Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
Happy Days
"A Star Is Bored"
Originally aired December 3, 1974
Wiki said:
Richie, Potsie, and Ralph plan to mount a production of Hamlet to raise money for baseball uniforms. When they are unable to get a celebrity to play the lead role, they persuade Fonzie to take the part.
Too soon for another "Star" title, though at least the titles aren't displayed.
The guys are moping outside Arnold's because their church league team got creamed. When Richie sees members of the winning team drive in, he determines that what his team needs is real uniforms, not the mismatched gym scraps they're wearing. When they go to discuss the matter with their sponsor, Rev. Harlan (Britt Leach), they're informed that the funds depend on the success of the church's annual Shakespeare festival, which is doing
Hamlet this year. Hoping to get a big name like Olivier to boost the festival's weak attendance, at Mrs C's suggestion the guys go to see Monty Miller (Ronnie Schell), an agent whom Howard briefly met and did a good deed for while they were both serving in North Africa during the war. Monty suggests various big names, including Alan Funt and Buffalo Bob Smith, until he learns of the paltry expected revenue involved; at which point he has to be told who Howard Cunningham is, not remembering him just as Mr. C expected.
The guys lower their expectations to getting the biggest local celebrity they know--Fonzie. He's not crazy about the prospect, but is persuaded when a snapped-up group of girls unanimously think it's a good idea. The guys take him to the church auditorium to meet the reverend and the church's chief benefactor, Mrs. Stewart (Alice Nunn), who'll be playing Ophelia despite being old enough to be Fonzie's mother.
Mrs. Stewart: Oh. A hood Hamlet?
Rev. Harlan: Young man, we're here to do Hamlet, not The Blackboard Jungle.
The reverend is persuaded when Richie tells him that Fonzie could fill the auditorium, resulting in leftover profits after the uniforms. In what might be Fonzie's first visit to the Cunningham house (this being the episode before the Christmas one), Richie tutors Fonzie about his role and the story with Mr. C present.
Richie: The father's ghost tells Hamlet that he was murdered by his uncle, who then married his mother and became king in his place.
Fonzie: Then they catch him and they give him the chair.
Richie: No...no, you kill him later on in the play.
Fonzie: I like that. It's me.
We skip the rehearsals to the night of the play, with Fonzie refusing to wear tights, but agreeing to swap his leather jacket for a cape. Things go roughly for Fonzie, as he gets defensive at audience laughter and can't even deliver his lines right when they're fed to him by the reverend from the wings. Ralph, who's playing Laertes, has trouble keeping his composure as he's advised by Richie playing his father, Polonius (act 1, scene 3--yeah, I had to look it up). During an act intermission, Fonzie asks Richie backstage about the "To be, or not to be" part. When he learns that Hamlet's contemplating suicide, Fonzie's impressed, which motivates him to share with Richie how his father left him when he was 12 and, in the aftermath, he "thought a couple of times about whether I...I wanted to be or not."
Back onstage, Fonzie appears to have been inspired to put more into his performance, but interrupts Hamlet's soliloquy to lecture the obviously bored audience in his own, cruder lingo about what the deeper meaning of the scene.
Fonzie: Well, let me tell you something--being here is a lot better than not being....You better dig what you got now, 'cause you ain't gonna have it forever.
We then proceed to the duel between Hamlet and Leartes, for which Fonzie switches back to his jacket.
Fonzie: Hey, I always wear this when I rumble.
Backstage after the performance, the reverend is pleased; while Mr. C congratulates Fonzie and admits to Marion that Fonzie helped him to appreciate Shakespeare. Fonzie has a quiet moment alone in the auditorium, taking in the set.
In the coda, the guys are outside Arnold's in their new uniforms, once again moping after being creamed.
Fonzie: "All the world's a stage and we are merely players"--that's deep! I think I'm gonna write that on the bathroom wall....A little culture never hurt anybody!
Planet of the Apes
"The Liberator"
Originally aired December 6, 1974
IMDb said:
When they are captured by a human community that provides human slaves to the apes, Virdon and Burke's survival is dependent on convincing their captors to rebel against the apes.
Reportedly some sources list this as an unaired episode and the finale, "Up Above the World So High," as having aired on this date...including
TV Guide's listing in the day. A couple of sources assert that "The Liberator" did broadcast in some areas on Dec. 6, but was pre-empted elsewhere. Both Wiki and IMDb have "The Liberator" on this date and "Up Above" on Dec. 20, so...
In the village of Borak, elder Brun (John Ireland) presents a group of five slaves to a visiting gorilla party (including Ron Stein and Tom McDonough). One of the slaves, Clim (Peter G. Skinner), breaks away and a pair of gorillas chase him on their horses. The fugitives just happen to be trekking through the area when this happens, and help Clim to hide. Then a party of villagers led by Brun's son, Miro (Ben Andrews), comes looking for him and Clim comes out of hiding only to present the human fugitives over to Miro as captives. Despite this gesture, Clim is also apprehended, and taken to a temple. Galen watches as Clim is tied to a platform on a wagon and Brun comes out in robes and a ceremonial mask. Brun gives a speech to the assembled villagers about Clim having broken their most sacred law and displeasing the gods, pulls him further into the temple, and brandishes a dagger...but Clim dies without having been touched.
Galen visits the astronauts where they're being held in a bamboo cage and shares what he saw, though the humans are more skeptical than Galen about what killed Clim. When a woman called Talia (Jennifer Ashley) comes to feed them, at Virdon's suggestion Burke tries to play John Smith, but she turns out to be Miro's girlfriend. Miro brings a new captive, one of the Meadow People from outside the village. In the village, Galen tries to assert ape authority over Brun, only to learn that the village has an agreement with the local ape garrison to turn over groups of slaves at regular intervals in order to avoid raids, and that the villagers are permitted to capture outside humans to fill that quota. The human fugitives are put to work chopping logs, bare-chested in their leather collars, to strengthen them before they're turned over to the apes. By night, Galen knocks out the cage guard, but is caught by a group of villagers while trying to free Virdon and Burke.
Galen is held captive in a hut despite general ape law. Miro's hunting party brings another captive, but when an obviously completely different guy tries to bust loose, Miro takes a nasty gash in the forearm. Virdon and Burke negotiate with Brun to be allowed to tend to his wound--basic first aid being a lost art even among humans. As the astronauts are successfully tending to Miro, they learn that he's in line to become leader in place of his father, but will only take Talia as his wife, and that his frustration with not being able to capture more outsiders is because Talia's in line to be given over to the apes in the next batch of slaves. The fugitives attempt not for the first time to talk Miro into fighting the apes, but he won't hear it. He goes to his father to beg to be taken in Talia's place, which leads to an argument about the laws that the villagers impose on themselves to keep their agreement with the apes. Miro then goes to set the astronauts free on the condition that they take Talia with them; they agree on the condition that he helps them bust Galen loose as well. As Miro's running interference for the escapees, Virdon and Burke come up with the idea to hide in the temple, which the villagers won't go near because anyone other than the leader will be killed by the gods. Galen isn't crazy about this, while Talia goes along because she now wants to die.
Burke goes into the temple entrance as a test and is fine at first, but then collapses. Virdon goes in after him and finds a bubbling pool producing poison gas. After Burke is revived, the astronauts find a conveniently placed pile of charcoal and smash it up to construct crude gas masks. This allows the party to fully enter the temple, where they find Brun's priestly garb, which includes an ancient gas mask hidden in the ceremonial one. Then they come upon a chamber in which gas is being brewed and piped into bottles, presumably to be used as gas bombs. Brun enters to confront them, and is taken aback when the fugitives demonstrate that his "gift from the gods" (the gas mask) isn't unique. Brun reveals that he plans to use the gas against the apes, but the astronauts argue that WMDs aren't the answer, as his own people will likely be killed and the situation may escalate if the apes devise similar weapons. Outraged by Brun's intent to kill all apes, Galen ends the standoff by conking him out and setting fire to the lab. Brun is carried out via a cave exit, but runs back inside to save his gas, following which there's an explosion.
After Brun's funeral, Miro shares his intent to spare Talia, and to make amends with the Meadow People to join forces in defying the apes.
If the humans from outside the village are the Meadow People, what does that make the villagers...?
All in the Family
"Archie's Contract"
Originally aired December 7, 1974
Edited Prime Video said:
The Bunker home gets a visit by a fast-talking furnace inspector who cons Archie into signing a contract to purchase $2,000 worth of aluminum siding. Irene and George warn Archie that the man is a fraud, but are too late.
Archie comes home after having made an appointment with a man who was hawking free heating inspections at Kelcy's. Edith's unusually canny in this episode, first in questioning what the man's selling. Mr. Scanlon (Dennis Patrick) arrives and goes over the house with a meter that he says measures heat containment. As he holds it near a window, the needle starts going crazy, allegedly indicating great heat loss. He then inspects the furnace in the cellar and comes back up declaring that the overworked furnace has to be shut off by a bureau. When asked for an alternative, he ultimately offers to insulate the house for free as a model home to sell more siding in the neighborhood. Along the way, Edith fails to detect any heat difference near the window; tells Archie that he should look at the furnace himself against the quarantine that Scanlon has declared; and finds in the fine print of the contract that they'll be charged for delivery and installation. Archie nevertheless signs, and as he's leaving, Scanlon offers the simpler alternative of turning their thermostat down. After he's gone, Irene comes over to have a laugh about the con artist, who came to her place first, unaware that Archie fell for his scam; and indicates that he was using a photographer's light meter.
Mike further questions having siding put on a
brick house and recommends the Better Business Bureau. When George comes by to return a borrowed waffle iron, Archie learns that his brother-in-law got ripped off by the same scam. As Scanlon arrives with the installation crew, Archie tries unsuccessfully to get ahold of a lawyer, referencing the Rabinowitzes. The Jeffersons bring over a police officer (Ed Peck), who at first says that there's nothing he can do as no crime has been committed. But then Irene comes over with a list that she got from Frank's nephew the lawyer of a number of permits and licenses that Scanlon can't produce, the officer threatens to call the bunco squad, so Scanlon lets Archie out of the contract...and the officer still gives Scanlon a parking ticket.
Maybe they were already assuming the cancellation was a given, so they had already mentally checked out, like that last week of school before Summer vacation.
Or Milner might have held things up a bit, sort of like O'Connor.
Why do I get the feeling that George Michael was watching?
"Do you boys want this?"
Pretty much.
You never know... about my unreliable memory?
I was referring to Roy's pronouns, not your memory.
I recently saw a "Greatest Of All Time"-themed MeTV promo with clips from various shows featuring goats...including the
Emergency! episode with the goat surgery, right down to the shot of Dix holding it.
dc.fandom.com
