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Naked City (1 Viewer)

cwilli

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Cheryl Williams
I think the half hour format plays really well. It sometimes feels like an hour show because of the pacing and story telling, which gets you involved with the plot and characters and makes it seem longer than 25 minutes. So much happens in each episode.
 

Jack P

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As I continue to make my way through this, I continue to be fascinated by how this series documents the vanished sites of New York City from this time. The S2 episode "A Precious Kettle Of Fish" has an extended chase sequence through Penn Station, which was demolished in 1966 for the current Madison Square Garden, and there is no finer documentation of the different nooks and crannies of this architectural wonder that many people regret the destruction of.

Unfortunately I also noticed that the episodes from S2 that were in the previous Image releases look to be lower quality prints. Specifically, those episodes that were in the three boxed sets which had their original bumpers left intact. The single disc releases episodes look to be the same transfers but if you have the three multi-disc sets, they should be retained.

And I must regret to report the first true clunker episode of the hour long run, the S3 debut "Take Off Your Hat When A Funeral Passes" which serves up a ridiculous argument common to certain people in the entertainment industry that the greatest, most heinous sin of mankind is to be an "informer" (this is their not so subtle slam on anyone who was a cooperative witness before certain hearings that I will not mention). And then, these writers load up with highly inappropriate (and for me personally offensive) analogies to Judas Iscariot. Needless to say this is one episode I won't give a second viewing.
 

Neil Brock

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Jack P said:
And I must regret to report the first true clunker episode of the hour long run, the S3 debut "Take Off Your Hat When A Funeral Passes" which serves up a ridiculous argument common to certain people in the entertainment industry that the greatest, most heinous sin of mankind is to be an "informer" (this is their not so subtle slam on anyone who was a cooperative witness before certain hearings that I will not mention). And then, these writers load up with highly inappropriate (and for me personally offensive) analogies to Judas Iscariot. Needless to say this is one episode I won't give a second viewing.
Ah yes, so glad that political comments are verboten on HTF. So sorry that painting yellow-bellied, back-stabbing stool pigeons in a negative light and thinly veiled criticisms of McCarthism are so distasteful to you. The Constitution is just a piece of paper, right? Why should Americans have any more rights than the Chinese to their views. So what if a bunch of innocents got tossed in with the rest and had their careers and lives ruined. Worth it to destroy a hundred people to get one who deserves it. And sorry about the analogies to one of your mythical iconic characters.
 

Jack P

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Tsk, tsk, we are touchy aren't we? In the first place, in this particular episode the viewer is supposed to think Lee J. Cobb did a heinous thing when he informed on his brother-in-law for a previous crime they took part in (in other words, he cooperated with the police to turn him in and get off the hook; in any rational normal context this is called the art of deal-making that is quite common in the system). Then, there's the fact that in the opening scene of this episode the now escaped brother-in-law is shown (1) robbing an armored car and (2) gunning down two police officers in cold blood, whose stories are never returned to again in the rest of this story. In other words the *real* victims are deemed secondary to a pretentious argument, much in the same way that the real victims of the system that the likes of all those phony "victims" were so overly fond of (even to the point where one member of a group of Ten is now known to have once offered his services to an organization called the KGB thanks to some documents called the Venona Papers) get swept under the rug to this day and no one gives a darn about Holocausts like the one in the Ukraine that killed more people than Hitler's. We see the crimes of this piece of slime up-front and yet Cobb isn't going to realize that in this case "loyalty" to someone who doesn't deserve it shouldn't count for squat. If I had a family member who did anything like that, I'd "inform" on him in a minute and so would anyone with a shred of decency in them. The writer of this episode inadvertently in trying to make his pretentious statement, ended up revealing how the core argument behind his statement is rotten and he in the end gave us a piece of *bad television*. Fortunately, "Naked City" is overall a program that thankfully in the bulk of its run did not suffer from Brodkin's Disease too much. :)

As to my taking offense over the misusing the name of a real historical figure, I will only note that since that episode chose to invoke the name of Judas Iscariot, it is fair game for those who are more qualified to know who Judas really was than some pretentious writer who never took Christainity 101 to make comment on how that name is then used and if you've got a problem with that, then tough nuggie. In order to be like Judas, one has to be betraying the likes of Jesus, and the character Alfred Ryder played in that episode was anything but!
 

Roy Wall

Supporting Actor
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Jun 7, 2005
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563
What a guest star list....and I know that I'm leaving quite a few out.....

Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, Robert Redford, Carroll O'Connor, William Shatner, Burgess Meredith, Robert Duvall, Ed Asner, Suzanne Pleshette, Eddie Albert, Robert Culp, Steven Hill, David Janssen, Rip Torn, Eli Wallach, Peter Falk, Claude Rains, Telly Savalas, Leslie Nielsen, Nehemiah Persoff, Jack Lord, Walter Matthau, Malachi Throne, Dick York, Alfred Ryder, Mitchell Ryan, Jack Klugman, Keenan Wynn, Dennis Hopper, Barry Morse, Brett Somers, Roddy McDowall, Martin Balsam, Frank Sutton, Hume Cronyn, Lee J. Cobb, Logan Ramsey, Jack Warden, Mickey Rooney, Martin Sheen, Peter Fonda, James Caan, Orson Bean, George C. Scott, Jean Stapleton, David Wayne, Richard Basehart, Jesse White, Bradford Dillman, Frank Gorshin, Dana Elcar, Jon Voight, Michael Strong, Anthony Zerbe, Al Lewis, John Karlen, George Maharis, Vic Morrow, Henry Hull, Michael Conrad, Ross Martin, Richard Jaeckel, Simon Oakland, Luthor Adler, Chris Walken, Geraldine Brooks, Lois Nettleton, Keir Dullea, Myron McCormick, Louis Antonio, Susan Oliver, Phillip Abbott, Robert Blake, Woodrow Parfrey, Russell Collins, Robert Morse, Roger C. Carmel, Jeremy Slate, Sorrell Brooke, Joe De Santis, Nina Foch, Robert Loggia, Murray Hamilton, Johnny Seven, Jay Novello, Kim Hunter, James Shigeta, Abraham Sofaer, Richard Conte, Tuesday Weld, Joanne Linville, Michael Constantine, Edward Andrews, Neville Brand, Lonny Chapman, Paul Richards, Michael Tolan, Carol Rossen, Herschel Bernardi, Eileen Heckart, Dan Duryea, Joseph Campanella, Ed Begley, Murray Matheson, Gene Lyons, Bruce Dern, Theodore Bikel, Robert Emhardt, Albert Salmi, Frank Marth, JD Cannon, Sam Jaffe, William Conrad, Joseph Campenella, Patrick O'Neal, James Coburn, Herschel Bernardi, Robert Walker Jr., Gerald S. O'Loughlin, Harry Guardino, Tom Bosley, Kirk Alyn, Kent Smith, Jeanette Nolan, Michael Ansara and...of course...the greatest and weekly guest star...New York City.

My apologies in advance for any repeats in the list.
 

davidHartzog

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Nice effort with this. Amazing number of actors who later became big stars or regulars. I watched 9 seasons of Perry Mason and remember only a couple of actors who later became big, James Coburn and Ryan O'Neal.
 

jdee28

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John
Disappointing about the picture quality of this set. As with Route 66, this series deserved better on DVD.
 

Mr. Handley

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As a Dark Shadows fan, I'm always on the look-out for actors that appeared on that series. Last night, I spotted Mark Allen (the first Sam Evans on DS) as one of the patients in the episode "The Violent Circle".
 

Charles Smith

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Jack P said:
Unfortunately I also noticed that the episodes from S2 that were in the previous Image releases look to be lower quality prints. Specifically, those episodes that were in the three boxed sets which had their original bumpers left intact. The single disc releases episodes look to be the same transfers but if you have the three multi-disc sets, they should be retained.
I've only cursorily gone through the set, checking out a few scenes here and there. As wonderful as having the complete series is, I easily noticed this on a couple of episodes. What the HELL?!

And I must also register disappointment regarding the original bumpers, commercials, etc.

I never dreamed I'd be compelled to hang onto old discs when a complete series is issued ... by the same company. With image quality (sorry about the pun) and treatment of extras ... what were they thinking??
 

Roy Wall

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Charles Smith said:
I never dreamed I'd be compelled to hang onto old discs when a complete series is issued ... by the same company. With image quality (sorry about the pun) and treatment of extras ... what were they thinking??
Agreed...very much unlike Image Entertainment...but I am so starved for this set...that I'll turn my head on this occasion.
 

Roy Wall

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davidHartzog said:
Nice effort with this. Amazing number of actors who later became big stars or regulars. I watched 9 seasons of Perry Mason and remember only a couple of actors who later became big, James Coburn and Ryan O'Neal.
Thank you Dave...I'm just stunned by all the talent that is associated with this set.
 

davidHartzog

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Well, you could also look at the directors, many of whom went on to feature films, such as Arthur Hiller (The Americanization of Emily, Love Story), Jack Smight (Harper, No Way to Treat a Lady, The Illustrated Man, Damnation Alley), Alex March (Paper Lion, The Big Bounce), Elliot Silverstein (Cat Ballou, A Man Called Horse), Buzz Kulick (Warning Shot, Riot), Lamont Johnson (The Groundstar Conspiracy, The MacKenzie Break), William Conrad (Two on a Guillotine), and many others. Clearly the producers had an eye for talent.
 

Roy Wall

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davidHartzog said:
Well, you could also look at the directors, many of whom went on to feature films, such as Arthur Hiller (The Americanization of Emily, Love Story), Jack Smight (Harper, No Way to Treat a Lady, The Illustrated Man, Damnation Alley), Alex March (Paper Lion, The Big Bounce), Elliot Silverstein (Cat Ballou, A Man Called Horse), Buzz Kulick (Warning Shot, Riot), Lamont Johnson (The Groundstar Conspiracy, The MacKenzie Break), William Conrad (Two on a Guillotine), and many others. Clearly the producers had an eye for talent.
Excellent point...
 

Jack P

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I sort of anticipated that we would not see the bumpers on the episodes that had them in this set. I still expected them to be the same transfers though which is what took me by surprise. I will stress again that you don't need to retain the six single disc releases because with those 24 episodes, they are the same transfers. It's with these other 36 episodes in the three multi-disc sets that you have to hang on to.
 

rjd0309

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Just watched the Barry Morse episode THE DEADLY GUINEA PIG and was disappointed with the picture quality and lack of original bumpers.

Has Image -- oops, RLJ -- released an explanation for the spotty quality and lack of bumpers or original commercials?
 

Roy Wall

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rjd0309 said:
Just watched the Barry Morse episode THE DEADLY GUINEA PIG and was disappointed with the picture quality and lack of original bumpers.
Yeah...I did a sneak peek early this morning to see how my favorite NC episode fared in picture quality....I was moved to tears.
 

cwilli

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I sort of anticipated that we would not see the bumpers on the episodes that had them in this set. I still expected them to be the same transfers though which is what took me by surprise. I will stress again that you don't need to retain the six single disc releases because with those 24 episodes, they are the same transfers. It's with these other 36 episodes in the three multi-disc sets that you have to hang on to.
That is extremely disappointing. I am only on season one and I was hoping the transfers for the seasons 2-4 would be like night and day. I may have to purchase the 36 episode set just for the better picture quality.
 

Wvtvguy

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Guess I'll hold onto the 40 episode set I bought last year. I also assumed that once you got past season, the picture quality would be pretty high.
 

rjd0309

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Jack P said:
I sort of anticipated that we would not see the bumpers on the episodes that had them in this set. I still expected them to be the same transfers though which is what took me by surprise. I will stress again that you don't need to retain the six single disc releases because with those 24 episodes, they are the same transfers. It's with these other 36 episodes in the three multi-disc sets that you have to hang on to.
You're right, the single-disc releases contain episodes that are duplicated in the multi-disc releases.

Here is a list of the available DVD releases (other than the Complete set), and the episodes contained in each release.
DVD SETS
A / 10 disc / Best of Naked City
B / 5 disc / Naked City: 20 Star-Filled Episodes
C / 3 disc / Naked City - Set 1
D / 3 disc / Naked City - Set 2
E / 3 disc / Naked City - Set 3
F / 1 disc / Naked City - New York to L.A.
G / 1 disc / Naked City - Portrait of a Painter
H / 1 disc / Naked City - A Death of Princes
I / 1 disc / Naked City - Prime of Life
J / 1 disc / Naked City - Button in the Haystack
K / 1 disc / Naked City - Spectre of the Rose Street Gang

EPISODES

A F A Case Study Of Two Savages
AB J A Hole In The City
A I A Horse Has A Big Head - Let Him Worry
C A Memory Of Crying
AB G Alive And Still A Second Lieutenant
D And By The Sweat Of Thy Brow
D And If Any Are Frozen Warm Them!
A E Barefoot On A Bed Of Coals
B Bullets Cost Too Much
A J Button In The Haystack
D Daughter Am I In My Father's House
A H Death Of Princes
A H Debt Of Honor
A G Don't Knock It Till You've Tried It
B Down The Long Night
D Dust Devil On A Quiet Street
A K Five Cranks For Winter, Ten Cranks For Spring
D Go Fight City Hall
A E Golden Lads And Girls
A K Goodbye Mama, Hello Auntie Maud
A E Her Life In Moving Pictures
A I Hold For Gloria Christmas
D Idylls Of A Running Back
D Kill Me While I'm Young So I Can Die Happy
A E King Stanislaus And The Knights Of The Round Table
B Lady Bug Lady Bug
A C Let Me Die Before I Wake
B Line Of Duty
C Make-Believe Man
D Memory Of A Red Trolley Car
A H Murder Is A Face I Know
A F New York To L.A.
E No Naked Ladies In Front Of Giovanni's House
E On The Battlefront Every Minute Is Important
B One Of The Most Important Men In The Whole World
A E One Two Three Rita Rakahowski
A C Ooftus Goofus
AB G Portrait Of A Painter
AB I Prime Of Life
A C Requiem For A Sunday Afternoon
AB E Robin Hood And Clarence Darrow They Went Out With The Bow And Arrow
AB J Shoes For Vinnie Winford
AB K Spectre Of The Rose Street Gang
B Sweet Prince Of Delancy Street
C Take And Put
E The Apple Falls Not Far From The Tree
A C The Contract
A C The Face Of The Enemy
C The Fault In Our Stars
A C The Fingers Of Henri Tourelle
E The Highest Of Prizes
A F The Hot Minerva
A H The Man Who Bit A Diamond In Half
B D The Multiplicity Of Herbert Konish
AB F The Night The Saints Lost Their Halos
AB I The One Marked Hot Gives Cold
B The Pedigree Sheet
D The Rydecker Case
A E The S.S. American Dream
D The Sweetly Smiling Face Of Truth
AB G The Tragic Success Of Alfred Tiloff
A E The Virtues Of Madame Douvay
B To Walk In Silence
A C To Walk Like A Lion
D Today The Man Who Kills The Ants Is Coming
B Tombstone For A Derelict
A K Torment Him Much And Hold Him Long
A J Vengeance Is A Wheel
A C Which Is Joseph Creely?
 

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