I think that ship has sailed; there were some modeling magazines (fantasy models) in the early 2000s, but so many have ceased publishing, that companies such as Round2 biggest ad presence is in social media. I've watched the film, and yes, its fairly gritty, but the on-screen chemistry between Culp and Cosby would be disappointing to fans of their TV series. It was written by Walter Hill, and it forecasts the kind of rough, borderline dysfunctional relationship seen a decade later with Murphy's Reggie Hammond & Nolte's Jack Cates in Hill's 48 Hrs. Arts and craft stores like Hobby Lobby and Michaels--despite their size--are not the key source for modelers in the way department stores...even drug stores used to have an entire aisle dedicated to kits.
I've never seen this. Amusingly enough, I had the impression of this as a boring adult movie when I was a kid, and it was only later that I realized it was a "Sexual Revolution" movie. Definite cop out. It was the sort of thing that you'd see sometimes in Love, American Style-- the movement toward open mindedness, but then pulling back for the sake of the more traditional audience. They kind of wanted to have their cake and eat it too. I like it, because it sounds real nice and it's one of those songs that I think of as a midnight rocker. But it's not a song I would really focus on, letting it play in the background as I do or think about other things. Seems that way. Coincidentally, I was hanging out with an old friend from the 80s last Friday and we ended up having lunch in Nashua. While there, we found a comic book store that was really a lot more than a comic book store, and it did indeed have several aisles of model kits. Much of it was devoted to a Japanese franchise that I've never heard of, but there were also more familiar items (like the ship from Fantastic Voyage). I'm sure that place is an outlier, though.
That place is not an outlier; there are many comic book stores that sell both comic books and sci-fi merch like model kits that are based on sci-fi properties. Here in Toronto, I'd go to the Silver Snail if I wanted to buy a sci-fi model kit, or to a place in nearby Mississauga called Gotham Central that's the same. There was also the now no longer in Toronto (or defunct) Sci-Fi World store that had a shitload of stuff. Oh yeah, the Japanese franchise in question? It's Mobile Suit Gundam.
A superb scene. Cannon and Gould hit so many notes in their extended conversation, from vulnerability to humor to tension, in one loooong shot. No emotion is affirmed or closed or relieved by a cut, it just keeps going. I doubt either would have got the Oscar nomination but for that scene. I think Cannon was the secret weapon in the cast, she pulls off the judgmental and insecure yet curious and sexual Alice perfectly. She kind of seemed that way on her frequent and always enjoyable appearances with Johnny Carson, too. Not a cop out. It was built naturally from the movie. These people were not on the front lines of the sexual revolution or the counterculture. They were in their 30s, they were established in society, they made good money. The culture had been good for them, but nonetheless they knew times were changing. Did they really need to chase that change in their lives? Was it important or were they just trying to stay hip? It would have been easy to give them an orgy scene, but the movie thinks a step further: What then? What would it change? Their lives are more than sex. What each couple realizes is that they really care for each other and make each other happy, and they don't need to question that. It's brought home in a really nice, no dialogue closing scene where lines of people in a Las Vegas crowd pass as "What the World Needs Now..." plays. People of all different races, ages, ethnicities and classes, just having a simple and happy night out, individually but sort of together.
Interesting. When I used to go to comic book stores, I might see a half dozen model kits-- but this place had several aisles stuffed with them. That sounds right. Maybe. I haven't seen the movie. But it sounds to me like it was ultimately a reaffirmation of traditional values.
Bu that's the point--comic stores are not the norm, and are drying up around North America. In past decades (e.g., the 50s - 80s) model kits were a longstanding part of the stock big department stores, discount and drug stores, so you did not even need to go a hobby or toy store to find them. That's how much a part of the culture kit building used to be. You're not way off, as the end of the film has the leads accepting their original life/marriage choices, which rendered their swinging to be a fad, not a great shift in their lives going forward. It did not end with the couples racing out into the streets declaring their lives forever changed, but they--face to face with all of those random people (and the possibility of endless adulterous relations going forward)--came to the realization that there was no reason to alter / modify their chosen lives.
55 Years Ago This Week Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week: Leaving the chart: "Baby Don't You Do It," Marvin Gaye (9 weeks) "A Summer Song," Chad & Jeremy (14 weeks) Recent and new on the chart: "Saturday Night at the Movies," The Drifters (Nov. 14; #18 US; #8 R&B; #35 UK) "Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow the Sun)," Del Shannon (#9 US; #3 UK) "Amen," The Impressions (#7 US; #1 R&B) "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)," Marvin Gaye (#6 US; #3 R&B; #49 UK) And new on the boob tube: 12 O'Clock High, "Appointment at Liege" _______ Now you've got me curious to rewatch that scene...maybe it's on YouTube. I'm not the type to typically notice when a scene is all one cut, but that would help explain the tension. My take on Alice is that she was very repressed. It wasn't an accident that we didn't get to see her under the influence of anything until the scene that she suggests the orgy. She was so upset by what Bob and Carol were doing because it appealed to a part of her that she was trying to keep under lock and key. Also, the sexual openness was a by-product of Bob & Carol's new policy of total openness and honesty. They had to be open and honest with themselves if the orgy was something that they really wanted to do, and whether it was a good idea. I'm now thinking that this was set up way back in the group session at the retreat...there was some open talk about sexual issues, but it was a secondary thing to the general philosophy of openness. I'd recommend checking it out, then. Was it a disappointment that they didn't go all the way with the premise? Maybe, but the characters were exercising judgment regarding what this would ultimately do to their relationship; and the film itself was perhaps demonstrating some longer-term foresight...ultimately the lifestyle that this film was helping to popularize would prove to be a passing thing, and the people who engaged in it in the '70s would move on in the '80s. _______ ETA... Just stumbled onto the clip for this.
True. I remember seeing them in Bradlees and such. I'm not sure if I remember this, but it's a good one. This sounds nice, but that's because it sounds a lot like "Runaway." I actually do remember this. Kind of a religious tune. Classic... and reminds me of Jackie Gleason. Yes and no. Certainly the culture took a turn for the conservative in the 80s, and the Left Wing ultimately abandoned liberalism entirely, but that openness and experimentation, if you want to call it that, ultimately did change the sexual norms of society-- so maybe people will be more ready the next time. But from a storytelling point of view, at least if I was writing it, the affirmation of their chosen lifestyle would have had more power if they had actually tried the alternative rather than chickening out. His mother sure knew what she was doing when she named him Flip.
50 Years Ago This Week Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week: Leaving the chart: "Jealous Kind of Fella," Garland Green (10 weeks) "Jean," Oliver (14 weeks) "Little Woman," Bobby Sherman (13 weeks) "Walk On By," Isaac Hayes (12 weeks) New on the chart: "Ain't It Funky Now (Part 1)," James Brown (#24 US; #3 R&B) "Walkin' in the Rain," Jay & The Americans (#19 US; #8 AC) "Early in the Morning," Vanity Fare (#12 US; #4 AC; #8 UK) "La La La (If I Had You)," Bobby Sherman (#9 US; #14 AC) "Whole Lotta Love," Led Zeppelin (#4 US; #75 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time) And new on the boob tube: Mission: Impossible, "Submarine" Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Season 3, episode 10 That Girl, "Fix My Screen and Bug Out" Ironside, "Programmed for Danger" Get Smart, "Physician Impossible" Hogan's Heroes, "The Big Gamble" Adam-12, "Log 93: Once a Junkie" _______ This will also prove to be the Drifters' final Top 40 single. It is something of a clone, but still a cool song in its own right. This one's been in my Christmas collection for years and years, so it's grown on me. Whereas Jackie Gleason reminds me of the Marvin Gaye song. It wasn't just a general turn toward conservatism that happened in the '80s...AIDS specifically put a huge damper on '70s-style casual sex. I was thinking that it might have been bolder to let it happen, but then explore the consequences in the aftermath.
..and for a very, very brief moment, there was a backlash to the late 70s sex sleaze seemingly taking over in American sub-culture, which ra into the next decade: from the rise of the porno industry right at the explosion of the affordable home video market, to many infamous, sex-business related crimes (the controversy surrounding the murder/necrophilia-involved Dorothy Stratten case in August of 1980, to the Wonderland Murders in July of 1981 with porn star John Holmes playing a part in that). politicians like Reagan responded to a lot of public outrage by trying to wage war on the porn (and associated) industries, at the same time there was a slight cultural shift to your aforementioned conservatism independent of Reagan's election. Fascinating and occasionally dark times. Heh. I don't see it as chickening out, but rather, they realized there was noting wrong with their chosen, traditional marriages in the first place. They--being older than the counter-culture youth of that day--had the experience to reach a mature realization--to know the difference of what each lifestyle offered, and the film suggests they did not think adopting the swinger lifestyle was going to be a positive, psychologically healthy thing for them going forward. In other words, its not who they were. [quoted]"Walkin' in the Rain," Jay & The Americans (#19 US; #8 AC)[/quote] Pass. Always a nice, easy-listening song. Not too much of a fan of Sherman, and.... Just never warmed to them at all, even back in their heyday. I prefer the group that spawned them, The Yardbirds.
Maybe things pick up in Part 2. Well, they're not the Ronettes, but it's a great song and a nice cover. This is a good one. Pleasant and cheerful, but not really memorable. I was never a big Led Zep fan, but I've mellowed over the years. Some of their stuff, like this one, has a really nostalgic sound for me now. I think I may have unfairly held "Stairway to Heaven" against them. True. It seems I'm more likely to encounter the song than Jackie Gleason these days, though. Yes, that's very true as well. Definitely a seismic shift, and very disturbing after spending my formative years in a cultural Renaissance. There's certainly different ways to go with it, but since it's fiction there's obviously a message that the writer (or studio) wants to send. And because it is fiction, the lack of consummation feels anticlimactic (puns intended)-- but, on the other hand, there's stuff I know I wouldn't like without needing to try it.
_______ 55th Anniversary Viewing 12 O'Clock High "The Hours Before Dawn" Originally aired November 13, 1964 I really should rewrite these things. Savage is called to London on the night before a mission over Hamburg--for which the 918th has been preparing for week--to be informed of a secret change of target, the Hamburg plan having been a ruse to throw German intelligence off. Savage is the only man in the 918th who knows the plan, so it's vital that he be on the mission, which will be suicide if the 918th actually tries to hit Hamburg. Driving back to Archbury, the general's car is knocked off the road by a bomb during an air raid. Savage is picked up by a cab driver named Doker Drew (John McLiam), whose current fare is a jaded Englishwoman named Jennifer Heath (Glynis Johns), whom Drew hints has earned her money via improper means. Drew takes the general to Heath's home to use the phone, but once Savage is inside the bombs start getting too close for comfort and, when he tries to get the location of the basement out of Heath, she starts acting hysterical, and responds to him as if he's attacking her, so Savage indulges her and punches her out--now that's something you'll never see on TV today! After she's come to and the bombing has stopped, Savage is picking up the phone to make his call when he sees that a German in a corporal's uniform (Fritz Weaver) has them at Luger-point. Savage and Heath talk openly in front of him, assuming that he doesn't speak English, but Heath proves generally apathetic to the situation, expressing her preference not to take sides. Savage does manage to get her to divulge the location of her shotgun, after which the "corporal" drops his ruse and converses with them in English. Savage quickly sniffs out that the German is actually an officer, and he admits to being one Colonel Raff. A local patrol checks on the house (led by Maurice Dallimore, who'll go on to appear in the Londinium episodes of Batman along with Johns), led there by Drew in search of the German, who stole his cab to get to the house. With Raff hiding behind the door, Heath puts on a good act of being drunk and enjoying Savage's company. Once the patrol has left, the colonel puts his captives down in the basement so he can get some rest. All this time Savage has been watching the hours go by on his watch and Heath's clock, clearly concerned about the morning's mission proceeding without him. Savage tries to get the truth out of Heath about why she acts like she doesn't care if she lives or dies, never mind about the war, but she just messes with his head a bit, not giving him a straight answer. Having rested, Raff retrieves Savage, wanting the general's uniform for his escape, and Savage seizes an opportunity to struggle with him over the gun. Savage eventually gains control of it, putting a couple of shots into the colonel Bond-style, but not before Heath has taken one from Raff. In the Epilog we find that Savage has repaired the phone and called the patrol, and that Heath has survived. As she's being carried to an ambulance, she gives the general some indication that her near-death experience has straightened her out a bit. _______ 55th Anniversary Catch-Up Viewing Gilligan's Island "Two on a Raft" Originally aired September 26, 1964 Series premiere It's not a deal-breaker, but I was a bit disappointed to find that Me is showing colorized versions of the first season episodes. Kinda takes away from the immersive retro vibe. This is very much an "origin episode," picking up immediately after the shipwreck. The opening scene with the passengers sleeping was repurposed from the unaired pilot, which used different actors. The subsequent scene of the series actors listening to a news report of the Minnow's disappearance drops full names for some of the characters that we won't be hearing much in future episodes: Jonas Grumby (the Skipper), Professor Roy Hinkley, and Mary Ann Summers. Is Mrs. Howell's name really Lovey? Gilligan establishes his habit of eating anything and everything with the materials being used to construct the raft, including the shellac (made of coconut sap and sugar) and the putty (fresh mangos and berry seeds), as well as the shark repellant. The raft voyage goes reasonably well until the raft gets torn apart by sharks and what's left of it is inundated by a storm. The episode establishes the likely presence of natives on nearby islands. Once the Skipper and Gilligan find themselves back on the island, without knowing its the same one, each party assumes that the other is the savage Marubi tribe. Both parties end up taking refuge in the cave, then fighting each other in the dark, and once the confusion is cleared up, Gilligan trips a vine that triggers the Professor's trap, which causes the entrance to cave in. "Home Sweet Hut" Originally aired October 3, 1964 More origin business! Everybody makes a big deal about how episodic TV was in the day, so that you could watch episodes in any order, but I think they're generalizing based on action-adventure shows. This isn't the only example of classic sitcoms actually having a lot of episode-to-episode continuity. Note especially family sitcoms in which children grow and sometimes, if the show is long-running enough (My Three Sons), marry and add to the family. After a sudden rainstorm, everyone borrows clothes from the Howells while their own duds dry. Gilligan takes turns wearing the others' clothes, including Ginger's and Mary Ann's, to help dry them. The Skipper's name comes up in a second radio news report about the loss of the Minnow. There's a lot of physical comedy when the Skipper and Gilligan try out their hammock arrangement for the first time. The Skipper tries to sleep on top and nearly crushes Gilligan! Mr. Howell's teddy bear comes up for the first time! We get Ginger's first seductions of Gilligan as she borrows tools and materials from him against the Skipper's orders. Gilligan manages to destroy everyone's newly constructed huts, though that may say as much about their construction skills as about Gilligan's clumsiness. The community hut holds, but somehow winds up floating in the lagoon, even though it doesn't have a bottom. "Voodoo Something to Me" Originally aired October 10, 1964 Gilligan's keeping watch over the camp, during which he sleeps standing up--and he has a gun...though he manages to fire off all the remaining bullets accidentally! Being stranded on the island is still treated as a new situation, which includes the castaways firing off nightly flares. At this point the castaways seem to have basic huts set up and a dinner table. The prowler is obviously an ape of some type, though the Professor dismissed the idea of it being an animal early on. Gilligan takes an impromptu skinny dip after accidentally being immersed in mud, and his clothes are taken by the chimp. When the chimp shows up near the huts in Gilligan's clothes, the Skipper assumes that it's his little buddy, transformed by voodoo! And the first thing he does is...take off the chimp's clothes. The chimp then scampers off wearing the Skipper's hat and comes across Gilligan, wandering through the jungle in a palm leaf skirt, and Gilligan assumes that the chimp is the Skipper transformed by voodoo. When the Skipper and Gilligan subsequently run into each other, each continues to assume he saw the other transformed into the chimp, until all of the castaways see them together with the chimp back at the huts. Gilligan successfully coaxes the flare gun away from the chimp, but then accidentally fires a flare straight into the supply hut, which causes all of the other flares to go up. Gilligan runs inside the hut before the fireworks, but comes out afterward with only cartoon-style damage. "Goodnight, Sweet Skipper" Originally aired October 17, 1964 The Skipper is specifically reliving his experience at Guadalcanal in his sleep, which includes fixing a radio to transmit. When Gilligan first comes upon him doing it, the Skipper grabs Gilligan's hand thinking that somebody in his dream is handing him a requested screwdriver, so when he asks for wire cutters, Gilligan offers him finger scissors. Hearing what happened afterward, the Skipper temporarily convinces Gilligan that he was the one doing the sleepwalking. Once everyone figures out what happened, they want to make the Skipper sleepwalk through his experience again so that the Professor can take notes. (You'd think that if anyone knew how to turn the radio into a transmitter, it would be the Professor in the first place.) But the Skipper has trouble getting to sleep (thanks in part to untimely noises by Gilligan), so Gilligan goes to Mr. Howell for tranquilizers and we find that the millionaire brought a briefcase-sized pharmacy with him! Having already slipped a couple in the Skipper's cup, Gilligan gives the bottle to Mary Ann to return to Mr. Howell without telling her what they were for, and she, Ginger, and the Professor each end up getting the same idea and putting a couple more into the cup without consulting one another, which causes the Skipper to go into too deep a sleep. Despite this setback, he finally manages to get sleepwalking, but is awoken again by Gilligan. The Professor next tries hypnotizing the Skipper and gets the desired results, but when they try to construct the transmitter, it doesn't work. Once he's alone with the radio and transmitter, Gilligan manages to get it to work by banging on the transmitter box, but fetches the Skipper to do the talking and, when he tries to demonstrate what he did, he bangs the box again and its innards fall out. The around-the-world aviatrix initially seems like a throwback to Amerlia Earhart, but a bit of Googling reveals that there were a couple of aviatrixes competing to do an around-the-world journey in 1964, Joan Merriam Smith and Jerrie Mock. Apparently no woman had yet managed to fly around the world prior to that. _______ It has the virtue of sounding different from what James had been doing prior to this, and at least he's finally off the damn Popcorn! A decent but not remarkable cover, and Jay & The Americans' final Top 40 hit. A pleasant bit of period pop. The singer's voice kind of reminds me of early Billy Joel. Sherman's stuff is borderline for me, but I'm getting it. I should note, if everyone didn't already know it, that contemporaneous with his run of chart success, Sherman was also one of the stars of the Western TV series Here Come the Brides, alongside David Soul and Mark Lenard among others. I'm with RJ on this one. They didn't used to be my thing in earlier decades, but I've come to appreciate them and stone-cold classics like this song. The difference between our ages is such that the Reagan/AIDS years were my formative ones--"Welcome to puberty. This just in: sex can kill you now!" Well, I think you might still like this movie, despite its ending. _______ I just read an interesting fact today that relates to old Adventures of Superman business in the MeTV thread...in the origin episode, "Superman on Earth," one of the Kryptonian council members is wearing a Captain Marvel tunic from the 1941 movie serial!
But they're funny the way they are. Didn't finish third grade? Get a job writing capsule descriptions for cable. So we never found out what her trauma was? Ah, I love this show. It gets a bad rap, but it's a true classic. There's lots of character humor and satire along with the slapstick, plus it's a nice 60s lesson in harmony among diverse types. Plus which, the actors and characters are wonderfully appealing (with the possible exception of Tina Louise). Ugh, I hate colorization, as well as things like upgrading special effects. Next thing you know, they'll be dubbing silent movies. And why? It's not like MeTV doesn't have tons of black-and-white shows. It's not like they have to appeal to Millennials who are afraid of black-and-white cinematography. And you can see some of them, if you look closely. The DVD set has the original pilot in its entirety. It is indeed. And I think the Professor and Mary Ann's full names were only mentioned in two episodes (in the second of which, they are mangled by Mr Howell). Indeed, there were a few shows that took a few episodes to establish their format. I Dream of Jeannie and Lost In Space spring to mind. For a big guy, the Skipper was great at slapstick. Which was a nice, humanizing touch for the character. The show is basically Vaudeville on a South Seas island. There are certain theories about the Professor. Mr Howell's little helpers. Luckily not one from which he never woke up. Too difficult to stop and ask for directions when you're in a plane. Very interesting. I was kind of aware that there was a show by that name, but I didn't know any details until this moment (I didn't even know it was a Western). Yeah, I can imagine that sucked. It was like the 80s turned the world upside down. Probably. Definitely a window into the moment. I love it when stuff from one show or movie shows up in another-- I just recently saw some footage from This Island Earth show up somewhere... Wonder Woman, I think. It doesn't happen as much as it used to, unfortunately. Speaking of MeTV, the latest email had the holiday episode schedule. The main thing of note is that there will be an Ed Sullivan Christmas Special on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
_______ 50th Anniversary Viewing _______ Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Season 3, episode 9 Originally aired November 10, 1969 A Hawaiian-themed opening: The news intro is Russian themed (couldn't find a video). Carol and Goldie sing about being blonde: The Mod, Mod World of You and Your Car: They've been doing odd bits about how Judy's through with Sock It to Me gags, with the punchline that she gets one more drenching. This episode featured a brief funeral for the gag, with the water coming out of the casket. This week's Joke Wall: _______ The Mod Squad "Confrontation!" Originally aired November 11, 1969 A student demonstration has resulted in police chasing protestors when one cop catches up with a student and they both find the body. The time of death is established as two hours before the demonstration. The victim, whose name was Little, was a moderate who was being pressured to join the campus militants. The students think that a cop was involved in the killing. In his briefing, Greer tells Pete and Linc that he wants "all three of you on the campus right away," but Julie's not in the scene, so Greer picks up the slack by skulking around the campus disguised as a meter reader in one of those old-fashioned outfits with a cap and bow tie. Pete tries to loiter around the area of the murder but a small group of students give him trouble because they don't want anybody tampering with the crime scene. Linc strikes up a friendship with the victim's sister, Leora (Ta Ta Nisha). The detective in charge of the investigation, Lt. Rakosi (Simon Oakland), thinks that a student is responsible. Rakosi knows about Greer's "Kid Squad," and he and Linc are at each other's throats every time they share a scene. Rakosi says that student leader Ben Sanders (B.J. Mason) has been meeting with a well-known outside protestor who recently jumped bail, James Harper (Sid McCoy), and that word from students is that Harper is planning to supply the demonstrators with guns. Linc doesn't believe it, insisting that Harper is a man of peace...but when he stakes out the pool hall that Sanders lives above, he sees Sanders and Harper together. Julie first pops up halfway into the episode at police HQ outside of Greer's office. They drop her name a couple of times in the second half to make it seem like she's doing stuff, even though she's pretty much off for the week again. The police trace a call from Sanders to Harper and Linc scopes out the location with a camera, but is caught and taken into Harper's run-down apartment hideout for questioning. Left tied to a chair, he busts loose by busting the chair. Pete questions a gardener (Jorge Moreno) whom he thinks may have seen something, and coaxes out his story of how he witnessed a fight in the area of the murder between a man matching Little's description and a man breaking into a car with a pipe. Pete snoops around the area again and his attention is drawn to a storm drain. Reaching inside, he finds the blood-stained pipe. Prints lead to a small-time housebreaker who'd been operating in the area, but Greer and Linc have to convince Sanders and get him to call off a demonstration that everyone has been expecting to explode. In the coda, Rakosi demonstrates that Linc has earned his respect, and Julie pops up again to join in the customary walk-off. I don't think she earned it this time. _______ "Shake Hands and Come Out Acting" Originally aired November 13, 1969 Featuring the return of Billy De Wolfe as Jules Benedict (last seen in 1966), whose beginner's workshop Ann's trying to get the fighter, Tony Harris, into...with the incentive of some publicity for Benedict in NewsView. We also get yet another scene at what appears to be Ann and Donald's new favorite eating place. "A bottle of white, a bottle of red..." Ann finds herself in the back of a limo sandwiched between Tony's manager, Dal (Mel Stewart), and a gangster type named Jake (Allen Jaffe) who's said to own 60% of Tony. They make it clear that they don't want Tony distracted from his fast track to the championship, and offer her a bribe to "throw the audition". Donald is beside himself when Ann tells her about the encounter, then the shady duo pay a visit to Ann's apartment while he's there. Donald joins Ann in standing up to them, though he's clearly intimidated. It turns out that Ann didn't need to be bribed. At the audition, Tony proves to be a pretty lousy actor... ...but it also comes out that his real talent is stand-up comedy. By the time Tony gets around to displaying that talent, the manager's heavy has left, assuming that Ann's done her job. She gets the $2,000 bribe at her door while Tony's there and explains the situation to him. Tony and Donald both tell her to just keep the money. At his fight, Tony (whom we're told has since dumped Dal) is on the ropes when Ann tries to boost his confidence by telling him that Mr. Benedict, who's watching the fight, has accepted him into his workshop, but it doesn't work. "Oh, Donald" count: 5 "Oh, Mr. Benedict" count: 3 _______ Ironside "The Machismo Bag" Originally aired November 13, 1969 The episode opens with a demonstration at Mark's campus led by Manuel/Manolo Rodriguez (A. Martinez, who gets an "Introducing" credit), a rabble-rousing activist who leads a "Chicano power" group called the Blue Berets. Following this, Mark is on the scene when several of the Blue Berets are nabbing books from the college library. He doesn't blow the whistle on them, but stops one from also plundering the open register. The Chief doesn't approve of Mark's choice when he's told about the incident, but he tells Mark to ask himself why he made it. Mark then crashes the Berets' HQ to admire the library about their cause and heritage that they've assembled and question their purpose and methods. The Berets, who had previously been deemed harmless by law enforcement, are rounded up on a charge of conspiracy to commit treason when a detective named Lt. Rambau (Mort Mills) discovers a cache of weapons via questionable search and seizure methods. Commissioner Randall brings Ironside into the investigation to figure out exactly what they're dealing with. Questioning them, the Chief finds that Rodriguez and his group consider themselves Indios, the original inhabitants of the country. When the matter goes to court, Rodriguez refuses council, and earns himself a contempt charge for using the courtroom to make a political statement. Back in chambers, Ironside contends that MR is baiting the law to make a martyr of himself. The Chief brings Manuel's father into the situation. Manolo considers Manuel Sr. (Vito Scotti), who won the Congressional Medal of Honor at Iwo Jima but labored in menial jobs after the war, to be a "Tío Taco," the equivalent of an Uncle Tom. Ironside argues for reducing the charges in the name of justice to give the boy a second chance, but Rodriguez dictates a full confession to the arresting detective, then gets himself shot breaking out of custody and goes back to his HQ, where he still has some weapons hidden, to commit suicide by SWAT team. Ironside convinces Rambau to reluctantly clear the street of police, so that it comes down to just Manolo, his father, and Ironside. Manolo goes down to the street to face the Chief and throws his rifle at him in frustration before succumbing to his wound. The Chief uses the last scene to make his own statement about needing to listen to what the boy has to say. This one struck me as both sign-o-the-timesy and heavy handed. Its primary purpose seemed to be to lecture the audience about Manolo's situation. There didn't seem to be much of a story to hang the statement on. _______ Get Smart "And Baby Makes Four: Part 2" Originally aired November 14, 1969 Even half-hour sitcoms had long-ass recaps--this one clocked in at six minutes...1/5 of the time slot! The onscreen title actually calls this installment "And Baby Makes Four: Conclusion". Picking up from last week, Max sees Kruger pulling a gun on him in the mirror, but fires his own gun...at the mirror! Despite this, and an incident in which he and 99 get trapped in a broom closet with a self-locking door, with a ceiling hatch that leads to another broom closet with a self-locking door, the pair manage to make their escape. The Chief does seem to be using the Harold Clark alias specifically for 99's mother (who's notably lacking in the real name department herself). He and Larabee are at the actual maternity hospital when Simon the Likeable shows up because of the coat/map switch. An elderly patient gets out of her wheelchair and offers it to Simon. When the Chief tries to arrest Simon but succumbs to the KAOS agent's power himself, he breaks the fourth wall by looking apologetically at the camera. The Chief subsequently convinces a nurse to have Simon committed to a room in the hospital for his own good. Max and 99 make it to the hospital, 99 is rushed up to her room, the showdown between CONTROL and KAOS commences, and in the middle of the brawl, the call comes down that 99 (very quickly) had a boy. A round of congratulations to Max commences, including from the KAOS agents, then the fight resumes. Then Max's daughter is announced, and the fight is paused for another round of congratulations. The CONTROL agents finally manage to subdue all of the KAOS agents except Simon, who's walking out when he accidentally bumps into 99's mother. She slugs him to everyone's astonishment, explaining afterward that he's the image of her ex-husband. The episode closes with 99 introducing the twins to their father, who stumbles off-camera on his way to the bed. _______ Hogan's Heroes "The Big Picture" Originally aired November 14, 1969 Klink is being blackmailed by a Gestapo captain named Bohrmann (Sandy Kenyon) over a photo showing the colonel being buddies with one of the men who conspired to assassinate Hitler. The prisoners discover that Klink is shorting wages for his men and the prisoners to pay the captain. When Hogan wants to help Klink, he has to point out the obvious to his men... Newkirk: Why d'you want to save a bloody fool like Klink? Hogan: I don't want to, but let's face it...bloody fools don't grow on trees. An initial attempt to sneak into town and take the negative from Bohrmann is unsuccessful because the captain guards it too closely. Hogan uses a loan to the money-crunched Schultz (whose marital status comes up as a story point) as a bribe to get his men on an outside-the-gates work detail so they can make a daytime attempt, but Klink won't have his prisoners working without pay, despite Hogan's insistence. So three of them make another nighttime attempt via the "emergency" tunnel. LeBeau and Newkirk pose as loud drunks to create a distraction outside Bohrmann's hotel room while Hogan slips in the other door and grabs the negative. He sends it back to Klink via mail, and the kommandant immediately goes back to his stingy ways, wanting the men to do the cleanup work for reduced pay. And Schultz, after receiving his back pay, finds himself money-crunched again when the prisoners take most of it as repayment for various debts. DISSS-missed! _______ You can tell that the IMDb summaries for 12OCH are being written by the same guy...awkward cramming in of rank as an adjective, odd comma placement... One definitely got the impression that it was based on her sexual history. The story that she told Savage and quickly retracted was about a rape incident as a teenager...perhaps it was actually true. I got the notion to give it a whirl when it came up as 55th anniversary business in the Wiki timeline, and Me quickly came back around to the beginning of the series afterward. It was one of the staples of my childhood syndicated rerun viewing, which I'd generally been avoiding in 50th anniversary business for one reason or another, but I suppose one could consider GI to be the epitome of the zany '60s sitcom. Tina Louise...is this a reference to her generally disowning the show later? I don't get the impression that it's Me's choice specifically...probably just how the show is made available for syndication. I read a reference to the colorized Season 1 first being used in syndication in the early '90s. In one of the episodes he was hanging upside-down caught in a snare trap, with his hat mostly staying on. Like that he was using the island as a lab experiment? Caught a smidgen of it in the background back on Decades, I think. It was about a group of women being brought into a settlement specifically to serve as potential brides for the menfolk who were already living there. Being a teenager in the '80s spurred my interest in the '60s. One could see the film as being more about the journey than the destination. I assume that's the one that they played last year that didn't have much holiday-specific stuff and came off like a big infomercial for the home video package.
Ah, thank you. I was going along with what the closed captioning said. ETA: The 1982 episode of The Love Boat that Me is airing as I type this has both Lorne Greene and Richard Hatch as guest stars! (Before anyone asks where Dirk Benedict was, he was probably already working on The A-Team at that point.)
They should have had Jack Lord saying "Sock it to me." Or maybe they tried and he was too much of a stiff. It's on the super-secret server. At least he didn't dress up like a meter maid. Did this go anywhere, aside from Linc getting tied up? She seems to be MIA a lot. Something going on behind the scenes, I gather. Which doesn't bode well for their future together. His robotic acting is explained at the end when Rod Serling pops up and talks about the development of robot fighters in anticipation of the ban.... And it's nice restaurants for the rest of the season. Dig it! And with a non sequitur for a title. What a rip off, baby. 98? The guy really does have some kind of mutant power. Max does not get to hold the babies! Those were the days. He's got his own distinctive style. A very bad distinctive style. Ah, I see. Yes, indeed. She was very snooty about it, unlike the others, who really embraced it. Alan Hale, Jr, for example, used to visit kids in the hospital dressed up as Skipper. Right, that's probably true. More like he'd be a fool to escape from an island where he's trapped with Mary Ann and Ginger. But my favorite Gilligan's Island theory is the Seven Deadly Sins. Have you heard that one? I can see that. I must have seen it, but I don't remember. I'll record it anyway, because, y'know, there's a serious Ed Sullivan shortage right now. When I was at BMC, the midwives and doulas used to call me "Uncle Ricky," because I was always talking about my Niece and Nephew. Some of the Hispanic doulas turned that into "Tio Rico."
50th Anniversary Catch-Up Viewing The Brady Bunch "Dear Libby" Originally aired October 3, 1969 Marcia is the one who reads the column, then makes an effort to keep the parents from seeing that section of the paper but lets Greg in on it. It seems to have been written by one of the parents about not loving the other set of three kids, so the kids have a meeting to agree to be on their best behavior...which takes some doing, as fights naturally want to break out over what show to watch on TV or a game of checkers. The parents and Alice can tell that there's something seriously wrong given how unnaturally well-behaved the kids are being. Alice gets Greg and Marcia to 'fess up by threatening to tell all the kids at school how good they're behaving. Then Marcia fills Carol in and Greg fills in Mike. Each of the parents then worries that the other wrote the letter, and Alice briefly gets caught in the middle of that. The parents eventually talk it out themselves and resolve to have a talk with the kids, which is when Libby drops by, as the letters described above from the kids and Alice were written since they'd seen the column, with each wanting Libby to tell them who wrote the letter. The bit with the parents discovering that each also wrote a letter for the same reason but didn't send it occurs in the coda. This episode did a pretty good job of getting across how the joined families were adjusting to their new situation. "Eenie, Meenie, Mommy, Daddy" Originally aired October 10, 1969 The first half of the episode is mostly about Cindy practicing for the part. When she learns about the attendance restriction, she attempts to apply reverse psychology, trying to convince each parent that they don't really want to come. When they find out what it's about, Marcia wants Cindy to take Mike, while Greg wants her to take Carol. Then Cindy tries to get out of the play entirely by feigning a sprained ankle. Eventually the school finds out what the situation is and has a heart about it, resulting in the resolution mentioned in the summary. "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" Originally aired October 17, 1969 The story starts with Bobby getting a scraped knee in a bicycle accident. He instinctively wants Alice to tend to it, but Alice thinks it'd be better for him to bond with his new mom. Next Mike needs a button sewn, she sends him to Carol. Then Peter and Greg are having a fight over a baseball glove, same solution, and it turns out that Carol knew where Peter's missing glove was. Alice seems satisfied when she hears Carol enthusiastically telling Mike how she feels like a wife and a mother now...yep, still the '60s. When the next incident happens, between Bobby and Peter, they automatically bypass Alice and go to Carol. Next the girls have a crisis of confidence because they feel that the boys are more important to Carol now, but she explains how they haven't had a mother in a long time and she wants them to know they can come to her now. Not long after that, Alice goes to Mike and Carol with her story. Of course, the kids are pretty upset by the news. Mike and Carol discuss the situation in (the same!) bed, with the two of them repeatedly turning on and off their table lamps--was this a recurring gag? Some humorous suspicions are raised when Alice can't keep the details of her story straight (like which city she's moving to). After they learn why Alice is really leaving, the Brady parents devise Operation: Alice, a scheme to make her feel needed by making it look like the family will be helpless without her. She sees through it but is flattered that they went through the trouble and happy to bask in their subsequent praise. I don't remember if this might have been mentioned in the pilot, but Alice says that she's been with the Brady men for seven years. _______ They pretty much established that there were no guns involved. And Linc got a moment where he talked to Harper and was disillusioned to see what a figure whom he'd looked up to was really like. Yeah, I assumed it was due to temporary circumstances when it was happening last season, but it's still going on. Ann and Donald fight over custody of a couple of paintings from Sears. There was talk in the episode about machismo as a factor that was motivating Manolo's attitude and actions. And a beat that kind of didn't go anywhere where Manuel Sr., while not agreeing with what his son was doing, took up a rifle himself, deciding that if his son was going to get himself killed, he'd stand with him. That was when Ironside had the street cleared. Awww. Did he hit the kids over the head with his hat? Don't think so. Do each of the castaways represent a sin?