50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 1)
M*A*S*H
"Private Charles Lamb"
Originally aired December 31, 1974
Wiki said:
A Greek colonel donates a baby lamb as the main course for an Easter barbecue for his wounded men and the 4077th, but Radar tries to protect it.
Wrong holiday, dudes!
Greek Orthodox Easter sometimes falls on a different Sunday from Western Christian Easter, FWIW.
Burns catches Radar smuggling veggies out to his caged critter collection, which we've seen in at least one other recent episode, and it includes a skunk! Hawkeye narrates to Dad about how the 4077th has been getting a lot of Greek casualties lately, which leads to some OR discussion of Greek historical contributions, even while Hawkeye's operating on a blond Private Chapman (Ted Eccles), who has a badly wounded leg. Hawk and Trap both notice that the wound was self-inflicted, which Hawk talks to the private about indirectly to discourage him from trying it again. Meanwhile, Colonel Andropolis (Titos Vandis) visits Blake to arrange to have a Greek Easter feast brought to the camp for his men and Blake's personnel. When the food is delivered, Radar is horrified to see a live lamb being carried into the mess tent.
Burns objects too, on the grounds that the festivities are too pagan. He goes to Mulcahy's tent, finds him not appearing in this episode, and is writing a note of complaint when Chapman comes in and, thinking Burns is the chaplain, confesses to having shot himself. Frank goes to the guys about this and they try to persuade him to let the matter go, blackmailing him with charges of impersonating a priest. Meanwhile, Radar starts a one-man scheme to save the lamb, knocking it out with a shot and having Blake sign a paper allowing leave for the titular soldier, a pseudonym for the animal. An announcement is soon made to start a search for the lamb, which Col. Andropolis is upset about because it was flown in from Greece. Radar admits to Blake that he's had the lamb smuggled back home by way of Tokyo. To smooth things over, Hawk and Trap construct a Spam lamb in time for the feast, at which Radar gets drunk and dances. Chapman also makes it, still on crutches and in a robe.
As dawn breaks in the coda, the celebration is kept going by a few conscious but blitzed participants, including Radar.
Hawaii Five-O
"Hara-Kiri: Murder"
Originally aired December 31, 1974
Wiki said:
McGarrett investigates the murder of a wealthy Japanese businessman which was so done as to resemble an act of hara-kiri (seppuku).
A shady-looking man hurries out of a Japanese temple into a getaway car, following which a monk (Shinsho Jo) finds a body hunched over a pool of blood. The deceased is identified as Mitsuru Matsukata, head of the Honolulu branch of a Japanese bank and a descendant of samurai. The dagger and trappings found near him indicate ritual suicide.
Steve and Danno see Japanese consul Mr. Hatti (Andrew J. Sato), who's accompanied by economics professor Ramon Borelle (Ossie Davis), said to be there in lieu of family as Matsukata's closest friend. Borelle drives off in a limo chauffeured by the getaway driver, George (James S. Ishida). Danno and Chin then see assistant bank manager Andrew Shibata (John Fujioka), now occupying Matsukata's office, and meet Matsukata's secretary, Ann Whitmore (Lynne Ellen Hollinger).
Borelle and a conspirator (Nelson D. Fair), in possession of $250,000 from a test of their scheme, plot to use their method of making fraudulent transfer requests appearing to be from the main branch to gain $2 million. In another test to see if the cable codes have changed, they have George make a request via a console tapped into the bank's telegraph line. When it goes through Shibata's desk, he has Whitmore contact the party requesting the transfer, Borelle. A brief preliminary conversation that Whitmore and Borelle have on the phone tips us off that she's also a conspirator. At the temple, the monk brings to Danno and Ben's attention how Matsukata neglected to use a ceremonial mat. In Shibata's office, Borelle strongarms Shibata to give him the cable codes, bringing in Whitmore to help him corroborate that they've kidnapped Shibata's wife, Helen (Marika Yamato), who's being held by George and is put on the phone. Borelle instructs Shibata to cooperate with the impending investigation of the fraudulent test cable transfers.
Bergman finds that the dagger cut wasn't consistent with the usual method of seppuku and was improbably painful to have been self-inflicted. At 5OHQ, Shibata explains how the complex cable coding scheme works, with numbers coded into the cable being mathematically worked out to add up to the master code number, while Steve works out the numbers on a blackboard. A courier (Herbert Kobayashi) arrives at the bank with the new codes, which are put in the manager's office safe. The forged cables provided by the main bank lead to the office of a Walter Hutchins (eventually verified to be Fair's character), which is found to be empty. From the tapped-in console elsewhere, Hutchins makes a new transfer request for $200,000. Having inspected the bank manager's safe, Che finds indications that Shibata's safe had a bug that would allow a remote listener to hear the combination's clicks. Danno speculates that Matsukata found and removed the bug, and was murdered for it.
Shibata and Whitmore become people of interest based on their access to Matsukata's office; and Hutchins makes another transfer request for $300,000. McGarrett realizes that one of the forged cables had an error in the day given--speculated to have been due to the sender routinely having to add a day, though in this case the time of day made it the same day in Tokyo and Honolulu--and figures there must be an inside man in the bank's building that he can tap into the specific telegraph wire. Chin digs up that Whitmore was hired based solely on the recommendation of Prof. Borelle. Hutchins and George clear out with their console, following which Danno finds that a recent leaser of one of the offices in the building is a likely alias for Hutchins. The office in question is empty, but Danno finds a conduit within the wall that's been tapped into.
Borelle strongarms Shibata into clearing another $300,000, even though he's not supposed to be authorizing any transfers since the tap was discovered, and the transfer to Borelle's company is brought to Five-O's attention by the bank's head cashier (Michael H. Oshiro). Ben tails Whitmore driving Shibata to where his wife is being held at a girls' school that's shut down for the summer, and subsequently sees Borelle and Hutchins arriving. Five-O and HPD converge on the premises from a distance, sneaking in on foot and storming the place just as Borelle's about to have the Shibatas killed by the shady guy at the temple, Shigo, who's shot trying to escape without ever uttering a sound that might justify a credit. Danno calls Steve to inform him of the team's success.
Ironside
"The Return of Eleanor Rogers"
Originally aired January 2, 1975
Frndly said:
A judge whose wife once had syndicate connections receives threats.
The episode opens in the court with the Honorable John Fredericks (Joseph Campanella) chastising the defense of Joe Menlo (Stanley Adams) for stalling tactics. Ed is present, chatting after adjournment with the judge's daughter, Isabel (Katherine Cannon). Ed and Fran later run into Isabel and her new stepmother, Eleanor (Ina Balin)--with whom she has a tense relationship--as the Frederickses are leaving a restaurant. As John pulls up his car, a white pickup nearly runs him down, smashing off his driver's side door instead. At the Cave, Isabel tells Ed and the Chief that this is the third attempt on her father's life that might be taken for an accident, but runs into a wall of skepticism from the Chief, who thinks that she may just be looking for attention given her new family situation.
Ironside subsequently pays a visit to the judge in his chambers to get his unconcerned take on the situation and meets Eleanor, whom he silently seems to recognize. The Chief later compares a newspaper photo of Eleanor to a mugshot of the same woman. The Chief then pays a visit to Eleanor at the family home, confronting her with being the titular character, a former showgirl who was connected with gangster Brad Collins, whose operation Menlo has taken over. Isabel later eavesdrops on the other line as Eleanor receives a call from a man identifying himself as Collins (Howard Curtis), threatening to expose her if she doesn't go to work on her husband. Eleanor goes to the Chief about this, to learn from Ed that Collins died the previous year after being released from prison.
Back in court, the judge is getting down to business when the room has to be cleared for a bomb threat. Sergeant Wiley of the bomb squad (Bill Zuckert) finds a device, which the Chief examines, taking interest in how the tape wrapped around the dynamite indicates a left-handed person. Ed confronts the courthouse gardener, Mr. Fasari (Joseph Perry), at his apartment over having been paid to let someone substitute for him. Isabel arranges a rendezvous with Ed to verify that someone is trying to kill her father, and she's informed that Eleanor told them about the phone call.
At Fredericks Manor, Eleanor is working on a Dear John note disclosing her true identity when her husband enters and she tries to persuade him to drop the case, but he's adamant that Menlo is scum who preys on human weaknesses and has to be put away. The team somehow takes interest in ex-con Frank Wolser (Curtis), whom Fredericks put away. After the team locates and searches his current address, they find bombmaking remains indicating that he built the original device, but also another one. They search Fredericks Manor and find it clean, so Fran arranges to stay there, while John wants to send Eleanor to their cabin in Tahoe (even though one of the previous attempts was an explosion there). As Eleanor's packing, Isabel comes in to mend fences, admitting that as her mother died when she was a baby, she's always had her father all to herself. This motivates Eleanor to be honest with John, but it turns out that he already knows all about her past.
Ed is awoken at the Cave by the Chief burning the midnight over while poring over details of the case that don't add up, like the first bomb apparently having been rigged to not go off. Judge Fredericks also awakens in the middle of the night and goes downstairs with a gun. When the three ladies are awoken by a shot, they rush down to find John standing over the body of Wolser, who was also armed. Seeing a photo afterward, the Chief notes that the gun is lying next to the wrong hand, as Wolser was left-handed. He's then concerned to learn that Eleanor is taking the judge's car to Tahoe. Isabel drops Eleanor and Fran off at an auto shop to pick up the car, and Ed and Fran swoop in to stop them from starting it, finding the second bomb under the hood. Ed subsequently interrupts a court session to bring the judge back to his chambers, where the Chief and the others are waiting. Confronted with having been found out, he unloads his own issues about others learning of his wife's past, which would make a mockery of him.
In the Cave coda, the Chief exposits to Eleanor and Isabel how John learned of Eleanor's past when Menlo tried to blackmail him, and then arranged the series of attempts as cover for offing Eleanor. Whatever humorous beat they were setting up to follow is cut off in the recording as usual.
This is the penultimate broadcast episode of the series, with the finale to come in a couple of weeks. The reason I specify "broadcast" is that the syndication package includes three leftover Season 8 episodes that weren't aired first-run, which I'm planning to cover during this year's gradual transition between the end of the '74-'75 TV season and hiatus viewing.
You'd think the line "He rode a blazing saddle" would have given it away.
It sounds like a nonsense lyric at worst.
No, I love Joe Cocker. Everybody loves Joe Cocker. But I've joked before about how nobody has any reason to love Joe Cocker, because he's really not very good. It's like he has a mutant power to make everybody love him.
That high note he hits at the end makes his version of the song.
Gotta be Nixon. The jowls, the hairline-- plus which, Shirley is shaming him.
My first impression was Nixon, but I started thinking Sullivan as I looked closer. Note that they appear to be on a stage.
Yes, "Oogum Boogum" and "Gimme Little Sign."
I was taking "Gimme Little Sign" for granted, as that was the major hit.
www.youtube.com
I had similar thoughts when I first saw the title.
comicvine.gamespot.com
