50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 1)
All in the Family
"The Very Moving Day"
Originally aired September 8, 1975
Season 6 premiere
Wiki said:
Gloria announces her pregnancy on the very day she and Mike are moving into the Jeffersons' house next door.
This season has a new intro with all of the main actors' credits appearing before the series title. I wonder if this version of the song is the same one they used for the clip episode last season.
Mike's packing some belongings for the big move the next day, while arguing with Archie about Betty Ford's comments concerning premarital sex. Mike lets Archie know that his own daughter engaged in it with a knowing smile in response to Archie. Gloria comes home excited to share the news and asking if she's showing. Edith picks up on her hints while Archie has to have it spelled out for him. He's shocked, while Edith's overjoyed to tears. Archie gives Edith Kleenex and a cigar. The catch to all of this is that Gloria hasn't told Mike yet.
Gloria: You know how Michael worries about world problems and the population explosion.
Archie: For a guy who worries about explosions, he lights the fuse every chance he gets.
Nervous about telling Mike, Gloria sends the parents out to dinner so she can be alone with him, though Archie teases him about the news on the way out. Mike's rightfully concerned at the sight of Archie smiling at him.
When Gloria reminds Mike of a getaway when she forgot her pills, he catches on quick, but seems to take it very well. She reminds him of all of his past arguments against bringing a child into the world, making his tension more obvious. The conversation quickly turns into an argument about how she allegedly tricked him into getting her pregnant. He storms out and she does a Gloria cry.
Mike goes to Irene's to unload on her about it. In response to a comment about her religions, she accuses him of being a "devout coward," and gives him a clipping from the
Christian Science Monitor, which she has because her butcher uses it for wrapping.
Waiting up for Mike, Gloria tells Edith that she's now considering abortion. Archie forces himself into the scene and Edith into the kitchen, and has Gloria sit on his lap. He reminds her of growing up, and retells a familiar story about the first time that he saw her, which makes her smile. Mike returns, humbled after thinking things out. The family assembles for the moment, though Michael would rather talk to Gloria in private.
Gloria: You're the one who ran off and left me, and they stayed here with me, waiting and worrying about you.
Archie: Your mother worried, I didn't give a damn.
Mike shows her the clipping, a quote from Alistair Cooke that addresses Mike's position, advising generations not to take world crises so seriously that they not enjoy life, including having babies. Moved to tears, Gloria heads upstairs with Mike.
M*A*S*H
"Welcome to Korea"
Originally aired September 12, 1975
One-hour Season 4 premiere
Frndly said:
Hawkeye misses saying goodbye to Trapper, but meets his replacement, B. J. Hunnicutt, in Seoul. Newcomer B. J. is introduced to the realities of war on an eventful ride to the 4077th compound.
There are three new names in the opening credits--new cast members Mike Farrell and Harry Morgan, and a promoted Jamie Farr. Farrell also gets an awkwardly inserted shot of B. J. running up to the chopper. The episode opens with onscreen epigraphs by General Dwight D. Eisenhower and General Raymond W. Bliss.
A hungover Hawkeye returns from leave in Tokyo as acting camp commander Burns is lording over an assembly. Hawkeye skips out on it to take a clothed shower, during which Radar informs him that while Hawk was deliberately incommunicado, B. J. was discharged and just left a couple of hours ago. Radar is assigned to pick up Trapper's replacement, Captain B. J. Hunnicutt, in Seoul; and Hawkeye, hoping to catch up with Trapper, insists on accompanying him, without permission from Burns and his puppeteer, Houlihan...who hope to get a new surgeon whom they can train their way.
When he gets to Seoul, Hawkeye learns that he missed Trapper's flight departure by ten minutes. As a formally uniformed Capt. Hunnicutt (Farrell, natch) is trying to introduce himself to a preoccupied Hawkeye, Radar finds that the Jeep has been stolen, which serves as the captain's introduction to the insanity of the war. In an officer's club where Hawkeye forces Radar to impersonate a captain, Hawk formally extends the titular sentiment to B. J. during a toast. When a suspicious colonel (Robert Karnes) asks about the dual-insignia-sporting Radar, B. J. helps Hawkeye to snow-job him with a story about the enlisted man holding an experimental rank, "corporal captain". (Now I know where the poster got his handle.) As they're leaving the club, an arriving general leaves his Jeep unattended, and Hawkeye commandeers it for Radar to drive them home.
The two-part syndicated version ends the first episode with a P.A. announcement and a brief teaser scene. The opening credits of Part 2 have an alternate insert shot of Hunnicutt, which makes him look a little less three-years-late-for-the-party. A P.A. announcement as the episode commences indicates that it's September 1952. (Now that they're going into their fourth year of a three-year war, you'd think they'd be a little more mindful of squandering their limited temporal setting.) A scene that we didn't see in Part 1 of Burns riding Radar hard prior to the morning assembly leads into a P.A.-narrated recap of that episode, which segues into Houlihan reporting that Hawkeye's missing.
On the way back to camp, Hawkeye bluffs the party's way past the same checkpoint M.P. he had to bluff on the way out (Tom Dever). Hawk has Radar pull over so he can attempt to intervene when he sees a pair of young women probing their father's field for mines. While Hawk's chastising their father, a mine is set off, and Hawk loads the victim and the rest of the farmer's family--sans the farmer himself--onto the Jeep to drop them off at a local hospital. Once the party's speeding back to camp again, the Jeep gets a flat. While they're changing it, they realize that a group of Koreans who just walked past them on the road has disappeared into the woods, indicating that they're guerillas. B. J. hastily finishes putting on the spare while under fire.
Afterward the surgeons go into field action as an infantry unit is shelled on the road. Hawkeye supports B. J. when he has a spell of nausea.
Hawk: The worst part is you'll get used to all of this.
The party then stops for a break at Rosie's Bar, which results in Capt. Hunnicutt reporting to his new commanding officer completely shit-faced.
B. J. (saluting): What say you, ferret face? [Collapses in laughter.]
In the coda, Burns is arrested by MPs for being in possession of the general's Jeep. The episode closes with a P.A. roll call of the cast, followed by a brief introduction to new commanding officer Colonel Sherman T. Potter (Morgan).
Hawaii Five-O
"Murder--Eyes Only"
Originally aired September 12, 1975
Two-hour Season 8 premiere
Wiki said:
The letter-bomb murder of a Navy intelligence officer interrupts McGarrett's annual naval reserve duty and involves him in another Wo Fat plot.
The episode opens with an onscreen assistance acknowledgment to the Navy and DoD before the title is shown. Danno and Chin drop uniformed Steve off at the dock so he can boar his assignment, the frigate
USS Knox (FF-1052). At the naval airfield, courier Captain Fesler (Lee Stetson) flies in and takes a briefcase to Fleet Intelligence. The eyes-only envelope inside is taken to Commander Emile Nordhoff (Wayne Ward) by Ensign Marcia Bissell (Donna Mills). The envelope blows up when he opens it, while Bissell, with whom he apparently had a fling, lingers in the room far enough away from his desk to survive.
Commander McGarrett's leading target practice on the
Knox when he's summoned to see Admiral Dean (Lyle Bettger) on the
Cochrane (DDG-21)...transporting over via a seat attached to a pulley. The admiral informs him of a downed spy satellite that was quickly searched for by foreign intelligence, causing NI to suspect a mole. McGarrett is assigned to work with Commander Wallace (Harry Guardino), who takes him to inspect the crime scene, where he butts heads with Bissell's superior, Lt. Waldron (David Birney). Elsewhere, Wo Fat--accompanied again by Mr. Chong (Robert Nelson)--is delighted to read in the paper of his nemesis's involvement.
Danno comes to Pearl to assist in the investigation. They learn that the pouch was sent by Captain Roger Newhouse (Lloyd Bochner) in San Diego at Nordhoff's request. This makes Newhouse, Nordhoff, Bissell, and Waldron suspects. Steve visits Bissell as she's checking out of the hospital, briefly meeting her father, former Navy chief Sam Bissell (Biff McGuire). Ensign Bissel acts very defensive, citing her high IQ and answering Steve's anticipated questions. He deduces from the fact that she had plenty of time to get out of the office that she had a personal relationship with Nordhoff.
Steve, Adm. Dean, Wallace, Waldron, and Bissell attend Nordhoff's military funeral, where Steve questions Capt. Fesler about how the contents of the pouch could have been switched. Fesler proudly insists that he was never asleep on the plane. As Fat travels via hydrofoil, he gets an update via phone from an inside operative.
McGarrett traces a matchbook found in Nordhoff's possession to a hotel in Costa Mesa, motivating McGarrett to travel to the mainland, where he questions Capt. Newhouse about access to the safe. Newhouse is confident that when he had the pouch, it had papers in it, not a bomb. Steve proceeds to the hotel, where he questions the desk clerk (Wayne Oxford) about Nordhoff's activities to find that the commander was calling av private medical clinic. Steve visits the clinic to talk to its head, Dr. Pendler (Morgan Sha'an), asking about the room number written on the matchbook. Pendler informs him that the occupant is a female accident victim in a coma...Erica Waldron.
Covertly clipped microfiche is delivered to a bank's drive-through teller (Gary Kau); who proceeds to drop the message at a flower shop, where it's picked up by a young woman working there (identity uncertain--possibly Sally Lee or Jackie Ben). Woman with film takes a tour boat that stops at the USS Arizona Memorial. Arriving by another boat is Fat. She leaves flowers with the film inside, which Chong retrieves, taking it to Fat on his hydrofoil. Fat gloats of having achieved half of his mission under McGarrett's nose. When Steve returns to Hawaii, he's informed of the latest security breach, the microfilm containing the coordinates of the satellite--a file that only Waldron and Bissell had access to. Steve questions Waldron about why his wife is in a civilian clinic on the mainland, and about Nordhoff's visit. A messenger (David J. Ciba) later brings McGarrett a message. As he starts to open it, Steve tosses it out the window and it explodes (the contents being sturdy enough to break glass).
Che reconstructs the bombs, and it's determined that Sam Bissell, who was in demolitions, had the skill to make it. McGarrett visits him at his current airport security job to find him very defensive when questioned about the odd timing of his retirement from the Navy. Elsewhere, Danno questions Capt. Fesler about why he chose a flight with an hours-long layover in San Diego when there was a more direct option, and after being caught in excuses that don't add up, he confesses that he's having an extramarital affair with a woman there. When Chief Bissell's file from Washington disappears from Waldron's section, it casts suspicion on Ensign Bissel, and Wallace has a search conducted. Waldron contritely comes forward with the original envelope that was to be delivered to Nordhoff--sans its contents--which was found hidden on the route Ensign Bissell took between his desk and Nordhoff's office.
Steve questions Marcia over dinner, and she hands over her father's file, explaining that his retirement was a deal with Nordhoff to avoid a court-martial over petty theft, and that she wanted to see how much damage the file might cause to his current job before returning it. Marcia expresses lingering feelings for Nordhoff, showing Steve photos of the two of them together, McGarrett taking interest in one taken with her on the mainland. Just when things are looking better for the ensign, Danno's investigation into an anonymous phone tip from the bank teller turns up that a $20,000 Maui bank account was opened in Sam Bissell's name by a woman who could have been her. But a lack of conclusive evidence that Ensign Bissell ever handled the original envelope--having worn gloves when making her delivery--and the sloppiness of the hiding place cause McGarrett's suspicion to fall on Waldron for producing the envelope.
McGarrett investigates Waldron's taped calls, taking interest in the repeated occurrence on different dates of the exact same phrasing about visiting his wife. That and Waldron having used exact phrasing twice when indicating his belief in Marcia Bissell's guilt cause McGarrett to consult psychiatrist Dr. Bickman (Ray Reinhardt) about a theory that Waldron has been acting under hypnosis, which was conducted at the clinic, where Steve thinks that Erica is being held drugged. Bickman demonstrates how Waldron could be conditioned to do something normally against his will by hypnotizing Danno. Bickman successfully compels Danno to try to shoot Steve by implanting a constructed scenario that McGarrett's actually an imposter who has his finger on a button that can destroy a dozen cities. When Danno awakens, Steve doesn't tell him what he did, but teases him about its blackmail-worthiness.
When Wallace has Erica Waldron's accident report dug up, he learns that somebody else requested it recently--creating a new theory that it was Nordhoff, who was having the report delivered to him in the original envelope. McGarrett's moves include calling Newhouse to inform him of an espionage ring at the clinic and arrange security for Erica Waldron; and having the Bissells publicly taken into custody...which has Fat expressing pleasure at how well his plan is working. Waldron receives a call from Dr. Pendler that triggers hypnotic commands, causing him to open a safe of envelopes while wearing gloves and photograph what's on a microfiche. Examination of the photo of interest from Erica's wallet turns up that a similar photo Steve had been shown at the clinic was doctored from that photo to make it look like Nordhoff and Waldron were social pals, as cover for Nordhoff's visit to Erica. At this point, Steve shares with Danno that he smells the craftsmanship of his old nemesis in this scenario.
Waldron--now in the know and cooperating with McGarrett and Wallace under his own will--is tailed making a delivery to the bank teller, who's followed to the florist and arrested after his drop-off. The lady from the florist's shop is tailed to the tour boat, which Danno boards in Hawaiian tourist wear, following her to her drop point, witnessing Chong picking up the flowers, and subsequently arresting the lady. Meanwhile, Pendler is summoned away from Erica Waldron by an incoming accident victim. Men dressed as ambulance staff sneak into the clinic and roll her out to their vehicle, following which the police swoop in on the clinic. But McGarrett and Wallace fail to stop Chong from reaching the jetfoil fast enough to enable its getaway. The commanders tail behind in a Coast Guard cutter while a CG chopper with Danno aboard overtakes the speeding foil. Danno plugs the boat with a submachinegun, causing it to go into a spin, then stops it with a grenade. The cutter catches up and McGarrett leads its boarding--catching Chong, but finding only a back-double of Wo Fat and no envelope. Chong reveals that he passed the envelope to his boss in his getaway taxi, which Fat was driving. McGarrett is able to claim a partial victory when he shares with Wallace that the map delivered to Wo Fat was a planted phony, which will lead him to downtown Shanghai.
I haven't watched a full episode since 1979.
That's a long time, with some classic casts along the way.
Could be. Her best stuff is pretty much behind her at this point, with maybe one exception.
Au contraire, the best is yet to come.
Yeah, but I like Linda Ronstadt. And I'm actually not sure which version I heard first.
This may actually have been my primary exposure to the song, but I don't have a distinct memory.
Somehow I had the impression that her girlfriend was a sidekick character.
You mean Cindy Lee? She's one of Andrea's students. I'm not sure if Rick Mason is supposed to be a fellow teacher, the principal, Andrea's boyfriend, or a combination of one of the first two possibilities with the third.
I wonder if they changed their minds about the setting after production started. Or maybe they changed producers.
More likely they just got careless.
