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50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2)
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The Brady Bunch
"Bobby's Hero"
Originally aired February 2, 1973
The first sentence on Wiki said:
When Mike and Carol learn that Bobby's hero is Jesse James, they set out to teach him the truth about the outlaw.
The Brady parents get a call to see Bobby's principal, Mr. Hillary (Richard Carlyle), over an essay that he finds disturbing about the boy's hero worship of Jesse James. A cap gun was also confiscated at recess. Mike and Carol take Bobby into the den for a talk, in which Bobby points out that Robin Hood was also an outlaw. Later, after Bobby's cap gun goes off at the dinner table, a discussion of the kids' heroes ensues in which Peter names George Washington, and Greg name-drops Wilt Chamberlain. The parents are initially frustrated by Bobby wanting to stay up to watch a movie about Jesse James, but they get the inspiration to let him watch it so he can see what a ruthless killer James was...only to find that the scenes with the killings have been edited out, making the subject look more heroic.
Household incidents ensue when Bobby's play-acting as James annoys the other kids. On a visit to the library for a subplot about writing a speech for his fellow architects, Mike checks out a book about Jesse James, from which he learns that the author, Jethroe Collins, lives nearby. Mike invites Collins (Burt Mustin in the role he was born to play--read on) over to talk to Bobby. Collins tells Bobby straight-up how when he was a boy, Jesse James shot his unarmed father in the back in a train robbery. (Jesse James actually died two years before Mustin was born, but hey, close enough.)
That night, Bobby goes all Sherwood Schwartz, having a dream about the Bradys on a 19th-century train to California which is held up by you-know-who (Gordon DeVol). Bobby gushes about meeting his hero, who then proceeds to fake-shoot each member of his family--the Bradys collapsing as he points his gun and says "bang" at each of them. A horrified Bobby makes a visit to his parents' room to turn in his guns.
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Thanks to Paramount Plus, we've skipped the second episode featuring the Brady kids as a music group. Screw it, our sunshine day begins NOW!
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Love, American Style
"Love and the Hand Maiden / Love and the Hot Spell / Love and the Laughing Lover / Love and the Perfect Set-Up"
Originally aired February 2, 1973
"Love and the Hand Maiden"
Paul (Jed Allan) sends his roommate Malcolm (James Callahan) out because he's got a date with
Whoopee magazine's Miss August. Dory (Michele Lee) wastes no time in getting comfortable and making out with Paul, but Paul notices that she's wearing gloves, which she refuses to take off. Her hands, which no man has seen, are the part of her that she insists be left to the imagination, and Paul becomes obsessed with seeing them, almost causing her to leave in outrage. Malcolm gets sick spending the night in the park, coming home in the morning to find Paul less than satisfied. Paul has to explain the situation to him, and later plans to have Dory over again, having brainstormed multiple ways of getting her out of her gloves. On the next date, Paul finds that Dory always wears gloves of one type or another, regardless of what she eats and when doing dishes (always managing to change them off camera). She agrees to slip into a lacy pair of gloves that he buys her, which have the anticipated lingerie effect, but she won't let him go all the way by taking them back off. Paul's last resort is to propose, and Dory reluctantly takes off a glove to let him slip the ring on. She finds herself in ecstasy as he kisses her left hand, but insists on saving the right one for their wedding night.
"Love and the Hot Spell"
Following her wedding to Jack (Mike Farrell), Karen (Patricia Stich) is experiencing anxiety about whether Jack's parents (Virginia Grey and Garry Walberg) will like her, having only just met them at the ceremony. Jack has his best man, Herb (Steve Franken), who's a psych major, hypnotize Karen to put her at ease. While she's under, Herb also slips in some conditioning on Jack's behalf to completely loosen all of her inhibitions upon hearing the word "umbrella". This immediately starts to go haywire, so Herb puts in a counter-phrase to switch off her increased passion, "bottoms up". But it's a rainy day and a few too many incidents ensue--including Karen making out with an usher (Jimmy Wasson), the reverend (John Wheeler), and Jack's father--so Jack wants her snapped out of her spell...but Herb, the one who has to do the snapping, has drunk himself unconscious. (Contrary to how hypnosis is usually depicted as working, Karen is supposedly under the spell the entire time, otherwise acting normal except when she hears one of the trigger phrases or Herb gives her another command.) Cut to Jack seeing his parents out, having explained what happened. The now-conscious Herb has made Karen forget everything that happened that day...which unintentionally includes the wedding, so she refuses to commence with the nuptial evening that Jack was expecting.
"Love and the Laughing Lover"
Jeff (Charles Nelson Reilly) and Michelle (Kelly Jean Peters) are getting down to business on their wedding night, but when they get in the brass bed, she starts nervously laughing. She can't control it, and explains that it's a defensive reflex action that goes back to when a boy tried to come on to her when she was 14. The laughter comes to infect Jeff, as well as a series of visitors to the room--first the bellboy (Ogden Talbot), then a couple who come in to complain about the noise (Patrick Campbell and Sandra Gould), then the house detective, who comes to investigate (Iggie Wolfington). Finally, Jackie Joey (Sammy Shore), the comedian who performs in the club downstairs, comes up because he heard there was a roomful of laughers. He performs his routine, which is so lame that it proves to be an antidote for the entire group. When Jeff and Michelle are alone again, he has to recite lines from Jackie's act to keep her in the mood.
"Love and the Perfect Set-Up"
College student Sandy (Victoria Principal) is responding to an add about an apartment that she's enthusiastic to take, only to find that the guy showing her the place (Michael Burns) is the Carol who put out the ad. He explains that he's tired of living with other guys and intends to keep things strictly platonic. She reluctantly agrees to the situation, but it all proves to be an unwelcome surprise to Carol's girlfriend, Louise (Lenore Kasdorf). When Louise learns that Sandy hasn't met anyone in town yet, she sets Sandy up with her cousin Norman (Hank Jones), which doesn't go well. Following this incident, Carol and Sandy succumb to the romantic tension that they've both been feeling...but Carol insists that if they're going to be lovers, Sandy has to find someplace else to live. After several dates, Sandy surprises Carol by showing up with her luggage to move back in...only to find that Carol's gotten a new roommate, Barbara (Charlotte O. Scot).
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Emergency!
"The Professor"
Originally aired February 3, 1973
Frndly said:
Curiosity runs rampant in the hospital, where a patient suffering from a mysterious psychosis is being guarded by secretive government agents.
(Because even the first sentence on Wiki was an unholy mess.)
The paramedics arrive at the home of Sir Erik Rossman (Hedley Mattingly), who's kneeling on the floor in pain, acting panicky and disoriented. Lady Rossman (Jane Merrow) insists that he has to see his personal physician (who turns out to be on vacation and out of reach), and not go to a hospital. Then Sir Erik goes into a rage, smashing things with a fire poker while dramatically reciting William Blake. Lady Rossman answers with a Blake counter-recital to calm him. At Rampart, Sir Erik seems to be in shock, his blood pressure is extremely high, and Brackett and Early are mystified.
At the station, Johnny learns from Chet that Roy's been getting calls from a "chick". Roy tells Johnny that while he was off, he saved a young woman from a wrecked car who's now "hung up" on him. The paramedics get a call to a cardiac case on a sailboat, for which they catch a ride on a fire department boat...only for an update to inform them that the location of the boat was mistransmitted, and is 60 miles away. The station that the boat is assigned to then gets a call for a downed private plane on their shoreside turf, to which DeSoto and Gage accompany them. The paramedics get the pilot (Tim Callahan) out and far enough way just as the burning plane goes up.
At Rampart, a couple of plainclothes G-men, Ed Duran (Paul Picerni) and Vince Thompson, enter the examination room, informing the doctors that one of them will be with Rossman at all times, and asking about his condition with written consent from Lady Rossman. Duran seems particularly concerned that somebody may have slipped Sir Erik a drug that induced psychosis, and establishes a cover alias for Prof. Rossman. Later Brackett has a confrontation with Duran when he learns that the agent expects routine procedures to be cleared through him, and Duran insists that Brackett shouldn't need to talk to Lady Rossman or Sir Erik's household staff. Duran informs Brackett that the welfare of the nation is at stake, and that Prof. Rossman has to be in Geneva in seven days. Later Lady Rossman voluntarily talks to Dix in the outdoor cafeteria, indicating that she's in the dark about what her husband's been working so hard on, but that he hasn't been the same since a trip to Washington nine months prior. Dix learns that Sir Erik has been suffering work-induced depression, which seemed to have been alleviated by his last routine examination. When she tells Brackett about this, he concurs with her hunch that Rossman may have been on medication that he didn't tell anyone about. Having every medication that can be scrounged up in Rossman Manor brought to him, Brackett finds a bottle for an antidepressant that would have mixed adversely with the cheese omelet that Sir Erik was supposed to have had for breakfast the morning of the attack.
Roy's admirer has been so persistent that she even gets ahold of Roy at Rampart, and Johnny's pestering Roy with his skepticism that Roy's got what it takes to turn a young woman on when the paramedics are called to a maternity case in an apartment. The woman inside, Shirley Edmonds (Joan Pringle), is experiencing labor pains six weeks early. She delivers promptly and the paramedics use materials on hand to set up a makeshift incubator in a dresser drawer before the ambulance arrives.
Later, following Roy's revelation that his admirer has called it quits in what Roy speculates was concern for his family, the station is called to a jumper on a floor of a building that's under construction. Roy approaches the young man, Robert Bently (Christopher Cain), who says he's 19, indicates he's suffering from self-worth issues in contrast to his wealthy and accomplished family, and admits that he's having trouble working up the nerve to go through with his solution. Chet then keeps him preoccupied while Roy and Johnny are lowered from the floor above to catch Robert from behind.
Christopher Cain was 29, and doesn't come close to passing for a teenager. However, IMDb informs me that he's Dean Cain's stepfather, so I guess that makes him Pa Kent material.
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The Mary Tyler Moore Show
"What Do You Say When the Boss Says 'I Love You'?"
Originally aired February 3, 1973
Wiki said:
Lou realizes he is in over his head when the new boss at the station is a woman who promptly falls for him.
Mary learns from a station employee named Doris (Carol Worthington) that WJM has just fired the latest in a line of program directors. Upon getting a notice of who the new one will be, Mary is delighted to show it to Lou. Barbara Coleman (Lois Nettleton) subsequently drops by the newsroom as Lou's drinking buddy Philly (Dick Balduzzi reprising his role from "Lou's Place") is paying a random visit. Ted initially embarasses himself by vocally expressing his relief that the new boss wasn't a cute little brunette he'd just pinched in the elevator as he feared, and afterward makes a show of acting like he's engaged in important investigative assignments. After a few weeks, when Doris is settled in, she socializes with Mary and Rhoda, and drops the bomb on them that she's fallen for a married man--Lou.
When Barbara wants Lou to stay late at her office to discuss business, Mary makes a point of trying to stick around to act as chaperone, without letting on to Lou what it's about. After Mary leaves, when Barbara leans into Lou and their eyes meet, it hits him what's going on. He later drops by Mary's in a state of shock, uttering the titular question in a hypothetical context. Lou makes it obvious that he feels something, too, though he can't name what it is. Lou later drops by Barbara's office and tries to lay it to her straight, but when she takes it in stride and tries to focus on business, he's the one who won't drop the subject. Ultimately he's pleased when she assures him that yes, she really would have.
We get a good look at a picture in Lou's office of him playing football in high school--I couldn't say if it's always been there, but it looks like it might be an actual vintage photo of Asner. When comparing notes with the ladies about bad dating experiences, Mary mentions Woody Woodpecker theatrical cartoons--didn't it recently come up as a news item that those had been discontinued? In Barbara's office, we get some more good looks at the program schedule board. I hadn't noticed last time, if it was even visible, that WJM's morning show is called
Here Comes the Sun.
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The Bob Newhart Show
"Not with My Sister You Don't"
Originally aired February 3, 1973
Wiki said:
Howard is extremely protective of his visiting sister Debbie (Heather Menzies).
This one has a brief pre-credits phone gag, which seems new.
Howard's so worried about making the wrong impression on Debbie that he brings over a box of things that women have left in his apartment for the Hartleys to keep during her visit. To introduce her to the Hartleys, Howard has them over to his place, where his bar consists of a serving tray loaded with miniature drink bottles from work. As one might expect, the Hartleys quickly learn that Debbie's not as innocent as Howard thinks she is...she mentions having gone on a nature awareness weekend that involved running around the woods naked, and expresses her concern for how uptight her brother his. Emily gets the idea to set Debbie up on a blind date with Jerry.
That night Howard plays the fretting parent, visiting the Hartleys at 1:30 in the morning, dragging his corded phone in to test it (shades of
That Girl). Jerry and Debbie return shortly after. Howard drops by Bob's office the next day, seeming new to the place--Hasn't he been there before, like with the fear of flying group? Despite Bob's insistence that it could take years of therapy to get to the root of his protectiveness toward Debbie, Howard has a breakthrough after a confessional couple of minutes between Bob's regular appointments.
In the coda, Emily accidentally mentions a guy named Frank in relation to Debbie, getting Howard off the wagon and back onto the road of anxiety.
Mel (Henry Jefferson) Stewart appears as a patient dealing with anger/hostility issues.
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Ah, Chekov's Phaser.
There's a joke about Chekov having not appeared in "Space Seed" in here somewhere, but I haven't found it.
Ah, I thought I should know him from somewhere.
And a day later, I got this.
I don't completely understand, but I like it.
If I understand, the physical stock slips themselves were so generic that without the records, there was no definite way of identifying any of the slips that were stolen in the robbery. They had to find one that was unmistakably identifiable.
I wouldn't know the difference, but I bet it wouldn't work today.
On that note, it was of interest that there was a computer backup involved.
I tried various Google searches, but no dice.
Okay, I did this the hard way again by taking a picture of the screen:
If it was a 72 Impala, it became my first car eight years later.
I wouldn't know the make/model, but '72 seems too new to have been on the verge of retirement.
