelly make a spacewalk, where Steve's using his arm to bend the panel into place when his bionic eye begins to malfunction on him. Wolf finds that Osterman has a fragment embedded near his aorta that will have to be removed before reentry. As Kelly assists Wolf, she notices Steve acting disoriented and wobbly.
As Wolf's sleeping, Steve tells Kelly how three of his limbs are also weak, and she speculates that it could be radiation. Steve confers with Mission Control that he'll have to jury-rig the Rescue capsule to bring all four of them back, and given the time factor, that means a manual reentry despite the capsule being designed for three. Steve has Oscar put on and relays a coded message about his malfunction, dropping Rudy's name and mentioning a previous incident in California. Steve tells Kelly that she'll have to pilot the reentry because of his inability to rely on his stick hand.
Kelly separates them from Skylab and Steve gently coaches her as she begins reentry. Things get tense on the ground during the communications blackout, but the capsule is spotted by the waiting
Kitty Hawk with its chutes deployed. As the chopper comes for them, Steve compliments Kelly, and she attributes her success to her teacher.
In the coda, a recovering Steve laments to Oscar how his astronaut days are now firmly behind him.
Steve: Space. It is the final frontier, and I can't go.
Oscar informs him that Rudy's planning to add a protective layer that should fix the issue. Kelly then enters and invites Steve to dinner at her place.
In this episode, Steve's clearly specified to have been the last American to walk on the Moon, in January 1972 (eleven months before Apollo 17), so the show does not take place in the future, but apparently the Bionicverse Apollo Program squeezed in more missions sooner. Maybe they didn't have the Apollo 1 accident.
I have to speculate that this episode may have played a role in motivating the showmakers to come up with a sound effect for Steve's bionic limbs, as they were relying on a variation of the bionic eye effect to convey its malfunction.
All in the Family
"Mike's Graduation"
Originally aired March 16, 1974
Season finale
Wiki said:
As Mike prepares for his final exams, Archie is anxious for the Stivics to move out.
Gloria's worried as she and Edith stay upstairs to avoid disturbing Mike, whose finals are in two weeks. When Archie comes home, he distracts Mike by acting unusually accommodating, volunteering to delay dinner so Mike can stay at the table, then offering to let Mike study in his chair.
Archie: Listen, I know my priorities, and this is priorer.
Mike learns the reason for Archie's behavior when Archie brings in the head of a stuffed goat that Barney shot, which he plans to hang in the den he'll be gaining after the Stivics move out. Mike gets into an argument with Archie about the barbarity of hunting, then the women come downstairs and react to the trophy.
Edith: I don't think I'm gonna like him lookin' at me with them big, sad eyes.
Archie: They ain't real eyes, Edith, them there are glass eyes.
Edith (raising voice in shock): That wasn't fair of Barney Hefner, shootin' a blind animal!
That night, Archie's sleep is disturbed by Mike having nightmares in the next room. Archie talks to Edith about how he plans to collect repayment from Mike, and she floats the idea of letting them stay a while longer. In the next room, Mike describes his nightmare to Gloria, which involves going door to door as Archie taunts him at each house, and being saved from quicksand by Professor Blake before being informed that he's failed. Gloria discusses how she'd like to keep working even after Mike graduates, concerned that she won't also be able to keep house...which puts Mike out.
Two weeks after the exams, Mike's waiting pensively for the results to come by mail. After Irene comes over to collect for a charity, Mike hears the mailman and has Gloria go through the mail to look at the results for him, only for her to find that they aren't there. Then Mike gets a call from Professor Blake, who wants Mike to come see him...just like in the dream. After he and Gloria leave, Edith confesses to Irene that she thinks she may have accidentally prayed for Mike to fail because she expressed her wish for the kids to stay longer. After leaves and then promptly returns, excited to have found that Mike's results were accidentally left in her mailbox.
Cut to Archie justifying opening them while the kids are still absent, learning that Mike passed...Edith not sharing his celebratory reaction. Then the kids return with pizza and ice cream, having learned themselves. After Archie comes downstairs sporting a pipe (introduced in the bedroom scene) and cardigan sweater, Mike informs the folks that Professor Blake wanted to see him about getting a fellowship to earn his master's...meaning that the kids will be staying for a couple more years, which explosively bursts Archie's bubble.
Hang in there, Archie--the Jeffersons will be movin' on up the middle of next season.
I suppose everybody's heard that we lost James Darren the other day.
Space Station boss and substitute Artie.
And a gazillion other things...he was everywhere in those days.
Best buddy from Starfleet Academy and doomed astronaut.
Oh yeah...sometimes I forget that he was also Not Dave.
An associate of Sandusky or an innocent bystander? I suppose we never learn his fate.
An associate, I think, and he was killed.
Why would Oscar get a call from Washington about a racketeer? Did Steve talk to the police?
Nope, Oscar was being assigned to the case.
Didn't
Mod Squad have one of those?
Probably.
That arm is as classified as a missile site, Steve.
Yet half the time, Steve blabs to guest characters left and right about his enhancements.
And Steve feels alone, all alone in the world.
Which is why he dines alone in fancy restaurants.
What happens to the driver? Assuming he wasn't killed, he would be a lead.
I think he drove off, assuming that his quarry was crushed behind the dumpster.
I knew this as soon as he ordered the identical suits-- which I suppose was not exactly the most brilliant deduction.
I saw it coming by at least that point as well...they were really playing up the "How could he be in two places at once?" angle.
Nice attention to detail. Hopefully it was something the viewer could have theoretically noticed.
I didn't go back to look.
This makes me wonder if it's possible for a business, like a dry cleaners or a cab company, that deals in a lot of cash could submit to their insurance for reimbursement for counterfeit money, the same way they would for theft.
Would it be worth it for a twenty, though? By the time I was working fast food over a decade later, the managers were wary of fifties and higher...twenties were considered not worth counterfeiting.
I'm positive I did. I would have seen all of this stuff either first run or at least as a Summer re-run.
I was probably favoring watching
Emergency! at the time, and thus my exposure to AITF would have been gappy.
