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50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2)
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Love, American Style
"Love and the Bachelor Party / Love and the Latin Lover / Love and the Old-Fashioned Father / Love and the Test of Manhood"
Originally aired February 11, 1972
"Love and the Bachelor Party" opens with Peggy (Sherry Miles) excitedly telling her older sister Sally (Fannie Flagg) how her boyfriend Marvin finally popped the question. Sally enlists her husband Harry (Jack Carter) to throw the mild-mannered Marvin (Jim Connell) a bachelor party, where Harry, trying to be friendly, blabs about all of Peggy's faults, including lots of cosmetic surgery, which causes Marvin to call off the wedding. Harry decides to have Marvin over for dinner to set a good impression about marriage, while also inviting Peggy without letting her know Marvin will be there. When Marvin arrives, Harry can't help mixing his messages and putting his foot in his mouth, which gets under Sally's skin, causing obvious tension. After Peggy arrives and things start to warm up between her and Marvin again, the married couple have a series of audible fights in the kitchen. Marvin and Peggy slip off to elope, figuring they won't be missed, and Harry and Sally are pleased to find that their good example appears to have done the job.
"Love and the Latin Lover" has egotistical Italian actor Cesare Donelli (Fabrizio Mioni) visiting the home of a producer named Herb (Leonard Stone) about starring in his new picture. Herb's sister Hope (Reva Rose) drops in, depressed over her fiance Arnold having broken off their engagement because of his mother. She's starstruck by the smooth-talking Donelli, so Herb decides to have her stay for a spell to get her mind off of Arnold. At Herb's behest, Donelli tries to seduce her to bring up her self-esteem. But Hope's prudish defenses and mishap-causing crude behavior frustrate his efforts, which only increases his resolve to succeed. Arnold (Marvin Kaplan) drops by to find Hope watching the roller derby in the same room as Donelli, and considers her to be in a compromising situation. When he learns that she was going to kill herself over him, he decides to get back together with her and they split the scene. Donelli's failure leaves him a wreck.
"Love and the Old-Fashioned Father"...
Wiki said:
was the animated pilot to Hanna-Barbera's Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, which debuted in syndication in fall 1972 and ran for three seasons.
The show was the first primetime animated sitcom to run for more than a single season since fellow Hanna-Barbera show The Flintstones more than ten years earlier, and would be the only one until The Simpsons seventeen years later.
I caught the series years later in weekend afternoon rerun syndication. My Dad must have seen it in its original run, as he was already a fan when it came up.
As with "Love and the Private Eye," the opening hearts credit several of the characters by given name rather than the actors, with the Boyle parents listed as Mama and Papa.
The opening narration of head of household Harry Boyle (Tom Bosley) introduces us to the members of the family: wife Irma (Joan Gerber); freeloading hippie college graduate son Chet (David Hayward); and overweight teenage daughter Alice (Kristina Holland). The style here is more impressionistic than in the previous animated segment, with unfinished backgrounds that bring to mind the minimalistic sets used in
Batman Season 3. I don't recall if this style carried over into the series. I also read that the Boyles had a pre-teen son in the series, though he's not present in the pilot segment. The premise and topicality of the show are obviously influenced by
All in the Family.
Alice is having bringing her boyfriend Bob to meet the family over dinner, so the Boyles pull out the stops to impress him, only to find that he's a hippie college student of similar stature and build to Alice (David L. Lander). References by Harry to
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Tiny Tim ensue. When the subject of shunning materialism comes up, Harry gives Fred and Alice an earful about how the parents are working their tails off to foot the younger generation's bills. Bob also expresses a misinformed interest in trying to "help" the Boyles' African American maid, Mary (Ernestine Wade).
Harry is later upset to learn that Alice is planning a weekend getaway with Bob with another couple named Ted and Carol...resulting in another topical reference. (I'm not clear how old Alice is supposed to be, but she's old enough that no age gap is mentioned, and she seems free to go despite her father's disapproval.) When it's pointed out that Harry's let Chet go on such excursions, he makes clear the reason for the difference in his attitude: "Because boys don't get pregnant!" Harry tries to hook Alice up with a clean-cut young dry-cleaning deliveryman as an alternative, but he instantly tries to make moves on her. He then tries to share his troubles with right-wing nutjob neighbor Ralph Kane (Jack Burns). Finally, the Boyles try visiting the parents of Carol Harris, the other girl who's going on the trip, but they turn out to be a permissive pair of older swinging hipsters who'd fit right into a live-action segment of LAS (Sidney Miller and Mitzi McCall). Alice proceeds to go on the trip, but comes home in the wee hours apologetically, the trip not having been about water-skiing as she was led to believe. Then Ralph shows up at the door with armed members of his vigilante group, ready to pitch in to settle the situation.
This one has an interesting connection with another series that would spin off from LAS, as the role of Howard Cunningham, originally played by Harold Gould in the segment "Love and the Television Set" (coming in two weeks), would be recast with Tom Bosley when
Happy Days went to series.
In "Love and the Test of Manhood," Alice (Brenda Benet in redface) brings her boyfriend Joe (Tom Nardini) to the Red Bluff Indian Reservation to meet her father, the Chief (Jay Silverheels). Joe, who's also Native American but left the reservation when he was very young, has to pass the titular challenge. Finding that he's expected to spend three days in the hills armed with a knife and clad in a loincloth, he refuses to go through with it despite Alice's insistence. When this is reported to the Chief, he congratulates Joe for having passed the test of manhood by standing up to his daughter!
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All in the Family
"Edith Gets a Mink"
Originally aired February 12, 1972
Wiki said:
Archie is angry with Edith for accepting a mink cape from her cousin, then has a change of heart when the fur gets ruined at the cleaners.
Edith is excited to receive a large package via messenger, and finds a mink cape inside with a note from her cousin Amelia DeKuyper, telling her that it's a gift for looking after Amelia following an operation. Mike and Gloria are happy for Edith, apparently not having gotten into the animal activism scene yet. Archie comes home after a bad commute on the subway again. The kids sing the Miss America theme as Edith comes down the stairs in the cape. Archie initially assumes that Edith spent all their trading stamps. When he finds out who the gift is from, he doesn't want Edith to keep it because of issues with Amelia's husband Russell. Surprisingly, Archie calls Mike and Gloria out regarding ecology, and they defend their attitude on the basis that minks are bred to be made into furs and aren't an endangered species! (I wonder if this was deliberate lampshading to contrive that Archie would the only one against the fur.) With the DeKuyper's scheduled to visit later in the week, Archie calls Russ with an excuse about Edith being allergic to the mink...then storms into the kitchen to accidentally knock a plate of spaghetti onto the fur.
On the day of the DeKuypers' visit, Edith returns from Jefferson Cleaners to relate how the cape was ruined in the process of attempting to clean it. When Archie learns that they stand to get $300 of insurance money because of this, Mike has the nerve to call him out for hypocrisy because he intended to return the cape but wants to keep the money. When the DeKuypers arrive (Richard A. Dysart and Rae Allen), Russ--a well-to-do plumbing contractor who gets under Archie's skin by flaunting his relative wealth--guesses Archie's motive for wanting to return the cape, but Archie's now happy to agree to keep it. Amelia wants to see it on Edith, and they share the half-truth that it's now at the cleaners. Then Mrs. J comes by with the check and the DeKuypers find out what happened. Russ wants to take the check, though Amelia doesn't agree with him, and Archie gets into it with Russ. But it turns out that Edith had the check made out to Amelia in the first place, settling the matter in Russ's favor.
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The Mary Tyler Moore Show
"Where There's Smoke, There's Rhoda"
Originally aired February 12, 1972
Wiki said:
A friendship is put to the test when Rhoda temporarily moves in with Mary.
Rhoda's having breakfast at Mary's when fire engines arrive, responding to a fire in Rhoda's apartment...which somehow manages to wipe that out while staying contained up there, with Mary's place completely unaffected. Mary and Rhoda don't even evacuate the building. No smoke issues, no fire hose water seeping down from upstairs--I guess it's all neater because Rhoda's apartment doesn't exist in the same dimensional space as the rest of the building. Mary insists that Rhoda stay with her, and Rhoda has to borrow clothes from Mary--which don't fit her--to go to work. Lou cuts Mary no slack for being late because of a fire in "Rhoda's apartment"...a.k.a.
Mary's building, hello!
Mary's extra bedding consists of a cot, which Mary agrees to sleep on for the first night. Mary getting calls from Rhoda in the office proves to be a distraction for Lou, who forgets a spur-of-the-moment idea that he convened a meeting about. When Rhoda leaves the kitchen a mess after making dinner, Mary tries to do the dishes by flashlight. The next morning, Rhoda packs up to stay in motel.
Rhoda: How long can we continue this Oscar and Felix routine?
Rhoda also compares Mary to Dinah Shore. Delivering on a joke set up earlier in the episode, when Phyllis extends Rhoda a courtesy invitation to stay with her family, Rhoda unexpectedly accepts.
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Emergency!
"Cook's Tour"
Originally aired February 12, 1972
Wiki said:
Roy worries that the other Station 51 personnel will not like his cooking. Dixie congratulates Johnny, who delivers a cyanotic baby. A small boy gets his hand stuck in a vase; while Nurse Sharon Walters (Patricia Mickey), a student nurse, finds a pack of ice to give to Dr. Early for the boy to use, Dixie cautions her about running around in the hospital, prior to taking an errand. Also, a man repairing a washer gets an electric shock, and a man is trapped on a crane.
IMDb says that the student nurse was played by an uncredited Jenifer Shaw. Whoever played her, her scene didn't make it to Cozi.
DeSoto and Gage have to break into a house with the help of a sheriff (Lew Brown) to help a woman who's going into labor,
Judy Mundell (Jacqueline Russell). Her belligerent husband, Roger (Frank Aletter, now with mustache and glasses), arrives as they're setting up. Johnny does the hands-on work of aiding in the delivery, while Roy mans the biophone. (Johnny makes Roy wear a mask, but doesn't wear one himself.) The paramedics are concerned when they learn that Judy previously had a stillborn child. Johnny successfully delivers the baby boy, who appears weak, causing the mother to go into hysterics. Johnny rides with them in the ambulance. At Rampart, Brackett gets to work, helping the baby to pull through. Virginia Gregg appears again as Nurse Jacobs--Dixie addresses her by name, though she's only credited as "3rd Nurse" this time.
Also at Rampart, we learn that Roy plans to win the guys at the station over to his cooking by making beef bourguignon. Back at the station, a trio of kids visit, one of them in a wagon with his hands cuffed behind his back...a sister of one of the boys having tossed the keys in the sewer. Johnny teases the kids by pulling a K-12 powered rescue saw out of the back of the truck, but ends up getting them off with a "stetso-hydraulic activator"...a.k.a. a pair of pliers.
Squad 51 is called to a shabby pad where Jay Hooper (Dennis Rucker) takes them to his unconscious teenage brother Sam, who was in a fight and is now suffering heart trouble that the paramedics believe has been exacerbated by drug use--though Jay is defensive and unhelpful when questioned about what may be in his brother's system. The paramedics defrib and call Brackett for treatment advice before loading Sam into the ambulance. At the hospital, Johnny and Roy visit Judy Mundell, who's feeling much better, and Roger offers an apology for his previous behavior. Elsewhere, Brackett and Dix inform a distraught Jay of the possibility that Sam may have suffered permanent brain damage. When Sam has an attack, Jay holds Brackett off with a scalpel to prevent him from saving Sam, afraid of his brother living as a vegetable. Brackett gets Jay to stand down and saves Sam. Dixie consoles Jay outside afterward.
Squad 51 races to a home where a woman's (Dorothy Konrad, I think) husband has been electrocuted by wiring on a wet laundry room floor, though his heart is steady as they load him out.
Back at the station, the engine crew are grateful to get a call just as Roy's about to serve his dish. The paramedics remain at the station, and Johnny's surprised to find that it's good. When the firefighters get back, Roy doesn't have a chance to get Johnny to testify to them before the squad gets called to bring down a man who'd intended to commit suicide from a tower crane. They climb up and then along the side of the crane's arm with the help of their equipment. Johnny tries to encourage the man as they hook a belt on him and attach him to their line so they can walk him back. Halfway there, the man slips and they have to pull him back up via the line.
Back at the station again, the engine crew pretend to have eaten something else, but Roy finds the pot empty.
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Mission: Impossible
"Double Dead"
Originally aired February 12, 1972
Wiki said:
When Willy is captured stealing the $10 million bankroll of a pair of Syndicate loan sharks, the rest of the IMF must not only turn the loan sharks against each other in order to get the money, but also rescue Willy before a Syndicate doctor can break him using a truth serum.
The reel-to-reel tape in a seaside carnival gift shop said:
Good morning, Mr. Phelps. Conventional law enforcement agencies have been unable to interfere with the operations of these two men, Ollie Shanks [Paul Koslo] and Rudy Blake [Lou Antonio], who run the loan-shark racket in the islands for the Syndicate. Now they are about to transfer almost $10 million in profits to the mainland, thereby motivating the organization to set up additional projects in this new territory. Your mission, Jim, should you choose to accept it, is to discourage the Syndicate from any further large-scale expansion into the islands by getting possession of that $10 million and putting Shanks and Blake out of business for good. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Jim!
Yep, they open with a tape scene, then cut to the operation in progress so it can get botched quicker. With the help of a fake tape of Shanks and Blake's henchman George Collins (Norman Alden), Willy gets into the building where the duo have their office as financial advisors, breaking into it and its secret safe room with the help of a false palm print made by Casey. (Barney's so jealous.) But Shanks shows up at night to entertain a woman in the office and Willy's caught in the act and captured trying to escape. This is where they light the fuse.
Following the credits, we get a briefing scene for salvaging the plan and saving Willy, which includes guest agent Steve Wells (Hank Brandt). Barney sneaks into Shanks's beachside digs and sprays it with stuff that will make Casey's pet leopard frisky, so she can run in to retrieve it and get Shanks's attention. At the airport, Visiting Syndicate Guy Jim meets Blake and is introduced to Collins. Meanwhile, a Dr. Matier (Maurice Marsac) has been hired to get info out of Willy. After a restrained Willy wakes up while being tended to by a nurse named Penyo (Irene Tsu). Matier shoots him up with his own special truth serum.
Jim is brought to Shanks's place, where Shanks has been entertaining Casey in a very familiar-looking living room:
Shanks goes to the airport to buy a new plane from Wells and is knocked out by champagne. Jim and Barney lift him up to his office window at night via backlot cherry picker and use his real palm to open the safe. They have a close call with a guard who sneaks in to swipe some brandy. Meanwhile, Willy struggles to maintain his cover as the serum takes effect.
Casey turns up at the hospital after a fake plane crash, reporting that Shanks was eaten by sharks--you can't make this shit up. (The IMF can, but you can't.) Blake opens the safe for Jim to find the $10 million gone. Jim acts sore on behalf of his fake boss, Mr. Bolt. Jim suggests that Shanks took the money and that Casey is his accomplice (so her story is supposed to sound fake). Collins tails Casey to the aircraft company office, where Casey wakes up Shanks, leading him to believe that he just came to after passing out from the champagne toast. Willy, in danger of dying if given too much of the serum, tries to persuade the sympathetic but honor-bound Penyo to help him. Matier resumes questioning, and when he starts to get some vague truths from Willy, he orders that more of the serum be administered, speculating that Willy might actually survive...as a vegetable.
The ol' Willy Charm comes through and Penyo hands the doc a hypo of distilled water. Back at the Brady home, Jim and Blake confront Shanks about stealing the money, and Casey fake spills the beans about being his accomplice. Barney comes in and fake shoots Jim and Casey, revealing that they're cops...just in time for Bolt (Vincent Beck) to arrive and run through the possibilities of who stole the money. Blake and Shanks tell him about Willy, so they all go to see him. Barney is conveniently left outside in the car, where Jim gets the drop on Collins. Willy plays possum while Penyo cuts his bonds under the table. Willy busts loose, and he and Penyo flee outside to the car, via which the IMFers and their guest make a getaway.
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