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50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 1)
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M*A*S*H
"Pilot"
Originally aired September 17, 1972
Series premiere
Wiki said:
Timeline 1950: Army surgeons Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) and Trapper MacIntyre (Wayne Rogers) hold a raffle to raise tuition for the Swamp's Korean houseboy while their commanding officer Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson) is away. The prize is a weekend with nurse Lt. Dish. To keep Major Frank Burns [Larry Linville] out of the way, he is sedated. This episode features George Morgan in his only appearance as Father Mulcahy.
The date is established in the episode by an onscreen caption:
KOREA 1950: a hundred years ago
A brief humor montage featuring the various cast members segues into an episode-specific version of the opening credits sequence as patients are helicoptered in. During surgery, there's a voiceover of Hawkeye narrating a letter to his father about the job. The animosity between Hawkeye and Burns is quickly established, as is the relationship between Burns and Hot Lips (Loretta Swit). Good lord is Alda's hair way too '70s for 1950--the Beatles are fourteen years in the future! Hawkeye gets a letter from the dean of his alma matter that Ho-Jon (Patrick Adiarte) has been accepted into the school. Good lord again, not only have they carried over from the film the nickname for Capt. Oliver Harmon Jones (Timothy Brown) that was offensive even by 1972 standards, but when the guys are thinking of a way to raise money for tuition, Trapper's first idea is to sell him...!
Hawkeye comes up with the idea to raffle the date with his girl of the episode, Lt. Maria "Dish" Schneider (Karen Philipp). But when Blake goes away on business, he leaves Burns in charge, who cancels the raffle party.
Hawkeye ends up sedating Burns and having him bandaged as a patient. The party goes on, but Hot Lips, demanding to know what happened to Frank, goes directly to Blake's superior, General Charlie Hammond (G. Wood), who arrives just as Father Mulcahy has won. (Along the way, Hot Lips has found Frank, having recognized his butt when she was about to give him his shot.) Hammond wants Hawkeye and Trapper arrested, but they convince the general to let them go in order to operate on incoming patients, and enlist his help in the operating room. Afterward, the general declares the pair to be the best surgeons he's ever seen, and tells Blake not to let them go...which causes Hawkeye and Trapper to have second thoughts about their tactic, as it'll likely be harder for them to get out of the service.
The episode ends with the camp announcer (an uncredited Jamie Farr) naming the cast members. Gary Burghoff reprises his role of "Radar" O'Reilly from the film, and Bruno Kirby appears briefly as Pvt. Lorenzo Boone. While Karen Philipp's recurring role was very short-lived, she can be seen (if not clearly) in the opening credits throughout the run of the series, because they used the footage from this episode's opening.
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Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Season 6, episode 2
Originally aired September 18, 1972
The Wiki list of guest appearances said:
Sebastian Cabot, Dyan Cannon, Janet Leigh, Julie London
The episode opens with Dan and Dick introducing Dyan Cannon onstage. All of the guests are in the cocktail party:
A skit with Dyan and Ruth Buzzi, in which Dyan's uncontrollable laughter seems to be unscripted.
The news segment, which includes a brief joke about female impersonator Jim Bailey, whom we've seen on
Ed Sullivan:
Dyan as a woman subbing for a trained seal:
Laugh-In Salutes Guns:
Lester and Willie Tyler as Sandwich and Son:
They're still doing the Farkels. Apparently there'll be a serialized gag about one of them having a baby, which will be a source of clips in upcoming episodes.
Dyan in a song segment about a singles apartment.
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Hawaii Five-O
"Death Wish on Tantalus Mountain"
Originally aired September 19, 1972
Wiki said:
When two of an egomanical racing car driver's mechanics are murdered, suspicion falls on the driver's glamorous fiancee.
The episode opens with racecar driver Alex Pareno (Ricardo Montalban) overseeing the delivery of his wheels via Seatrain. At the dock, he introduces an old colleague, Gordon Miles (John Stalker), to his son, Niki (Michael Margotta), and fiancée, Angela Sordi (Diana Muldaur)...the latter of whom spots a man in the crowd of obvious concern to her (Steve Merrick). In the wee hours, somebody breaks into Pareno's garage to gain access to the car and, when seen, kills Pareno's mechanic, Dmitiri Burgholtz (uncredited, looks like Peter Whitney).
When questioned at Pareno's seaside digs, Sordi says that she saw a young man bringing a drunken Dmitri home in a taxi. Pareno is with his son scoping out the hairpin-laden racecourse on the titular geological formation, so McGarrett drives up to see him, accompanied by state department official Saunders (Wendell Martin), because Pareno is considered a diplomatic VIP. Pareno doesn't want protection, and in private Niki tells McGarrett of how he followed Angela on the night of the murder when she sneaked out to meet the man he noticed her looking at on the dock, and indicates that this isn't the first time she's had such a rendezvous. Pareno has an expert mechanic flown in from the mainland to check the car for tampering, but when the mechanic test-drives the car on the Tantalus course, he loses control and crashes into the mountainside, the car obligatorily bursting into flames.
During the group questioning that follows, Pareno indicates that there's no shortage of men who might want him dead, but that he doesn't believe his ex-wife, Niki's mother, would be capable of having it done; and Angela denies knowing anybody in Hawaii. Afterward, Niki confesses privately to McGarrett that he was the one who brought Dimitri home, having previously denied it, not wanting his father to know. A check of their records indicates that Angela and Niki both have sordid incidents in their pasts, but nothing to motivate murder. Later, Niki creepily leans on Angela about what she's up to, and she insists that he doesn't understand. Chin and Ben are tailing Angela when she makes another rendezvous with the mystery man to hand him an envelope full of bills. Pareno's record check turns up an incident years back in which he hospitalized Dmitri after catching him drinking, which McGarrett confronts him about for glossing over previously. Alex has a new car brought to the island, and he and Niki thoroughly inspect it mechanically before Pareno takes it for a test drive himself.
The drive goes fine, but Chin and Ben tail the mystery man, raid his bungalow with uniformed backup, and arrest him after he attempts to escape, finding him armed and carrying the $10,000. He's identified as con man/extortionist Frank Brill, and a search of his car turns up the blood-stained wrench that killed Dmitri. Angela is brought in on suspicion that she tried to have Alex killed because she's in his will. Alex comes in accompanied by a lawyer and, after being confronted with the evidence against Angela, questions her himself. She reluctantly confesses that she was being blackmailed by Brill over an affair she'd had with him before she knew Alex, which provided him with compromising photographs. Pareno storms out, feeling betrayed at how she went behind his back, and Steve presses her for the full truth.
McGarrett has experts of his own brought in to inspect the new car, and after it passes with flying colors, agrees to lift security from Pareno. But Alex later catches Niki tampering with it in the darkened garage, admiring his son's technique of loosening bolts and retightening them by hand, so they'd pass inspection but loosen with vibration. Five-O are there to catch Niki when he tries to run, and he breaks down, expressing his resentment over how his father treated his mother. McGarrett shares with Pareno that Angela knew of Niki's issues but kept them from Alex. Pareno forgives Angela, but she packs her bag and leaves him. Pareno proceeds with his solo race to beat the record for the Tantalus course, now a much lonelier man.
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Adam-12
"The Late Baby"
Originally aired September 20, 1972
Wiki said:
Malloy goes on a date with Officer Wells' niece and learns just how over-protective her uncle is. Calls include a prowler in a heavily wooded neighborhood, a flower vendor with a stack of unpaid tickets, a check on a suspicious gardener, and a high-speed pursuit with a green Corvette leading to it crashing later on.
Malloy notices the attractive new girl in Records, Marilyn Tate (Christina Sinatra), when she needs his signature on a report. When he asks about her in the break room, Wells tries to warn him off her by claiming that she's a cold fish...then she pops in to fetch her Uncle Ed. Later Marilyn explains that she and her uncle are only a few years apart because he's what the family refers to as a "late baby".
Malloy: I'll just file that away for use at some appropriate time.
Wells starts hovering around overprotectively and wants to know more when he finds out that his niece has agreed to a date with Pete.
On patrol, Adam-12 responds to a 209 for a prowler there now. At the address, the officers look around and Malloy rings the bell to talk to the homeowner, Mrs. Fowler (Winifred Coffin). Malloy returns to the car, loudly declares that it's a false alarm, and drives off, while Reed opens and closes his door but stays behind. From a position of concealment, he sees a man fleeing the property and arrests him.
On patrol again, the officers pull over an old flatbed truck overloaded with flowers. The driver, Mr. Archer (Herb Vigran), has an expired license and a couple of unpaid traffic tickets on his record, but wins the officers over with a sob story about needing to sell the flowers to marry his fiancée, so they let him deliver his cargo to his stand and call her to man it before the they take him downtown. Wells drives by to try to steer Pete into bringing Marilyn to a barbeque at his place, but Pete shoos him off.
Back in the break room at HQ, Marilyn is late for her date with Pete because, as Malloy anticipated, Uncle Ed tried to warn her about what a rotten guy he is--including that he drinks too much! The next day, Ed presses Pete for details about what he did with Marilyn, and it comes out that he drove around all night looking for them. On patrol, the officers pursue a recklessly speeding green Corvette, but lose it in Laurel Canyon. Back at HQ in the locker room, Wells tries to get Reed to spill what he knows, and another officer, Tom Boyd (Frank Sinatra Jr.), boasts about the moves he'd use to woo Marilyn (
).
Pete and Jim are discussing how Wells is making Marilyn seem like not such a good catch when they spot a gardening truck at a property off its usual schedule. They find the gardener (John Gilgreen) trying too hard not to act suspicious, see that the place has been broken into, and catch his partner (Stuart Nisbet) coming out with stolen goods. Back in Laurel Canyon, the officers stop to help a man with a broken leg sitting on the side of the road (Glenn Stensel, I presume). He describes how he drove his car off the road and had to climb his way back up for help. His wrecked vehicle turns out to be the green Corvette.
At HQ, Wells pesters Pete for details about his date with Marilyn that night, but it turns out that Pete hasn't made a date with her...a smug-looking Boyd has (
).
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The Odd Couple
"Big Mouth"
Originally aired September 22, 1972
Wiki said:
Oscar's feud with Howard Cosell causes him to leave Felix's photo shoot.
Felix is anxious about Cosell being late for a soda ad shoot when Oscar drops by to borrow money. Felix tries to get rid of his roommate, Cosell shows up (himself), and it turns out that Oscar and Cosell are previously acquainted, in a bad way. As their old feud intensifies, Cosell walks out. Back at the apartment, while Felix frets about his career, Oscar writes a column to get back at Cosell. Felix guilts Oscar into promising to apologize to Cosell in the press box at a game...which Felix shows up for, causing Oscar to miss important plays. When Oscar goes through with it, his apology is met with insults, but Cosell agrees to come back and do the ad. Then Felix inadvertently insults Cosell by offering him advice about his sinuses, and the shoot is off again.
Now the shoe's on the other foot as Oscar tries to convince an infuriated Felix that he has to humble himself and apologize to Cosell. Oscar ends up trying to smooth things over himself, using the presence of a Boy Scout contest winner named Charley (Michael Morgan) as leverage. The shoot is back on, only for Oscar to learn that Myrna had his anti-Cosell column printed in spite of his attempt to kill it, so Oscar hightails to the studio to warn Felix. Felix tries to rush through the shoot, but one of the models has a paper. Cosell reads the insult-filled piece and storms out. At the next game, Felix and Oscar contritely go to Cosell's area of the press box together. Cosell announces them on the air, and after letting Charley take an impressive turn at describing the plays, hands the mic to Oscar. Cosell insults Oscar on the air over his loss for words, but Felix tries to cover for his friend, improvising completely wrong play descriptions while laying on his commentary a bit thick.
In the coda, Felix and Oscar have Cosell over for coffee, and while things seem to be going better among them, the announcer leaves with a verbose insult for both. After he's gone, Felix and Oscar take turns doing impressions of Cosell's announcement style.
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Love, American Style
"Love and the Amateur Night / Love and the Cheaters / Love and the Love Nest / Love and the Unbearable Fiance"
Originally aired September 22, 1972
In "Love and the Cheaters," Gladys (Brett Somers Klugman) catches Harry (Jack Klugman) trying to get lipstick off his collar and reacts matter-of-factly, already aware of her husband's history of extramarital affairs. He acts more upset than she at her lack of concern, but she encourages him to go through with his date that night with the woman he's currenntly seeing, Delores. He comes up with the backwards idea of Gladys engaging in her own fling so he won't feel as guilty. For this purpose, he dedicates himself to helping her get back in shape, at the expense of seeing Delores. He's ready to resume dating when he fixes Gladys up with a friend, Jack Harper (Robert Karvelas), who balks when he learns what he's getting involved in, but gets into the idea when he sees how good Gladys looks cleaned up. Taken aback himself, Harry drives Jack away to reignite his marriage.
"Love and the Love Nest" opens with Irene Thompson (Marian Hailey) catching neighbor Morris Phelps (Bob Dishy) crawling into her twelfth-floor window, claiming that he's only looking for his pet chicken, Herbie. While Irene had been attracted to Morris from afar, she, next-door neighbor Mrs. Benson (Ruth McDevitt), and the patrolman (Ron Masak) all assume the worst and Morris is arrested. But Irene ends up finding a chicken at her door and realizes that she's sent an innocent man to jail. Phelps is set free after spending time getting to know an alleged degenerate named Bernie (Al Lewis). Morris returns to Irene's apartment for Herbie, but isn't interested in apologies. However, it turns out that Herbie is nesting in Irene's closet, and Mrs. Benson advises that Herbie has to stay in place for three weeks. Irene offers to let a reluctant Morris visit as often as he wants. After he's left, Mrs. Benson reveals that she planted a hard-boiled egg as a means of hooking Irene and Morris up.
Morris starts dating Irene, and when the day comes, the fertile egg that Mrs. Benson acquired ends up hatching a baby turtle, causing Irene and Mrs. B to confess to what they've been up to. Irene gets a disillusioned Morris to stay by declaring that she loves him, and it looks like Herbie's found a new home with Mrs. B.
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My first dates with my first girlfriend were at the skating rink. I learned a harsh lesson about letting the girl decide what to do.
Our local skating rink was located between our house and elementary school. There were a lot of field trips and birthday parties held there, that's why I have memories of it.
For the record, I enjoyed the skating rink in its proper time and place...which was
not making me miss
The Incredible Hulk!
RJDiogenes said:
Plans for a Marvel tie-in comic featuring "The Most Caffeinated Superhero Of All" never worked out.
But a metaphorical baseball legend who'd been married to Hollywood's most iconic actress would have a regular TV commercial gig for years to come.
RJDiogenes said:
On the one hand, I'm touched that she's singing about Funny Face, but on the other hand I'm hurt that she didn't mention Goofy Grape specifically.
DarrenTR1970 said:
Nope. Doesn't ring a bell.
A country artist who had two crossover hits that oldies radio forgot. For the purposes of my collection, I'm happy to leave things that way.
RJDiogenes said:
DarrenTR1970 said:
This, on the other hand. Classic.
Yeppity yep.
I saw something of vague interest in Decades' upcoming schedule...on the weekend of Oct. 8-9, they're going to binge a show that appears to be new to the Wiegel networks,
The Best of Flip Wilson. Don't think I'm going to try to work that into my already packed 50th anniversary viewing season, but it should be worth putting on. It looks like Sullivan did guest appearances on the show.
