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50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2)
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The Brady Bunch
"You're Never Too Old"
Originally aired March 9, 1973
The first sentence on Wiki said:
The kids try to set up the girls' matrilineal great-grandmother, Grandma Connie Hutchins (Florence Henderson), and the boys' patrilineal great-grandfather, Grandpa Hank Brady (Robert Reed), after the two come for a visit.
Florence and Robert appear in onscreen credits for their guest characters following the opening credits. Grandma, who's visiting for the first time in years, speaks with a rural accent and is still "full of go, go, go" in Marcia's words. When Mike and Carol mention how she never found a man, Marcia gets the idea to invite Grandpa Brady over for a little matchmaking...though the retired judge is noticeably stuffier, telling dry jokes in Latin and reacting negatively to Marcia's description of Grandma as "far out". Grandpa is taken aback when he meets Grandma while she's playing basketball with the boys, but the two make an effort to get acquainted on the patio.
Marcia: It looks like you two are really getting to know each other.
Grandpa: Well, these past few moments have proved most illuminating.
Marcia: Right on!
Jan: Groovy!
[Grandpa glares.]
Marcia: Uh...delightful?
Jan: Splendid!
Grandpa: That's better.
Marcia and Jan arrange for Alice to make a romantic candlelight dinner for the grandparents while the kids make excuses to go out. When Grandma tries to get Grandpa to dance, he accuses her of planning the whole thing, they get into a fight, and he leaves.
Marcia and Greg try to smooth things over with Grandma after her morning jog, but she now wants nothing to do with Grandpa. Marcia and Jan then visit Grandpa in his study, trying to persuade him to give Grandma another chance with a legalistic argument, but that doesn't work either. The girls then scheme to have Cindy take Grandma to the park while Grandpa's there with Bobby. Finding themselves alone at the park bench, the grandparents initially resume their antagonism, but end up apologizing to one another and proceed to converse...with Grandpa letting down his guard some and showing what passes for his looser side. They finally start to take to one another and Grandpa offers to show Grandma the city...willing to settle for taking her to a club with a rock band when she's not hip to the idea of a Mozart string ensemble.
Mike and Carol are awakened in the middle of the night by noises downstairs and find Grandma sneaking out with her bags. They assume the worst, but it turns out that she and Grandpa are heading to Vegas to elope. In the coda, the Bradys get a postcard written by Grandma with a couple of jokes about her and Grandpa's ages.
Grandma was pretty recognizable as Florence Henderson, but I never would have known that Robert Reed under the age makeup.
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The Odd Couple
"Take My Furniture, Please"
Originally aired March 9, 1973
Wiki said:
Felix updates the apartment in modern decor, but Oscar hates the changes.
Felix, Miriam, and Murray have just finished repainting the apartment when Oscar comes home and all he notices is that Miriam's wearing glasses. When Felix prods Oscar to notice what's different, he doesn't even register the smell, nor does he remember what color the walls used to be once he's told. Oscar becomes less indifferent when Felix says that he plans to replace all the furniture as well, but ultimately agrees to let Felix handle it. (He should know better by now.) Felix puts an ad in the paper to sell the old furniture and they get a small group of bargain-hunting visitors after midnight on the day of the sale (Bella Bruck, Jessica Myerson, and Charles Lane). Felix is so motivated to make a profit that he sells the desk right out from under Oscar as he's trying to work. (The neighbors must love him, pounding away at his manual typewriter after midnight.) The roommates end up having to eat while standing in their empty apartment--even the books are gone. When Felix is trying to interview Baltimore Colt Bubba Smith (himself) at his office, Felix drops in with swatches for the drapes and Bubba is more interested in offering his advice than in the interview. (At 6'7", Smith has to bend a little to get through the office door.)
At the apartment, Felix unveils the new furniture for Oscar--two overpriced swiveling chairs in the shape of hands. The next day Felix shows Oscar the rest of the furniture--all garishlly ultra-modern, including a tiny school desk for Oscar and a Lite Brite-looking clock that tells the time with coded lights. Frustrated with the changes, Oscar gets his own set of more traditional but mismatched discount furniture and decor. Felix is crestfallen and too ashamed to let Miriam in.
Felix: It looks as though you got this whole place free with a full tank of gas!
Felix admits defeat in his ongoing struggles with Oscar, and announces that he's ready to move out.
Felix: Ratso Rizzo had a cuter apartment.
Both admit that they went too far, and they go to pick out a third set of furniture together.
I think I could have more easily lived with Oscar's decor than Felix's.
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Love, American Style
"Love and the End of the Line / Love and the Growing Romance / Love and the Postal Meeter"
Originally aired March 9, 1973
Season finale
"Love and the End of the Line"
Sociology professor Michael Wizanski (Robert Klein) reveals to his father (Howard Da Silva), a retired doctor with whom he lives, that he's part of a population control group who plan to get vasectomies. Dr. W tries to talk his son out of it, arguing that this will mean oblivion for Michael; and also shares his troubles with a ladyfriend, Serafina (Carmen Zapata), at the candy store that he now keeps. The shop is visited by Suzanne Jacobson, an attractive young nursery school teacher (Michele Marsh), and Dr. W takes an interest when he learns that she's not married. Dr. W brings her over for a blind date against Michael's objections. The kids start to hit it off when Mike learns that sociology was her major, but Dr. W hovers around them. Dr. W spends some time with her, brings up the subject of children, and she reveals that she's devoted to being a teacher because she can't have children. Dr. W then does a 180 and scares her away by warning her about how awful his son is.
Michael is upset at his father's meddling. Dr. W then changes tactics by bringing home a young lady of his own (Heather Lowe, I presume), but while she has no problem having his kid, she balks when he mentions marriage. The day of the procedure arrives, and Michael tells his father in the waiting room--where other patients from Mike's group pace around like expectant fathers--that he would like to have a kid someday, and can't go through with it...so when the nurse comes for Mr. Wizanski, Dr. W jumps in the wheelchair in his son's place.
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"Love and the Growing Romance"
Mike (Rick Lenz) is frustrated that his fiancee, Lana (Mary-Robin Redd), is being overly cautious about marrying him, having vetted him through a series of relatives. When Lana departs for two weeks at a "fat farm," she leaves Mike with her latest vettor, Barney--a house plant whom she considers to be a good judge of character. Lana's plant vet, Ellen Frybeck (E.J. Peaker), comes by for a visit to find Barney withering from neglect. She encourages Mike to talk to Barney, so he opens up a little about himself and a spark of attraction lights up in Ellen. Mike comes to treat Barney like a pal, and Ellen finds him greatly recovered. When Mike and Ellen admit their feelings for one another and start to make out, Barney sprouts a flower. The couple are less concerned with breaking the news to Lana than with finding a way to keep Barney. Lana is furious, but agrees to let Barney decide who to stay with. Barney ends up wagging a leaf in favor of Mike...with a little help from Ellen pulling a concealed string.
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"Love and the Postal Meeter"
Nerdy Leroy (Jim Connell) wants to borrow a picture of his hunky roommate Bart (Ben Murphy) to exchange with Florence, a pen pal with whom he's starting to get really serious. Florence responds by declaring that she has to meet "Leroy"...and the real Leroy wants to play Cyrano and continue the ruse for Florence's visit. When the very attractive Florence (Celeste Yarnall) visits, sparks are exchanged with Bart-posing-as-Leroy; they fall for each other and end up deciding to get married. Leroy is naturally upset that Bart has stolen his girl. The day of the wedding comes, which Florence's maid of honor, Patty (Barbara Minkus), seems none too happy about. Leroy and Patty start to nonverbally flirt while Bart initiates a twist that I saw coming...
Bart: I'm not Leroy, I'm Bart!
Florence: What? Then who's Leroy?
Leroy: I am!
Patty: You're Leroy? I'm Florence!
Leroy: You're Florence?
Bart: Then who are you?
Florence: I'm Patty.
Minister (William O'Connell): I'm confused.
After a moment of adjustment between Bart and the real Patty, the season ends with a double wedding.
Minister: Dearly beloved...or should I say, to whom it may concern...?
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All in the Family
"Archie Learns His Lesson"
Originally aired March 10, 1973
Wiki said:
Archie attends night school to earn his GED so he'll get a promotion and tries to keep a secret from Mike and Gloria.
Mike's having trouble eating because Archie's not there to argue with him as he's working overtime. Edith tells the story of how Archie started calling her "dingbat" as a term of endearment. Archie comes home for a very quick bite and runs out, supposedly to go bowling. Edith knows what's really going on, and Mike and Gloria are suspicious...questioning Edith when they find that Archie took his bowling bag without the ball in it. Edith explains the situation enough that Mike fills in the rest, then Archie comes downstairs after having run back in to use the bathroom, sees the bowling ball, and realizes that everyone knows.
Archie and Mike end up studying at the dinner table together, Mike's habits annoying Archie. A question about Manifest Destiny turns into a political argument. Edith quizzes Archie from a book in preparation for a test, while Archie writes down crib notes to use during the exam. Another argument with Mike erupts about America's treatment of Native Americans, which ends with Mike running upstairs screaming; then Gloria comes home and finds out that Archie's planning to cheat. In the ensuing argument, Mike compares what Archie's doing to the Watergate trial...the first such direct reference to what's happening on that front. Edith ends up pasting the crib notes to a large piece of cardboard, thinking that she's doing Archie a favor, so he can't use them.
Archie's test results come in the mail, and he has Edith open the envelope. It turns out that he passed without cheating, but he then gets a call from Stretch Cunningham that somebody else got the job that he was getting his diploma for.
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Emergency!
"Rip-Off"
Originally aired March 10, 1973
Edited Wiki said:
Roy and John are accused of stealing $500 from a prominent TV personality they were treating for a cardiac condition.
The episode opens with Johnny obsessing not about finding out who started the fire last week, but over fixing a rattle in the squad that Roy couldn't hear. The paramedics are called to the apartment of Norman Harrison (Regis J. Cordic) after a neighbor (Iris Korn) hears a loud crashing. They find the Channel 3 celebrity passed out on the floor from what's determined to be cardiac arrest and get to work restarting his heart and stabilizing him. At Rampart, when the revived Harrison asks for his wallet to produce an unfilled prescription, he finds $500 missing, and determines that it could only have been taken by the paramedics in his apartment.
The station is visited by a familiar element of the Mark VII-verse--a pair of no-nonsense police detectives (Charles McGraw and Borah Silver), who question DeSoto and Gage about the incident with the battalion chief (Art Gilmore) present. The paramedics are saved by the alarm when the station is called to the site of an auto accident.
Police sergeant: Hold it, we're not finished.
Battalion chief: You are for now. They've got work to do.
One of the vehicles in the frontal collision has an unconscious driver pinned under the steering wheel, while his wife Kathy (Maria-Elena Cordero), who was being driven to the hospital, threatens to deliver two months early. The paramedics get her in the back of the ambulance, where they assist in the delivery. Roy accompanies the ambulance to the hospital while Johnny helps the other firefighters to free the husband...who's identified at Rampart as Dr. Mike Williams (Morgan Paull), a resident at another hospital.
The wallet issue comes up in a conversation between the paramedics, Early, and Dix. Roy is as concerned as Johnny with getting the incident cleared up. The chief insists that everything's being handled according to procedure, but advises them to get a lawyer...which they discuss early in the morning when they can't sleep. Roy and Johnny see Barney Olsen (Harry Townes), a retired battalion chief who's now very successfully practicing law...hoping that he might give them a break fee-wise. The first option he suggests is a plea bargain to reduce the likely charge, but he agrees to work with them when they insist on proving themselves innocent, and to chalk the fee up to old times.
Meanwhile at Rampart, Kathy meets her baby, who's being incubated, and Brackett informs her that Mike's vision has been impaired by the accident. Kathy is wheeled in to see Mike for a bit of Welbian drama in which she convinces him to not give up on regaining his vision for the sake of their newborn son, and he's taken into surgery. At the station, Roy and Johnny are tense about not having heard anything regarding the investigation, and try to call the detectives, only to learn that the sergeant is filing a complaint with the D.A. concerning the Harrison case, which gets them more wound up than before.
The station and other units are called to the airport, where a twin-prop plane has suffered a landing gear collapse while trying to take off. The firefighters' first priority is to stop the liquid oxygen coming out of the plane from going up due to sudden pressure on the craft, but the paramedics take a chance on helping the plane crew with the help of the snorkel bucket, while also plugging up the leaking tank from the inside.
At Rampart Roy and Johnny run into the detectives, who inform the paramedics that they've gotten an arrest warrant for Nora Hosteller--Harrison's neighbor who called the fire department, whom the detectives have determined only did so after she ripped him off herself to pay off a gambling debt. The happy ending is completed when Early informs Kathy, who's feeding her son, that Mike should fully recover his vision now that the pressure of his head injury has been relieved.
In the coda, Johnny's back to his earlier obsession with the rattle.
Vince Howard's police officer, who's been showing up routinely, is now being referred to as "Vince" by the firefighters.
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The Bob Newhart Show
"Who's Been Sleeping on My Couch?"
Originally aired March 10, 1973
Season finale
Wiki said:
Jerry starts making a nuisance of himself while recovering from a bad breakup.
During a session with Michelle Nardo, various items are found under Bob's office couch cushions--a cracker with peanut butter on it, a comb, and a copy of
The Feminine Mystique. Bob first assumes that Carol's responsible, but she points out the flaws in this theory. At dinner, Howard thinks that somebody's using the place for hanky panky. Bob gets a call from his answering service that somebody's using his line, so he and Emily head to the office and have the night watchman (Herbie Faye) let them in to find Jerry sleeping on the couch. Jerry explains that he can't go back to his apartment because everything there reminds him of a woman who just dumped him. Bob invites him to stay at their place, and only finds out afterward that Jerry can't see himself returning to his place.
Friction ensues as Jerry comes to take his new living situation for granted, and Bob has to clue Carol in when Jerry starts coming in late for his appointments. Bob begins to explain what's going on, and Carol pieces together the clues from the couch to deduce the full truth in Holmesian fashion. She confronts Jerry about his situation in private and offers herself as a rebound date. She encourages Jerry to take her back to his place, which turns out to be filled with pictures of Gayle. With Carol urging him on, Jerry starts tearing them all up. Carol again suggests that Jerry should try going out with her, though he doesn't think it would work out between them. Wasn't Jerry trying to get Carol to go out with him in earlier episodes? What's more, I think they were said to have ended up going out offscreen once. Anyway, Jerry packs up his things and officially moves out of the Hartleys' apartment.
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Ouch. That's pretty harsh, Henry.
Tough love.
Lucky break that two of the top cops in the state just happen to be busting that random pawn shop.
Well, they've gotta go out and generate plotlines if they're gonna meet their state-mandated quota of 24 major cases a year.
So... Djebara used his mercenary skills to obtain missile plans that he planned to sell to a foreign power, but the plans were stolen by a random burglar, so he tried to sell blank film to a higher bidder of unknown identity, but was killed by a sniper who was probably the Pale Man, who had already obtained the real plans from the corpse of the burglar, and who was actually working for Djebara's MIL, who was betrayed by Djebara because he was taking the plans that he no longer had to a different buyer, meaning that the Pale Man was not the original buyer, but another mercenary hired by Souvang to kill Djebara, so she may actually have been working with Wo Fat originally in a deal to restore her status in her home country? Did I get that right?
By the end, I was a little unclear who was doing what for whom, when, or why. I was under the impression that Djebara killed the burglar, and the microfilm was switched after he was shot. I wasn't clear if Djebara thought he was selling the plans to Pale Man. There was no mention of any potential Wo Fat involvement.
Shouldn't they be flagged as unavailable if they're helping some lost kid?
They hadn't called anything in yet.
That was a mighty grim ending.
I think the presence of the kid was maybe a smidge manipulative. Once they brought him back home, he didn't play any substantial role in the plot; they seem to have put him in there so we'd have somebody to sympathize with in that situation.
"You broke my jaw,
you little sadist--
but it don't matter,
I'm STILL the greatest."
That's more like it. (I won't bother you to respell everything the way it'd be pronounced with a broken jaw.)
Now that you mention it, it's ringing a bell.
"Log 131: Reed, the Dicks Have Their Job and We Have Ours"--the one that established Reed's hankering to get involved in detective work.
Well, 12 x 30 is only 360, so they're shafting their customers five days a year. They should go by the calendar date.
They don't have a 12-month recording option, so it's more like shafting three days per nine months. But now I know to factor that in.
