Naked City (2 Viewers)

[Guy Foulard]

Received my set from Amazon today, also at the bargain price. Han oncly seen one first season episode before, and, after wartching a couple more, I'm starting to see how much Paul Burke based his character on James Franciscus first season detective Halloran.

I feel like Burke's Adam Flint has a bit more depth than Halloran. That may be due to the hour format giving them more time to stretch out--those first season episodes really need to rush to get through their stories!--but I think Paul Burke is really good at showing his thoughts and deliberations with his facial expressions. No knock against James Franciscus, though! I'd love to see his Mr. Novak series.

I'm pretty satisfied with the picture quality of the new episodes. I'd love for them to look as incredible as the original Image sets (and to have the commercials and network IDs), but it's good enough, and benefits from strong enough writing that you don't have to depend on the visuals as much. I'm just grateful to finally have the whole thing in my hot little hands!

 

[Randy Korstick]

Good to hear Burke is better in this show in Twelve o clock high he came across as cold, flat and boring after the excellent season one with Robert Lansing. Burke almost single handedly ruined the rest of the series for me. Maybe he was just miscast.
I like Franciscus. When I get this show it will be a blind buy but Franciscus would have the edge over Burke for me going in.

 

[Roy Wall]

Burke is like the Borg...He will assimilate you.

 

[davidHartzog]

I liked Paul Burke more than James Franciscus, but really miss John McIntire. Strange how the show keeps using the same actors over and over, I 've seen George Maharis on there three times in S1, and he turns up again in the first episode of S2. You'd think there were only a handful of actors in NYC.

 

[Jack P]

Getting actors to come to NY for shooting obviously posed some additional budget problems. It's also clear that this is why so many Naked City guest stars would also do a Route 66 within weeks or right away beacuse of the location shooting elsewhere. Even if the actor turns up again, he always manages to make the new character distinctive (this in contrast to how Jack Webb would overuse his stock company to death in Dragnet).

 

[davidHartzog]

I take your point. Route 66 sometimes used actors more than once in the same seaon. Perry Mason, shot in LA, didn't except for the actors playing judges. But there are plenty of actors already in NYC. Last time I was there every waiter I met was really an actor. Or a writer. I never met a real waiter.

 

[Roy Wall]

I have seen all the Naked City episodes over the years...by hook or by crook....and I loved McIntire's Muldoon....almost a policeman with a grandpa's perspective...very human and not arresting almost criminals that truly were not...just had a very weak and perhaps justifiable moment...Lee Phillips comes to mind.

The only episode that stunned me in the beginning was Woodrow Parfrey's character that just start shooting and killing store clerks at random.

Ultimately though it's the hourlies that I love most...much in the manner of "The Fugitive"....stories about folks in all walks of life only restricted to the Big Apple. My favorites are in season one of the hour shows....but seasons two and three have plenty of classics...just a few more stories that were a little more hard fisted. It will be good to see both Barry Morse and William Shatner in the two alternate episodes, "The Deadly Guinea Pig" and "Without Sword Or Stick" that didn't make the Sony cut. I much preferred these episodes to Morse's "Memory Of A Red Trolley Car" and Shatner's "Portrait Of A Painter".

So happy to have the complete set.

 

[Jack P]

The only episode that stunned me in the beginning was Woodrow Parfrey's character that just start shooting and killing store clerks at random.

I think this episode doesn't play fair by the rules of the series which is to probe beneath the surface of the people who commit horrible acts, yet in the end the message is there are some times we can't know the reasons why. All well and good but the point of the show is to tell us why. This is a case where an hour would have allowed it to be fleshed out.

 

[jperez]

I don't dislike Paul Burke at all, I was just commenting how much his Adam Flint character was akin to Franciscus take i season 1, while his gruff chief in the later seasons was nothing like Muldoon. Franciscus' wife does seem like a generic one: a wife who's always there to pamper him after a tough day on the job. Burke's actress girlfriend Libby is much more fleshed out (as a character) and realistic, sometimes even going after Burke for his constant worrying about his cases, even when he's supposed to be relaxing with her.

 

[davidHartzog]

Good point about the women.

 

[Roy Wall]

Good point about the women.

Agreed but back to the guys....Burke displayed more humanity and depth...IMO....my wife would agree as well. He and Horace really made the hourlies better as did Bellaver when given some material. The music and Lawrence Dobkin intros...were icing on the cake. That being said...those gritty 30 minute shows are a fantastic addition to the set.

 

[Roy Wall]

Finally got around to opening my set from Wal-Mart....it was busted up pretty bad. The discs were not damaged from what I could see so I'll put them in a storage device for safe keeping.

 

[BobO'Link]

^My set from Amazon arrived in essentially perfect condition so it's going to be kept for sure. I'm still trying to decide if I want to keep my busted up WM set or return it.

 

[younger1968]

I have watched a few episodes and the ones that I watched were great! Naked City keeps growing on me the more I watched it!! It is too bad today's TV could not learned from TV's past on what quality means in a show!!

 

[davidHartzog]

I, too, find Naked City growing on me. As I move into S2, there are several thing that stand out to me. One is the touching relationship btw. Paul Burke and Nancy Malone, who not only has a brain but gets to use it, and has a career, a far cry from how women were usually portrayed on tv prior to Honey West and The Avengers. I also find they are using bigger name stars, presumably because of the move to an hour format, like Walter Matthau and Jack Lord. You still get your up and comers though, like Dick York and Jimmy Caan and Lois Nettleton. Naked City is also extremely violent, much more so than the later Mannix (which was considered the most violent show on tv in its time) with mass killings and machine guns blazing away. Cops firing warning shots all the time must have put paid to a lot of NYC's bird population. Also Naked City is pretty white at this point, you wouldn't think there were blacks and other minority groups around. But its a good show, somewhat realistic, certainly more so than some others, like the static Dragnet.

 

[younger1968]

I have tested out S1-S4 just to see quality of the episodes!! I really like what I have seen so far with the show. I like James Franciscus as I remember him from "beneath the planet of the apes".

I have several 1950s-1960s series on dvd and love them. I never seen any of the shows before as I was never born. There was some amazing TV shows like the following

1. Route 66

2. Harbor Command

3. Coronado 9

4. Time Tunnel

5. The Invaders

6. Soldiers of Fortune

7. Wanted: Dead or Alive

8. The life and legend of Wyatt Earp

9. Wild Wild West

10. Many others

 

[Roy Wall]

I think I failed to mention how much I love the music that usually ends the 1/2 hour episodes....really catches the romance and flavor of late 50's New York City. Gosh...I've have wanted this set to be a reality for so long that I still have to pinch myself....newest episodes not remastered notwithstanding.

 

[Guy Foulard]

I think I failed to mention how much I love the music that usually ends the 1/2 hour episodes....really catches the romance and flavor of late 50's New York City. Gosh...I've have wanted this set to be a reality for so long that I still have to pinch myself....newest episodes not remastered notwithstanding.

You can hear the theme (with sort of silly vocals) here on the LP advertised at the end of the season one episodes.

 

[Mr. Handley]

I'm really digging the S1 episodes! I'd never seen them before and they really move at a brisk pace and I love the Muldoon character. I bought all of the previous hour-long episode sets and love those as well, great use of NYC locations throughout. And with the rock-bottom price, this is probably my best DVD purchase ever. Now if I could just find the upcoming Mary Hartman set for under $100.......

 

[younger1968]

I'm really digging the S1 episodes! I'd never seen them before and they really move at a brisk pace and I love the Muldoon character. I bought all of the previous hour-long episode sets and love those as well, great use of NYC locations throughout. And with the rock-bottom price, this is probably my best DVD purchase ever. Now if I could just find the upcoming Mary Hartman set for under $100.......

Great point about the NYC backdrop!! I also find the guest stars very good as well! I have review a few episodes from all four season just to get feel of change from half hour to hour in duration. 25 minutes for cop shows is to compressed as it feels things are in overdrive!! Adam-12 was one of the few cop drama that could get away with being 1/2 hour show.