If it's this British children's show from the late '80s...can't say that I've ever heard of it.
Round the Bend - Wikipedia
Round the Bend - Wikipedia
The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread
- Thread starter The Old Mixer
- Start date
Watch your step, Gerry....
He's got a couple more years of great stuff on the way, before suddenly petering out.
Eh, whatever. It's a good song.
I'd rather call Sam Beckett. Irwin's guys just kind of bumble around the timestream.
Start saving your money.
It doesn't ring any bells for me. Maybe it was a local show?
Local children's programming here in Seattle consisted of 'Wanda Wundu', 'Stan Boreson', 'Captain Puget', 'Brakeman Bill', and 'J.P. Patches'; as well as syndicated shows like 'Captain Kangaroo', 'Bozo the Clown', 'Soupy Sales', and the 'Mickey Mouse Club'.
The director Stanley Kramer hosted a show here in the eighties where he selected classic movies and provided comments/trivia on them at the top and bottom of the show.
The director Stanley Kramer hosted a show here in the eighties where he selected classic movies and provided comments/trivia on them at the top and bottom of the show.
We had Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room. We also had local shows like Boomtown (with Rex Trailer, a cowboy guy), Major Mudd (an astronaut guy), and Bozo (played by Frank Avruch, who went on to host classic movies and cultural programs for many years). For cartoons, we had a great show that aired around lunchtime called The Captain Boston Show. There was no actual Captain Boston, or any other host, it was just pure cartoons. Mostly funny animal cartoons, but this was also where I got to see Clutch Cargo and a wonderful, obscure cartoon called QT Hush, that I really loved.
Seeing as I'm going on vacation tomorrow and won't be taking my laptop with me, I'd thought I would go ahead and post this now. We're catching up on some of the 'Midnight Special' 50th Anniversary airings. Here's Foghat from 3-Aug-1973.
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Foghat. That takes me back. My first job was as a ticket taker at a theme park. When someone exited the park but planned to return they got a handstamp. The mascots were the Loony Tunes from Warner and more than once when the stamp of the day was "Foghorn" someone would think it said "Foghat". Hey man, it was the Seventies.
That brings back memories, the first rock concert that I went to was a triple bill of Foghat, Firefall, and the Marshall Tucker Band.
Great song and a great band. "Slow Ride" is an all-time classic.
That boy, I say, that boy was about as sharp as a bowling ball.Foghat. That takes me back. My first job was as a ticket taker at a theme park. When someone exited the park but planned to return they got a handstamp. The mascots were the Loony Tunes from Warner and more than once when the stamp of the day was "Foghorn" someone would think it said "Foghat". Hey man, it was the Seventies.
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Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
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Here we're missing another episode, "Suffer, Little Children" (February 9, 1971); on to...
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The Mod Squad
"Is That Justice? No, It's the Law"
Originally aired February 16, 1971
In court, defense attorney Paul Sykes (Leonard Stone) has charges against his client, Dennis Laughton (Burr DeBenning), dropped on the basis that the arresting detective, Sgt. Harry MacGeorge (Nehemiah Persoff), didn't confiscate the otherwise overwhelming evidence of a briefcase full of heroin from the pusher's home according to recently established legal technicalities. A frustrated MacGeorge is ready to turn in his badge--to Greer!--but the captain chastises him and is forced to put the sergeant on administrative duty. (I can't recall ever having seen Greer in charge of regular detectives before.) MacGeorge ominously asks Greer to save Laughton for him.
Six months later at Pete's pad, the other Mods are reading his sociology paper that happens to be about the Chimel decision, the exact case cited by Sykes. Pete's been using an electric typewriter that he borrowed from Greer, which probably looked very now back then. MacGeorge has been doing his homework, too, and wants Greer to expedite his return to duty because he has a setup on Laughton for that very day, which involves Laughton having to make a trip to Vegas because his supply has run dry, but the arrest needing to be made in L.A. when he returns. That seems questionable right there, but it convinces Greer--who probably also thinks that Mac knows Aaron Spelling. Greer drops in at Pete's unexpectedly to read his paper and recruit him to do some legwork in support of MacGeorge's sting. It turns out that Laughton was responsible for poisoning a friend of Pete's back in his days on the other side of the law. Pete goes to an old dealer acquaintance, Nick Harris (24th-century traveling companion Stanley Kamel), acting desperate for nickel bag, and confirms that Laughton currently has no supply but is expecting some goods soon.
The other mods also openly join the case (and MacGeorge seems familiar with them), Julie posing as a stewardess on Laughton's flight to Vegas as incentive for him to make the same return trip. Julie disembarks with Laughton and reports to Pete at an airport slot machine. Laughton then takes her over to a machine next to one manned by a "chubby man" (Clark Ross) and, while showing Julie how to play, discretely switches identical briefcases with the man as Pete watches. Greer, MacGeorge, and Linc head to the L.A. airport to intercept Laughton when he returns...Mac showing up late from having gotten the warrant. But Harris is also on the plane, and discretely picks up the case while the passengers are disembarking. MacGeorge serves the warrant in front of Sykes, who's picking Laughton up, but Laughton has no briefcase on him. However, Linc subsequently spots a baggage handler retrieving a black case for Laughton, and when it's brought to him, the detectives move back in. Laughton claims it's not his, but complies in giving Greer the combination of his case (which kinda doesn't make sense, as it should be Chubby Man's case), and it's full of dope.... Laughton objects that it's a frame.
At Greer's office, Mac and the Mods celebrate with champagne--in paper cups! But Greer is pensive, expressing concern about how the case got on the baggage conveyor. He then gets a visiting request from Laughton, who points out the same issue, and thinks that Sykes was in on the frame, as he was responsible for the baggage checks and there was an extra ticket on the case. Greer tells Laughton that the best way to prove the frame would be to produce the case that he's surmised was picked up on the plane, but that would still implicate Laughton. In a subsequent office debate, Pete sides with Mac--against the higher-minded ideals expressed in his paper--arguing that they have a responsibility to put away Laughton regardless of the facts because they know he's guilty. Greer and MacGeorge pay a visit to Sykes, who's persuaded to tip them off that Harris was on the plane; which Julie confirms when shown his mugshot. Pete then gets a call at home from Harris, offering to make good on the previously discussed deal--which piques Pete's interest, as it means that Harris still got the goods. We see that he does indeed have the original black briefcase full of dope, which has Laughton's combination.
Pete makes a rendezvous with Harris in which he negotiates to facilitate deals with friends of his who still need their fixes; then calls Greer with what he knows, having deduced that there are two cases. While Pete's waiting outside Harris's place, Mac goes in ostensibly to arrest Harris, but inside it plays more like a shakedown, as Mac threatens Harris with his pistol, wanting to know where the case is. Back at HQ, Greer and Linc check out the confiscated case again, and discover that it actually has a different combination than the one Laughton gave...which reminds them that Mac was the one who opened it at the airport. Greer puts this together with Mac having had the opportunity to palm Laughton's claim checks and having been in charge of the evidence room for the past six months, which is where he would have gotten a caseload of dope. Greer tries to radio Mac and gets Pete, filling him in. Inside, Harris confronts MacGeorge about how he had to have been the framer, because he's the only other one who'd know that there were two cases. Harris then makes a break for it, and Mac pursues him outside, firing his pistol. Pete tackles Harris and is grabbed by Mac's uniformed backup, but tells Mac that the captain knows, motivating Mac to have Pete let go and to turn over his gun.
In the coda, Mac, being escorted in handcuffs at HQ, tells Greer to thank Pete for stopping him from becoming a murderer. Greer also sees Harris being brought in, and Sykes offers how he plans to get his new client set free.
Greer then heads outside to meet up with Pete and Linc, and Laughton waves at him while getting in his car with a new blonde ladyfriend.
Greer and the guys walk off in the HQ parking lot.
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The Mod Squad
"A Double for Danger"
Originally aired February 23, 1971
Mickey Moore, a civilian who's been embedded undercover as the girlfriend of dope distributor Eddie Pickett (Rex Holman) for two years, reports to her handler, New York detective Lt. Ray Abruzzi (Michael Ansara), that J.B., the big fish she came out to L.A. to meet regarding a job as courier, is delaying her for a couple of days. Abruzzi is working with Greer while in town, and when Mickey's crossing the street to meet with them, she gets Edith Keelered. After Abruzzi cries while cradling her, Mickey's face is finally revealed to the audience--Peggy Lipton in a short, dark wig--and Greer, who's seeing her for the first time, has flashes of Julie for the benefit of those who still don't get it.
At HQ, Greer consults with specialist Howard Smith (uncredited) about making Julie look like Mickey. Abruzzi gets his own shocking reveal when he meets Julie in a short, dark wig. He proceeds to intensely coach her for the next two days to sound and act like Mickey (which involves sporting the accent of Honey West's evil twin), with the help of film, tapes, and a diary. (Good thing he brought all the crap with him on the plane.) Julie falters for a bit under the stress, but is motivated to see that Mickey's sacrifice for the past two years--spurred by the death of her brother--isn't in vain. Pete and Linc, suddenly noticing when Julie's not around, storm into Greer's office demanding to know where she is and see her after the transformation is complete and she's fully immersed in her role.
Julie takes occupancy of Mickey's hotel room and puts her impersonation to the test by answering a call from Eddie, but gets tripped up by a detail from their previous conversation at the beginning of the episode, arousing his suspicion. Abruzzi continues to drill her, gives her a lipstick homing transmitter, and starts showing signs of having become unhealthily attached to Mickey's substitute. On the third day, Julie is awoken by a call that there's a limo waiting outside to take her to J.B. Pete and Linc, who never really get a chance to learn what it's like to be Julie, man the back of the surveillance van that tails the limo. Julie's taken to a fancy house to learn that she's meeting a go-between, who's arrival really takes her out of the frying pan--Karl Schwartz (Ron Soble), Mickey's previous step up the mob ladder before Eddie.
Julie ignores Greer's voice in her head telling her to bug out if things get rough, and rises to the pop quiz when Karl makes small talk about old times. Sent to find out what's going on, Linc comes to the door as a phone company repairman and, once he's inside, Julie asks to see his ID so she can slip a note into his wallet. Learning that the Schwartz is with her, Greer calls in backup, intending to storm the place and extract Julie. But J.B., unable to get through via phone, sends a chopper, and as Greer, Abruzzi, and the Mods are busting in to arrest the chauffeur (Ben Frank), Julie and Karl are already in the air.
Greer tries to have the chopper tracked by radar, but finds himself with multiple hits to sort out. It lands at an airport helicopter repair service, and Julie's taken inside to find that it's the secret office lair of the mysterious J.B. (Ray Walston in a mustache). With Karl in the room, J.B. interviews Mickey about her position and has her commit a delivery schedule to memory before burning it. Things are going well until Eddie pops back into the picture, calling J.B. and having Mickey put on the phone so he can conduct a deliberate test--following which he reports her to J.B. as an imposter. J.B. decides to conduct his own test, with a needle full of sodium pentothal. As Julie goes under, her head is filled with Ray's drills, and she actually manages to stay in character under questioning, but reveals that she's working for Abruzzi, whom Schwartz is familiar with. J.B. gives her a D+, which on his grading scale means Drop in the Drink. As Julie's being loaded onto the chopper, the van screeches up and Pete and Linc's stunt doubles jump into the rising chopper from both sides, forcing it back down. Still under the influence, Julie doesn't respond to Greer or the guys, but embraces Ray.
In the coda, the guys wheel wigless Julie out of a hospital to exchange painful goodbyes with an appreciative Ray. After he leaves, the guys welcome her back, and the reunited Mods engage in a huggy camera pull-out on the grounds.
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The Mod Squad
"Welcome to Our City"
Originally aired March 2, 1971
Pete has just dropped off a date (Nancy Stephens) from a night at a carnival or amusement park when a young man (Billy Bowles) fleeing from something runs into him and keeps on going. Pete tries to pursue and the kid hides in a dumpster, just in time for some police to drive up and ask Pete about him, saying that he stole food. After they leave, Pete finds him--15-year-old Billy Clark, who hitchhiked from West Virginia to find his father, who came to California four years prior and has stayed in touch via letters. After Pete takes Billy back to his place, summons the other Mods, and has a doctor (Don Eitner) look at him, he hits the diner where Willis Clark was last known to have been working, but the waitress there, Hattie (Virginia Gregg), seems uptight and evasive, claiming not to remember him; while the proprietor (Keller [John Dennis]) takes silent interest and makes a call as Pete is leaving. Pete then tries local pawn shops, informed by hard luck described in Clark's letters. Billy sees a pocket watch in a window that he recognizes as his father's, which an engraving confirms. The pawnbroker (Woodrow Parfrey) describes the man who brought it in as a strong arm for a local loan shark.
When Pete exits, he's accosted by a pair of discretely armed thugs. Pete turns it into a scuffle, but is roughed up, questioned about what he wants with Clark, and warned to get out of town (as he's told them that he's a visiting friend). Pete realizes that it was Keller who sicced the thugs on him, and goes back to the diner to question him. Keller identifies the lead thug as Frank Dunn (Edward Faulkner); tells Pete that both he and Clark were in debt to loan shark Charles Weaver; and further indicates that Hattie, who's since quit, was close to Clark. When Pete goes to talk to her, she indicates that she was helping Clark learn to read and write, and describes how she saw him slowly lose his dreams of making it in the city. She claims not to know where Clark is, and Pete can tell that she's holding back and tails her to the zoo. Meanwhile, a stolen TV set that was brought to the pawn shop with the watch is traced to shabby dive where a dead body is found, who checked in under the name George Brown. A note adding interest to a monetary figure is found in the garbage, which matches Clark's handwriting.
Frank Dunn shows Charles Weaver (Allen Garfield) a story in the paper about Brown's death, and Weaver is upset, telling Frank to find the person who did it. Fingerprints identify the body as actually being a George Brown--not Clark as the Mods had expected. Linc pays a business visit to Weaver, claiming to be a college student who has his own interest racket going on and is interested in a partnership, while covertly planting a device in the office. Searching Hattie's place, Linc and Pete find a picture of Willis Clark (John Carter) in working clothes with Hattie at the zoo. Cut to Willis with Hattie at the zoo, where Willis is currently employed as a custodian. Willis tells her that what happened was an accident, and that he wants to keep his distance from the son he feels that he's failed. Linc pays a return visit to Weaver, but Dunn recognizes Linc from having seen him with Pete somewhere along the way, so Linc covertly grabs his device and splits, to be picked up by Pete outside.
The device--some sort of miniature recorder that I wouldn't have thought existed back then--plays (when hooked into a reel-to-reel deck) a conversation in which Weaver orders Dunn to go to Hattie to try to find Willis Clark and hit him, because they can't risk Clark talking and connecting them to Brown's death. Pete and Linc go to Hattie's, where she's been beaten by Dunn for information; and she tells Pete that Willis is at the zoo. After they leave, it turns out that Dunn was still there in hiding, and learned where Clark is. Pete and Linc go to see Clark, who tells them how Weaver put him to work as a way of helping pay off his debt; but Clark insists that Brown accidentally hit his head on a table in their scuffle, and was alive when Clark last saw him. Then Dunn enters the scene with his gun, but the three manage to disarm him and he makes a run for it, to be pursued by Linc outside. Dunn ends up hanging by his fingers over the bear pit, where Linc forces a loud confession from him in front of a crowd of witnesses.
In the coda, Clark is taken into custody, Greer reporting that his prospects look good as the cause of Brown's death was determined to be heart failure; and Billy is on the scene for a reunion with his father. Pete and Linc walk off on the zoo walkway.
Julie was in the episode, barely...seen in Pete's apartment a couple of times helping to take care of Billy.
_______
Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
_______
Here we're missing another episode, "Suffer, Little Children" (February 9, 1971); on to...
_______
The Mod Squad
"Is That Justice? No, It's the Law"
Originally aired February 16, 1971
Wiki said:
In court, defense attorney Paul Sykes (Leonard Stone) has charges against his client, Dennis Laughton (Burr DeBenning), dropped on the basis that the arresting detective, Sgt. Harry MacGeorge (Nehemiah Persoff), didn't confiscate the otherwise overwhelming evidence of a briefcase full of heroin from the pusher's home according to recently established legal technicalities. A frustrated MacGeorge is ready to turn in his badge--to Greer!--but the captain chastises him and is forced to put the sergeant on administrative duty. (I can't recall ever having seen Greer in charge of regular detectives before.) MacGeorge ominously asks Greer to save Laughton for him.
Six months later at Pete's pad, the other Mods are reading his sociology paper that happens to be about the Chimel decision, the exact case cited by Sykes. Pete's been using an electric typewriter that he borrowed from Greer, which probably looked very now back then. MacGeorge has been doing his homework, too, and wants Greer to expedite his return to duty because he has a setup on Laughton for that very day, which involves Laughton having to make a trip to Vegas because his supply has run dry, but the arrest needing to be made in L.A. when he returns. That seems questionable right there, but it convinces Greer--who probably also thinks that Mac knows Aaron Spelling. Greer drops in at Pete's unexpectedly to read his paper and recruit him to do some legwork in support of MacGeorge's sting. It turns out that Laughton was responsible for poisoning a friend of Pete's back in his days on the other side of the law. Pete goes to an old dealer acquaintance, Nick Harris (24th-century traveling companion Stanley Kamel), acting desperate for nickel bag, and confirms that Laughton currently has no supply but is expecting some goods soon.
The other mods also openly join the case (and MacGeorge seems familiar with them), Julie posing as a stewardess on Laughton's flight to Vegas as incentive for him to make the same return trip. Julie disembarks with Laughton and reports to Pete at an airport slot machine. Laughton then takes her over to a machine next to one manned by a "chubby man" (Clark Ross) and, while showing Julie how to play, discretely switches identical briefcases with the man as Pete watches. Greer, MacGeorge, and Linc head to the L.A. airport to intercept Laughton when he returns...Mac showing up late from having gotten the warrant. But Harris is also on the plane, and discretely picks up the case while the passengers are disembarking. MacGeorge serves the warrant in front of Sykes, who's picking Laughton up, but Laughton has no briefcase on him. However, Linc subsequently spots a baggage handler retrieving a black case for Laughton, and when it's brought to him, the detectives move back in. Laughton claims it's not his, but complies in giving Greer the combination of his case (which kinda doesn't make sense, as it should be Chubby Man's case), and it's full of dope.... Laughton objects that it's a frame.
At Greer's office, Mac and the Mods celebrate with champagne--in paper cups! But Greer is pensive, expressing concern about how the case got on the baggage conveyor. He then gets a visiting request from Laughton, who points out the same issue, and thinks that Sykes was in on the frame, as he was responsible for the baggage checks and there was an extra ticket on the case. Greer tells Laughton that the best way to prove the frame would be to produce the case that he's surmised was picked up on the plane, but that would still implicate Laughton. In a subsequent office debate, Pete sides with Mac--against the higher-minded ideals expressed in his paper--arguing that they have a responsibility to put away Laughton regardless of the facts because they know he's guilty. Greer and MacGeorge pay a visit to Sykes, who's persuaded to tip them off that Harris was on the plane; which Julie confirms when shown his mugshot. Pete then gets a call at home from Harris, offering to make good on the previously discussed deal--which piques Pete's interest, as it means that Harris still got the goods. We see that he does indeed have the original black briefcase full of dope, which has Laughton's combination.
Pete makes a rendezvous with Harris in which he negotiates to facilitate deals with friends of his who still need their fixes; then calls Greer with what he knows, having deduced that there are two cases. While Pete's waiting outside Harris's place, Mac goes in ostensibly to arrest Harris, but inside it plays more like a shakedown, as Mac threatens Harris with his pistol, wanting to know where the case is. Back at HQ, Greer and Linc check out the confiscated case again, and discover that it actually has a different combination than the one Laughton gave...which reminds them that Mac was the one who opened it at the airport. Greer puts this together with Mac having had the opportunity to palm Laughton's claim checks and having been in charge of the evidence room for the past six months, which is where he would have gotten a caseload of dope. Greer tries to radio Mac and gets Pete, filling him in. Inside, Harris confronts MacGeorge about how he had to have been the framer, because he's the only other one who'd know that there were two cases. Harris then makes a break for it, and Mac pursues him outside, firing his pistol. Pete tackles Harris and is grabbed by Mac's uniformed backup, but tells Mac that the captain knows, motivating Mac to have Pete let go and to turn over his gun.
In the coda, Mac, being escorted in handcuffs at HQ, tells Greer to thank Pete for stopping him from becoming a murderer. Greer also sees Harris being brought in, and Sykes offers how he plans to get his new client set free.
Greer: Counselor...if I could afford the legal fees, I'd belt you right in the mouth.
Greer then heads outside to meet up with Pete and Linc, and Laughton waves at him while getting in his car with a new blonde ladyfriend.
Greer: Look at that. A good cop gets racked up and that scum goes free. Is that justice?
Pete: You know the answer to that.
Pete: You know the answer to that.
Greer and the guys walk off in the HQ parking lot.
_______
The Mod Squad
"A Double for Danger"
Originally aired February 23, 1971
Wiki said:
Mickey Moore, a civilian who's been embedded undercover as the girlfriend of dope distributor Eddie Pickett (Rex Holman) for two years, reports to her handler, New York detective Lt. Ray Abruzzi (Michael Ansara), that J.B., the big fish she came out to L.A. to meet regarding a job as courier, is delaying her for a couple of days. Abruzzi is working with Greer while in town, and when Mickey's crossing the street to meet with them, she gets Edith Keelered. After Abruzzi cries while cradling her, Mickey's face is finally revealed to the audience--Peggy Lipton in a short, dark wig--and Greer, who's seeing her for the first time, has flashes of Julie for the benefit of those who still don't get it.
At HQ, Greer consults with specialist Howard Smith (uncredited) about making Julie look like Mickey. Abruzzi gets his own shocking reveal when he meets Julie in a short, dark wig. He proceeds to intensely coach her for the next two days to sound and act like Mickey (which involves sporting the accent of Honey West's evil twin), with the help of film, tapes, and a diary. (Good thing he brought all the crap with him on the plane.) Julie falters for a bit under the stress, but is motivated to see that Mickey's sacrifice for the past two years--spurred by the death of her brother--isn't in vain. Pete and Linc, suddenly noticing when Julie's not around, storm into Greer's office demanding to know where she is and see her after the transformation is complete and she's fully immersed in her role.
Julie takes occupancy of Mickey's hotel room and puts her impersonation to the test by answering a call from Eddie, but gets tripped up by a detail from their previous conversation at the beginning of the episode, arousing his suspicion. Abruzzi continues to drill her, gives her a lipstick homing transmitter, and starts showing signs of having become unhealthily attached to Mickey's substitute. On the third day, Julie is awoken by a call that there's a limo waiting outside to take her to J.B. Pete and Linc, who never really get a chance to learn what it's like to be Julie, man the back of the surveillance van that tails the limo. Julie's taken to a fancy house to learn that she's meeting a go-between, who's arrival really takes her out of the frying pan--Karl Schwartz (Ron Soble), Mickey's previous step up the mob ladder before Eddie.
Julie ignores Greer's voice in her head telling her to bug out if things get rough, and rises to the pop quiz when Karl makes small talk about old times. Sent to find out what's going on, Linc comes to the door as a phone company repairman and, once he's inside, Julie asks to see his ID so she can slip a note into his wallet. Learning that the Schwartz is with her, Greer calls in backup, intending to storm the place and extract Julie. But J.B., unable to get through via phone, sends a chopper, and as Greer, Abruzzi, and the Mods are busting in to arrest the chauffeur (Ben Frank), Julie and Karl are already in the air.
Greer tries to have the chopper tracked by radar, but finds himself with multiple hits to sort out. It lands at an airport helicopter repair service, and Julie's taken inside to find that it's the secret office lair of the mysterious J.B. (Ray Walston in a mustache). With Karl in the room, J.B. interviews Mickey about her position and has her commit a delivery schedule to memory before burning it. Things are going well until Eddie pops back into the picture, calling J.B. and having Mickey put on the phone so he can conduct a deliberate test--following which he reports her to J.B. as an imposter. J.B. decides to conduct his own test, with a needle full of sodium pentothal. As Julie goes under, her head is filled with Ray's drills, and she actually manages to stay in character under questioning, but reveals that she's working for Abruzzi, whom Schwartz is familiar with. J.B. gives her a D+, which on his grading scale means Drop in the Drink. As Julie's being loaded onto the chopper, the van screeches up and Pete and Linc's stunt doubles jump into the rising chopper from both sides, forcing it back down. Still under the influence, Julie doesn't respond to Greer or the guys, but embraces Ray.
In the coda, the guys wheel wigless Julie out of a hospital to exchange painful goodbyes with an appreciative Ray. After he leaves, the guys welcome her back, and the reunited Mods engage in a huggy camera pull-out on the grounds.
_______
The Mod Squad
"Welcome to Our City"
Originally aired March 2, 1971
Wiki said:
Pete has just dropped off a date (Nancy Stephens) from a night at a carnival or amusement park when a young man (Billy Bowles) fleeing from something runs into him and keeps on going. Pete tries to pursue and the kid hides in a dumpster, just in time for some police to drive up and ask Pete about him, saying that he stole food. After they leave, Pete finds him--15-year-old Billy Clark, who hitchhiked from West Virginia to find his father, who came to California four years prior and has stayed in touch via letters. After Pete takes Billy back to his place, summons the other Mods, and has a doctor (Don Eitner) look at him, he hits the diner where Willis Clark was last known to have been working, but the waitress there, Hattie (Virginia Gregg), seems uptight and evasive, claiming not to remember him; while the proprietor (Keller [John Dennis]) takes silent interest and makes a call as Pete is leaving. Pete then tries local pawn shops, informed by hard luck described in Clark's letters. Billy sees a pocket watch in a window that he recognizes as his father's, which an engraving confirms. The pawnbroker (Woodrow Parfrey) describes the man who brought it in as a strong arm for a local loan shark.
When Pete exits, he's accosted by a pair of discretely armed thugs. Pete turns it into a scuffle, but is roughed up, questioned about what he wants with Clark, and warned to get out of town (as he's told them that he's a visiting friend). Pete realizes that it was Keller who sicced the thugs on him, and goes back to the diner to question him. Keller identifies the lead thug as Frank Dunn (Edward Faulkner); tells Pete that both he and Clark were in debt to loan shark Charles Weaver; and further indicates that Hattie, who's since quit, was close to Clark. When Pete goes to talk to her, she indicates that she was helping Clark learn to read and write, and describes how she saw him slowly lose his dreams of making it in the city. She claims not to know where Clark is, and Pete can tell that she's holding back and tails her to the zoo. Meanwhile, a stolen TV set that was brought to the pawn shop with the watch is traced to shabby dive where a dead body is found, who checked in under the name George Brown. A note adding interest to a monetary figure is found in the garbage, which matches Clark's handwriting.
Frank Dunn shows Charles Weaver (Allen Garfield) a story in the paper about Brown's death, and Weaver is upset, telling Frank to find the person who did it. Fingerprints identify the body as actually being a George Brown--not Clark as the Mods had expected. Linc pays a business visit to Weaver, claiming to be a college student who has his own interest racket going on and is interested in a partnership, while covertly planting a device in the office. Searching Hattie's place, Linc and Pete find a picture of Willis Clark (John Carter) in working clothes with Hattie at the zoo. Cut to Willis with Hattie at the zoo, where Willis is currently employed as a custodian. Willis tells her that what happened was an accident, and that he wants to keep his distance from the son he feels that he's failed. Linc pays a return visit to Weaver, but Dunn recognizes Linc from having seen him with Pete somewhere along the way, so Linc covertly grabs his device and splits, to be picked up by Pete outside.
The device--some sort of miniature recorder that I wouldn't have thought existed back then--plays (when hooked into a reel-to-reel deck) a conversation in which Weaver orders Dunn to go to Hattie to try to find Willis Clark and hit him, because they can't risk Clark talking and connecting them to Brown's death. Pete and Linc go to Hattie's, where she's been beaten by Dunn for information; and she tells Pete that Willis is at the zoo. After they leave, it turns out that Dunn was still there in hiding, and learned where Clark is. Pete and Linc go to see Clark, who tells them how Weaver put him to work as a way of helping pay off his debt; but Clark insists that Brown accidentally hit his head on a table in their scuffle, and was alive when Clark last saw him. Then Dunn enters the scene with his gun, but the three manage to disarm him and he makes a run for it, to be pursued by Linc outside. Dunn ends up hanging by his fingers over the bear pit, where Linc forces a loud confession from him in front of a crowd of witnesses.
In the coda, Clark is taken into custody, Greer reporting that his prospects look good as the cause of Brown's death was determined to be heart failure; and Billy is on the scene for a reunion with his father. Pete and Linc walk off on the zoo walkway.
Julie was in the episode, barely...seen in Pete's apartment a couple of times helping to take care of Billy.
_______
I'll believe it when it actually becomes a thing.
He's everywhere.
He's just covering while MacMurphy's on vacation.
"Look, you don't have to hit the keys as hard."
That's great, Greer, recruit somebody who has a personal score to settle.
And Mr Monk's longtime shrink.
Now that's a pathetic addict.
What kind of dealer lets his supply run out? You order when the inventory gets to 20%, dude.
I knew it.
He's really desperate for that nickel bag by now.
Technically, three. Hopefully they tipped off the Vegas cops about Chubby Man.
A good cop gone bad. If MacGeorge hadn't tried to frame Laughton, they would have gotten him. Since Pete was willing to go against his convictions, he's the one who should have learned something from this.
While Julie continues to search the neon-lit Vegas strip for Chubby Man.
Kang. And Jeannie's husband.
Hmm.
It was still lying around in the Spelling Productions prop room.
Hmmm again.
"Did you remember to tell her that the Vegas thing is over?"
They should have worked the car accident into the scenario-- facial bruising and a head injury would have helped all around.
Hmmm x3.
Oh, what a tangled web she wove. That's a lot of undercovering for a civilian.
"Help me, Obi-Greer."
Don't choppers have to file flight plans?
"This is bigger than we thought. It stretches all the way to Mars."
Uh oh.
I've missed the drink.
Good one.
Kind of a half-hearted attempt to do a story about losing oneself undercover. It's like they were afraid to really get into it.
"No, I'm Pete. He's Linc."
Pete just can't keep his nose out of other people's business.
This is an improvement over the last time he picked up a troubled kid, at least.
Does Jack Webb know about this?
Probably would have been a good time to show his badge.
That ship has sailed, buddy.
Don't forget that Honey West prop room.
Did Hattie not know? Pete and Linc could have taken him.
I hope he shouted him his Miranda rights.
Did they ever say what Billy's situation was in West Virginia? Living with his mom or alone or what?
She was having company that day.
I said they exist, not that they're commonplace.
Whoosh.
But also inside contacts.
He'd been trying to appear clean after the last trial.
He claimed to have gotten his own fix elsewhere.He's really desperate for that nickel bag by now.
That case probably didn't have anything incriminating in it, though; or maybe money.
Through unanticipated means, though. The bust at the airport was a bust.
Evidently he did, hence being the one to imply the episode title to Greer.
Hey, she did something this episode.
"More Mod treachery!"
"Hey, Captain, Julie's come up missing--we can't find her anywhere!"
"She's working."
"...The last place we would've looked."
Maybe. Might've aroused suspicion, though.
You got me.
It was only a tease here...we never even saw the drink.
Well, she had to recover in time to...not have anything to do next episode...?
This is her third role on Mod Squad.
Not necessarily. He was unarmed, and he would have blown his cover for the investigation.
I wasn't clear on that. She seemed beaten senseless, so she might not have been aware that he was still present. She reacted in horror when he came out.
Yeah, that was especially hokey coming so soon after the episode that was all about crooks getting off because arrests weren't conducted properly.
If they did, I didn't catch it. His ma was dead; maybe with other relatives.
And you still won't see any over the Brooklyn Bridge.I said they exist, not that they're commonplace.
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Post-55th Anniversary Viewing
_______
"The Night of the Wolf"
Originally aired March 31, 1967
Jim rides into a small outpost by night, where his horse and a cat in an unattended general store / hotel are spooked by the howling of a wolf. Outside, Jim is attacked by a ferocious lupine, and we see that a robed man watching from high ground is now doing the howling. While Jim's horse is running off and Jim is shooting the wolf to unseen effect, Sheriff Twilley (Eddie Fontaine) rides in escorting a stage bearing the Foreign Dignitary of the Week--Stefan (John Marley), who's been farming in Arizona Territory under the Exiled Heirs Protection Program. Also on the coach are Artie, embedded as a guard with the sheriff's knowledge; Leandra Novokolik (Lorri Scott), Stefan's daughter; foreign cavalry captain Dushan (Jonathan Lippe); and a Dr. Hanska (Michael Shillo). Stefan insists on proceeding to the town of Luca, where many of his countrymen live, to have early coronation rites performed by a priest; and expresses marked interest upon hearing about how the Wolf ran off without sign of injury after being shot, becoming emphatic that they have to confirm the wolf's death. Searching the area, they find the corpses of a wolf and Murdock, the absent shopkeeper, the latter of whom has slashes on his throat...all while the mysterious figure continues to watch.
A voluntarily unmuttonchopped Artie shares with Jim how he found a book on lycanthropy on the coach, its owner unknown...and Jim, not yet having access to Universal horror flicks, needs a bit of exposition on the subject. Jim then has a bit of alone time with Leandra, learning that she dreads how her life will change upon her father's coronation. Signal flashes are seen coming from a nearby hillside, spelling "vrkalak," which Stefan--now determined to investigate by night--says is a Magyar-Croatian SOS. They find the lantern that was used by the mysterious figure, and the agents learn that Stefan has been packing silver bullets as a precaution against a countryman named Talamantes, who seeks to control the next heir as he controlled Stefan's brother, the late King Kashmir. A suddenly camera-shy Talamantes requests a parlay, then reveals himself (Joseph Campanella doing a Lugosi accent) and demands that Stefan renounce the throne in favor of a more easily controlled heir...announcing that he now has Leandra as a hostage. When Jim threatens Talamantes, a wolf is sicced on him, which is only felled by Stefan's bullet. The agents and Stefan return to the rooms to find the princess gone, Dushan saying he was taken by surprise. After Jim finally puts his foot down, expressing his willingness to use force to prevent Stefan from further endangering himself, the heir suffers a mysterious attack.
The doctor reveals that this is Stefan's second stroke in as many weeks, which Jim surmises is the reason for his haste in claiming the throne, so that Leandra would succeed him. Meanwhile, in a cobwebbed cavern lair, Talamantes--who sports a metal claw in place of his right hand--uses a serum on Leandra which he says Stefan was too strong-willed for, and implants "vrkalak" as her command word. Jim spies a guard dressed similarly to Talamantes outside of a mine entrance and forces his way in to find Leandra, who doesn't remember Talamantes when he reveals himself and tells Jim of how his serum makes his wolves highly resistant to injury. Talamantes drops the command phrase and a suggestion that causes Leandra to knock out Jim with a two-by-four.
Jim awakens to find himself at the mercy of Stefan's wolves, one of whom disappears with no trace when Jim tosses a heel-concealed explosive at it; and another of whom Jim wrestles off as if it were a stuffed animal in a moving mine car. When Jim reaches the entrance, he blows it with another bomb, and we hear the whimpering of a couple of other pursuing wolves. Meanwhile, Stefan is told that his daughter is now safe and Artie brings the priest (Charles Radilac), who's in the process of performing the rites in the store when Leandra arrives. When she doesn't recognize Talamantes by name, Stefan senses that he's already gotten to her and insists that he not be crowned...which an escaped Jim suddenly arrives to second...but the priest pays no heed, and Stefan immediately succumbs to his illness when the crown is placed on his head. Jim explains to Leandra afterward that she's now under Talamantes's control.
Leandra reluctantly accepts her acension but pleads for help. When a group of reporters is brought onto the train, she reads a statement prepared by Artie in which she abdicates the throne as a lure for Talamantes to make a move. After they leave, Dushan expresses his regrets and leaves an envelope on her desk. She opens it to find a card with a the unsafeword and an order to kill West. Then Artie appears, disguised as Stefan in a way that fools everybody but the audience. Talamantes, Dushan, and a couple of others listen from outside as a shot is fired, and rush in to be surprised by "Stefan" and the sudden revival of West, who gets up to take them all down in a climactic tussle...which ends with Talamantes falling onto his own claw. It's then revealed that seeing Artie as her father broke the spell on Leandra, and that Stefan used an oversized bullet rather than a silver one to deal with the serum-enhanced wolf. Leandra intends to get on with claiming her throne, though the legitimacy of her announcement to the press isn't addressed.
Doggies were conspicuously unharmed throughout the making of this episode.
_______
Post-55th Anniversary Viewing
_______
"The Night of the Wolf"
Originally aired March 31, 1967
Wiki said:
Jim rides into a small outpost by night, where his horse and a cat in an unattended general store / hotel are spooked by the howling of a wolf. Outside, Jim is attacked by a ferocious lupine, and we see that a robed man watching from high ground is now doing the howling. While Jim's horse is running off and Jim is shooting the wolf to unseen effect, Sheriff Twilley (Eddie Fontaine) rides in escorting a stage bearing the Foreign Dignitary of the Week--Stefan (John Marley), who's been farming in Arizona Territory under the Exiled Heirs Protection Program. Also on the coach are Artie, embedded as a guard with the sheriff's knowledge; Leandra Novokolik (Lorri Scott), Stefan's daughter; foreign cavalry captain Dushan (Jonathan Lippe); and a Dr. Hanska (Michael Shillo). Stefan insists on proceeding to the town of Luca, where many of his countrymen live, to have early coronation rites performed by a priest; and expresses marked interest upon hearing about how the Wolf ran off without sign of injury after being shot, becoming emphatic that they have to confirm the wolf's death. Searching the area, they find the corpses of a wolf and Murdock, the absent shopkeeper, the latter of whom has slashes on his throat...all while the mysterious figure continues to watch.
A voluntarily unmuttonchopped Artie shares with Jim how he found a book on lycanthropy on the coach, its owner unknown...and Jim, not yet having access to Universal horror flicks, needs a bit of exposition on the subject. Jim then has a bit of alone time with Leandra, learning that she dreads how her life will change upon her father's coronation. Signal flashes are seen coming from a nearby hillside, spelling "vrkalak," which Stefan--now determined to investigate by night--says is a Magyar-Croatian SOS. They find the lantern that was used by the mysterious figure, and the agents learn that Stefan has been packing silver bullets as a precaution against a countryman named Talamantes, who seeks to control the next heir as he controlled Stefan's brother, the late King Kashmir. A suddenly camera-shy Talamantes requests a parlay, then reveals himself (Joseph Campanella doing a Lugosi accent) and demands that Stefan renounce the throne in favor of a more easily controlled heir...announcing that he now has Leandra as a hostage. When Jim threatens Talamantes, a wolf is sicced on him, which is only felled by Stefan's bullet. The agents and Stefan return to the rooms to find the princess gone, Dushan saying he was taken by surprise. After Jim finally puts his foot down, expressing his willingness to use force to prevent Stefan from further endangering himself, the heir suffers a mysterious attack.
The doctor reveals that this is Stefan's second stroke in as many weeks, which Jim surmises is the reason for his haste in claiming the throne, so that Leandra would succeed him. Meanwhile, in a cobwebbed cavern lair, Talamantes--who sports a metal claw in place of his right hand--uses a serum on Leandra which he says Stefan was too strong-willed for, and implants "vrkalak" as her command word. Jim spies a guard dressed similarly to Talamantes outside of a mine entrance and forces his way in to find Leandra, who doesn't remember Talamantes when he reveals himself and tells Jim of how his serum makes his wolves highly resistant to injury. Talamantes drops the command phrase and a suggestion that causes Leandra to knock out Jim with a two-by-four.
Jim awakens to find himself at the mercy of Stefan's wolves, one of whom disappears with no trace when Jim tosses a heel-concealed explosive at it; and another of whom Jim wrestles off as if it were a stuffed animal in a moving mine car. When Jim reaches the entrance, he blows it with another bomb, and we hear the whimpering of a couple of other pursuing wolves. Meanwhile, Stefan is told that his daughter is now safe and Artie brings the priest (Charles Radilac), who's in the process of performing the rites in the store when Leandra arrives. When she doesn't recognize Talamantes by name, Stefan senses that he's already gotten to her and insists that he not be crowned...which an escaped Jim suddenly arrives to second...but the priest pays no heed, and Stefan immediately succumbs to his illness when the crown is placed on his head. Jim explains to Leandra afterward that she's now under Talamantes's control.
Leandra reluctantly accepts her acension but pleads for help. When a group of reporters is brought onto the train, she reads a statement prepared by Artie in which she abdicates the throne as a lure for Talamantes to make a move. After they leave, Dushan expresses his regrets and leaves an envelope on her desk. She opens it to find a card with a the unsafeword and an order to kill West. Then Artie appears, disguised as Stefan in a way that fools everybody but the audience. Talamantes, Dushan, and a couple of others listen from outside as a shot is fired, and rush in to be surprised by "Stefan" and the sudden revival of West, who gets up to take them all down in a climactic tussle...which ends with Talamantes falling onto his own claw. It's then revealed that seeing Artie as her father broke the spell on Leandra, and that Stefan used an oversized bullet rather than a silver one to deal with the serum-enhanced wolf. Leandra intends to get on with claiming her throne, though the legitimacy of her announcement to the press isn't addressed.
Doggies were conspicuously unharmed throughout the making of this episode.
_______
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What did I Whoosh this time?
Yeah, but Chubby was involved, so Vegas would probably want to question him or at least keep tabs on him.
But Pete still found the briefcase with Harris, so they could have connected them with the flight (and probably with Chubby Man).
And not just waiting tables!
Mods. They cannot be trusted.
The deepest cover of all.
She got a lot of work. She must have been well liked.
Geez, they should have called for backup and paramedics and stayed with her until somebody arrived. What is it with these guys not calling for medical assistance?
"Move to dismiss, your honor. My client was pursued by a bear."
I just said that they exist, not that they're commonplace.
I'm having a good time already.
Jim needs a more trusty steed, like Zorro and the Lone Ranger.
They do get an awful lot of royalty in the Old West.
This seems gratuitous.
"Look, Jim, even a man who's pure of heart and says his prayers at night...."
It actually turns out to be similar to a Slavic word for werewolf. Somebody did some research.
A cloaked figure who walks around carrying a lantern... uh oh.
Must be how he wooed Bonnie Franklin.
If she's next in the line of succession, wouldn't she succeed him anyway?
Nice.
Cool.
Weak. It needs at least one uppercase letter, a number, and a special character.
He's in on it. Blow him up.
What does that accomplish? Who's next in the line of succession?
Fun's over now!
How exactly does that work? The chambers in the gun would still be the same size.
Fake news!
But all werewolves were dispatched without mercy! This sounds like a fun episode, but I have a weakness for werewolf stories.
50th Anniversary Viewing
James Paul McCartney
Originally aired April 16, 1973
This is a bit of business that I'd read of for decades, but am only just now watching for the first time courtesy of YouTube, as it was never made available on home video until, reportedly, being very recently included as a bonus in a deluxe reissue of Red Rose Speedway. As one might expect in this early post-Beatles era, the special was brought to us by the letter L, which stands for litigation:
The show opens with Wings warming up behind a stage curtain, which opens to reveal a true television audience...a wall of stacked television screens. As the band performs "Big Barn Bed"--the opening number of their upcoming album, Red Rose Speedway--text plays on the screen introducing the band members with facetious factoids about each; e.g., for Linda...
The show's title is announced, and after a break, we return to Paul playing an acoustic medley during an onstage photo session with Linda. Included are "Blackbird" from the White Album; in the US, a preview of "Bluebird," which will appear two albums hence in late '73 on Band on the Run; "Michelle" from Rubber Soul; and "Heart of the Country" from 1971's Ram. (The 50-minute, higher quality video available on YouTube would appear from this to be the UK version; but reportedly corresponds to the US version in another detail further below.)
Next is a video segment of 1972 single "Mary Had a Little Lamb," shot outdoors at a park with a pond and bridge, which includes Linda in turn-of-the-century attire on a tree swing; Paul rowing a boat holding the entire band; Linda and Paul riding horses; and the band playing what most of them would refer to as football.
It's back to the TV studio for a medley of the prior song's B-side, "Little Woman Love," and "C Moon," the flip side of recent single "Hi, Hi, Hi". Then a studio orchestra is revealed to accompany the band on the just-released, soon-to-be-chart-topping "My Love". This segues into a video of just the "Uncle Albert" segment of Paul and Linda's prior chart-topper, with the McCartneys in a couple of pairs of roles and a large group of old men on telephones.
After a break, a voiceover of Paul introduces footage of Liverpool, and we enter the Ferry Pub, where the camera captures a singalong of "It's a Long Way to Tipperary"; followed by random bits of customer conversations and Paul introducing members of the band to his relatives, interspersed with more singalongs, including "April Showers," "California, Here I Come," "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag," and "You Are My Sunshine".
Following what appears to be another hard break is a production number of Paul in a pink tuxedo, slick hair, and mustache performing "Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance," accompanied by an ensemble of dancers in half-man, half-woman costumes; with several large stage props of stockinged and heeled legs [insert A Christmas Story reference here]. This segues into Paul and Linda sitting in movie theater for a voiceover introduction of an historical highlight of the special--a live preview performance of "Live and Let Die," two months before the release of the single or film...which includes cuts to clips of action sequences from the movie; and a closing of a trenchcoated agent in the rafters pressing down a plunger to blow up the piano that Paul's sitting at--an actual filmed-live effect that reportedly went off more strongly than planned...but any exploding piano you can walk away from is a good one, or something like that.
An onscreen logo announces that the next segment is "A Beatles Medley"...which consists of various people on the street of varying levels of vocal talent singing segments of "When I'm 64," "A Hard Day's Night," "Can't Buy Me Love," "She Loves You," "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "Yesterday," and "Yellow Submarine," accompanied by studio orchestral instrumentation.
Cut to a concert segment of Wings performing before a studio audience. Numbers include "The Mess" (a song that Wings was performing in their live shows at the time, and was initially planned to appear as a live track on the double-LP version of Red Rose Speedway, and eventually released as a track on a CD single); "Maybe I'm Amazed"; and the last song depended on which side of the pond you were watching on. According to the Wiki article, the US version featured "Long Tall Sally," while the UK version featured "Hi, Hi, Hi"...but the video that earlier had appeared to correspond with the UK version has "Long Tall Sally".
The special closes with Wings sitting backstage as Paul on acoustic guitar warms up with a song fragment called "Well, That's the End of Another Day," which leads into an unseen-string-accompanied performance of "Yesterday" over which the end credits roll as the camera slowly pulls away.
_______
James Paul McCartney
Originally aired April 16, 1973
Wiki said:
This is a bit of business that I'd read of for decades, but am only just now watching for the first time courtesy of YouTube, as it was never made available on home video until, reportedly, being very recently included as a bonus in a deluxe reissue of Red Rose Speedway. As one might expect in this early post-Beatles era, the special was brought to us by the letter L, which stands for litigation:
The show opens with Wings warming up behind a stage curtain, which opens to reveal a true television audience...a wall of stacked television screens. As the band performs "Big Barn Bed"--the opening number of their upcoming album, Red Rose Speedway--text plays on the screen introducing the band members with facetious factoids about each; e.g., for Linda...
Comments: Quite Frequently
The show's title is announced, and after a break, we return to Paul playing an acoustic medley during an onstage photo session with Linda. Included are "Blackbird" from the White Album; in the US, a preview of "Bluebird," which will appear two albums hence in late '73 on Band on the Run; "Michelle" from Rubber Soul; and "Heart of the Country" from 1971's Ram. (The 50-minute, higher quality video available on YouTube would appear from this to be the UK version; but reportedly corresponds to the US version in another detail further below.)
Next is a video segment of 1972 single "Mary Had a Little Lamb," shot outdoors at a park with a pond and bridge, which includes Linda in turn-of-the-century attire on a tree swing; Paul rowing a boat holding the entire band; Linda and Paul riding horses; and the band playing what most of them would refer to as football.
It's back to the TV studio for a medley of the prior song's B-side, "Little Woman Love," and "C Moon," the flip side of recent single "Hi, Hi, Hi". Then a studio orchestra is revealed to accompany the band on the just-released, soon-to-be-chart-topping "My Love". This segues into a video of just the "Uncle Albert" segment of Paul and Linda's prior chart-topper, with the McCartneys in a couple of pairs of roles and a large group of old men on telephones.
After a break, a voiceover of Paul introduces footage of Liverpool, and we enter the Ferry Pub, where the camera captures a singalong of "It's a Long Way to Tipperary"; followed by random bits of customer conversations and Paul introducing members of the band to his relatives, interspersed with more singalongs, including "April Showers," "California, Here I Come," "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag," and "You Are My Sunshine".
Following what appears to be another hard break is a production number of Paul in a pink tuxedo, slick hair, and mustache performing "Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance," accompanied by an ensemble of dancers in half-man, half-woman costumes; with several large stage props of stockinged and heeled legs [insert A Christmas Story reference here]. This segues into Paul and Linda sitting in movie theater for a voiceover introduction of an historical highlight of the special--a live preview performance of "Live and Let Die," two months before the release of the single or film...which includes cuts to clips of action sequences from the movie; and a closing of a trenchcoated agent in the rafters pressing down a plunger to blow up the piano that Paul's sitting at--an actual filmed-live effect that reportedly went off more strongly than planned...but any exploding piano you can walk away from is a good one, or something like that.
An onscreen logo announces that the next segment is "A Beatles Medley"...which consists of various people on the street of varying levels of vocal talent singing segments of "When I'm 64," "A Hard Day's Night," "Can't Buy Me Love," "She Loves You," "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "Yesterday," and "Yellow Submarine," accompanied by studio orchestral instrumentation.
Cut to a concert segment of Wings performing before a studio audience. Numbers include "The Mess" (a song that Wings was performing in their live shows at the time, and was initially planned to appear as a live track on the double-LP version of Red Rose Speedway, and eventually released as a track on a CD single); "Maybe I'm Amazed"; and the last song depended on which side of the pond you were watching on. According to the Wiki article, the US version featured "Long Tall Sally," while the UK version featured "Hi, Hi, Hi"...but the video that earlier had appeared to correspond with the UK version has "Long Tall Sally".
The special closes with Wings sitting backstage as Paul on acoustic guitar warms up with a song fragment called "Well, That's the End of Another Day," which leads into an unseen-string-accompanied performance of "Yesterday" over which the end credits roll as the camera slowly pulls away.
The Wiki article goes on into all sorts of sordid detail there, which I shan't repeat. It was a watchable, somewhat enjoyable bit of immersive retro business.
_______
Not you. Me no Cap.What did I Whoosh this time?
Chubby Man not factoring more into the bust probably has to do with Mac's Vegas contact wanting to preserve his cover. He appeared briefly to finger Chubby Man for Pete.
For the record, my reference was to a sound bite of Ansara as Kang that was used in Interplay's Star Trek Pinball from the 1990s, which is burned into my brain.Mods. They cannot be trusted.
Probably. I think they passed her off to somebody else who was on the scene...I've deleted the episode so I can't double-check.
Interesting.
Not sure about that, but the custom might vary in their country anyway.
Forces Talamantes to make a move because he's already invested in controlling Leandra; Some Poor Sucker.
Now that you mention it...
I don't understand how there can be a credit dispute based on someone's professional experience-- either she did it or she didn't.
The type of imagery that popped up frequently in those days.
Signifying that he's low man on the totem pole or that he does all the work?
Special Guest Star: Darren McGavin.
Product placement!
It sounds like they crammed a lot into the hour, with a lot of interesting visual variety.
Oh, no deeper meanings there-- just commenting on why Greer was giving orders to random detectives.
Ah, okay.
Actually, I assumed it was from the episode. I seem to remember him saying "More Federation treachery!" or something along those lines.
True.
Makes sense.
50 Years Ago This Week
August 5
August 6
August 7
August 8
August 9
August 10
August 11
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
New on the chart:
"Rocky Mountain Way," Joe Walsh
(#23 US)
"Free Ride," The Edgar Winter Group
(#14 US)
_______
Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month and Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day, with minor editing as needed.
_______
August 5
- The Soviet Union launched the Mars 6 probe from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The spacecraft would reach the planet Mars seven months later on March 12, 1974, releasing a lander which would return data for 224 seconds during its descent through the Martian atmosphere before crashing on the surface. Much of the data that was transmitted was unusable.
- The Black September terrorist group threw a hand grenade into a crowded passenger lounge at the airport in Athens and fired pistols, killing three people and injuring 55.
- In Iceland, at a farm near Dragháls, in a group of Norse worshipers revived the tradition of the "blót" for the first time since the violent blood sacrifice had been outlawed in the year 1000. The group, the Ásatrúarfélagið, held ceremonies in front of a plaster statue of the Norse god Thor.
August 6
- With 10 days left before the halt of U.S. bombing of Cambodia, a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber mistakenly bombed a Cambodian Navy base at Neak Luong, killing more than 137 Cambodian servicemen and their families, and wounding 208.
- Skylab 3 astronaut Jack R. Lousma almost doubled the record for a space walk, spending 6 hours and 31 minutes outside of the Skylab space station 270 miles (430 km) above the Earth. Lousma had only expected to spend 3½ hours in deploying a sun shield but encountered difficulties in getting it set up. The previous record had been on June 7 when Charles Conrad Jr. of Skylab 1 and spent 3 hours and 23 minutes outside the space station.
- Musician Stevie Wonder and his friend John Harris were injured when their vehicle collided with a truck loaded with logs near Salisbury, North Carolina. Wonder was being driven to Durham, where he was scheduled to perform a concert at the Duke University arena. For four days, Wonder was in a coma caused by severe brain contusion.
August 7
- A plea for help over citizens band radio, by a boy by the name of Larry purporting to be stranded inside an overturned truck with his dead father in New Mexico, sparked a search-and-rescue mission in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A massive search would be undertaken for five days before being called off on August 12 with no further calls after that, and the Federal Communications Commission would eventually conclude that the broadcast had been a hoax.
- Hermine Braunsteiner became the first convicted Nazi war criminal in the U.S. to be extradited to West Germany for trial. She was found after Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal had learned that she was living in New York City as Mrs. Hermine Ryan.
August 8
- Police in Houston, Texas, learned for the first time of the murders committed by serial killer Dean Corll, after Corll's accomplice, Elmer Wayne Henley, led them to a shallow grave and told them that he had shot and killed Corll. In excavating the spot at a boat storage yard, excavations found the bodies of eight people, including those of three teenagers who had been missing. In the days that followed, more human remains would be found. Henley, 17, and another accomplice, David Owen Brooks, 18, were indicted by a grand jury for murder six days later, on August 14.
- South Korean politician Kim Dae-jung, who had run against President Park Chung Hee in the 1971 South Korean presidential election and later fled to Japan, was kidnapped at gunpoint from the Hotel Grand Palace in Tokyo by the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA). Kim had just left a luncheon meeting the leader of the opposition Democratic Unification Party, Yong Il Dong, and another party official, Kim Kyung. As he walked into the hallway, Kim Dae-jung was surrounded by five men, who forced him into a hotel room, then drugged him and took him down to the hotel's parking garage. After being beaten up during five days during interrogations, Kim was released at his home five days later.
August 9
- Near the Egyptian oasis town of Faiyum, 23 people were killed and 12 injured when the bus they were on fell into a canal after the driver swerved to avoid hitting a donkey.
- The Soviet Union launched its Mars 7 interplanetary probe, with a goal of landing on the planet Mars. On March 9, 1974, the probe would reach Mars and release the lander, but because of a retrorocket failure, the lander would miss the atmosphere and instead fly past the planet at no closer than 1,300 kilometres (810 mi).
- On the day of their departure for Lagos, Nigeria, for recording sessions, Henry McCullough and Denny Seiwell quit Wings. Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, and Denny Laine fly on regardless and commence recording the Band on the Run album.
August 10
- The Skylab 3 astronauts were able to capture the most detailed photograph of a solar flare up to that time.
- The Israeli Air Force intercepted Iraqi Airways Flight 006A shortly after it took off from the airport in Beirut with 74 passengers and a crew of eight, taking the group back home to Baghdad at the end of their vacation. Avoiding a repeat of the shootdown of a Libyan airliner earlier in the year, Israel successfully directed the Iraqi airplane to land at a secret airfield and held the group for eight hours. The Israeli forces had confused the flight with another Caravelle jet, Iraqi Airways Flight 006, which was believed to be bringing Palestinian guerrilla leaders to Lebanon from Vienna. Israel's act of forcing down a civilian airliner outside of its airspace was criticized worldwide, and even the U.S. joined in the UN Security Council resolution on August 15 condemning Israel, marking the first time in five years that the U.S. had sided against its ally.
August 11
- Clive Campbell, a Jamaican-born American musician who performed under the stage name DJ Kool Herc, originated the hip hop music genre at a party that he and his younger sister Cindy Campbell had organized, the "Back to School Jam" held at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx in New York City.
- In one of the rare clashes between warships during the "Cod Wars" between the UK and Iceland over fishing rights, the Iceland Coast Guard patrol vessel ICGV Óðinn rammed the Royal Navy frigate HMS Andromeda in the disputed area more than 12 nautical miles (14 mi) from the Icelandic coast.
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
- "Daddy Could Swear, I Declare," Gladys Knight & The Pips (15 weeks)
- "One of a Kind (Love Affair)," The Spinners (15 weeks)
- "Time to Get Down," The O'Jays (12 weeks)
New on the chart:
"Rocky Mountain Way," Joe Walsh
(#23 US)
"Free Ride," The Edgar Winter Group
(#14 US)
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Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month and Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day, with minor editing as needed.
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The idea was that Paul was fraudulently giving her songwriting co-credit to get more royalties coming in, at a time when I believe the ex-Beatles' royalties were being held in escrow or somesuch. A legitimate concern when dealing with a songwriting goldmine like Paul.
If you're going to read symbolism into it, probably the latter.Signifying that he's low man on the totem pole or that he does all the work?
Pretty much.
And the contact's stipulation for helping Mac was that the bust had to happen in L.A., not Vegas, so that would effectively render Chubby Man untouchable.
That was the line.
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Never give up, never surrender!
"For Odin! For Asgard!"
Possibly time to give up or surrender. It's amazing that these guys can land probes on the freakin' hellhole of Venus, but have such a hard time with Mars.
These guys make a lot of mistakes.
I never cared much for this.
But this is a classic.
Okay, that makes more sense.
If you're going to read symbolism into it, probably the latter.
Sometimes I remember things.
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Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
_______
The Mod Squad
"The Comeback"
Originally aired March 9, 1971
Greer, Pete, and Julie are in the audience as Linc works the corner of former middleweight champion "Candy" Joe Collins (Robinson), who's late for a comeback match against Indian Red Lopez (himself)...which Linc tries to talk him into backing out of. With a bit of internal monologue, Linc flashbacks to Greer interrogating Candy's son, Robbie (Hilly Hicks), about knocking off a pawn shop for a paltry sum, which Robbie claims to have done for kicks. Greer then assigns Linc, whom Candy taught to fight, to investigate while claiming that he's a social worker. Elsewhere, Candy and Doc Russo (Rocky Graziano) show a group of boys the fight between them that won Candy the championship and led to Doc becoming his trainer. Doc brings up the possibility of Candy returning to fighting. Linc pops in for a happy reunion, and takes Candy to talk to Robbie, whose main issue is how his father sent him away to a boarding school where he feels he doesn't fit in, partially because his father seems like a has-been compared to the other students' high-achieving dads. The Mods are gathered at Linc's place to celebrate Julie being unavailable for the weekend when Linc gets a call from Candy, asking Linc to come work for him as he's returning to fighting.
The second act opens to more of the fight between Candy and Lopez before cutting back to Dick Enberg (himself) interviewing Candy at his training camp about his planned comeback...during which the subject of the camp's tight security conspicuously comes up. Linc privately accuses Robbie of manipulating his father into returning to fighting and not being straight about his motives. Robbie gets a call from a shady character named Floyd Barris (Rod McCary), who arranges a meeting at a diner to discuss $2,500 that Robbie owes him. Barris and his henchman, Cortney (Bucklind Beery), discuss how they want Robbie to make good by providing them with intel about his father that they can use to clean up on the fight. Linc, having tailed Robbie, gets Barris's license plate, and Greer identifies him as a pro gambler.
Third act--more Collins vs. Lopez, with Candy's younger opponent starting to gain the upper hand, before we cut to Pete being assigned to cover Barris by posing as a client. Linc tries to discourage Candy from returning to fighting on the basis of his age--"the undefeated champion of us all"--and to convince him that there are other ways to win his son's respect. The theme is reinforced when Robbie reports to Barris about the difficulties Candy's having in training; and a suspicious Barris announces that he's going to bet Robbie's $2,500 debt against Candy. Afterward, Candy announces to Robbie that he's planning to quit, and Robbie gives him false encouragement to keep going, which changes Candy's mind. Cut forward to Robbie watching pensively as Lopez knocks his father off his feet and makes him reel from subsequent punches.
Act four--Pete watching the fight cuts to sharply dressed Pete--claiming to represent big people--negotiating with Barris about paying big money for intel regarding the Collins/Lopez fight. Barris puts on the table that he's got Collins's son in his pocket. Linc confronts Robbie about selling out his old man, and Robbie's admitting to it as Candy walks in the room...and insists on going through with the fight while offering to pay whatever Robbie owes. Cut back to the fight, in which Candy is on the ropes and gets knocked down for a seven-count. Linc persuades Robbie to stop his old man from getting himself killed, and the audience gets more than they paid for when Robbie jumps into Candy's corner and convinces him to forfeit the match by telling his father that he loves him.
After the fight, Linc tells a stitched-up Candy that he's still a winner, and Candy and Robbie walk off, leaving Linc standing beside the empty ring.
_______
The Mod Squad
"We Spy"
Originally aired March 16, 1971
Following an anonymous tip, Greer and a couple of other detectives catch a safecracker named Danny (Sidney Clute) engaged in industrial espionage...to the consternation of Danny's employer, Endicott Farraday (Rene Auberjonois, in a clean-cut, suited look), when the bust is reported to him by his henchman, Hal Smith (William Smith).
An old colleague of Greer's named Dr. Wilson (Jay Novello) trains Pete in safecracking so that he can infiltrate the espionage ring posing as a potential replacement, Eddie Jordan, with Linc accompanying him as his protection, "Happy". Using intel provided by Danny, Pete hangs out at an upscale bar that serves as a contact point for prospective talent; liaises with a waitress, Alma Sutton (Joanna Phillips); and watches her interacting with a clumsy, nervous, health-conscious young man named Neslon (also Rene Auberjonois, sporting a somewhat Lennon-ish look with shaggy hair and glasses).
Nelson expresses an interest in "Eddie" to Alma, and later clumsily attempts to break into his cover pad with a proposition that involves Pete training him to open a safe. Greer's interest is piqued when Pete's imitation of Nelson's high, nasally voice sounds like the tipster. Pete goes through with the training, only to learn that Nelson's proposed job is to knock off the cashier's safe at police headquarters! Pete passes, only for Nelson to go through with the job himself, which includes clocking Greer when he scopes out the office while working late...and is still conscious enough to hear Nelson fretting over it.
Pete continues to hang out at the bar, asking Alma about Nelson and finally being approached by Smith, who lays down the ground rules, which include never getting to meet the top man. Meanwhile, Linc and Julie (whose pad has thus far served as the setting for a couple of meeting scenes) are scoping out potential places where Nelson might buy his alfalfa pills when Linc spots Endicott entering his office building and mistakes him for Nelson. Linc barges into Farraday's penthouse office only to realize that he's got the wrong man; briefly meets Smith; and is told that Nelson is Endicott's "poor, sick" twin brother and warned to stay out of their business.
Greer decides to shake the tree by calling Endicott regarding a warrant for Nelson, getting Endicott privately upset about his brother putting the heat on their operation. Nelson subsequently comes to Pete for help about what he did at police HQ. Pete's trying to persuade Nelson to turn himself in with the money when Smith visits and Pete tries to hide Eddie in the closet, but it goes about as smoothly as it would in a Love, American Style sketch. When Smith tries to forcefully take Nelson to his brother, Pete intervenes by scuffling with him, giving Nelson the opportunity to get away before Smith pulls his gun.
Pete returns to his cover pad to find Nelson hiding out there. Nelson expresses a willingness to go along with Pete's plan, and explains that he was motivated to prove himself to his brother while hurting him at the same time. Pete uncharacteristically drops his cover and reveals who he really is and who he works for, but don't worry, this contrivance serves a plot purpose. Nelson takes Pete to where he hid the money--his brother's office--after hours. We then get a plot twist that I genuinely didn't see coming, when Nelson starts acting strangely while signing himself in--as "Nendicott" Farraday, which Pete doesn't see. Up in the office, Nelson defensively claims not to remember the safe's combination, so Pete works at it while Nelson takes a seat in Endicott's chair and starts to undergo a startling metamorphosis...changing his bearing, removing his glasses, and calmly taking a gun from the desk drawer, which he holds on Pete...and questions what "Eddie Jordan" is doing while effecting Endicott's mannerisms. Seeing himself in the mirror causes Farraday to switch into Nelson mode, addressing Pete by his actual name while trying to warn him to run. Farraday shoots the mirror, removes his Nelson wig, and continues to escort Pete out...but is taken down outside the door by Linc, who's since arrived and seen the register downstairs.
In the coda, Greer and CLE backup have arrived to take matters in hand, and a sedated Farraday is taken out by nice young men in their clean white coats. Nelson promises Pete that he plans to stop his brother from ever hurting anyone again. Farraday is driven off in an ambulance as Greer and the guys watch outside the office building.
Nelson is repeatedly described as "fey" early in the story. Timid, awkward, nerdy types who take health pills must have been a thing in the era, as Nelson was pretty similar to Red Buttons's character in The Poseidon Adventure. The Wiki synopsis for the episode has a glaring inaccuracy, describing Nelson as Endicott's son!
_______
The Mod Squad
"The Price of Love"
Originally aired March 23, 1971
Season finale
Well, at least you can tell when Linc's on vacation! Linc's motorcycling through the countryside when he runs out of gas from a fuel line problem. He walks his bike into a ghost town, perhaps hoping to find a spirit played by Edgar Buchanan, when he spies a sporty blue car parked in a barn and runs into a stranger named Frank (Paul Richards), who gives him some gas. Linc's mounting his bike when a young boy bursts out of a boarded-up building and is dragged back in by another man...following which Frank pulls a gun.
Pete's looking forward to his chance to play Julie, so he has Julie over to coach him, but Greer crashes the party to put them to work on the kidnapping of Davey Carr (Clint Howard), son of electronics czar Jonatahn Carr (Barry Atwater), who has to be convinced to work with the police despite the cut-and-paste ransom note telling him not to. Back at the town, Linc is trussed up and threatened with a lasso around the neck by kidnapping conspirator Clay (Gregory Walcott), who likes to act like the guy in charge, which creates tension with Frank. Also among the kidnappers is a woman named Diane (Connie Hines) who's seeing to Davey. Linc and his ever-on-call stunt double make a high-kicking break for it while his hands are tied, and he's subdued by Clay...but in a prearranged move, Davey palms a steak knife during the commotion.
Frank visits a general store run not by Edgar Buchanan, but Dub Taylor, to make a ransom call, and product placement gives me a craving for a Baby Ruth, so I grab a Nature Valley protein bar as a substitute. The call is recorded and Carr tries unsuccessfully to keep the conversation going for a trace, while insisting that he needs to be able to talk with his son. Following an attempt by Linc to talk sense into Diane, Linc and Davey cut themselves free, sneak out past the sleeping kidnappers, and make for the garage; but as they're taking off on the bike, they're lassoed by Clay, who takes the bike for a joyride around the town while dragging a tied Linc behind him.
Linc's Plan B involves having Davey slip in some hints that Linc's on the scene when he's put on the phone for a follow-up call to his father. Frank threatens to have Clay kill Linc to ensure Davey's cooperation at the general store. When they're alone, Linc tries to convince Diane that the men plan to kill him and Davey, as no effort is being made to keep them from identifying their captors. As instructed, Davey tells his dad that "we're fine" and slips in a "solid". Greer, Pete, and Julie get the message, combining Linc's known whereabouts, the location of the ransom drop, and a train whistle in the background of the tape to triangulate the location from which the call was made.
While Greer and Carr arrange for the ransom drop with a homing transmitter planted in the briefcase, Pete visits the general store in Kelby Corners and verifies that Davey was there. Greer and his men block the car carrying the transmitter, but it turns out to be Carr's car, as he decided not to take the chance and removed the transmitter. Based on info provided by Jess the shopkeeper, Pete has a look around the ghost town, hears voices, makes a little noise of his own, and easily disarms Clay when he goes out to look. Frank then enters to get the drop on Pete, but Davey pushes him off-balance and the kidnappers find that they're no match for Pete and Linc's doubles in a scuffle...especially Linc's.
In the coda, the kidnappers are taken into custody and Linc and Pete help themselves to a couple of cold brews from Clay's cooler.
Davey punctuates a promise to go fishing with Linc with a "solid" and is walked off to Greer's car for the pull-out.
_______
Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
_______
The Mod Squad
"The Comeback"
Originally aired March 9, 1971
Wiki said:
Greer, Pete, and Julie are in the audience as Linc works the corner of former middleweight champion "Candy" Joe Collins (Robinson), who's late for a comeback match against Indian Red Lopez (himself)...which Linc tries to talk him into backing out of. With a bit of internal monologue, Linc flashbacks to Greer interrogating Candy's son, Robbie (Hilly Hicks), about knocking off a pawn shop for a paltry sum, which Robbie claims to have done for kicks. Greer then assigns Linc, whom Candy taught to fight, to investigate while claiming that he's a social worker. Elsewhere, Candy and Doc Russo (Rocky Graziano) show a group of boys the fight between them that won Candy the championship and led to Doc becoming his trainer. Doc brings up the possibility of Candy returning to fighting. Linc pops in for a happy reunion, and takes Candy to talk to Robbie, whose main issue is how his father sent him away to a boarding school where he feels he doesn't fit in, partially because his father seems like a has-been compared to the other students' high-achieving dads. The Mods are gathered at Linc's place to celebrate Julie being unavailable for the weekend when Linc gets a call from Candy, asking Linc to come work for him as he's returning to fighting.
The second act opens to more of the fight between Candy and Lopez before cutting back to Dick Enberg (himself) interviewing Candy at his training camp about his planned comeback...during which the subject of the camp's tight security conspicuously comes up. Linc privately accuses Robbie of manipulating his father into returning to fighting and not being straight about his motives. Robbie gets a call from a shady character named Floyd Barris (Rod McCary), who arranges a meeting at a diner to discuss $2,500 that Robbie owes him. Barris and his henchman, Cortney (Bucklind Beery), discuss how they want Robbie to make good by providing them with intel about his father that they can use to clean up on the fight. Linc, having tailed Robbie, gets Barris's license plate, and Greer identifies him as a pro gambler.
Third act--more Collins vs. Lopez, with Candy's younger opponent starting to gain the upper hand, before we cut to Pete being assigned to cover Barris by posing as a client. Linc tries to discourage Candy from returning to fighting on the basis of his age--"the undefeated champion of us all"--and to convince him that there are other ways to win his son's respect. The theme is reinforced when Robbie reports to Barris about the difficulties Candy's having in training; and a suspicious Barris announces that he's going to bet Robbie's $2,500 debt against Candy. Afterward, Candy announces to Robbie that he's planning to quit, and Robbie gives him false encouragement to keep going, which changes Candy's mind. Cut forward to Robbie watching pensively as Lopez knocks his father off his feet and makes him reel from subsequent punches.
Act four--Pete watching the fight cuts to sharply dressed Pete--claiming to represent big people--negotiating with Barris about paying big money for intel regarding the Collins/Lopez fight. Barris puts on the table that he's got Collins's son in his pocket. Linc confronts Robbie about selling out his old man, and Robbie's admitting to it as Candy walks in the room...and insists on going through with the fight while offering to pay whatever Robbie owes. Cut back to the fight, in which Candy is on the ropes and gets knocked down for a seven-count. Linc persuades Robbie to stop his old man from getting himself killed, and the audience gets more than they paid for when Robbie jumps into Candy's corner and convinces him to forfeit the match by telling his father that he loves him.
After the fight, Linc tells a stitched-up Candy that he's still a winner, and Candy and Robbie walk off, leaving Linc standing beside the empty ring.
_______
The Mod Squad
"We Spy"
Originally aired March 16, 1971
Frndly said:
Following an anonymous tip, Greer and a couple of other detectives catch a safecracker named Danny (Sidney Clute) engaged in industrial espionage...to the consternation of Danny's employer, Endicott Farraday (Rene Auberjonois, in a clean-cut, suited look), when the bust is reported to him by his henchman, Hal Smith (William Smith).
An old colleague of Greer's named Dr. Wilson (Jay Novello) trains Pete in safecracking so that he can infiltrate the espionage ring posing as a potential replacement, Eddie Jordan, with Linc accompanying him as his protection, "Happy". Using intel provided by Danny, Pete hangs out at an upscale bar that serves as a contact point for prospective talent; liaises with a waitress, Alma Sutton (Joanna Phillips); and watches her interacting with a clumsy, nervous, health-conscious young man named Neslon (also Rene Auberjonois, sporting a somewhat Lennon-ish look with shaggy hair and glasses).
Nelson expresses an interest in "Eddie" to Alma, and later clumsily attempts to break into his cover pad with a proposition that involves Pete training him to open a safe. Greer's interest is piqued when Pete's imitation of Nelson's high, nasally voice sounds like the tipster. Pete goes through with the training, only to learn that Nelson's proposed job is to knock off the cashier's safe at police headquarters! Pete passes, only for Nelson to go through with the job himself, which includes clocking Greer when he scopes out the office while working late...and is still conscious enough to hear Nelson fretting over it.
Pete continues to hang out at the bar, asking Alma about Nelson and finally being approached by Smith, who lays down the ground rules, which include never getting to meet the top man. Meanwhile, Linc and Julie (whose pad has thus far served as the setting for a couple of meeting scenes) are scoping out potential places where Nelson might buy his alfalfa pills when Linc spots Endicott entering his office building and mistakes him for Nelson. Linc barges into Farraday's penthouse office only to realize that he's got the wrong man; briefly meets Smith; and is told that Nelson is Endicott's "poor, sick" twin brother and warned to stay out of their business.
Greer decides to shake the tree by calling Endicott regarding a warrant for Nelson, getting Endicott privately upset about his brother putting the heat on their operation. Nelson subsequently comes to Pete for help about what he did at police HQ. Pete's trying to persuade Nelson to turn himself in with the money when Smith visits and Pete tries to hide Eddie in the closet, but it goes about as smoothly as it would in a Love, American Style sketch. When Smith tries to forcefully take Nelson to his brother, Pete intervenes by scuffling with him, giving Nelson the opportunity to get away before Smith pulls his gun.
Pete returns to his cover pad to find Nelson hiding out there. Nelson expresses a willingness to go along with Pete's plan, and explains that he was motivated to prove himself to his brother while hurting him at the same time. Pete uncharacteristically drops his cover and reveals who he really is and who he works for, but don't worry, this contrivance serves a plot purpose. Nelson takes Pete to where he hid the money--his brother's office--after hours. We then get a plot twist that I genuinely didn't see coming, when Nelson starts acting strangely while signing himself in--as "Nendicott" Farraday, which Pete doesn't see. Up in the office, Nelson defensively claims not to remember the safe's combination, so Pete works at it while Nelson takes a seat in Endicott's chair and starts to undergo a startling metamorphosis...changing his bearing, removing his glasses, and calmly taking a gun from the desk drawer, which he holds on Pete...and questions what "Eddie Jordan" is doing while effecting Endicott's mannerisms. Seeing himself in the mirror causes Farraday to switch into Nelson mode, addressing Pete by his actual name while trying to warn him to run. Farraday shoots the mirror, removes his Nelson wig, and continues to escort Pete out...but is taken down outside the door by Linc, who's since arrived and seen the register downstairs.
Linc: Which one is he?
Pete: Both of them.
Pete: Both of them.
In the coda, Greer and CLE backup have arrived to take matters in hand, and a sedated Farraday is taken out by nice young men in their clean white coats. Nelson promises Pete that he plans to stop his brother from ever hurting anyone again. Farraday is driven off in an ambulance as Greer and the guys watch outside the office building.
Nelson is repeatedly described as "fey" early in the story. Timid, awkward, nerdy types who take health pills must have been a thing in the era, as Nelson was pretty similar to Red Buttons's character in The Poseidon Adventure. The Wiki synopsis for the episode has a glaring inaccuracy, describing Nelson as Endicott's son!
_______
The Mod Squad
"The Price of Love"
Originally aired March 23, 1971
Season finale
Frndly said:
Well, at least you can tell when Linc's on vacation!
Linc's motorcycling through the countryside when he runs out of gas from a fuel line problem. He walks his bike into a ghost town, perhaps hoping to find a spirit played by Edgar Buchanan, when he spies a sporty blue car parked in a barn and runs into a stranger named Frank (Paul Richards), who gives him some gas. Linc's mounting his bike when a young boy bursts out of a boarded-up building and is dragged back in by another man...following which Frank pulls a gun.Linc: Yeah, that's what I'm good at...timing.
Pete's looking forward to his chance to play Julie, so he has Julie over to coach him, but Greer crashes the party to put them to work on the kidnapping of Davey Carr (Clint Howard), son of electronics czar Jonatahn Carr (Barry Atwater), who has to be convinced to work with the police despite the cut-and-paste ransom note telling him not to. Back at the town, Linc is trussed up and threatened with a lasso around the neck by kidnapping conspirator Clay (Gregory Walcott), who likes to act like the guy in charge, which creates tension with Frank. Also among the kidnappers is a woman named Diane (Connie Hines) who's seeing to Davey. Linc and his ever-on-call stunt double make a high-kicking break for it while his hands are tied, and he's subdued by Clay...but in a prearranged move, Davey palms a steak knife during the commotion.
Frank visits a general store run not by Edgar Buchanan, but Dub Taylor, to make a ransom call, and product placement gives me a craving for a Baby Ruth, so I grab a Nature Valley protein bar as a substitute. The call is recorded and Carr tries unsuccessfully to keep the conversation going for a trace, while insisting that he needs to be able to talk with his son. Following an attempt by Linc to talk sense into Diane, Linc and Davey cut themselves free, sneak out past the sleeping kidnappers, and make for the garage; but as they're taking off on the bike, they're lassoed by Clay, who takes the bike for a joyride around the town while dragging a tied Linc behind him.
Linc's Plan B involves having Davey slip in some hints that Linc's on the scene when he's put on the phone for a follow-up call to his father. Frank threatens to have Clay kill Linc to ensure Davey's cooperation at the general store. When they're alone, Linc tries to convince Diane that the men plan to kill him and Davey, as no effort is being made to keep them from identifying their captors. As instructed, Davey tells his dad that "we're fine" and slips in a "solid". Greer, Pete, and Julie get the message, combining Linc's known whereabouts, the location of the ransom drop, and a train whistle in the background of the tape to triangulate the location from which the call was made.
While Greer and Carr arrange for the ransom drop with a homing transmitter planted in the briefcase, Pete visits the general store in Kelby Corners and verifies that Davey was there. Greer and his men block the car carrying the transmitter, but it turns out to be Carr's car, as he decided not to take the chance and removed the transmitter. Based on info provided by Jess the shopkeeper, Pete has a look around the ghost town, hears voices, makes a little noise of his own, and easily disarms Clay when he goes out to look. Frank then enters to get the drop on Pete, but Davey pushes him off-balance and the kidnappers find that they're no match for Pete and Linc's doubles in a scuffle...especially Linc's.
In the coda, the kidnappers are taken into custody and Linc and Pete help themselves to a couple of cold brews from Clay's cooler.
Pete: What're your plans for your next vacation?
Linc: Gonna work right through it--it's safer.
Linc: Gonna work right through it--it's safer.
Davey punctuates a promise to go fishing with Linc with a "solid" and is walked off to Greer's car for the pull-out.
_______
Americans are from Mars and Soviets are from Venus...?
Both are rock radio classics to me.
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Well, I guess that explains why 'The Midnight Special' uploaded this live version on their YouTube channel on the same day.
That's Dan Hartman on lead guitar & vocals. He would have solo success with the song 'I Can Dream About You' from the soundtrack to the movie 'Streets of Fire'. He would die of AIDs related complications in 1994.
On bass is Rick Derringer, former lead singer and guitarist for the band The McCoys, who had a hit with the song 'Hang On Sloopy'. He would have solo success with the song 'Rock And Roll, Hoochie Koo,' with The Edgar Winter Group as his backing band.
I would have saved this for the 50th Anniversary viewing date, but the performance was too good to wait four months.
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