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50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2)
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All in the Family
"The Insurance Is Canceled"
Originally aired November 27, 1971
Wiki said:
As if it weren't bad enough that the Bunkers' insurance has been canceled, Archie has to choose which of three men at work must be fired.
Edith gets a special delivery letter about the Bunkers' home insurance being canceled. Archie comes home in a bad mood because of an undisclosed problem that he needs to think about and won't let anyone else talk, though Edith and Mike both make attempts to tell him about the letter, including Edith putting the it on the tray that she brings Archie's beer out on. Archie eventually lets it out that he has to recommend which of three men under him should be fired at work. He fixates on Elmo, who's black, and "Little" Emanuel, a Puerto Rican with a limp, though both are said to be good workers; but doesn't want to consider Stretch Cunningham, ostensibly because everybody likes him. When Archie finally wants to change the subject, Edith comes right out and breaks the news about the insurance. Archie finds that the policy is with Edith's nephew through a sister's marriage, Wendell Hornsby.
Wendell (Philip Proctor) comes to the house in full people-pleasing mode, and before Archie can get down to business with him, Emanuel (Rafael Campos) comes to the door to talk, making it clear that he's the one Archie had fired. Archie leaves Emanuel in the kitchen and goes back out to Wendell, who explains that Archie's insurance has been terminated because he's in a high-risk neighborhood. Emanuel is anxious to talk, so Archie goes back out to the kitchen and gives him double-talk about how he lost his job not unlike Wendell's about the policy. Back in the dining room, Wendell shows on a map how the Bunkers now live on the wrong side of an arbitrary line that includes a black neighborhood; ironically, the Jeffersons live on the right side of the line. Wendell leaves apologetically, and Archie's at a loss to explain to Emanuel why he got fired; but Emanual leaves laughing about Archie's predicament because he was the one doing most of the work, while Cunningham does none.
In the coda, Archie comes home from a hard day at work with a different view of Stretch Cunningham.
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The Mary Tyler Moore Show
"The Six-and-a-Half-Year Itch"
Originally aired November 27, 1971
Wiki said:
Lou catches his favorite son-in-law at a movie theater with another woman.
Lou's looking for something to do while his wife's out of town, but backpedals when Ted takes interest. Lou goes to the movies with Mary and Rhoda--changing their plans from Fellini to John Wayne--and runs into his son-in-law, Bill Phelps (Lawrence Pressman)...who's with an unfamiliar young lady named Patti (Elizabeth Berger). Bill is clearly now seeing Patti on the side, though they don't even know each other's last names. Bill doesn't want to tell Patti how he knows Lou, but it turns out that Patti's an old acquaintance of Rhoda's. Lou ends up storming out when the movie starts. At Mary's place, Lou struggles to talk to Edie on the phone without telling her what's going on. Ed tells Mary that he hasn't been this mad since 1944, when he "captured a town in Germany". (To ruin the joke, didn't they establish in a previous episode that Lou served years after WWII?)
Lou's miserable at work the next day and takes it out on the staff. Lou tries to talk about it with Mary in the office, but they don't end up saying much. Bill comes by the station the day after that and confirms that he was looking to have an affair, though it's off now. He tries to explain that everybody's having affairs now, and he met Patti as a regular customer at his gas station. Bill assumes that Lou will understand, but Lou makes clear that he's never cheated on Edie, and won't have it from Bill. Once they've reached their understanding, Lou emphasizes to Mary that nothing happened the other night.
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Mission: Impossible
"The Visitors"
Originally aired November 27, 1971
Wiki said:
Jim and Casey make a Syndicate-controlled media tycoon (Steve Forrest) believe they are extraterrestrials with the secret to eternal life in order to expose corrupt candidates in an upcoming election.
Eager young journalist Ralph Robertson (Gene Tyburn) reports to publishing tycoon Edward Granger (Steve Forrest) at the latter's estate concerning material he has to expose top Syndicate figures. After Granger has ascertained that Robertson has made no copies, he has a signal sent out to the chauffeur (Jack Donner), who plants a device in the helicopter that Robertson is leaving in, causing it to explode after takeoff.
The miniature reel-to-reel tape in a shop we've seen before but this time with no setup said:
Good evening, Mister Phelps. Publisher and communications tycoon Edward Granger--the most influential man in his state--is controlled by a branch of the Syndicate which owns 51 percent of his newspaper, television, and radio empire. For a decade, Granger has supported Syndicate candidates and protected Syndicate politicians. He masterminded the murder of one of his own reporters, who was getting too close to the truth. In the upcoming elections, the Syndicate slate is expected to sweep Granger's state, and systematically loot it for the underworld. Conventional law enforcement agencies are unable to interfere. Your mission, Jim, if you decide to accept it, is to make certain the voters know the truth before they go to the polls 72 hours from now. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Jim!
In the briefing, we learn that Granger believes in UFOs and extending the human lifespan. Jim takes his belief seriously--saying that if Granger believes these things, it's because he knows more than most other people, not less--so that we'll take Granger seriously. Jim and Willy break into Granger's estate (which is a dead ringer for Stately Wayne Manor on the outside) at night to do some prep work, and they nab the chauffeur on the way out, making it look like he skipped out after robbing the safe. Barney, posing as an ex-con, sees Granger's Syndicate minder Kellog (Frank Hotchkiss) about a job, and gets the chauffeur's. Barney climbs around on top of Stately Granger Manor to put a mutant bee injected with a drug in the chimney so that it will sting Granger, causing him to be paralyzed while able to see and hear.
Granger's physician, Dr. Laurence (Richard Bull), is piped through to expert Dr. Jim Badaccent. Barney does some more sneaking around to plant a fog-generating device that he shines a light through, making Granger--who can turn his head a bit apparently--think that he's receiving a visitation...and this is because he knows more than most people, not less, got it? Dr. Jim and Nurse Casey arrive, having been smuggled in without anyone seeing them arrive. Casey's made up a bit to better resemble a woman from Granger's past that he briefly knew 25 years prior, from an incident involving saving a boy from a well that led to Granger's rise to prominence, which he believes involved a visitation. When they're left alone with Granger, Jim and Casey start to examine him with strange objects, and Jim shoots him up with an antidote that also briefly puts him out. They then sneak out and are caught by a guard, but he's knocked out with--get this--a Barney Neck Pinch! A taped deluge of calls about UFO sightings, accompanied by temporary TV and radio interference, along with Jim and Casey's mysterious disappearance, seem to confirm what Granger thinks happened.
Barney fakes some car trouble so that Casey can drive up to see Granger, informing him that they've detected leukemia. She then mysteriously appears at his estate and turns him on to a Syndicate bug that Willy found. After disabling it, she starts making him an offer about immortality. Granger kicks Kellog off the estate over the bug, and Kellog reports to his Syndicate boss. Something found in Granger's bloodwork seems to confirm the leukemia. Kellog employs his guy Barney to tail Casey, while Jim appears to Granger. Kellog tries to shoot Casey, but Barney pulls his aim off with his driving. Willy fakes her car being found a burning wreck off the side of the road as Jim and Granger arrive. They find Casey lying beside the wreck, her face inhumanly disfigured. Jim takes Granger to his secret alien hideout, staffed by Willy, where Casey is put in a chamber in which she seems to transform further, then resumes her human appearance with the help of some obscuring fog. Granger wants their secret for eternal life, but Jim insists that Granger betrayed them after they helped him all those years ago. Granger then offers to make amends by telling the people the truth about the upcoming election. Jim pipes Granger through to a radio station that he owns in his fake alien booth, and Granger gets on the air and gives an address exposing the Syndicate candidates. The IMFers slip out accompanied by their M:A cue, while Kellog takes orders to dispose of Granger, and bursts into the hideout to shoot him. The dying Granger struggles to reach the fake alien chamber.
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That's good. I actually felt bad when it looked like Lai Po betrayed him.
I wonder what happened to Lai Po next-- did he also go to Taiwan?
There was only one ticket. Guess Lai Po wasn't considered much of a threat on his own.
Sounds like a good one. Lots of intrigue, with a nice twist.
I foresaw that Big Uncle was behind the murder by the end of Act I, because we had no investment in these other four guys and he was the one with the most to gain. I didn't realize until it came up in the story that one of the bosses was his inside man.
Strange. No hint of any controversy on IMDB.
There's the racism angle...maybe they dropped the N-word (I think I'd seen the episode before and maybe they did), but you'd think they could bleep or silence it out.
Hmm. Come to think of it, Julie Barnes and Laurie Partridge kind of look alike.
Not that much...and Laurie shows up in every episode.
But hey, it gives him a chance to get away from the smoke...not that he ever tries. I think maybe he's addicted to the stuff....
