50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2)
Shazam!
"The Odd Couple"
Originally aired October 18, 1975
Season finale
IMDb said:
Don learns that everybody needs help once in a while when a fierce forest fire breaks out and Captain Marvel needs help from Isis in order to put it out.
The opening credits and first couple of scenes of our crossover episode (featuring Steve Benedict as Don Haley and Cindy Eilbacher as Susie Walsh):
Mentor declares that he'll leave the game for Solomon to judge. The Elders call on cue to advise Billy of pride being a two-edged sword and how there are times when every man needs help, even Captain Marvel.
Solomon: And before we go, tell Mentor I declare the limerick game a draw.
Back in the plane, Don realizes that the tape recorder's been interfering with the compass and that the plane is way off course, but refuses to call in a mayday, instead trying to correct his course until the plane runs out of gas. Billy spots the sputtering plane, changes to Cap, and bellies onto the top of the craft to guide it down for a landing (long shots featuring a very obvious dummy). Don thanks Cap but insists that he could have managed the situation himself and declines a ride. Instead, he and Cindy grab gear to hike their way back to civilization...slipping in a brief PSA about littering along the way.
When Billy and Mentor notice smoke from a developing forest fire, Billy changes again to scope it out from the air, then asks Mentor to call the Elders for help while he tries to locate the kids. Said kids find themselves surrounded by burning trees, on top of which Don slips and injures his ankle. At the van, Mentor speaks with the Elders for the first time, to be told that they'll divulge the secret identity of the one person who can aid Captain Marvel.
Cut to Mentor paying a call on Andrea Thomas while she's alone in her school lab, telling her that he was sent by the Elders--with whom she seems to be familiar--to ask her to help his friend, Captain Marvel. Andrea goes outside, changes to Isis, and flies to the scene of the fire. Cap spots the kids--Don now using a makeshift crutch--and lands in time to save them from a falling tree, then promises that reinforcements are on the way. While he has them lie belly-down in a nearby stream, Isis calls for the spirits of the water to fight their mutual enemy while unusually not rhyming. And that brings us to the closing scenes, moral, and end credits:
Apparently the Elders' budget doesn't permit Cap to carry passengers.
Speaking of Bigfoot, Isis went there first:
Note how Isis figures out a budget-friendly way to carry passengers.
Emergency!
"The Indirect Method"
Originally aired October 18, 1975
IMDb/MeTV said:
A hard-nosed female trainee is assigned to Roy and John. Freeway construction threatens an old couple's house. A man tries to commit suicide by gas, but then changes his mind. A man suffers a heart attack and the paramedics are unable to revive him. Roy is electrocuted trying to save an invalid at a burning building.
Cap'n Stanley is instructing the guys on the titular technique, which puts out fires in closed spaces with minimal water by letting resulting steam do all the work, when the new paramedic trainee walks in--Karen Overstreet (Elayne Heilveil), who's wearing a medical tunic rather than a uniform. Awkwardness ensues, the paramedics acting uncomfortable while the fire crew just stares speechless. Then Chet complains of a throbbing head and collapses in the kitchen. Karen examines him and quickly exposes that he's faking.
The station is called to a house on the hills where the police are in a standoff with a shotgun-wielding Mrs. Hurley (Anne Loos), whose paranoia that the police are just trying to get them to vacate the property for freeway construction is an obstacle in treating her husband, though she agrees to let the paramedic trio in. Karen doesn't miss a beat in working with Roy and Johnny, and it's determined that Mr. Hurley hasn't had a heart attack as initially believed, but does have a serious blood clot on a lung. When the ambulance arrives, Mrs. H wants everyone to leave, but Karen firmly talks her down and she relents. Brackett stabilizes Mr. H at Rampart, though he's not out of the woods yet; following which Dix chats with Roy and Johnny about the new trainee.
At the station, Roy and Johnny critique how forceful Karen was with Mrs. H. Karen, in turn, calls them out for Chet's prank. Roy ultimately harnesses her, declaring that they'll decide when she's ready to act on her own initiative. When she voices defensiveness about being a woman, Johnny says that they'll forget about it if she will.
The dispatcher is seen again (though only from behind this episode) as Squad 51 and another engine are called to a suburban home where a man lies unconscious on a lawn after an attempted suicide by gas that he tried to escape from, pulling out a pipe that he'd handcuffed himself to and diving through a window. Karen is stunned after Johnny corrects her description of the victim's pupils. Symptoms pointed out by a neighbor indicate a possible intercranial hemorrhage, and the victim in taken to Rampart in time for a neurosurgeon to potentially save him.
At the station, Chet speculates that Karen's silence is the result of something having happened between her and Johnny. At Rampart, Mr. Hurley is pulled through. When Mrs. H goes in to see him, she expresses her resignation regarding the house, and credits the female paramedic for having brought her to her senses before she got herself killed. The squad is called to a heart attack victim outside a market, who's ultimately lost despite the paramedics' efforts to save her. Karen lets her self-doubt affect her ability to perform her duties, and discusses her situation afterward with Dix at Rampart's outdoor cafeteria, ultimately being made to see that she shouldn't give up. Roy offers his support in helping a humbler but rededicated Karen learn the ropes.
The station and other units are called to the Obligatory Climactic Structure Fire (the dispatcher being seen for the third time this episode). The structure here turns out to be a backlot home rather than a chemical plant. Roy and Johnny gear up to rescue an invalid from an upstairs apartment; while the fire crew uses the previously introduced titular technique on the downstairs of the house. While attempting to exit the apartment from a window, Roy is shocked by some loose wires and falls to the ground, where Karen tends to him with Marco's assistance. When Johnny's gotten the invalid out, he finds that Karen's got the situation under control.
In the coda, Karen lets her hair down while visiting Roy in the hospital, where Johnny puts his foot in his mouth regarding his colleagues' new friendliness.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
"Mary's Aunt"
Originally aired October 18, 1975
Frndly said:
Mary's Aunt Flo, a celebrated journalist, raises hackles in the WJM newsroom---especially Lou's.
Mary's excited to announce that her aunt (actually her mother's distant cousin) and idol, famous columnist Flo Meredith (Eileen Heckart), will be visiting town. Flo is well-traveled and -connected, and dominates the conversation while making sure that everyone knows it, which seems to make Mary feel inadequate. When she visits the newsroom, her condescending attitude rubs Lou the wrong way; and the friction increases when she questions why the newsroom isn't focusing exclusively on a murder trial that she's interested in.
Mary tries to smooth things over by asking Lou to come over for dinner with her aunt as a personal favor, but before she can ask, he tries to discourage her by giving her several detailed examples of the types of favors he might call upon from her in return. At dinner, Flo tells a story about knowing Winston Churchill, like that's not pretentious. Anything Lou tries to offer in kind, she just one-ups. He walks out in frustration, and Flo just goes into a story about Harry Truman.
The next day Lou finds Mary at the bar trying to work up the courage to confront her aunt, and Lou reveals that he called Flo the night before and apologized; then explains how he understands why she's the way she is, because she was a trailblazing woman journalist who had to put up with guys like him. When Aunt Flo drops in, Mary further learns that she and Lou had a date, and that Flo's looking forward to picking up where the two of them left off.
The Bob Newhart Show
"Carol's Wedding"
Originally aired October 18, 1975
Wiki said:
Carol marries Larry Bondurant (Will Mackenzie) despite knowing him for less than a day.
While his office desk's being refinished, Bob attempts to get by with a substitute TV tray. Carol's lobbying for a raise and unsatisfied with the latest blind date that Emily set her up with. At home, Emily tells Bob that her old best friend's brother, Larry Bondurant, will be in town and she's thinking of hooking him up with Carol. At the office the day after the blind date, Carol's late and a pair of moving men (Vincent Milana and Ric Mancini) deliver a church organ rather than his desk. Carol comes in saying that she's been picking out a wedding dress as she's planning to marry Gary...er, Larry...that Saturday at City Hall.
When Bob gets home, Emily already knows and acts triumphant. At the office, Bob does a phone gag over having gotten a school desk delivered. Jerry doesn't think Carol's serious, and when Carol comes into Bob's office to talk, he assumes that she's come to her senses and canceled the wedding; but it turns out that she's there because her parent won't come, thinking she's crying wolf again, and she wants Bob to give her away.
Come Saturday, the small wedding party consisting of our series regulars waits outside of Judge Tanner's office as it begins to look like Larry--who went back to Seattle to take care of business--may be standing Carol up. An old fellow (Pat Cranshaw) who's marrying his seventh wife, a young blonde, goes ahead of them. Larry finally arrives, acting awkward and sheepish because he got his ticket wrong despite being a travel agent. He and Carol are already passionately kissing as the judge (Robert Casper) is brought out to rush through the ceremony at auctioneer speed in order to maintain his schedule.
What could possibly be confidential about that? Except maybe the way he periodically burst into tears and needed to be fortified with hard liquor.
Very good McCartney Rock, but I don't remember ever hearing it on the air at the time. In fact, my brain doesn't connect it to any particular time period for some reason.
Possibly because of its use in the later live album and still-later concert film. The single is a shortened version of the opening tracks from the album. I've always associated the reference to a "green metal suit" with the track that served as this single's B-side, which may be of some interest:
One of us! One of us!
I remember this and it's okay, but it's not giving me any nostalgia vibes.
This is good, memorable, and immersive.
This is funny. Strong nostalgic value.
A memorable period classic.
I love this one. My favorite Diana Ross song. Strong nostalgic value.
Memorably melancholy.
I have a friend who recommends two Brazil nuts per day to restore aging memory. The bad news is that she tells me every week or so.
I vaguely remember "Bigfoot and Wildboy."
Apparently they were just aping SMDM's version of Bigfoot.
Perry and Hamilton.
I thought perhaps you might be doing Johnny Cochran as parodied by Greg Morris's son Phil:
"Seinfeld"'s favorite attorney Jackie Chiles in a compilation of his series of single-word exclamations. Outrageous!***Please click the thumbs up icon, subsc...
www.youtube.com
Steve's familiar with Vashon's mean forehand.
I'm not sure how accurate this memory is, but I think hearing a fragment of that song on the commercial is what made me want to watch the first time.
Part of it did get in my head today.
I'm not even sure if I've seen it all the way through, actually. I'm always surprised to be reminded that Jim Backus was in it.
In a meaty dramatic role...as the trailer shows, he's the father who's too spineless to serve as a role model for Dean's character.
