I wonder if he ever met Burr and the Gang.
Great video for somebody with a librarian fetish. Just sayin.'
And I probably added a Jack Russell reference.
One last knuckle sandwich for the road....
The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread
- Thread starter The Old Mixer
- Start date
Post-5th Anniversary Thread Viewing
January 2017:
September 2017:
It's hard to believe that the TIH review business is well inside of ten years ago...feels like longer!
January 2017:
September 2017:
It's hard to believe that the TIH review business is well inside of ten years ago...feels like longer!
50 Years Ago This Week
June 16
June 17
June 18
June 20
June 21
June 22
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
New on the chart:
"Call on Me," Chicago
(#6 US; #1 AC)
"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," Elton John
(#2 US; #3 AC; #16 UK)
"Feel Like Makin' Love," Roberta Flack
(#1 US the week of Aug. 10, 1974; #1 AC; #1 R&B; #34 UK)
"Rock Me Gently," Andy Kim
(#1 US the week of Sept. 28, 1974; #40 AC; #2 UK)
_______
Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month.
_______
June 16
- The Milwaukee Road ended operation of its electric locomotives in Montana and Idaho. Trains over the Rocky Mountains were now solely powered by diesel.
June 17
- At 8:28 in the morning, a bomb exploded at the Houses of Parliament at Westminster Palace in London, setting off natural gas fires, causing extensive damage and injuring 11 people. An anonymous caller alerted the British Press Association six minutes before the blast, and security officials at Westminster evacuated persons inside the building. The Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility.
- General Augusto Pinochet, chairman of the four-man military junta that had taken control of Chile in 1973, was proclaimed "Supreme Chief of the Nation" ("Jefe Supremo de la Nación") by Decree Law No. 527, "Aprueba Estatuto de la Junta de Gobierno." He would formally be designated as President of the Republic on December 17.
- Pamela Britton (stage name for Armilda Owens), 51, American stage, film and TV actress known for portraying Mrs. Brown on My Favorite Martian, and as the star of the TV adaptation of Blondie, died of brain cancer.
June 18
- Chile's secret police, the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA), was created by Decree Law 521 from the ruling military junta headed by Augusto Pinochet, as "an intelligence-gathering organization" headed by Manuel Contreras, but which "quickly became the center of the state terror apparatus, with a string of secret detention and torture centers throughout the country."
- Marshal Georgy Zhukov, 77, Soviet general who was the commander of Soviet Red Army forces during World War II, died of a heart attack after six months hospitalization. Zhukov, described in the West as "The Eisenhower of Russia", was the only World War II hero to receive four Hero of the Soviet Union medals and had commanded Soviet forces from the defense of Moscow in 1941 to the capture of Berlin in 1945.
[And a Happy 32nd to Paul! 
]
]June 20
- Rejected by the medical school of the University of California at Davis, 34-year-old Allen Bakke filed the lawsuit that would lead to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision banning "reverse discrimination".
- The reliability of the White House of transcripts the Watergate Tapes was called into question as the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee revealed that the editing by the White House had removed remarks that might suggest President Nixon had attempted to cover up the scandal. Most notably, a March 21, 1973 tape showed Nixon telling White House counsel John Dean, "Understand, I don't want it that goddamned specific,” in a report on a public about Watergate, and that when Dean mentioned paying "hush money" to conspirator E. Howard Hunt, Nixon said "We should, we should," and added "for Christ's sakes, get it." In another tape, Nixon told senior aides that if they testified, they should say that they had faulty memories, saying "Just be damned sure you say 'I don't remember; I can't recall; I can't give any honest answer to that I can recall.'"
[T-minus 50 days and counting.]
- West Germany and East Germany exchanged permanent representatives to open formal relations with each other for the first time since being created as separate states after World War II.
June 21
- Slightly more than 20 years after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, finding that de jure racial segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge W. Arthur Garrity held that the northeastern U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, had made an unconstitutional practice of de facto racial segregation of its schools, with 82% of Boston's black students in majority black schools. The ruling came in the case of Morgan v. Hennigan, filed in 1972 by the NAACP on behalf of 14 African-American families whose children were unable to attend predominantly white schools because of school zoning. Issuing his ruling on the last day of school in Boston, Judge Garrity ordered that Boston would need to desegregate its schools by busing children from black school districts to mostly white schools, and children from white districts to predominantly black schools. In a specific decision, Judge Garrity ordered that the classes of the mostly white South Boston High School would be integrated with the nearly all black Roxbury High School, with half of the sophomore class of each school to attend the other.
June 22
- The Sears Tower in Chicago, at the time the tallest building in the world at 1,353 feet (412 m), opened its observation deck for the first time...at the 103rd floor of the 110 story building.
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
- "Bennie and the Jets," Elton John (18 weeks)
- "Come and Get Your Love," Redbone (23 weeks)
- "Just Don't Want to Be Lonely," The Main Ingredient (20 weeks)
- "Mighty Mighty," Earth, Wind & Fire (15 weeks)
- "The Payback, Pt. 1," James Brown (13 weeks)
- "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock," Bill Haley & His Comets (14 weeks)
New on the chart:
"Call on Me," Chicago
(#6 US; #1 AC)
"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," Elton John
(#2 US; #3 AC; #16 UK)
"Feel Like Makin' Love," Roberta Flack
(#1 US the week of Aug. 10, 1974; #1 AC; #1 R&B; #34 UK)
"Rock Me Gently," Andy Kim
(#1 US the week of Sept. 28, 1974; #40 AC; #2 UK)
_______
Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month.
_______
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I don't know if it's age or retirement or both, but I've mostly lost all concept of time. I sometimes joke, except it's not entirely a joke, that the only things keeping me anchored are Trash Day on Wednesday, breakfast with Mom on Saturday, and blog posting on Sunday.It's hard to believe that the TIH review business is well inside of ten years ago...feels like longer!
Locomotives are no fun unless you're throwing logs on the fire.
Wow, I had no idea that she died so young or so sadly. I didn't know she played Blondie either.
Funny how often that happens.
Halfway to 64....[And a Happy 32nd to Paul!
Tick tock tick tock....
This proved to be slightly contentious, if memory serves.
Not their most memorable, but it's got that nice Chicago sound.
Classic Elton. This is the good stuff.
A beautiful classic. I would have guessed it came out a couple of years earlier for some reason, though.
A nostalgic favorite. My memory is playing tricks with this one, too, somehow, because I would have been starting 8th grade in September 1974, but I associate the song with a girl named Terry from 7th grade.
By contrast, my ex still seems oddly anchored to the days of the week...there are things she'll only do or won't do on weekends, for example.I don't know if it's age or retirement or both, but I've mostly lost all concept of time. I sometimes joke, except it's not entirely a joke, that the only things keeping me anchored are Trash Day on Wednesday, breakfast with Mom on Saturday, and blog posting on Sunday.
Good catch.
While we were talking about Cap's chest, I meant to bring up that Shellhead is now in his brief, inglorious nose phase.
There was still debate about busing well into my school years.This proved to be slightly contentious, if memory serves.
Pretty much. Chicago VII produces one of the band's most striking singles...this isn't it.
A number from his classic era that's never been one of my favorites...no doubt in part due to the George Michael duet.
It sounds nice, but is strangely unmemorable to me for a chart-topper.
Well, it's not September yet, and the single seems to have come out sometime in May...could it have been from late in the school year or during the intervening summer?
It's a shame, I was hoping you'd say something snarky about it.
I'm surprised that you didn't pick up on Carl Wilson and Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys providing background vocals. The Beach Boys had crossed paths with Elton while touring and Elton invited them to add vocals to the song. In the end, only Carl and Bruce, who had left the Beach Boys by this time, showed up to record their vocals.
Also the writer of this song.
And this Number One hit for 1969.
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I tried that for a while, and kinda still do, but it seldom works.
Oh, yeah. Legend has it that Stan was visiting the offices and saw some artwork and made a casual remark that he should have a nose.
I either didn't know about that or blocked it out-- I'm not going to go and refresh my memory.
That's probably exactly it-- I was thinking about her over the Summer while it was inching its way up to number one.
Heh. No, that one's a warm and fuzzy for me. And I do think it's a legitimately good song.
That was interesting. I don't think I've ever seen the guy's face before.
Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
The Mod Squad
"Another Final Game"
Originally aired November 16, 1972
IMDb said:
In a chance encounter on the street, con artist Dustin Ellis (Clu Gulager) improvises a scheme to help an old partner in crime, Tip Garrison (Joseph R. Sicari), raise some cash, against the wishes of Dusty's wife, Evelyn (Beverlee McKinsey), for whom he promised to go straight. Posing as a Treasury agent, Dusty goes into a liquor store and fools the elderly storekeeper, Mrs. Jones (Weezy's future mother-in-law, Zara Cully), into letting him confiscate supposedly counterfeit bills. Linc drops by afterward for a bottle of wine, finds out what happened, and gets Greer and the other Mods involved. The Mods once again offer to chip in to help a guest character out financially--How much do these kids make? Greer narrows down Ellis as a suspect because he used an alias with the same initials, which the captain recognizes as a common signature used by bunco artists. But Mrs. J, who wasn't wearing her glasses at the time, can't identify Ellis beyond a reasonable doubt.
As an alternative, Pete and Julie, posing as the Kelloggs--a junior partner in a family brokerage firm and his wife--register at the hotel where the Ellises are staying and let themselves be heard arguing about Pete's professional financial concerns. After looking into them and assuring Evelyn that this last scam will help him pay for a house on land he's purchased for them, Dusty befriends the young couple, inviting Pete to join him in morning jogging and bringing them to the racetrack, where another accomplice, Philly Enders (George Brenlin), helps him perpetrate a scam about Philly having inside knowledge on the winners, luring Pete into investing his money in cleaning up. All the while, Linc makes a point of letting himself be seen tailing Ellis, which causes Dusty to call on a shady, alcoholic private dick named Harvey Durko (Woodrow Parfrey) to find out who he is.
Greer's incredulous when Julie asks him to have the department put up $30,000 to catch a guy who stole $600; and she expresses concern about what will happen to Mrs. Ellis. Durko turns up Linc's planted record for being a narc peddler, but also recognizes Pete as an undercover cop who busted an associate of his. Evelyn wants Dusty to pull out, but Dusty's pride won't allow him to let a young punk get the better of him. Evelyn subsequently packs up, asserting that Dusty loves the game more than her. Greer delivers the marked bills to Pete and Julie with instructions about how they plan to move in on Dusty and Philly when they split the money at the track; but Dusty pays Durko to play a stocking-masked holdup man at the hotel who clocks Pete and takes his money.
Linc, being the only Mod whose cover is still intact, puts on sophisticated airs and approaches Ellis at the hotel to compliment him about turning the tables on the undercover cop and make a business proposition to launder the marked money. Evelyn returns to Dusty, who proposes they move to Ironside's turf, and she offers her engagement ring for him to raise funds. Dusty keeps his appointment with Linc, arranging to make their exchange at the airport before the Ellises depart. After the exchange, the Mods watch regretfully as Greer moves in with uniformed CLE to arrest both Ellises.
In the coda, Greer tells Julie that Mrs. Ellis likely won't face charges as she wasn't in on the deal, and Mrs. J is brought into his office so Linc can give her the $600, with a story about how Ellis helped Julie win it for her on a horse. Greer and the Mods escort Mrs. J out of the office.
This one was pretty mediocre...H5O has done much more interesting episodes about bunco artists.
_______
Ironside
"Buddy, Can You Spare a Life?"
Originally aired November 16, 1972
Wiki said:
This was originally a two-hour episode that was split for syndication. It opens with an uncharacteristic preview of scenes that I initially mistook for a recap, but for good reason--the same clips were used as the recap in Part 2. The post-opening credits are accompanied by "Now You're Gone," written by Paich & son, sung by Carol Carmichael; and feature a movie-sized credits list that includes the eight highest-billed guests, including the frequently recurring Johnny Seven.
Representing a committee, the Chief inspects a prison, leaning on Warden Charles Denny (George Petrie) to do what he can to provide better food for the inmates.
The Chief: Now you go back to the legislature, Charlie. Do some yelling, get mad, threaten to resign. You want me to back you up? I'll threaten to resign.
(If there's an option to indent text in the new software, I can't find it.)
While there, the Chief visits inmate Eric Oakes (Kerwin Mathews), an old friend who's served seven out of fifteen years for the murder of Walter Booth.
The Chief (to a guard): You can leave us. I don't think the prisoner is in any danger.
Oakes produces new evidence that he was innocent--somebody has anonymously mailed him a pawn ticket accompanied by a brief note clueing him in to what it's about. Believing that Oakes is guilty but feeling obligated to investigate, the Chief assigns Mark to cash in the ticket. After Mark delivers a "Sorry about that, Chief" to counter that he has traffic duty, the Chief informs him that he's been reassigned to Ironside's staff. Mark visits the pawnbroker, Mrs. Winston (Alice Nunn), to exchange the ticket for an antique gold coin that was stolen from Booth's desk the night of the murder.
The Chief consults Oakes's attorney, mutual friend Ken Claven (Cameron Mitchell); then tries to pay a call on the victim's widow, Marty Booth (Geraldine Brooks), but is turned away by her ominous, guard dog-commanding caretaker, Korchek (Peter Bourne). The prosecuting attorney in the case, now-D.A. Lee Paxton (Roger Perry), asserts that Oakes's right of appeal has expired; but Mark's law degree comes in handy as he cites the precedent for this being an exception.
When the Chief returns to Booth manor, he finds that Marty has assembled an array of guests who are also social acquaintances of the Chief--Claven, his alcoholic wife Judy (Antoinette Bower), old golf buddy Harry Armstead (Lonny Chapman), and his wife, Beth (Maggie Johnson)--all of whom were in the house the night Walter was murdered, so Ironside wants them to reconstruct the night of the murder. This initially upsets Marty, but she ultimately agrees. As the party proceeds, a flashback ensues with Ironside depicted in the scene as an unseen observer as Marty and Walter (William Campbell) have a fight because he's found out about her affair with Oakes. (I was initially confused about this as they didn't do enough to telegraph that the Chief's presence was symbolic; and thus assumed it was a continuity error that the Chief was depicted as being in his chair when the scene takes place prior to his being crippled.) Everyone but Marty proceeds to a club where they meet up with Eric, who talks with Maggie about their future together now that Walter knows; then proceeds ahead to the house to confront Mr. Booth. When Marty returns home, Walter's body is found, clubbed by a sports trophy that she conveniently still has, even though it was murder evidence. When the group comes out of flashback, Ironside asserts that Eric is innocent.
Sent to retrieve the court reporter's notes, Ed and Fran discover that they'd just been destroyed the day before. The Chief confronts Paxton about this, who insists that it was done legally and a coincidence; and the Chief surmises that he's trying to cover up a mistake. At the country club where he confronts Paxton, Ironside reacts to the sight of tennis pro Hal Murdoch (Paul Hampton) having a personal argument with a married customer whom he's apparently seeing (Marion Ross). It turns out that Murdoch had an altercation with Walter at the Booths' court the day before the murder, but had an alibi for the following night. The Chief goes back to the club to question Murdoch about the argument, which was about payment, Murdoch indicating that Booth was secretly broke and involved in a number of schemes, including one involving the gold coin, implied to be a phony.
The Chief is subsequently visited by political cobra Tim Hawkins (J. Pat O'Malley), who calls him Bobby and offers him a job in the Justice Department, while trying to discourage him from pursuing the Oakes case on behalf of Paxton. Back at prison, another inmate tries to stab Eric in the shower, but after a steamy struggle between two paunchy naked men, the inmate takes the knife. Part 1 ends when the Chief visits Eric and asserts that he's going to go free, as shown in the preview/recap.
Unable to sleep because the recap woke him up, the Chief calls Fran in the wee hours to assign her to go to the country club for tennis lessons the next morning. Ironside guilts Lt. Reese into providing info about the woman who gave Murdoch an alibi, Billie Jean Marcatti (Sallie Shockley), now a housewife and mother whose husband who doesn't know about her past affair. The Chief accuses her of having pawned the gold coin under an alias and she gets upset and tells him to leave. He then locates her husband, fisherman Nick Marcatti (Michael Lane), at a harbor bar, explains the situation to him, and tries to enlist his help, but he gets angry at the Chief's implications and storms out. Harry pops up at the bar in the aftermath, explaining that he owns a nearby business, and after the Chief leaves, he witnesses Marcatti trying to explain something to some toughs, and is then accosted by a fisherman who pushes his wheelchair, dumping the Chief into the drink.
Marcatti dives in to help him, but the Chief manages to swim back to shore on his own. As the two of them dry out afterward at the bar, the Chief overcomes Marcatti's resistance to help with a tough talk.
Meanwhile, Fran allows Murdoch to woo her to get info about his past affairs, which upsets the Chief when he finds out. Marcatti then brings Billie Jean to the Cave to talk. Cut to a hearing presided over by the Honorable Ray Middleton to determine if a retrial is warranted. Claven questions Eric, who testifies how he found the body and ran frightened, then went back to see if he'd left evidence and was caught by the caretaker. Under cross-examination, the Chief's credibility is too easily damaged when Paxton produces a similar gold coin that he bought at a pawn shop.
Billie Jean then testifies how she accompanied Murdoch to the house when he tried to claim his $50 and they found the body and also fled the scene after taking the coin. Paxton more understandably damages her credibility by underscoring her youthful, drunken lack of judgment at the time and her prior false testimony. On the stand, Murdoch indicates that he knew so much about Booth's financial affairs because he'd also had an affair with Marty; and his testimony compared to police photographs indicates that Booth's body was moved after he and Billie Jean saw it. Mrs. Booth admits to the affair, and indicates that the fight between Murdoch and her husband was actually about that.
The judge rules that substantive evidence hasn't been produced, though Ironside seems to think that it was productive. After the hearing, the Chief makes a surprise visit to Booth Manor to confront Marty, the Clavens, and the Armsteads, all assembled once more. He accuses Harry of having sicced the fisherman on him at the harbor, and Claven of having hired the convict to try to kill Eric; then accuses the entire group of having conspired to frame Eric after Marty killed Walter during the fight. Marty admits to killing Walter but indicates that the framing of Eric was circumstantial after he insisted on going the house and found the body.
Marty: Do you think it's been easy for me living with what I've done to Eric? I'd gladly change places with him!
Ironside: I think you're going to have to, Marty. I think you'll all have to.
Judy (raising glass): Hear, hear.
The song plays as Eric is released and picked up by the Ironsidemobile.
Bower seemed kind of wasted in this, though she was a bit of a scene-stealer, always hovering in the background making inebriated comments. It was implied that her involvement in the cover-up was what drove her to the bottle.
_______
Popular character actor of the 70s and 80s.
I'm surprised she didn't beat the crap out of him.
A lot. The going-straight thing is just a side hustle.
Nice detail.
I'm surprised the script police didn't want this to be changed.
Using money scammed from little old ladies.
He should know by now.
Is Dusty that much older than Pete?
I'm surprised Durko didn't immediately vanish. That was a house and a car and lunch money in those days.
Did they know it was marked or did Linc "discover" it to salvage the operation?
Tip was kind of a loose end, but paying back the old lady and the concern about the wife were high points.
I wonder if there was ever an Ironside's Greatest Hits album.
Looks like you can enter the codes manually.
"I've already ruined his life. I'm satisfied with that."
Nice character touch.
The Chief pulled a Charlie.
The High Chapperall guy, plus a million other things.
Interesting. Did he go into any detail on that?
Classic.
Trelane and Koloth. Seperated at birth.
Too bad. That's a cool gimmick.
This sentence confuses me.
It's a different kind of trophy now.
If it's been seven years, that probably makes sense. We were only required to save medical records for seven years, so it might be the same for legal records (though in practice, we had records going back decades).
For shame, Mrs C!
Perpetual Old Timer.
Thank you for ruining my day.
Whoa, action Chief! Or action CSD, anyway.
Nice. I'm getting deja vu, though. Haven't we seen the Chief swim with only his arms before?
She's bored from being left out of the plot.
Marty's a busy little beaver.
Sounds more like she was happy to be rid of both of them.
Why was she part of the cover up? Why was her husband part of the cover up? Why was Armstead part of the cover up? And was Paxton part of the cover up or was that a red herring? They also don't seem to have made much of the Chief's involvement in the original case, or any guilt he may have felt in getting it wrong?
Twelve years IRL; probably more in-story, where you've got a guy with silver hair playing against a guy who's still being played as college age.
Linc probably knew that Dusty would know; Dusty had been around the block a few times.
Thanks, I'll have to try that. Didn't know what the code was.
Ah, yes.
Coram nobis - Wikipedia
Paxton: But Bob, I don't have to read you the law. Oakes's rights of appeal ran out years ago. You're talking about a constitutional issue to reopen...and there you haven't a prayer.
Ironside: Well... [Begins to wheel out of the room.]
Mark (still sitting, contemplatively): Coram nobis...
Paxton: I beg your pardon?
Mark: A writ of coram nobis...it means, "Hey, man, something new has come up."
Ironside: DA, what about that?
Paxton: Why ask me? It's his idea.
Mark: Coram nobis...a petition submitting new evidence for consideration. If the court feels that a petition has merit, it'll schedule a hearing to determine whether the additional evidence warrants a new trial.
Paxton (lightly chuckling): There should be a law against law graduates in cops' clothing.
"Maggie" should have been "Marty," if that helps. I was probably tripped up by the wonky closed captioning.
The requirement here was even less--I think they said four years. It was a suspicious coincidence that they hadn't gotten around to destroying the records until that day.
Now his role seemed like complete filler.
Hey, there could've been screencaps...Thank you for ruining my day.
Actually, it could've been the song.
In this case, the D might stand for Dummy, though I'm not sure.
Yes...I think that was in a late Season 7 episode, in which case this was probably where they established that he could swim. Someone on IMDb argues that it's unlikely he could swim on arm strength alone.
They were all in the next room during the argument and when the murder happened. Their story was that the argument happened, everyone left for the club, and then somebody killed Walter.
I got the impression that his part was a red herring. He was just trying to cover his own butt.
It was emphasized that he wasn't directly involved, just that he was Chief of Detectives at the time, so it was being investigated by people under him.
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I didn't think Clu Gulagher was that old.
By the way, that number value is variable, so you can indent as much as you want.
I forgot to remark that Antoinette Bower was in the spooky Halloween episode of TOS. I'm still finding this new interface a little distracting.
Heh. A little Mod Squad vibe.
It just seems to me that there shouldn't be a time limit on appeals. Suppose somebody is falsely convicted and has a breakdown or has amnesia or something, and doesn't feel better until their time has run out? I wonder if there's a coram for that.Funky wheelchair pattern there.
Ah, right. I should have figured that.
Great Googly Moogly....
"Turn that thing DOWN!"
Ah, the old Splash Test Dummy.
In general, he's wrong-- in the case of Raymond Burr, who knows? But it's a perfectly reasonable thing to establish for the character.
But I don't see any compelling reason for them all to agree to a cover up. They weren't involved in anything nefarious, they were just witnesses.
Oh, okay. The capsule description made it seem like more than that.
Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
The Mod Squad
"Crime Club"
Originally aired November 23, 1972
Edited Wiki said:
As a group of stocking-masked burglars is stealing the Cellini Cup from a museum--communicating non-vocally with clickers and electronically circumventing an alarm--one of several guards they've trussed up needs his heart pills, but dies despite of the thieves' effort to help him. Cut to Julie taking piano lessons from tense Bryland College music prodigy Jason Robbey (Robert Lipton), who predictably turns out to be the thief who was trying to help...as we learn back at the college, where he attends a meeting of the Moriarty Club, who have a retracting display shelf where they keep their pilfered treasures. Their leader, Barry (Mark Slade), talks of their superiority to the common man, and how the guard's death binds them together forever.
Afterward Greer and the Mods inform Julie that Jason's in the hospital after a suicide attempt, having left her a note confessing that he's a criminal, sans details. Going through his things after Julie checks with Dr. Kerr (Peter Hobbs) at the hospital, the Mods find that the only philosopher he reads is Nietzsche and his otherwise very thorough schedule book has a blank day once a month. They make the connection with the museum robbery on one of those nights when they find the guard's nitro pills. Greer subsequently confirms that each blank date corresponds with burglaries of priceless objects. The club members become concerned that Jason will talk, and Barry takes them deeper by arguing that this is a test of whether they'll kill on purpose, and that they have a duty to finish what Jason started. Later, club member Dunwoodie (Hilly Hicks), serving as an intern at the hospital, witnesses Jason whispering something in Julie's ear, and calls in to inform Barry that it's time to strike.
Pete hangs out at a student bar where a group plays eclectic instruments and learns from mandolin player Sally (Sarah Fankboner) how Jason was involved with the Moriarty Club. Linc talks to Marion Briggs (Nancy Stephens), Jason's former girlfriend who waits tables there, who also talks of how Jason changed after he joined the club, which included becoming more arrogant. Looking into the five member of the exclusive club, the Mods learn that they all cut classes on the dates of the robberies. Hanging out at the school gym, Pete approaches club member Carol Bridgewater (Pamela Shoop), who has a rep as a professional put-down artist, and after showing off his trampoline skill, challenges her to the contest of her choosing for a date. Linc joins a philosophy class taught by Professor Gordon Rigsby, where Barry and fellow club member Emiliano Diaz (Joe Renteria) taunt the other students about their superiority; and gets their attention by officiously espousing some Nietzsche. At the bar, Linc tells them how he was a special forces operative and Barry inquires about him teaching them the deadly arts.
After Linc turns them down, Barry offers to let Linc into an exclusive organization that offers "money, power, and proof...of the superman theory". After Pete breaks out his dirt-biking double to win his date, Carol takes the initiative by paying him an unexpected visit, during which he plays up his multitalented combination of brains and athletic skill. Linc is taken to a meeting of the club blindfolded and questioned how he feels about murder. He cuts to the chase by asserting that they want him to kill somebody. They show him a gun and describe the job they're recruiting him for as an initiation, after which he'll be one of them. At the hospital, Jason wakes up from a nightmare and starts to tell Julie about how he and others killed a guard, when the others burst in dressed as hospital staff and Carol forces Julie to trade clothes with her behind a barrier so she can walk out the front with Jason.
Concealing the gun in his jacket, Barry has Linc drive to where he's supposed to help a friend commit suicide, and mentions how said friend may have told some things to a girl. He's taken to a hiding place on campus that looks like a parking area under a stadium or something, where Jason and Julie are being kept. Carol remembers having seen Linc, Julie, and Pete together on campus when they were searching Jason's dorm room. The club members make them for cops, and Barry sends Carol out to lure in Pete, who's been looking for her. She finds him at the bar and spills about how her friends have turned to murder and have the other Mods...but when they get to the hiding spot, she holds Pete at gunpoint. She shows obvious reluctance, however, and Pete manages to grab the gun from her to find himself in a standoff with Barry.
Jason walks out between them and gives Linc the opportunity to jump Barry. In a brief struggle over the gun a shot is fired, resulting in a superficial graze on Barry's hand over which he cries like a child.
Linc (after disdainfully tossing the unloaded gun back at Barry): "Superman"...you ain't got wound enough for a Band-Aid. [Tosses in the bullets.]
In the coda, the cuffed club members, including Jason, are loaded into squad cars. Julie offers Jason support, and he talks of using prison as an opportunity to get his head straight. Greer and the Mods walk up the stairs.
Ironside
"The Countdown"
Originally aired November 23, 1972
IMDb said:
Leaving work, Dr. Norman Chase (Jackie Cooper) is held up in a parking garage by an unknown figure (Richard Jaeckel), forced to don a strange belt, and ordered to go to the commissioner's office to await a call. Ironside (Don't call him Chief!) takes the call from the assailant, who identifies himself as Caesar (Great shades of Elvis!) and encourages Ironside to inspect the device.
Inspector Harmon (Ted Gehring) is unable to get an X-ray vision of the device because it's shielded with lead. Then a delivery boy named Harv Fowler (Mark Lambert) brings a package addressed to Randall, which contains a similar device for inspection that replaces the charge with a buzzer, with a promise that the vital components of the one that Chase is wearing are located differently. Chase calls his wife, Arlene (Lisabeth Hush), to inform her that he won't be home for lunch. Via an arranged short-wave radio channel, Caesar makes his demands on behalf of the American Revolutionary Party, which include the release of the prisoners and a getaway plane; and sets a timer in the belt to go off in five hours.
Ed digs up the records of the three men to find that the third, Dowman, is a robber who's been in prison longer than the ARP's been around. Mark consults with an electronics company man (uncredited Ken Lynch) looking for unusual acquisitions. And the team go over the personnel list for the institute where Chase works looking for an inside man who'd be familiar with Chase's schedule and might have a short-wave license and/or be licensed to fly a twin-engine plane. Looking through the mugshot files, Harv identifies the man who gave him the package as a Walter Mayfield. Reese delivers two of the prisoners, Kabir (Henry V. Brown Jr.) and Perez (Ron Henriquez), to the specified airfield...and the two are suspiciously unfamiliar with Caesar or his motivation for freeing them. Ed finds that a Walter Knowles on the list is a likely suspect who's recently abandoned his room. Dr. Chase's signal belt reminds the Don't Call Them Chiefs that it's two hours down, three to go (which seems like plenty of time when there's only a half-hour left in the episode).
Knowles is identified as Mayfield--a safecracker with electronics expertise--and Caesar; and is suspected of having gotten a job at the institute as a cover. Another alias is turned up under which he has the pilot's license. Mrs. Chase drops by the Cave unaware of what's going on and is persuaded to go home and wait for her husband. Prison shrink Dr. Warner (Steve Pendleton) informs the team that Mayfield is a diagnosed paranoid. Dowman (John Dennis), confirmed to have been at Chino at the same time as Mayfield, is brought to the field via plane, and the Ch...Ironside...suspects it has to do with unrecovered money from Dowman's last bank job. Chase volunteers to go along with a risky plan of Ironside's as the signal indicates an hour left.
Ironside gives Caesar a story about Dowman's plane having been delayed; but Caesar asks to be put on with Perez, who tells him about the plane that arrived. Caesar demands that Ironside turn himself over as a hostage and arranges a rendezvous. Ironside claims that the van's chair lift is out of order, forcing Caesar to get in with him. Ironside runs the van into Caesar's parked vehicle, giving him an opening to disarm Caesar and cuff him to the dash. When Caesar threatens the impending detonation of the bomb, the Ironside's passenger comes out of hiding--Dr. Chase. Ironside calls out Caesar about the ARP angle being a cover, and forces Caesar to tell him where the belt's key is. The Not-Chiefs get the belt off, put it under Mayfield's van, and get out of range as it goes up.
In the coda, it's revealed that Harmon came up with a way to get the sample belt off...a little over an hour after the real one blew; and Mark delivers the news that he's been accepted into the academy. Apparently we've got a case of Substitute Artie Syndrome on our hands.
She's also popped up on various other shows here, which gave me a greater appreciation for her.
That might be covered under nobis.
My mind wanders here...
The contributor in question was noting Burr's weight as a factor, asserting that he'd need unusual arm strength to compensate. The Chief just made a quick comment in episode that many paraplegics are skilled swimmers.
To help Marty, whom they apparently liked more than Walter.
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Clever, but it would have been nice if this had figured into the story as a clue or something.
But a more subtle and realistic way of involving the Mods than a boyfriend or cousin or something.
Holmesian reference.
Which presumably mean nothing to them aside from being trophies.
Apparently he has no family.
Oops. He lost his staring contest with the abyss.
If he was really smart, he would have put in some fake activities.
What kind of an intern? He's not in med school if they all go to the same college.
It sometimes surprises me which actors change their names and which don't.
Should have joined the Diogenes Club, kid.
"Sorry, man, I just conjure up Lucy when I need him."
"On a ludicrously small scale, of course."
Did he do his own trampoline stunts?
Okay, that conjures up some imagery.
So much for Barry's inspiring speech.
Modesty is not logical, Carol!
If you help it's not suicide, Barry!
This is happening a lot. They should start wearing fake mustaches or something.
Instead of being smart enough to know that it's all over if the cops are onto them.
"I don't need Lucy for you, punk."
Nice.
I wish they had gone into more depth with the Nietschzian cult thing, but overall this was a pretty good idea-driven story. There was some good detective work and everybody (except Greer) got something to do. I could nitpick a couple of loose details, but I liked it.
Our Gang and some other stuff.
Classic evil character actor.
After all this time?!
I think there's something I'm not getting here.
Just tell them it's a bomb! They have to believe you!
Was there some central clearinghouse for bomb-related component purchases in those days?
Technically, in TV time, they have two more episodes to go.
Once again, a plan that seems way too ambitious for the payoff.
Nice exciting climax.
More nice exciting climax stuff, but kind of destroying evidence. Not a bad episode, but a little off balance. Considering Caesar's multiple aliases, especially Caesar, his overly elaborate scheming, and his fake revolutionary movement, he seems to have had delusions of being a criminal mastermind-- they should have played that up.
Capped, after a minute.
Which is a good point to make, but I'd also be inclined to think that the buoyancy of fat tissue would balance or even overbalance his weight.
And Eric.
50 Years Ago This Week
June 23
June 24
June 25
June 26
June 27
June 29
T-minus 41 days and counting.
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
Recent and new on the chart:
"My Thang," James Brown
(June 22; #29 US; #1 R&B)
"Worse Comes to Worst," Billy Joel
(#80 US)
"Sure as I'm Sittin' Here," Three Dog Night
(#16 US)
"Rub It In," Billy "Crash" Craddock
(#16 US; #15 AC; #1 Country)
"Hang On in There Baby," Johnny Bristol
(#8 US; #2 R&B; #3 UK)
Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month.
www.youtube.com
www.youtube.com
"Great shades of Elvis" was the character's "updated" exclamatory catchphrase on the Lois & Clark TV series, which I employed in an attempt at coyness because the name Caesar was being used in the episode...though perhaps I should have included an interrupted version of the original.
June 23
- The skeletal remains of a retired MI-6 intelligence officer, Sir Peregrine Henniker-Heaton, the 3rd Baronet Henniker-Heaton, were found in an armchair in his home in the London suburb of Ealing, almost three years after he had last been seen alive. On October 5, 1971, Henniker-Heaton had gone out on a walk, came back to his home, and locked himself inside his study, where he apparently committed suicide.
June 24
- Palestinian terrorists infiltrated Israel by sea for the first time. Three members of the Fatah military group took to the Mediterranean Sea from Lebanon on an inflatable boat, powered by an outboard motor, then landed on the beach in Israel at the coastal city of Nahariya at 11:00 p.m. local time. Ten minutes later, they were spotted by a teenager who alerted the police before an attack could be carried out at a local cinema. Instead, they broke into a nearby apartment building, killing a woman and two children with a grenade. After being surrounded, the three men killed an Israeli soldier and wounded seven others. All three terrorists were killed in battle with Israeli security forces, who rescued 17 other civilians.
June 25
- The Salyut 3 space station was launched into orbit from the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome at 10:15 a.m. local time (0415 UTC). Intended for military purposes, Salyut 3 circled the globe at an average altitude of 270 kilometres (170 mi).
- U.S. President Richard Nixon departed from Washington on his last foreign trip as president, and his second overseas tour of the month, flying to Brussels for a meeting of the leaders of the 15 member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Belgium. Following the NATO summit, he proceeded to a summit in Moscow with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
June 26
- At 8:01 in the morning, the first purchase of a product with the Universal Product Code (UPC) was made, as a 67-cent package of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum was the first item in a shopping basket...at the checkout aisle in a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio....Cashier Sharon Buchanan scanned the package of 50 pieces of gum. The transaction marked the first use of barcode technology in American retailing.
June 27
- Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev welcomed U.S. President Richard Nixon to Moscow for the third summit between the two leaders, and then hosted him at a banquet at the Kremlin, where the two raised toasts to their personal friendship and for reaching detente between the two superpowers.
- The Senate Watergate Committee (officially the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities), chaired by U.S. Senator Sam Irvin since its formation on February 7, 1973, published its seven-volume, 1,250-page "Report on Presidential Campaign Activities" and disbanded.
June 29
- Soviet ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defected while the Bolshoi Ballet tour was in Toronto, Canada, and requested political asylum in Canada.
- At a Soviet and American summit in Moscow, U.S. President Nixon and Soviet Union General Secretary Brezhnev signed a 10-year economic agreement. The two then flew on the same plane from Moscow to Simferopol in Crimea in the Ukrainian SSR, then rode in a car to Brezhnev's beach resort home at Oreanda, near Yalta.
- Isabel Perón was sworn in as the first female President of Argentina, replacing her sick husband, President Juan Perón, who would die two days later.
T-minus 41 days and counting.
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
- "Another Park, Another Sunday," The Doobie Brothers (10 weeks)
- "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long," Chicago (15 weeks)
Recent and new on the chart:
"My Thang," James Brown
(June 22; #29 US; #1 R&B)
"Worse Comes to Worst," Billy Joel
(#80 US)
"Sure as I'm Sittin' Here," Three Dog Night
(#16 US)
"Rub It In," Billy "Crash" Craddock
(#16 US; #15 AC; #1 Country)
"Hang On in There Baby," Johnny Bristol
(#8 US; #2 R&B; #3 UK)
Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month.
I'd like to know how they managed to subdue and truss up multiple guards.
Which was explained in the episode.
Apparently; though Barry's delusions of grandeur saw them rising to higher achievements.
Didn't catch if there was an explanation there.
Maybe too arrogant to think anybody would end up searching his dorm room in connection with the thefts.
Hospital staff of some sort...I assumed intern. But it's really easy to pose as hospital staff in Mod World.
She was definitely a character actress type.It sometimes surprises me which actors change their names and which don't.
Looks like Michael Cole did the opening and closing, and they cut to PSD for the more impressive stuff in-between.
You would think that there'd be bulletins in the prison grapevine about these kids by now.
Indeed, he didn't.
Interestingly, Ironside will promptly air an episode with a not dissimilar concept.
After all this time?!
I think there's something I'm not getting here.
Clark Kent meets Lois Lane | Superman (1978)
Superman (1978)Clark Kent meets Lois Lane sceneSuperman (1978) Playlist: https://goo.gl/2GLNaNFilm description: Just before the destruction of the planet Kry...
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Perry requires details about Superman | Superman (3 Hour TV Version)
Superman (1978) 3 Hour TV VersionPerry requires details about SupermanSuperman (1978) Playlist: https://goo.gl/2GLNaNFilm description: Just before the destru...
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I did wonder how they zeroed in on the right place.
The movement was real, he was just feigning being a part of it as a smokescreen. There was a visit to the movement's HQ that I didn't bother including. The guy working there didn't even want to tell Ed when the movement was founded, but Ed saw that it was right there on the masthead of their underground newsletter.
That one I considered including a spoiler-tagged "If not Capped, press here" with a post of the original song's video.
Maybe.
Indeed.And Eric.
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What a fantastic name. They should use that in a Bond movie.
This is tragic. And there are many stories like it, of people, or even couples, found mummified in their air-conditioned apartments after years, nobody noticing until their bank accounts run dry. There was a story recently of a guy in Canada who drove to the hospital, died in his car in the parking lot and wasn't noticed for weeks. Lonely deaths. Very sad.
His Farewell Tour.
And soon they would start appearing on comic books, making me unhappy.
There he is. Carry on, James.
We can probably assume that "son of a bitch" was somehow censored in the actual single.
Three Dog Night. 'nuff said.
A fun one.
I remember this, but I probably would have guessed that it was Barry White. Good one, in any case.
Good question. Chloroform? Tranquilizer darts?
I wondered if they just put it out there.
Good point.
Very true.
"Be on the lookout for these meddling kids."
Julie appears to be snickering at the guy.
Must have been in the air for some reason....
I never would have Capped it on my own, because I never saw the show.
Another stable genius.
I'm not terribly familiar with the band, but I do know them a little.
Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
The Mod Squad
"The Twain"
Originally aired November 30, 1972
IMDb said:
Okay, Pete...we were willing to give you the benefit of the doubt the first time, but this is getting to be a habit.
Nan Cho (Victoria Racimo) visits Chinese shopkeeper Johnny Ong (uncredited, looks familiar) wanting him to renew her visitor's permit, but can't pay him. While she's in back, a man comes into the shop (Kiss my Vic Tayback!) and shoots him with a Five-O Special. He then sees her, she runs out into the backlot, and Pete swipes her with the Charger. She acts strangely hostile toward a Catholic priest among the bystanders who offers to help, even though she wears a cross and carries a rosary.
Pete and Linc, who was also in the car, visit her in the hospital to apologize and offer to help her with whatever she was running from. She explains that she's been searching for an American father she's never met who knocked up her mother during the Korean War. Her search having been stymied by his common name, John Palmer, the Mods persuade Greer to get involved, and he's questioning her for any details she can provide about him when an immigration agent, Byron Hale (Allan Arbus), drops in and insists that she'll have to be deported because she let her permit expire. She later explains to Pete that she keeps the cross and rosary because they belonged to her mother, an English teacher, but that she's lost any faith in God. Meanwhile, the hitman, Dean Wilcox, reports to the man he killed Ong for, Rex Landers (Edward Bell), that he can't off the girl to prevent her from identifying him because she's being guarded by an immigration agent. (Really?) And we learn that Landers himself is an immigration agent.
Greer turns up a likely match for Palmer and Linc learns from a childhood neighbor (Charles Seel) of a sister. While Dr. Gordon (Rudy Challenger) indicates that Nan's physical injuries aren't serious, Pete stays by her side for emotional support; but when he goes to her apartment and has to pay the landlady (Frances Fong) back rent to search the place, he finds an address book with Ong's name in it, connecting her with the murder. And while he's gone, Wilcox, dressed as hospital staff (DRINK!), has the immigration agent guarding her door (I mean, really?) paged to make his move.
Pete returns in time to interrupt Wilcox, who flees the scene, pushing a hospital cart at him. Nan identifies Wilcox from a mugshot book, and Greer, curious as to why a professional hitman from Detroit offed an L.A. shopkeeper, takes custody of Nan as a material witness. At the immigration office, Landers gets an update regarding the situation from an unsuspecting Hale, and has Wilcox meet him at his beach house to tell him to get out of town. Wilcox is caught by Highway Patrol and booked after Nan identifies him in a lineup. He lawyers up with Charles Avery (John Haymer), who delivers a coded message to Landers that Wilcox is expecting him to take care of "that little Korean matter". Julie returns from an uncharacteristically uneventful trip mid-episode to play one of her usual roles--taking the guest character in at her pad. Meanwhile, Linc, having located the sister, Lisa Traes (uncredited), proceeds to a church to pay a visit to Nan's father--Father John Palmer (Fritz Weaver). (I was spoiled by IMDb regarding this twist.)
When Nan's brought to see him, she doesn't want to believe it, but he recounts a number of details about her and produces poetry that her mother wrote which he kept, and she tearfully embraces him, then proceeds to get acquainted. Trading stories, it turns out that he was shot up in combat and couldn't get back in touch with Nan's mother because her parents had driven her out of Seoul over her out-of-wedlock pregnancy. When she mentions having held back the truth from Pete and Linc, Father John encourages her to call Greer. She tells the captain about how Ong was selling illegal visitor's permits, and the Mods deduce that Ong was working with an inside man in Immigration who hired Wilcox. Landers arranges to pick Nan up from the church, supposedly to take her to his department. Greer consults Hale on the inside man matter and turns up that Landers is living beyond his means, having supposedly inherited a lavish beach pad. When he finds out how Nan was picked up, he steers the Mods to Landers's pad, and Father John accompanies them. They get there in time to catch Nan, who made a break for it, struggling with Landers out back. Palmer is winged by Landers after Greer pulls his gun, and Lucy and the cameraman give us the money shot:
Father John: Are you alright?
Nan: I'm fine, Father.
Father John: Do you mind making that "Dad" or "Daddy"? It's a little less confusing.
In the coda, Palmer has arranged for Nan to stay at an orphanage while helping her get things straightened with Immigration; and Nan, showing signs of mending fences with her father's boss, gives Pete her cross.
Pete: Keep the faith, Nan.
Nan: I will.
Ironside
"The Deadly Gamesmen"
Originally aired November 30, 1972
IMDb said:
While baroque music plays in a palatial mansion, a man name Paul (Noel Harrison) prepares burglary gear. He subsequently gasses Mark on the street--where the newly minted officer is waiting after receiving a call with a tip about a case--then gives Ironside a taunting call. Mark is subsequently found hogtied outside of a loan company office.
In the aftermath, an accomplice and cousin (Scott Marlowe, whose character IMDb identifies as Jeffrey, though I never caught that name being used; but will employ it here for ease of reference) chastises Paul for getting Ironside involved in their scheme so early. Ironside talks to an Officer Rodriguez who was also knocked out and stripped of his uniform in the same area by Jeffrey. The next move involves Jeffrey posing as a photographer to arrange a photo shoot at a marina with a young model, Carol Chase (Michele Nichols), where he takes his pictures then runs off with her purse while she's on top of a boat.
Paul then enlists an aspiring young actress called Tina Hastings (Kathleen King) to arrange a date with rodeo star Roy Pope, Jr. (Conlan Carter), then not show. While Roy's waiting on the street, Paul holds him up from behind, claiming to have a gun, and has Pope give him his boots. The cousins continue to criticize each other's actions while referring to them as moves in a game...which Paul requests that they speed up before his mother comes back to town from what we later learn is her honeymoon with a new husband. Wearing Rodriguez's uniform, Jeffrey makes a rendezvous with and assaults a jockey named Billy Roberts (Johnny Silver). Commissioner Randall gets on Ironside's case about this, as if Ironside, a special consultant, is responsible for the actions of uniformed officers.
Randall subsequently gets egg on his face when he's too easily lured to the Federal Reserve Bank by a call to his barber shop from Paul, who steals his license plate and puts Pope's boots in his car. What's more, it takes Randall two days to notice that the plate is missing. The location of this action piques the Chief's interest. Jeffrey then lures Carol Chase to a rendezvous by claiming to have found her purse, and assaults her in what the papers describe as an attempted rape. The Chief notices a pattern of names of chess pieces coming up--Carol having been dubbed a campus queen, a pawnbroker having been robbed, Randall's license plate turning up in a bishop's car--and has Fran draw up a chess grid. Meanwhile, Jeffrey assembles a bomb, while Paul talks about his move being the checkmate, the death of a king.
The grid is laid over a map of the crime locations and the team work out the moves in the game with chess pieces--the jockey and rodeo star representing knights--while Mark questions the sensibility of some of the moves. (This I understand better than the ideograms.) They then attempt to anticipate the location of the next crime by having Mark make the next move. All the while, Jeffrey has been planting a device in the storeroom of what appears to be a courthouse, only to be caught by a janitor and engaged in a struggle when it goes off. Jeffrey is identified (though we're not told his name), and the Chief has bulletins put out that there were no casualties in the blast, so that the other player will make his next move.
The team and other officers stake out a pier while looking for something that would represent a white knight. Paul has an amusement company truck summoned to the location, which the Chief has Ed approach. Paul then goes to the Ironsidemobile to confront the Chief, who's been expecting him and identifies him as socialite Paul Buckler. Paul informs the Chief that he's the king, and the Chief informs him that his cousin is dead and his name was found in Jeffrey's wallet as an emergency contact. Buckler complains about the Chief spoiling his move, which involved using an incendiary grenade on carousel horses (I'm not sure how this connects with killing the Chief), and makes a run for it, tossing his device in the attempted getaway, but finds himself surrounded. As he's being taken into custody, he whines to Ironside about how his mother will react to this.
Ugh...and here I thought this case seemed far-fetched.
Squeezing a little art out of the lower left corner.
This may be the last that we hear from him here, as he won't have another Top 30 hit until 1985...which is a bit further than I could envision continuing this.
That's a good question, as I was only familiar with it from the album. It seems that there was a shorter single edit, even though the album track is well within typical single length, so that's probably part of what was cut.
This is a perfectly enjoyable early Billy number in its own right, but it's worth noting how the follow-up singles to "Piano Man" weren't included in the major hits compilations in favor of a more distinctive but far less radio-friendly track from the album:
Another distinctive album cut:
Their final Top 30 hit ever, though their next couple of singles will come close.
This I didn't have, and I'm not sure if I'd previously been exposed to it. It would be at home in the Summer! playlist.
This I had, though it's unmemorable. There was a shorter single edit.
Brightly colored gas?
That's an odd bit of business when I go back to watch it...it looks more like Lipton was trying not to break character by briefly wiping her nose. I should note that a character only being superficially wounded after a climactic struggle over a gun is like a car rolling down a hillside and not bursting into flames.Julie appears to be snickering at the guy.
The episode above is the one I was referring to. Both involve amateur dilettantes with special means engaging in escalating crime sprees for sport. Both end with the chief culprit crying/throwing a tantrum over having been beaten.
But you didn't get that I was otherwise referring to Cooper's role in the Christopher Reeve films? That's the main thing I associate him with.I never would have Capped it on my own, because I never saw the show.
They were a one-hit wonder, but the song and video were distinctive bits of business for someone who was still putting MTV on in the background in those days. And speaking of the Man of Steel, this was their breakout hit in Canada:
Interestingly, the song/video preceded the Death of Superman storyline in '92-'93, though I recall the video getting some play in that period.
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But... never the twain shall meet.
He should get his eyes checked. He's getting old.
Capped.
I suppose it's too much to expect that this was Fritz Weaver.
And who is now the designated driver.
Dr Freedman.
That was quick. How'd he even find out?
She could be a dangerous North Korean agent!
I think they just hand out scrubs at the information desk.
"Matthews, Highway Patrol, let me see your driver's license."
They should have had her limp in, all bruised and muddy.
So Greer located the father, Linc used that info to locate the sister (who the father must have fathered before becoming a Father), and used her to locate the father? And that's all we see of the sister. The sister seems a bit superfluous.
Prolific genre-friendly character actor.
Did they ever say if the mother is dead or alive?
Why was she looking for an illegal permit instead of just renewing her own?
What was Landers' motive in killing Ong? It seems like he had a good thing going. And hit men are expensive.
So Landers let it be known that he was picking her up, then took her to his own house to kill her-- after she had already fingered Wilcox. This guy is a bit of a dim bulb.
Whoa. I'm hearing bionic noises.
Fritz Weaver doesn't usually play characters who joke around.
Isn't she a little old for an orphanage? Has Julie already got somebody else living with her?
This seems like kind of a sloppy one. Landers' motivation and actions are kind of inexplicable, Nan's motivations in coming to America are vague, and the poor sister was pretty neglected. And then there was the immigration guard.
What color does he use?
Oh, now that's mortifying.
She seems to show up a lot-- I notice because of the similarity of her name to Nichelle Nichols.
You'd think CLE would have noticed for him. And how did he know it was gone for two days?
An odd escalation from harmless pranks to murder, considering they didn't establish any particular grudge against Ironside.
Indeed.
A surprising plot twist.
Did the janitor survive?
Now that's funny.
And I don't understand why they singled out Ironside? Is it just because he's become a bit of a local celebrity?
To say nothing of his aunt and uncle.
It seems to be even more common in this age of automatic payments and impersonal lifestyles.
And so ugly. Why couldn't they put it on the back?Squeezing a little art out of the lower left corner.
I like the first one, but the second is a bit silly.
I remember it, but it's been a long time.
That would have been great.
There was probably some common source of inspiration in the news.
Actually, no. I'm sure I only saw the first one, and my memories are very vague at this point.
Interesting. I thought they were more than a one-hit wonder. It's actually the Superman song that I know them for. It's a goodie, though not very flattering to Tarzan.
Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
The Mod Squad
"Belinda, End of Little Miss Bubble Gum"
Originally aired December 7, 1972
IMDb said:
That psychedelic Lennon poster really gets around--now it's part of the decor at a hip cafe named Sammy's, where the titular former child star (Cathy Burns) is performing a folk song called "Bitter Weeds" on an acoustic guitar with the Mods in her audience. Outside after the show, Pete balances his karma when PSD (Ricky? Desi?) leaps into action to save the guest character from getting run over by somebody else for a change.
When Pete and Linc visit her at the hospital (making an excuse for Julie), Belinda tries to pass it off as an accident caused by her own klutziness, while bringing to their attention other recent, potentially fatal accidents; but they're sent away by her overbearing mother, Irene Morris (Ruth Roman). Other suspects we meet at the hospital include Belinda's unofficial minder, Tony (Bob Balaban), and her stepfather / business manager, Blake Morris (Dane Clark). Greer's characteristically skeptical about the attempted hit-and-run until Julie brings him a photo of Belinda that was attached to the sun visor of the recovered stolen car. Greer brings in the car's owner, a Mr. Burns (Len Lesser--that's pretty suspicious right there), who's unfamiliar with the odd litter of cigarette butts and a matchbook that was left behind.
Pete and Linc check out the source of the matchbook, the Encino Health Club, whose employees of note are Red Benson (Vernon Weddle) and Charlie Inch (Anthony James--super-suspicious!); and have to hit up Greer for the $200 membership fee. After Belinda's released from the hospital, Julie visits her apartment and runs into Tony in the corridor before she notices the smell of gas and they bust in to help an unconscious Belinda.
Belinda says that she'd been sleeping, and gets mad when her mother assumes it was suicide; and madder still when Irene points the finger at Johnny Wexford, a former boyfriend from Belinda's career low point with a psychiatric history who'd once stabbed her with scissors. Karma does its thing with Julie, too, as Belinda invites her to stay at the guest character's place for a change; and Julie learns how she met Tony, who fawns over her, at the hospital and he helped her get herself together. Linc goes to the garage where Wexford works to question him...
"You bettah get outta heah--NOW!!!"
He expresses concern for Belinda, and goes at Linc when asked about his whereabouts on the night of the attempt, but his alibi of being at a birthday dinner ultimately checks out. Meanwhile, Pete's gotten into the club, where Charlie tries to sell him a hot stereo, and pilfers a list of members that includes Blake Morris's name. By night, we see Inch tampering with fluid lines under the hood of a car.
Julie learns that Belinda's coming into a trust fund that she doesn't even want when she turns 21 in four weeks; and that her mother and Blake have access to it. Pete and Linc see Blake talking to Inch at the club, and Linc takes a discarded pop bottle with Charlie's prints on it. The male Mods find out from Benson that Inch has taken the last couple of nights off, but goes right back to Inch to tell him they were asking. Greer learns that Blake's been embezzling from the trust fund, which is now cleaned out, and goes to Belinda's while he and Irene are there to arrest him. An outraged Irene stands up for her husband, saying that she encouraged him to invest the money; and Belinda's sure that he wouldn't have tried to kill her, and tells them that she was planning to give them the money as an anniversary present. As Inch packs to leave town, we learn that Tony hired him for the hit and run attempt and the brakes tampering. Inch tries to rough Tony up for payment, and a scared Tony grabs a switchblade that ends up in Inch's gut; then touches practically everything in the room looking for his glasses before fleeing the scene.
Under interrogation, Blake is surprised to be asked about Inch, whom he says had sold him a hot radio that didn't work. Pete and Linc get a call that Charlie's prints are a match, and get his address from Benson, who informs them that he quit. They find Charlie's body, and a coke bottle lens that fell out of Tony's frames. Leaving for her next show, Belinda sends Julie up to Tony's apartment, where he catches her having found his creepy-ass stalker shrine to Belinda, including a life-size standup with bloody tears. Tony shoves Julie aside and runs down to take off in the car with Belinda. The male Mods arrive, Julie gets in, and they pursue. In a deranged manner, Tony explains how he wanted to scare Belinda into returning to the hospital, where he could take care of her. As he tries to lose the Mods, he's reminded that he had Charlie fix the brakes. The Mod Stunt Driver goes to work, overtaking Tony's car, connecting bumpers from in front, and bringing it to a screeching stop for him.
At Belinda's birthday show, she and her mother begin to come to an understanding, which involves Irene having to learn to let go of her. The Mods and Irene separately watch as she plays an upbeat number called "Take Me Along". The ending freeze frame is a long shot of her performing on stage.
It turns out that the two songs played in this episode were written by Peggy Lipton, reminding us that she had a modest music career on the side.
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Ironside
"Who'll Cry for My Baby?"
Originally aired December 7, 1972
IMDb said:
The Chief is in Reese's office advising him about a case that the commissioner is on the lieutenant's back about when a man from West Virginia named Anton Bolen (Titos Vandis) comes in seeking news about the investigation of his daughter Wanda's (Patricia Sterling) murder. The Chief takes a personal interest and takes over the case from Reese.
The post-break credits are accompanied by the song "Money Girl" (written by Paich & Son, sung by Carol Carmichael). Wanda was a hooker who fractured her skull on a dresser after being slugged by an unknown party. As Ed consults a morgue attendant named Harry played by an uncredited Robert Ito, Get puts an ad for Quincy on the lower right of the screen. The Chief gains access to the apartment where Wanda was killed from an unconcerned landlord (uncredited Wynn Irwin), while Fran goes into the hooker tank of police HQ to question a girl named Katie (uncredited Barbara Bosson) and the others locked up there, which proves unproductive. The Chief then visits an old friend who's a well-to-do former madame, Mother Carrie (uncredited Anne Seymour), who makes a call to get the name of the pimp Wanda was working for--Billy Nero. After being let into Nero's place by a flunky named Anthony (James Oliver), the chief inspects the parlor and a (perhaps speculative) flashback ensues of Wanda having an argument in the room with Billy (Don Pedro Colley) over her quitting, which involves her defiantly refusing to call herself a dirty tramp, and ends with him making a threat.
When Mr. B. visits the Cave, the Chief asks him for details about Wanda's social activities that she may have mentioned in letters in which she sent him money; while not disclosing her true profession, her father thinking she was a waitress. Fran turns up that Wanda had one friend in the business named Betty, and a list of probables results in Mark flashing his badge for the first time to talk to an Elizabeth Cummings (Gwenn Mitchell), who indicates that Wanda liked to work the docks and spent time at a diner near her place.
The Chief questions the diner proprietor, Nick (Jan Arvan), who tells him that Wanda was an easy mark. Another flashback ensues, of Wanda chatting up a wino named Charley (Val Bisoglio), who claims that he used to be a dentist. After she walks out in contempt over his lying to himself, he follows her.
In a break from his case, Reese meets Ed at a bar where he's following up on a tip of undisclosed origin about a wrestler playing pool there (Ted Cassidy), who makes a break for it when they approach him. When they catch up with him on the street and arrest him, he thinks it's about parking tickets. Asked about Wanda, he tells them that he only knows of her from his brother, Marvin Greenleaf (Charles McGraw), the owner of a bookstore who loaned romance novels to her. The Chief visits the store, talks to a saleswoman there (Beverly Sanders) who didn't approve of her, and has a flashback of Wanda visiting the store to return a book; in which it seems that Marvin held an unrequited torch for her.
In one overly convenient offscreen swoop, the team turns up that all of the suspects so far have alibis that check out. The Chief, nevertheless sure that he's closing in on the right suspect from everything that he's learned about Wanda, returns to her apartment, and a gift shawl from Mexico found there in an earlier scene leads into a flashback of a visit from a client named Johnny (John Quade) who gave it to her. A Fred Kramer (Bill Zuckert) at the maritime hiring hall reluctantly points Ironside to a likely suspect, Johnny Andrews. The Chief confronts Andrews as he's getting off a freighter from Mexico, and Andrews makes a run for it, but finds himself surrounded. Andrews indicates that he really liked Wanda, but when he hit her during an argument, she slipped on the carpet and hit her head. It turns out that he's brought back one last present for her, as she'd asked him to before she was killed.
The case solved, Mr. Bolen expresses his gratitude, and the Chief resolves to get the team going full throttle on Reese's case.
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It wasn't.I suppose it's too much to expect that this was Fritz Weaver.
They played it like she was already under police protection, or a dangerous criminal.
Could be.I think they just hand out scrubs at the information desk.
They should have had her limp in, all bruised and muddy.
I knew I was being a bit vague there...it was the father's sister, who'd be Nan's aunt. They'd located her after talking to an elderly former neighbor from where they'd lived as kids.
Dead.
I was under the impression that the first one was illegal, which was why she was going to him.
"He was stealing from he and becoming too autonomous."
More from the before and after, including Clarence Williams's parts:
After all of this joking, I became honestly curious to learn who his stunt double was, as he was clearly a talented individual that they were giving him the best parts in the action sequences. A search and AI query turned up nothing.
Maybe just for someplace to stay.
To look for her father!
Aerosol. Looked whiteish.What color does he use?
I keep expecting her to be Nichelle's sister who popped up in a small role on M:I.
The Chief or one of the others was teasing him about his lack of observation.
"Epitome of authority, of law and order, the decadent establishment--the king of obsolescence. And the obsolete must go, you know?"
I don't think so.
True.
The "masturbate" line in "Captain Jack" gets a big audience reaction in live shows.I like the first one, but the second is a bit silly.
Or maybe other popular culture, like a film or novel.
Funny thing about "Superman's Song"...I couldn't remember how it went, but after I'd listened to it yesterday morning, it was stuck in my head for a good part of the day.Interesting. I thought they were more than a one-hit wonder. It's actually the Superman song that I know them for. It's a goodie, though not very flattering to Tarzan.