The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread
- Thread starter The Old Mixer
- Start date
Oh, yeah. We'll be seeing her again on both shows, notably in the Fembot episodes.
Negotiating a treaty completely unrelated to the OSI's mandate, no doubt.
I don't suppose we find out why. Some kind of grievance or is he just getting paid off?
Why not just shoot him with a gun? He would have achieved his goal right there.
Captain Dobey... in three days, according to Wiki.
Would CLE really be called for a murder at a government facility like that?
He jumps right to the revenge plot. We've got a lot of ground to cover in this episode.
Yowza!
Ah, just like old times!
Two of them, in a beer helmet.
If anybody deserves it, she does.
It makes sense that Steve would be trained to make some minor repairs to his bionics, but it strains credulity that this cutting-edge technology can be fixed with off-the-shelf components.
Arbitrary, but cute.
His has probably been suspended, so her status is probably a bit dubious.
Because the trained detectives assigned to the case would never think of that.
Sounds like somebody Reed and Malloy would encounter.
That's some nice continuity. I mentioned earlier that the revenge plots were overdone, but part of that was that they almost always called back to events that were never depicted on the show-- when it calls back to an actual prior story, then it's a bit different.
They really should be wondering who's making these calls.
"Do you think he'd-- nah, he's not that stupid."
"Hi! It's me, Anonymous."
I suspect no trickery!
Good thing they're crack shots.
"Ouch, dammit, you're supposed to aim for my right arm!"
That's cool, and one of them is broken. Come to think of it, they should have milked that broken one for a little more drama.
Too occasional. She should have gotten her own spin-off series. I have a little bit of a crush on Callahan. She was especially sexy when she... oops, I almost dispensed a spoiler.
Just now?
That's one possibility. The other is a bit more ominous.
It's kind of weird that this is a big deal in LA in 1975 when it was treated as perfectly normal in the vague Midwest on Highway Patrol more than fifteen years earlier. Which, by the way, was probably the best look-girls-can-be-cops-too episode I've ever seen.
Yeah, what's he got so far?
Probably checking out Hall.
Cute.
Reed is now Malloy.
A reference that not many today would get.
Probably The Who.
I'm hearing bionic sounds.
Okay, that's a bit much, but still funny.
I still question whether Reed has the gravitas to carry the show as the lead, but Hall seems like a good match for him. It would have been nice to see for a season, at least.
Yeah, but eating isn't optional. They could absorb a few losses from accidents, but they couldn't let them all starve to death.
Apparently "The Bunkers and Inflation" is being deliberately replaced with other episodes in Catchy's streaming schedule, so I guess I won't be covering it.
(Tell me that'll turn out to be ECW.)
Could still be related to creating the army of Six Million Dollar [Ethinic Slur]s.Negotiating a treaty completely unrelated to the OSI's mandate, no doubt.
They definitely did not get into it, just that he thought it was a blackmail scheme. Well, he made room in the Level Six Club.
Less time to twirl his mustache that way.
Looked it up...yesterday now.
It was Charlie's apartment.
Maybe just patched up. There were quartz crystals involved; and when the proprietor looked over the list, he speculated that Callahan must be building a robot.
I'm sure he was having fun...kind of drifting into "crazy prospector" mode.
They might not be motivated to ask the same questions.
"Could you put down the knife, ma'am?"
For the ones he made directly to Dobbs, he was pretending to be a detective from another department.
And that was mentioned.
Sounds like you were really taken by her New England charm, because she's from Burlington, Vermont, which makes her a New Englander, and New Englanders know something about charm, especially when they're from Burlington, Vermont.
(Tell me that'll turn out to be ECW.)
Intriguing. Hopefully it won't involve her asserting that New Englanders from Burlington, Vermont, know a thing or two about being sexy.She was especially sexy when she... oops, I almost dispensed a spoiler.
That would be Oliver Spencer's M.O.
Interesting. Was she a full-blown patrol officer, not a meter maid or something?
The "you've" isn't confirmed, it was sub-vocal.
Ah, their legendary 1975 Generic Rock Instrumental Tour.
She dramatically leaped over a railing, which Woods later bet Wells that he couldn't do.Okay, that's a bit much, but still funny.
Or a short off-season episode order. (Six was typical for try-out shows.) There was definitely more of a chemistry/dynamic here than with Mark Harmon.
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Well, that's bad timing. What the hell?
Next season's premiere: "Attack of the Bionic Leprechauns!" That would have been so cool!
It really needed to be winnowed down.
Right.
Oh, I see. I think I thought "Charlie's place" referred back to "Rudy's lab."
Cute. I like that.
Yeah, sounds like fun.
Good point.
Okay, that's good.
Also good. I like that the script acknowledged these things.
I'm pretty sure it is.
Not that I mind....Definitely not. Although it goes without saying anyway.
Oscar has a little bit of that dark side on occasion.
Definitely not a meter maid. Let me see... hmm... hmm... yup, it's available on YouTube.
I'm sure it was. It was a popular catchphrase at the time. It was actually from a cigarette commercial.
Does she do her own stunts, like Malloy?
I'm not sure if anyone has chemistry with Mark Harmon.
70 Years Ago This Month
May
- With issue #24, Mad converted its format from an EC Comics comic book to a magazine. In doing so, it inadvertently escaped the strictures of the Comics Code and became one of the great success stories of 20th-century magazine publishing.
May 1
- The First Taiwan Strait Crisis came to an end, as the People's Liberation Army of China temporarily ceased shelling Kinmen and Matsu.
May 5
- West Germany became a sovereign country recognized by important Western countries such as France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
May 9
- West Germany joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
- Harpo Marx made a memorable appearance on I Love Lucy.
- Jim Henson's puppet show Sam and Friends first aired on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.
May 10
- United States Air Force 8th Tactical Fighter Wing pilot James E. McInerney Jr. shot down a MiG-15 fighter flown by a People's Republic of China pilot over Korea. It was the last MiG-15 shot down by United Nations forces in Korea.
May 12
- New York's Third Avenue Elevated ran its last train between Chatham Square in Manhattan and East 149th Street in the Bronx, thus ending elevated train service in Manhattan.
May 13
- A riot took place at an Elvis Presley concert in Jacksonville, Florida.
May 14
- Eight Communist Bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed a mutual defense treaty in Warsaw, Poland, that was called the Warsaw Pact. It would be dissolved in 1991.
Charting the week of May 14:
"(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock," Bill Haley & His Comets
(#1 US the weeks of July 9 through Aug. 27, 1955; #3 R&B; #17 UK; #158 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time [2004])
May 15
- Lionel Terray and Jean Couzy became the first people to summit Makalu, the fifth-highest mountain in the world, on the 1955 French Makalu expedition. The entire team of climbers would reach the summit over the next two days.
- The Austrian State Treaty, which restored Austria's national sovereignty, was concluded between the four occupying powers following World War II (the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and France) and Austria, setting it up as a neutral country.
May 18
- Free movement of residents between North and South Vietnam ended.
May 21
- Chuck Berry recorded his first single, "Maybellene," for Chess Records in Chicago.
May 22
- Bridgeport, Connecticut, authorities canceled a rock concert to be headlined by Fats Domino for fear of a riot breaking out.
May 25
- Joe Brown and George Band were the first to complete a climb of Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas, as part of the British Kangchenjunga expedition led by Charles Evans. They respected local spiritual feelings by not setting foot on the actual summit.
- A devastating tornado outbreak hit the Midwestern United States, producing the deadliest tornado in Kansas history, an F5 that struck Udall, Kansas. It also produced another F5 tornado that hit Blackwell, Oklahoma.
On May 25, Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier, starring Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen, was released.
May 29
- The Norfolk and Western Railway in the United States began its conversion to diesel locomotive power from a purely steam locomotive roster with the purchase of eight ALCO RS-3s.
May 30
- Bill Vukovich, 36, US racecar driver, was killed in a chain-reaction crash while holding a 17-second lead on the 57th lap of the 1955 Indianapolis 500.
May 31
- As tensions in the Formosa Strait eased, the People's Republic of China released four captured American fliers. It would release all other captured Americans over the summer.
Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month, as well as the year in film, music, television, and comics, with minor editing as needed. Sections separated from timeline entries are mine.
It's the common practice of some episodes not being available via streaming. If I look at the Frndly schedule too early, it sometimes shows the broadcast programming; but it's since switched to the streaming replacements. People watching Catchy via cable will see "The Bunkers and Inflation".
Made Dobbs look a little naive. It was clear he didn't recognize the name the first time, but he didn't look into it.
I'm pretty sure it is.
Well, I'm a Midwesterner for Indiana, and we Midwesterners from Indiana think that going on about being a New Englander from Burlington, Vermont, sounds a little hokey.
Just glanced through it, but a detective...that's a bit different, and maybe easier for audiences of the time to buy than a uniformed officer out making arrests.
My first impression was that she might've switched to "I've," but it was really hard to tell. The closed captioning said "you've," but the A12 cc'ing is noteworthy for taking liberties with the phrasing used in the dialogue.I'm sure it was. It was a popular catchphrase at the time. It was actually from a cigarette commercial.
Unclear from the long shot. Pretty sure Gary Crosby didn't when he was thrown over the railing.
He wasn't bad in his movie era, as I recall.I'm not sure if anyone has chemistry with Mark Harmon.
Classic and iconic in both formats. The Usual Gang of Idiots were a bunch of geniuses, especially Sergio Aragones.
What a team up. Two classic comedians performing a classic routine. I wonder how much rehearsal that took.
Very interesting. According to Wiki, only a handful of episodes survive, sadly, but they're on YouTube. I must track them down.
Juvenile delinquents! The end of Western Civilization is nigh! Nigh, I say!
I know this one! It's pretty good!
Gotta nip this Rock'n'Roll nonsense in the bud!
Good month for mountain climbing.
Catchy theme. I forgot about Buddy Ebsen.
Is this to encourage people to watch the cable channel?
Maybe it's something that happens often enough to not be a red flag.
We Bostonians from Massachusetts appreciate hokiness because hokiness was invented by a little old lady in Boston when Massachusetts was still a colony.
Well, she got in on the action, had a couple of fights, took a bullet, patched herself up, evaded capture, and freed herself from the guy holding her hostage with a gun using a judo move, as if it were all in a day's work. But the thing that actually impressed me about the episode was that Dan Matthews didn't bat an eye that she was a woman. He just treated her like any other cop. You could have swapped her out for a male character and hardly have to change a word. Pretty impressive for 1958. Compare and contrast with Adam-12 and other shows of the 70s where it was a controversy and the younger cops were uncomfortable with it.
Man, CC really sucks most of the time. You'd think it would be better now with AI in wide use.
Yeah, I doubt it.
I'm probably being unkind, since I haven't seen him in much, but I recall him being kind of bland.
50 Years Ago This Week
May 4
May 5
May 6
May 7
May 8
May 9
May 10
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
Recent and new on the chart:
"Baby That's Backatcha," Smokey Robinson
(Apr. 26; #26 US; #1 R&B)
"Attitude Dancing," Carly Simon
(#21 US; #18 AC)
"Slippery When Wet," Commodores
(#19 US; #1 R&B; #51 UK)
"Midnight Blue," Melissa Manchester
(#6 US; #1 AC)
And new on the boob tube:
Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month, with minor editing as needed.
May 4
- The one millionth run in Major League Baseball history was scored by Bob Watson of the Houston Astros, during a game against the Giants in San Francisco. By the end of the 1973 season, sportscaster Mark Sackler calculated that 981,823 runs had been scored since the National League began play in 1876 and the American League in 1901; and before the start of the 1975 season the mark was 997,869. When the count reached 999,500 MLB set up a center in New York City to record each additional run at the moment that the batter finished rounding the bases. After Claudell Washington of Oakland registered #999,999 against the White Sox at 3:26 pm New York time, both Watson (in San Francisco) and the Reds' Dave Concepción (in Cincinnati, against Atlanta) came up to bat. Concepcion's hit actually came a few seconds before that of Watson, but in the race between the two men, Watson reached home plate at 3:32:30 (12:32 local) while Concepcion was rounding third base for #1,000,001.
- Weeks after taking control of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge began a fight against the new Communist regime in Vietnam, seizing control of South Vietnam's Phú Quốc Island and making the first attacks in what would lead to the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
- Died: Moe Howard, 77, leader and last survivor of The Three Stooges. Born Moses Horwitz, he outlived his brothers Curly Howard (Jerome Horwitz) and Shemp Howard (Samuel Horwitz). The other part of the famous team of Moe, Larry and Curly—Larry Fine (Louis Feinberg)—had died three months earlier.
May 5
- Television broadcasting began in South Africa, as the first test broadcasts of the South African Broadcasting Corporation TV system were made; regular broadcasting would start on January 5, 1976.
- The Busch Gardens Williamsburg Theme Park opened in Virginia.
- For the first time since the founding of Social Security in the U.S., the Social Security Administration announced the retirement and disability program was in debt; and that its $46 billion reserve would be drained by 1983.
May 6
- A tornado destroyed much of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, touching down at 4:29 in the afternoon local time, and then moving north-eastwardly for almost half an hour. The amount of damage—more than $300,000,000 (equivalent to $1,450,000,000 in 2019)—set a new record for the costliest tornado in American history, but only three people were killed.
- The first "Moon Tree" to be planted, so called because it was grown from a seed that had been part of small canister containing about 500 seeds that had been taken to the Moon on the Apollo 14 mission, was placed at Washington Square Park in Philadelphia.
May 7
- U.S. President Ford proclaimed the end of the Vietnam Era for purposes of certain veterans' benefits. Under Title 38 of the United States Code, §101 (29)(A), the era is now defined as "The period beginning on February 28, 1961, and ending on May 7, 1975, in the case of a veteran who served in the Republic of Vietnam during that period."
- Died: George Baker, 59, American U.S. Army sergeant and cartoonist who created the World War II comic strip character "Sad Sack" (later adapted as a comic book series for Harvey Comics).
May 8
- The People's Republic of China agreed to establish trade and diplomatic relations with the European Community, agreeing to send a representative to Common Market headquarters in Brussels.
- The last known foreigners remaining in Cambodia, about 550 occupants of the French Embassy in Phnom Penh, crossed the border into Thailand three weeks after Cambodia's fall to Communist guerillas. Transported by a convoy of cars and trucks, and escorted by soldiers of the Khmer Rouge, the group that walked over into Aranyaprathet consisted of 230 French citizens and about 300 Khmer Muslims, but no Cambodian holders of French passports.
May 9
- In Laos, Kaho Xane Pathet Lao, the official newspaper of the Lao People's Party, ran the announcement that the nation's Hmong people "must be exterminated down to the root of the tribe" because their soldiers had assisted the United States in fighting the Communists. The extermination would begin days later.
May 10
- The Betamax home videotaping system was introduced by Sony with the LV-1901 going on sale in Japan. The unit, which contained a color TV, the recorder, and the tapes, retailed for $2,488 (equivalent to more than $9,000 USD in 2010).
- U.S. Treasury Secretary William E. Simon announced the federal government would not provide aid to provide $1.5 billion to meet two months of expenditures for New York City. The requests had been made by city Mayor Abraham Beame.
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
- "Express," B.T. Express (15 weeks)
- "Lady Marmalade," Labelle (18 weeks)
- "Poetry Man," Phoebe Snow (18 weeks)
- "You Are So Beautiful" / "It's a Sin When You Love Somebody", Joe Cocker (17 weeks)
Recent and new on the chart:
"Baby That's Backatcha," Smokey Robinson
(Apr. 26; #26 US; #1 R&B)
"Attitude Dancing," Carly Simon
(#21 US; #18 AC)
"Slippery When Wet," Commodores
(#19 US; #1 R&B; #51 UK)
"Midnight Blue," Melissa Manchester
(#6 US; #1 AC)
And new on the boob tube:
- Happy Days, "Goin' to Chicago" (season finale)
Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month, with minor editing as needed.
You realize that Harpo is a mime, right...?What a team up. Two classic comedians performing a classic routine. I wonder how much rehearsal that took.
There were definitely some videos out and about. I was looking for something more specific to the moment.
And who's this Elvis fella, anyway?
This'll be coming up as a separate news item in July, but it's notable for being the first rock 'n' roll single to top the pop charts. Music historians can quibble about exactly when rock 'n' roll started, but this is the moment when it arrived.I know this one! It's pretty good!
It's the Devil's Music!
Musta been in season.
I get the impression that it originates with the rights-holders, whatever the reasoning for it. It affects streaming platforms and cable networks with streaming options alike.
I've lived in New England for going on thirty years, but will I ever truly be a New Englander? Or do the rest of you not count Connecticut anyway?
Maybe the show was trying to make a statement in a different way.
In the case of A12, the CC'ing generally seems to be pretty solid as its own thing, but I get the impression that whoever did it was editing for readability or something. They're always substituting phrases that mean the same thing.
I thought you didn't know what you knew him from...in which case, how can you be sure?
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They really take this stuff seriously.
RIP, Moe. Love the Stooges. Talk about comedy icons.
Ah, Social Security. Going bankrupt for fifty years and counting.
This is cool. The sad part is that they've lost track of most of the ones that were planted.
Not exactly one of my favorite characters, but I remember having some of those Harvey books.
I don't recall this one at all. It's okay, I guess. No nostalgic value.
I know this song, but I'm surprised it's from 1975. I think I probably would have guessed 1978 to 1982, or something? I don't really like it. No nostalgic value.
I'm not sure if I remember this or not. It's kind of generic. No nostalgic value.
I do remember this and it's nice enough. Moderate nostalgic value.
I actually considered saying something about that, but I didn't want to compromise my gushing.
Silly name. He'll never amount to anything.
Weird....
Connecticut counts and immigrants count, but Rhode Island is questionable. Just kidding. We love our Little Buddy.
It's not that Adam-12 or the other shows were inappropriate for that particular moment in history, it's just that Highway Patrol was insanely ahead of its time for a minute there.
Translating English into English?
Yeah, I don't really have any specific memories of him, just that my brain had him classified as bland. I guess the fact that I have no specific memories kind of underscores that.
Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
Happy Days
"Wish Upon a Star"
Originally aired November 12, 1974
Pluto said:
While the drawing's being held to win a date to the school dance with Hollywood actress Cindy Shea (the Angel Formerly Known as Cheryl Stoppelmoor, now rechristened), Richie's more interested in making a date with his intermittently steady girlfriend for this half of the season, Gloria (Linda Purl). He nevertheless wins, and while Gloria tries to put on a good face about it, she's less than pleased when Ralph wins a straw-drawing to take her to the dance in Richie's place. Fonzie tries to dispense advice about Richie's opportunity while blinded from working on the photo booth outside Arnold's. Mr. C's wisdom that Hollywood stars are just people like everyone else goes out the window when he's struck speechless upon answering the door the night of the date.
Cindy's accompanied by her photographer, Johnny Jordan (Frank Stell)--who, when Joanie comes downstairs during a family shot (dressed in a Cinderella costume from a school play because she sees this as an opportunity to be "discovered"), asks if there's any more upstairs, and nobody thinks to mention Chuck. When Richie tries to present Cindy with her corsage, he's disappointed to learn that she has multiple engagements that night, so he's left to proceed to the dance alone and wait for her.
Cindy makes a stir when she finally arrives at the school gym, apologizing to Richie for being late and inviting him to her hotel room after the dance. She raises one leg when kissing him, which Potsie and Ralph had been making a big deal about in an earlier scene of the guys watching one of her films. When Richie's understandably awkward about pinning the corsage on her strapless dress, she offers to do it herself. In a major bit of EFW, Cindy--weary of guys cutting in at her other dances--refuses to let Fonzie do so! Fonzie nevertheless displays some of his future mojo when he wordlessly snaps for a replacement chick. (Would Fonzie even be allowed into a high school dance?) Richie gets nervous when Cindy talks of needing a smoke and a drink, consulting the guys and Fonzie. Fonzie, thinking she might be planning to get serious with Richie, smuggles in a highly spiked Coke, which Ralph ends up taking a swig of when the bottle is passed around between the guys as the principal (Bryan O'Byrne) comes by.
At the hotel room, when Cindy excuses herself to slip into something more comfortable, a nervous Richie accidentally breaks one of her records, turns off lights, and takes off his jacket and tie. Johnny walks in to find Richie practicing a pick-up line on the couch, and breaks the news that he's secretly Cindy's husband. Richie's trying to excuse himself when Cindy comes out in a sweatshirt and jeans. She privately apologizes for giving him the wrong impression and offers him a drink from room service. When he finds out she's ordering hot chocolate, he asks for the same.
In the coda, Richie makes up with Gloria; and the guys get all worked up as Richie starts to describe what happened at the hotel.
I should point out that we were recently acquainted with Linda Purl as the babysitter who was held hostage on H5O. I also read that she became a main cast member of Happy Days in Season 10, as Fonzie's serious girlfriend. I don't distinctly remember this, and may not have been watching regularly at that point--the infamous Ted McGinley era.
Planet of the Apes
"The Interrogation"
Originally aired November 15, 1974
Wiki said:
The fugitives are chased down by a riding party of gorillas and Burke is captured in--get this--A NET! Getting word in advance, Zaius wants to use the opportunity to learn more about the astronauts by letting a chimp scientist named Wanda (Beverly Garland) perform an experiment from a book on brainwashing found in a time capsule from 1986. Freestyle association time!
This frustrates Urko, who'd rather just off the fugitives or give them lobotomies. Mark Lenard definitely enjoys biting into a funny sequence in which the general is outspoken in his misunderstanding of what brainwashing entails.
Urko (rapidly in frustration): Well, how can you wash the brain if you don't take it out of the skull!?!
Burke is uncooperative as Wanda questions him about humans who've helped him, to the accompaniment of tolling bells and drumbeats; but he notes her habit of tapping a ring on her finger against her chair to the rhythm of the noises. She proceeds to have him disoriented with the flashing light of a signaling device. Eventually he shows signs of being worn down by the relentlessness of these methods. Meanwhile, Galen and Virdon commandeer a hay wagon to sneak into the city (Galen dressed as a female driver); while Urko plans to have all visitors entering the city searched.
Ma Galen passes inspection with the help of Virdon hiding under the cart rather than in it; then proceeds to his family home, where his mother, Ann (Anne Seymour), is pleased to see him; though his disapproving father, recently elected councilman Yalu (Normann Burton, going through a phase of spelling his first name with two Ns), is less welcoming, though he agrees to hide Galen and his human friend. Galen and his father have a generation gap argument about their differing viewpoints, Galen condemning his father's "stupid prejudices".
Yalu: Do you think you can change the whole world!?!
Galen (softly): I'd like to.
After the wagon is found with abandoned female clothing, Urko sends a squad of apes to search Yalu's residence. The fugitive duo is ushered into a hidden cellar entrance, which Ann then sits on top of in a chair as the apes scour the place until they're eventually motivated to leave by the outraged councilman. Meanwhile, Burke, now shackled to a platform that's spun around by hand, has fallen back on his military training, responding with name, rank, and serial number.
While the other fugitives force their way into the jail trying to find Burke, Urko disrupts the titular activity, trying to beat information out of the captive. Galen and Virdon next sneak into Urko's office for records of any other places where he might keep prisoners. Wanda reaches the point where she believes that if she pretends to be someone Burke's in love with, he'll respond to her as if she were a specific figure from his past. Accordingly, he has a flashback to a turtlenecked date at the park with a gal named Susan (Lynn Benesch), but as Wanda brings her face closer to his, he breaks out the trance. Resigned to having failed, Wanda decides to turn him over to Urko.
G & V learn of guards having been assigned to a cavern outside the city just as Urko's returning home, so they slip out a window. They get to the cavern as Burke's being brought out and put on a wagon that takes him to a hospital where Urko's consulting Dr. Malthus (Harry Townes) about the lobotomy option. Ann helps Virdon get into the hospital bearing a pretending-to-be-wounded Galen and gets in to see Malthus as he's prepping the operation. As Burke's coming to, she palms some scalpels that G & V brandish against the gorilla guards, a brawl ensues, and the fugitives slip out during the commotion. Urko is deceived into chasing after Ann's unmanned wagon, giving the fugitives an opening to make their actual escape on foot.
In the aftermath, Ann insists to Urko that the ape at the hospital wasn't Galen; and Yalu intimidates Urko into dropping the matter. When Urko leaves, Galen comes out of hiding and expresses his gratitude to his father; while Yalu, in turn, expresses his pride for his son's principles. They end the episode with a father/son hug.
Vaguely credited characters include Officer Gorilla (Lee Delano) and Lieutenant Gorilla (Wayne Foster).
Norman(n) Burton is known to me primarily as the Worst Leiter Ever, from DAF. However, I was tickled to learn that he played the first ape we see in the original POTA film, the leader of the hunting party that captures Taylor.
All in the Family
"The Longest Kiss"
Originally aired November 16, 1974
Wiki gives a recording date for this episode: July 30, 1974. This could support my speculation about the missing Archie arc having been shot first.Wiki said:
Mike and Gloria return home from searching to find Edith in a good mood, eager to tell them that she heard from Archie. She goes into one of her meandering stories relating how Archie ended up getting drunk on the plane and went to the right hotel in the wrong city, falling in with a podiatrists' convention; and was eventually arrested with a group of the attendees over a traffic incident...all while Mike and Gloria follow her from room to room while she's preparing a meal for the homecoming.
Gloria (in the middle of the story): This is like The Twilight Zone!
Mike would rather go to the museum than be home for Archie's return, but is persuaded to stay. Mike transitions into a two-pronged display of his bad side as he flips out on Gloria about not being able to find his Royal Crown Cola; while also dismissing her insistence that she has a lima bean allergy (Irene having brought over a dish made with them). Mike bets Gloria that if can tell the difference between colas in a taste test, she has to eat a lima bean; her counter-wager is that if he can't tell the difference, he has to throw his arms around Archie and kiss him. Mike successfully identifies all three colas, then forces the lima bean on her. She immediately starts reacting, but shows none of the visible effects she was expecting.
The fight between them intensifies with Gloria reading a love letter from before they were married, challenging Mike to live up to a claim that he could kiss her forever. Despite his protest of poetic license, he reluctantly agrees to kiss her until Archie gets home. They're in their kiss--which they manage to keep arguing through--as Irene, Louise, and George each separately come over for a different reason. George, who's been drinking, is persuaded to stay for the celebratory wine that Irene brought over. After a toast, the party picks up, with Edith trying Gloria's old hula hoop, the Jeffersons dancing, and Irene kicking off her shoes and standing on her head.
Archie (walking in the door): Ohhh, geez. I knew youse wouldn't know what ta do wit'out me, but I never thought youse'd go nuts!
Everyone rushes over to welcome him, and that's all, folks.
I've probably said this before, but I think that our sci fi/comic book/fantasy/horror geekery and Joe Sixpack's sports obsession are just different ways of stimulating the same area of the brain.They really take this stuff seriously.
Was never really into the Stooges myself, but I think I vaguely remember hearing of his passing.
That's too bad, you'd think somebody would've kept track. Or did they become ambulatory when the Moon was full?
This is just an example of me digging a little bit deeper chart-wise because it's Smokey.
Not her strongest work, but it's Carly.
Obscure and unmemorable, but it's the Commodores when they were funkier and less Lionel Richie.
Vaguely familiar and pleasant, but unremarkable.
Oh, Rhode Island's just a map error.
Something the Ex told me early on that stuck with me is that here in Western CT, we identify more with being part of the New York Tri-State Area than New England.
Sort of...but not translating it back from another language like those Chinese bootleg DVDs of Revenge of the Sith that were the source of much humor around these parts in the day. "He's in my behind!"Translating English into English?
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My favorite Angel, by any other name.
Richie needs his head examined.
The win-a-date-with-a-star thing is understandable, but this part hardly seems necessary.
....
The threshold has been crossed. Fare thee well in the void, Chuck.
"While pinning it on, some blood was spilled...."
Even Fonzie fails a critical charisma roll against Cheryl Ladd.
Who would stop him?
This is the appeal of Cheryl Ladd. She's a cozy sex bomb.
I don't remember it, either, but I really wasn't a regular viewer even in its heyday.
Word travels fast.
I wonder if the irony of being captured in his own invention occurred to him.Decoy detective! It just occurred to me that her show was on at around the same time as that Highway Patrol episode, so there almost certainly has to be a connection.
Good one. Strong 80s nostalgia factor.
Wow. That was painful, in a good way.
This is why you never see gorilla scientists.
"Hah! Needs more cowbell!"
Hmm. Maybe they don't let humans drive, after all.
While it's interesting to meet Galen's family, I question whether he would really risk bringing down the wrath of Zaius and Urko on them.
This could be excruciating to watch if the actor was up to it.
"Aaaahhhh!!!"
Seems like a lot of trouble. I'd expect Urko to just want to beat him to death with his own fists at this point.
Mom gets in on the action!
And by next week Burke will have completely recovered from his psychological torture.
Awww.
He's playing his own ancestor.
Kind of anticlimactic....
Okay, that's a little cold.
Product placement?
This is pretty funny.
It was a good plot to write Archie out, but it kind of faded at the end.
Yeah, it's anybody with a hobby. Stamp collectors are nuts.
That's a great story seed. Pun intended.
You're generally good at finding things I've never heard of.
We may annex it as our fifteenth county.
Interesting. I wonder why that is.
That stuff is hilarious. "All your base are belong to us!"
She's a Ladd now.
Nah. He was grounded in reality; and his sometimes-steady was nothing to sneeze at.
I see what you did there.
Not quite yet...I believe his final appearance was the Christmas episode, which hadn't aired yet at this point.
Had to look that up.
This is the appeal of Cheryl Ladd. She's a cozy sex bomb.
Happy Days is a go-to example of a show that stayed on the air well past its expiration date. Did you know that Fonzie became an auto shop teacher?
"Well of course we have nets! What kind of idiot has never seen a net before?"Word travels fast.
That's a new one to me.
A surprisingly positive reaction.Good one. Strong 80s nostalgia factor.
Now I saw that Simpsons sketch in the day, which would've been the early-to-mid-90s, but I came across the clip of it while looking for something else. As I recall, a local or cable channel that was playing the POTA series in the late '80s did the same gag of repurposing "Rock Me, Amadeus" for Dr. Zaius in ad spots.
It's noteworthy that Simpsons actor Troy McClure was voiced by the late Phil Hartman, who was known for having a Charlton Heston impersonation in his broad repertoire.
Virdon drives a wagon in the next episode, but he's wearing a hood.
I'm surprised that Galen didn't seem to hurt his father's career.
Beg pardon?
Pretty much."Aaaahhhh!!!"
Zaius did want intel out of him one way or the other. They seemed to think that the lobotomy might help with this.
But of course.
Galen's dad is a chimp; the hunting leader's a gorilla.He's playing his own ancestor.
Getting the explanation out of the way did help to set up the episode's punchline.
Seems like it.
Having gotten my second look at Stretch Cunningham in the next episode, I have to say that whatever they offered O'Connor to stay was worth it. I couldn't see Cromwell holding a candle to him as lead doing that poor man's Art Carney impersonation.
Unfortunately Capped.
Where we lived at the time, we could be in Manhattan inside of an hour on a good day. Boston is around three.
All the more hilarious in this case because they were retranslating material that had been English in the first place. Especially funny was how badly they mangled the opening text scrawl, with the English version written out right there on the screen!That stuff is hilarious. "All your base are belong to us!"
So many "Ladd" jokes back in the day. Ah, the irony.
It's Cheryl Ladd. She should give him a hall pass.
He's fading in and out....
Oh, I figured you'd know that one.
Sigh.
It even gave us the phrase "jump the shark."
I did not. That's... actually appropriate character development. Yet still somehow pathetic.
Just those people on the coast. Maybe there's mercury in the seafood.
I thought I had mentioned it before. It's pretty good, and it's on DVD. I kinda doubt if it's streaming anywhere.
Oh, there's 80s stuff I like.
It was kinda stuck in my head all day.
I recognize his name, but I don't think I ever saw his Charlton Heston.
True.
Burke slowly breaking down under torture could be excruciating to watch, but the actor would have to be able to sell it.
Probably not....
Ah, right, didn't even think of that.
I didn't even make that comparison.
I found Stretch amusing, but there's no way he could have carried the show. That makes sense. When I hung out in Hartford, we were able to zip down to New York fairly quickly, although I don't remember how it compared to Boston. Another fun geographical fact: I realized a while back that my new place is closer to Providence than to Boston.
That reminds me of a web page that used to run text input through about a dozen foreign-language translators and then output it back into English. The results varied from incomprehensible to hilarious.
My favorite Legionnaire.It's Cheryl Ladd. She should give him a hall pass.
Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
Happy Days
"Not With My Sister, You Don't"
Originally aired November 19, 1974
Speaking of EFW, does anyone else vaguely remember Chachi's predecessor? I remember being confused when they introduced Chachi because he wasn't Spike.Paramount+ said:
The Cunninghams are abuzz because Joanie's been asked out on her first real date, with a boy named Raymond who dropped a water balloon on her. Outside Arnold's Richie learns that Joanie's date is Fonzie's cousin, who prefers to go by Spike, and meets the OTT Mini-Fonz (Danny Butch) as he rides up on his own bike with cards in the spokes. This revelation compels a fretting Marion to have The Talk with Joanie, only to learn that she's already vicariously familiar with necking in theaters and teen pregnancy. (Among the decor in Joanie's bedroom is an "Alfred E. Newman for President" poster, which IMDb informs me is an anachronism from 1968.) When Spike arrives at the Cunninghams' to pick up his date, Marion takes Joanie upstairs to keep her from looking too eager, while Howard does his fatherly duty of trying to talk to the unnerving little clone. In an attempt at chaperoning, it becomes a double date with Richie and his Girl of the Off-Week, Carol (Susan Denbo), at a faux werewolf flick starring an uncredited Tony Randall, whom we only see in human form, and shot on the same set as the haunted house in the Halloween episode. This situation cramps Richie's style, as he doesn't want to set a bad example. When Richie goes for popcorn at the same time that Carol goes to the ladies' room, they return to find that the younger couple have split for Arnold's.
Richie rushes to Arnold's and ends up pawning Carol off on Potsie, who's been trying to scrounge up a date only to learn from Marsha of an unwritten code that no girl's going to accept on Saturday night for fear of looking as desperate as he is. Marsha also points Richie to Inspiration Point, on the premise that Spike would be imitating his uncle. Richie proceeds there and runs into Ralph, who breaks himself away from making progress with an unseen, retainer-wearing date to join in the search. They find Carol and Potsie parked there necking, but Richie's former date gets a comeuppance as Potsie dutifully joins the search. The trio find Fonzie in a convertible with his date, and once he belatedly realizes Richie's dilemma, Fonzie makes an announcement for anyone who's seen the underaged couple to signal with their horn, to no response. (One of the neckers at IP is Bag Zombroski--recurring character alert!)
Richie is left with no option but to return home and report having lost his sister, only for his completely unconcerned father to reveal Spike and Joanie in the kitchen playing Monopoly.
Spike: What'd you think? I'd take her to Inspiration Point on my bicycle?
After Howard drives Spike home, we learn that he didn't even kiss Joanie good night, preferring to demonstrate his affection with a punch on the arm.
In the next night's coda, Richie's trying to make things up with Carol when Ralph rushes in to recruit him for a school basketball game...but it turns out to be a ploy for Ralph to cut in with Carol. Fonzie advises Richie about the downside of being a nice guy.
Planet of the Apes
"The Tyrant"
Originally aired November 22, 1974
Wiki said:
A gorilla party led by Daku (Joseph Ruskin) shows up at the farm of brothers Janor (Michael Conrad) and Mikal (James Daughton), causing the fugitives--who've been working there, natch--to go into hiding. Daku's there to collect oppressive taxes in the form of goods--in this case, grain--on behalf of district chief Aboro, despite Mikal's attempt at resistance. The fugitives decide to ambush the wagon, as nobody would connect them to the farm; but Mikal insists on joining them. The hijacking goes off successfully with Mikal masked up, but as they escape, Daku spots a distinctive tear in the back of Mikal's tunic that had been put there in their earlier altercation.
Daku has to report this to Aboro (Percy Rodrigues), who leads the apes' return to the farm. They lean on the farmers for information about the other humans involved and Mikal tells them where the grain is in an attempt to save Janor. But when Aboro nevertheless orders Janor shot, a struggle ensues in which both humans take bullets, following which the apes burn the farm. The fugitives return to find Janor still alive. Janor, his eyes opened about humans' ability to stand up to the apes, wants revenge; but is persuaded to let the fugitives handle the matter instead. Galen learns that, conveniently, the local prefect whom Aboro is supposed to answer to is a cousin of his, Augustus. Galen drops in on his cousin (uncredited Tom Troupe), who's happy to see him but asks the customary questions about what the hell's been going on with him. Aboro also makes a timely visit, causing Galen to hide in a cabinet. Augustus questions Aboro about the shooting of Mikal, only to be presented with orders for Augustus's reassignment and Aboro's promotion to prefect--implied to have been due to a pay-off.
Newly minted Prefect Aboro then receives a surprise visit of his own from his old academy pal Urko, who happens to be in the district. Urko's there to congratulate him, but we learn that Aboro fosters some resentment for his career path having been hampered by a cheating incident at the academy. Galen then uses a cane to visit Aboro posing as Octavio, assistant to Zaius. "Octavio" exhibits knowledge of Aboro's activities, questions his ambition, and makes a proposition supposedly on behalf of Zaius for Aboro to engage in a hostile takeover of Urko's job. Aboro is shrewd enough to look into Octavio, who turns out to be an actual assistant with a bad leg.
In a follow-up visit, Galen prods Aboro to dig up some dirt on Urko that can be presented to the council, but Aboro conceives his own scheme to take a more direct approach involving a human assassin. "Octavio" expresses his disapproval and covertly swipes a seal stamp from Aboro's desk. The fugitives proceed to ambush Daku on his way to hire the assassin and truss him up; then sneak into Urko's camp by night. Galen, wearing his Dragoon hood, confronts Urko with a gun and presents sealed orders from Aboro to hire an assassin to take out Urko. Urko disarms and unmasks Galen, but finds Virdon holding a rifle on him. Burke bursts in to break the standoff, but Urko's not motivated to play ball, confident that the fugitives can't get out alive. The fugitives manage to get through his stubbornness and give them a chance to prove that Aboro's scheming against him (leaving out that it was Galen who put him up to it).
Daku having been found, Aboro proceeds to a Plan B--planting a bomb in his own chambers to be used when Urko visits. Urko comes accompanied by "Octavio"--who's clearly taking advantage of Urko's knack for not being able to put 2 and 2 together. When Burke tries to play his role in the fugitives' scheme--posing as the assassin to expose Aboro to Urko--Urko turns against them, exposing Burke and Galen. But Aboro sees that the bomb has been set in the next room, and desperate to get out in time but finding himself locked in, tells Urko about it. Virdon walks in from another entrance holding the lit device and uses it as the fugitives' escape clause, only to reveal after they leave that the fuse has been disconnected. Urko takes Aboro into custody for bribery, corruption, and conduct unbecoming an ape.
All in the Family
"Archie and the Miracle"
Originally aired November 23, 1974
Edited Wiki/Prime Video mashup said:
Edith informs Gloria that Mike's upstairs fixing the toilet because it's been making funny noises.
Gloria: Maybe the little man in the rowboat got an outboard motor.
Archie comes home from work accompanied by Irene and Stretch (his last onscreen appearance) and, after making Gloria hug him, tells of how a crate of machine parts nearly fell on him, producing his crushed lunch box as evidence of what he survived. After his co-workers leave, Archie tells the story of how a voice in his head persuaded him to get up for some salt for a hard-boiled egg, which is what saved him from being under the crate when it fell. Along the way, Edith asks if he was wearing his safety hat.
Archie: That crate weighed one ton. If I hadn'ta moved, my feet woulda been wearing my safety hat.
Archie insists, against Mike's vocal skepticism, that it was the voice of God that saved him, and has Edith ring up Reverend Felcher so Archie can inform him that he'll be coming to church every Sunday, as well as making up for a missed donation. Mike bets Archie that come Sunday, he'll be in his chair "swearing at Joe Namath".
Mike: Arch, did you ever stop to think, when that crate dropped, maybe God was out to get you and missed?
After Archie mangles some examples of Biblical miracles, dinner is served, with Archie insisting on saying an awkward grace. After the Bunker-Stivics do one of their routines of wordlessly passing around the dishes, Mike, while arguing that there's no God, chokes on his food, and as he's trying to expel it, Archie crows that it's divine retribution.
Following the break, Archie and Edith return home from church, but Archie's complaining about the sermon, Edith waking him up during it, and having lost a drawing for a color TV. Then the reverend calls to ask Archie to deliver on a promise by driving a church bus for seniors, which will cause him to miss the game. To rub salt in the wound, Stretch then shows up with two tickets to the Jets game, which Archie can't go to. Upstairs, Mike, who's still working on the toilet, accidentally drops the lid on Archie's foot. Archie stops complaining about it when Edith causes him to realize that the injury is his ticket out of driving the bus.
As Archie has his foot elevated on the coffee table, Irene comes over to borrow his binoculars.
Irene: What's the matter with your foot?
Mike: God's aim's getting better.
When Archie learns that she's borrowing them for Stretch, who hasn't left for the game yet, he shrugs off his injury, getting up to join Stretch...only to be informed by Irene that Stretch is now taking her. After Irene leaves with an imitation of Stretch's laugh, Archie kicks the door, which causes his foot injury to flare up.
Archie: Why do these things happen to me!?!
Mike: The Lord works in mysterious ways, Archie.
Never really watched that show. May have had it on in the background on Me occasionally years back.
I did not. That's... actually appropriate character development. Yet still somehow pathetic.
In the season premiere featuring this development, he even tried wearing a suit, but eventually went back to his leather jacket. I think he may have worn it with a shirt and tie.He was an MVP on SNL during the Dana Carvey era.
They kept it pretty basic, just getting across that his will was slowly breaking.
I have to wonder how O'Connor felt about having to play alongside his would-be replacement.I didn't even make that comparison.
Theoretically, if it really existed.
Could that site have been called anything but Lost in Translation?That reminds me of a web page that used to run text input through about a dozen foreign-language translators and then output it back into English. The results varied from incomprehensible to hilarious.
In 50th Anniversaryland, a toy line knockoff is born:
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Nice.
No recollection whatsoever. When I think of Spike, I think of Snoopy's brother or the guy on Buffy.
Cousin or nephew? Have we or will we ever meet a married sibling of Fonzie's?
Kids grow up so fast these days.
Was MAD even a magazine yet in the Happy Days time frame?
It occurs to me that there's a wee bit of overreacting going on here.
I really wish this movie existed.
The guys really stepped up here. Gotta watch out for the kid sister.
Also from the Haunted House episode. Maybe they were shot at the same time.
Shoulda run away to join Chuck.
Yeah, they didn't really think it through.
Well, that's how you turn on a jukebox. Just sayin.'
He must know by now.
Seriously, these guys are the Planet of the Apes' Most Wanted and all they do is go looking for trouble.
They kinda cut off their nose to spite their face there.
Galen has a big family. This is getting to be a recurring theme too.
Nice. Galen out-shrewded him.
"I had a feeling I would need this someday."
This sounds like a cool bit.
Oh, what a tangled web they weave.
Our heroes just left him somewhere to slowly starve?
Most chimps look alike to most gorillas.
Lots of reversals and double crosses in this episode.
Is there such thing as conduct unbecoming an ape?
There's an archaic reference.
It kinda seems like he was owed one on his contract or something.
They eat lunch under deadly crates? That warehouse must be an OSHA nightmare.
I remember that.
It was either 75 or 76 when we finally got a color TV.
Hmm. It seems like we haven't seen Irene's husband in a while.
Wow.
The fact that we never see him again may answer that question.
Right.
Y'know, I think it may have been.
So... many... things... wrong. I remember picturing him running across a field at 200mph with one leg dragging behind and laughing hysterically.
Spike: Hey! About your sister's build... [Thumbs up]
Richie: She's only 12!
Spike: Yeah, but she's built like she's 13!
Oh, nephew. I must still be getting my wires crossed with Chachi. Can't recall a Fonzarelli sibling ever coming up.
Yeah, the change to magazine format just came up in 1955. While HD is a bit generalized about its exact timeframe, it's generally solidly in the rock 'n' roll era. Wiki indicates that Neuman first started appearing in '54 and was named in '56.
I Was a Fastidious Werewolf
Indeed. To clarify Fonzie's slowness on the subject, his first reaction was pride in his nephew...then he was reminded that the other party in that situation was Richie's little sister.
It looks like Bag will be making a handful of appearances this season, then one each for the next couple.
Whom I remembered has been established to have his own pad, so they needn't have accounted for his absence in the Cheryl Ladd episode.
Well, Fonzie switched wheels for the venue...
What've they got to lose? And say, this could be the untold story of why the series ended so soon....
Seems like SOP for extortionists...if the victims resist paying up, make an example of them, which tends to include smashing their shop.
All likely descended directly from Cornelius and Caesar. If we wanna go full predestination paradox, Cornelius might be descended directly from Cornelius and Caesar...
He seems to enjoy doing these characters in the fugitives' schemes.Nice. Galen out-shrewded him.
They didn't explicitly reference the previous episode, FWIW.
This one did seem to have an overly complicated plot
Something like that.Our heroes just left him somewhere to slowly starve?
But it easily could have come out that Octavio was the one who sent Aboro down that path in the first place. While Aboro would still be in doodoo for going down it, it seems like that would impact the effectiveness of the deception.
"Ape has killed ape! Ape has killed ape!"Is there such thing as conduct unbecoming an ape?
Not at the time.
Yeah, I had to wonder about sitting down to eat lunch under a working crane.
Interesting. I don't recall if they've established whether the Bunkers still have b&w.
Yeah, I've been noticing his absence this season.
I forgot that he temporarily sported a beard as well.Wow.
In the next episode, he's back to referenced-but-offscreen mode.The fact that we never see him again may answer that question.
So... many... things... wrong. I remember picturing him running across a field at 200mph with one leg dragging behind and laughing hysterically.
Yeah, as wonky as Bionicverse physics are, they always maintained the logic that if you wanted to have characters running at super-speed, all their legs had to be bionic, even if it resulted in overly coincidental injury patterns.The interesting thing here is I haven't noticed SMDM toy line advertisements coming up yet. It started sometime in '75, but I couldn't find an exact date. So this ad raises the possibility that Hasbro beat Kenner to the punch in exploiting the show's toy marketability.
And what was up with '70s G.I. Joe, anyway? I get that they wanted to distance themselves from a straight-up military image at this point, but Joe looked like freakin' Castro! Is he a soldier, a hippie, or some strange fusion of both? This even bugged me as a kid, when I wouldn't have known from Castro.
Hasbro's next superhero in the Joe line, Bulletman, played alongside my SMDM figures...though he always looked like a runt because the SMDM figures were an inch taller.
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