The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

[Nerys Myk]

Well, there's this (Paul to John)

Followed by this (John to Paul)

Then this (George to John and Paul)

and finally this (Ringo to Paul)

Where does this fit in?

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Where does this fit in?

I would say it's an olive branch to John. We've both had our say, now let's get on with the business of making music.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Three months later, Julie gets an unexpected visit from Mary Ellen--a cousin she doesn't know on her father's side of the family

They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel with the old friends and relatives. "You don't know me, but according to ancestry.com we had a common ancestor in Mesopotamia."

Mary Ellen's made a stop on her way to Fort Ord in San Francisco, and has picked up viral pneumonia on her journey, a doctor confining her to bedrest.

This seems pretty random.

the Mods actually put quitting their jobs on the table to not only strongarm Greer into letting them investigate the situation, but to have him procure money from the department to fund the traveling involved!

Have the FBI and/or MPs not been contacted?

learning from Army doctor Col. Brody (Bruce Kirby) how the injury for which Jimmy was discharged didn't involve brain damage, but that he may potentially be suffering hysterical amnesia

Did it involve him changing height, weight, eye color, dental history, and other personal details, doc?

Linc flies out to South Dakota, where he tracks down and questions the bus driver (uncredited Karl Lukas), who tells of how he found the vet crying. Tracing the route of the bus, Linc talks to a general store owner (Dabbs Greer), who saw Jimmy switch buses to return to Sioux Falls from whence he came.

That's some pretty good legwork.

After Linc returns to town bearing pie from Mrs. Styles

Nice.

he and Pete visit the warehouse where Jim works and are met by the pier boss, Frank Morrissey (Bill Zuckert) and a couple of strongarm types whom they start to put up a fight against.

A little bit of a red herring here, implying that there's some criminal activity going on.

Linc, having been studying the high school football photo of Jim that Pete was showing around, stakes out Jim's apartment and takes pictures with a telephoto lens--witnessing as Jim passes Mary Ellen, who left bed to go see him, and neither recognizes the other.

Linc is doing all the heavy lifting when it comes to detective work.

a paraplegic vet from Jim's platoon

A nice touch of gritty realism.

The male Mods tail Janet to a rendezvous with Pete at a boat that he's hiding out on, where she confronts him with having lied to her about his identity.

I guess the wedding is off-- which is a little unusual for a show like this. Usually all is hugs and forgiveness.

an acrobatic chase across the tops of boats ensues that gives Lucy a chance to play Errol Flynn.
View attachment 39842

He's got radioactive blood!

The Mods chase Gerard up the dock as the Stylses are arriving, and Gerard breaks down to them about how he buried Jim when he was killed in combat and took his identity because Jim was about to be sent home...

So the Stylses are learning here for the first time that their son is dead. That must have been quite a wrencher, unless they already suspected.

The Styleses make some comments indicating that they plan to take parental responsibility for Pete

What kind of responsibility? He's a grown man.

This wasn't a bad episode, but it highlighted a number of the show's recurring storytelling weaknesses: Julie only getting attention in an off-duty capacity

And still barely being in it, despite the hook being her long-lost relative (which is very reminiscent of Linc's long-lost friend last episode).

Greer enabling the Mods' extracurricular activities

I'm wondering why they never encountered anybody conducting an official investigation, whether it was the FBI or the Army. I'm not sure who would have jurisdiction if he was discharged and his disappearance involved crossing state lines.

which was dialed up to 11 for the not particularly noteworthy occasion of helping a long-lost relative of the week who wasn't in any kind of danger.

Yeah, there was some unearned drama there, but one thing I did like was that there was no criminal activity to break up or threat to anybody's life to thwart-- it was really just a human-interest story about a Vietnam vet (far fetched though it was).

Finally, the developments that we've been waiting for!

Yes!

but as Mark's receiving his diploma, a pair of plainclothes cops arrest Marty off to the side.

Bad timing, officers.

Mark being concerned that potential employers will mainly be motivated to curry favor with his current boss

We call that "networking" now.

while Ironside sounds a note of regret about losing Mark.

Wow, he's such a softie.

It turns out that Ryan's current case is convicting Marty, an ex-con who's been accused of a safecracking job on the campus.

"He can't be guilty! He helped me with my tassels!"

Ryan explains afterward that he's trying to save the taxpayers some money.

Dropping the charges would be the most cost effective course of action, although I don't think either would result in much of a refund.

Adrian Father (Michael Lerner)

Still not Mrs Walton.

Mark has trouble getting ahold of the Chief, who's taking a driving test! After giving an ample demonstration of just how rusty he is in the Ironsidemobile, the Chief saves the intimidated examiner (Joseph Bernard) the embarrassment by flunking himself, while vowing to return when he's had more practice.

This is weird, because the Chief was driving just fine a few episodes ago. I mean, he crashed, but that wasn't his fault.

Having since gotten his license, Ironside insists that Mark ride with him.

Is this really a major continuity error, or is my memory malfunctioning again?

When they refuse to let it slide, he leaps out the window and threatens to jump from the fire escape, but the Chief gives him a tough talking-down, arguing that he can serve his time and start over again; and afterward underscoring the parallel with how he met Mark.

Did Roger actually have any motive for this crime, other than being the last person we would ever suspect of being the real malefactor?

Given the major series premise adjustments, this one really felt like it wanted to be the season premiere, or at least the first regular episode after the crossover.

So is Mark leaving or is the format changing or something? I never really watched, so I have no idea what's happening.

I think you might be blurring Bo Svenson with Bo Hopkins, the latter of whom is the hillbilly type who's been on recently watched installments of TMS and H5O, AIR.

That is certainly a strong possibility. Looking up Bo Svenson on IMDB, it looks like he did previously play an evil hillbilly on Mod Squad, but that was a couple of seasons ago.

WRONG!!!

See pic posted above.

I'm a prophet.

The latter is more of an answer song, but its album has recently entered the charts, so the single will probably be along soon.

Ah, a little earlier than I would have guessed.

Well, there's this (Paul to John)



Followed by this (John to Paul)



Then this (George to John and Paul)



and finally this (Ringo to Paul)

I've also read and heard that this song



Followed by this song



Is Richard Davies throwing shade at Roger Hodgson for complaining about his upbringing/education.

Musical conversations. I wonder how many songs are direct responses to other songs, as opposed to just being inspired by them.

 

[The Old Mixer]

This seems pretty random.

I think it was supposed to motivate the Mods to continue her legwork for her.

Have the FBI and/or MPs not been contacted?

Over what at this point? A discharged vet going someplace other than back to his hometown without telling his parents?

Did it involve him changing height, weight, eye color, dental history, and other personal details, doc?

The Army doc did a handwave about bureaucracy when questioned about how closely they identified Fake Jim. It was later emphasized that Gerard had to bury the real Jim, whose remains would have gotten dental X-rays.

A little bit of a red herring here, implying that there's some criminal activity going on.

Fake Jim actually gave his fiancée and prospective father-in-law a story about being in trouble with the law...over gambling or some such, I think.

Linc is doing all the heavy lifting when it comes to detective work.

Next week he shows up Greer...

I guess the wedding is off-- which is a little unusual for a show like this. Usually all is hugs and forgiveness.

Janet was supportively hugging him at the end.

So the Stylses are learning here for the first time that their son is dead. That must have been quite a wrencher, unless they already suspected.

They started coming to that realization when they learned that Gerard was the survivor rather than Jim.

What kind of responsibility? He's a grown man.

Support, letting him be a surrogate Jim. They were commenting how kids are hard to come by and you don't throw a good one away.

And still barely being in it, despite the hook being her long-lost relative (which is very reminiscent of Linc's long-lost friend last episode).

She got more beats than I got into, but she wasn't doing the legwork. A little story about her grandmother's funeral and how she wanted to go to South Dakota at the time; her reaction to Aunt Eva remembering who she was.

"He can't be guilty! He helped me with my tassels!"

The implication was that they were already friends with Marty and that he took some responsibility around the campus for the students, whom he saw as his surrogate kids.

This is weird, because the Chief was driving just fine a few episodes ago. I mean, he crashed, but that wasn't his fault.

Is this really a major continuity error, or is my memory malfunctioning again?

I think you're remembering recently watched Season 7 episodes. We'd skipped from catching up with Season 5 last hiatus to picking up Season 7 as "live" 50th anniversary viewing this past season, at which point Mark was a member of the force and the Chief was driving. We're now filling in the gap with Season 6 to see how all that came about.

Did Roger actually have any motive for this crime, other than being the last person we would ever suspect of being the real malefactor?

First person I suspected when Mark got the description from the chemical company guy--"Oh, he must be the character Mark was palling with at the ceremony." He wanted some quick dough to get ahead. That was the weak spot of the episode. He threw away his career and then cried about it going down the drain; and he was played too sympathetically considering that he was leaving Marty on the hook for what he did.

So is Mark leaving or is the format changing or something? I never really watched, so I have no idea what's happening.

We'll have to see how his training plays out, but we know he's on the force and a member of the team the following season.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Musical conversations. I wonder how many songs are direct responses to other songs, as opposed to just being inspired by them.

Here's one I can think of off the top of my head.
10CC's first album had a song called 'Clockwork Creep' about a time bomb on an airplane.

Their fourth album had a song called 'I'm Mandy Fly Me', which opens with a portion of 'Clockwork Creep' and tells the story of the passengers on the plane.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

50th Anniversary Viewing

_______

Ironside
"Amy Prentiss: AKA The Chief"
Originally aired May 23, 1974
Two-hour backdoor pilot Season 7 finale

A woman's promotion to chief of detectives sparks controversy. This two-hour episode serves as the pilot for the series Amy Prentiss.

At the risk of totally confusing RJ, we're now on the belated last bit of business for Ironside Season 7 and the 1973-74 TV season in general...not to be confused with the hiatus back-viewing of Season 6, which is still in fall of '72. And the onscreen episode title literally reads as above, whether or not it did in original broadcast.

Undercover cop Lori Brecken (Susan Damante) meets a man named Richard (Lee Paul) in a seedy bar to negotiate a large drug purchase for "her girls," hoping to meet with a big shot named Zino Bates; while detectives Bill Parkins (SHATmannn!) and Joe Lee (Jack Soo) try to surveil from outside via damaged listening device audio. Lori is separated from her partner, Viola (Momo Yashima), and taken on a walk to a nearby house. Despite a dragnet of undercover operatives staking out the area and his own attempt at catching up with them, Parkins manages to lose them in the maze of outdoor stairways. Lori is brought to a junkie named Mervyn Jones (Ian Sander), who assaults and rapes her off-camera while a third man, Benny Folger (Mario Roccuzzo), searches her purse. Going door to door, Parkins eventually finds the place from the noise being made and busts in. The culprits escape out the sliding door (Folger dramatically breaking through it for the others), though Parkins manages to shoot Jones from the balcony.

The Chief and Fran are returning from a fundraising speech when squad car activity leads them to the scene, where Parkins fills in Ironside, who takes Lori to the hospital as Jones is taken in an ambulance. Folger reports to Bates (Zitto Kazánn), swearing that the police won't find anything in his pad to implicate Zino. Lori is visited at the hospital by Lt. Amy Prentiss (Jessica Walter), who subsequently asks Bill some tough questions about how the situation went so wrong.

Jones having died, Lt. Carl Reese heads a small review board over the circumstances of the shooting. The Chief is present as Prentiss and Lt. Tom Hubbard (Barry Atwater) are brought to Commissioner Randall (Gene Lyons making his final appearance in the frequently recurring role prior to his death in July), who informs them that they scored highest in an examination of who should replace the chief of police, who's retiring prematurely due to health issues. While Prentiss scores highest...

Hubbard: Well, at least that tennis player isn't alone.​

...the commission has expectedly chosen Hubbard for the post, and he's obligated by regulations to offer Prentiss the opportunity of filling his current post, chief of detectives (Ironside's old job)...though Amy gets the impression that he expects her to turn it down. Afterward a reporter named Crystal Nathan (Pippa Scott) takes Prentiss aside and, having deduced the situation she's in, encourages her to take the position as a symbol for women's rights, though Amy doesn't want to accept it on those grounds. She asks the Chief's advice at the Cave, and he builds her up to it via reverse psychology, emphasizing the sexist adversity that she'd have to contend with.

Crystal Scott puts a story in the paper about sex discrimination in the police force, and when a bruised, jaw-wired Lori comes to Amy's office looking for work, Prentiss sits an Officer Irma Ferris (Scottie MacGregor) down at her desk and tells her that it's hers. Prentiss announces her decision to Randall, Hubbard, and Ironside at the Cave. Hubbard is clearly displeased, but then switches gears to making the most of it. After the public announcement is made and Prentiss has stolen some of Hubbard's media spotlight, she dresses down Crystal Nathan for misquoting her in the article, and emphasizes that she prefers to be addressed as Mrs. (her husband having died during a hurricane in the Coast Guard ten years prior).

Prentiss immediately heads to Folger's pad to consult with Ed and detective Sgt. Rod Pena (Art Metrano), who are trying to find evidence that shots were fired at Parkins first. Having been on the scene to see what Parkins was faced with, back at HQ Prentiss orders Reese to get his investigation wrapped up quickly one way or the other, as Bill is needed back on the job. Relegated to a non-field assignment during the investigation, Parkins has been returning to the dive bar on his own time to lean on the bartender (Ron Thompson) for info about Richard. Chief Prentiss holds a meeting of her male and largely middle-aged immediate subordinates, who've decorated her new office with lacy pink curtains as a gag. She makes it clear that she intends to keep Parkins on as assistant chief of detectives.

The pilot movie having been split into two episodes for syndication, the first part ends on the awkward note of Prentiss questioning Lt. Sam Burton (Robert Webber) about how he's been asleep at the switch on an investigation of a serial assailant of elderly couples dubbed the Money Belt Man after the weapon he uses. Later scenes with the character imply that he's a potential love interest for Amy.

Reese drops in on Prentiss at lunch to inform her that Parkins has been cleared for duty and hand in a request for transfer. Prentiss apologizes for strongarming him and makes it clear that she needs good me like him and Parkins backing her up, ultimately offering to sit on the request to give him a chance to change his mind. Friction occurs between the chief and her assistant when Bill objects to being taken off the narco case so he can handle the various other cases that she's less familiar with. While Parkins is making a third visit to the bartender, Lori's gun turns up at a pawn shop and the address leads Lee and another detective to Richard, who's tied up and being interrogated by Parkins.


Chief Prentiss finds a mass transfer request on her desk, ostensibly over Parkins having pulled his gun on Lee at the apartment door. Realizing that he set the example, Reese takes back his request in front of everyone, and most of the others relent. While Prentiss doesn't approve of Parkins's actions, she impresses him by getting tough with Terry Langley (Jim Murtaugh), a prosecutor from the D.A.'s office, on his behalf. Based on a murky allegation from Richard, Amy takes a look at Bill's house to find $500 in marked bills from Lori's purse uncreatively hidden, which she agrees is a frame-up. Meanwhile, Team Ironside (Remember them?) has turned up that Zino's involved with a large heroin shipment being brought into Frisco, and The Chief butters the new chief up to get more men assigned to his end of things.

Benny Folger turns up dead in a river, following which Prentiss is present as Pena questions Richard, who's willing to squeal without an attorney because he figures Zino wants to off him, too. Detective Tony Russell (Steve Sandor) turns up a cabbie believed to have dropped Folger off near Zino's place the night of the incident. She relieves Parkins of duty for trying to interrogate Richard before she got there, and offers Pena his job. Based on Prentiss's deduction from forensic evidence that the Money Belt Man was actually using a diving belt, Burton turns up the assault weapon, promising to soon bring in its owner. Ironside leads a large stake-out of the children's amusement park that Bates run as his legitimate business front, and the officers witness a convergence of potential dealers to a trailer. The dealers are busted coming out and found to be carrying heroin in milk cartons delivered by a truck that Ironside was onto. At Bates's home, Amy and Pena liberate the housekeeper, Ruby North (Paulene Myers), from the bodyguards constantly minding her, so that she can testify as a witness to Folger's murder.

In the coda, the last holdout, Tony Russell, withdraws his transfer request, and addresses Prentiss as "Chief" as they head off to an assignment.

Amy Prentiss aired the following TV season as one of the rotating features in the NBC Mystery Movie wheel series, but was canceled after only three 2-hour episodes, which aired between December 1974 and February 1975. The opening segment of this backdoor pilot was making me think of Police Woman, which had its pilot aired in March 1974 and went to series in September '74.

_______

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Joe Lee (Jack Soo)

Soon to move to New York and join Barney Miller at the 12th Precinct.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I think it was supposed to motivate the Mods to continue her legwork for her.

Because she was basically a complete stranger....

Over what at this point? A discharged vet going someplace other than back to his hometown without telling his parents?

Well, he was missing for three months, so I assumed they reported it to somebody. Kind of weird if they didn't.

The Army doc did a handwave about bureaucracy when questioned about how closely they identified Fake Jim. It was later emphasized that Gerard had to bury the real Jim, whose remains would have gotten dental X-rays.

They should have dropped a line in the coda about the doc being suspended and investigated for incompetence.

Fake Jim actually gave his fiancée and prospective father-in-law a story about being in trouble with the law...over gambling or some such, I think.

This guy is in serious need of some mental health care.

Next week he shows up Greer...

He wants Greer's job.

Janet was supportively hugging him at the end.

Ah, okay, that's nice. I hope she was encouraging him to get some mental health care.

Support, letting him be a surrogate Jim. They were commenting how kids are hard to come by and you don't throw a good one away.

That's very kind and uplifting, but... he's not a kid, he's a seriously misbehaving adult. How do we even know that he didn't kill Real Jim and take his place just to get out of Vietnam?

She got more beats than I got into, but she wasn't doing the legwork. A little story about her grandmother's funeral and how she wanted to go to South Dakota at the time; her reaction to Aunt Eva remembering who she was.

At least she wasn't on vacation.

The implication was that they were already friends with Marty and that he took some responsibility around the campus for the students, whom he saw as his surrogate kids.

Ah, he's a Boothby.

I think you're remembering recently watched Season 7 episodes. We'd skipped from catching up with Season 5 last hiatus to picking up Season 7 as "live" 50th anniversary viewing this past season, at which point Mark was a member of the force and the Chief was driving. We're now filling in the gap with Season 6 to see how all that came about.

Okay, I'm unstuck in time again.

First person I suspected when Mark got the description from the chemical company guy--"Oh, he must be the character Mark was palling with at the ceremony." He wanted some quick dough to get ahead. That was the weak spot of the episode. He threw away his career and then cried about it going down the drain; and he was played too sympathetically considering that he was leaving Marty on the hook for what he did.

Yeah, kind of a bad plot for such a pivotal episode.

Here's one I can think of off the top of my head.
10CC's first album had a song called 'Clockwork Creep' about a time bomb on an airplane.

Their fourth album had a song called 'I'm Mandy Fly Me', which opens with a portion of 'Clockwork Creep' and tells the story of the passengers on the plane.

Fascinating. I wonder what the story is there, especially since there was three albums between the two songs. Also, the "Fly Me" title is based on popular airline ads in the early 70s.

I'll be back for the new episode of Ironside. I don't want to rush through it.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I forgot to mention that I heard that Don Perlin died last week. His run on Werewolf by Night was one of my all-time favorite books. RIP, Mr Perlin.

At the risk of totally confusing RJ

we're now on the belated last bit of business for Ironside Season 7 and the 1973-74 TV season in general...not to be confused with the hiatus back-viewing of Season 6, which is still in fall of '72. And the onscreen episode title literally reads as above, whether or not it did in original broadcast.

hoping to meet with a big shot named Zino Bates

But he never gets there because he can only go halfway at a time.

Bill Parkins (SHATmannn!)

Hey, he got a job!

Joe Lee (Jack Soo)

Detective Yemana, as Darren points out.

try to surveil from outside via damaged listening device audio.

Which seems to have no plot relevance.

who assaults and rapes her off-camera

Why? Because they made her as a cop? In any case, that must have been pretty intense for regular Ironside viewers.

when a bruised, jaw-wired Lori comes to Amy's office looking for work, Prentiss sits an Officer Irma Ferris (Scottie MacGregor) down at her desk and tells her that it's hers.

Wait, what happened? Prentiss blew off the rape victim?

Prentiss announces her decision to Randall, Hubbard, and Ironside at the Cave.

Everybody comes to Bob's.

she dresses down Crystal Nathan for misquoting her in the article

She's determined to not be political.

Chief Prentiss holds a meeting of her male and largely middle-aged immediate subordinates, who've decorated her new office with lacy pink curtains as a gag.

She then informs them that they'll be patrolling the park in drag for the foreseeable future.

Lori's gun turns up at a pawn shop and the address leads Lee and another detective to Richard, who's tied up and being interrogated by Parkins.

So is it implied that Parkins is like this always or is he off the rails because he wasn't able to save Lori?

Chief Prentiss finds a mass transfer request on her desk, ostensibly over Parkins having pulled his gun on Lee at the apartment door.

I imagine Internal Affairs would be looking into that.

Team Ironside (Remember them?)

Aren't they in the future?

She relieves Parkins of duty for trying to interrogate Richard before she got there

So she gets tough with the DA on his behalf and then relieves him of duty?

Based on Prentiss's deduction from forensic evidence that the Money Belt Man was actually using a diving belt, Burton turns up the assault weapon, promising to soon bring in its owner.

So this was just a subplot to show the Chief hit the ground running.

The dealers are busted coming out and found to be carrying heroin in milk cartons delivered by a truck that Ironside was onto. At Bates's home, Amy and Pena liberate the housekeeper, Ruby North (Paulene Myers), from the bodyguards constantly minding her, so that she can testify as a witness to Folger's murder.

Well, I have to say that was pretty mediocre for a pilot. The plot was straightforward and the resolution underwhelming. It wasn't clear to me who the main cast of the new show would be, although it may have been more obvious in the viewing. The Women's Lib angle of the show was handled well, this being 1974. The characters of Lori and Parkins seemed to be a couple of major loose ends.

Amy Prentiss aired the following TV season as one of the rotating features in the NBC Mystery Movie wheel series, but was canceled after only three 2-hour episodes, which aired between December 1974 and February 1975. The opening segment of this backdoor pilot was making me think of Police Woman, which had its pilot aired in March 1974 and went to series in September '74.

Get Christie Love also premiered in 74, shortly before Police Woman, and they both did well. Based on this pilot, it seems like the problem was that the main character just wasn't really thought through enough.

 

[The Old Mixer]

50 Years Ago This Week

May 26

• Almost 800 girls were injured, 14 seriously, in a human crush at a David Cassidy concert at London's White City Stadium. One Cassidy fan, 14-year-old Bernadette Whelan, became comatose from traumatic asphyxiation, and died of her injuries four days later.
• Johnny Rutherford won the 1974 Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

May 27

• Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was inaugurated as President of France at the Élysée Palace. His four-minute inaugural address was one of the briefest in history, and had only 12 sentences. Five hours later, Giscard d'Estaing appointed Jacques Chirac, the Minister of the Interior, as Prime Minister.
• Funeral services for Duke Ellington attracted 12,500 people to New York City's Cathedral of St. John the Divine, with the Suffragan Bishop of New York presiding. McHenry Boatwright, Ella Fitzgerald, Earl Hines, Ray Nance, Lou Rawls, Joe Williams, and Mary Lou Williams performed during the service. Present also were Pearl Bailey (representing President Nixon), Count Basie and Jack Dempsey.

May 28

• The Magic Show, a one-act Broadway musical built around the act of illusionist and stage magician Doug Henning (who could neither sing nor dance), premiered at the Cort Theatre for the first of 1,920 performances, running until December 31, 1978.

May 29

• The United States announced that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had persuaded representatives of both Israel and Syria to reach an agreement on separation of their troops and a pullback within the Golan Heights.
• Lightning struck and killed four teenage girls, ranging in age from 14 to 15, in the St. Louis suburb of Manchester, Missouri, who were on their way home on the last day of classes at John F. Kennedy Catholic High School.
• French publisher Maurice Girodias was ordered to leave the U.S. after he had announced that he planned to publish a book titled President Kissinger. The Immigration and Naturalization Service had received an anonymous complaint that permission for Girodias to remain in the U.S. had expired in January.

[I'm thinking maybe it was Mr. John Smith at 3:40. T-minus 72 days and counting.]​

May 30

• NASA launched India's ATS-6, sixth of the Applications Technology Satellites, the world's first direct broadcast satellite, and the most powerful communications satellite launched up to that time.

May 31

• The Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria, negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, for the separation of the two nations' military forces in the Golan Heights, was signed at the Palace of Nations in Geneva, by Major General Herzl Shafir of Israel and Brigadier General Adnan Tayara of Syria. The firing of artillery on the Israel-Syria front ended at 1:15 pm Israeli time. The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 350, establishing the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) to monitor the ceasefire.

June

• Wings travel to Nashville for an extended period of recording.

June 1

• The U.S. medical magazine Emergency Medicine published "Pop Goes the Cafe Coronary," an informal article by thoracic surgeon Henry Heimlich, describing the effective use of abdominal thrusts to dislodge an object blocking an airway to save a person choking on food. On June 11, Arthur Snider, science columnist for the Chicago Daily News, wrote about Dr. Heimlich's findings, opening with the sentence, "A leading surgeon invites the public to try a method he has developed for forcing out food stuck in the windpipe of persons choking to death," in a story reprinted nationwide, and on June 19, 1974, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that retired restaurant owner Isaac Piha, who had read the Snider article in the Seattle paper, used the procedure to rescue a choking victim, Irene Bogachus, in Bellevue, Washington, a story reprinted in other newspapers.

Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "The Streak," Ray Stevens
2. "Band on the Run," Paul McCartney & Wings
3. "Dancing Machine," Jackson 5
4. "You Make Me Feel Brand New," The Stylistics
5. "The Entertainer," Music from "The Sting" feat. Marvin Hamlisch on Piano
6. "Midnight at the Oasis," Maria Muldaur
7. "Sundown," Gordon Lightfoot
8. "Help Me," Joni Mitchell
9. "Billy, Don't Be a Hero," Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods
10. "Oh Very Young," Cat Stevens
11. "For the Love of Money," The O'Jays
12. "My Girl Bill," Jim Stafford
13. "The Loco-Motion," Grand Funk
14. "The Show Must Go On," Three Dog Night
15. "Be Thankful for What You Got," William DeVaughn
16. "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing," Stevie Wonder
17. "I Won't Last a Day Without You," Carpenters
18. "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long," Chicago
19. "I'm in Love," Aretha Franklin
20. "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)," Olivia Newton-John
21. "Bennie and the Jets," Elton John
22. "Hollywood Swinging," Kool & The Gang
23. "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)," MFSB feat. The Three Degrees
24. "Just Don't Want to Be Lonely," The Main Ingredient
25. "Tubular Bells," Mike Oldfield
26. "You Won't See Me," Anne Murray
27. "Haven't Got Time for the Pain," Carly Simon
28. "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me," Gladys Knight & The Pips
29. "Come and Get Your Love," Redbone
30. "Save the Last Dance for Me," The DeFranco Family feat. Tony DeFranco
31. "One Hell of a Woman," Mac Davis

33. "Mighty Mighty," Earth, Wind & Fire
34. "Hooked on a Feeling," Blue Swede
35. "The Payback, Pt. 1," James Brown
36. "Another Park, Another Sunday," The Doobie Brothers
37. "My Mistake (Was to Love You)," Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye
38. "Oh, My My," Ringo Starr

40. "On and On," Gladys Knight & The Pips

42. "I'm Coming Home," The Spinners
43. "The Air That I Breathe," The Hollies
44. "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock," Bill Haley & His Comets

49. "Sideshow," Blue Magic
50. "Let It Ride," Bachman-Turner Overdrive

52. "Already Gone," Eagles

54. "Keep On Singing," Helen Reddy
55. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," Steely Dan
56. "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song," Jim Croce

59. "Train of Thought," Cher
60. "La Grange," ZZ Top

65. "Rock and Roll Heaven," The Righteous Brothers
66. "Finally Got Myself Together (I'm a Changed Man)," The Impressions

71. "Rock the Boat," Hues Corporation

73. "Radar Love," Golden Earring
74. "Takin' Care of Business," Bachman-Turner Overdrive
75. "Seasons in the Sun," Terry Jacks
76. "Waterloo," ABBA

80. "Come Monday," Jimmy Buffett
81. "Keep on Smilin'," Wet Willie

85. "Rebel Rebel," David Bowie

87. "Annie's Song," John Denver

93. "Rock Your Baby," George McCrae

98. "Please Come to Boston," Dave Loggins

Leaving the chart:

• "Lookin' for a Love," Bobby Womack (17 weeks)
• "Piano Man," Billy Joel (14 weeks)
• "Sunshine on My Shoulders," John Denver (18 weeks)
• "A Very Special Love Song," Charlie Rich (14 weeks)

Recent and new on the chart:

"Train of Thought," Cher

(May 25; #27 US; #9 AC)

"Waterloo," ABBA
(#6 US; #1 UK; 1974 Eurovision Song Contest winner)

"Please Come to Boston," Dave Loggins

(#5 US; #1 AC)

"Rock Your Baby," George McCrae

(#1 US the weeks of July 13 and 20, 1974; #19 AC; #1 R&B; #1 UK)

"Annie's Song," John Denver

(#1 US the weeks of July 27 and Aug. 3, 1974; #1 AC; #42 Country)

_______

Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month and Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day, with minor editing as needed.

_______

Well, he was missing for three months, so I assumed they reported it to somebody. Kind of weird if they didn't.

They tried going through channels, but as you point out, he was a grown adult, not going back to his family didn't mean he was a missing person.

They should have dropped a line in the coda about the doc being suspended and investigated for incompetence.

Col. Brody (reading a file): He was picked up by a medevac chopper after his platoon was cut to pieces by the Viet Cong. They flew him to Da Nang and the hospital put him on a transport plane and sent him to us.
Linc: His wounds weren't that bad, why send him back to the States?
Brody: He was due for discharge in a month, and the examining doctor probably figured he'd give the kid a break and send him home. It happens.
Pete: What about an ID?
Brody (looking it up): Arrived with dog tags.
Pete: Anybody could steal dog tags, I mean something with a photograph and fingerprints.
Brody: Lost in battle. The Army made him a new set while he was in here.
Linc: Now pictures and prints, they were sent on to Washington and nobody bothered to check the file?
Brody: You got a year? I'll tell you about bureaucracy.

This guy is in serious need of some mental health care.

That much was never in doubt.

That's very kind and uplifting, but... he's not a kid, he's a seriously misbehaving adult. How do we even know that he didn't kill Real Jim and take his place just to get out of Vietnam?

It wasn't played that way.

Pete: Mr. and Mrs. Styles? The Army will try and find your son and bring him home.
Eva Styles (looking at the grieving Pete Gerard): What will happen to that boy?
Pete: That's up to the Army.
Linc: I could find out for you if you want.
Fred Styles: Such a waste. [Turning to Eva] Children are not easy to come by.
Eva: You don't throw them away.

Ah, he's a Boothby.

Yeah, that's it.

But he never gets there because he can only go halfway at a time.

Not Capped.

Hey, he got a job!

We've been seeing him around in various shows since '69.

Which seems to have no plot relevance.

A sign that things were going wrong, and may have hampered their ability to track her.

Why? Because they made her as a cop?

Apparently.

Wait, what happened? Prentiss blew off the rape victim?

No, the rape victim inspired her to take the job. She was sitting the other officer down at her own desk to take it over for her.

To clarify the chain of command before Amy took the promotion, she was in charge of female detectives, and Lori and her partner were on loan to Parkins for the narco operation.

She then informs them that they'll be patrolling the park in drag for the foreseeable future.

So is it implied that Parkins is like this always or is he off the rails because he wasn't able to save Lori?

The latter, I thought.

Aren't they in the future?

If you mean Season 6 Team Ironside, the past.

So she gets tough with the DA on his behalf and then relieves him of duty?

I might have missed a beat here informing her decision. As I recall, she got to a point where she felt like he was playing her, but I wasn't clear why.

I actually watched this about a month ago, as my original recording was expiring; but had forgotten that I'd rerecorded it. The way Frndly works, you can have multiple recordings of the same episode stacked up, but they only show up as one episode in your inventory, with the newer recording taking over when the older one expires. I've been recording things for the next 50th anniversary season and rerecording when able so I don't lose the later-season episodes before I get to them. Between MeTV and FeTV both having Adam-12 in frequent rotation, a rolling rerecording of its Season 7 has been an ongoing thing.

So this was just a subplot to show the Chief hit the ground running.

And potentially set up the implied romantic interest, I would have thought...but apparently he didn't come back.

It wasn't clear to me who the main cast of the new show would be, although it may have been more obvious in the viewing.

Looking at IMDb, of the characters who appeared in the backdoor pilot, Metrano and Steve Sandor. Oddly, Johnny Seven was also a regular in the new series, but as a new character rather than Lt. Reese. Apparently Shatner returned for the first episode. And an interesting tidbit, another series regular was a young Helen Hunt as Prentiss's daughter, who wasn't even referenced in the pilot that I caught.

The characters of Lori and Parkins seemed to be a couple of major loose ends.

Lori was a major motivating factor for everyone, and I would have assumed Parkins was one and done, but apparently they had a bit more to do with him.

Based on this pilot, it seems like the problem was that the main character just wasn't really thought through enough.

Apparently the series won Jessica Walter the 1975 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series.

 

[RJDiogenes]

[I'm thinking maybe it was Mr. John Smith at 3:40.

My thought exactly.

NASA launched India's ATS-6, sixth of the Applications Technology Satellites, the world's first direct broadcast satellite, and the most powerful communications satellite launched up to that time.

A mere fifty years ago. I don't think anybody truly anticipated the potential of comsats to spread mental illness.

an informal article by thoracic surgeon Henry Heimlich, describing the effective use of abdominal thrusts to dislodge an object blocking an airway to save a person choking on food.

At this point it would probably be impossible to calculate how many lives have been saved by this little insight.

"Train of Thought," Cher

Not as good as her recent stuff, but fine.

"Waterloo," ABBA

ABBA did some good stuff in this era. This one is notable for the clever historical reference.

"Please Come to Boston," Dave Loggins

Good song and a nice shout out.

"Rock Your Baby," George McCrae

Pleasantly nostalgic.

"Annie's Song," John Denver

Yeah, I love John Denver and I'm not ashamed.

They tried going through channels, but as you point out, he was a grown adult, not going back to his family didn't mean he was a missing person.

Hmm. I thought if somebody didn't turn up where they were supposed to be in 24 hours they could be considered a missing person. Perhaps not.

Col. Brody (reading a file): He was picked up by a medevac chopper after his platoon was cut to pieces by the Viet Cong. They flew him to Da Nang and the hospital put him on a transport plane and sent him to us.
Linc: His wounds weren't that bad, why send him back to the States?
Brody: He was due for discharge in a month, and the examining doctor probably figured he'd give the kid a break and send him home. It happens.
Pete: What about an ID?
Brody (looking it up): Arrived with dog tags.
Pete: Anybody could steal dog tags, I mean something with a photograph and fingerprints.
Brody: Lost in battle. The Army made him a new set while he was in here.
Linc: Now pictures and prints, they were sent on to Washington and nobody bothered to check the file?
Brody: You got a year? I'll tell you about bureaucracy.

Okay, I'll buy that. It has verisimilitude, anyway.

Pete: Mr. and Mrs. Styles? The Army will try and find your son and bring him home.
Eva Styles (looking at the grieving Pete Gerard): What will happen to that boy?
Pete: That's up to the Army.
Linc: I could find out for you if you want.
Fred Styles: Such a waste. [Turning to Eva] Children are not easy to come by.
Eva: You don't throw them away.

I'm less inclined to buy this, but okay. They only have an hour.

Not Capped.

Yeah, that was a bit obscure. Zeno's Paradox.

We've been seeing him around in various shows since '69.

I know, I'm just teasing. Good old Shatner.

A sign that things were going wrong, and may have hampered their ability to track her.

That makes sense.

No, the rape victim inspired her to take the job. She was sitting the other officer down at her own desk to take it over for her.

Ah, I see.

To clarify the chain of command before Amy took the promotion, she was in charge of female detectives, and Lori and her partner were on loan to Parkins for the narco operation.

I was kind of wondering where she was at prior to the promotion.

If you mean Season 6 Team Ironside, the past.

Actually I didn't mean anything except joking about the timeline.

The way Frndly works, you can have multiple recordings of the same episode stacked up, but they only show up as one episode in your inventory, with the newer recording taking over when the older one expires.

Odd, but useful.

And an interesting tidbit, another series regular was a young Helen Hunt as Prentiss's daughter, who wasn't even referenced in the pilot that I caught.

Checking the Wiki page, they may have also changed the husband's backstory, but it's hard to tell. They talk about a plane crash but don't mention the Coast Guard.

Lori was a major motivating factor for everyone, and I would have assumed Parkins was one and done, but apparently they had a bit more to do with him.

I felt like both of them were left dangling a bit.

Apparently the series won Jessica Walter the 1975 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series.

That's very interesting. Based on the pilot, it didn't seem like there was anything to make her stand out in a landscape of characters like Ironside or Pepper Anderson or Christie Love or whoever. I wonder why it was cancelled so quickly. Based on the Wiki page, there weren't even any unaired episodes, so it looks like they didn't give it much of a chance.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Fascinating. I wonder what the story is there, especially since there was three albums between the two songs. Also, the "Fly Me" title is based on popular airline ads in the early 70s.

I looked over 10cc's biography 'The Worst Band in the World' and, what I find interesting is that the author devotes a whole chapter to the making of the first album and the songs within in, yet, for some reason, omits 'Clockwork Creep'.

On the other hand, here is the story behind 'I'm Mandy Fly Me'.

'Don't Hang Up' would go on to become one of the highlights of the new album and rank as one of 10cc's finest creations, as would another new song inspired by an advertising campaign running at the time for the American carrier National Airlines. Their ads featured air stewardesses inviting the viewer onto their planes with slogans such as 'I'm Cheryl. Fly Me,' and 'I'm Laura. Fly Me non-stop to Miami.' The ads had been highly successful but had also caused controversy because of their sexual sub-text. Having seen a tramp looking up at one of these posters, (Eric) Steward and (Graham) Gouldman were inspired to write the song 'I'm Mandy Fly Me'. They made good progress but struggled with the lyrics.
"We all liked the song but Eric and I couldn't nail the lyrics and that happens sometimes,' says Gouldman. 'So, you can say, 'Sod it, we're gonna keep this for ourselves and if some of the lyrics are a bit sub-standard, then so what?' But we never worked like that and we asked Kevin (Godley) to come in an do some of the lyrics, and he did a really great job on them.'
Godley helped craft a great lyric that tells the tale of a man who dreams that the air stewardess saves his life when the plane goes down in shark-infested waters, a neat reference to the film 'Jaws', which had just come out at the time of writing. In addition to finishing off the lyrics Godley also suggested the song needed a new middle section.
'Kevin said, 'I think it just gets too bland, it just goes on, on one level, your verses and your middles. What it needed is someone to go 'Bash!' on the side of your head,' recalls Stewart. 'So, we changed the rhythm completely, and we put two whacking great guitar solos in there, in the middle of this quiet, soft, floaty song. Once we'd got that idea in, it just gelled into something else.'
Recording of the song, however, was less straighforward, with tension building in the studio. Driving past Strawberry one night, Stewart noticed the studio light on. When he dropped in to see what was going on he discovered Lol Creme standing on a chair trying to record a guitar solo for the song. It spoke to a growing sense of disharmony in the band. Despite this, the finished recording was one of 10cc's very best. Beautifully constructed, brilliantly executed, the song starts with the sound of the onboard call button - in reality Zeb White's doorbell - that fades into the sound of a passenger listening to 10cc's 'Clockwork Creep' on the plane.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

"Please Come to Boston," Dave Loggins (#5 US; #1 AC)

Good song and a nice shout out.

I can honestly say that I don't think I've heard of this song until now.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

The U.S. medical magazine Emergency Medicine published "Pop Goes the Cafe Coronary," an informal article by thoracic surgeon Henry Heimlich, describing the effective use of abdominal thrusts to dislodge an object blocking an airway to save a person choking on food. On June 11, Arthur Snider, science columnist for the Chicago Daily News, wrote about Dr. Heimlich's findings, opening with the sentence, "A leading surgeon invites the public to try a method he has developed for forcing out food stuck in the windpipe of persons choking to death," in a story reprinted nationwide, and on June 19, 1974, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that retired restaurant owner Isaac Piha, who had read the Snider article in the Seattle paper, used the procedure to rescue a choking victim, Irene Bogachus, in Bellevue, Washington, a story reprinted in other newspapers.

At this point it would probably be impossible to calculate how many lives have been saved by this little insight.

This story I'm somewhat more familiar with as we were required to learn the Heimlich Maneuver in Junior and Senior High School as part of Health Class.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Musical conversations. I wonder how many songs are direct responses to other songs, as opposed to just being inspired by them.

I've thought of another pair of songs that reference each other.

On 10cc's first album, they opened with 'Johnny Don't Do It' which features a character by the name of Johnny Kowalski aka 'Johnny Angel', a reference to Shelley Fabares hit 'Johnny Angel.'

Then, on the Godley and Creme album 'Birds of Prey', there's a song called 'Cat's Eyes' which again features the character of Johnny Kowalski.

So, it goes like this.

Lyrically, if we were to put the songs in some semblance of order, 'Cats Eyes' would be first, as it features Johnny working in Joe's Garage having an affair with the boss's wife. He hasn't adopted the 'Johnny Angel' persona yet.

Then there's 'Johnny Angel', with Johnny being the leather wearing bike rider; followed by 'Johnny Don't Do It' where Johnny is killed in a motorcycle accident.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

Post-50th Anniversary Viewing

_______

The Mod Squad
"Eyes of the Beholder"
Originally aired October 19, 1972

The brother of a fur thief attempts to kill Pete, holding him responsible for his brother's death. Meanwhile, a blind childhood friend of Pete's returns home for an operation that would give her the ability to see, though her surgeon fears the positive results may not be permanent.

Greer and the male Mods are staking out a fur exchange as it's being burglarized, but are forced to move in prematurely when a CLE squad car happens by and spooks the thieves into running. Pete chases one of the suspects (Buddy Joe Hooker) up a roof, where the leather-jacketed thief ends up dangling from a ledge and falling despite Pete's effort to grab him...while an unnoticed getaway van driver (Richard Rust) watches and reacts. The thief survives but is in critical condition, and Pete's takes it hard. He's consoling himself with Chopin and considering hitting the bottle when he receives an unexpected visit from Ellie Todd (Beverly Garland), whose sister Cathy (Janet Margolin) needs help. This triggers a flashback of another long-lost love from two years prior, in which Cathy, a childhood friend who was born sightless, plays Chopin and gives Pete a gift ring that he still wears (making me wonder if he'd already been wearing it in the series), then tells him that she's leaving for Europe to study music. In the present, Pete arrives at the Todds' beach house to find Cathy with her eyes bandaged, but she announces that soon she'll be able to see, thanks to a new surgery that she's had. (In this case, the two years prior appears to be in real time, as Cathy asks about Linc and Julie, though she hasn't appeared in a previous story. Linc's the one who had a recurring blind girlfriend.) After Pete gives the other Mods the news at his pad, we see that the man in the van is watching his place.

Pete's present as Dr. Keller (Michael Fox) takes off the bandages and shapes comes into focus for Cathy...she's able to count the fingers he's holding up, and then sees Pete for the first time. As Pete's leaving the hospital, Van Guy tries to run him down. Just when I was about to give the show credit for not having Greer embezzle department funds to pay for Cathy's surgery, Linc has to point out to him that the fur thieves would have had a driver...SUPER-DUH! And while Greer treats this as a wild hunch, despite all common sense on top of the fact that they just handled a case last week involving fur thieves using a garbage truck, they later try to work out where the driver would have been...

...and get a call that the fallen thief, whose name was Eddie, has died. After a day on the beach in which Pete and Cathy befriend a playing pooch, Julie makes dinner for Cathy at Pete's place. Linc withholds the news about Eddie from Pete, but spots the driver in the window just before he takes a shot. Lucy leaps onto the back of the van as he's getting away, but falls off.

It turns out that the van was rented by Eddie Devlin, formerly a guard for the trucking company that shipped the furs...and Linc tells Greer his business yet again by insisting that they investigate the dead man as the only lead they've got. (The way this episode is written, you'd think that Greer just fell off the turnip truck.) Back at the beach house, Pete reassures Cathy, who's upset about the murder attempt. The next day on a date at the L.A. Zoo, Cathy has a dizzy spell accompanied by blurry vision. Getting the impression that Cathy's hiding something from him, Pete tries to question Ellie, but she's tight-lipped and pleads with him not to spoil things. The investigation of Devlin's employment turns up that he has a brother named Frank.

Cathy is evasive to Pete about the latest word from the doctor. When Pete threatens to call the doctor himself, Ellie and Cathy come clean that she's losing her sight again, which was a known possibility going into the operation. Meanwhile, Linc's attempt to find Frank results in Devlin holding a gun on Julie and forcing Linc to take him to where Pete is. Pete sees them approaching, leaps on Devlin from the deck...

...and has to be dramatically pulled off Devlin by Linc for no compelling reason. When Pete goes back inside, Cathy's vision is gone, and she's the one comforting him.

In the coda, Cathy, who's leaving to travel the world, says her goodbyes to Pete, emphasizing what a gift her brief time with sight was. Pete joins the other Mods to walk off beside the lapping drink.


_______

At this point it would probably be impossible to calculate how many lives have been saved by this little insight.

I wouldn't have realized that it was so new when I was a kid.

Not as good as her recent stuff, but fine.

Pretty undistinguished.

ABBA did some good stuff in this era. This one is notable for the clever historical reference.

Another one of those moments where it feels a lot more like the '70s. It's perhaps worth noting here that Kiss's first album and single have recently entered the charts, though it'll be a few tries and a year and a half before they score a major hit.

Good song and a nice shout out.

I'm not sure if I was at all familiar with this; it evaded my collection until now. Sounds John Denver-ish.

Pleasantly nostalgic.

A nice little bit of business. I actually have the album-length version of this, which is over six minutes.

Yeah, I love John Denver and I'm not ashamed.

Nothing wrong with that.

Okay, I'll buy that. It has verisimilitude, anyway.

And demonstrates that he wasn't that directly involved with the whole process...the ball got rolling back in Da Nang, and they had no compelling reason to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt who the survivor was.

Yeah, that was a bit obscure. Zeno's Paradox.

Wow, talk about overthinking things. "I came up with an unsolvable math problem, therefore movement is an illusion."

I know, I'm just teasing. Good old Shatner.

Checking the Wiki page, they may have also changed the husband's backstory, but it's hard to tell. They talk about a plane crash but don't mention the Coast Guard.

Based on the pilot, it didn't seem like there was anything to make her stand out in a landscape of characters like Ironside or Pepper Anderson or Christie Love or whoever.

One thing that the pilot special was missing was any hint of a social/family life for the lead other than a dead husband. But then, we're six years into Hawaii Five-O and still haven't seen Steve's pad other than a tightly shot bedroom.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Godley helped craft a great lyric that tells the tale of a man who dreams that the air stewardess saves his life when the plane goes down in shark-infested waters

That's funny, because I got the opposite impression-- that he thought it was a dream but it turned out to be real.

In addition to finishing off the lyrics Godley also suggested the needed a new middle section.

This is interesting, because as I listened to it I was thinking that the "10cc sound" seemed to come and go.

I can honestly say that I don't think I've heard of this song until now.

That surprises me because it did, and still does, get a lot of airplay. I guess it must be one of those regional things, and in this case the reason is kind of obvious.

Lyrically, if we were to put the songs in some semblance of order, 'Cats Eyes' would be first, as it features Johnny working in Joe's Garage having an affair with the boss's wife. He hasn't adopted the 'Johnny Angel' persona yet.

Then there's 'Johnny Angel', with Johnny being the leather wearing bike rider; followed by 'Johnny Don't Do It' where Johnny is killed in a motorcycle accident.

I guess those guys really liked "Johnny Angel." This reminded me of "It's My Party" and "Judy's Turn To Cry" by Lesley Gore, which in turn reminded me of "Taxi" and "Sequel" by Harry Chapin.

"Eyes of the Beholder"

This apparently does not refer to the sharp eyes of the Mods on stakeout duty.

Greer and the male Mods are staking out a fur exchange as it's being burglarized

There's a lot of fur on this show.

Pete chases one of the suspects (Buddy Joe Hooker) up a roof

Cornering yourself on a roof is not a good strategy when being chased.

Ellie Todd (Beverly Garland)

The cop in Decoy-- so there must be a significant age gap between her and her sister.

This triggers a flashback of another long-lost love from two years prior

That's three episodes in a row, I think.

gives Pete a gift ring that he still wears (making me wonder if he'd already been wearing it in the series)

It would be cool if they worked a ring that he normally wears into the plot.

Pete arrives at the Todds' beach house to find Cathy with her eyes bandaged, but she announces that soon she'll be able to see, thanks to a new surgery that she's had.

And she was born blind? This seems unlikely. I suppose they didn't go into any medical details.

In this case, the two years prior appears to be in real time, as Cathy asks about Linc and Julie, though she hasn't appeared in a previous story.

Untold Tales of the Mod Squad.

Pete's present as Dr. Keller (Michael Fox) takes off the bandages and shapes comes into focus for Cathy...she's able to count the fingers he's holding up, and then sees Pete for the first time.

Okay, if she's been blind since birth, then visual sensory input would be a completely novel experience. And the area of the brain that processes the input would not be developed-- and possibly reassigned, I'm not sure about that. She would not be able to see right off the bat, and probably never normally.

Linc has to point out to him that the fur thieves would have had a driver...SUPER-DUH!

That was some stakeout. "They're probably going to carry the furs to the bus stop up the street."

Lucy leaps onto the back of the van as he's getting away, but falls off.

He must be pretty tired after all the springing and web slinging.

(The way this episode is written, you'd think that Greer just fell off the turnip truck.)

He's over thirty, man. He's getting senile.

When Pete threatens to call the doctor himself

Because there's no such thing as confidentiality in Mod World.

Ellie and Cathy come clean that she's losing her sight again, which was a known possibility going into the operation.

I'd love to know what the writers were thinking here.

Linc's attempt to find Frank results in Devlin holding a gun on Julie and forcing Linc to take him to where Pete is.

At least she's useful as a hostage.

...and has to be dramatically pulled off Devlin by Linc for no compelling reason.

He's gone nuts before, but in this case he was wracked by guilt-- I'd expect him to be apologizing.

In the coda, Cathy, who's leaving to travel the world, says her goodbyes to Pete

"Pete, I want to see the world... er, I mean hear the world."

Pete joins the other Mods to walk off beside the lapping drink.

This was kind of different in that Pete's old friend was a total B-Plot, with no connection to the A-Plot whatsoever. It's almost like they realized that they had to give Pete a personal story after Linc and Julie having one and jammed it in.

I wouldn't have realized that it was so new when I was a kid.

Yeah, it does seem like it's been around forever.

Another one of those moments where it feels a lot more like the '70s. It's perhaps worth noting here that Kiss's first album and single have recently entered the charts, though it'll be a few tries and a year and a half before they score a major hit.

The 70s are definitely in full swing now.

I'm not sure if I was at all familiar with this; it evaded my collection until now.

Definitely must be a regional thing. I would not have guessed.

Nothing wrong with that.

It was not a wise thing to say out loud when I was a kid.

And demonstrates that he wasn't that directly involved with the whole process...the ball got rolling back in Da Nang, and they had no compelling reason to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt who the survivor was.

It definitely gets the doctor character off the hook.

Wow, talk about overthinking things. "I came up with an unsolvable math problem, therefore movement is an illusion."

Crazy-ass philosophers. I love that stuff.

View attachment 39887

See, he gets it.

One thing that the pilot special was missing was any hint of a social/family life for the lead other than a dead husband. But then, we're six years into Hawaii Five-O and still haven't seen Steve's pad other than a tightly shot bedroom.

And then there's Columbo-- and Kolchak. But they both have quirky, engaging personalities, whereas Prentiss didn't seem to have that.

 

[The Old Mixer]

This apparently does not refer to the sharp eyes of the Mods on stakeout duty.

I think that they had Greer acting skeptical about the getaway vehicle to lampshade an obvious plot hole--Why were they not looking for a getaway vehicle? How did one happen to be right under their noses, within clear line of sight of everything that was going on, without anybody noticing?

There's a lot of fur on this show.

Things might have played out differently in production order, but it was an odd choice to have two fur heist episodes back-to-back.

The cop in Decoy-- so there must be a significant age gap between her and her sister.

It looked like it. Garland almost looked old enough to be Margolin's mother...and looking up their ages, biologically she was.

And she was born blind? This seems unlikely. I suppose they didn't go into any medical details.

They did not. Just a miracle of modern medicine, some newfangled procedure.

Okay, if she's been blind since birth, then visual sensory input would be a completely novel experience. And the area of the brain that processes the input would not be developed-- and possibly reassigned, I'm not sure about that. She would not be able to see right off the bat, and probably never normally.

I was wondering about that, and didn't realize that the issue went that deep. As it was, she seemed to acclimate to visual input far too easily for somebody who'd never seen anything in her life. She seemed to know what everything was, nothing really surprised her.

He's gone nuts before, but in this case he was wracked by guilt-- I'd expect him to be apologizing.

It just seemed like they threw it in as unearned drama, a cheap "Stop, you'll kill him!" moment. Last time it happened, it was well earned.

"Pete, I want to see the world... er, I mean hear the world."

The writers were over 51 years ahead of you.

Pete: Where will you go?
Cathy: Just travel around. It's a big world, there's a lot to see.
[Awkward silence. Cathy feels Pete's lips.]
Cathy: That's a joke. You're not smiling.​

This was kind of different in that Pete's old friend was a total B-Plot, with no connection to the A-Plot whatsoever. It's almost like they realized that they had to give Pete a personal story after Linc and Julie having one and jammed it in.

Or Cathy was the main story, and they tacked in an unconnected danger plot.

See, he gets it.

That's actually from the last of the three times Parkins visited the bartender to lean on him. The bartender goes back in the storeroom to find Parkins menacingly waiting for him. So Shat's in full off-the-rails bad cop mode there.

And then there's Columbo-- and Kolchak. But they both have quirky, engaging personalities, whereas Prentiss didn't seem to have that.

Didn't Columbo have a frequently referenced wife, hence the character being spun off?

 

[DarrenTR1970]

@RJDiogenes

What I find interesting about what I typed is that Graham talks about sub standard lyrics and how Eric and he could have kept it that way; instead they called in Kevin to help.
When they split into two camps Eric and Graham keeping the 100cc name and Kevin and Lol forming Godley & Creme, both duos would do exactly what Graham said they didn't do as a quartet - keep substandard lyrics and plodding melodies.
Like Lennon and McCartney, both sides needed to feed off each other and push themselves to rewrite and edit/change the song structure.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I think that they had Greer acting skeptical about the getaway vehicle to lampshade an obvious plot hole--Why were they not looking for a getaway vehicle? How did one happen to be right under their noses, within clear line of sight of everything that was going on, without anybody noticing?

The only scenario I can think of is that they were dropped off by somebody else, so the Mods were expecting that vehicle to return-- but that leaves a whole other character unaccounted for by the plot.

It looked like it. Garland almost looked old enough to be Margolin's mother...and looking up their ages, biologically she was.

Which is odd, but not impossible-- there was that much of an age difference between me and my Brother.

They did not. Just a miracle of modern medicine, some newfangled procedure.

That's what I figured.

I was wondering about that, and didn't realize that the issue went that deep. As it was, she seemed to acclimate to visual input far too easily for somebody who'd never seen anything in her life. She seemed to know what everything was, nothing really surprised her.

And I can't see any plot reason for her to have been born blind-- she could have had an accident when she was ten or something.

The writers were over 51 years ahead of you.

Pete: Where will you go?
Cathy: Just travel around. It's a big world, there's a lot to see.
[Awkward silence. Cathy feels Pete's lips.]
Cathy: That's a joke. You're not smiling.​

Okay, that's cute.

Or Cathy was the main story, and they tacked in an unconnected danger plot.

Touche. The Vietnam vet story was danger-plot free.

That's actually from the last of the three times Parkins visited the bartender to lean on him. The bartender goes back in the storeroom to find Parkins menacingly waiting for him. So Shat's in full off-the-rails bad cop mode there.

He does have kind of an Evil Transporter Duplicate look about him.

Didn't Columbo have a frequently referenced wife, hence the character being spun off?

Indeed, there was a Mrs Columbo, played by Kate Mulgrew. However, the likelihood of her really being the spouse of our beloved Lt Columbo is about equal to Discovery being a legitimate prequel to TOS. When I was a kid, I had a not-very-serious idea of Columbo coming home to a house like Mrs Havisham from Great Expectations and cheerily recounting his day to an imaginary wife. Or a Mrs Bates-like corpse wife.

Like Lennon and McCartney, both sides needed to feed off each other and push themselves to rewrite and edit/change the song structure.

It's funny how that happens. You could also say the same about Simon & Garfunkel, as well as Jagger and Richards. Kind of makes me also wonder how many pretty good artists could have been great if they found the right partner.