What did you watch this week in classic TV on DVD(or Blu)? (6 Viewers)

[Doug Wallen]

I felt exactly the same watching my spankin' new Jonny Quest BR set! ... I was quite disappointed when it didn't return to the schedule for a 2nd year.

Unlike you, I burned through the episodes in about a week. I tried to go slow but it's just so hard with this series. I'm thinking about another run through this month.

The Time Tunnel is another long time favorite. Like with Jonny Quest I was quite disappointed when it didn't return to the schedule for a 2nd year. As a kid I didn't care if the history was wonky - I just loved the show and concept (and had a crush on Lee Meriwether). As an adult I still don't care if the history is wonky. I still love the show and concept (and still have a crush on Lee Meriwether).

It seems to be the story of my life - if there's a SF/Fantasy TV show I love it'll usually be cancelled too soon.

I was absolutely thrilled to get BR upgrades of both! They are excellent!


If you're a fan, the BRs for Jonny Quest and The Time Tunnel belong on your shelf. They're absolutely worth the upgrade.

These statements sound like I could have made them. Wonky time or not, I was absolutely fascinated by The Time Tunnel. I'll second your comments about having a crush on Lee Meriwether. This series has always been high on my list and I can replay this one many times. Such a shame it was cancelled after that first season.

1966 was a good year for sci-fi on network television (Star Trek, The Time Tunnel, Lost In Space, Voyage To The Bottom of The Sea, Wild Wild West) and I was a happy camper.

I always used to watch the new season Network advertisements (30 minute special introducing the new seasons series) as well as memorizing the Fall TV Preview issue of TV Guide. I tried to know everything about the series before it aired. Guess that is why I enjoy this TV forum so much. Hated that both series never went for more seasons. Glad to have them in this wonderful HD format.

Jonny Quest was the standard I expected for any long form cartoon series. Nothing measured up. Nothing ever quite captured my attention for a realistic dramatic series. Exception - Star Trek animated because it's Star Trek (even though the animation was pretty static).

 

[BobO'Link]

1966 was a *very* good year for TV in general. In addition to the SF series you mentioned there was:

Lassie
It's About Time
both of which ran opposite Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour opposite Bonanza
The Saint opposite Candid Camera and What's My Line?
The Monkees first season playing opposite Gilligan's Island
The Rat Patrol first season opposite Captain Nice and The Lucy Show
The Andy Griffith Show
Family Affair (first season)
The Big Valley opposite To Tell the Truth and I've Got a Secret
Combat! opposite Daktari and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
The Invaders (first season - another I loved that was cancelled too soon)
Petticoat Junction
The Fugitive
Batman (first half hour night) opposite Lost in Space and The Virginian whose last half hour ran opposite The Beverly Hillbillies
Green Acres
Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.
I Spy
Batman (second half hour)
F Troop which, along with Batman, was opposite Daniel Boone
Bewitched
My Three Sons
That Girl
the previous three running opposite Star Trek first season
The Green Hornet followed by
The Time Tunnel
both of which ran opposite The Wild Wild West and Tarzan
with Hogan's Heroes opposite the first half of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. with both running opposite the last half of The Time Tunnel
Rango opposite the last half hour of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The C.A.T.
The Avengers
Flipper
Please Don't Eat the Daisies
Get Smart
Mission Impossible first season playing opposite Get Smart most of the season
Gunsmoke
and many others I didn't watch that season.

There were several tough decision nights. I watched at least one episode of all those I mentioned as a few were first season shows I *had* to sample and others were returning favorites which had the bad luck of being scheduled opposite something I really wanted to see. Several of the hour shows I saw only the last half hour regularly or to sample as I was not giving up the half hour show opposite (The Green Hornet being one I wasn't going to give up at all and another series cancelled too soon).

1967 was just as bad... or would that be good?

 

[Rustifer]

Episode Commentary
The Rifleman
"Sidewinder" (S5E16)

The opening scene has Lucas McCain furiously sawing logs in the field--no, not sleeping-- but sweating like a stevedore, thirsty as hell. Dummy son Mark forgot to fill the damn canteen and has to run home to replenish it. Instead, he gets held up by a similar pimply angst-ridden teenager Gridley Maule (Billy Hughes), a pint-sized Paladin wearing a cowboy outfit recently bought at Toys R Us. Young Gridley is in town to shoot Lucas for killing his pa years ago.

Wellll, Lucas doesn't take kindly to anyone pulling a gun on his son or threatening to shoot him. He must investigate.
In the meantime, Gridley checks into the hotel via the comely manager Lou (Patricia Blair)--who doesn't vaguely resemble any woman from the 19th century in looks or dress. She immediately sets her sights on mothering the kid. Take a bath. Comb your hair. Brush your tooth. That kind of stuff. Gridley snarls but does as he's told.

Gridley showing off some bad dentistry; showdown in the street; Lou gets slap-happy

Lucas recalls shooting Gridley's dad--a bank robber--in a manner so casual as to be indifferent. Just one more bad guy to bite the dust.
The kid is incensed and like an idiot forces Lucas into the street for a showdown. It's his paltry pistol against the rapid fire .44-40 Carbine rifle wielded by a superhuman marksman. Sounds fair, yes? For fun, both show off their expertise by shooting out lit matches. Gridley is consigned to calling Lucas bad names before being sent on his way by creaky old sheriff Micah (Paul Fix).

To make a short story even shorter--the moral of the tale is that even a bad kid can be rehabilitated if slapped around by a beautiful Irish hotel clerk.

Randoms
Billy Hughes, Jr. appeared in 3 Rifleman episodes. His father and uncle both were Hollywood stunt guys, so Billy was pretty comfortable being on sets as a young kid.

Patricia Blair was always just gawd awful pretty, having started modeling at age 13 and voted the girl with the most beautiful legs in Texas.

Women from the 19th century West all looked kinda the same.

 

[BobO'Link]

Ahhh... Patricia Blair... another crush... and a prime reason to watch Daniel Boone (yeah... I'd have watched that one without her but she sure doesn't hurt none being there... )

 

[Jeff Flugel]

1966 was a *very* good year for TV in general. In addition to the SF series you mentioned there was:

Lassie
It's About Time
both of which ran opposite Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour opposite Bonanza
The Saint opposite Candid Camera and What's My Line?
The Monkees first season playing opposite Gilligan's Island
The Rat Patrol first season opposite Captain Nice and The Lucy Show
The Andy Griffith Show
Family Affair (first season)
The Big Valley opposite To Tell the Truth and I've Got a Secret
Combat! opposite Daktari and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
The Invaders (first season - another I loved that was cancelled too soon)
Petticoat Junction
The Fugitive
Batman (first half hour night) opposite Lost in Space and The Virginian whose last half hour ran opposite The Beverly Hillbillies
Green Acres
Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.
I Spy
Batman (second half hour)
F Troop which, along with Batman, was opposite Daniel Boone
Bewitched
My Three Sons
That Girl
the previous three running opposite Star Trek first season
The Green Hornet followed by
The Time Tunnel
both of which ran opposite The Wild Wild West and Tarzan
with Hogan's Heroes opposite the first half of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. with both running opposite the last half of The Time Tunnel
Rango opposite the last half hour of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The C.A.T.
The Avengers
Flipper
Please Don't Eat the Daisies
Get Smart
Mission Impossible first season playing opposite Get Smart most of the season
Gunsmoke
and many others I didn't watch that season.

There were several tough decision nights. I watched at least one episode of all those I mentioned as a few were first season shows I *had* to sample and others were returning favorites which had the bad luck of being scheduled opposite something I really wanted to see. Several of the hour shows I saw only the last half hour regularly or to sample as I was not giving up the half hour show opposite (The Green Hornet being one I wasn't going to give up at all and another series cancelled too soon).

1967 was just as bad... or would that be good?

Boy, you're singing my tune, Howie! I love many TV series from the 1950s and 1970s (and to a lesser extent, 1980s), but for my money, the 1960s was the greatest decade for television, full stop; a period of seemingly boundless creativity. Just so many memorable shows - and memorable theme tunes, too! In fact, when some guy named FredFlix put together a short tribute video on YouTube of "101 Iconic TV Show of the 1960s," he had to do a follow-up of "101 More Iconic TV Shows of the 1960s" - and he still hadn't listed all of the cool shows from that era!

And the kicker is that a great many of these shows are out on DVD.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Episode Commentary
The Rifleman
"Sidewinder" (S5E16)

The opening scene has Lucas McCain furiously sawing logs in the field--no, not sleeping-- but sweating like a stevedore, thirsty as hell. Dummy son Mark forgot to fill the damn canteen and has to run home to replenish it. Instead, he gets held up by a similar pimply angst-ridden teenager Gridley Maule (Billy Hughes), a pint-sized Paladin wearing a cowboy outfit recently bought at Toys R Us. Young Gridley is in town to shoot Lucas for killing his pa years ago.

Wellll, Lucas doesn't take kindly to anyone pulling a gun on his son or threatening to shoot him. He must investigate.
In the meantime, Gridley checks into the hotel via the comely manager Lou (Patricia Blair)--who doesn't vaguely resemble any woman from the 19th century in looks or dress. She immediately sets her sights on mothering the kid. Take a bath. Comb your hair. Brush your tooth. That kind of stuff. Gridley snarls but does as he's told.

View attachment 60397

View attachment 60398
Gridley showing off some bad dentistry; showdown in the street; Lou gets slap-happy

Lucas recalls shooting Gridley's dad--a bank robber--in a manner so casual as to be indifferent. Just one more bad guy to bite the dust.
The kid is incensed and like an idiot forces Lucas into the street for a showdown. It's his paltry pistol against the rapid fire .44-40 Carbine rifle wielded by a superhuman marksman. Sounds fair, yes? For fun, both show off their expertise by shooting out lit matches. Gridley is consigned to calling Lucas bad names before being sent on his way by creaky old sheriff Micah (Paul Fix).

To make a short story even shorter--the moral of the tale is that even a bad kid can be rehabilitated if slapped around by a beautiful Irish hotel clerk.

Randoms
Billy Hughes, Jr. appeared in 3 Rifleman episodes. His father and uncle both were Hollywood stunt guys, so Billy was pretty comfortable being on sets as a young kid.

Patricia Blair was always just gawd awful pretty, having started modeling at age 13 and voted the girl with the most beautiful legs in Texas.

View attachment 60403
Women from the 19th century West all looked kinda the same.

Good to see you back and up to your old tricks, Russ!

Yes, Patricia Blair was a fine looking lady...I'm sure the real-life cowpokes of the late 1800s wished women looked more like her. I'm guessing '50s and '60s film and TV westerns have given us a skewed view of frontier feminine pulchritude. Not that I'm complaining!

Here's a fun photo of big Chuck Connors helping himself to a right good squeeze of the lovely lady in question:

Have Daniel Boone S1 waiting for me back in the States, which I'll be able to get my mitts on in a few more weeks...will be glad to see more of Ms. Blair in that show.

 

[Doug Wallen]

Jeff, to me the real kicker is that this was accomplished with just three major networks.

 

[matinee nostalgia]

I'm still looking at the very obscure (meaning non available on DVD commercial) part of my TV on DVD collection. After the very good HONG KONG starring Rod Taylor, it's now time for another 20th Century Fox TV series, Adventures in Paradise. So far the acting is fair, after all Gardner McKay isn't a great actor, but the stories are fun to watch
The next obscure DVD series to watch will be Broadside, a military sitcom with a female switch.

 

[Rustifer]

It's a guy's guy who can wear a dead animal on his head. And a helluva woman who'll let him.

 

[BobO'Link]

View attachment 60449

It's a guy's guy who can wear a dead animal on his head. And a helluva woman who'll let him.

Makes you wonder who the first guy was who said "Blood and 'ounds! That there coonskin'll be goldarn bang-up on me haid!"

 

[Ron1973]

YouTube has been quite a help in finding classic TV, some of which I was surprised to find, and some I wasn't. Someone mentioned My Friend Flicka, so I watched a few episodes of it and enjoyed it. What I was surprised to find last night was the only color episode of Perry Mason which I had never saw before. Then Rockford Files came up as a suggestion. They're all in very watchable quality, though I wouldn't put them on the same standard as a good DVD, but not bad. My Friend Flicka was sort of all over the place in quality with some episodes looking good and others looking like 16mm film being shown on a distant UHF station. Pro Classic TV has all 3 seasons of My Favorite Martian for viewing as well as The Cisco Kid, Hopalong Cassidy, Black Beauty, The Rifleman, and a few others shows.

 

[mark-edk]

I’m into so many series right now and added another, streaming an HD version of Magnum P.I. from Prime. It’s looks waaay better than my DVDs, I’m limiting it to two episodes per evening. I have read some on here say that iTunes versions of various shows look better than Prime, while I’m happy with what I’m seeing it would be awesome if the iTunes version was even better. I’ll find out eventually when they put it back on sale.

Magnum P.I. The Complete Series: $29.99 at iTunes.
https://www.cheapcharts.info/itunes/us/seasons/1401006790/Magnum-PI-The-Complete-Series

 

[Ron1973]

I absolutely do not care for Joe Besser or his "whiny brat" schtick. Never have. His "Little Stinky" character almost ruins The Abbot and Costello Show for me.

I realize he kept the Stooge act going and in the public eye with Moe and Larry, but his act did not fit at all. I hate to criticize someone who had a long career, but he has always rubbed me the wrong way.

I have Daniel Boone on DVD - both the Liberation releases and the newer ones from Shout Factory. The audio on both is glorious mono. In fact, the only differences in the two releases are better packaging and menus on the Shout ones.

I saw the last season or two of Dobie Gillis during it's original airings and only sporadically after that until the DVD set came out (it seemed like every time a channel that carried the show was added to our cable lineup that channel would then drop it shortly after). It was a "day one" purchase for me and I loved watching every episode...

I can tolerate the fake surround on most of the episodes, but whoever did it to S2 oughta be hung! The music is overbearing and the voices are too low. I like my 5.1 for movies, but I despise it on old TV shows that were recorded in mono originally. I have the same beef with the "new and improved" Star Trek: TOS. We stopped faking stereo on mono recordings of that era, so why does someone feel the need to do it to a TV show? Ugh!

As an aside, has anyone ever given thought to there being a clutzy Maynard on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis and a few years later Hee Haw gave Gordie's General Store a clutzy helper named Maynard? Coincidence? I don't think so!

 

[Jasper70]

Magnum P.I. The Complete Series: $29.99 at iTunes.
https://www.cheapcharts.info/itunes/us/seasons/1401006790/Magnum-PI-The-Complete-Series

Bought it and an Apple TV today!

 

[Jasper70]

Watched 4 episodes tonight. Looks great. Money well spent. The colors and the definition are so much better than the DVDs. I’ll still buy a Blu-ray set if it ever gets released here domestically with subtitles. Otherwise this will be the best I’ll ever see it. Obviously I don’t have a crystal ball but I don’t think Magnum will ever look better.

The Apple TV remote is going to take some getting used to. But I do like it.

 

[Rustifer]

Episode Commentary
Green Acres
"Uncle Ollie" (S1E32)

I confess I was never a big fan of this show. It leans way too much towards the Hee Haw genre of forced humor, wrapped in a laugh track that desperately tries to promote the idea that it's funny. It never questions why Oliver (Eddie Albert) feels necessary to wear a suit and tie while shoveling cow crap, or why wife Lisa (Eva Gabor) dons an array of designer evening gowns while concocting pancake batter with the consistency of brick mortar. That aspect alone is just supposed to be humorous. An antonym to The Beverly Hillbillies. 'Olli-var', as Lisa calls him, is in a constant state of perplexity over his hillbilly existence, surrounded by bizarre characters who belong more in Wonderland than in rural America.

But, I'm trying to be a good steward of this thread and report on shows good and bad, classic or not.

Olliver's long-haired nephew Chuck (Don Edmonds) comes to visit. In 1966, TV-style hippies were reduced to bromidic portrayals of pageboy haircuts, leather vests and Maynard G. Krebs vernacular. In addition, Chuck appears to be on the far side of 40, long past the acceptable age of hipness. He does, however, generate a rich palette of "is-it-a-boy-or-girl" trove of jokes by regulars Mr. Haney (Pat Butram), Alvy (Hank Kimball) and Eb (Tom Lester). Har har har.

Nephew Chuck comes to visit; Lisa greets visitors in an informal way; Alvy and Ollie see eye-to-eye

A wastrel by any measurement, Chuck nonetheless proves to be a wizard with engines--souping up tractors, Model T's, anything with a motor--into Lamborghini-style speedsters. As a result, Oliver gets slapped with several speeding tickets. And that, dear folks, is the entire plot of the episode.

If this series tops your list of classic knee-slapping humor, then please forgive my snarkiness. The show hung on for 6 seasons, so somebody was watching.

Randoms:
Don Edmonds is better known as a cult film producer / director. His most well-known films, “Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS” and sequel “Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks” were the most prominent of the kitschy “Naziploitation” genre of B-movies.

Eva Gabor, of the famed Gabor Sisters, was married no less than 5 times--stating "Marriage is too interesting to be tried only once or twice." After her career in acting, she went on to found a multi-million dollar wig company.

 

[BobO'Link]

Green Acres is rooted in surrealism and absolutely wallows in non sequitur.

Oliver is the only "normal" one there, wants to fit in, but just doesn't catch on while the others see nothing but every day life and think *he's* the odd duck.

I love the show. So does my 8yo granddaughter. Hmmm.... what does that say about us?

1960's TV "Hippies" are an embarresment.

 

[Ron1973]

Green Acres is rooted in surrealism and absolutely wallows in non sequitur.

Oliver is the only "normal" one there, wants to fit in, but just doesn't catch on while the others see nothing but every day life and think *he's* the odd duck.

I love the show. So does my 8yo granddaughter. Hmmm.... what does that say about us?

1960's TV "Hippies" are an embarresment.

I was watching Petticoat Junction last night, "The Valley Has a Baby." Poor Betty Jo has everyone to deal with including Lisa and Oliver. Absolutely hilarious! The next episode, I believe, was going to be the one where Granny came to visit. I realize they were trying to throw anything at the wall in hopes it would stick with Bea Benaderet not being there, but as much as I love my Clampetts, it sticks out like a sore thumb. I enjoyed later crossover attempts, especially Sam winning a trip to Hollywood and Granny convincing him she was a love goddess that everyone from Tarzan to The Lone Ranger was after, but the initial crossover clashed badly. On The Beverly Hillbillies side, they've just returned from England and all of a sudden Granny is needed in a town that's never been mentioned on the show, nor has any relation between Kate and Pearl ever been established. That plot would have been funny IF it would've been done with Bea playing both parts. Once Granny arrives, Betty Jo says that Kate spoke of her "many times." It just plain doesn't work.

I was going to watch McCloud with John Denver. I got all settled in and it was in Japanese! I settled instead on a very nice looking transfer of Columbo which was in English. Dick Van Dyke was the murderer, sporting a full beard. In typical Columbo fashion, he bugs the crap out of Dick. A drunk guy witnesses one of Dick's murders, so Columbo goes to the Mission to talk to him. He's mistaken for a bum complete with one of the sisters trying to give him a new coat and feed him. When he finally makes her understand he's a cop, she congratulates on how good of a job he's done for going undercover looking like a bum! In the end, though, Columbo gets his man. He gets Dick Van Dyke to give himself up without even realizing he's doing it. I still love how Peter Falk played a character who acted like a bumbling fool who didn't know up from down.

I'm open to YouTube suggestions from any of y'all since Hulu won't support my blu-ray player any longer. I try to get my mother to watch stuff with me since she's not in good health. Any good 50's-80's mysteries including movies or TV shows would be great since that's what she loves.

 

[bmasters9]

Any good 50's-80's mysteries including movies or TV shows would be great since that's what she loves.

Have you tried finding Hart to Hart on YouTube? Remarkable show!

 

[BobO'Link]

I'm open to YouTube suggestions from any of y'all since Hulu won't support my blu-ray player any longer. I try to get my mother to watch stuff with me since she's not in good health. Any good 50's-80's mysteries including movies or TV shows would be great since that's what she loves.

Murder She Wrote

My wife and I watched it regularly when it was on. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the series. I just sample a couple of episodes on YouTube which looked quite good - better than I'd have expected (I just did a Google search and took one of the top hits). One of these days I'm going to crack open the Complete Series DVD set I picked up a couple of years back and rewatch it all.

I've not looked for them - but any of the Marple (especially those with Joan Hickson) or the Poirot series (with David Suchet) from the BBC would be good choices. They're definitive.