50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2)
The Six Million Dollar Man
"Stranger in Broken Fork"
Originally aired December 13, 1974
IMDb said:
Steve Austin's bionic arm malfunctions while he is piloting a plane. After crashing, Austin suffers from amnesia as a side effect from the malfunction. He soon meets psychologist Angie Walker who runs an experimental convalescence home for mental patients. Unfortunately, the small-town folk of Broken Fork are very suspicious of strangers and Angie's patients in particular.
While Steve's flying to Colorado in the NASA F-104, back in Washington Dr. Wayne Carlton (Arthur Franz) informs Oscar of test results indicating not just that the atomic power pack in Steve's bionic arm is due to malfunction, but that it will rather specifically cause, via feedback into his nerves, involuntary reactions, amnesia, and eventually death. On cue, Steve accidentally crushes his stick and loses control of the plane.
Following the opening credits, an otherwise undamaged Steve walks out of the woods to find Angie Walker (Sharon Farrell) trying to change the tire of her Jeep. He doesn't know who or where he is or how he got there, but he helps her change it...undoing the lug nuts by hand after breaking the wrench. Driving him back to the titular Utah town, she takes an interest in his condition, explaining her profession and how she's working for a project headed by a Dr. Freeman that involves opening homes in remote areas for people who can't handle the stress of everyday life. When she mentions these homes as an alternative to mental hospitals, Steve has a brief origin flash of being laid up after his crash.
As Angie stops to pick up groceries, Who's Steve? finds that Angie's not popular with the townsfolk. When grocer Horace Milsner (Robert Donner) doesn't want to sell his goods to Angie and her "freaks," Steve insists and ends up pushing him into some stock, accompanied by the still-rare bionic sound effect. As she takes him back to the farm home, Air Force surveillance planes locate Steve's crashed Starfighter. The first patient Steve meets is Angie's worst case, an intensely glaring gardener named Thurmond (Bill Henry). Inside, she introduces Steve to the others, including an elder woman named Ruth whom Steve thinks may have recognized him, though conveniently none of them talk. (The casting of the patients is a bit questionable...they're all middle-aged to elderly rural-looking folk, making it seem like she's running an old folks' home in the country. You'd think she'd be treating some Type A businessmen and whatnot.) When Angie mentions that it's nice to have a friend around, Steve has a flash of Oscar.
Milsner drops by accompanied by honorary deputy sheriff Corley Weems (Troy Melton), charging theft and assault and battery. Steve produces a sales slip, and Angie says there were witnesses to how Milsner provoked the fight, so Corley, not having a jail anyway, is happy to drop the matter. After they leave--Milsner vaguely threatening the future of the home--Steve experiences a sharp shoulder pain, following which he crushes a coffee cup without burning himself, which he connects to the lug wrench, intensifying an already expressed reluctance to learn who he really is. Meanwhile, Oscar and Dr. Carlton visit the crash site, where they find the crushed stick, and an Air Force major (Eric Mason) indicates that Steve ejected. Outside the house, Steve staring at the day Moon triggers a rocket launch flashback; and a curious neighbor girl named Jody (uncredited Kristine Ritzke) chats him up, asking if he's crazy, too. While he's gently trying to set her straight, she's called back by her angry mother (uncredited Sally Yarnell).
Putting off being taken to the county seat, Steve accompanies Angie as she takes the patients on a hayride picnic. But their wagon is roadblocked by Milsner and a couple of local thugs (uncredited Bob Hoy and Orin C. Harvey), all brandishing axe handles. Steve easily deals with all three, which includes some obvious feats of superhuman strength--tossing one of the handles high and far and one of the thugs at least 20 feet, accompanied by the sound effect. Jody, who followed the wagon out on a pony, declares Thurmond--whom she's always taken an interest in as he worked--to be a coward for standing by with the others. As Oscar's people are locating Steve's chute, back at the grocery store Milsner riles up a small posse of townsfolk, driven to stop a new group of twenty patients from coming in, and ready to resort to using guns. At the house, a jet flies overhead and Steve identifies it as an F-104 from its sound. Angie deduces that he must be a pilot, which triggers an origin flashback of his crash flight. Inside, Angie examines Steve's arm and they find a section of forearm skin ripped off, causing Steve to be horrified at the rediscovery of his true nature.
Just as Steve's afraid that he's entirely artificial, Angie deduces that he has an artificial limb when his other hand bleeds from touching the exposed bionics. At the Brady Campsite of Lake Mayberry on Miramanee's planet, a state trooper (uncredited Paul LeClair) points Oscar's search party in the direction of Broken Fork. As Angie's about to take Steve to the county seat, they find Milsner and his posse outside armed with shotguns. She tries to reason with Milsner, promising to move the home, but he insists on taking Steve away for some vigilante justice, as Angie pleads with an onlooking crowd of unspeaking townsfolk (who are pretty indistinguishable from the patients) to intervene. Once they're away from the house, Steve tosses the two thugs out the back of the pickup and Obvious Stunt Double leaps out and right into the camera. Steve's bionic running and jumping to evade a shotgun-toting Milsner are hampered by his arm pains, but he makes it back to the house, where he attempts to free the patients from a truck they're being loaded onto and is dogpiled by more townsfolk. As Milsner catches up and aims his shotgun at a prone Steve, the state troopers arrive with Oscar and Carlton, and Oscar has Milsner placed under arrest. Steve recognizes Oscar from flashes he's been having.
Inside, as Carlton's making a temporary fix to Steve's arm, Oscar adds Angie to his cabinet full of people who've been sworn to secrecy about the bionics. Now knowing who he is while still being amnesiac, Steve walks out to give a speech to the still-gathered crowd of townsfolk, shaming them for what almost happened and pleading for one of them to come forward and befriend Angie's people. Jody walks forward and, escorted by Steve, takes Thurmond's hand.
Shazam!
"The Gang's All Here"
Originally aired December 14, 1974
Season finale
Wiki said:
Vinnie is out on bail and ready to get even with that rat-fink Jackie. Billy tries to talk to Vinnie, but ends up being bound and gagged. Vinnie and Jackie's confrontation at the oil refinery almost takes one of their lives.
A gang of extras, led by Vinnie's "lieutenant" and "pal" from last week, gather to celebrate his return to the dingy, warehoused 'hood after he's released. At the service station, Jackie's promising Billy and Mentor that he'll steer clear of Vinnie when Billy has to pull him out of the way as Vinnie and pals screech in, dropping a wood-carved sign with the symbol of Vinnie's gang, the Vultures. A call from the Elders follows, in which they advise of how human energies can be channeled for good or evil, allude to Billy facing a trial, and emphasize that differences mustn't be resolved through physical combat. This motivates Billy and Mentor to go back and badger Jackie some more, and when he voices a little dissatisfaction about Vinnie keeping him from seeing Mellie, they seize upon that as an excuse to literally go looking for trouble. Billy gets out on foot in the 'hood and is herded into a warehouse, where his hands are bound behind him and he's put on trial with Vinnie as the judge. He's declared guilty of meddling, and gagged with a bandana while the court adjourns to consider sentencing.
Mellie to the rescue! (She's still on Perma-Whine, though showing some midriff this week.) After she pops into the van just to whine about needing to find Billy, we take a break following which she pops into the warehouse and ungags Billy. When he hears the gang coming back, he rushes her out before she can untie his hands. He then says the titular magic word and transforms via the usual standing-up, unbound sequence, following which Cap mugs for the camera a bit in showing off his broken bonds.
He was literally looking straight into the camera just before lifting his hands. Rather than confront the gang, he splits back for the van and changes back to Billy so he and Mentor can take Millie back to Jackie. Smoke from the magic lightning lingers as the gang finds that Billy's gone.
An Elder flashback causes Billy to think that this isn't the happy ending, so he declares to Jackie's assembled, unnamed gang that you can't reason with people like Vinnie, which gets them all stirred up just as Vinnie's lieutenant pops up with a challenge for Jackie to meet Vinnie at the refinery. Jackie blames Billy as the discontented mob heads for the refinery, and then goes after them. Billy and Mentor go to the police but get turned away because nothing's happened yet, and once again, a halfhearted search attempt in the van (though they should know exactly where the gangs are going) is cut short as Billy gets out the change. At the refinery, Jackie continues to protest that he doesn't want any trouble, but Vinnie invokes the C-word and challenges Jackie to come up to his catwalk and settle things mano-a-mano. They get into a very low-grade scuffle that basically consists of pulling at each others' collars, but that's courting mortal injury in the Shazamverse--Vinnie gradually starts to slip off the catwalk despite Jackie's effort to pull him back up. Cap, the van, and the police arrive just in time for Cap to catch Vinnie.
Vinnie: Wow, Captain Marvel, never thought I'd be glad to see you.
Cap: You may not believe this, but I'm glad I saw you...in time.
Cap starts to lecture the assembled gangs for the trouble that he started as Billy, and when Vinnie makes some noise about future trouble, his lieutenant turns the Vultures against him, declaring that Vinnie can count him out.
Jackie: That Captain Marvel's an alright dude!
When Billy returns, Jackie briefly chastises him for his role in things. When the lieutenant asks about how the guys can channel their energies peacefully, Mentor steers them toward community repair.
Mentor: You've just seen what working against each other can lead to. Don't you think it's time we started working together?
In the coda, Mentor mentions "this part" of his and Billy's vacation being over as the unified gang invites them to join a basketball game.
Cap: Hi. Today we learned what some people never learn, that in the end, fighting doesn't prove anything. It makes more sense to work together, and to iron out our differences in a constructive, rather than a destructive, way. See you next week!
Or maybe next year.
The Odd Couple
"The Bigger They Are"
Originally aired December 14, 1974
Edited IMDb/Wiki mashup said:
Felix gets Oscar to model for a series of weight loss advertisements and wins an award dishonestly.
I don't know what the story is behind TOC airing two nights this week, but Wiki and IMDb agree on it. Maybe just making way for a Christmas special or something.
At the 10th Annual Dink Awards, named in honor of the "father of modern advertising," Felix is in the wings awaiting the award for best commercial, but isn't happy because Oscar refused to come, having said a number of nasty things about Felix...who explains to Murray (just arriving from the scene of an accident that he was involved in) that Oscar's right.
Murray: You wanna talk about it? You can tell me, I'm your friend.
Felix: I broke the law.
Murray: Face the wall, Unger! (Slams Felix against wall.)
After Murray bounces back from his reflexive action, Felix goes into a flashback to how, six months prior, his cousin Ben (Cliff Emmich) quit from being Felix's "before" model in a magazine campaign for Fat-A-Way diet pills to pursue a career in wrestling. Faced with a tight deadline and with his client, Mr. Hooper (John Byner), threatening to prosecute Ben, Felix pulls out a photo of Oscar from eight years prior when he weighed about 300 pounds, later established to have been a temporary phase after his divorce. (All the flashback episodes they've done, and this was never a thing before...though at least they're roughly agreeing with what I think was the dominant timeframe for Oscar's divorce.) Felix floats the idea of using this as the "before" picture, then realizes it's unethical, but an unconcerned Hooper loves the idea.
Felix then has to sell the idea to Oscar, to initially strongly objects, horrified to see a blowup of himself as he was then, though it's been doctored to show him in glasses and a mustache. (We never see the photo.) But Oscar is also facing legal action over back alimony, and agrees to do it for the $500 involved. In a follow-up at Fat-A-Way, the twist comes when Hooper drops the bomb that they've decided to spin the magazine campaign into a TV commercial, which Oscar has to appear in. This involves persuading Oscar to appear on camera in a suit that's been padded to make him look obese (though not a "fat suit" in the modern sense as no prosthetics are involved).
Felix gets a big laugh out of seeing Oscar in the suit, which makes it look like he was obese in the '20s. Hooper brings a Mr. Doyle from the advertising commission (Eddie Garrett) to the apartment to confirm that the ad isn't fraudulent...having first gotten Doyle stinking drunk. A stewardess blind date named Ann (Maggie Peterson) drops in and leaves when Oscar tries to take off his suit in front of her. Oscar nevertheless goes through with the ad, which is shot in the apartment, has Felix being open on camera about playing a doctor, and involves Oscar going through a humiliating routine that includes faux tap-dancing. This is the "before" ad, which promises a sequel with the results in three months.
Cut back to the present, as Hooper and Felix accept the award. Predictably, Felix confesses at the podium about the fraudulent commercial and refuses to accept the award...while Oscar watches from the wings. In the coda, Felix is touched that Oscar came and apologizes to his roommate...but then asks Oscar to don the fat suit again for Leonard's birthday party.
We're only missing two episodes between this one and the next available one, but between that and a holiday hiatus, it won't be coming up for over a month.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
"A Girl Like Mary"
Originally aired December 14, 1974
Wiki/Frndly mash-up said:
Lou auditions applicants for a new female commentator. Mary wants the job, but she has to get past Sue Ann first.
Lou announces that he wants to hire a female commentator for an editorial segment--something that the others point out all the rival stations already have. In describing the type he's looking for, he repeatedly points to Mary as an example--but is quick to dismiss her as being wrong for the job. When Ted sends a reluctant Georgette to Mary's about auditioning, Georgette convinces Mary that Mary's right for it. Mary persuades Lou to let her try, though he doesn't want to have to reject her, assuming that she'll stink. Sue Ann drops by Mary's about the audition, too, wanting to break out of her Happy Homemaker rut; then gets catty when she learns that Mary's also applying.
The auditions consist of the applicants doing their sample spots sitting next to Ted. Sue Ann can't help slipping into the Happy Homemaker persona that she claims to want to get away from, smiling and talking in a sing-song tone while reading about mudslide victims in Peru, punctuated with homemaking tidbits. When it's Mary's turn, she's nervous, and while Ted sincerely tries to coach her about how to play for the camera, her reading is awkward and jittery. Lou makes his choice--Enid Berringer (Rosalind Cash). While Enid's down at personnel, Lou tries to maneuver Mary into confirming his choice by claiming that it's between Mary and Enid and showing her Enid's tape. This backfires, as Mary still thinks she's better for the job, but her bubble is burst when Enid comes back and Mary learns that she's already been hired. Lou confesses that Mary wasn't even a runner-up.
In the coda, Enid and Mary bond a bit as Enid tries to soften the blow.
The Bob Newhart Show
"Serve for Daylight"
Originally aired December 14, 1974
Wiki said:
Bob wants to win a tennis match but doesn't think his doubles partner, Emily, is good enough to win.
Bernie Tupperman's signing others in the office up for the Urology Research Clinic Annual Mixed Doubles Tennis Tournament and Cocktail Party, which they've participated in before. Carol, who's generally blamed for Bob having lost the previous year, informs Bob that she'll be sitting it out to be a judge this time. When Bob invites Howard because this is the first year that people who don't work in the office can participate, Emily expresses an interest, saying that she's been working on her game. When the partners are drawn in the office lobby, Dr. Tammy Ziegler (Paula Shaw) gets Howard, who isn't present; and Bob, who lets Carol pick for him, isn't good at hiding his unenthusiasm when she draws Emily.
Bob and Emily end up losing their first match, against Bernie and his partner, whom Bob considered the weakest team on the list. He's outspokenly critical of Emily's game, so when he's giving a speech about sportsmanship while presenting the trophy to Jerry and his partner, Emily walks out and drives home without him. Back at the apartment, Bob has the obligatory sit-down with Emily to apologize for the contrived situation, telling her a story about how he'd longed for a trophy of his own since he stole one while working as a delivery boy for a trophy company (which he still has in his closet). He promises to help Emily work on her game, which she takes as an invitation to partner with him again next year.
The hostility between Carol and Dr. Phil Newman (the previous year's winner, who's revealed to have smashed his racket after losing this time) is played up again. Carol, who takes comedic precautions against sunburn, is revealed in the coda to have gotten it on her hands.
Actually, I thought all of the remaining Moore films stunk, with the semi exception of
Octopussy. I more or less enjoyed watching the subsequent movies, and I thought Pierce Brosnan was born to play Bond, but I couldn't tell you much about them at this point. And of course I haven't bothered with the reboot movies. So when you think about it,
Man With The Golden Gun was the last Bond film I really liked.
Huh...I tend to think of
The Spy Who Loved Me as being the near-perfect Bond film. The main thing it's got going against it is that classic films with scores not by John Barry tend to feel a little "off" to varying degrees, even though I also consider the Marvin Hamlisch-cowritten "Nobody Does It Better" to be the quintessential Bond theme.
Happy 99th, Dick Van Dyke! 
