50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 1)
The Six Million Dollar Man
"The Song and Dance Spy"
Originally aired October 5, 1975
Edited Wiki said:
Steve and Oscar watch from the wings as John Perry's singing a loungey version of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" on a theater stage. After the show, Steve goes up to greet his old chum by initiating an improvised gag about being there to repo the sound equipment, which has everyone else backstage going. Once the two of them break character, John introduces Steve to his backup singers, Linda, Louise, and Laura (Susie Coelho, Jayne Kennedy, and Susan McIver), and his PR man Lee Michaels (Victor Mohica). After they set a date to get together the next day, Oscar privately informs Steve that his former roomie is a courier for an espionage ring.
Out in the parking lot, after Steve bionic-pulls a station wagon that's got Oscar blocked in, Oscar explains that cassette tapes containing top secret intel have been delivered in various cities that Perry was playing in at the time. Steve, who's not keen on spying on his old friend, moodily listens to John singing "A Song for You" on the radio before going to Oscar's office to see proof that he spoke of--photos of Perry being given the tapes by a known agent named Kimbrough, who was just reported dead that morning. Oscar wants Steve to accompany his friend to his next gig in the Philippines for a sting operation involving a planted cassette with a homing device in it. The next day, when Steve shows up backstage during rehearsal, John initiates an improv gag, casting Steve as a pizza delivery boy who's late. Steve persuades his buddy to do an unscheduled gig at a military base on Guam, which Michaels is against. Afterward in a Manila warehouse, a Mr. Damon (Robin Clarke) reports to an art object-collecting Mr. Buckner (recent Bond henchman Bruce Glover, who just passed this year) about the change in itinerary, which could ruin their plans. An unconcerned Buckner orders Damon to deal with Austin.
On the C-130 to Andersen Air Force Base, Steve confers with plane crew-embedded intelligence man Crawford (Fred Holliday) about the plan, then chats with Linda, who teases him about his golf swing on the Moon. At the base's airfield, John witnesses as a forklift driver pushes a 1,450-pound crate onto Steve and Steve pushes it off himself, which John assumes to be a put-on, though he finds that he can't budge the crate. Later at Steve's room, John finds Steve's open wallet with his OSI ID showing and asks him about it, seeming pretty casual. Cut to John's USO-style base show, where he introduces his astronaut buddy onstage and goes into a lighthearted song that he claims Steve wrote, "Know Your Up Side from Your Down." Later, as the party's boarding the plane to Manila, a man poses as Steve's car driver so that his hoods can blackjack Steve and load him into the back.
In Manila, Oscar learns from Crawford that Perry informed him that Steve received orders to stay on Guam. Steve comes to tied in a boathouse, breaks his bonds, busts down a wall, and takes out the hoods watching him...tossing one of them into the drink. He then gets away in their limo and radios Oscar as he flies to Manila in a fighter. Meeting with Oscar, Steve still doesn't believe Perry's behind all of this. On the streets of Manila, Damon has a man bolt out in front of Crawford's vehicle as he's trying to tail Perry, who has the tape. John meets up with Linda at a shady-looking warehouse under false pretenses on her part...which turns out to be the lair of Mr. Buckner, who has Perry TV Fu'ed, takes the case, and informs a now-reluctant Linda that he'll be using Mr. Perry as a hostage to get out of Manila.
The OSI keeps the stage crew openly guarded at the venue. Crawford reports that the signal stopped abruptly, which Steve speculates may be from high-powered electronic interference. John's phone log reveals that he received a call from Linda at the Manila Export Warehouse. After Linda arrives at the theater, she's taken into custody, following which Steve scopes out the warehouse, bionic-jumping to the roof for bionic-enabled skylight access. Mr. Wint and Damon get taken down by bionic rights; but Steve has to hold back John from trying to take on a heavy goon with his dubious karate skills.
This one actually puts up a good fight against Steve, but is ultimately KO'ed, with John cheering his buddy on all the way.
In the coda, John's rehearsing "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" with his backup-singing duo when he gets even for Steve's supposed gag at the airfield by saving Steve from a crate being dropped on him from the rafters. After he explains that Linda set him up to take the tapes from Kimbrough, whom he was told was an arranger, Louise casually pushes the crate out her way.
All in the Family
"Mike's Pains"
Originally aired October 6, 1975
Wiki said:
Edith comes home excited after a sale at Ferguson's Market, sharing with Archie that she's arranged for Sybil Gooley who works there to come to Mike and Gloria's to determine if the baby will be a boy or a girl, as Gooley's supposed to have an inherited supernatural gift. Gloria, now four months along, comes home insisting that she's showing, though Edith doesn't see it. Archie gets Mike going over remarks about the baby's father being Polish, which takes a strange turn when Mike recites several P-word jokes and Archie, insisting that he'll defend his grandson from such remarks, chastises Mike for knocking "minororities". They change the subject to how much pain Gloria will experience in childbirth, giving Archie the opportunity to mangle the scripture as only he can, insisting that women having labor pains is one of God's commandments in the book of Generous; while Mike mocks him for putting the word "youse" in God's mouth. We also get this line, which I think came up before, either in another episode or in discussion...
Archie: Faith is somethin' that you'll believe that nobody in his right mind will believe in.
Gloria comes downstairs modeling her maternity blouse with a pillow under it, scandalizing her father. The subject comes up of how she and Mike have agreed that she'll have natural childbirth, which will involve him being in the delivery room. Archie's outrage at the idea draws attention from Mike's reactions to the conversation, which signal the audience that he's less than comfortable with the arrangement. Eventually the spotlight shifts to Mike, and he expresses his doubts about being in the delivery room, making Gloria angry.
Over dinner at their modest table for two in their now-furnished and decorated house, Gloria won't speak to Mike; following which they get into an argument in the kitchen. Archie and Edith come over for Sybil's visit, Archie shaking Mike's hand for his sensible decision, only to crush an egg that Gloria had just put there in a sarcastic gesture. Sybil (Francine Beers) arrives and proceeds to dangle a ring on a string over Gloria's belly, the type of swing determining whether it will be a boy or girl. Everyone gets invested in cheering the ring on as it alternates between swinging back and forth or in a circle...ultimately settling on the former, determining that it will be a boy. Afterward, Mike asks Sybil about her delivery pain and learns that her husband wasn't in the room for any of her four births, which Mike initially sees as supporting his decision. But then Edith and Sybil exchange stories about their positive experiences in the delivery room, which causes Mike to reconsider. Mike takes Gloria into the kitchen to tell her that he's changed his mind, and they make up. He's still nervous, but informed by Edith's story, wants Gloria to see the birth of her baby in his eyes.
M*A*S*H
"Hey, Doc"
Originally aired October 10, 1975
Frndly said:
After a poker game, motor pool sergeant Kimble (Bruce Kirby), who's about to be discharged, shares his plan with the guys to smuggle home some supplies for starting a Korean restaurant, which means he needs a medical exemption to flying. (IMDb indicates that this whole premise is anachronistic, as soldiers were still transported primarily by ship in this era.) But the exemption requires a third doctor to sign it, and the guys have assessed Potter to be too honest. Meanwhile, the camp's been having an issue with a sniper, so Potter calls for help and gets a British patrol led by Lieutenant Chivers (Ted Hamilton). In the mess tent, Chivers asks the guys about doing an under-the-table operation on his ingrown toenail, as he could actually get in serious trouble for allowing such a condition to develop. He agrees to pay them two bottles of scotch--a not-atypical arrangement with which Potter has experience. A tank commander, Colonel Griswald (Frank Marth), visits the camp to see a wounded man in his unit whom he doesn't know by sight. He approaches Hawkeye in private about getting an off-the-record penicillin shot for implied VD. B.J. approaches Kimble about arranging the exemption for a new microscope, their old one having been stolen.
Burns--who's jealous of Margaret exhibiting attraction to the tank commander--refuses to play ball with the exemption. Immediately after Chivers makes good on the scotch, both bottles are casualties in a sniper attack. Potter gets the idea that having a tank around would intimidate the sniper, so Hawk calls in a favor from Griswald, resorting to blackmail to persuade him. Griswald delivers a unit in need of maintenance. Wanting to prove to Margaret that he's trained to drive a tank, Burns takes a farcical joyride, losing control of the tank and taking out the women's shower, the Swamp, and Potter's Jeep. Potter pulls out his sidearm to put his scrapped ride out of its misery.
In the coda, the guys improvise an excuse for Frank's joyride, giving them leverage to have him sign the exemption.
Hawaii Five-O
"Death's Name Is Sam"
Originally aired October 10, 1975
Paramount+ said:
The episode opens with an older Asian man named Timor Ambok (George Takei in too much age makeup for a character who's said to be 40) trying to hail a taxi at the airport only to be hit by a car. An observer in shades (George Oshiro, I presume, whose character is listed as Mystery Man) observes with interest and reports to another party by phone about the status of Ambok's suitcase. When Mr. Ambok wakes up in the hospital and doesn't find his suitcase in the closet, he takes a cyanide pill that was hidden in his clothes. The case is found to contain a metal cylinder with Russian markings. Consulting with government intelligence weapons and explosives expert Pete Masters (Lou Frizzell), Steve's informed that it's one-fifth of a heat-seeking surface-to-air (SAM) missile. McGarrett speculates that this incident is one piece of a larger operation to smuggle SAM missiles into Hawaii to shoot down unknown aircraft. Five-O uses a computer to dig up Nathaniel Blake, a younger police officer who bears a resemblance to Ambok and is also of Malaysian descent (Takei, initially sporting a 'stache). News of Ambok's suicide having been withheld, Five-O disguises and trains Blake to impersonate Ambok and infiltrate whatever he was into.
We're clued in to the intended target when we switch the UN Building in New York, where security is arranged for the travel of Boon Lianuk (John Chung), president-in-exile of Camponesia, and his family...via a low-profile commercial flight that will be making a stop in Honolulu.
While Mystery Man stakes out the hospital, Blake is smuggled in via ambulance only to be wheeled back out as Ambok. As he taxis to the ever-popular Ilikai Hotel, MM reports to his boss again, who by this point we can tell is being played by John Colicos. When MM reports to Colicos again via an airport phone regarding security screenings, it puts Duke on his tail. At the hotel, which is being staked out by Chin, a woman named Evelyn (Constance Towers) pays a visit to Not Timor, maintaining a cover as an old acquaintance while inviting him out to her and Harold's place. She then arranges for a couple of ringers dressed to resemble her and Timor to leave the hotel from the room next door, foiling Five-O's surveillance while Blake is driven out to the seaside Thorncrest estate, where he's greeted by Harold (Colicos), who's throwing a casual-looking party. When Blake spots a jigsaw puzzle of a SAM missile and handheld launcher with one missing piece, he takes the piece from Ambok's pocket--the previously enigmatic item having been found among Ambok's possessions--and puts it in place, at which point Mr. Thorncrest welcomes him to the CLF and takes him to the nerve center of Operation Turkey Shoot, where Mr. T uses Ambok's component to assemble a missile, and the progress of Lianuk's plane is being tracked via radio.
At the airport, a woman named Carmen Hewitt (Darcy Hinton Cook) tries to get out of having her baggage screened and is apprehended; as is MM, by Chin and Duke, when he tries to call in about it. When Hewitt's found to be a known radical affiliated with the Camponesian Liberation Front, she asks for her jacket and tries to find her cyanide capsule, only for McGarrett to hold it in front of her. At Thorncrest Manor, Blake escapes in a helicopter that's just arrived with the last part for a second missile, from which he radios McGarrett about the departure time of the unknown flight from New York before the chopper is shot down by a handheld SAM launcher.
Upon request, Jonathan Kaye fills McGarrett in regarding the highly classified VIP on the flight, which is too far along to turn back. From the tower, McGarrett instructs the flight crew to divert to Hilo, but this maneuver is thwarted by a timely fuel truck explosion at the runway there which is taken to be sabotage. Forced to restore the original flight plan, McGarrett consults with Masters about diverting the heat-seeking missile. While a launcher-armed Thorncrest rides in the back of a van onto the runway, McGarrett orders a barrage of flares fired along the plane's approach. Thorncrest gets his missile off just before Danno jumps into his moving van from another vehicle. The missile veers off to one of the flares and detonates and the plane lands safely. While the Thorncrest estate is being raided and the CLF members there, including Mrs. T, are taken into custody, McGarrett greets Lianuk as he and his family disembark.