Okay, you're right, that's weird. That's usually the kind of thing they do to spice things up later in a show's run.
Bummer. Well, we've already seen my favorite Lovin' Spoonful song anyway.
The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread
- Thread starter The Old Mixer
- Start date
Partially implied / supported by the pilot, where Davy's dating Vanessa Russell, a high school girl.
One of their best, but this song was not the original track accompanying this scene during the first NBC broadcast (that was "I Wanna Be Free" from the group's debut album), but was remixed with it as Headquarters was released in 1967.
Largely a Nesmith track, with Goffin and King contributions. Still a driving, country-flavored classic.
Haven't gotten to that yet...it was the 10th aired.
Yes, I've read how they sometimes substituted newer songs in rerun season. And I remember this one confusing me because the song in the episode was different from the one listed on IMDb.
To my ear, the Nesmith songs are like the Monkees equivalent of George songs on Beatles albums. Perfectly good in their own right, but definitely a different animal from the more commercial singles.
That said, I had "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round" stuck in my head a couple days after I watched an episode that featured it.
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50th Anniversary Viewing
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Mission: Impossible
"Operation 'Heart'"
Originally aired October 22, 1967
Xfinity said:
The reel-to-reel tape in the photo booth said:
This episode features Roger Korby plotting to overthrow President Adam Cartwright for control of the Eastern European nation of Ponderoskovia. I wanna say that Michael Strong's fake accent is better than the usual for M:I, but I'm hardly a qualified expert and I may just be developing a tolerance for the cheesy accents. Pernell Roberts makes a strong impression early on with his larger-than-life portrayal of the president who brushes his teeth with whiskey. And Landau does an entertaining old man as Rollin's means of entering and exiting the mission.
This week's mission team includes a guest agent who's a doctor; and Jim poses as a magazine reporter under his own name.
Rollin dressed as a doctor going into the operating room in the middle of surgery to discover a bomb was a bit unconvincing.
Overall, an entertaining operation that moved briskly and kept me guessing.
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The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
"The THRUSH Roulette Affair"
Originally aired October 23, 1967
Xfinity said:
Open Channel Day that U.N.C.L.E. Stood Still...this week's guest villain is Michael Rennie. Charles Drake (Commodore Stocker, "The Deadly Years") also appears.
The wraparound movie screen torture was totally unconvincing...trains coming from multiple directions? It was even more unconvincing that Rennie's character succumbed to it. More unconvincing still was Rennie's double in his action/stunt scenes...he looked more like Robert Vaughn, which was just confusing.
Also, it was confusing how the story mixed together a brainwashing operation with a life-and-death stakes casino...stick to one motif or the other and explore it. Stocker and his old girlfriend didn't even really need to be in the story...they were plot complication filler.
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No new episode of The Rat Patrol this week.
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Batman
"Louie, the Lilac"
Originally aired October 26, 1967
H&I said:
Here it is, our first full-on American hippie episode. I'd think the hippies would see Batman and Robin as square, fascist tools of the establishment or something, rather than idolizing them. And notice how the hippies are described as being outside of various places, but other than Primrose, we only actually see them in the park.
The song that they play during the first hippie scene, which I assume would be titled "I Just Can't Let You Go," sounded like a lame knockoff of the Batgirl theme song...which we get a second appearance of this week as well.
Since when do the Dynamic Duo park the Batmobile in an alley next to police headquarters? The stock footage in practically every other episode says otherwise.
Those man-eating lilacs must be ancestors of Beauregard in "The Man Trap."
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Ironside
"Tagged for Murder"
Originally aired October 26, 1967
Wiki said:
Antoinette Bower's really getting around this fall! But I was really delighted to see post-Kato Bruce Lee as a karate instructor who's the son of one of the murder victims.
The story is a cleverly enigmatic mystery revolving around a Swiss bank account that everyone involved (a group of WWII vets who plundered some Nazi loot) was trying to get the complete set of numbers for.
One scene takes place at a recording studio, where something vaguely 5th Dimension-ish is being recorded...I think. There seem to be a lot of young-looking folk on the other side of the glass who are mostly swaying around, not singing or playing anything. It sounds like the name of the song would likely be "Turn Away," and the episode was scored by Oliver Nelson.
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"There's Nothing to Be Afreud of But Freud Himself"
Originally aired October 26, 1967
Wiki said:
The use of Donald playing armchair psychiatrist by interpreting everyone's Rorschach blot tests was a good source of humor. He basically serves as the bearer of bad news. When he brings the real psychiatrist into things, they get the same evaluations, but delivered with more professional courtesy.
Revisiting my earlier point about Donald's income...now they're eating at a restaurant with menus and wine that serves swordfish...so apparently he can afford better than hamburger joints when the plot doesn't require emphasizing his relative poverty.
Here we get another use of "stoned" as slang for "drunk."
"Oh, Donald" count: 0 that I caught.
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Tarzan
"The Fanatics"
Originally aired October 27, 1967
H&I said:
Don Marshall is an honest politician, but he's getting help from George Murdock and William Smithers, who are implied to be dirty commies! Sign o' times to come: Part of their plan involves a suicide bomber.
This is another episode that attempts to convey too much of the action with unconvincingly editing footage. To say nothing of the really fakey water effect for a school of piranha.
Jai and Cheeta are both fully integrated into the story.
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Star Trek
"Catspaw"
Originally aired October 27, 1967
Stardate 3018.2
MeTV said:
See my post here.
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The Prisoner
"The Schizoid Man"
Originally aired October 27, 1967 (UK)
Wiki said:
OK, this was a pretty clever one, with No. 2 trying to convince No. 6 that he's the double...and 6 attempting to turn the tables and escape by impersonating No. 12. It had me guessing as to what was really going on and moved at a nice pace...good attributes for a Prisoner episode. Even the fairly generic No. 2 serves the story, as it's really about McGoohan playing off of himself.
The setup for 6's true identifying mark was pretty obvious...as was the fact that the female guest was One of Them. It would be a surprise at this point if they gave us a female guest who wasn't.
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The Avengers
"You Have Just Been Murdered"
Originally aired October 28, 1967 (UK)
Wiki said:
This is a decent entry for one that follows the old "fill time with repeated attack incidents" formula. The execution of the mock executions was interesting enough, and there was some added jeopardy when our heroes implemented their plan, as it turned out that the ransom case that Peel was carrying around had a bomb planted in it by the extortion victim they were trying to help. The show goes completely cartoony again when the main bad guy winds up being put in a tree by the bomb.
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Get Smart
"Supersonic Boom"
Originally Aired October 28, 1967
Xfinity said:
Would a targeted sonic boom really cause so much earthquake-like damage?
The simulated car and plane trip was pretty good...like an M:I scheme being played for laughs.
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I liked Nesmith's songs much better than the Boyce/Hart stuff and especially the Neil Diamond stuff.
It's been a few years, and it may not even be this episode, but I seem to remember Michael Strong doing a pretty bad accent in M:I.
Wasn't that the plot of Mission: Impossible: "The Legacy"?
Ooh, neat. Maybe I should check out Ironside sometime. I think I've only heard Nelson scores on The Six Million Dollar Man (of course) and a few Columbo episodes.
Oh, by the way, on the subject of Columbo, I attended a local book fair this weekend and got to meet Mark Dawidziak, the author of the classic episode guide book The Columbo Phile from 1989. He was pleasantly surprised to hear that I had a copy (apparently they're fairly rare, since owners don't like to part with their copies and it was never reprinted), and he suggested I bring it in so he could autograph it, which he did. He said he was actually a bit relieved that he never got a chance to do a revised edition or sequel about the ABC revival of Columbo, because the story of the original series was a tale of success, while the story of the revival... not so much.
The ST:TNG episode of the same title was named in honor of this episode.
Probably not. The Mythbusters once tested whether a sonic boom could break glass, and they couldn't get it to work even with military jets flying really low and fast over their test house. One window broke, but I think it was pushed out of its frame by the air pressure and broke on hitting the ground.
Maybe. That's one of the Season 1 episodes that I haven't watched. This one involved each participant having shot two digits out of their dog tags, which formed part of the number of the bank account. And it turned out that the murder victim at the beginning of the episode and Antoinette Bower had actually been living off the plundered loot in the years since, and the other conspirators were getting suspicious about their stalling over opening the account.
Cozi's currently airing four episodes a week if you get that. Two each in the wee hours of Sunday and Monday mornings. Looks like they're just starting Season 2 tonight.Christopher said:
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50 Years Ago This Week
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
- "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher," Jackie Wilson
- "Purple Haze," The Jimi Hendrix Experience
- "I Dig Rock and Roll Music," Peter, Paul & Mary
- "Dandelion," The Rolling Stones
- "Brown Eyed Girl," Van Morrison
New on the chart:
"Wild Honey," The Beach Boys
(#31 US; #29 UK)
"Stag-O-Lee," Wilson Pickett
(#22 US; #13 R&B)
"I Second That Emotion," Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
(#4 US; #1 R&B; #27 UK)
And new on the boob tube:
- Mission: Impossible, "The Money Machine"
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E., "The Deadly Quest Affair"
- The Rat Patrol, "The Death Do Us Part Raid"
- Batman, "The Ogg and I"
- Ironside, "Let My Brother Go"
- That Girl, "The Collaborators"
- Tarzan, "Last of the Supermen"
- Star Trek, "I, Mudd"
- The Prisoner, "The General"
- The Avengers, "The Positive Negative Man"
- Get Smart, "One of Our Olives Is Missing"
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Man, those Pips really had a sweet deal, didn't they? 
The IMF versus Andrea!
The Caped Crusaders are on the side of peace and love. Also, they dress so groovy.
Street-cleaning day in Gotham.
What does he do for a living? Maybe his financial status is dictated by clients or commissions.
They're really veering into fantasy territory now.
Trust no one!
Not familiar with this one, but it's pretty good.
This is amusing and a minor classic.
And this is a major, all-time classic.
...and for those who were around for the 1969 - early 70s reruns on CBS, ABC, and general syndication, the confusion continued as songs from the last two Monkees albums (1969's The Monkees Present and 1970's Changes) were mixed into those versions. Even by the time of the 20th anniversary in '86, the MTV reruns were still using the 1967/68 version of episodes.
That is a very interesting comparison, as both created songs that did add a defining character to the group not provided by the other members/writers.
You're referring the last week's Sullivan appearances, I take it?Man, those Pips really had a sweet deal, didn't they?
You tease me, sir!
Nothing peaceful about hitting people so hard that it generates visible sound effects.
Magazine writer...not freelance, he has an office and a boss.
I have it (as with the other two this week), but it's a bit of an earsore to me.
I got this because I was buying Pickett into the Top 25 level, but might you be thinking of this earlier and much more successful version...?
"Stagger Lee," Lloyd Price
(Charted Dec. 8, 1958; #1 US the weeks of Feb. 9 through Mar. 2, 1959; #1 R&B; #7 UK; #456 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)
AbsoSmokeylutely.And this is a major, all-time classic.
Next week's gonna be a busy one for chart entries, so there'll be some text-embedded links. Spoiler Alert: The Bee Gees will be getting a video.
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51st Anniversary Viewing
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The Monkees
"Monkees in a Ghost Town"
Originally aired October 24, 1966
Wiki said:
A "12 miles to Clarksville" sign...wink wink, nudge nudge. Is this the first time we see the Monkeemobile?
Another appearance of Len Lesser (previously sighted in a Get Smart), who'd go on to play Uncle Leo on Seinfeld. And I read that Lon Chaney Jr. here is comedically reprising his role as Lennie in Of Mice and Men.
You can tell that Dolenz is the one with the biggest acting resume, the way they usually give him larger roles in the Monkees' in-story skits; e.g., pretending to be the "Big Man" here.
"Tomorrow’s Gonna Be Another Day"
"Papa Gene’s Blues"
Rose Marie also briefly accompanies them in a rendition of the title theme.
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The Rat Patrol
"The Blind Man's Bluff Raid"
Originally aired October 24, 1966
H&I said:
There's an interesting bit at the beginning where the Patrol seems to be navigating a minefield, with Troy scouting ahead on foot shooting at the ground.
So Troy had experience being blind...I'd say that was good continuity with the Season 2 episode in which he pretends to be a blinded German, but he spends most of this one in bed.
BBS-significant guest well before her time with Trek: Salome Jens as the German nurse! I'm not sure why she and the doctor are members of the German Intelligence Corps pretending to be Americans in a German field hospital...just in case some blinded Allied soldier comes through? And it stretches credibility that Troy doesn't hear any camp noises outside the tent that might give the Germans away (loud voices speaking in German, vehicles that might not sound right).
Hans Gudegast plays it pretty cool here as Dietrich. There's a moment in the climax when he finds the glasses that Troy had been wearing...you think he's going to break them in frustration, but he calmly puts them in his pocket.
I don't think I mentioned this yet, but watching one of the episodes the other week, I suddenly realized which soap opera guy he was (under the later-assumed name of Eric Braeden), from my years of casual exposure to the soaps that my mom watched. He was older and jowlier at that point, and sporting a mustache.
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The Fugitive
"Second Sight"
Originally aired October 25, 1966
Wiki said:
Yes, the reward on Kimble is...$10,000! So that's definitely the going rate for fugitives regardless of era, and never gets adjusted for inflation.
This seems to have been an accidental theme week. Anyway, I can see why Decades chose to show this as one of the episodes on the anniversary day of the series finale, as I assume that any episode that Kimble makes direct contact with the one-armed man counts as a premise-significant one. It's a helluva coincidence, though, that Kimble just happened to find himself randomly developing a photo with the OAM in the background.
Tim Considine as a down-on-his-luck young photographer could have been a live action Peter Parker in the era. He even rides a motorcycle right around when Peter was undergoing his controversial motorcycle-riding phase.
This was an example of a pretty solidly structured use of the one-hour format. Act I plays out circumstances in which Kimble is blinded. In Act II, Kimble gets an immersive course in getting around blind while escaping from the hospital. Act III--OK, randomly stumbling into a hazardous area (a power plant where he threatens to touch high voltage surfaces) is pretty much jeopardy filler; meanwhile, the fuzz closes in on him. In Act IV, the episode's local substitute guest detective catches Kimble and even plays a Gerardish beat of listening to what Kimble has to say and acting interested in catching the OAM as well. Finally, our good-hearted guest photographer helps Kimble escape. There's a good balance here of Kimble's plight and the stories of the guest characters, who are there mainly to play roles in the former.
Not that the episode is without fault--Kimble's situation nonetheless remains underdeveloped, being played as a temporary situation even before they establish that it is. At no point does Kimble stay still long enough to dwell on potentially going permanently without sight.
Ted Knight guests as a doctor, suppressing his trademark voice.
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It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Originally aired October 27, 1966
Xfinity said:
Ah, the special that marked the beginning of the annual Peanuts Holiday Special Trilogy in my childhood. These specials were event viewing for my sister and me in the '70s. I remember that we always went to Grandma's to watch them (she lived behind us on the same block, so we were over there a lot).
This being Linus's story, Charlie Brown's a bit of a dick here. They try to portray him sympathetically in his own segments, but there's an argument to be made that he earned those rocks.
I don't remember noticing it as a kid, but it sticks out at me now how they refer to the Halloween tradition as "tricks or treats."
Snoopy gets points for being the only guy who thought of a more original costume than "ghost." I recall the WWI flying ace part being somewhat boring to me as a kid...now I think it's my favorite part!
Best quote...
Lucy van Pelt said:
So I discovered that the On Demand version I watched was cut! It didn't have the football gag or the part when Schroeder plays the piano for Snoopy! What's the point of cutting the On Demand version...?
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"Little Auction Annie"
Originally aired October 27, 1966
Wiki said:
Ann gets all comedically suspicious of Conrad's character, but it turns out that he's an ex-ball player who's trying to get a famous home run ball back for a hall of fame museum, and an FBI man, to boot.
Ken Lynch appears as a police officer; and I didn't realize that Judy Bessemer's husband was Dabney Coleman--He looks completely different with hair on his head instead of his lip.
"Oh, Donald" count: 9+
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50th Anniversary Catch-Up Viewing
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The Monkees
"A Nice Place to Visit"
Originally aired September 11, 1967
Wiki said:
Our Season 2 premiere's guest bandito is one that I recognize from many Rifleman appearances.
Peter said:
The three Monkees who pose as bandits to rescue Davy have to pass a series of tests to join the bandit group...I saved myself a lot of disappointment by correctly guessing that none of the tests would involve a giant clam.
"What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?"
"The Picture Frame"
Originally aired September 18, 1967
Wiki said:
The boys pull so many surreal hijinks in the police station and the courtroom that it's hard to believe that they're really in any danger of being convicted and serving time. And they have a man on the outside, as Peter wasn't involved in the robbery:
"Pleasant Valley Sunday"
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Doing his Cagney impression, no doubt. "You dirty rat!"
On Linus and the Great Pumpkin, I realized a few years back that Linus's quest is doomed to failure even by the parameters of his own belief system. The Great Pumpkin chooses the most sincere pumpkin patch -- but a sincere pumpkin patch would be one that's dedicated purely and honestly to the growing of pumpkins, with no ulterior motives. Since Linus is not a pumpkin farmer for its own sake but only cultivates a pumpkin patch in hopes of luring the Great Pumpkin, that means his pumpkin patch is intrinsically insincere, and thus he will never succeed. There's something meaningful in that, I think.
Is it Linus's patch? I was under the impression he was just squatting at the neighborhood one.
I don't know about that particular special, but I've seen strips where he's cultivating his own.
ABC is showing the full version right now...football scene as I type this.
Indeed, I caught a couple of episodes on Saturday.
But no visible bruises or other injuries. Anyway, the meek shall inherit the Earth, but they're going to have to fight for it.
Ah, quite right. I should have listened.
Pleasant sounding, but not memorable.
Halloween? RPG? Training for infiltration?
Presumably the number of fugitives turned in diminishes over time.
Ah, I loved those Peanuts specials when I was a kid. I loved pretty much anything newspaper-comic related. Did you see that Peanuts CGI movie that came out a couple of years ago?
Wow, that sucks. Maybe it was a mistake. Although why cut versions would even exist doesn't make sense.
Are you keeping track, like you did with the Hulk, so we'll know what the Oh-Donaldest episode is?
That's a shame, because I feel like there would have been a lot of chemistry between the Monkees and the Giant Clam.
This is actually pretty good. I'm not sure if I've heard it before.
Now we're talking. This is my favorite Monkees song. Nothing like a gleeful criticism of conformity and suburban mediocrity.
Good thing for David Banner.
Can't say that I did. Was it any good?
For broadcast purposes, the same as episodes of a series edited for syndication...to allow for more commercial time. I guess the On Demand version was just the same as the one that had aired at that point...ABC seems to be showing the holiday specials twice...once earlier in the season cut to fit a half-hour format, and again closer to the holiday uncut in an hour format with another, later cartoon to fill the rest of the time.
Nope, just for shiggles.
They probably would have been more at home with Batman's more colorful and goofy-looking giant clam than with Tarzan's naturalistic-looking one.
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Ah, here we go, thanks to the Xfinity app--the Matt Mason Space Crawler and Space Station in the same shot!
(From just before the window blows open and David is attacked by a stagehand brandishing a pole that just happens to have a rubber bat hanging from it.)
Reviews for six more DS episodes to come when I've had a chance to watch them.
Recording Easy Rider off Decades as I type this, for eventual 50th anniversary viewing.
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12 O'Clock High
"The Threat"
Originally aired March 19, 1965
Xfinity said:
This episode gives us a "Drumhead" scenario...paranoia abounds of everyone involved in various coincidental mishaps surrounding Savage, including one involving a nurse whose family were recent German immigrants, and who had a personal reason to hold a grudge against the general.
Contrary to the episode, there was no Friday, June 13, during American involvement in the war. There had been one in 1941.
Just as I suspected, the saboteur is the civilian barber who was conspicuously played up in the teaser, and whose actor, Laurence Naismith, was the only guest included in the main credits. They tease us with his straight razor at the unsuspecting Savage's throat, but he makes his move on Saturday the 14th at 13:00 in compartment 13 of a train bound for a fishing excursion with the general. There's a good ol' fashioned Bond-style fight in the train compartment...guess who winds up getting off the train early?
"Mutiny at Ten Thousand Feet"
Originally aired March 26, 1965
Xfinity said:
An even more exact date is given in this episode: February 24, 1943.
The resolution in the climax is pretty good. When the lieutenant makes his move while the Piccadilly Lilly is isolated from the rest of the group, Savage gets to the truth of the matter by talking the crew through the court-martial that they'll have to face when the war is over.
Lee Meriwether makes for a rather fetching Army nurse.
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Actually, I thought it was very good, and I'm not easy to please when it comes to revivals, reboots, re-imaginings, and retreads. The CGI was used perfectly to recreate Sparky's style and the story and characters were very faithful to the source material. There might be some nitpicks here and there, because nothing's perfect and everybody has their own interpretation of a concept to some degree, but it was clearly made with affection and respect.
Ah, but of course.
Interesting approach.
A little makeup goes a long way.
Ah, I remember them well. I loved those Major Matt Mason toys.
Now there's an interesting factino.
I wonder what they would have done if the show lasted longer than the war, as in the case of M*A*S*H.
In a '60s show? They just would've ignored the whole issue. Continuity wasn't a big deal for shows back then; they tended to exist in a perpetual now, an unchanging status quo, even when there was a nominal time limit on them. Roy Huggins's Run for Your Life starred Ben Gazzara as a man who had between 9 and 18 months left to live, and the show ran for three years, never bothering to address the discrepancy.
As the guy watching the show, I'd have to agree with this. I get no sense that they're concerned with portraying any sort of chronological war progression. And the two examples I cited were episodes that aired back-to-back with one taking place in June and the next in February.
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Because nobody demanded it...
The Halloween Mix
Any suggestions?
^^ Good list. Off the top of my head:
And then there's this gem:
And then there's this gem:
^ She eventually found the purrrrrfect role.
I have a few of those things...done a lot of expansion since I first put together that list. And "Sympathy for the Devil" is already on the list. But I'm not getting the "Lady Marmalade" connection.
I was thinking that there should probably be some Ozzy / Black Sabbath on there, though I only have a total of three of their songs. And probably a Zombies song, just because they're the Zombies.
The mention of the Twilight Zone songs reminds me of this one, which I have:
"Out of Limits," The Marketts
(Charted Dec. 7, 1963; #3 US)
ETA: A fairly "current" episode of Sullivan for 50th anniversary purposes today, though it doesn't get its own anniversary until New Year's Eve: Miriam Makeba and Jay & the Techniques ("Keep the Ball Rollin'"); plus (haven't gotten to it yet as I type this), Buddy Rich & His Orchestra doing a cover of "Norwegian Wood"! I don't care if it's good, bad, or meh, I just a kick out of somebody doing a cover of my favorite Beatles song, given its relatively low profile.
I have a few of those things...done a lot of expansion since I first put together that list. And "Sympathy for the Devil" is already on the list. But I'm not getting the "Lady Marmalade" connection.
I was thinking that there should probably be some Ozzy / Black Sabbath on there, though I only have a total of three of their songs. And probably a Zombies song, just because they're the Zombies.
The mention of the Twilight Zone songs reminds me of this one, which I have:
"Out of Limits," The Marketts
(Charted Dec. 7, 1963; #3 US)
ETA: A fairly "current" episode of Sullivan for 50th anniversary purposes today, though it doesn't get its own anniversary until New Year's Eve: Miriam Makeba and Jay & the Techniques ("Keep the Ball Rollin'"); plus (haven't gotten to it yet as I type this), Buddy Rich & His Orchestra doing a cover of "Norwegian Wood"! I don't care if it's good, bad, or meh, I just a kick out of somebody doing a cover of my favorite Beatles song, given its relatively low profile.
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And I double checked. Another effect of early-morning posting.
Er... it mentions New Orleans? There are actually a lot of songs from the early-to-mid 70s that have a Horror vibe for me because I was into the Marvel monster craze at that time. I guess you can leave that one off.
"Bark at the Moon?" It's not exactly his best, but it fits the theme.
Interesting. The title evokes The Outer Limits, but the tune evokes Twilight Zone. And surf music.
The one Beatles song I really don't like.