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50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 1)
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Hawaii Five-O
"The Burning Ice"
Originally aired November 9, 1971
Wiki said:
A doctor becomes a suspect in the murder of his wife when McGarrett does not believe the killer's confession.
Dr. Alexander Southmore (Great Caesar's ghost! Jackie Cooper) is in his garage working on Prohibition-era cars when his jaded wife, Melissa (Linda Ryan), comes home and, after we get a hint of an affair he's having that she's in the know about, reclines on a pool chair in the dark. Mrs. Southmore, whom we saw followed to the house by a character played by Lou Antonio, is snuck up to by an unrevealed figure who shoots her in the chest, robs her of her jewelry, and then shoots her in the head, while a horrified maid watches from up in the house. Steve suspects that there's more to this than a robbery, and Southmore's story sounds a little too practiced. Antonio's character calls a fence called Charlie Ling (Tom Fujiwara) to arrange a rendezvous to try to unload his hot ice. Lou's desperation makes Ling nervous, and Lou agrees to a hastily low sum to get rid of it.
At Southmore's clinic, we meet his nurse and lover, Betty (apparently uncredited). Again, he plays things a little too smooth, making it clear that he had been wanting to ditch his wife, but not this way. Che examines a bullet from Southmore's .38, which is the same type of gun used in the killing, but it doesn't match. Danno, who's been assigned to share the heat with all the local fences, goes to see Charlie, who talks. Five-O stakes out Sea Life Park for Ling's rendezvous with Lou's character, David Harper, who sees Kono approaching and tries to split, though he's obviously in very bad health and is caught with the ice. In Steve's office he confesses, telling a story that paints Melissa Southmore as a target of opportunity, while Steve notices his illness. Harper collapses while being booked and is taken to a hospital. Danno and Kono bring his wife, Harriet (Loretta Leversee), who doesn't believe that he killed anyone. David passes away while she's talking to him, and Steve is informed that he died of a brain hemmorahage and had terminal leukemia with only weeks to live.
In Steve's office, Harriet shares that David was desperate to raise money for their disabled son who's in a special school. A diver is unable to find the gun where David said he dumped it, and Ling tells Danno how Harper, despite his motivation, was willing to take $1,000 for $30,000 worth of ice. What's more, it comes up that Harper was a conscientious objector who arranged to serve in the Army Medical Corps; and that the previous week, Harper had given a $75,000 check to his son's school. When Chin questions Steve about not accepting Harper's story, Steve pulls out the Lucite map of Honolulu to illustrate a flaw in his story...and when the search for the gun comes up, Steve realizes that he already has it.
Che confirms that Southmore's gun could have been re-bored with the right equipment. Kono visits Southmore's garage as a phone company tech and sneaks some filings from a drill press thingy, which Che examines. Danno learns that Southmore volunteers at the hospital where Harper was treated, where he was looking through files of male patients with terminal illnesses. Steve visits Southmore with the story that he's pieced together, about how the doctor arranged to kill his wife and have the dying Harper take the rap for it, in return for the $75,000; and presents Che's finding that the filings match his gun. Southmore tries to make a break but finds himself surrounded and is booked.
I wasn't sure what to make of this one...Southmore seemed obviously guilty from the beginning, it was just a matter of figuring out how Harper factored in. I guess it was kind of going for
Columbo (which had aired two pilots at this point, in 1968 and earlier in 1971)...being less about whodunnit and more about the chess game of proving it.
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Adam-12
"Ambush"
Originally aired November 10, 1971
Wiki said:
Malloy and Reed are assigned to transport a prisoner (played by William Campbell, Trelane from Star Trek) from Malibu to Los Angeles for outstanding traffic warrants. The prisoner is also a witness in a mob murder and a hit has been ordered on him. En route to LA, the cruiser is ambushed, a tire is shot out and they are out of radio range in an isolated area. Reed is captured by hit men attempting to get assistance, but Malloy and the prisoner steal the hit men's car to get to a phone and LAPD sends the police helicopter to search for Reed, who ends up overpowering the hit men and are captured.
Reed and Malloy travel to a sheriff's station to pick up repeat traffic law violator Charlie Shanks (William Campbell) for transport, and are promptly tailed by another vehicle. Shanks inadvertently draws Reed's attention to the other car. Plot-conveniently, the officers have trouble transmitting on the radio in the canyon...which motivates Shanks to share that a racketeer named Louis Jacks is out to have him killed, because he witnessed Jacks committing an unsolved murder in Malibu. Jacks's men, having since pulled ahead of the squad car, shoot out a tire from a hill, leaving the car a sitting duck for more rifle fire.
The officers and Shanks get out to take cover and attempt to exchange fire, but the snipers are out of range of their shotgun. Pete provides covering fire so Reed can slip out to try to find them, but they get the drop on him and he's taken prisoner, held in his own cuffs. From the hilltop, Jacks's boys, Luke Nathan (Mort Mills) and Larry Lee (Julian Burton), try to negotiate a hostage trade. Pete's plan is to leave Reed and try to find the hoods' sedan, which Reed anticipates, though Shanks is uncomfortable with the notion of abandoning him.
Malloy and Shanks find the car, and Shanks hotwires it. Malloy finds a call box and contacts Lt. Bayer (Jim B. Smith) at the sheriff's station. In the meantime, Reed stalls for time by refusing to cooperate with his captors. Taken off Malloy's hands, Shanks offers a sincere apology about Reed. An L.A. detective, Capt. Edwards (Marshall Reed), is brought in, and a sheriff's chopper leads the search. When Nathan tries firing on the low-flying chopper, Reed tackles him and grabs his rifle, getting the drop on Lee and the keys for his cuffs. Malloy and company approach to find Reed nonchalantly holding the two hoods prisoner.
The episode ends with the officers, back at their station in L.A., learning that they've been assigned to return Shanks to Malibu.
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The Brady Bunch
"The Private Ear"
Originally aired November 12, 1971
Wiki said:
Using Mike's tape recorder, Peter eavesdrops on his siblings' conversations, leading to arguments between them. Mike counsels Peter on his behavior and considers the matter settled, but Greg and Marcia take things into their own hands for revenge, and discuss a surprise party for Peter ensuring he overhears. Mike and Carol learn of this and sabotage the revenge by throwing an actual surprise party for Peter.
Didn't we just get a Peter episode? I think they're overcompensating.
Marcia comes home from school on cloud nine and confides to Jan upstairs that she's in love with a boy at school. Unknown to them, Peter, who's been hiding in the bathroom, had a tape recorder under the bed they were sitting on. Peter later goes to Marcia and repeats her florid description of the attraction, so Marcia assumes that Jan told him and the girls get into a fight. Next Greg confers with Marcia in the boys' room to ask her for a loan because he got wiped out by an overdue library book. This time Peter had the recorder under the bunk beds, and pulls the same thing on Greg, who assumes that Marcia told him.
Greg: How did he find out!?!
Marcia: I don't know, maybe he's got ESP!
There's some story material for ya,
RJ!
Cut to Bobby and Cindy arguing in the aftermath of a similar incident. The dinner table is conspicuously quiet, as none of the kids are talking to each other. Mike orders them to speak up, and they all start hurling their accusations at each other in general terms...except for Peter, whom Mike notices is quietly basking in the chaos. Mike and Carol bring him to the den, where he confesses to what he did, and he's persuaded to apologize to his assembled siblings. But Greg and Marcia think he's getting away with murder, and decide to give him something worth listening to.
The two of them make a recording about how the parents are planning to throw him a surprise party for getting an A in geometry, then Greg brings Peter the recorder, accusing him of having planted it in the girls' room. Peter listens to the tape, and the adults notice him being strangely helpful around the house while dropping hints about presents that he'd like. When Mike goes to use the recorder, he and Carol hear the tape. After the parents leave for their ski trip, Peter gets all dressed up in anticipation of his party, then wanders around the house trying to spring it. Greg and Marcia start to feel guilty and confess to him. Just as he gets deflated, the parents actually come home to spring the surprise, bearing presents that are supposed to be from everyone. Peter's led to believe that this was the plan all along, but Greg and Marcia get a brief talking to on the side. One of Peter's presents is...a tape recorder, on which he leaves Greg and Marcia a message about what they did, which they take in good spirits, because happy ending.
Peter not only got away with murder this week, he was rewarded for it. He should have hidden the recorder under the parents' bed...he might have gotten an education.
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The Partridge Family
"[A/The] Tale of Two Hamsters"
Originally aired November 12, 1971
Wiki said:
When the Partridge kids decide to raise hamsters and their little pets keep multiplying, the family is forced to bring them along on tour.
The Trouble with Hamsters...?
Teaser! Danny and the two younger siblings announce that they've started their own business so the family will have something to fall back on should they succumb to the precarity of show business.
Danny: I mean, when was the last time the Beatles put out a record?
Shirley: Danny, the Beatles broke up. They don't exist anymore.
When the kids pull two hamsters out of a sack, Shirley screams "Rats!" Danny's named one of them Dean Martin because it has bulging red eyes...but it turns out that Dino's a Dina, and is having babies (which was supposed to be the idea, so you have to wonder how/why Danny would get the genders mixed up).
When the family has to go on the road, Danny can't find anyone to hamster-sit, so they have to bring the critters with them. Shirley's surprised that the hamsters the kids have been tending to in the cellar have multiplied such that they supposedly have over 50 cages of them. (We see the kids carrying out at least a dozen, and are told there are at least 40 more.)
In the recording studio, Danny has brought in another pregnant hamster, named Lord Byron, which makes enough noise that the engineer (Martin Speer, who appears to have a recurring role, having appeared at least once previously) picks it up. Once that's dealt with, the band proceeds to fake-record "Twenty-Four Hours a Day":
The family are unable to check into a hotel bearing the rodents, so they have to drive around in the bus all night to keep them warm. Back at home, Danny and Shirley find that there's no demand for Danny's investment, being unable to even give them away to the pet store from which he bought the original pair because they've already got their own surplus. Finally, in a sequence set to recent hit "I Woke Up in Love This Morning," they give the hamsters away one at a time as part of a department store album signing promotion.
Wiki said:
Note: Brian Forster's Chris Partridge is seen autographing a copy of the family's debut LP, The Partridge Family Album, although it is the first Chris (Jeremy Gelbwaks) in the group photo on the back cover.
When they find that they're running out of hamsters, Danny has a trio named Peter, Paul, and Garfunkel put in the back room to make more.
In the coda, it turns out that Reuben has taken a hamster that was named after him...and keeping with the pattern, it's revealed to be pregnant.
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The Odd Couple
"The Fat Farm"
Originally aired November 12, 1971
Wiki said:
Oscar breaks all the rules when he and Felix stay at a weight-loss clinic.
In 1997, TV Guide ranked this episode #58 in its "100 Greatest Episodes of All Time" list.
After an athletic outing at the park, Felix expresses his concern about Oscar's gluttony to Nancy. As Felix attempts to prove that he's in better shape than Oscar, Tony Randall impresses the studio audience by standing on his head, hopping onto a desk, and doing push-ups.
Felix: Every summer I go away to the health farm for two weeks of really rigorous training. Those are the best two weeks of my life.
Oscar: Mine, too.
When Oscar is unable to match Felix's feats, Felix recommends diet, exercise, and the fat farm. Oscar reveals that his last physical was on Okinawa.
Felix: You should have a physical examination every war.
Oscar has one with Nancy, who determines that he's generally in good shape but could stand to trim up...which is underscored when a hunkier male patient comes in for his examination, making Oscar jealous. Felix manages to convince Oscar to go to the farm. Upon checking in, Oscar bucks against the controlled environment, which allows no smoking and only carrots and celery as snacks. Felix insists that they're going to have a ball. In the cafeteria, Oscar is appalled at his meager portion of "concentrated energy food".
Oscar: That was dinner!?! I've spilled more food on my shirts!
Dessert turns out to be anything you want...and purely imaginary. Oscar is incredulous that everybody else, including Felix, seems to be enjoying it so much.
Dr. Burger (Norbert Schiller) comes into the gym munching on a peach and Oscar goes after it like a ravenous dog. At bedtime, Oscar learns that he's smelling meat from a nearby delicatessen, and sneaks out with another patient (Thelma Pelish) to buy a sack full of forbidden goods. Felix reports him and the attendants rush in to confiscate it. The doctor punishes Oscar by not allowing him to attend movie night, which includes unbuttered popcorn. Felix comes back to the room munching on his and Oscar goes after it, which gets him kicked out. Feeling guilty for turning on his friend, Felix decides to leave with him. Oscar declares that being happy is more important than living a few more years...and the thought of Oscar dying first moves Felix to tears. "I'll miss you!"
In the coda, Oscar's enjoying a plateful of meat when Felix challenges him to arm wrestling and wins easily, causing Oscar to put it back in the fridge.
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Arch reminds me of Uncle Joe.
Would that be your Uncle Joe or the one from
Petticoat Junction?
