The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

[The Old Mixer]

The first three seasons of The Avengers were videotaped and done pretty much like live TV (complete with the occasional flub). The show's producers began using film and upped the production values with a specific eye to the American market.

Yeah, I'd started watching those but wound up deleting them to make space for other shows as I got more ambitious in my 50th anniversary viewing project. May revisit them later when I've got less going on. Was finding them hard to get through, honestly, especially the combination of lousy sound quality and accents, which had me watching with closed captioning on so I had an idea what people were talking about. (Fortunately the captions were fairly accurate...couldn't say the same for one time I turned on cc'ing for a Saint episode.)

The "In Color" bumpers were added by the ABC network (the U.S. one, that is).

The spelling would be a giveaway there.

Your feelings about Sonny & Cher will determine how much you like this one.

Ah crap, it's the Sonny & Cher episode--I've gotta see that one! Maybe H&I skipped it that time around for some reason. (They did the same with a two-parter from next season, but I noticed it was missing and caught them coming back around to it just this past week.) If my projections are correct and the scheduling of the show stays consistent, they may be coming back around to late Season 3 in less than three months.

They remind me a lot of Dark Shadows.

Yeah...very daytime soap-quality.

ETA:

Yesterday morning, we watched a couple of old Avengers episodes that I had DVR'd from Cozi. They were early black-and-white Emma Peel episodes, but they were already getting pretty surreal. One was about a scientist developing a man-eating plant that would grow to five hundred times the size of the Empire State Building. He was doing so at the command of what was apparently an intelligent plant that came from outer space (Mrs Peel informed Steed that it could be from either Mars or the Moon-- recently large swaths of vegetation had been photographed on each ). This plant had powers of mind control, but plugging a hearing aid into your ear provided protection. Toward the end, Mrs Peel lost her hearing aid, fell under the control of the plant, and there was an epic Steed versus Emma Peel battle. But they prevailed with their secret weapon-- an elderly woman with a jug of herbicide. What a great show.

Just caught this one in my sidelist viewing..."Man-Eater of Surrey Green," Dec. 11, 1965 (UK)...may have aired in the States in Aug. of '66 if that's where the IMDb date is from. Giant, man-eating, mind-controlling plants from outer space...quite the leap into sci-fi territory for the show from what I've seen so far...and yet still better than the fake space invasion in this week's Green Hornet. It actually had a pretty decent classic sci fi/monster flick feel to it. Don't know that I'd describe the fight as "epic", though...it was a bit brief and claustrophobic, with too much focus on the jug of herbicide they were fighting over.

Ah, December of '65....

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ETA: The next episode, "Two's a Crowd" (Dec. 18, 1965; possibly May 1966 in the U.S.), is a return to more traditional spy-fi business. I saw both of its twists coming (that the Russian master spy that only four agents had seen was in fact a Remington Steele-style front for the activities of those four agents, and that Steed's double was in fact Steed undercover), but it kept me engaged just to verify that I was right. What I didn't see was that Emma wasn't in on Steed's scheme. One of four episodes guest-starring Julian Glover (two of which I've seen now), and featuring the first of two appearances by Brodny, a Russian ambassador character (the second of which I'd watched a couple weeks back as 50th anniversary business).

 

[RJDiogenes]

The spelling would be a giveaway there.

The Avengers-- In Colour, Old Chap.

Ah crap, it's the Sonny & Cher episode--I've gotta see that one!

Yeah. Sorry.

Maybe H&I skipped it that time around for some reason.

Maybe that's why it failed to appear on your DVR.

Giant, man-eating, mind-controlling plants from outer space...quite the leap into sci-fi territory for the show from what I've seen so far...

Yeah, that's why I was so disappointed that the time travel episode turned out to be a fake out.

Don't know that I'd describe the fight as "epic", though...it was a bit brief and claustrophobic, with too much focus on the jug of herbicide they were fighting over.

Well, probably as epic as it gets.

Yesterday, we saw a very campy one where Mrs Peel is kidnapped and forced to star in a movie-- actually, a snuff film-- by an insane film director. At the end, she clobbers Steed with what she thinks is a breakaway chair prop-- but it's real and he goes down for the count.

We also had the pilot episode of Love, American Style, which had several interesting stories, one of which was a nice treatise on the outdated nature of marriage-- unfortunately with a cop-out ending. And here we are fifty years later, and marriage is still ubiquitous and women are still changing their names. The Liberal Revolution didn't really do as well as it seemed at the time (said Captain Obvious).

Also caught a random episode of Laugh-In. Teresa Graves was there, and so was Judy Carne, which surprised me because I thought she had left by then for some reason.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Yeah, that's why I was so disappointed that the time travel episode turned out to be a fake out.

In addition to the previously discussed Venus episode, there's at least one other in that vicinity with a sci-fi premise that turns out to be a hoax:

Spoiler: Episode title

"The See-Through Man"

We also had the pilot episode of Love, American Style

Recorded it, saving it for its place in the 50th anniversary queue.
_______

ETA: The Avengers, "Small Game for Big Hunters" (Jan. 15, 1966, UK): Sometimes the show can seem small-scale with all the action being in England, but in this case the mysterious group they're investigating is not even 5 miles down the road, but literally right next door to Peel? That's a little too small-world. (At least I think it's supposed to be Peel's house...I'm still fairly new to the series and it's not made clear in the episode.) Guest-starring James Villiers, who'd go on to play Chief of Staff Bill Tanner in For Your Eyes Only as a temporary stand-in for the recently deceased Bernard Lee.

ETA: "The Girl from Auntie" (Jan. 22, 1966, UK): Among several early murder victims in this episode are a quartet of theatrical costumiers, the Jacques brothers...given names John, Paul, George, and Fred.

 

[Christopher]

Columbo: "Murder in Malibu": This script by veteran Columbo (and Perry Mason, Adventures of Superman, etc.) writer Jackson Gillis tries to do something clever by showing us the guest star apparently killing the victim, then making it look like he's actually innocent and making us wonder who the real killer is, only to turn out that it was him all along. But it doesn't quite come together. The pacing seems off -- it takes a long time for Columbo to show up, then he doesn't seem to latch onto the suspect for a while, then it all falls into place all at once and the guy is immediately cleared, etc. And there are some inconsistencies -- we saw that scene of Wayne calling an answering machine from a diner and making a point of saying his watch said 7:15, but later it turned out he made the call at 6:25 and the sound of traffic was actually crows? That didn't make sense.

The main problem, though, is that Andrew Stevens is utterly terrible as Wayne, giving a histrionic performance that's deeply irritating. Luckily, that's balanced out somewhat by the presence of Brenda Vaccaro, who's always terrific. Even though her character is rather one-note in her angry impatience, Vaccaro is entertaining to watch.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Recorded it, saving it for its place in the 50th anniversary queue.

It's interesting, because all of the pieces are in place, yet it feels subtly different from classic LAS.

ETA: "The Girl from Auntie" (Jan. 22, 1966, UK): Among several early murder victims in this episode are a quartet of theatrical costumiers, the Jacques brothers...given names John, Paul, George, and Fred.

I vaguely remember that from back in the day. I hope I recorded it.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Also recorded the first episodes of Mod Squad (for 50th anniversary) and Kung Fu (too far along to save for 50th, but planning to work it in chronologically with my Adam-12 viewing).

Kung Fu I tentatively plan to revisit as a series when I've got less going on...like after I've knocked off the catch-up sidelist and Adam-12.

Looks like we're getting a major snow day here tomorrow. That should give me a chance to get a few more episodes of whatever off the DVR.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Yup, the blizzard will hit here in about a half hour. My employer already decided to shut down all the buildings, which means nothing to me since I work from home.

Kung Fu is a fantastic show. One of my all-time favorites. I've got the complete series on DVD. I'm contemplating getting the sequel series on DVD, too.

 

[The Old Mixer]

And speaking of Kung Fu...I see that H&I comes back to the beginning of the series this weekend....
Mumblemuttergrumbleprobablygonnarecorditmuttergrumble....

ETA: Today's installment of Spot the Bond Actor: The Avengers, "The Danger Makers" (Feb. 12, 1966, UK), guest stars Douglas Wilmer, who'll go on to play Fanning, the M.I.6 art expert in Octopussy. As for the story...there has to be a more sensible way to train a group to steal the crown than to get them randomly killed playing chicken and Russian roulette...but Emma gets some good stuff to do.

ETA: Finally got to "A Touch of Brimstone" (Feb. 19, 1966, UK). I was all set to be disappointed that this Hellfire Club were a bunch of naughty pranksters, but things took a more sinister turn when they orchestrated a death at the Hall of Friendship. (Sounds like the sort of place where great heroes created from the cosmic legends of the universe might hang out.) From the last quarter of the episode, I can see why it wasn't shown in America at the time. It was as much about the suggestion as what actually happened onscreen.

ETA: "What the Butler Saw" (Feb. 26)--In a couple of scenes, a trio of military commanders zip themselves into a big plastic bag so their conversation can't be picked up by microphones. Shades of Get Smart! (And Steed goes undercover as a...well, you can guess.)

 

[RJDiogenes]

As for the story...there has to be a more sensible way to train a group to steal the crown than to get them randomly killed playing chicken and Russian roulette...

Survival of the fittest? Or just entertainment for the boss?

ETA: Finally got to "A Touch of Brimstone" (Feb. 19, 1966, UK). I was all set to be disappointed that this Hellfire Club were a bunch of naughty pranksters, but things took a more sinister turn when they orchestrated a death at the Hall of Friendship. (Sounds like the sort of place where great heroes created from the cosmic legends of the universe might hang out.) From the last quarter of the episode, I can see why it wasn't shown in America at the time. It was as much about the suggestion as what actually happened onscreen.

Unfortunately, I think I missed recording that one.

 

[The Old Mixer]

^ There seem to be a lot of gaps in the ones you've been recording. You know it's on two nights a week, four episodes total? Or are they preempting some of them where you're at?

Honey West, "The Fun-Fun Killer" (Mar. 4, 1966): OK, it made sense that the "robot" looked like it walked out of an Adventures of Superman episode, since it turned out to be a guy in a suit in-story...still, it made me wish they could have gotten Robby just for the sake of a reunion. Interesting that when Honey and Sam thought it was a real robot, they assumed that it was homing in on people who were holding a specific object--Was that a common trope at the time? The Avengers did an episode the same season with the same premise ("The Cybernauts"), save that in that case, the robot was real in-story.

 

[Christopher]

Honey West, "The Fun-Fun Killer" (Mar. 4, 1966): OK, it made sense that the "robot" looked like it walked out of an Adventures of Superman episode, since it turned out to be a guy in a suit in-story...still, it made me wish they could have gotten Robby just for the sake of a reunion.

Ohh, Anne Francis! Yeah, that would've been neat.

 

[The Old Mixer]

The Avengers, "The House That Jack Built" (Mar. 5, 1966): This was one of the first episodes I'd caught when COZI was playing it in the afternoon a couple years back. The tricked-up house is one of the more surreal elements I've seen on the show. This one is noteworthy in giving us a bit of Peel's background, including her maiden name (Knight). It also gives us the unusual device of hearing Emma's thoughts for some scenes in which she's alone in the house trying to figure things out.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^ There seem to be a lot of gaps in the ones you've been recording. You know it's on two nights a week, four episodes total? Or are they preempting some of them where you're at?

No, there are huge gaps because I only record a small number. I still haven't gotten around to getting a DVR, so these are things that I record to watch with my Mother when I go over for breakfast on Saturdays. We also watch episodes of Laugh-In, so the number of episodes we can see are very limited. What I do is I scroll ahead and record what looks especially interesting. If I had noticed "A Touch Of Brimestone," I would have recorded it.

Honey West, "The Fun-Fun Killer" (Mar. 4, 1966): OK, it made sense that the "robot" looked like it walked out of an Adventures of Superman episode, since it turned out to be a guy in a suit in-story...still, it made me wish they could have gotten Robby just for the sake of a reunion.

I don't think I've seen that one. I'll have to dig out my DVDs.

The Avengers, "The House That Jack Built" (Mar. 5, 1966): This was one of the first episodes I'd caught when COZI was playing it in the afternoon a couple years back. The tricked-up house is one of the more surreal elements I've seen on the show. This one is noteworthy in giving us a bit of Peel's background, including her maiden name (Knight). It also gives us the unusual device of hearing Emma's thoughts for some scenes in which she's alone in the house trying to figure things out.

I hope I got that one.

 

[Christopher]

This one is noteworthy in giving us a bit of Peel's background, including her maiden name (Knight).

Oh, I get it! Knight and Steed.

 

[The Old Mixer]

^ That I hadn't caught! Naughty.

ETA: The Avengers, "A Sense of History" (Mar. 12, 1966): This is another of the earlier episodes that I'd caught on COZI a couple years back. You'd think that if people are getting killed at a university, there'd be regular authorities investigating. It is fun watching Steed and Peel own the nasty students every time they try to make trouble. Oddly enough, this one had the full end credits, unlike the other COZI airings of more than one show that I've been watching.

Oh yes, and the plot involved a professor who wanted to see the economies of Europe join forces, or something futuristic like that.

 

[The Old Mixer]

This Week's 50th Anniversary Viewings

50 years ago this past week.
_______

The Green Hornet
"Invasion from Outer Space: Part II"
Originally aired March 17, 1967

Mabouse gains possession of the warhead.

The alien invasion angle proves to be a waste...they could have done a good, straight episode about a rogue scientist hijacking a nuclear warhead without the silly outfits.

And in case you needed further proof that the show was short a few brain cells at this point:

And this can only be Kato.

Shortly after which the Hornet addresses Kato by name while henchman Shugo is in the car with them.

Who but I could have conceived of nuclear blackmail?

Who indeed...?

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And so ends The Green Hornet for me. The show definitely had its charms, and plenty of unrealized potential. I've said it before, but I feel that it really would have worked better in the black and white era, when its noirish elements could have been played up more, rather than in the exact moment when bright, pastel-colored TV was breaking out all over.

_______

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
"The When in Roma Affair"
Originally aired March 17, 1967

Solo plants a stolen Thrush formula on an innocent woman tourist. Both UNCLE and Thrush are seeking the formula.

Open Channel Dragging Things Out to Fill an Hour.

This is really Cesare Danova's episode. His wooing of the woman with the formula is the meat of the story, and you can see it coming a mile away that he's going to fall for her and turn against THRUSH. Solo and Kuryakin's contributions seem tangential to all of that.

In one scene, Kuryakin reads a comic book out loud to put a troublesome child to sleep. The cover features a black and white line illustration that I didn't catch the details of, and the title Captain Marvel and the Space Horse. What we hear of the story doesn't sound like it's about the Big Red Cheese.

Sharyn Hillyer was the most exciting thing in the episode, and she was barely in it.



_______

Mission: Impossible
"The Train"
Originally aired March 18, 1967

The dying leader of a European nation has a protégé ready to assume power. What the leader doesn't know is his protégé has plans to crack down on liberty and execute his enemies. Briggs, in addition to his normal IMF operatives, enlists the help of a physician and an Academy Award-winning art director, as part of his plan. Eventually, the IMF runs an elaborate con, including a phony train ride, aimed at causing the protégé to show his true intentions.

This tape will self-destruct in ten seconds.

Now they're getting there! They could shave a little time off of that, though....

In general, it's always nice when actors you're familiar with like Williams Windom and Schallert pop up in guest roles...but one of the more painful aspects of this show is sitting through them doing Boris & Natasha accents for the entire episode.

VARNUNG
GAZ HYDROCYANIDE
NO INTRETEN

Ugh!

Ah, where would '60s television be without karate chops to the back of the neck to make short work of would-be plot complications?

If the prime minister's security is so important, it seems kind of silly that nobody's watching his departure from outside the train.

In the part when Barney's playing tapes of train sounds and smoke starts to come out of the machine, my first thought was, "What, did somebody use the self-destructing brand by mistake?"

Yeah, Rollin has a horrible poker face. Hope he works on that.

_______

The Avengers
"Never, Never Say Die"
Originally aired March 18, 1967 (UK)

A motorist finds that wherever he goes he's involved in yet another traffic accident, repeatedly killing the same pedestrian.

I must say, he seems to be sadly lacking in traffic sense.

Steed Meets a Dead Man
Emma Fights the Corpse

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It's fitting that Emma's watching last season's "The Cybernauts," because this episode features...

Christopher Lee!!! Straying not too far from the roles he was known for in that era, playing mad scientist Frank N. Stone and his artificial duplicate. Lee is actually more menacing when he's talking than when he's taciturnly lurching around the English countryside smashing people's radios.

And still more Beatles film blood: John Junkin, a.k.a. fictional Fab Four assistant Shake from A Hard Day's Night:

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The end of the episode gives us artificial duplicates of Steed and Peel as a comedic beat...definitely a missed opportunity there.

Peel: You know, we just averted a disaster. Can you imagine plastic politicians?
Steed: Who would ever know the difference?

_______

No "new" episodes of Star Trek or The Saint this week.

 

[Christopher]

And so ends The Green Hornet for me. The show definitely had its charms, and plenty of unrealized potential. I've said it before, but I feel that it really would have worked better in the black and white era, when its noirish elements could have been played up more, rather than as bright, pastel-colored TV was breaking out all over.

I can see that, given that the character's previous screen appearances were '40s movie serials. But it seems kind of a waste to have a show called The Green Hornet and not have him be visibly verdant.


My thoughts on M:I: "The Train" from my blog:

It’s a fun scheme, seeing all the lengths they go to in order to set up the illusion of the train ride. For the second week in a row, we get a behind-the-scenes look at some of the equipment and contrivances used in film production. But it’s ultimately not entirely credible that the passengers would find it convincing. From where Larya and Pavel were sitting by the train windows, they would’ve been looking at the projection screens from an angle and seen the foreshortening. Indeed, from Larya’s position, given what we were shown of the exterior view, he should’ve been able to see past the edge of the screen. Also, there’s an odd bit where the train car has gotten underway but actually goes backward to get into the warehouse, and yet even though the windows are open on the real scenery at this point, nobody inside notices that they’re going the wrong way.

Still, it’s nice that they established that the team needed the help of Hollywood professionals to set up an illusion this elaborate. This is the template for other “fake journey” episodes later in the series, and I think those later episodes at least sometimes show the team doing it all themselves without help. Of course, maybe they learned all the skills from their time working with this guy.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I'm willing to allow M:I a certain level of suspension of disbelief that the IMF schemes would be convincing at all, but some things stick out at you. The part when the train was moving backward had me wondering as well. And the meta quality of it all also occurred to me, particularly when they "struck the set"...literally breaking down the fourth wall in-story.

Next week's episodes:

Star Trek
"Errand of Mercy"

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
"The Apple a Day Affair"

The Saint
"Simon and Delilah"

Mission: Impossible
"Shock"
_______

 

[RJDiogenes]

I've had TCM's tribute to Robert Osborne on all weekend, watching when I can. It's hard for me to tear myself away from stuff like that. There's nothing more engrossing than watching creative people wax passionate about their calling and their craft.

And so ends The Green Hornet for me. The show definitely had its charms, and plenty of unrealized potential. I've said it before, but I feel that it really would have worked better in the black and white era, when its noirish elements could have been played up more, rather than in the exact moment when bright, pastel-colored TV was breaking out all over.

Or maybe something along the lines of Frank Miller's Sin City-- black and white and green all over.

Now they're getting there! They could shave a little time off of that, though....

Yeah, it's not like Phelps has to take cover or anything.

It's fitting that Emma's watching last season's "The Cybernauts,"

That's a good "Mrs Peel, we're needed" gimmick. My favorite one was where Mrs Peel is peeling off the wallpaper in her apartment as she redecorates. Steed arrives and gives her the rundown on this week's mission and just as he finishes, she peels off a swath of wallpaper that reveals "Mrs Peel, we're needed" written on the wall underneath. Now that's planning.

Christopher Lee!!! Straying not too far from the roles he was known for in that era, playing mad scientist Frank N. Stone and his artificial duplicate. Lee is actually more menacing when he's talking than when he's taciturnly lurching around the English countryside smashing people's radios.

Oh, nice. I don't remember ever seeing that one.

 

[The Old Mixer]

That's a good "Mrs Peel, we're needed" gimmick. My favorite one was where Mrs Peel is peeling off the wallpaper in her apartment as she redecorates. Steed arrives and gives her the rundown on this week's mission and just as he finishes, she peels off a swath of wallpaper that reveals "Mrs Peel, we're needed" written on the wall underneath. Now that's planning.

Hmm...sounds a bit, but not exactly, like the one from "The Hidden Tiger," which I reviewed a couple weeks ago:

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Completing the collection for the episodes reviewed here, from "The Correct Way to Kill":

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Or maybe something along the lines of Frank Miller's Sin City-- black and white and green all over.

I actually thought about something like that...from something I read once about old horror movies, or maybe it was just Frankenstein, having a greenish film tinge. But that wouldn't have shown up on b&w TV, and they never would have done something like that in the NOW IN COLOR 1966-67 TV season.

Yeah, it's not like Phelps has to take cover or anything.

This was Briggs. Maybe he was canned by the IMF efficiency experts because he couldn't handle the upgrade to 5-second tapes.

_______

Sidelist viewing....

Honey West, "Little Green Robin Hood" (Mar. 18, 1966): It's interesting that The Avengers and Honey West, produced in different countries, did Robin Hood-themed episodes so close together ("A Sense of History" having had a Robin Hood motif as part of its story as well). Pure coincidence, or was there a major new production in that area or somesuch that both were riffing upon? (Likewise, looking for such a production on IMDb, I see that The Time Tunnel did a Robin Hood episode later that year.)

The Avengers, "How to Succeed....At Murder" (Mar. 19, 1966): I didn't spot any Beatle film actors in this one, but it was a couple of vowel sounds away from a Fab connection with one of the murder victims being a Sir George Morton. The show's repeating itself a bit with the main villain speaking through a dummy. In one scene, Steed starts to interrogate a female assailant by tickling her...kinky, but too brief. The climactic fight includes a bizarre comical moment when a group of women pile up on Peel and they start flying out of the pile, presumably tossed by an unseen Emma (accompanied by a voiced-over line in which she says that she can handle herself).

Honey West, "Just the Bear Facts, Ma'am" (Mar. 25, 1966): When a half-hour program is padded, it really shows. In this case, there's a conspicuous dream sequence in the middle of the story, in which Honey imagines herself in the silent film era. It ultimately serves a story purpose in that Honey notices a clue after it pops up in the dream...but in a tighter story, she could have just noticed that clue when she was awake.

Maybe they didn't like my acting. I guess I'm just not the Western type.

Hmmm...given the prevalence of Westerns at the time and her relative lack of roles in that genre, I have to wonder if this was a meta comment on Francis's career experiences.

ETA:

The Avengers, "Honey for the Prince" (Mar. 26, 1966):

Did Mrs. Peel call and tell you about the body in my apartment? She did? Well, will you have it removed right away, please? It's very untidy.
...
I'm most terribly sorry, Colonel, it's another body entirely.

This one has the British airdate listed on IMDb...I suspect that Emma's fully bare midriff kept it off U.S. TV in the era of Barbara Eden's forbidden navel.

And that's the end of Season/Series 4, catching me up on Peel-era Avengers to the 50th anniversary point.

ETA:

Honey West, "There's a Long, Long, Fuse A'Burning" (Apr. 1, 1966): With first-billed guest star Dick Clark! And he's playing a role, not himself! And...

Spoiler: You can probably guess why I'd put this in a spoiler box.

...he's the bad guy!

And yep, Honey West was on ABC, same as Bandstand.

And that finishes Honey West for me...though there are at least a couple of episodes that Decades skipped in its Daily Binges. And thus I'm also done with my sidelist viewing of the 1965-66 TV season...and moving on to what I have for 1966-67, which will mostly be catching up on Tarzan, but will also include a few episodes each of TMFU and The Saint from earlier in the season than I started watching them in 50th anniversary sync.

Now the first episode of Tarzan I only have the last third of. I literally decided to start recording the series while the episode was on in the background. Surprisingly, as the entire episode would have been in my DVR buffer at the time, opting to record it midway through didn't result in a recording of the entire episode. Apparently the left chip doesn't know what the right chip is doing.