Hah! That was a real treat. Ladies, leather, and lullabies. It's great.BTW, the intro for the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century pilot/movie is probably the most 70s thing ever appeared in a sci-fi series. This and the pants of Space:1999 first season
The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread
- Thread starter The Old Mixer
- Start date
Batman
"The Penguin's Nest"
Originally aired December 7, 1966
Originally aired December 8, 1966
Yeah, it was established in the movie that there was definitely some sort of costume changing device connected to the Batpoles, put it's pretty silly that they have to go all the way back to Wayne Manor and the Batcave to change. Pretty sure at least one previous story had one of them changing into their costume in the field (unseen by the audience, of course).
Between the out-of-continuity TGH & Kato appearance, Colonel Klink, Lurch, and other examples of people appearing as characters from other shows, I think the window cameos don't bear any "serious" scrutiny...just roll with the gag and move on.
How does the Penguin have a device to detect Batman? And even if they couldn't detect a device in one of his umbrellas, why would they let him keep an umbrella in jail? I'd ask how Penguin planned to bring along all of his restaurant order slips to prison, but....
They sure have enough phones in the Batcave. You'd think they'd keep the direct line to Warden Chrichton near the other ones, instead of giving it its own conspicuous spot.
At one point Batman says of Penguin and his crew, "They're killers!" Failed deathtrap attempts aside, have they ever killed?
Ah, the Chief O'Hara cliffhanger. For whatever reason, this one freaked me out as a kid. Something about it being somebody other than the Dynamic Duo in the deathtrap.
The "pool electrifier" is indeed a mystery...the unit itself looks portable, but the sign on the building that it's connected to is hard to justify.
Batman sure whipped out that Bat Shield quickly! And of course it says "BAT SHIELD" right on it. If he's really so label-crazy, where's his "UTILITY BELT" label?
So much for Batman not being able to appear in court without unmasking. Why are the Penguin and his cohorts seated in a little nook with the court reporter?
Note that the Penguin doesn't recognize Alfred at first because Alfred's not wearing his glasses. How convenient that Penguin had the forger's fingerprints on file, but not his photo....
This one is quite the story for putting the Dynamic Duo's associates in jeopardy...Chief O'Hara, Alfred, Aunt Harriet....
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Tarzan
"Pearls of Tanga"
Originally aired December 9, 1966
You'd think this would have been perfect for a third appearance of the giant clam, but no...!
They're definitely playing fast and loose with the show being set in Africa. Here the Tribe of the Week are dressed like Pacific Islanders, and are probably being played by local actors from Mexico or Brazil, wherever the show was shooting at the time. At one point, though, the show's villain implies that he wants to institute a reign of submerged terror in the Mediterranean, so I guess that much fits with an African locale. Otherwise, I was going to suggest that maybe the unseen treehouse existed partly in extradimensional space, allowing Tarzan and Jai to access multiple locations.
This episode is clearly an attemp at something more Bondian/spy-fi...an OTT villain with a cave hideout, a fickle mistress who turns on him to help the heroes, diving henchmen, a sea scooter, and an attempt to imply a personal submarine with what looks like the hatch of a very small submersible sitting in a hideout access pool that's way too small to accommodate a real sub...and he points to that little hatch indicating that it's the type of sub that he commanded during the war! The hideout is no Ken Adam set either...very TV-budget, complete with an annoyingly repetitive "computer" sound that plays constantly in the villain's control center.
The villain tells a war story that involves commanding a fleet of subs against French shipping, and specifies that he served in the Mediterranean. That implies WWII before the occupation of France. But while the actor is old enough to have served by the end of the war, having been a fleet commander in 1940 is definitely pushing it. And despite the episode description above, they refer to him as "the Commander" in-story. He's credited as "Admiral Gioco" on IMDb, but is just "Gioco" in the actual end credits. He's played by a Mexican-American actor whose professional name was Carlos Rivas.
At one point, Tarzan employs some diving technology of his own--air jugs. Is that legit?
Tarzan taking on multiple equipped divers with no equipment of his own until he takes some from one of them is pretty badass. What's more, they actually have the Commander specify that he's killed the divers...and in a later diving scene, he takes equipment from the bodies of divers that he'd killed earlier. Also, it looks like the Commander drowned in their climactic struggle (very quickly for somebody who was all about working and waging war underwater). So much for the family hour!
TOS guests: None
_______
12 O'Clock High
"The Ace"
Originally aired December 9, 1966
And not just any research, but some of that there new-fangled ay-tomic research!
Precision bombing...human shields...a story that took place further in the past than when it was made, but was ahead of its time.
Ooh, the guest colonel gets a B-25...fancy. The trusty B-17 has more character, though...I love how you can see the turret moving around right there in the cockpit.
Being a Trek fan, I couldn't help being distracted by the fact that Colonel Connelly's oft-used nickname was the first syllable of his surname. If only the Shat had put in an appearance....
"The Penguin's Nest"
Originally aired December 7, 1966
"The Bird's Last Jest"IMDb said:
Originally aired December 8, 1966
IMDb said:
Yeah, it was established in the movie that there was definitely some sort of costume changing device connected to the Batpoles, put it's pretty silly that they have to go all the way back to Wayne Manor and the Batcave to change. Pretty sure at least one previous story had one of them changing into their costume in the field (unseen by the audience, of course).
Between the out-of-continuity TGH & Kato appearance, Colonel Klink, Lurch, and other examples of people appearing as characters from other shows, I think the window cameos don't bear any "serious" scrutiny...just roll with the gag and move on.
How does the Penguin have a device to detect Batman? And even if they couldn't detect a device in one of his umbrellas, why would they let him keep an umbrella in jail? I'd ask how Penguin planned to bring along all of his restaurant order slips to prison, but....
They sure have enough phones in the Batcave. You'd think they'd keep the direct line to Warden Chrichton near the other ones, instead of giving it its own conspicuous spot.
At one point Batman says of Penguin and his crew, "They're killers!" Failed deathtrap attempts aside, have they ever killed?
Ah, the Chief O'Hara cliffhanger. For whatever reason, this one freaked me out as a kid. Something about it being somebody other than the Dynamic Duo in the deathtrap.
The "pool electrifier" is indeed a mystery...the unit itself looks portable, but the sign on the building that it's connected to is hard to justify.
Batman sure whipped out that Bat Shield quickly! And of course it says "BAT SHIELD" right on it. If he's really so label-crazy, where's his "UTILITY BELT" label?
So much for Batman not being able to appear in court without unmasking. Why are the Penguin and his cohorts seated in a little nook with the court reporter?
Note that the Penguin doesn't recognize Alfred at first because Alfred's not wearing his glasses. How convenient that Penguin had the forger's fingerprints on file, but not his photo....
This one is quite the story for putting the Dynamic Duo's associates in jeopardy...Chief O'Hara, Alfred, Aunt Harriet....
_______
Tarzan
"Pearls of Tanga"
Originally aired December 9, 1966
Wiki said:
You'd think this would have been perfect for a third appearance of the giant clam, but no...!
They're definitely playing fast and loose with the show being set in Africa. Here the Tribe of the Week are dressed like Pacific Islanders, and are probably being played by local actors from Mexico or Brazil, wherever the show was shooting at the time. At one point, though, the show's villain implies that he wants to institute a reign of submerged terror in the Mediterranean, so I guess that much fits with an African locale. Otherwise, I was going to suggest that maybe the unseen treehouse existed partly in extradimensional space, allowing Tarzan and Jai to access multiple locations.
This episode is clearly an attemp at something more Bondian/spy-fi...an OTT villain with a cave hideout, a fickle mistress who turns on him to help the heroes, diving henchmen, a sea scooter, and an attempt to imply a personal submarine with what looks like the hatch of a very small submersible sitting in a hideout access pool that's way too small to accommodate a real sub...and he points to that little hatch indicating that it's the type of sub that he commanded during the war! The hideout is no Ken Adam set either...very TV-budget, complete with an annoyingly repetitive "computer" sound that plays constantly in the villain's control center.
The villain tells a war story that involves commanding a fleet of subs against French shipping, and specifies that he served in the Mediterranean. That implies WWII before the occupation of France. But while the actor is old enough to have served by the end of the war, having been a fleet commander in 1940 is definitely pushing it. And despite the episode description above, they refer to him as "the Commander" in-story. He's credited as "Admiral Gioco" on IMDb, but is just "Gioco" in the actual end credits. He's played by a Mexican-American actor whose professional name was Carlos Rivas.
At one point, Tarzan employs some diving technology of his own--air jugs. Is that legit?
Tarzan taking on multiple equipped divers with no equipment of his own until he takes some from one of them is pretty badass. What's more, they actually have the Commander specify that he's killed the divers...and in a later diving scene, he takes equipment from the bodies of divers that he'd killed earlier. Also, it looks like the Commander drowned in their climactic struggle (very quickly for somebody who was all about working and waging war underwater). So much for the family hour!
TOS guests: None
_______
12 O'Clock High
"The Ace"
Originally aired December 9, 1966
Xfinity said:
And not just any research, but some of that there new-fangled ay-tomic research!
Precision bombing...human shields...a story that took place further in the past than when it was made, but was ahead of its time.
Ooh, the guest colonel gets a B-25...fancy. The trusty B-17 has more character, though...I love how you can see the turret moving around right there in the cockpit.
Being a Trek fan, I couldn't help being distracted by the fact that Colonel Connelly's oft-used nickname was the first syllable of his surname. If only the Shat had put in an appearance....
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The thing about Tarzan is, the kind of jungles depicted in the books and movies are actually more like the South American rainforest than anything in Africa. There's only a small amount of rainforest in Africa, and I gather it's not quite the same. So Tarzan productions shot in the Americas may actually be closer to the source, and maybe that's why they do it. I remember this '90s series, Tarzan: The Epic Adventures, that was shot in South Africa, and there was this complete mismatch between the fake jungle set on their soundstage and the real African savannahs where they shot on location.
The Books are usually in Equatorial Africa. The first two books take place in the forests of the Atlantic coast. In later books Tarzan lives in British East Africa but many of his adventures take place in Central Africa.
Now I want a Tarzan series with a giant clam in the main cast.
The Africa depicted in the original novels wasn't very realistic either. But I like the idea of Tarzan having access to all jungles, just like Swamp Thing has access to all swamps.
Adam-12, "Pick-Up" (Dec. 29, 1971): Kathy (Cissy) Garver trying to play it a bit more hippie as a drug-pusher who's resentful of her mom, Barbara Hale from Perry Mason...who IRL was the mother of William Katt. And still no luck for Reed and Malloy with the Code 7's. 
Yes, of course, but the point is that they weren't a particularly accurate portrayal of Africa's geography and climate, any more than they were an accurate portrayal of African cultures and peoples.
You know what really bugs me about Music Choice? They have exactly ONE picture of the Beatles. Some of the most minor artists they've got a few of. Get another picture, people, they ain't hard to find!
Adam-12, "The Princess and the Pig" (Jan. 12, 1972): Kent McCord going undercover as a drug supplier is a little painful...and the plot depends on somebody whom Reed just met while in uniform not recognizing him, which is definitely stretching things to keep one of our leads in the center of the story. This is like the A12 equivalent of a Gilligan's Island dream episode...letting one of the regulars play with portraying another type of character. But it actually seems like a premise that might have been better served with a one-hour or two-part episode, as there's an angle of Malloy taking on a temporary rookie partner that doesn't have a chance to go anywhere. Also, toward the climax some important plot beats get conveyed as radio calls rather than shown on-camera (which feel like they may have been inserted after-the-fact as one of those tidbits doesn't scan with the next scene in which we see the character involved). Guest stars Bobby Troup, who'll become a Mark VII lead later the same week when Emergency! debuts.
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Yeah, the Music Choice channels are not exactly visually stunning.
I've sometimes wondered whose job it is to run these channels. Is there a billion-dollar Music Choice corporation? Is it low-bidding vendor with a staff, including managers and secretaries and a graphics department? Or is it some guy in a basement room at Comcast making minimum wage? I've never really been interested enough to do any research, though.
Kung Fu
"Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon"
Originally aired February 22, 1972
Erroneously titled "Pilot" on IMDb, this double-sized origin episode, originally broadcast as an ABC Movie of the Week, introduces our hero, a humble yet badass martial arts-wielding monk...and his student Caine, whom he affectionately calls "Grasshopper". A meaty installment that, among other things, provides all of the classic coming-of-age beats that we'll see over and over in the main title sequences, it climaxes with Caine defeating a Shaolin-trained bounty hunter and, more importantly, delivering exposition to make sure that the audience knows his coming series will have a Fugitive premise.
I'd seen this once, over 20 years ago, in syndication, but I'm fortuitous to have caught it on Decades in so timely a manner, as H&I doesn't seem to air it as part of the regular series.
"Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon"
Originally aired February 22, 1972
Xfinity said:
Erroneously titled "Pilot" on IMDb, this double-sized origin episode, originally broadcast as an ABC Movie of the Week, introduces our hero, a humble yet badass martial arts-wielding monk...and his student Caine, whom he affectionately calls "Grasshopper". A meaty installment that, among other things, provides all of the classic coming-of-age beats that we'll see over and over in the main title sequences, it climaxes with Caine defeating a Shaolin-trained bounty hunter and, more importantly, delivering exposition to make sure that the audience knows his coming series will have a Fugitive premise.
I'd seen this once, over 20 years ago, in syndication, but I'm fortuitous to have caught it on Decades in so timely a manner, as H&I doesn't seem to air it as part of the regular series.
It sounds like you liked it, which is cool. I can't tell you how important Caine was to me as a kid as a role model. His combination of gentleness and strength really spoke to me.
^ Yes, I'd been into it for a spell years back, but the station I was watching it on stopped showing it before I got through the series. As you might have told from my joke above, I particularly liked Master Po. This will be my first attempt to watch it all the way through since then. This installment is a strong pilot movie. Caine must have been a pretty intriguing character for that age of television.
I'm planning to try to watch at least one episode a week, with extra episodes where I have the time, what with the 50th anniversary business and regular first-run TV winding down for the season, and the sidelist having become a regular weekly thing. I timed starting to watch the series roughly in chronological sync with my Adam-12 viewing, but they won't stay in sync for long. Adam-12 I've been knocking off one per weekday like clockwork, because I found the perfect slot for it--mornings before work. Perfect for its half-hour format, and it's not getting in the way of anything else. I should be through it in August.
_______
This Week's 50th Anniversary Viewings
50 years ago the past and coming weeks
(RJD, you may want to click on that one...the first American Top 40 single by one of your favorite acts is up.)
_______
Star Trek
"Operation--Annihilate!"
Originally aired April 13, 1967
Stardate 3287.2
See my post here.
_______
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
"The Cap and Gown Affair"
Originally aired April 14, 1967
Open Channel Done with This Season!
"Sector G as in George"? Seems like UNCLE agents need to learn what a proper phonetic alphabet is.
This episode's story involves a student group that's protesting UNCLE...I think I'm hip to that crowd. Of course, the protestors are being manipulated from the inside by THRUSH, and Illya tries to go undercover with them for a time. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief regarding his age, but it's a bit much that Solo gets mistaken for a student at least once, even if the character responsible is a bit of an airhead. When the student group get arrested, they hold a party in a holding cell, complete with detainees playing instruments.
Ugh, that Mabouse guy from TGH is the main bad guy in this one...ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz...!
Don't think it's much of a secret that of the shows I've been watching from the 1966-67 TV season, TMFU has been the one I've had the hardest time getting into. I'm not sorry to be able to put it aside for five months, nor that the next season is not only the last, but a half-season to boot.
_______
Get Smart
"A Man Called Smart: Part 2"
Originally Aired April 15, 1967
Didn't find any of the gags in this one especially funny...the closest would be a bit of business where several KAOS agents holding Max captive switch cars multiple times, with the last one being too small for the party, so it becomes something of a clown car in reverse.
William Schallert plays a doddering, elderly admiral who temporarily replaces the Chief--Could this be a spoof of Waverly?
It's an odd coincidence that the governor of California is referenced, followed very shortly by a comment from the admiral (referring to a character in the episode) about the destiny of our country being in the hands of an actor...!
The middle-part cliffhanger strikes a relatively bum note for a comedy, with the Chief succumbing to a gunshot wound.
Guest stars include Marj Dusay, who later brought us that infamous line, "Brain and brain--What is brain!?!"
_______
The Avengers
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station"
Originally aired April 15, 1967 (UK)
Steed Goes Off the Rails
Emma Finds Her Station in Life
The synopsis above isn't quite accurate in linking the story details together.
This one was relatively straightforward espionage business, and didn't make much of an impression on me one way or the other. There are a couple of clever bit of business: A ticket collector punching out microdots, and Steed having a recorder in his umbrella handle. (The latter wouldn't be a big deal in the digital age, but that would have been an impressive bit of miniaturization in the era of reel-to-reel tapes.)
The episode ends with Steed and Peel, having saved him from an assassination plot, snubbing a visit from the P.M.! There are a couple of references to him that might have been funnier to British viewers of the time. (Harold Wilson, FWIW.)
_______
Coming up next week:
I'm planning to try to watch at least one episode a week, with extra episodes where I have the time, what with the 50th anniversary business and regular first-run TV winding down for the season, and the sidelist having become a regular weekly thing. I timed starting to watch the series roughly in chronological sync with my Adam-12 viewing, but they won't stay in sync for long. Adam-12 I've been knocking off one per weekday like clockwork, because I found the perfect slot for it--mornings before work. Perfect for its half-hour format, and it's not getting in the way of anything else. I should be through it in August.
_______
This Week's 50th Anniversary Viewings
50 years ago the past and coming weeks
(RJD, you may want to click on that one...the first American Top 40 single by one of your favorite acts is up.)
_______
Star Trek
"Operation--Annihilate!"
Originally aired April 13, 1967
Stardate 3287.2
MeTV said:
See my post here.
_______
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
"The Cap and Gown Affair"
Originally aired April 14, 1967
Xfinity said:
Open Channel Done with This Season!
"Sector G as in George"? Seems like UNCLE agents need to learn what a proper phonetic alphabet is.
This episode's story involves a student group that's protesting UNCLE...I think I'm hip to that crowd. Of course, the protestors are being manipulated from the inside by THRUSH, and Illya tries to go undercover with them for a time. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief regarding his age, but it's a bit much that Solo gets mistaken for a student at least once, even if the character responsible is a bit of an airhead. When the student group get arrested, they hold a party in a holding cell, complete with detainees playing instruments.
Ugh, that Mabouse guy from TGH is the main bad guy in this one...ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz...!
Don't think it's much of a secret that of the shows I've been watching from the 1966-67 TV season, TMFU has been the one I've had the hardest time getting into. I'm not sorry to be able to put it aside for five months, nor that the next season is not only the last, but a half-season to boot.
_______
Get Smart
"A Man Called Smart: Part 2"
Originally Aired April 15, 1967
Xfinity said:
Didn't find any of the gags in this one especially funny...the closest would be a bit of business where several KAOS agents holding Max captive switch cars multiple times, with the last one being too small for the party, so it becomes something of a clown car in reverse.
William Schallert plays a doddering, elderly admiral who temporarily replaces the Chief--Could this be a spoof of Waverly?
Max said:
It's an odd coincidence that the governor of California is referenced, followed very shortly by a comment from the admiral (referring to a character in the episode) about the destiny of our country being in the hands of an actor...!
The middle-part cliffhanger strikes a relatively bum note for a comedy, with the Chief succumbing to a gunshot wound.
Guest stars include Marj Dusay, who later brought us that infamous line, "Brain and brain--What is brain!?!"
_______
The Avengers
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station"
Originally aired April 15, 1967 (UK)
Wiki said:
Steed Goes Off the Rails
Emma Finds Her Station in Life
The synopsis above isn't quite accurate in linking the story details together.
This one was relatively straightforward espionage business, and didn't make much of an impression on me one way or the other. There are a couple of clever bit of business: A ticket collector punching out microdots, and Steed having a recorder in his umbrella handle. (The latter wouldn't be a big deal in the digital age, but that would have been an impressive bit of miniaturization in the era of reel-to-reel tapes.)
The episode ends with Steed and Peel, having saved him from an assassination plot, snubbing a visit from the P.M.! There are a couple of references to him that might have been funnier to British viewers of the time. (Harold Wilson, FWIW.)
_______
Coming up next week:
- The Saint, "The Gadget Lovers"
- Get Smart, "A Man Called Smart: Part 3" (season finale)
- The Avengers, "Something Nasty in the Nursery"
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Yeah, but just imagine if they'd had the guts to cast Bruce Lee as originally planned, instead of sticking latex epicanthic folds on David Carradine.
Columbo: "No Time to Die" is a massive departure for the series, the first of two installments that are adaptations of Ed McBain 87th Precinct novels instead of original murder mysteries. It's the only movie in the series that has no homicide to solve, instead revolving around the kidnapping of Columbo's nephew's new bride on her wedding night. In theory, it was an interesting idea to show Columbo doing something other than playing mind games with smug, upper-class murderers for a change, but it's really not a very good movie. A lot of the dialogue is bad, the investigation is plodding, and the kidnapping story is unpleasant. The kidnapper is a sexually predatory obsessed fan of his fashion-model victim, planning to kill her and himself after their nonconsensual wedding night, and he's played in a manner that comes off as an attempt at a knockoff of the serial killer from The Silence of the Lambs. There are even a couple of unpleasantly homophobic notes, cheap-shot attempts to imply that the insane killer is gay, like having him speak in a prim and "effeminate" manner and having him put on lipstick. It's all rather nasty, and it ends with a shootout, which seems very inappropriate for Columbo. (The lieutenant himself actually wields his gun in the field for the first time ever, though he only loosely clutches it and never uses it.)
The episode also lacks one of the main draws of Columbo, which is the star power of the guest killers. There are a few notable faces like Donald Moffat, Lance LeGault, and Daniel Davis, but in fairly small supporting roles. The guy playing the nephew/new husband gets a lot of the focus, and he's terrible, while the killer is unmemorable. The most noteworthy presence is the bride/victim, played by the beautiful Joanna Going, who'd starred in the short-lived revival of Dark Shadows the year before this aired and whom I had quite a crush on at the time. She's fairly good in her scenes attempting to escape imprisonment, though she gets too much clunky monologuing, some of which is totally unnecessary (e.g. "Let's see about that window" just before walking over to the window -- seriously, was this written for radio?).
By the way, one little detail struck me as an amusing inconsistency. A number of scenes had the kind of captions that are "typed out" on the screen one character at a time, giving the dates and times as the time-sensitive investigation went on (the whole thing covered maybe 18 hours). The font used was that old MICR font developed for machine reading, the kind that's only used on checks anymore but that older shows routinely used as a "computer" font -- and yet the sound effect used as the symbols appeared was that of a typewriter. I don't think I ever saw a typewriter that used an MICR font.
Yeah, Master Po was great. Master Kan was something of a wise ass himself. He has a great line in one of them where he says something to Caine like, "We're all happy that you're smarter than a monkey."
Hard for me to say, I suppose, since I was only eleven when he came on the air, but there were a lot of intriguing characters for me in those days, on TV and in books and comics and so on. But then, everything is new when you're eleven.
That's quite interesting, since several of their more iconic songs preceded it, yet those never cracked the Top 40.
Your ambivalence toward Get Smart surprises me more than your dislike of Man From Uncle. Do you generally dislike Mel Brooks-type humor or do you dislike the cast? Or is it just that you feel the writing is sub par?
More thoughts overnight on Columbo: "No Time to Die": This was a weird mismatch to Columbo for several reasons. The more violent and lurid subject matter was one; the ABC series was definitely a lot more sexed up than the original, but generally in more consensual and classy ways than this. Also, having Columbo's nephew marry into a rich family kind of undermines the subtext that Columbo is a blue-collar, working-class hero taking on the rich and powerful. Most of all, there's no battle of wits. A crazy, obsessed stalker isn't an intelligent enough adversary to be worthy of Columbo. It's kind of interesting (in the sense of a curiosity rather than the sense of an entertaining story, though) seeing the pre-Internet police spending hours slogging through the kind of search and comparison work that a modern show would deal with in seconds by having the resident computer geek do a pattern search or facial-recognition match, but Columbo isn't competing against the villain, he's just competing against a lack of information about the villain. We get to see him being smart in thinking of the right details to dig into and understanding what they mean, which is his thing, but we don't get to see him outsmarting anybody, which is even more his thing.
I can think of a way they could've kept the seed of the Ed McBain novel but rewritten it to work better as a Columbo story. Ditch the sexual-predator angle, which is unpleasant and derivative. Have Donald Moffat's character, the bride's rich father, arrange for his daughter's kidnapping. He can't stand to see his precious flower marry a lowly blue-collar cop from immigrant roots. So he plans to disgrace the cop by feeding him false leads that make him look incompetent, and then when Columbo's investigation points the cops in the right direction, the father decides to set a trap -- his hired kidnapper will kill the newlywed cop, and then the cops will kill him before he can reveal the plan. But there are just one or two little things that bother Columbo, and he keeps prying and matching wits with the father, and just before the shootout, his car wheezes and bangs onto the scene and he calls out to the kidnapper and explains the whole setup, with the daughter listening. So the kidnapper stands down and agrees to testify against the father, the happy couple is reunited, and the day is saved without a shot being fired, because that's how Columbo rolls.
I can think of a way they could've kept the seed of the Ed McBain novel but rewritten it to work better as a Columbo story. Ditch the sexual-predator angle, which is unpleasant and derivative. Have Donald Moffat's character, the bride's rich father, arrange for his daughter's kidnapping. He can't stand to see his precious flower marry a lowly blue-collar cop from immigrant roots. So he plans to disgrace the cop by feeding him false leads that make him look incompetent, and then when Columbo's investigation points the cops in the right direction, the father decides to set a trap -- his hired kidnapper will kill the newlywed cop, and then the cops will kill him before he can reveal the plan. But there are just one or two little things that bother Columbo, and he keeps prying and matching wits with the father, and just before the shootout, his car wheezes and bangs onto the scene and he calls out to the kidnapper and explains the whole setup, with the daughter listening. So the kidnapper stands down and agrees to testify against the father, the happy couple is reunited, and the day is saved without a shot being fired, because that's how Columbo rolls.
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But Master Po was badass!
From the relative chart positions, it looks like they were a much bigger deal in the UK than the US prior to that.
(I assume we're both talking about the Who here. For all I know, you're a huge Young Rascals fan.)
Hard to say...humor is very subjective. In this show it's very physical/slapstick, which doesn't do a lot for me. But for me, the previous episode was definitely better humor-wise than this one.
_______
Batman
"The Cat's Meow"
Originally aired December 14, 1966
"The Bat's Kow Tow"Xfinity said:
Originally aired December 15, 1966
IMDb said:
At the TV studio, it's good that Bruce recognized the dangers of a hot mike, if a bit late in the conversation.
Dyna-Girl was the one who said, "Aren't they the most adorable twosome in the world?", right?
At least Catwoman didn't fall to an ambiguous fate this time.
Given their competition in the era, I'd say that Chad & Jeremy were a C-list pop act at best...but this pair of episodes is their moment in the spotlight...perhaps the thing that they're best known for to later generations than their original fans...so I'll give them their due.
This story seems to be using them as avatars for the British Invasion acts in general, and thus plays them up as being far edgier and more significant than they were. And by the time of these episodes, when folk rock was making way for psychedelia, I'd imagine that the novelty of the British Invasion was becoming old news.
"The world's most popular singing duo": It's good that they qualified that statement by limiting it to duos--too bad they didn't say "England's" instead of "the world's"...then I'd mainly be squinting past Peter & Gordon. But no, they had to bring Simon & Garfunkel into the competition as well....
"England's singing sensations": To the degree that they were sensations, it was much more in the States than their homeland, where only one of their singles managed to crack the charts.
The press conference with quippy lines is obviously echoing the Beatles, both IRL and on the silver screen.
The comment about their fans being overly demonstrative reminds me of observations made by one or more of the Beatles in retrospect that they felt like they were the only sane ones while everyone around them was acting crazy.
In those days, the hair alone might have been enough to set off somebody of Aunt Harriet's generation...but yeah, compared to their British Invasion peers, C&J were polar opposites on that front to the likes of the Stones and the Who. Note below how so many of their singles did better on the Adult Contemporary chart...then known as the Easy Listening chart (though Wiki tells me that it went through a couple of temporary name changes between '62 and '65).Christopher said:
Chad and Jeremy's loss having a potentially disastrous result on England's economy? That would be an exaggeration if they were talking about the Beatles...or if the success of exported British musicians in general dried up overnight. The British economy did manage to get by before the British Invasion, after all.
And at this point, as you'll see below, C&J were definitely past their relatively brief and modest prime.
IMDb tells me that the song at the press conference was "Manners Maketh Man," which wasn't a single and appears to have been a track on what would have then been an upcoming album, 1967's Of Cabbages and Kings. I found its use pretty distracting, but I guess they felt they needed some C&J music somewhere in the first part.
"Distant Shores," the song they were performing when their voices where stolen, was their sixth biggest single and their last Top 40 hit (Charted July 9, 1966; #30 US). See below for the ones that did better.
The song that they play in the coda is a less successful single from earlier that year, "Teenage Failure" (Charted Feb. 5, 1966; #131 US). Gotham City Town Hall is a pretty underwhelmingly sized venue...and definitely doesn't jibe with the way the episode sells up their importance.
And now for their career highlights:
"Yesterday's Gone"
(Charted May 23, 1964; #21 US; #37 UK)
"A Summer Song"
(Charted Aug. 15, 1964; #7 US; #2 AC; Their most successful single; For years when I heard this on the radio, I misremembered it as a song they did on Batman because of the prominent referencing of summer in "Distant Shores".)
"Willow Weep for Me"
(Charted Nov. 14, 1964; #15 US; #1 AC)
"If I Loved You"
(Charted Feb. 20, 1965; #23 US; #6 AC)
"Before and After"
(Charted May 15, 1965; #17 US; #4 AC)
I suppose I could have done something like this for Paul Revere & The Raiders, but their appearance was so low-key that it didn't even occur to me. Lesley Gore will be getting her due when the time comes.
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Tarzan
"End of the River"
Originally aired December 16, 1966
Wiki said:
Hey, don't give the whole plot away!
To elaborate, he saves the girl and two chained men from a crashed plane. Each of the chained men claims that he's a policeman and the other is his prisoner. A character played by the returning George Murdock (now I know why they gave him such a disguise a couple episodes back) is pursuing Tarzan's party through the jungle. I thought the twist would be that he was really the policeman and both of the chained men were prisoners, but no, Murdock's character was just in cahoots with the character who turned out to be the criminal.
Superficially, this seems pretty similar to an episode I haven't gotten to yet but have seen in the background, with three or four prisoners, one of them being Susan Oliver.
This one has no preview scene; no Jai, though Manuel Padilla, Jr. is credited; more lion wrasslin'; and more named elephants, Nooba and Jo. Cheeta pops up out of nowhere in the middle of the story.
The story ends with Tarzan heroically going into a dangerous area of the jungle not out of a need to recapture the prisoner who escaped into it, but to make sure that he gets out alive.
TOS guest: Michael Witney (Tyree, "A Private Little War")
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12 O'Clock High
"Six Feet Under"
Originally aired December 16, 1966
Xfinity said:
Martin Milner! Doing a non-driving role in the gap between Route 66 and Adam-12. Alas, when they had him telling Gallagher about his life back home, I should have seen that he wasn't going to be making it out of the episode alive.
Still more role-stretching to keep the regulars in the action--This week Gallagher's overseeing the gathering of intelligence on the front lines in Europe. And who's commanding the bombing raids from a B-17 in Gallagher's absence, you ask? Why none other than Richard Anderson's brigadier general!
Also featuring Lawrence Montaigne (Decius, "Balance of Terror"; Stonn, "Amok Time) as German Corporal; and Rudy Solari (Salish, "The Paradise Syndrome"); in addition to series regular Frank Overton.
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He really was.
Of course I mean the Young Rascals. Who is this "Who" you refer to?
True, humor is subjective. And I think that type of surreal, MAD-style humor was more in fashion in those days.
As you say, C&J are kind of C-List in comparison to the musical wonders of the day, but this kind of emphasizes how good they really were.
From what I've seen, I don't see it as particularly surreal or MAD-style. In the former department, it has some absurd sight gags; and I don't think it's quite clever enough in the latter. I get more solid laughs out of the witticisms of The Avengers or the OTT camp of Batman when those shows are on their respective games.
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Kung Fu
"King of the Mountain"
Originally aired October 14, 1972
The love child of Wiki and Xfinity said:
What if Caine had gotten lucky and snatched the pebble while he was still a kid and hadn't finished his training?
The flashbacks here connect particularly strongly with the origin business in the pilot, helping to catch viewers up and firmly establish the premise. There's one rather awkward piece of voiceover shoehorned into a scene from the pilot, though.
Tigers feel pity? I have a hard time picturing that, Master Kan.
Lara Parker's been getting referenced prominently over in the MeTV thread. Well, here she is! The Wiki description overplays the sexual tension as a full-on romance that it doesn't quite become...but along the way, we get the Shaolin version of the birds and the bees....
Caine: Master, our bodies are prey to many needs. Hunger, thirst...the need for love.
Master Kan: In one lifetime, a man knows many pleasures. A mother's smile in waking hours...a young woman's intimate, searing touch...and the laughter of grandchildren in the twilight years. To deny these in ourselves is to deny that which makes us one with nature.
Caine: Shall we then seek to satisfy these needs?
Master Kan: Only acknowledge them, and satisfaction will follow. To suppress a truth is to give it force beyond endurance.
Master Kan: In one lifetime, a man knows many pleasures. A mother's smile in waking hours...a young woman's intimate, searing touch...and the laughter of grandchildren in the twilight years. To deny these in ourselves is to deny that which makes us one with nature.
Caine: Shall we then seek to satisfy these needs?
Master Kan: Only acknowledge them, and satisfaction will follow. To suppress a truth is to give it force beyond endurance.
In the pilot, a Shaolin-trained Chinese bounty hunter comes after Caine. Here we get more of a Western type for variety. Caine beats the armed bounty hunter with his feet chained together, which is pretty badass.
The fugitive angle is in full play here, but one important ingredient is missing--They've yet to set up Caine's quest...he's just staying on the move at this point. I know there's an episode in which he visits his American grandparents and learns about his half-brother, but I'm not sure how soon it comes up.
TOS guest: Ken Lynch
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Interesting. I have a feeling you probably won't come to like it, unless the characters grow on you.
I'm sure they had a Plan B. "Very good, Grasshopper. You may now leave the temple-- through this half-mile length of two-inch diameter pipe. Become one with the grasshopper, Grasshopper."
Master Kan thought tigers were grrrreat.
This is one of my strongest memories of watching the show as a kid. Remember, this was right in the midst of the Sexual Revolution. This was a very Hippie show.
Great stuff. My favorite is when he catches the arrow just before it enters his chest.
Pretty quickly, I think, although he doesn't revisit them again until late in the series.
I wouldn't say that I don't like it...it's a watchable show...it's just not LOL funny to me.
Kan doesn't call Caine "Grasshopper," does he?
That wasn't in this episode. This bounty hunter used a rifle...tripped himself off a cliff going for it after Caine had kicked it away.
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Batman
"The Puzzles Are Coming"
Originally aired December 21, 1966
"The Duo Is Slumming"Xfinity said:
Originally aired December 22, 1966
Xfinity said:
See, now these make me laugh:
Millionaire Bruce Wayne said:
The Caped Crusader said:
And the quotes don't do the lines justice, it's all in West's comically earnest delivery.
Also, this got a good double-take:
If you're the Boy Wonder and some fiendish criminals have put you in a nefarious deathtrap, it must be Wednesday night.Christopher said:
(If I do decide that a quote from the MeTV thread is warranted, do you prefer it with or without the link to the original post?)
In case anyone was wondering when watching the show in syndication over the years...yes, Virginia, the Santa window cameo was seasonally appropriate...though it just underscores how little it seems like winter is coming in Gotham City...or how often Gotham feels less like a New York and more like an L.A.
@Christopher covered the mismatching of villain motifs so thoroughly in the MeTV thread that I don't have anything to add in that department. This made-for-the-episode villain is a particularly good example.
And while one can view it as all part of the absurd fun of the show, sometimes the logic of the clues is really reaching--That word has seven letters! Let's go on a tangent about the number seven--How could we be wrong!?!
Notice that while it would be perfectly in character for him if dealing with another unusual word, Batman doesn't expound upon the etymology of "zounds". Not yet ready for 1960s family hour, I guess.
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Tarzan
"The Ultimate Duel"
Originally aired December 23, 1966
Wiki said:
While it beat TOS to the punch, this is hardly the ultimate computer episode. The actions of the scientist's henchmen are ostensibly directed by the computer, but what it really comes down to is a bunch of guys hunting Tarzan in the jungle, and not doing anything that they couldn't have done without the help of a machine. A computer-controlled drone plane comes into play in the last 10 minutes...more of that sort of thing would have helped sell the concept.
After winning the challenge to escape from the scientist's preserve, Tarzan goes back in to bring the madman down. When he did his call and they showed the animals reacting, I thought the Lord of the Jungle was going to open up a can of mass bestial whoopass, but that didn't happen.
In the end, Tarzan presses home the point that I saw coming in the doctor's behavior, which included blaming the computer and then Tarzan for his own actions...
Tarzan said:
This episode is the first to have neither Jai nor Cheeta; and IMDb mistakenly puts Carlos Rivas in it.
But speaking of TOS: Booker Bradshaw (Dr. M'Benga, "A Private Little War" and "That Which Survives"), playing...wait for it...Dr. B'Dula! Guess this guy was typecast before Trek even got ahold of him!
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12 O'Clock High
"The Duel at Mont Sainte Marie"
Originally aired December 23, 1966
H&I should have aired this last week, but they skipped it for whatever reason, and it doesn't look like it's coming up soon. I'm just guessing because of the airdate, but maybe it has a seasonal motif and they save it for the appropriate time of the year.
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And on that note...Happy Retro-Holidays to all!
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