50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 1)
All in the Family
"Archie Finds a Friend"
Originally aired January 26, 1976
Edited Wiki said:
Edith's surprised when Archie comes home with food from a Jewish deli because Mr. Bernstein the watchmaker is coming for dinner. Archie tells Edith that Bernstein's going to make them rich, which she laughs off until she learns that Archie's also withdrawn $1,000 from the bank to invest in the venture, which upsets her greatly. Archie tries to convince her that this will be an investment in their financial security.
Edith: But I don't want our money to work, I wanted it to relax.
Bernstein (Jack Gilford) arrives to learn of Edith's reluctance, and upon further questioning, Bernstein confesses that he needs the Bunkers' money because he doesn't have any credit. While Edith's in the kitchen, Bernstein surprises her with a demonstration of his invention--a remote doorbell ringer. When Edith questions its practicality, Bernstein sells it as being useful in inclement weather. But the device soon malfunctions, somehow producing a low-power noise from the doorbell, so Bernstein leaves to fix it. This fuels Edith's skepticism, evoking a comparison to when Archie played horses.
Bernstein announces his return by ringing the bell from across the street. Once inside, Archie and Edith join him as he dances around while singing "If I Were a Rich Man". Then Edith gets a one-sided call from Irene (said to be the last time the character is even mentioned) about how all the doorbells on the block went off at once. This deflates Bernstein, who offers Archie his money back, though Archie doesn't want to give up on the venture.
On the very night before Laverne & Shirley premieres:
Bernstein: There are two kins of losers--schlemiels and schlimazels. A schlemiel goes though life spilling soup, and a schlimazel's the guy he spills it on.
I'd been thinking that this must be a coincidence given how the shows aired on rival networks, until I remembered the Reiner/Marshall connection.
Bernstein then experiences a sudden spell of weakness. The Bunkers lie him on the couch, Edith calling a doctor and encouraging him to get better to make his dream come true...but the Bunkers and the studio audience are struck with silence when Bernstein quietly passes away. (In one moment, it almost looks like Archie sheds a tear, but on closer examination, for some reason Carroll O'Connor was visibly perspiring for the entire sequence.)
A shaken Archie goes out to the porch to take it in, and the Bunkers realize that they don't even know their guest's first name (revealed in the closing credits to be Bernard). The episode closes on the note of Archie using the device outside, which now causes a very audible clamor.
This one felt very odd with that out-of-nowhere shock ending.
M*A*S*H
"The Novocaine Mutiny"
Originally aired January 27, 1976
Frndly said:
The episode opens with the court martial in progress, Colonel Carmichael (Ned Wilson) presiding. The date of the alleged mutiny is given as October 11, 1952. Hawkeye is accused of assaulting Burns and taking command. Burns is fine with Hawkeye facing a death penalty.
Burns: The way I see it, unless we each conform, unless we obey orders, unless we follow our leaders blindly, there is no possible way we can remain free.
Hawkeye irreverently insults Burns on the stand and denies that there was a mutiny. Potter is the first to testify via flashback, telling of how he left for R&R in Tokyo on Oct. 5, while Burns acted gleeful at taking command. B.J. then testifies about Burns asserting his will on the camp, which involved not just increased rank-and-file discipline, but arbitrarily making the personnel move the entire camp across the road and back again the next day. A prohibition against gambling led some of the usual suspects to pretend that they were having a spelling bee when Frank came around for inspection. But later when Burns was leaning on Zale regarding the organization of the meat locker, the sergeant let slip that he lost $300. Zale's subsequent evasiveness about how led Burns to pursue the matter as an assumed theft. When questioned, the guys immediately came clean about what they were really doing in the supply hut, but Burns refused to believe them because he'd prohibited gambling (which seems especially dense even for him).
Radar identifies himself to the court by his nickname, even though they've established his real name (though perhaps not in production order). He testifies how he accompanied the major as he inspected the tents of Father Mulcahy (who was at the game) and Klinger (who was keeping lookout while standing watch). Klinger has to be explained when the description of Frank fondling Klinger's wardrobe leads the colonel to believe that Klinger is a nurse. Frank proceeded to inspect the Swamp while the guys were present, then Radar's office/quarters, finding another artifact from the future: Amazing Spider-Man 81 (cover date Feb. 1970, released in Nov. '69). We also get another glimpse of one of the previously seen Avengers issues; and there's a third comic with a monochrome cover that I couldn't easily identify. In court, Radar confesses that he had the money, which was hidden in his Teddy bear (which Frank seems oddly unfamiliar with).
Frank then takes the stand to give his account of the circumstances on Oct. 11, depicting himself as heroic, selfless, and unwavering in the O.R. during heavy shelling, while everyone else was fawning, panicky, or begging for relief. (IMDb points out that this is a rare case of a surgery session being accompanied by a laugh track, as it was meant to be a comically exaggerated account.) Frank even tells of how he donated his own blood to a patient on the spot without even sitting down. When Hawkeye couldn't take it anymore, Burns recounts, the captain injected him with a syringe and had him wheeled out on a table.
Hawkeye: The major's version of what happened is, to say the least, fascinating. It was, to say the most, perjury.
Hawkeye gives a briefer account of Frank being his usual whiny self and how he was forcing the major to return to pre-op when a nurse walking in accidentally knocked Burns out with the swinging door; following which Klinger dragged the major out on the floor.
In the show's present, the colonel recognizes Captain Pierce's lack of discipline but praises his surgical skill; while indicating when pressed that Burns would be better suited as a pastry chef. The colonel judges that no mutiny occurred. In the coda, Burns brings Potter to the supply shed to bust another poker game, but the colonel just asks to be dealt in.
The conflicting accounts storytelling device employed in this episode was undermined by the show's inability to cast any doubt on Hawkeye. There's room to interpret that he was also exaggerating in his own favor, but if so, it was much more subtle than in Burns's flashback.
An IMDb contributor points out that a court martial with a potential death sentence would involve the officers having legal representation. Also, I believe courts martial are usually judged by tribunals. Nobody on IMDb caught the comic books this time.
This was the first of nine episodes directed by Harry Morgan. Acting-wise, I just came across the fact that he was nominated for an Emmy for every season he was in, winning in 1980.
The Bionic Woman
"Angel of Mercy"
Originally aired January 28, 1976
Edited IMDb said:
At the Vector 4 Depot in Costa Bravo, which is under bombardment, ambassador George Morehouse (James Karen) and his wife Judith (Jean Allison) are trying to leave for an escape flight when their shelter is hit and they find themselves trapped there by rubble. The civil war in that country and the uncertain fate of the ambassador are subjects in Jaime's class, brought up by brainy student Andrew (infamous Brady cousin Robbie Rist). As class is ending, Jaime gets a call from Oscar, who's flying out via military transport with an assignment. He picks her up with the plane and plays a fragmented SOS message from Morehouse. When Oscar has trouble with the reel-to-reel player, Jaime employs bionic rewind. Oscar has reservations about the riskiness of sending Jaime in disguised as a nurse, on the hope that the guerillas will respect her neutrality. Having no medical training, Jaime reads up on the flight.
At the next airfield, Jaime meets up with her partner for the mission, no-nonsense civilian ace helicopter pilot Jack Starkey (whistles in Andy Griffith), who thinks that she's actually a nurse and is outspoken in his belief that a woman doesn't belong in the war-torn jungle. He nevertheless flies her into the war zone in N9150F. Guerillas fire at their copter, forcing Jack to make a crash landing...secretly aided by Jaime pulling the exposed steering cable behind their seats.
Jaime rips off the door, pulls the unconscious Jack clear of the wreckage, and revives him with ammonia from the first aid kit; then unconvincingly claims that they were thrown clear. Her lack of nursing competency shows when she has to be told to bandage his bleeding head. Jack's incredulous that she wants to proceed with finding Morehouse (who's still attempting to radio out with a dying battery). Trekking through the jungle, Jaime can hear that they're being pursued, and has to grab and throttle a large reptile that's slithering down from a tree toward an unsuspecting Starkey...upon which we learn that she shares the weakness of a famous adventurer yet to be created:
They come upon a soldier whose leg is pinned under a tree trunk (Paul Berrones). Jack advises against helping him, but nevertheless lifts the trunk off with the surreptitious aid of Jaime's foot. Then it falls to Jack to administer pain killer, because Jaime's also skittish about needles.
As they arrive at the depot, they discover who their pursuer is--a local preteen orphan in oversized fatigues named Julio (Claudio Martínez), who has an attitude about American pigs and the guerillas who killed his parents. Jaime bandages the boy's feet, which are hurt from trekking around in ill-fitting boots. She and Jack argue about bringing him along in his condition; though Jack ends up carrying the kid on his soldiers to spare Jaime the burden. Julio freaks both the adults out when he pulls from his satchel the carcass of the snake, which he picked up as a potential meal. Once inside the depot, Starkey radios Morehouse, but Morehouse's reply doesn't get through as the battery finally gives.
Left alone in the depot while Jack looks for transportation out, Jaime hears Judith banging for help and gets to work on the rubble. Julio rushes in to tell her that they found a plane and is amazed to see what she tries to pass it off as the effects of adrenaline. She sends him out for Jack, and he runs into the guerillas who've been pursuing the crash survivors (led by a character billed as Castro Beard [Bert Santos]), diverting them up into nearby hills. Jaime gets the cellar door open, helps the ambassador out, then goes down to free Judith, who's pinned under debris. Once they're reunited, Jack shows Jaime that the plane's landing gear struts are bent out of shape, so she finally abandons pretense and bends them back into shape in front of him.
Their next problem is starting the plane, which Jaime assists with by turning the prop. With the guerillas moving back in, Jack's forced to try to take off with Julio aboard, whom he insists will overburden the craft. Jack nevertheless manages to get them airborne after flying the plane off a cliff.
At the Sao Paulo AFB, Jaime says goodbye to a tearful Julio, whom Jack plans to take care of until he finds a foster home; and Jack expresses his respect for Jaime. Back in class, Andrew updates Jaime about the rescue of the ambassador, which the helicopter pilot credited to Lady Luck.
It's interesting how this episode goes out of its way to play up Jaime being more of an unseasoned operative than Steve, including an early beat of Jaime acting uncomfortable at taking the assignment. I wonder if this will persist.
A credited student who interacts with Andrew is Mark (Robbie Wolcott).
Hawaii Five-O
"Turkey Shoot at Makapuu"
Originally aired January 29, 1976
Edited Paramount+/Wiki said:
Molly Taggart (Lee Purcell) flies a turkey silhouette-adorned glider designed by her brother, Draper (Lou Richards), off a cliff at the titular locale, assisted by a friend and/or instructor named Carl (Byron Akiona). While Draper and Carol proceed to the landing point, Molly's stewardess roomie, Sheila Romney (Susie Burke), leaves for a flight but has car trouble and gets out to walk for help. While Molly circles around watching from above, a van pulls up to Molly's car, and a pair of lowlifes, Thomas Tonker (Chuck-Chuck Akamine) and Blooey (Billy Roessler)--the latter always wearing a very distinctive headphone transistor radio--get out to strip the vehicle. Sheila notices and approaches them, only to be chased by Blooey with a knife. Too late, Tonker notices the glider circling overhead. After Molly lands, she has Draper take her to where the car had been, but they only find an eight-track cassette and some wiring. Molly goes to the police, who connect it to a recent case in which a pair of sailors were knifed by car strippers. When Sheila's body is found, it becomes a case for Five-O, and Steve questions Molly, who's upset that they can't move in on the killers faster. Next the car is found, to be examined by Che while Five-O tries to track down the missing parts. Meanwhile, Sheila's life proves to be worth a mere $175 for the sundry parts that the strippers fence to Oscar Lang (Kenneth O'Brien), who isn't even interested in the tires. Tonker later sees a headline story about the unidentified hang-glider pilot having witnessed the murder.
Hang-gliding activity continues at Makapuu, which includes Draper taking the glider for a flight while the strippers are watching and a bystander identifies him to them. Chin finds and confiscates parts of interest at Lang's shop; following which Oscar goes to give a heads-up to the strippers, who insist that they sandpapered off all the serial numbers. Che lifts a large number of prints from the car considering that the interior was hosed down, though he warns that most will be unidentifiable prints from attendants, mechanics, etc. When the newspapers story comes to Steve's attention, he assigns Danno to watch Molly undercover. He and Molly are present when Draper takes his glider for another flight, only to be sniped by Blooey. He's still alive as he descends sharply down to the water, having only one good arm left to struggle with the glider.
The glider is found sans Draper's body, and Molly hangs on to the possibility that he swam to safety. Che finds indications that a bullet hit the glider, and Molly's safety relies on the press having reported the affair as a gliding accident. The strippers drive to Oscar's shop to find him being taken in by Duke and HPD.
Lang: Y'know, this is really a thrill. I mean me, a humble peasant, havin' a chat with Steve McGarrett. It's the Double-O of Five-O, wow.
McGarrett informs Lang that he's an after-the-fact accessory to murder, and that car radios also have numbers on the inside. After he's let go, Oscar learns from the bartender of a mutual hangout (Wallace Landford) that Tonker and Blooey know he was picked up...while Chin eavesdrops as a customer. He tails Lang back to his shop, where the strippers confront Oscar, Blooey threatening him with a knife while Oscar's ready to defend himself with a heavy wrench. As the strippers drive off, Chin radios in their plate. Draper's body is found, deflating the price of a life down to $87.50. When a reporter at the marina tries to ask Five-O questions, a distraught Molly spills that she's the witness the killers are after. The strippers subsequently catch a report on the radio about this.
The van is traced to Tonker, who has a felony record. Molly gives Danno the slip at a gas stop, taking her brother's land cruiser and the hang glider mounted on the roof. Five-O moves in on Tonker's junkyard to find the van and ammo indicating two rifles, but no strippers. They subsequently catch a TV new story that Molly's about to make a record-setting flight with her brother's glider from an undisclosed location. As she's about to take off, Molly, who's setting herself up as bait, instructs Carl to call McGarrett to the location and have him contact her via radio. After Steve and Danno arrive, Blooey takes shots at Molly from an observation tower. Molly indicates his location and Danno sends him diving with a sniper shot of his own. But Tonker takes shots at Molly from a ridge slope, wounding her and sending her spiraling down with limited control. She also indicates his location, allowing McGarrett to get the drop on Tonker and call in nearby undercover HPD officers to book him. Steve, Danno, and an ambulance rush to Molly's landing site to find her alive and talking of how she plans to go for that record.
Following up on this topic, a jiggled neuron tells me that Mike may have episodically sported a manbag on AITF.
I watched this once, several years back. My memory of the details is vague, but it became the main thing that I recognized Kevin McCarthy from when he popped up on various shows, usually as a villain.
I wonder if it was silently converted into modern dollars.
I briefly glanced at his Wiki page to find that some casted doubt regarding his story in the day.
The site I've been getting my chart lists from since the Billboard site went paywall includes lists for this pre-Hot 100 segment of the '50s. I've found that it's still very much common practice for multiple artists to jump on the same song at one and release competing versions. This one has a few, and I neglected to note that Pat Boone's cover of "Tutti Frutti" actually outcharted the Little Richard original! *shudder*
But it sure as hell ain't rock 'n' roll.
Another example of the above--there are multiple versions of this on the chart with Louis's version, two of which will outchart his recording; though they're both instrumentals. Louis's recording seems to be the most referenced version prior to Bobby Darin's definitive version in '59.Cool song and Louis Armstrong-- can't go wrong there.
Also the first three seasons of Emergency! It looks like he was replaced as composer with Billy May in Season 4. I miss the Batmanesque music queues.
Which I looked up.For comparison, the Moon is about a quarter of a million miles away.
Currently on the stands in 50th Anniversaryland, X-Men 98--in addition to being the opener of Phoenix's origin storyline--gives us our first look at Wolverine without his mask, and the revelation that his claws come out of his hands.
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