The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

[DarrenTR1970]

FWIW, the actor who played Corky was previously a regular on Black Sheep. And looking him up, I didn't realize that he was also on Dr. Shrinker!

I remember him as "Mac" in the early seasons of Magnum P.I. His death was the catalyst for the memorable episode 'Did You See The Sunrise'? He was first cousins with Robert Redford. I didn't realize he died so young - age 58.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

@RJDiogenes
I have the Criterion version as well. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it once you've watched it. It always nice to get a different perspective and pick up on something I might have missed.

 

[RJDiogenes]

While Danno and HPD are escorting a Mr. Haviland (Robert Costa) to the Pacific Coin Convention with his above-described coin

That's certainly a high-powered escort.

alters an apparently less valuable 1903 nickel of the same type into a duplicate of the 1913 coin

Possibly the worst crime in the episode.

Che deduces from the lack of an exit wound that a mercury-cored bullet must have been used, self-destructing inside the body.

Hmm. I was under the impression that mercury bullets leave exit wounds the size of your body.

his anonymous benefactor (Buono)

My favorite honky again.

Arnie sees the $10,000 he's been offered as their opportunity to settle down into a legit business.

That trick never works.

He opportunistically disposes of the evidence by putting the titular coin in a newspaper vending machine just inside the hotel entrance.

I hope he at least got a newspaper. The Funnies were great in those days.

While Arnie tries to find the coin, the vendor retrieves a pistol from his glove compartment and a struggle over the weapon ensues with the usual outcome.

Dude, it was fifty bucks.

The Prices return to the alley to try to find the nickel and Millie witnesses as a little boy passing by with his grandfather finds the coin. They tail the kid as he uses the coin to buy a bag of candy, and the storekeeper gives it to a woman as change. They then follow her to a restaurant and witness as her purse is snatched. Arnie chases after the snatcher and corners him in an alley, where the snatcher tosses the purse at him, but the nickel isn't in it. The Prices have given up and gone to a nearby bar, where the bartender gives them change that includes the nickel--and they realize that a man from the restaurant is now also sitting at the bar. As they're leaving, basking in their lucky break, Arnie's picked up by HPD--his alias having been blown and having been witnessed shooting the vendor, who's in a coma.

That was hilarious. I assume the episode is being played as a lighthearted comedy. But the thing is, the cops would have gone over that alley with a fine-toothed comb and would have been more likely to find extra coins than to have missed one. That antique should have been in the HPD evidence vault.

McGarrett subsequently intercepts Damien, who turns over the nickel, only for Steve to reveal that Damien had the phony while demonstrating some sleight of hand by pretending to pull the real one from Damien's ear.

Niiice. Sounds like a fun episode, despite a couple of weird elements.

The squeaky shoes, which are just new ones (though he is having his old ones repaired), earn Reed some ribbing in the break room.

Those guys! Always ribbing each other!

Malloy informs him that the current laws make it likely that he'd get half of what he's been smashing.

Malloy knows all!

thinks that a second ticket for the same offense is double jeopardy, but Malloy sets him straight.

Nice try.

Hungry for some action, Reed requests a code seven

Wells--who, like Pete, is completely uninterested in the riddle--is taking up a collection for an officer on night watch, and Pete takes objection to the amount of the requested contribution, five dollars.

That's an odd little interlude.

Jim notices that people keep going into the bank across the street but nobody's been coming out.

Pretty sharp. He's turning into Malloy.

(For some reason, Pete brought his shotgun into the shoe store with him.)

He's dealt with these cobblers before!

He drives a demanded getaway car up beside the bank and discretely locks the door while leaving it.

I love it.

Brothers and sisters I have none,
yet my daughter's uncle is her grandmother's son.
How is the uncle related to me?​

Your brother-in-law, I guess. Sounds similar to that one about the doctor who couldn't operate on her kid.

This is the latest in a series of thefts of diamonds of over 100 karats, which we see are being stolen by Doctor Lucius LeBon

Too bad he didn't know about Molesville.

(Robin briefly references his origin as a circus performer whose parents were killed.)

That's a nice touch.

the planet Cygnus-Uno

That's cute.

Right after the above clip, we get a much more interesting bit of business--Marvin narrating a full-on flashback of Superman's origin

The origin sequence runs for a substantial ten minutes.

Weird. Was this relevant somehow, or just padding to fill out the hour?

Wendy's smart enough to know what its gravitational pull would do to Earth, but LeBon isn't.

I'm just glad the writers were.

LeBon's refusal at the suggestion to involve the Super Friends echoes Jor-El's experience with the science council, intentional or not.

Maybe there was a point to that long digression.

Aquaman narrates a brief preview of what actually is the next--and last--episode.

What, it's over already?!?

A notable side-effect is that this is the only TOS-era installment without Kirk

That's interesting. Maybe Niven didn't like Kirk.

The Enterprise shuttlecraft Copernicus is en route to Starbase 25 with an important cargo

So important that they're using a shuttlecraft instead of the Enterprise.

Sulu has to do the talking, as Kzinti consider vegetarians and females to be inferior.

In Niven's Known Universe stories (Ringworld, et cetera), Kzinti females are non sentient. I'd like to see them try that in the 21st century.

The Chuft Captain opens the box to find a photo of a reptilian species that may be a Slaver; a piece of fresh, raw meat; and a device that the Kzinti captain takes to be a weapon.

A Christmas present that was never delivered. Did he eat the meat?

Spock exposits to Sulu how his attack forces the Chuft Captain into a duel of honor.

This inevitably works with war-like species.

In the coda, Spock reflects on how an ancient war may have endangered the peace between the Federation and the Kzinti.

I do like Spock's long musing on the weapon's thinking leading up to the self destruction.

This one was everything I'd heard it was--chock full of expository setup of Niven's world, which, when shoehorned into Trek's continuity, seemed to make the host show's established setting play second fiddle.

I never understood it. You'd think the legal entanglements alone would have put them off to it.

And I actually realized that just before coming on. The woman on Monkey sang torch songs at the bar, right?

Yes, Sarah was a spy undercover as the bar singer. I recall her singing "Am I Blue," one of my favorite 30s songs.

I didn't realize/remember that he had a memory issue. Trauma/brain damage? I recall he was kind of simple-minded.

The memory issues were due to his alcoholism. Jake kept him on a tight leash, allowing him only one beer a day. I went looking on YouTube for the scene I referenced yesterday, and found it here (it's at the 12:50 mark, and keep in mind it's a frame up). This is the perfect example of why I love the show.

@RJDiogenes
I have the Criterion version as well. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it once you've watched it. It always nice to get a different perspective and pick up on something I might have missed.

Sure. I'll probably get it after the holidays, sometime in January.

 

[The Old Mixer]

That's certainly a high-powered escort.

And the collector had it in a case handcuffed to his wrist.

I hope he at least got a newspaper. The Funnies were great in those days.

Couldn't you take as many as you wanted once it was open?

That was hilarious. I assume the episode is being played as a lighthearted comedy.

Not really overall.

But the thing is, the cops would have gone over that alley with a fine-toothed comb and would have been more likely to find extra coins than to have missed one. That antique should have been in the HPD evidence vault.

I'm not sure if H5O was onto the connection of the crime at that point yet; or there may have been a handwave about not having been able to find it.

Your brother-in-law, I guess.

Yep...or wife's brother, as Mac answered it.

That's a nice touch.

Yet was done in a totally shoehorned-in manner.

There was a strange bit of business around this part that I didn't get into in the summary. The SF split up to guard the diamonds in different parts of the world...then physically came back to the Hall of Justice for the meeting called by Superman after the incident at the circus...then all went back to guarding the other diamonds. Batman and Robin were flying back and forth from Egypt! And nothing happened at a couple of these places, which was a bit of a break in the usual formula for such split-ups.

Weird. Was this relevant somehow, or just padding to fill out the hour?

Vital Supes mythos indoctrination for the audience! Wilbur had expressed his admiration for Superman, and the JSF was telling the baddies why Supes wouldn't like somebody destroying a planet.

I should also note that Marvin opened it with the "Faster than a speeding bullet" narration; and that while he refused to divulge the Earth name that Superman was given, that kind of underscored how much valuable info he had been giving them about that end of things. Presumably he at least left out the Kents' names, though I wasn't watching for that at the time.

I was wondering why they didn't have Dark voice Jor-El, given the traditional resemblance in how he's drawn.

This might be a good place to add that last night on Story Television, I came upon episodes of a documentary series about trains that was narrated by Danny Dark.

What, it's over already?!?

This iteration of the series, yes. It would continue to be rerun, but there wouldn't be a new iteration until 1977.

That's interesting. Maybe Niven didn't like Kirk.

Reportedly this was because Niven couldn't adapt him into the role of one of the characters from the original story.

A Christmas present that was never delivered. Did he eat the meat?

I think he might have tasted it...or at least smelled it.

The memory issues were due to his alcoholism. Jake kept him on a tight leash, allowing him only one beer a day. I went looking on YouTube for the scene I referenced yesterday, and found it here (it's at the 12:50 mark, and keep in mind it's a frame up). This is the perfect example of why I love the show.

Are they using the original theme song in that video? It seems kind of generic.

 

[RJDiogenes]

And the collector had it in a case handcuffed to his wrist.

Geez, they take their coins seriously in Hawaii. And it was only 60 years old at that point.

Couldn't you take as many as you wanted once it was open?

Yup, it was based on the honor system. I'm not sure if they even still exist.

Not really overall.

That's funny, that whole chase sequence came off as very slapstick.

I'm not sure if H5O was onto the connection of the crime at that point yet; or there may have been a handwave about not having been able to find it.

Even so, it was a murder scene, so you'd think they would have swept up everything.

And nothing happened at a couple of these places, which was a bit of a break in the usual formula for such split-ups.

I wonder if things were breaking down on the production side because they knew things were coming to an end. The next episode will be like the last day of school, everybody sitting around the Hall of Justice with their legs hooked over the back of chairs and watching the clock.

Vital Supes mythos indoctrination for the audience! Wilbur had expressed his admiration for Superman, and the JSF was telling the baddies why Supes wouldn't like somebody destroying a planet.

Planets blowing up is a trigger for Supes.

Presumably he at least left out the Kents' names, though I wasn't watching for that at the time.

That would be just like Marvin.

This iteration of the series, yes. It would continue to be rerun, but there wouldn't be a new iteration until 1977.

I'll miss its silliness.

Reportedly this was because Niven couldn't adapt him into the role of one of the characters from the original story.

Yeah, okay, I believe him.

Are they using the original theme song in that video? It seems kind of generic.

Yep, it's the real thing. I like it, but of course I associate it with the show.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2)

_______

Emergency!
"Understanding"
Originally aired December 15, 1973

After Chet takes to playing John's guitar, John gives it to him....Later, John and Roy find themselves hostages when they are called to aid a heart patient–the manager of a bank being held up by two armed men.

When the paramedics return from a night call, they find that Chet has taken to practicing on Johnny's guitar, to the annoyance of Captain Stanley. Johnny starts to haggle with Chet over a selling price, but ultimately gives it to Chet and starts to explain his decision to Roy.

Roy: Don't explain it to me. You see, I might start to understand you, and that would scare me.​

The station and several other units are called to a horse ranch where they find the proprietor, Mr. Willett (apparently uncredited), trying to fight a stable fire with a hose, only for the building to burst into small explosions. While the firefighters get to work on that, the paramedics help to release horses from an adjacent barn. A young woman named Janet (Kathleen Quinlan) arrives on the scene looking for her horse, Ginger, and Stanley has to stop her from rushing in to save the frightened horse after Willets is injured trying to get her out. The paramedics manage to pull Ginger out after covering her head with a blanket. After the fire is subdued, Chet finds several jugs of moonshine inside, following which the missing stable man, Joe Hosmer (James Griffith), turns up stinkin' drunk. It's news to Willets that Joe was running a still in the building.

Johnny: I wonder if that moonshine was any good?
Roy: Well, I imagine it'd get you about 25 miles to the gallon.​

At Rampart, Johnny spots an eligible new nurse and starts to obsess about timing his approach right. Meanwhile, Brackett's lecturing a patient named Sam Jeffers (John Russell) about forgetting his insulin shots, which he hands off to Dix, whom the patient is more afraid of. Brackett then finds himself having to field a call from an attempted suicide victim who's taken downers and turned on her gas stove (Bennye Gatteys). Before handing the call off to Dix, he gets out of the woman that she also has a gas water heater with its pilot still lit, which could result in an explosion. They try to get identifying info from her, learning that she's been a patient. The phone company helps direct Station 51 to the vicinity of the call, while Brackett and Early consult with the hospital's senior data analyst, Walter Bailey (Phillip Pine), about what sort of info could help them ID her. He goes to work with the computer after they've gleaned that the woman was a psychiatric patient in the summer. Dix further gets her month of birth and that she was discharged the week before Labor Day, narrowing the records down to eight punch cards. When they get a busy signal from Ann Alstead's phone, the waiting station crew are sent swooping in to her address. While Ann is being pulled out of her home, a radio announcement about a hostage situation at a bank plays in the background (possibly voiced by M:I's Bob Johnson); and at Rampart, a crowd of onlookers gathers as a shot bank guard is brought in off camera...while Johnny informs Roy of how he struck out with the nurse after spending a half-hour getting to know her.

As the paramedics are leaving Rampart, they're assigned to a heart attack at the bank in question, which is barricaded by police. After being briefed on the situation in front of a news crew, the paramedics are allowed into the bank, where the robbers (Mills Watson and Michael Vandever) frisk them and search their supplies before taking them to see to the victim (Ray Fine). The robbers agree to let the victim be taken out only if the paramedics stay behind as new hostages, even though they have several extras bound and gagged...forcing Rampart to call in more paramedics to take the victim out. After showing one of the robbers some relaxation exercises, Johnny chats them up about their escape plan and tries to talk them into giving themselves up, as they're demonstrated in calling the paramedics that they wouldn't be willing to take a murder rap for killing hostages.

I assume that he succeeded, but there was a sloppy edit back in from the subsequent commercial that appears to have cut off some of the humorous aftermath coda between Johnny and Roy. It ends with Johnny figuring that the potential sentence for armed robbery isn't worth it.

_______

The Mary Tyler Moore Show
"Almost a Nun's Story"
Originally aired December 15, 1973

Georgette decides to become a nun after catching Ted kissing another woman in his dressing room.

Mary finds Georgette in tears after she visited Ted's dressing room to see him on the couch kissing another woman. Ted comes up with a really lame story about giving mouth-to-mouth, and Georgette initially buys it, but learns that it's BS after a run-in with the woman on the elevator. Georgette announces to Mary and Rhoda her intention to start living it up as a bachelorette, which starts with having her first drink of scotch. Ted's feeling so bad about it the next day that he wants to cancel the news, so Lou has to give him a pep talk about how important his job is...only for Ted to start losing it on the air. Meanwhile, after her first date with another man, Georgette does a 180 from wanting to be a "wild woman" to wanting to be a nun.

Mary and Rhoda try to talk Georgette out of making a rash, life-changing decision, but Georgette explains how she's had the idea since she was in high school. When Georgette drops by the news room to ask Mary to meet a nun from the convent she's applying for in lieu of a family member, Ted thinks that she's there to make up with him, and when he learns otherwise, publicly asks for her forgiveness...which she gives, but tells him that he'll have to find somebody else. Sister Ann Hutchins (Gail Strickland) visits Mary's place sans habit, is let in by Rhoda, and is waiting for Mary when Ted drops in, forlorn. Sister Ann offers to talk about what's bothering him, Ted gets the wrong idea and tries to pick her up, and he has just enough time to embarrass himself a little further before he learns her calling.

In the aftermath of the meeting, Sister Ann has talked Georgette out of becoming a nun simply to escape her situation; then Ted drops by Mary's and learns what Georgette was looking into. Ted is initially flattered, but ends up in begging mode when Georgette doesn't immediately relent...getting him to effectively offer to be her slave before she agrees to give their relationship another try.

_______

The Bob Newhart Show
"T.S. Elliot"
Originally aired December 15, 1973

Mr. Carlin goes on a date with Carol.

Bob's a couple minutes late getting into his office and finds Elliot Carlin already on the couch, picking up where he left off last time as Bob is walking in. It comes up that Carlin apparently hasn't had a date since his junior prom, and needs one for a real estate banquet, He makes a spur-of-the-moment choice to ask Carol, but when he goes out to, turns and heads for the elevator. While Bob's talking to Carol, Elliot comes back via the elevator, walks back into Bob's office, and engages in a do-over. To his surprise, Carol graciously accepts.

Elliot: You mean you really wanna go out with me?
Carol: Yes, I do.
Elliot: I think I'm beginning to lose respect for you.​

Elliot and Carol drop by the Hartleys' on their way to the banquet, and Elliot--conspicuously wearing four-inch lifts--takes Bob aside to express his anxiety about why Carol seems to like him. At the Japanese restaurant, a colleague named Miller (Robert Riesel) teases Elliot about having brought a sweater as his date to last year's banquet, only to be introduced to Carol. Elliot is self-conscious about having to remove his shoes, as it reveals that he's half a head shorter than his date (though she's still wearing hers).

At the office the next day, Carol's telling Bob that she had a great time, and Elliot drops in to ask her to an early lunch...and present her with an engagement ring and proposal. After a break, Carol's the one on Bob's couch, freaking out about how Elliot had already made plans for their wedding, house, kids' schools, and burial plots. Elliot calls Bob at home around bedtime to arrange to see him the next day during Carol's lunch...but the next day, Bob finds himself having to deal with an inept elder temp named Debbie (Shirley O'Hara) because Carol's also trying to avoid Elliot. Bob calls Carol to persuade her to return to the office, because Debbie is calling him Dr. Ryan and bringing him another doctor's urine samples.

Elliot talks to Bob over an in-office lunch, where Bob tries to put a positive spin on Elliot's experience.

Bob: All in all, I think it was a good experience, Mr. Carlin. I mean, you reached out, you touched somebody, and they touched you back.
Elliot: She tell you about that?​

Elliot doesn't want to exit Bob's office when he sees that Carol's back, but Carol comes in to sit and talk with him, telling him that she likes him a lot, but doesn't want to be owned. Elliot takes it well, and subsequently expresses an interest in Debbie when she pops into the office, asking Dr. Ryan if she should leave.

A sign o' the season subgag has Jerry trying to show off his malfunctioning 1974 Happy Tooth interactive display model.

_______

Geez, they take their coins seriously in Hawaii. And it was only 60 years old at that point.

You saw how much it was estimated to be worth. Interestingly, a rare coin (older but less valuable) also comes up in the following week's Adam-12.

That's funny, that whole chase sequence came off as very slapstick.

There was definitely a quirkiness to it, but the sequence had a measure of tension to it...particularly in how you weren't sure how far Arnie would go at that point to get the coin back.

Even so, it was a murder scene, so you'd think they would have swept up everything.

What, you think Che meticulously tidies up every alley that somebody gets killed in, to the point that it's clean enough for George Reeves to change in?

I'll miss its silliness.

Show load-wise, I'll be relieved in mid-January when LAS and TAS have also dropped.

Yep, it's the real thing. I like it, but of course I associate it with the show.

Is the first episode available on YouTube? I missed at least part of that in the day, so I went into the series without the premise's setup.

 

[RJDiogenes]

When the paramedics return from a night call, they find that Chet has taken to practicing on Johnny's guitar, to the annoyance of Captain Stanley. Johnny starts to haggle with Chet over a selling price, but ultimately gives it to Chet and starts to explain his decision to Roy.

Weird. Have we ever seen this guitar before? I wonder if this is something that will continue in future episodes.

the paramedics help to release horses from an adjacent barn.

These guys do find themselves doing odd jobs. I wonder why they were called, since there were no injuries.

Janet (Kathleen Quinlan)

Popular character actor, eventually. She must have been just a kid at this point.

It's news to Willets that Joe was running a still in the building.

Surrre it is.

Meanwhile, Brackett's lecturing a patient named Sam Jeffers (John Russell) about forgetting his insulin shots, which he hands off to Dix, whom the patient is more afraid of.

Good day for Dix.

They try to get identifying info from her, learning that she's been a patient.

Is it hard to get info because of the drugs, or because she's recalcitrant?

Dix further gets her month of birth and that she was discharged the week before Labor Day, narrowing the records down to eight punch cards.

These new computers are amazing!

When they get a busy signal from Ann Alstead's phone, the waiting station crew are sent swooping in to her address.

That was some nice coordinated detective work, although it seems funny that the phone company couldn't get the address on such a long call.

After showing one of the robbers some relaxation exercises, Johnny chats them up about their escape plan and tries to talk them into giving themselves up, as they're demonstrated in calling the paramedics that they wouldn't be willing to take a murder rap for killing hostages.

Too bad about the sloppy edit, because this sounds like a cool sequence for Johnny.

Mary finds Georgette in tears after she visited Ted's dressing room to see him on the couch kissing another woman.

I saw an episode of MTM at my Mother's house where Ted was resisting the advances of a beautiful woman in a hotel room-- that must take place after this.

Sister Ann Hutchins

No relation.

Ted is initially flattered, but ends up in begging mode when Georgette doesn't immediately relent...getting him to effectively offer to be her slave before she agrees to give their relationship another try.

Ted has his moments. This wasn't one of them.

"T.S. Elliot"

To his surprise, Carol graciously accepts.

Interesting. I don't remember this.

Elliot: I think I'm beginning to lose respect for you.

Reminds me of Groucho Marx.

Elliot and Carol drop by the Hartleys' on their way to the banquet

Of course they do.

Elliot drops in to ask her to an early lunch...and present her with an engagement ring and proposal.

Aww, poor Elliot.

Debbie is calling him Dr. Ryan and bringing him another doctor's urine samples.

I think this is a real character, although we may not have seen him yet.

Carol's back, but Carol comes in to sit and talk with him, telling him that she likes him a lot, but doesn't want to be owned.

Elliot is a pretty sad character, despite being played for laughs. It might have been interesting to develop this thing with Carol a little bit.

You saw how much it was estimated to be worth. Interestingly, a rare coin (older but less valuable) also comes up in the following week's Adam-12.

Somebody at Mark VII must be a numismatist.

What, you think Che meticulously tidies up every alley that somebody gets killed in, to the point that it's clean enough for George Reeves to change in?

Well, I'm sure he has people for that. I mean, it was a murder and the coins were the motive. Plus they were the property of the employer. It seems to me they should have collected all the stuff that was there.

Show load-wise, I'll be relieved in mid-January when LAS and TAS have also dropped.

I'll miss LAS. I really wish they would release more seasons on DVD.

Is the first episode available on YouTube? I missed at least part of that in the day, so I went into the series without the premise's setup.

Yes, it's here, unfortunately with annoying subtitles. That channel seems to have all the episodes.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

Post-50th Anniversary Viewing

_______

Ironside
"Double-Edged Corner"
Originally aired December 6, 1973

A gambler must sell information to Ironside to support his losses.

Figured I'd cover this recently missed episode (since recorded) before getting into the week that includes the next one.

Ed and Lt. Reese are on the scene after a discount department store burglary of $100,000 in cash--a crime displaying expertise in electronics and explosives in which a security guard and an investigating patrolman have been murdered. After two weeks with no leads, Reese is ready to consult with the Chief. When Ed suggests that they pull out a special contact, Ironside is against it, but relents. Cut to Baxter Flynn (Allen Garfield), whose wife, Harriet (Nancy Malone), is flustered by the vagabond nature of his job as a traveling salesman and his not being around enough for their daughter, Nancy (sometimes-Lindstrom Lisa Gerritsen). When Baxter gets a call to go to Frisco, we see that he has a habit of making and winning bets against his acquaintances, including a bus driver named Felix (Morris Buchanan) and a hotel clerk named Augie (Paul Lichtman); and that his job is a cover for informant jobs, his client in this case being Ironside, who meets him at the hotel to send him out listening around for any loose talk about the store job.

Baxter hits a pool hall where he makes contact with fellow gambler Hugo (another LALD alum, Arnold Williams), which turns up nothing. At a food stand, he's hit up for money by a street junkie named Sam (Joseph X. Flaherty), who doesn't have any info to share. Next he hits a gambling buddy, Matt Morris (Albert Salmi), who's come into money recently and seems like a hit. Baxter wants to split town, but the team twists his arm to stay on the case to help get something solid on Morris. Baxter takes Morris to the pool hall, where Mark makes a show of shaking Morris down, which spooks him into talking to Baxter, admitting to having been in on the job with his brother-in-law who's in electronics, but denying having had a hand in the murders, and looking for help establishing a false alibi. Baxter makes a call to Ed, who's posing as a shady contact, and arranges for him to send Fran, posing as a girl for hire who'll back his story for money.

Baxter then insists on bowing out and returns home; and Ironside advises him to stop answering calls for jobs, emphasizing that he's already been off the hook with the law for some time. Mark then raids a pleasure house to take Morris in for questioning by Reese. Morris gets let out on bail before he can be made to spill anything, but he smells a rat. Intimidation tactics are then used against Baxter's family--a rat being snuck into his daughter's pet mouse cage, and a smoke bomb being wired to the family car. Baxter goes back to Ironside to arrange protection for his wife and daughter. The Chief accompanies Baxter as he comes clean to his family about how he's really a gambling addict on the run from debtors who cut a deal to work for the police after getting roped into a robbery. Ironside then takes a call informing him that Morris's brother-in-law ended up snitching on him, but Harriet wants to take the Chief up on his offer to give them a new name and place to live...provided that Baxter is included in the deal and that it involves establishing him in a real job. The Chief then smooths things over with Nancy, who's so disillusioned with her father that she's actually called him "father" for the first time instead of addressing him casually by name.

_______

Weird. Have we ever seen this guitar before?

Yep.

These guys do find themselves doing odd jobs. I wonder why they were called, since there were no injuries.

Fire calls are usually for the whole station; and Willets may have gotten some treatment, as I recall.

Good day for Dix.

Her stern browbeating actually seemed pretty forced...didn't come as naturally as it does from Brackett.

Is it hard to get info because of the drugs, or because she's recalcitrant?

Mainly the latter. They were basically taking advantage of her drugged-up state to trick her into divulging details about herself; while also trying to keep her conscious to do so.

These new computers are amazing!

I was surprised that they got somebody like Pine for such a relatively small role...maybe they're setting him up for a future appearance.

That was some nice coordinated detective work, although it seems funny that the phone company couldn't get the address on such a long call.

Yeah, I was wondering about that.

Too bad about the sloppy edit, because this sounds like a cool sequence for Johnny.

The robbers were implicitly defeated before the commercial break...it was a pretty entertaining sequence. Johnny used his gift of gab to first figuratively and then literally disarm them.

I saw an episode of MTM at my Mother's house where Ted was resisting the advances of a beautiful woman in a hotel room-- that must take place after this.

Is she getting Catchy now? They're currently on Season 7. Or was it a holiday-themed MeTV airing?

No relation.

Ah, hadn't noticed.

Reminds me of Groucho Marx.

Riley's delivery is all about being comically deadpan, though.

I think this is a real character, although we may not have seen him yet.

The urine samples were said to be for another doctor, possibly an established one. The Ryan thing she just seemed to be pulling out of nowhere.

Elliot is a pretty sad character, despite being played for laughs. It might have been interesting to develop this thing with Carol a little bit.

They seem to be putting him to good use at this point...we'll probably see more focus on him, I'd imagine.

Somebody at Mark VII must be a numismatist.

H5O isn't Mark VII, though.

Well, I'm sure he has people for that. I mean, it was a murder and the coins were the motive. Plus they were the property of the employer. It seems to me they should have collected all the stuff that was there.

FWIW, I think the kid found it a little bit outside the alley.

I'll miss LAS. I really wish they would release more seasons on DVD.

Yeah, it's ending mid-season. I actually came upon another orphaned segment among the Season 5 content in the syndication package, which I'll probably cover post-season. This one I initially misidentified because it has the same name as a Season 1 segment. I've come up with a new theory that maybe there was supposed to be a new episode airing on October 26, which got preempted for whatever reason, and never got aired because the show would have been replaced mid-season rather than going into hiatus reruns; and that perhaps segments from that unaired episode ended up in the syndication package.

I should note that TAS is coming back next season with a handful of new episodes.

Yes, it's here, unfortunately with annoying subtitles. That channel seems to have all the episodes.

You can turn those subtitles off.

I didn't catch Jake's Flying Tigers service having come up, but the historical inaccuracy appears to be worse than I knew, because there are multiple references establishing that Jake and Corky have been running the Goose in the Pacific for years, presumably after Jake's service. The Monkeyverse version of the Flying Tigers may have been using biplanes! And who were they fighting, when Japan didn't invade China until 1937? Jake's service not coming up in the pilot makes me think that maybe somebody just slapped that flag on his jacket as a vaguely period thing and it was later worked into his background as a lampshade.

Japanese Zeroes being in service in 1938 (which hasn't come up yet) would also be an anachronism. They entered service in 1940.

I was disappointed that Roddy wasn't in place yet.

I found Caitlin O'Heaney as Sarah Stickney White distractingly puzzling--Why does an American actress playing an explicitly American character have such a British-sounding accent and character name?

Jake being in an ongoing argument with his dog about their barking code was a wee bit broad...

Was that repainted Draconian armor from Buck Rogers being used as Samurai armor? Either way, it looked a little too plastic for the 1930s. An anachronism in both directions!

 

[RJDiogenes]

After two weeks with no leads, Reese is ready to consult with the Chief.

Is that the Chief Protocol? Two weeks without a lead?

When Ed suggests that they pull out a special contact, Ironside is against it, but relents.

Why is he against it? Because he figures the guy is done with his community service?

his job is a cover for informant jobs

But then if he had paid his debt to society, you'd think he'd get a better job.

Baxter then insists on bowing out and returns home; and Ironside advises him to stop answering calls for jobs, emphasizing that he's already been off the hook with the law for some time.

Sounds like he's not just a gambling addict, but a squealing addict. Maybe he likes gambling with his life.

Ironside then takes a call informing him that Morris's brother-in-law ended up snitching on him, but Harriet wants to take the Chief up on his offer to give them a new name and place to live...provided that Baxter is included in the deal and that it involves establishing him in a real job.

I suspect a missing paragraph or two because this seems very anticlimactic.

The Chief then smooths things over with Nancy, who's so disillusioned with her father that she's actually called him "father" for the first time instead of addressing him casually by name.

Is this true or is it a Phyllis joke?

Yep.

Exactly one year and one day ago!

Her stern browbeating actually seemed pretty forced...didn't come as naturally as it does from Brackett.

Brackett does have the knack.

Mainly the latter. They were basically taking advantage of her drugged-up state to trick her into divulging details about herself; while also trying to keep her conscious to do so.

So she called the ER just to refuse assistance. Unfortunately, this is pretty common.

The robbers were implicitly defeated before the commercial break...it was a pretty entertaining sequence. Johnny used his gift of gab to first figuratively and then literally disarm them.

Yeah, that's perfect for him.

Is she getting Catchy now? They're currently on Season 7. Or was it a holiday-themed MeTV airing?

I don't think she has Catchy. She was watching Mary Tyler Moore (and Bob Newhart) on Hulu, I think, which my Sister set up for her while she was laid up with a broken back.

Ah, hadn't noticed.

I didn't think you'd even know what I was talking about.

The urine samples were said to be for another doctor, possibly an established one. The Ryan thing she just seemed to be pulling out of nowhere.

I'm remembering a little bald doctor with glasses, who I think was a urologist.

H5O isn't Mark VII, though.

Oops, right.

I've come up with a new theory that maybe there was supposed to be a new episode airing on October 26, which got preempted for whatever reason, and never got aired because the show would have been replaced mid-season rather than going into hiatus reruns; and that perhaps segments from that unaired episode ended up in the syndication package.

That makes sense, since they re-edited them into half hour episodes.

You can turn those subtitles off.

Hmm. I have subtitles turned off. It seems to be because "Ambient Mode" was turned on, whatever the heck that is.

I didn't catch Jake's Flying Tigers service having come up, but the historical inaccuracy appears to be worse than I knew, because there are multiple references establishing that Jake and Corky have been running the Goose in the Pacific for years, presumably after Jake's service. The Monkeyverse version of the Flying Tigers may have been using biplanes! And who were they fighting, when Japan didn't invade China until 1937?

Maybe they were flying secret missions for the proto-Flying Tigers. Something along the line of Englehart's secret origin of the Justice League.

Jake's service not coming up in the pilot makes me think that maybe somebody just slapped that flag on his jacket as a vaguely period thing and it was later worked into his background as a lampshade.

Could be. Maybe it was an homage to the old movies that they used as source material or something. That's okay, I don't mind anachronisms in retro pastiches.

Japanese Zeroes being in service in 1938 (which hasn't come up yet) would also be an anachronism. They entered service in 1940.

That's not so big a deal as the other stuff, though.

I was disappointed that Roddy wasn't in place yet.

Ditto. I hate recasting to begin with, but the fact that somebody is pretending to be Roddy McDowall is especially jarring.

I found Caitlin O'Heaney as Sarah Stickney White distractingly puzzling--Why does an American actress playing an explicitly American character have such a British-sounding accent and character name?

She's a spy. There are probably layers and layers of false identities there.

Jake being in an ongoing argument with his dog about their barking code was a wee bit broad...

That's an important element of the scenario, so it has to be well established.

Was that repainted Draconian armor from Buck Rogers being used as Samurai armor? Either way, it looked a little too plastic for the 1930s. An anachronism in both directions!

Stop ruining my show!

 

[The Old Mixer]

50 Years Ago This Week


December 23

• The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced that its member nations would more than double the price asked for crude oil, effective January 1. In U.S. dollars, the posted price went from $5.11 per barrel to $11.65 on New Year's Day of 1974. At the start of 1973, the price had been $2.59 per barrel.
• Died: Gerard Kuiper, 68, Dutch astronomer for whom the Kuiper belt of dwarf planets, located beyond the planet Neptune, would later be named

December 24

• In the U.S., the District of Columbia (including the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.), was granted limited self-government including the right to elect a mayor and a 13-member city council, as U.S. President Nixon signed the District of Columbia Home Rule Act into law. For more than 100 years, the administration of the district services had been carried out by a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Congress still retained the right to veto the budget for the District.
• An annular solar eclipse occurred over Central America and the northern nations of South America. Lasting 12 minutes and 2 seconds, it was shorter than the record 12 minute, 9 second eclipse of December 14, 1955, but still longer than any eclipse to occur before January 14, 3080.

December 25

• Meeting on Christmas Day in Kuwait, the Arab OPEC nations announced that they would end monthly production cuts to all but two world nations, with the flow of oil to be increased by 10% for Japan, as well as the UK, France, Belgium and other European nations. The embargo continued, however, against the United States and the Netherlands.

December 26

• U.S. President Nixon became the only incumbent American president to fly on a commercial airliner, as he, wife Pat and daughter Tricia Nixon Cox boarded United Air Lines Flight 55 at Washington's Dulles International Airport and traveled across the country to the Los Angeles International Airport. During the flight, Nixon sat in the first class section of the DC-10 and then surprised passengers by walking down down the aisle to the back of the aircraft to shake hands.
• Long Boret took office as the sixth, and last, Prime Minister of Khmer Republic in Cambodia, after accepting an appointment by President Lon Nol to form a government to succeed In Tam. He tried, unsuccessfully, to negotiate peace with the Khmer Rouge invaders during the Cambodian Civil War, and elected to stay in Phnom Penh while other officials were able to escape before the Communist takeover of the Asian nation. He would be arrested and executed on April 17, 1975.
• The eight-day spaceflight of Soyuz 13 ended with cosmonauts Pyotr Klimuk and Valentin Lebedev landing early, apparently because of a malfunction in the capsule's equipment. The ship landed in a heavy snowstorm near Karaganda in the Kazakh SSR.
• The controversial horror film The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin and starring Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair, premiered in the United States.

December 27

• William E. Simon, the director of the U.S. Federal Energy Office, outlined a gasoline rationing program that he emphasized was not being implemented but that would be "on standby" and that would not be implemented earlier than March 1, 1974, subject to approval by Congress. Under the rationing plan, each licensed driver 18 years old or over would be issued a coupon to purchase 35 gallons per month of gasoline, with the right to purchase extra coupons at a higher price or from other drivers.

December 28

• The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was signed into law by U.S. President Nixon, after having passed the Senate on a voice vote on December 9, and by the House of Representatives on December 20, by a margin of 355 to 4. Nixon also signed the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) into law to train workers for jobs in public service, in a program that would last for nine years until replaced by the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982.
• The eagerly-anticipated Comet Kohoutek made its closest approach to the Sun and, though at its brightest, was not visible from Earth because it was directly on the opposite side of the Sun, making "Kohoutek" synonymous with disappointment.

December 29, 1973

• Carlos Arias Navarro was named as the new Prime Minister of Spain by the Chief of State, Generalissimo Francisco Franco.
• The "HMO" was created in the U.S. as the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 was signed into law by U.S. President Nixon.

Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "Time in a Bottle," Jim Croce
2. "The Most Beautiful Girl," Charlie Rich
3. "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)," Helen Reddy
4. "The Joker," Steve Miller Band
5. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," Elton John
6. "Hello It's Me," Todd Rundgren
7. "Top of the World," Carpenters
8. "Show and Tell," Al Wilson
9. "Smokin' in the Boys Room," Brownsville Station
10. "Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up," Barry White
11. "Living for the City," Stevie Wonder
12. "If You're Ready (Come Go with Me)," The Staple Singers
13. "Just You 'n' Me," Chicago
14. "I've Got to Use My Imagination," Gladys Knight & The Pips
15. "Rockin' Roll Baby," The Stylistics
16. "Helen Wheels," Paul McCartney & Wings
17. "Let Me Be There," Olivia Newton-John
18. "Mind Games," John Lennon
19. "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)," Aretha Franklin
20. "D'yer Mak'er," Led Zeppelin
21. "Love's Theme," Love Unlimited Orchestra
22. "The Love I Lost (Pt. 1)," Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
23. "The Way We Were," Barbra Streisand
24. "Me and Baby Brother," War

26. "My Music," Loggins & Messina
27. "You're Sixteen," Ringo Starr
28. "Photograph," Ringo Starr
29. "Space Race," Billy Preston
30. "Livin' for You," Al Green
31. "Midnight Train to Georgia," Gladys Knight & The Pips

33. "Come Get to This," Marvin Gaye
34. "I Got a Name," Jim Croce
35. "Sister Mary Elephant (Shudd-Up!)," Cheech & Chong
36. "Walk Like a Man (You Can Call Me Your Man)," Grand Funk

38. "Spiders & Snakes," Jim Stafford
39. "Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat," The DeFranco Family feat. Tony DeFranco
40. "Keep On Truckin'," Eddie Kendricks
41. "Let Me Serenade You," Three Dog Night

43. "American Tune," Paul Simon

46. "Paper Roses," Marie Osmond

52. "Rock On," David Essex

54. "Jungle Boogie," Kool & The Gang

57. "I Love," Tom T. Hall

59. "Baby Come Close," Smokey Robinson

61. "Put Your Hands Together," The O'Jays
62. "Joy, Pt. 1," Isaac Hayes

65. "Let Your Hair Down," The Temptations

70. "Love Song," Anne Murray

72. "Midnight Rider," Gregg Allman

75. "I Like to Live the Love," B.B. King
76. "Love Reign O'er Me," The Who

89. "Raised on Robbery," Joni Mitchell

92. "Trying to Hold On to My Woman," Lamont Dozier

97. "Last Kiss," J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers

Leaving the chart:

• "Angie," The Rolling Stones (16 weeks)
  
• "Cheaper to Keep Her," Johnnie Taylor (11 weeks)
• "Why Me," Kris Kristofferson (38 weeks)
  
• "You're a Special Part of Me," Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye (12 weeks)

Recent on the chart:

"Raised on Robbery," Joni Mitchell

(Dec. 22; #65 US; #40 AC)

"Joy, Pt. 1," Isaac Hayes

(Dec. 22; #30 US; #34 AC; #7 R&B; #52 UK)


And new on the boob tube:

• Love, American Style, "Love and Carmen Lopez / Love and the Cover / Love and the Cryin' Cowboy"

_______

Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month.

_______

Why is he against it? Because he figures the guy is done with his community service?

I eventually gathered that the Chief knew that the situation was feeding into Baxter's problem.

Sounds like he's not just a gambling addict, but a squealing addict. Maybe he likes gambling with his life.

That was more or less it.

I suspect a missing paragraph or two because this seems very anticlimactic.

Not from me, that's how it went down.

Is this true or is it a Phyllis joke?

That was true, a character trait established early in the episode. I hadn't realized she did that with Phyllis.

So she called the ER just to refuse assistance. Unfortunately, this is pretty common.

She wanted to talk, but she didn't want anyone to stop her.

while she was laid up with a broken back.

Ow. Hope she's recovered well.

I didn't think you'd even know what I was talking about.

You've been pretty loose with your secret ID.

I'm remembering a little bald doctor with glasses, who I think was a urologist.

That would be Bernie Tupperman, who must have been the one they referenced. Looking it up, he's a urologist. I didn't realize that the same actor played Vinnie, one of the poker buddies on TOC.

Ditto. I hate recasting to begin with, but the fact that somebody is pretending to be Roddy McDowall is especially jarring.

I assume this guy was hired first and didn't stay / they didn't keep him...he wouldn't have been doing McDowall because McDowall wouldn't have been cast yet.

That's an important element of the scenario, so it has to be well established.

You mean there's more of that...?

Stop ruining my show!

You could have a ball with this. The secret of the monkey island is an unstable time vortex...

 

[The Old Mixer]

50 Years Ago This Holiday Season

In addition to adding "Step Into Christmas" to my collection this year, here's something that I already had:

"Little Christmas Tree," Michael Jackson

This was a new track on the 1973 double-LP compilation A Motown Christmas, which largely consisted of previously released material by various artists.

"What Christmas Means to Me," Stevie Wonder (1967)

"Silent Night," The Temptations (1968)

"Silver Bells," The Supremes (1965)

"Give Love on Christmas Day," Jackson 5 (1970)

 

[RJDiogenes]

Died: Gerard Kuiper, 68, Dutch astronomer for whom the Kuiper belt of dwarf planets, located beyond the planet Neptune, would later be named

And inevitably mispronounced.

In the U.S., the District of Columbia (including the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.), was granted limited self-government

I think we should grant them independence. They're nothing but trouble.

U.S. President Nixon became the only incumbent American president to fly on a commercial airliner

That's an interesting factino.

The eight-day spaceflight of Soyuz 13 ended with cosmonauts Pyotr Klimuk and Valentin Lebedev landing early, apparently because of a malfunction in the capsule's equipment. The ship landed in a heavy snowstorm near Karaganda in the Kazakh SSR.

Whoa, that must have been harrowing, even for Russians.

The controversial horror film The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin and starring Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair, premiered in the United States.

Good movie. Great ending.

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was signed into law by U.S. President Nixon, after having passed the Senate on a voice vote on December 9, and by the House of Representatives on December 20, by a margin of 355 to 4.

Imagine that happening today.

The eagerly-anticipated Comet Kohoutek made its closest approach to the Sun and, though at its brightest, was not visible from Earth because it was directly on the opposite side of the Sun, making "Kohoutek" synonymous with disappointment.

That was a big disappointment, all right, and also fed into the "those-scientists-don't-know-nuthin" attitudes.

"Raised on Robbery," Joni Mitchell

That was unusual, and enjoyable.

"Joy, Pt. 1," Isaac Hayes

Hopefully things pick up in Part 2.

I eventually gathered that the Chief knew that the situation was feeding into Baxter's problem.

Interesting.

That was more or less it.

Yeah, that's a pretty interesting character then.

Not from me, that's how it went down.

Weird. They seem to have left the main case unresolved.

That was true, a character trait established early in the episode. I hadn't realized she did that with Phyllis.

I wonder if the actress had any input there.

Ow. Hope she's recovered well.

I thought I had mentioned it. She's fine now. She was laid up for about six weeks or so, and had ongoing PT after that. I stayed with her at night and my Sister stayed there during the day. This is the third time that she's survived an injury that would have crippled or killed most people her age.

You've been pretty loose with your secret ID.

I really should be looser. I like selling books.

That would be Bernie Tupperman, who must have been the one they referenced. Looking it up, he's a urologist. I didn't realize that the same actor played Vinnie, one of the poker buddies on TOC.

Oh, yeah, it all comes back to me now.

I assume this guy was hired first and didn't stay / they didn't keep him...he wouldn't have been doing McDowall because McDowall wouldn't have been cast yet.

I know, I was being facetious, because Roddy is Roddy.

You mean there's more of that...?

Oh, yes, probably in every episode. In fact, if you look back at that scene I linked to in "Cooked Goose," there's an important moment. One bark for "no."

You could have a ball with this. The secret of the monkey island is an unstable time vortex...

I wonder if I could figure out where it's located. It could be Fantasy Island. And Gilligan's island. And the Lost island.

 

[The Old Mixer]

70 Years Ago This Holiday Season

I'm way late getting around to the last quarterly post, but I couldn't leave this pair of classics until after the holiday.

"Santa Baby," Eartha Kitt

"Christmas Dragnet," Stan Freberg

_______

And inevitably mispronounced.

How is it pronounced?

I think we should grant them independence. They're nothing but trouble.

That's an interesting factino.

Nixon: Man of the People!

Good movie. Great ending.

I've never seen it...maybe parts of it on a movie channel decades back.

Imagine that happening today.

Sadly true. Bipartisanship is dead.

That was unusual, and enjoyable.

A new one to me...the lead single from Court and Spark, which is #111 on the 2003 Rolling Stone albums list.

Hopefully things pick up in Part 2.

This I had. Not terribly memorable, but it's got that Isaac Hayes sound.

Weird. They seem to have left the main case unresolved.

It was resolved, just offscreen. Guess the real story was Baxter and his family.

I wonder if the actress had any input there.

Could be, or they were doing a shout-out.

This is the third time that she's survived an injury that would have crippled or killed most people her age.

Oh, yes, probably in every episode. In fact, if you look back at that scene I linked to in "Cooked Goose," there's an important moment. One bark for "no."

I might watch more, as a casual side thing.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Merry Retro Christmas, peeps.

"Santa Baby," Eartha Kitt

Love this one.

"Christmas Dragnet," Stan Freberg

This is also great. I wonder what Jack Webb thought of these parodies.

How is it pronounced?

Rhymes with "piper."

Nixon: Man of the People!

The Silent Majority.

I've never seen it...maybe parts of it on a movie channel decades back.

I didn't see it till much later, of course, when it came out on VHS in the 80s. It's well worth watching.

It was resolved, just offscreen. Guess the real story was Baxter and his family.

Kind of a change-of-pace character study, I guess.

I might watch more, as a casual side thing.

The anachronisms might get to you. The Nazis develop a working atom bomb in one episode.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 1)

_______

Hawaii Five-O
"The Flip Side Is Death"
Originally aired December 18, 1973

Bank robbers fake a military emergency to cover up their crime, sending Five-O to the windward side of Oahu to investigate.

What appears to be an Army convoy ferrying nerve gas drives into Kahuku, where the truck overturns from a preset blown tire near the Oahu National Bank. The imposters evacuate the area, divert the police to cordon off the area, and get to work on robbing the bank, stealing $250,000; then leave the truck behind and get away in the Jeeps. Five-O investigates the aftermath, by which point the authorities have realized that they've been had, finding that smoke bombs were used to simulate the gas. The robbers stash the money in false-topped golf bags, then switch to vehicles that they had camouflaged in the countryside. Financially distressed music company owner Art Walker (Peter Haskell) and experienced robber/ex-con Tally Green, alias Tally Corbin (Don Stroud)--who takes the job more seriously than the others--depart with the bags in a sedan and check into the Kuilima Hotel, while Louie Pahia (Frank Liu) and Joe Keao (Gerald Waialae) drive a Moku Pineapple Co. van to an abandoned sugar plantation, where they retrieve a hidden stash of 200 8-track tape cartridges. The pineapple van is driven to the hotel to make a delivery, while Louie, working as room service, delivers boxes of the tapes one at a time to the room shared by Walker and Green, who get to work taking apart the tapes to put the money in them, then have Pahia smuggle them back out.

Che determines that a metal wire saw was used to break into a military fort (referencing such a saw being used in the Skylab missions), from which the vehicles were stolen; and the Jeeps are located via helicopter, with Danno finding an accidentally dropped golf ball on the scene that bears the logo of the Kuilima. Che also finds abnormal prints from one of the vehicles that indicate exposure to pineapple enzymes. Thus the police stop Joe and search the pineapple van, finding the boxes of tapes but thinking nothing of them; following which Joe proceeds to the warehouse of the Walker Music Company and boxes up the cases of tapes for delivery to Walker's address in L.A. Steve has names of people who are checked into the hotel run through the computer, but when he gets to Walker and the Corbin alias, both names come up clean.

After the investigation turns up Pahia as a National Guardsman who was on gate duty at the fort when the vehicles were stolen and also works at the hotel, Danno and Ben go to the hotel to question him, then let him go but keep an eye on him. Louie makes a call to the room to report the questioning to Walker and Green, the latter panicking and the former arguing that they play it cool. Against Walker's advice, Green kills Pahia, whose body is found in the hotel; then goes to see Keao at the plantation. Joe's onto Green, confronting him about Kahia with a knife, but Green overpowers him and garottes him with the wire saw.

The Moku van is subsequently found abandoned with Keao in it, and his fingertips are found to be smoothed by acid. Boxes of Walker Music Company tapes are found in the truck, the name ringing a bell with Danno from the guest list. Danno takes apart a tape case and determines the smuggling method. Sugar cane ash found on Keao's clothing leads to the plantation, where Five-O find Walker confronting Green at gunpoint. After Walker and Green split up, Green is taken down by Danno in an exchange of fire; then Walker gets the drop on Chin and Ben, but Danno gets the drop on him and he surrenders.

_______

Adam-12
"Southwest Division"
Originally aired December 19, 1973

While responding to a baseless complaint against an elderly artist, Malloy decides to buy a random painting out of pity and makes Reed envious. Meanwhile, they question a man attempting to break into a gumball machine while his son looks on, get a big surprise after tracking down a suspected peeping tom, deal with a man who comes up with a creative way to avoid having his furniture repossessed and engage in a game of cat-and-mouse inside the Los Angeles Coliseum with a former football player turned suspected robber.

Responding to a 415 business dispute at a park, the officers find that elderly Edna Digby (Lillian Bronson) is outraged at the alleged obscenity of the wares of a similarly aged artist who's set up shop there, Andre Pochek (Peter Brocco). Malloy finds that Pochek's permit has expired, and feeling for the struggling immigrant, Malloy purchases one of his paintings for ten dollars, which is over half of the permit renewal fee.

Afterward, Jim admires the painting, though Pete dismisses it as stupid. Back on patrol, they stop for a curbside altercation between a store proprietor (Ray Ballard) and a man named Ernest Fields (Fred Holliday) who's been trying to get a coin out of a gumball machine. When Fields explains that his young son accidentally put an 1881 $5 gold piece valued at $90 in the machine, the shopkeeper opens the machine to exchange it for a nickel. As the officers are leaving, Fields expresses admiration for the painting that matches Reed's assessment, though Malloy remains dismissive afterward.

Next the officers see a frumpy woman named Doris Sutton (Allison McKay) about an alleged prowler--a presumed man walking around within line of sight of her apartment while looking through a handheld telescope...which Sutton only knows because she's been looking with binoculars. The officers approach the figure to find a mannishly dressed she (Gloria Manon)--an outspokenly feminist meter lady who's using the scope to do her job while staying clear of watchdogs.

When Jim won't shut up about the painting, which he assesses to be a depiction of a woman nursing her baby, Pete offers to sell it to him for $15, noting that art is an investment. The officers are then assigned to a dispute between a laid-off carpenter named Antonio Sanchez (Rodolfo Hoyos) and a man named Sam Conrad (Herb Vigran) who's been trying to use a crowbar to widen Sanchez's door. Conrad explains that he's trying to repossess a sofa that Sanchez hasn't been making his payments on, and accuses Sanchez of having narrowed the doorway since the furniture was moved in. Sanchez in turn complains about the charges that Conrad loads his customers with. Examining the contract, Reed informs Conrad that it doesn't give him the right to widen the doorway.

Adam-12 is lead in an all-units call for a 211 silent at a bar, where owner Peter Giles (Ike Jones) informs the officers that the robber took off without getting anything after trying to break into the register. Giles shows them a picture hanging in the bar, explaining that the suspect, Ed Jackson (Dick Bass), is a hard-on-his-luck former football player. The officers then get a call for another 211 at the nearby Los Angeles Coliseum, where the suspect used to play. A security officer (Dale Johnson) who's tending to a wounded man outside tells them that the suspect came from inside the stadium. The officers find that Jackson has driven his vehicle in, and while Reed occupies him with covering fire, Pete goes out and, backed up by Officer Woods blocking off the vehicle exit, proceeds to drive the squad car inside. Out of ammo, Jackson is chased down the field by the car and two officers on foot, and is eventually tackled by Reed. Jackson reminisces about his playing days as he's arrested. As Pete's moving the painting into the trunk to make room for the suspect, Woods offers to buy it from him and agrees to Pete's price...but it turns out that he only wants the frame for a picture that he has at home, and gives the painting back to Pete, who in turn gives it to Jim.

_______

Ironside
"The Last Payment"
Originally aired December 20, 1973

Mark goes undercover to take down an extortion ring.

Mark's running late for a blind date with a lady named Maylene (Jayne Kennedy--You go, Mark!), set up by his friend Gil Loggins (Felton Perry) and his date, Ella (Jeanie Bell), when he's pulled into an alley and beaten by a pair of hoods. Gil later comes to visit Mark as he's being nursed at the Cave, where Mark expresses puzzlement at one of the hoods, who identified himself as Shuggie, saying that he had a message. When Gil returns home, he finds unexpected visitors--Jimmy Lee Gates (Fred Beir) and his two henchmen, Shuggie and China-Boy (Roger Robinson and Albert Popwell), who attacked Mark thinking that he was Gil. Gates informs Gil that he's being held responsible for a gambling debt left unpaid by his late father.

Gil subsequently visits his mother (Clarice Taylor) to get to the bottom of what his father was involved in. She tells him how his father borrowed the money to pay for Gil's schooling, and advises that he see a money man known as the Shepherd who'd promised to leave her alone when her husband was in the hospital. Mark also visits Mrs. Loggins to find out what's going on, then confronts Gil for info about the extortionists, though Gil doesn't want him to get involved. Following their talk, the Chief arranges for Mark to go undercover with experienced undercover officer Reuben Turner (Dick Anthony Williams) backing him up.

Mark stays at a hotel under an alias and starts asking around about a cat named Shuggie, from whom he subsequently gets a visit. After getting even a bit for the beating, Mark claims to have lost his job because of the shakedown. Shuggie gives him a ten as compensation, following which Mark hangs out at the same pool hall as Gates and the boys and gets a job at a gas station, working alongside a mechanic named Theodore Jason (Scatman Crothers), whom he lets know he's in need of $600. After that Mark gets a visit from Shuggie about his situation, arranging for Mark to meet the Shepherd.

The Chief subsequently identifies the big man as Alexander Shepard, a figure worth nailing because he's probably running a dozen like Gates. Mark makes his dance club appointment wired, while the Chief and Turner surveil outside. Mark's taken into an apartment to meet Gates, who gives him the money and has him sign a paper after Mark explains that he needs it for a trade school. Mark and the Chief separately smell trouble in that the Shepherd didn't show. The Chief changes plans to have Mark denied acceptance to the school so his tuition will be refunded and he'll go back to pay off his debt early, all meant to draw out the Shepherd.

Mark is subsequently contacted by Gil, who wants him to cosign on a legit loan for the amount owed to the Shepherd to pay off his own debt; though Mark tries to tell him that he's digging himself in deeper and won't be let off the hook. Mark hits the club for his meeting, and sees Gil coming in while he's waiting. Mark arranges an altercation to implore Gil to get out, following which Shuggie comes to take Mark back to the office, where Mark returns the $600 to Gates. Gates brings out Mr. Shepard (Regis J. Cordic), who informs Mark that he'll still have to pay off $300 in previously unspecified interest. As Mark protests and is roughed up, Ed and Turner move in. Ed grabs Shepard leaving the club, and Reuben heads to the office to arrest the hoods. In the coda, Mark mends fences with Gil while trying to get Maylene's phone number.

_______

The Brady Bunch
"Miss Popularity"
Originally aired December 21, 1973

Surprisingly, Jan is nominated for the most popular girl in her class and Peter agrees to be her campaign manager. However, Jan is so desperate to win, she begins making promises to her classmates that she can't possibly fulfil.

Jan comes home excited to tell everybody about the nomination, but Peter's beat her to it. The family gets to work helping with her campaign...Alice baking fortune cookies with campaign slogans in them; and Peter and Bobby printing handbills from a hand-cranked press in the garage. At school, Jan starts agreeing to favors requested by her peers, like having Greg help a boy named Herman (Darryl Seman) with math and babysitting the brother of a girl named Shirley (Jerelyn Fields). Jan wins, and Greg's upset when Herman calls him to cash in on the arrangement that he didn't agree to.

Back at school, the kids start getting upset about Jan reneging on her promises, while Jan is unconcerned, taking for granted that she's now the most popular girl in her class. Jan even breaks promises that she'd made to her siblings, considering her time to now be too valuable. Meanwhile, Mike and Carol have been trying to plan a long weekend getaway that will be like a second honeymoon, but are having trouble booking anything. When they sit down to listen to Jan's acceptance speech, they find that it's too self-praising...and learn that it's now happening on the Friday of their planned weekend. When Peter and Jan both have dates broken on them, it becomes clear that Jan's promptly made herself notably unpopular. At dinner, Jan debuts a new speech expressing the lesson that she's learned, and Peter offers to be her Senior Night date. (Are they junior high seniors?)

On the morning after Jan's speech, Alice makes up for the canceled weekend plans by serving Mike and Carol breakfast in bed and hanging a Do Not Disturb sign on their door.

_______

The Odd Couple
"A Barnacle Adventure"
Originally aired December 21, 1973

Oscar and Felix try to pitch a dentist's glue invention to a group of investors.

During an appointment, Oscar's dentist, Dr. Elmo Most (Val Avery), shares with him the secret of how he's made his own filling adhesive from barnacles. After a demonstration of its strength, Oscar agrees to help back putting it on the market. Oscar needs to get the money from Felix, so he tries buttering his roommate up as he's coming home from an exhausting wedding job, and has arranged some demonstrations in the apartment--which includes gluing the phone's receiver so that it can't be picked up, and lifting his bowling ball with a pencil glued to it. Oscar brings Felix in to meet Dr. Most, who examines Felix as he considers teeth to be an indication of a person's trustworthiness. Felix comes away uninterested, so Oscar recruits Murray and Myrna, holding an investors' meeting in the apartment. When Felix expresses his disapproval, Felix reveals that Gloria (not appearing) is the group's major investor.

Concerned with his children's college funds, Felix becomes invested in the scheme by arranging to serve as Gloria's proxy. Felix subsequently interrupts Oscar's next dental appointment to discuss a campaign to recruit investors with Most. A meeting is arranged with the Abernathys, including elder Pop Abernathy (Malcolm Atterbury), who tends to go off on tangents, and his son, John (John Myhers). Felix gives a presentation about the history of the glue industry, which includes Myrna playing a Dutch girl, before revealing the secret ingredient, following which Oscar plays a rehearsed man on the street...which is interrupted when Oscar's filling falls out. Felix proceeds to try to demonstrate pre-glued objects, including the phone and bowling ball, which have since become unstuck. Elmo belatedly realizes that the stickiness depends on moisture; and gets a grant for additional research, on the condition that he dump Oscar and Felix.

_______

Merry Retro Christmas, peeps.

Hope you had a good one!

I didn't see it till much later, of course, when it came out on VHS in the 80s. It's well worth watching.

Actually, I realized that I may have been thinking of The Amityville Horror...I don't know if I've ever seen The Exorcist other than the odd clip.

The anachronisms might get to you. The Nazis develop a working atom bomb in one episode.

That sort of thing is actually more acceptable, if it's a plot element rather than an erroneous setting detail.

 

[RJDiogenes]

What appears to be an Army convoy ferrying nerve gas drives into Kahuku

That does not sound like it would be an everyday occurrence in Kahuku.

The imposters evacuate the area, divert the police to cordon off the area, and get to work on robbing the bank, stealing $250,000; then leave the truck behind and get away in the Jeeps.

It's an ambitious scheme, that's for sure.

an abandoned sugar plantation

I like it when they make good use of uniquely Hawaiian locations.

a hidden stash of 200 8-track tape cartridges

Now that's sign-of-the-timesy.

who get to work taking apart the tapes to put the money in them

This is my favorite part of the scheme.

(referencing such a saw being used in the Skylab missions)

Nice topical reference.

Che also finds abnormal prints from one of the vehicles that indicate exposure to pineapple enzymes.

This is a nice forensic detail that reminds me of more modern shows, like Bones. Che is looking good in this episode.

Thus the police stop Joe and search the pineapple van, finding the boxes of tapes but thinking nothing of them

You'd think that would raise some suspicions.

Pahia as a National Guardsman who was on gate duty at the fort when the vehicles were stolen and also works at the hotel

The baddies were definitely sloppy here.

Against Walker's advice, Green kills Pahia, whose body is found in the hotel; then goes to see Keao at the plantation. Joe's onto Green, confronting him about Kahia with a knife, but Green overpowers him and garottes him with the wire saw.

That went all to hell quickly.

After Walker and Green split up, Green is taken down by Danno in an exchange of fire; then Walker gets the drop on Chin and Ben, but Danno gets the drop on him and he surrenders.

This was Danno's episode. It sounds like Steve was barely in it. It was a fun story with a bunch of nice details, but it's hard to swallow when you look at the big picture. Mainly, I find it hard to believe that these guys could steal a bunch of military vehicles or that they could hang onto them for more than five minutes if they did. The military guys would have been all over the place. Also, there seemed to be no contact or coordination between Five-0 and the Army at all. The script should have at least thrown in an Army rep working with the team.

the officers find that elderly Edna Digby (Lillian Bronson) is outraged at the alleged obscenity of the wares of a similarly aged artist who's set up shop there

They should be able to arrest people for being a busybody.

Malloy purchases one of his paintings for ten dollars, which is over half of the permit renewal fee.

Good old Pete.

Jim admires the painting, though Pete dismisses it as stupid.

Yeah, he doesn't strike me as somebody with an eye for the arts. This is actually some nice characterization here: Compassion for the artist but oblivious to the art.

When Fields explains that his young son accidentally put an 1881 $5 gold piece valued at $90 in the machine, the shopkeeper opens the machine to exchange it for a nickel.

He could have explained that before the cops got there.

Pete offers to sell it to him for $15, noting that art is an investment.

Pete is also a wise ass.

Examining the contract, Reed informs Conrad that it doesn't give him the right to widen the doorway.

I don't imagine that it would.

Out of ammo, Jackson is chased down the field by the car and two officers on foot, and is eventually tackled by Reed.

This was a ripe opportunity for a locker room bragging-and-ribbing scene.

Jackson reminisces about his playing days as he's arrested.

This was kind of a sad story.

Woods offers to buy it from him and agrees to Pete's price...but it turns out that he only wants the frame for a picture that he has at home, and gives the painting back to Pete, who in turn gives it to Jim.

I thought they were going to go somewhere with this, like the artist turned out to be famous in his home country or something.

Maylene (Jayne Kennedy--You go, Mark!)

An actress turned news anchor, if I remember correctly.

Ella (Jeanie Bell)

A Playboy Playmate. That would have been a good night for the guys.

his two henchmen, Shuggie and China-Boy

This show loves the weird nicknames for their hoods.

Gates informs Gil that he's being held responsible for a gambling debt left unpaid by his late father.

Well, that's unfair!

Mark also visits Mrs. Loggins to find out what's going on, then confronts Gil for info about the extortionists, though Gil doesn't want him to get involved.

If hoods were after me for something my Father did (which is well within the realm of possibility), I would definitely want Team Ironside involved.

Shuggie gives him a ten as compensation

Nice touch. A little honor among thieves.

Theodore Jason (Scatman Crothers)

Musician, singer, actor, legend, with one of the all-time unique voices.

As Mark protests and is roughed up, Ed and Turner move in. Ed grabs Shepard leaving the club, and Reuben heads to the office to arrest the hoods.

Okay, but I'm not sure what they've got for evidence.

In the coda, Mark mends fences with Gil while trying to get Maylene's phone number.

This episode really went off on the wrong tangent after that opening.

The family gets to work helping with her campaign...

How can you campaign for Most Popular-- you either is or ain't.

Back at school, the kids start getting upset about Jan reneging on her promises, while Jan is unconcerned, taking for granted that she's now the most popular girl in her class.

Jan is destined for a brilliant career in politics.

Mike and Carol have been trying to plan a long weekend getaway that will be like a second honeymoon

Shouldn't that be a fourth honeymoon? If they add up their kids, they should add up their honeymoons.

it becomes clear that Jan's promptly made herself notably unpopular

What options do we have? Impeachment? Recall vote? Pitchforks and torches?

Alice makes up for the canceled weekend plans by serving Mike and Carol breakfast in bed and hanging a Do Not Disturb sign on their door.

Naughty!

Oscar's dentist, Dr. Elmo Most (Val Avery), shares with him the secret of how he's made his own filling adhesive from barnacles.

Personally I would be wary of a dentist who uses homemade adhesive.

Felix reveals that Gloria (not appearing) is the group's major investor.

Interesting. I wonder if they originally intended for her to appear, but she couldn't make it.

Felix proceeds to try to demonstrate pre-glued objects, including the phone and bowling ball, which have since become unstuck.

Hmm. Barnacles. I wonder if Dr Most has recreated the Professor's formula from Gilligan's Island.

Hope you had a good one!

Very nice, thank you. I hope you did too.

Actually, I realized that I may have been thinking of The Amityville Horror...I don't know if I've ever seen The Exorcist other than the odd clip.

And, conversely, I've never seen Amityville Horror.

That sort of thing is actually more acceptable, if it's a plot element rather than an erroneous setting detail.

Plus, the Nazis were tricked into thinking the test was unsuccessful, so theoretically it fits into real history.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2)

_______

Super Friends
"The Watermen"
Originally aired December 22, 1973
Series finale

A strange spacecraft has been forced to land on Earth after a meteor hit the fuel tank of the craft. The craft, in an attempt to return to the planet Sagittarius, begins gathering silicon from sea water to fuel their ship. However, extracting the silicon causes a red tide and famine among ocean creatures.

After Superman departs to save a coral reef from being breached, which would threaten a coastal city, Wilcox alerts Wonder Woman and Aquaman to a red tide endangering sea life in the same southeastern region, which they go to handle. Meanwhile, the Dynamic Duo are taking the JSF for a ride on the pimped-out research submarine of a friend, Professor Matey (Alden), which can accommodate the Batmobile. On the deck, Marvin sees from a distance a pair of alien water people, Holo (Welker) and Zara (sounds like Farnon, though SF Wiki misidentifies her as Welker), who are walking on water. We see them get back into their underwater saucer, which siphons silicon from the water, causing the red tide as a side effect.

At the coastal city, Superman has a TV broadcast made about the danger, then relieves a wrecking crew to demolish a building himself and use its rubble to reinforce the coral reef; while WW deploys a not-transparent net to catch and redirect the red tide. Holo and Zara take their saucer to a lake to join up with their mothership, where they report to their commander (sounds like Alberoni, but again misidentified as Welker). Back on the scene, Holo and Zara see Aquaman diverting hoardes of fish from swimming toward the red tide and take interest, which leads them to the sub, where the Super Friends gather. Wilcox reports how starfish that Superman noticed gathering on the reef are consuming it, and the ocean's chain of life is threatened.

Robin takes the JSF out in a motorboat to investigate, but they're delayed by Holo, who doesn't want them to find their ship, which Zara moves away from the area before the sub arrives. Superman borrows a wind machine from a Hollywood movie studio to blow the starfish off the reef. (Hello, Super Breath?) Aquaman talks to a group of fish who relate how their water is lacking in nourishment, so he plows the ocean floor beneath them to bring some up. While the sub and motorboat go to investigate a new occurrence of the tide, causing the aquatic duo to move their ship again, Superman repairs a sudden breach in the reef by moving a wrecked ship to plug it up.

While Matey's sub is taking samples of the red tide water, they spot and pursue another, even smaller saucer ship from which Holo has been watching them. Holo abandons the mini-ship and is pursued by Aquaman, Holo ultimately making it to the middle-sized ship, which returns to the mothership. Matey has determined that the aliens are extracting silicon, interfering with the food supply and causing the starfish to eat reefs. The sub, motorboat, and Aquaman search for the middle ship. At the mothership, the water people get desperate as they only have half of the silicon that they need. Batman decides to search inland via the Batmobile and spots and pursues a small walking craft piloted by Holo, which leads them to the lake where the mothership is hiding. Superman and Wonder Woman arrive at the scene with Aquaman and Matey on the transparent plane, and there's a brief bit of odd business where Alden voices Batman talking to them. The mothership is spotted, and netted and dragged ashore by Wonder Woman and Aquaman. The water person commander reveals and introduces herself, explaining that she didn't think Earthlings would mind their interference with ocean life given their own pollution of the sea. Matey offers the alternative of taking the silicon from plentiful beach sand.

The episode ends with the JSF playing water polo with the water people, following which Superman narrates a preview of the first episode, "The Power Pirate".

This episode, while formulaically similar to others, I found to be particularly tedious in how it repeatedly had the aliens evading the heroes to delay the inevitable moment of meeting and coming to an understanding.

_______

Emergency!
"Computer Error"
Originally aired December 22, 1973

John tries to get a credit card mistake corrected. A young couple is rescued from a car wreck; the boy has a spinal cord injury and Dr. Early suspects the girl is pregnant. Roy and John rescue a woman trapped at the bottom of a well and an amateur magician from a safe. A rescue at a junkyard fire turns hazardous when phosphorus materials explode.

Johnny's upset because he's received a credit card bill for $842 from taking a girl out to dinner, which he insists is an error. He tries to share it only with Roy, but Chet overhears and ribs him about it. (They call the station's sleeping area the dorm.) The station is called to a vehicle accident, with one car turned on its side with a couple of teens inside. The boy, Freddie (almost-Malph Donny Most in his earliest IMDb credit), is dressed for the beach and can't move or feel any part of his body below the neck, indicating possible spinal injury; while the girl, Marsha (Audrey Landers), is in the back seat and suffering abdominal trauma. At Rampart, Early determines that she may be pregnant, and has to confirm as it would rule out giving her an X-ray.

At the station, Johnny realizes that it was $8.42 that he spent, which inspires more commentary from Chet, this time about how cheap he is. While Johnny tries to make a call to straighten the error out, the station is called to aid a woman (Tani Phelps Guthrie) who's fallen into a boarded old well hole in her yard and is sinking into the soft earth at the bottom. They pull her out and she faints, which causes the paramedics to call in her vitals and take her to Rampart for examination, where she's cleared to check out of the story. Meanwhile, Freddie's parents, Carl and Betty Wilson (Bing Russell and Ellen Clark) have arrived to ask about him; and Johnny tries making his call again from the hospital, but doesn't get anywhere with the woman on the other end, who appears to be a different consumer representative using the same "Gloria Truelove" alias. Early and Brackett confirm with Freddie that Marsha is pregnant, and that he was planning to marry her.

A follow-up call at the station from a third Gloria Truelove just makes things worse, as Johnny now supposedly owes $1,684. While this is supposed to be getting straightened out on the other end, the squad is called to a man trapped in a safe in his garage. Frank's wife, Harriet (Joyce Jameson), explains that he's an amateur escape artist who's also wearing handcuffs and leg irons inside. While Roy's trying to work on the safe with Frank's drill, Frank (Larry Storch) gets himself out, angry that Harriet didn't have faith in his gift, and that holes have been drilled in his expensive safe, while hopping around in the leg irons.

Marsha's parents, Charles and Eunice Evans (Mark Miller and Bonnie Bartlett), arrive at Rampart, the father making a scene with the Wilsons. Early fills Mr. Evans in on his daughter's possible condition, but when asked, she insists that she's not pregnant, and he storms out while threatening a malpractice suit. Marsha indicates that this sort of behavior isn't unusual for her father. The Wilsons are allowed in to talk to Freddie, who shows signs of feeling in one of his feet. Marsha admits to truth to Dix, indicating that she's afraid of what her father will do to Freddie. Marsha subsequently comes clean with her father, explaining that Freddie was taking her to the hospital for cramps when he ran the stop sign. Early has a sit-down with Evans, encouraging him to talk to his daughter as she's afraid of him; while Brackett announces to the Wilsons that Freddie's showing signs of a slow recovery. Evans apologizes to the Wilsons in the waiting area.

After Johnny's unable to find his receipt, the station is called to a fire in a scrap metal salvage yard, which includes intermittent explosions that Stanley determines are being caused by white phosphorous going up. The paramedics free a man with a broken leg who's trapped under an overturned forklift as the explosions begin to occur more rapidly, one of them happening at the forklift right after they've dragged him away.

In the coda, Johnny's gotten the credit card bill cleared up, but is apparently disappointed because he wasn't able to catch Gloria's interest, Roy and Chet suggesting that it's because of how cheap his bill was. (Another sloppy edit in from commercial seems to have cut some of the scene out--probably a Frndly glitch as they appear to replace some commercial breaks.)

_______

The Mary Tyler Moore Show
"Happy Birthday, Lou!"
Originally aired December 22, 1973

Mary plans a surprise party for Lou's birthday, only to find out too late that he hates birthday parties.

Here we go again!

Mary discovers that it's Lou's birthday, specifying that he was born in 1925 (four years earlier than Asner), making him 48. Realizing that it's his first birthday since his separation and learning that he has no plans, Mary starts planning a party with Rhoda in the newsroom. Sue Ann Nivens (It's about time!) drops in to flirt with Lou, but he manages to discourage her from going to lunch with him. Rhoda joins him instead, and Mary brings Sue Ann in on the plan. Later Ted makes Lou feel worse, and Edie drops by the newsroom to give him a present, which he gets the wrong idea about, embarrassing both of them when Gordy walks in to find Lou tickling her. A mutually affectionate hug subsequently does the same when Ted passes through.

Mary has Lou come by her apartment that evening as a cover for the party, and he thanks her for not throwing a party at the office and warns her how much he hates...you know. Lou having come a bit early, the other guests start to arrive for the party, the first being Gordy, who sets off a red flag when he's found to be carrying party hats. Lou tries to leave, only to find all of the other guests at the door, shouting "Surprise!" He closes the door on them and refuses to leave. Mary tries to ease Lou into it by bringing the other guests in one at a time, first Murray, then Lou, then Ted on his own initiative...though the crowd erupts every time the door opens. The gang guilts Lou into not disappointing everyone, and he relents in letting them in...while quietly slipping out himself.

Lou comes back when everyone's gone to apologize to Mary, settles in to have some cake and look at his presents, and it's actually a surprise for the audience that they don't pull the old "second surprise" gag. Instead, Lou reveals that he went for drinks at McClusky's only for them to spring a surprise party on him there.

_______

The Bob Newhart Show
"I'm Dreaming of a Slight Christmas"
Originally aired December 22, 1973

Bob is trapped in his office on Christmas Eve.

Bob returns home on Christmas Eve morning with a scrawny little live tree that was the last one on the lot. Bob anticipates the usual holiday activity at the office, which he goes into detail about over breakfast. As predicted, Carol is swacked, having spiked both the coffee machine and water cooler. Jerry embarrassingly outdoes Bob's gift, the two having drawn each other's names, by giving Bob a stereo for his office. When Mr. Peterson comes in for a session, Bob gives him the gift of a clean bill of psychological health, setting him free from future appointments--which is initially met with a panicked reaction. Bob slips out during office festivities and goes home to what's supposed to be a Christmas Eve alone with Emily, who's done a nice job with the Charlie Brown tree. Then Bob gets a call from the office, where Mr. Peterson has returned and is having issues.

At the office, the party's still going, Carol's more swacked, and it's snowing heavily outside. Mr. Peterson is enjoying Bob's stereo, and tells Bob how he had an anxiety attack while shopping. Bob's just made Peterson happy by confirming that he's "really not normal after all" (in Peterson's words) when the power starts intermittently flickering out. As Bob's walking Peterson out, Tupperman announces that the elevator is stuck and the place is snowed in. The partygoers make the most of it, while Bob gets through on the phone to a frustrated Emily, who's been repeatedly reheating her goose. Sometime later, Bob arrives at the apartment door practically frozen, having walked home in the storm after his car got stuck and he got driven to a cabbie's home. When Howard drops in, his flight having been canceled, the Hartleys are trying to break it to him that they need to spend the evening alone when he expresses his appreciation for always being welcome over, then announces that he can't stay because he has a guest waiting at his place.

In the coda, Bob's still getting warm while Emily opens up a necklace that he got her...for what she admits is the fifth time. While she's trying to make things more cozy and romantic, he passes out on the couch.

I didn't find this one to be quite as engagingly warm and fuzzy as last year's holiday installment. And FWIW, I also casually watched All in the Family's Christmas episode ahead, and was more disappointed with that one. In that case, they didn't do enough to integrate the Christmas backdrop into the main story involving Edith potentially needing a mastectomy. The main story literally could have been run at any time of the year without changing a line, while swapping in other comical subplot business at the house.

_______

Now that's sign-of-the-timesy.

I thought that might be appreciated.

You'd think that would raise some suspicions.

A kid with a case of tapes in his vehicle...the law wasn't onto the role of tapes in the scheme yet.

This was Danno's episode. It sounds like Steve was barely in it.

He wasn't conspicuously absent...just not involved in notable solo/lead business.

It was a fun story with a bunch of nice details, but it's hard to swallow when you look at the big picture. Mainly, I find it hard to believe that these guys could steal a bunch of military vehicles or that they could hang onto them for more than five minutes if they did. The military guys would have been all over the place. Also, there seemed to be no contact or coordination between Five-0 and the Army at all. The script should have at least thrown in an Army rep working with the team.

All this is true, now that you mention it.

He could have explained that before the cops got there.

He was being obstinate and maybe untrusting.

This was kind of a sad story.

The way it was played, though, made the former football player seem unsympathetically self-absorbed.

An actress turned news anchor, if I remember correctly.

I had to look up her credits to verify that I've actually seen her in very little. Apparently she'd go on to be in a Wonder Woman, and I recalled having commented upon how striking she was in the Other Thread when that episode came up.

Nice touch. A little honor among thieves.

Shuggie also bought him a sandwich at the bar.

Musician, singer, actor, legend, with one of the all-time unique voices.

Seemed like he was everywhere when I was little...including on Saturday mornings as the voice of Hong Kong Phooey (1974)!

Okay, but I'm not sure what they've got for evidence.

I think Mark was still bugged, so probably tape.

How can you campaign for Most Popular-- you either is or ain't.

True...but the answer, as we saw, would be insincere ass-kissing.

Shouldn't that be a fourth honeymoon? If they add up their kids, they should add up their honeymoons.

Second honeymoon together.

Naughty!

And when asked what the kids will think, she says that it was their idea. They are growing up...

Interesting. I wonder if they originally intended for her to appear, but she couldn't make it.

I didn't get the impression. She played exactly as much of a role as she needed to.

Hmm. Barnacles. I wonder if Dr Most has recreated the Professor's formula from Gilligan's Island.

Was that the stuff that caused the ship to fall apart?

 

[RJDiogenes]

After Superman departs to save a coral reef from being breached, which would threaten a coastal city, Wilcox alerts Wonder Woman and Aquaman

You'd think this would be the episode where Aquaman could shine, along with Aqualad and whatever other Aquacharacters there are.

We see them get back into their underwater saucer, which siphons silicon from the water, causing the red tide as a side effect.

I wonder if there is some truth to this, because clay has been used to treat algal blooms. If silicon suppresses algae, then siphoning it out could cause a red tide. Theoretically. I guess.

Superman has a TV broadcast made about the danger

He should have asked Clark to do it.

then relieves a wrecking crew to demolish a building himself and use its rubble to reinforce the coral reef

That's kind of a cool idea.

Aquaman diverting hoardes of fish from swimming toward the red tide

If Alan Moore wrote this, Aquaman would have discovered that he could communicate with the algae directly.

Superman borrows a wind machine from a Hollywood movie studio to blow the starfish off the reef. (Hello, Super Breath?)

Wasn't there a similar oversight involving Super Breath before?

so he plows the ocean floor beneath them to bring some up

Isn't that the sort of thing that actually causes Red Tide?

and causing the starfish to eat reefs.

Can't Aquaman talk to starfish?

a small walking craft piloted by Holo

These guys have a lot of transportation options.

The water person commander reveals and introduces herself, explaining that she didn't think Earthlings would mind their interference with ocean life given their own pollution of the sea.

Ooh, burn!

Matey offers the alternative of taking the silicon from plentiful beach sand.

And now I'm seeing Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the JSF, and a bunch of aliens smacking themselves in the forehead with the heels of their hands.

This episode, while formulaically similar to others, I found to be particularly tedious in how it repeatedly had the aliens evading the heroes to delay the inevitable moment of meeting and coming to an understanding.

It didn't really need to be an hour long. I wonder why they did that.

Johnny's upset because he's received a credit card bill for $842 from taking a girl out to dinner, which he insists is an error.

That was probably a month's pay in those days.

The boy, Freddie (almost-Malph Donny Most in his earliest IMDb credit), is dressed for the beach and can't move or feel any part of his body below the neck

That's a dramatic debut for Ralph.

Marsha (Audrey Landers)

Half of the Landers twins.

Johnny realizes that it was $8.42 that he spent, which inspires more commentary from Chet, this time about how cheap he is.

According to Google, $58.80 in 2023 dollars. Not a big spender, but not cheap.

who's fallen into a boarded old well hole in her yard and is sinking into the soft earth at the bottom

There's a nice old-fashioned cliffhanger.

she's cleared to check out of the story

Closure. I like it.

Johnny tries making his call again from the hospital

Has he tried calling the restaurant? The easiest thing would be for them to retract and resubmit it, I think.

who appears to be a different consumer representative using the same "Gloria Truelove" alias.

That's weird. I wonder if this is based on something that actually happened.

Frank (Larry Storch)

Good old Agarn.

gets himself out, angry that Harriet didn't have faith in his gift, and that holes have been drilled in his expensive safe, while hopping around in the leg irons.

That's a good one.

Marsha indicates that this sort of behavior isn't unusual for her father.

Or fathers on medical or police shows in general.

Marsha admits to truth to Dix, indicating that she's afraid of what her father will do to Freddie.

"He'll probably break his neck!"

The paramedics free a man with a broken leg who's trapped under an overturned forklift as the explosions begin to occur more rapidly, one of them happening at the forklift right after they've dragged him away.

That sounds like an exciting close shave.

disappointed because he wasn't able to catch Gloria's interest

Which one?

Here we go again!

Nobody in sitcoms likes surprise parties, but in Lou's case I believe it.

Mary discovers that it's Lou's birthday, specifying that he was born in 1925

Didn't his age come up before in terms of his military service? Was he supposed to have served in WWII? Or was it Korea?

Sue Ann Nivens (It's about time!)

Yeah, it seems like she was part of the gang from the beginning.

The gang guilts Lou into not disappointing everyone, and he relents in letting them in...while quietly slipping out himself.

Instead, Lou reveals that he went for drinks at McClusky's only for them to spring a surprise party on him there.

Why does nobody listen?

Bob returns home on Christmas Eve morning with a scrawny little live tree that was the last one on the lot.

To the accompaniment of merry jazz music.

Carol is swacked, having spiked both the coffee machine and water cooler.

Ah, those were the days.

Jerry embarrassingly outdoes Bob's gift, the two having drawn each other's names, by giving Bob a stereo for his office.

Well, he's an orthodontist-- he could probably buy Bob a recording studio.

Then Bob gets a call from the office, where Mr. Peterson has returned and is having issues.

I didn't think we were done with Peterson.

At the office, the party's still going, Carol's more swacked

Wow, I wonder what they do for New Year's.

Sometime later, Bob arrives at the apartment door practically frozen, having walked home in the storm after his car got stuck and he got driven to a cabbie's home.

That's kind of epic for Bob.

When Howard drops in, his flight having been canceled, the Hartleys are trying to break it to him that they need to spend the evening alone when he expresses his appreciation for always being welcome over, then announces that he can't stay because he has a guest waiting at his place.

It wouldn't be Christmas without Howard for a minute.

While she's trying to make things more cozy and romantic, he passes out on the couch.

Maybe a little too epic.

I didn't find this one to be quite as engagingly warm and fuzzy as last year's holiday installment.

Maybe if Howard had been alone and they invited him to stay....

And FWIW, I also casually watched All in the Family's Christmas episode ahead, and was more disappointed with that one. In that case, they didn't do enough to integrate the Christmas backdrop into the main story involving Edith potentially needing a mastectomy. The main story literally could have been run at any time of the year without changing a line, while swapping in other comical subplot business at the house.

Odd, since it's the perfect opportunity for an Arch versus Meathead debate over religion.

I thought that might be appreciated.

A kid with a case of tapes in his vehicle...the law wasn't onto the role of tapes in the scheme yet.

A kid with a case of tapes in a pineapple delivery van... seems like the kind of thing that would make a cop suspicious.

The way it was played, though, made the former football player seem unsympathetically self-absorbed.

Ah, yeah, that's true of a lot of ex-athletes as well.

I had to look up her credits to verify that I've actually seen her in very little. Apparently she'd go on to be in a Wonder Woman, and I recalled having commented upon how striking she was in the Other Thread when that episode came up.

She was very striking. I may be wrong, but I have a vague memory of her being considered as the replacement for Kate Jackson on Charlie's Angels. I think the show would have survived longer if they had gone with her. Those last two Angels were the Joe and Curly Joe of the Townsend Detective Agency.

Shuggie also bought him a sandwich at the bar.

Awww....

Seemed like he was everywhere when I was little...including on Saturday mornings as the voice of Hong Kong Phooey (1974)!

I loved Hong Kong Phooey.

I think Mark was still bugged, so probably tape.

Ah, okay.

And when asked what the kids will think, she says that it was their idea. They are growing up...

So you could say, in a sense, Cousin Oliver was conceived with this episode.

Was that the stuff that caused the ship to fall apart?

Yes, I think it was the first episode; or at least one of the first couple.

 

[The Old Mixer]

70 Years Ago This Season

October

• The UNIVAC 1103 is the first commercial computer to use random-access memory.

October 1

• The United States and South Korea signed a mutual defense treaty in Washington, D.C.

October 5

• U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren Chief Justice of the United States.

October 6

• UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, was made a permanent specialized agency of the United Nations.

October 9

• Fearing communist influence in British Guiana, the British Government suspends the constitution, declares a state of emergency, and militarily occupies the colony.

October 10

• The Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of Korea was concluded in Washington, D.C.

_______

On October 10, "St. George and the Dragonet" by Stan Freberg tops the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart.

_______

October 16

• Cuban revolutionary and future leader Fidel Castro delivered one of his most famous speeches, "History Will Absolve Me", and was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment by the existing government for leading an attack on the Moncada Barracks.

October 18

• Peter Brook's live television production of Shakespeare's King Lear, starring Orson Welles as Lear, was broadcast in the United States as part of the CBS television series Omnibus, hosted by Alistair Cooke.

October 19

• Arthur Godfrey, one of America's top media personalities, fired singer Julius La Rosa on the air, an event that drew considerable attention, caused some shock and resulted in significant criticism of Godfrey. The incident quickly altered public perception of Godfrey, materially damaging his career.

October 23

• Alto Broadcasting System in the Philippines made the first television broadcast in southeast Asia through DZAQ-TV. Alto Broadcasting System (ABS) was the predecessor of what would later become ABS-CBN Corporation after being bought by the Chronicle Broadcasting Network (CBN) in 1957.

October 29

• U.S. Air Force pilot Frank K. "Speedy Pete" Everest set a new world speed record of 755.149 mph (1,216.021 km/h) in a North American YF-100A Super Sabre, while stationed at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

October 30

• U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approved a top-secret document of the United States National Security Council, NSC 162/2, which stated that the United States' arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the Communist threat.

November

• Captain Marvel Adventures (1941 series), with issue #150, canceled by Fawcett Comics.
• Hopalong Cassidy, with issue #85, canceled by Fawcett Comics.
• Two-Gun Kid (1948 series), with issue #11, revived by Marvel.

_______

On November 4, How to Marry a Millionaire, starring Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall, and William Powell, premieres in Los Angeles.

_______

November 5

• David Ben-Gurion resigns as prime minister of Israel.

November 9

• Cambodia becomes independent from France.

November 15

• Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) becomes the first television station in Venezuela when it officially begins a regular broadcast service.

November 20

• The Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket, piloted by Scott Crossfield, became the first piloted aircraft to reach Mach 2.

November 20–22

• First Indochina War: Operation Castor – In a massive airborne operation in Vietnam, French forces establish a base at Điện Biên Phủ.

November 21

• Puerto Williams was founded in Chile as the southernmost settlement of the world.

_______

November 22

• RCA airs (with special permission from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the U.S.) the first commercial color program in compatible color, The Colgate Comedy Hour with Donald O'Connor.

November 26

• NBC broadcasts its first national telecast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

_______

On November 28, "Stranger in Paradise" by Tony Bennett charts (#2 US).

_______

November 29

• Battle of Dien Bien Phu – French paratroopers consolidate their position at Điện Biên Phủ.

December 2

• BBC broadcasts its 'Television Symbol' for the first time, the first animated television presentation symbol.

December 5

• A violent F5 tornado devastated parts of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

December 7

• A visit to Iran by U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon sparked several days of riots, as a reaction to the August 19 overthrow of the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh by the U.S.-backed Shah. Three students were shot dead by police in Tehran. This event would become an annual commemoration, Student Day.

December 8

• U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his Atoms for Peace address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

December 10

• The Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm, Sweden. Frits Zernike of the Netherlands won for Physics, Hermann Staudinger of West Germany for Chemistry, Hans Adolf Krebs of England and Fritz Albert Lipmann of the United States for Physiology or Medicine, and Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill of England for Literature. In Oslo, Norway, Albert Schweitzer of France was awarded the Peace Prize.

December 12

• The DuMont Television Network televises its first ever National Basketball Association game with the Boston Celtics defeating the Baltimore Bullets 106–75. This marked the first year the NBA had a national television contract. This was the only year of NBA coverage on DuMont; the Saturday afternoon package moved to NBC for the 1954–55 season, mainly because NBC could clear the games on far more stations that DuMont could.

December 17

• The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved color television (using the NTSC standard).

December 24

• Dragnet becomes the first filmed drama to be televised in color each year as a network television program. However, only this one episode, entitled "The Big Little Jesus", is filmed in color during the 1950s; the show returns in the late 1960s in color. [I'm not even sure what this is supposed to mean, but hey, it's Dragnet.]

December 25

• The Amami Islands were returned to Japan after 8 years of United States military occupation.

December 30

• The first color television sets went on sale for about US$1,175 – RCA Model 5 Prototype, which became CT-100, and Admiral C1617A.

_______

Also in December, "The Things That I Used to Do" by Guitar Slim is released (#23 US; #1 R&B; included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll).

_______

Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki pages for the months, as well as the year in film, music, television, and comics. Sections separated from timeline entries are mine.

_______

I wonder if there is some truth to this, because clay has been used to treat algal blooms. If silicon suppresses algae, then siphoning it out could cause a red tide. Theoretically. I guess.

Wouldn't algae be a food source, though?

He should have asked Clark to do it.

Not his turf.

Wasn't there a similar oversight involving Super Breath before?

I believe so, though perhaps not as direct a case as this one, where he literally flew across the country to borrow a fan. But in another episode, he used Super Breath to clean up an entire planet's atmosphere!

Isn't that the sort of thing that actually causes Red Tide?

The red tide is a side effect of taking nutrients out of the water; he's putting some back in.

Can't Aquaman talk to starfish?

He should be able to.

These guys have a lot of transportation options.

Yeah, I actually got confused for a moment when the little saucer spat out a littler saucer.

And now I'm seeing Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the JSF, and a bunch of aliens smacking themselves in the forehead with the heels of their hands.

The SF didn't know what the aliens were up to until the end. The aliens said that they hadn't developed the technology to siphon silicon from beach sand, but you'd think they'd have been aware of the option.

According to Google, $58.80 in 2023 dollars. Not a big spender, but not cheap.

Yeah, not bad, though modern restaurant inflation is becoming a joke.

On the subject of 1970s inflation, there was a cute bit in the MTM episode that I forgot to note--Lou telling of how his mother has always sent him $25 in a card, with which he used to buy a suit, but now buys a steak.

Has he tried calling the restaurant? The easiest thing would be for them to retract and resubmit it, I think.

The common-sense option that Roy repeatedly put forth was that Johnny could have saved himself a lot of trouble by just writing a letter. That seemed pretty archaic, as nowadays handling it online or via phone would be the most efficient options.

That's weird. I wonder if this is based on something that actually happened.

I was wondering if that was something that credit card companies might have done in the day. Seems like a distracting pretense today...though sometimes infomercials and such will identify a customer service rep by name as a "personal" touch. ("Call Judy or one of our other customer service representatives...")

Didn't his age come up before in terms of his military service? Was he supposed to have served in WWII? Or was it Korea?

An early reference indicated that his time in the service was postwar; but later references established him as having served in WWII, which this birthday fits.

Yeah, it seems like she was part of the gang from the beginning.

She was introduced in this season's premiere, but that and her next appearance were skipped by Catchy when I was recording this season...so it's the first time she's popped up here.

It wouldn't be Christmas without Howard for a minute.

He also had a bit earlier in the episode, during the breakfast, I think, establishing that he was supposed to be on a flight for the holiday.

Maybe if Howard had been alone and they invited him to stay....

I was anticipating that.

Odd, since it's the perfect opportunity for an Arch versus Meathead debate over religion.

They got into an argument about the insincerity of Christmas cards...Mike's example in this case actually being a mail advertisement in the form of a holiday card.

A kid with a case of tapes in a pineapple delivery van... seems like the kind of thing that would make a cop suspicious.

These cases were the size of a large toolbox...the sort of thing people probably did lug around their tape collections in back in the day.

I loved Hong Kong Phooey.

I thought that might have been a little after your time.

So you could say, in a sense, Cousin Oliver was conceived with this episode.

Yes, I think it was the first episode; or at least one of the first couple.

I wanna say it was the second, but I'm not sure offhand.

 

[RJDiogenes]

The UNIVAC 1103 is the first commercial computer to use random-access memory.

And so it begins....

On October 10, "St. George and the Dragonet" by Stan Freberg tops the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart.

I love these things. I think the guy who played Quisp is in this one. And I think he was also in the Bullwinkle show.

Cuban revolutionary and future leader Fidel Castro delivered one of his most famous speeches, "History Will Absolve Me"

I wonder if they put that on his tombstone.

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approved a top-secret document of the United States National Security Council, NSC 162/2, which stated that the United States' arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the Communist threat.

This was a secret?

Captain Marvel Adventures (1941 series), with issue #150, canceled by Fawcett Comics.

Because of a lawsuit by DC. This was a total miscarriage of justice.

First Indochina War: Operation Castor – In a massive airborne operation in Vietnam, French forces establish a base at Điện Biên Phủ.

See also: "Slippery Slope."

Puerto Williams was founded in Chile as the southernmost settlement of the world.

I wonder why. It must have been chilly. Pun intended.

On November 28, "Stranger in Paradise" by Tony Bennett charts (#2 US).

A good thirty years before Lady Gaga was even born.

A visit to Iran by U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon sparked several days of riots

Dude just spreads happiness and cheer wherever his feet touch the Earth.

Dragnet becomes the first filmed drama to be televised in color each year as a network television program. However, only this one episode, entitled "The Big Little Jesus", is filmed in color during the 1950s; the show returns in the late 1960s in color. [I'm not even sure what this is supposed to mean, but hey, it's Dragnet.]

I don't get it either. That video isn't even in color.

The first color television sets went on sale for about US$1,175 – RCA Model 5 Prototype, which became CT-100, and Admiral C1617A.

Kind of funny to think of people buying color TVs in 1953. It must have been like owning a C64 in the 80s.

Also in December, "The Things That I Used to Do" by Guitar Slim is released (#23 US; #1 R&B; included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll).

That's pretty nice. I'll take their word for it that it shaped Rock'n'Roll.

Wouldn't algae be a food source, though?

I think the kind that causes red tide is poisonous.

Not his turf.

True.

The red tide is a side effect of taking nutrients out of the water; he's putting some back in.

I thought it was the opposite. Okay, I'm going to break down and check Wiki. Hold on. Hm hmmm. Yeah, it looks like they're caused by increased nutrients, either from human activities or ocean upwelling. It also confirms that some of them are toxic (or can use up all the oxygen in the area).

The aliens said that they hadn't developed the technology to siphon silicon from beach sand, but you'd think they'd have been aware of the option.

You'd think the sand option would be easier, although I suppose if they were a water-based life form then maybe not.

Yeah, not bad, though modern restaurant inflation is becoming a joke.

That's for sure.

On the subject of 1970s inflation, there was a cute bit in the MTM episode that I forgot to note--Lou telling of how his mother has always sent him $25 in a card, with which he used to buy a suit, but now buys a steak.

Johnny's not taking a date to that restaurant.

The common-sense option that Roy repeatedly put forth was that Johnny could have saved himself a lot of trouble by just writing a letter. That seemed pretty archaic, as nowadays handling it online or via phone would be the most efficient options.

And it would take forever. His card would probably be cancelled before the problem was fixed.

I was wondering if that was something that credit card companies might have done in the day. Seems like a distracting pretense today...though sometimes infomercials and such will identify a customer service rep by name as a "personal" touch. ("Call Judy or one of our other customer service representatives...")

True, I didn't think about that. I know that Pulp magazines used to use "house names" for their writers for certain characters, but I've never heard of credit card companies doing it. Maybe there was some minor scandal or conspiracy theory at the time.

They got into an argument about the insincerity of Christmas cards...Mike's example in this case actually being a mail advertisement in the form of a holiday card.

Kind of low-hanging fruit for All In The Family. They must have been going easy on the audience for Christmas.

These cases were the size of a large toolbox...the sort of thing people probably did lug around their tape collections in back in the day.

Yeah, I suppose so.

I thought that might have been a little after your time.

I would have been twelve, so that was probably the last year I paid attention to Saturday morning cartoons.

I wanna say it was the second, but I'm not sure offhand.

That sounds about right.