The Fall Guy 1.17 Guess Who's Coming to Town? Colt, Howie and Jody descend on a small Las Vegas town in search of a young man who forged some checks. They find the town fathers are holding the young man and also hiding a deep secret. They have accepted millions of dollars from a notorious...
Combat! 1.16 The Volunteer. The squad comes into a small French village that has recently been liberated from the Germans. A 13-year old boy named Gilbert attaches himself to them. He has been left as an orphan and wants to enlist in the US Army. He has an old rifle and he stands at attention to...
Russ, Star Trek is my all-time favorite show, and you are my all-time favorite roaster. Your send-ups remind me of Mad Magazine's parody "Star Blecch". Thanks for a few Friday morning chuckles. ;)
Ellery Queen 1.5 The Adventure of the 12th Floor Express. My appreciation for this series continues to grow ever since I bought this Entertainment One release more than 10 years ago. I think this is my third time through. I always go slowly, savoring each episode. I could only wish it had...
Harbor Patrol 1.19 Harbor Story. Three crooks rob a bank and then try to escape by posing as fishermen. One of the bad guys is constantly eating and leaves his food containers all over the place, making it easier for Lt. Matthews to track them down. They clonk a scuba diver (Stuart Whitman...
The Virginian 2.3 No Tears for Savannah The Virginian is always well acted drama, but this episode is another notch above its usual standards, thanks to the interplay between The Virginian, Judge Garth and Savannah (Gena Rowlands). Rowlands plays an old flame of the Virginian's. She is...
Probation Officer 1.1 Philip Main (actor John Paul) has his first case as a probations officer: helping a teenage marijuana addict. Guided by the director of all the probation officers, Jim Blake, Philip Main ends up advocating for the addict, even as others recommend giving up on the young...
Cannon 1.2 Death Chain. A philandering banker (William Windom) hires Frank Cannon when his lover is killed. He is hoping Cannon can solve the murder without involving the police or the banker's wife. Along the way Cannon unravels a bank robbery filled with double-crosses. For the second...
Cannon 1.1 The Salinas Jackpot. Frank Cannon is hired to track down two men who robbed the gate receipts from a rodeo and killed four people. He eventually realizes it was two men masquerading as rodeo clowns. The crooks shoot Frank in the leg and he seeks refuge with a widow and her teenage...
Cannon is one of my all-time favorites. I'm sure some of it is nostalgia for me as well. Even though the VEI complete series release is not pristine, the episodes are uncut, and I was so happy they completed the series. The plots are all very typical of Quinn-Martin 1970's detective shows...
The Outer Limits 1.11 It Crawled out of the Woodwork. A cleaning lady inadvertently vacuums up a blob and triggers a reaction that creates a cloud of pure energy that can kill everything in his path. A scientist harnesses it for his own selfish purposes at a factory. Until one of its victims...
One more ode to Network Distributing. The Vise The Final Column. Christopher Lee plays a conniving office assistant who blackmails his philandering boss, and eventually worms his way into his daughter's affections and becomes her fiancé. The old man is desperate to be free from the blackmail...
In honor of Network Distributing I watched last night Mark Saber The Very Last Witness. Mark Saber is hired to find a lost business associate, ostensibly to thank him for past kindnesses. The villian, Oscar Brand, actually wants to kill this man because he is the last living person who knows...
Russ, thanks for your (as always) witty and hilarious send-up of yet another classic Star Trek episode. I especially appreciated the inside info on how they got Ruth's hair to look that way. <_<
The Danny Thomas Show 4.1 Boarding School. Danny thinks he can't parent his kids alone and ships them off to a boarding school. He quickly realizes how much he misses them and angles to get them back home. This is a sweet show. The kids are great, especially Rusty. He has such a deadpan...
Espionage 1.5 He Rises on Sunday and We on Monday. Billie Whitelaw and Patrick Troughton are excellent as a husband and wife participating in the Easter Rising in Ireland during WWI.
Espionage 1.7 The Dragon Slayer. A portrayal of Sun Yat-Sen being held as a prisoner in the Chinese embassy in...
I Spy 1.21 Return to Glory. I always enjoy the adventures of Alexander Scott and Kelly Robinson. The location shooting provides authenticity, but what really makes it is the comfortable rapport between the two leads. They have an understated humor that never veers into satire, and is always...
I have taken to writing all my series down on few 5x7 index cards and keeping track of the last disc/episode I watched. Like Ben I may go many weeks before revisiting a series. Even then I sometimes can't read my own writing and will start re-watching an episode I've already viewed.
Jeff,
Great lineup of some of my favorite B&W classics. Thanks for sharing the fun.
Do you actually skip around like that when you watch, or are you just reporting on certain episodes that stand out to you? I have to watch sequentially, mostly because I would never remember where I left off...
Medic 1.17 Flash of Darkness. This is a series I pop in occasionally and always enjoy (thank you Timeless Media!). It portrays caring medical professionals doing their best to bring hope and comfort to the people they care for. What it lacks in medical sophistication it always makes up for...
The M Squad set I bought 6 years ago is similar to Doug's, with a slightly lower disc count (16). It's 5 discs per season, even though they aren't labeled that way, and disc 16 has the extras: episodes of Virginian, Wagon Train, Checkmate and Lawbreaker with Lee Marvin. At the time I paid...
Doug, we have a friend who is 95, can barely walk, but still makes her own fruit cake every Christmas. It's the recipe her mother used to make when she was growing up in northern Maine. It is better by far than any fruitcake I've ever had. Now I'm wishing I hadn't eaten this year's so quickly....
Peter Gunn 2.11 "The Price is Murder". Peter is stalked by someone who recently broke out of prison. He is committed to killing Gunn b/c he was the one who helped put him away in the first place. The bad guy finally kidnaps Edie to torment Peter. But with a little help from Lt. Jacoby they...
The Gallant Men 1.24 The Crucible. A solid World War II series that almost never fails to deliver. I have been nursing it along, watching maybe one episode a month. Along the way I have become attached to the men of Able Company. The dramas are typical, but always well-acted. This episode...