What did you watch this week in classic TV on DVD(or Blu)? (12 Viewers)

[JohnHopper]

The Time Tunnel - Complete Series (bluray)
The Day The Sky Fell In (1.4) Linden Chiles, Susan Flannery, Sheldon Collins, Lew Gallo. Pearl Harbor and Tony's dad. What can I say, probably my favorite episode as I enjoy father/son outings. Excellent work by both actors in the final act. Out of place moment - Jerry defusing a WWII bomb in the least tense scene ever.

Amongst the best episodes ever! Highly recommended!

 

[JohnHopper]

Amongst the best episodes ever! Highly recommended!

Actually, the first four episodes are the cream of the crop:
"Rendezvous with Yesterday"
"One Way to the Moon"
"End of the World"
"The Day The Sky Fell In"

 

[Rustifer]

Episode Commentary
Gomer Pyle: USMC
"Chef For a Day" (S4E26)

I really liked Gomer Pyle in The Andy Griffith Show. Jim Neighbors' solid shaping of his character was rivaled only by Don Knott's multi-Emmy portrayal of the indomitable Barney Fife. But Pyle's series arc to the Marines lacked a bit of the bumpkin atmosphere so perfect for a Mayberry denizen. The Marine Corp is generally not considered as particularly rustic. Be that as it may, us folk in Indianapolis revered Jim Neighbors if only for his enduring rendition of "Back Home Again in Indiana", which he performed for more than 40 years at each Indy 500 race. We're a sentimental bunch.

In this episode, Sgt. Carter (Frank Sutton) wins a contest against Sgt. Hacker (Alan Melvin) to have Gomer reassigned to Hacker's kitchen duty permanently. His duties include filling salt shakers, sugar bowls, napkin holders and toilet paper in the mess hall--but strictly ordered to stay away from the food. The Colonel strolls in at an off dining hour while Hacker is away, and wants breakfast. Thanks to what is apparently an eidetic memory of Grandma Pyle's recipes, Gomer is able to whip up a cheese omelet par excellence. The Ratatouille of the Mess Hall is born. The Colonel gives Gomer 3 Michelin stars, much to the amazement of Sgt. Hacker. Tasty chicken paprikash, steak au poivre, crudite platters are stellar attractions. Gomer's culinary finesse becomes a necessity for the Colonel's palette and Hacker's rise in the Corps.

Gomer gets orders not to mess with the food; but the colonel likes Gomer's food; Gomer forgets how to boil water

But Gomer is disheartened. He misses Sgt. Carter's harassment, belittlement and abuse. Carter, too, begins to realize he misses his favorite stooge to kick around. Gomer's cooking becomes uninspired, barely able to boil water anymore. The Colonel is disappointed and Hacker's dream of a meteoric flight to mess hall stardom deflates faster than a ruined souffle. Gomer is happily reunited with the abusive Sgt. Carter. Shazam and pass the ketchup, please.

 

[Ron1973]

The nice folks over at Vudu sent me a $3 credit for watching a "last chance" movie the other day, so I hopped on last night and bought another HD episode of Gilligan's Island, "You've Been Disconnected." I can't give you any nice HD screenshots-I logged in on my computer and was told that due to "copyright restrictions," I could only view in SD on my computer since it doesn't have HDMI. Mind you, I use a 32" TV for a monitor that looks good to me, but they thwarted my plans for screenshots.

Anyway, yes, Gilligan bumbles another rescue attempt. The Professor manages to hack into a washed up telephone cable and can even make a phone to hook into it! Mr. Howell wants stock quotes, Ginger wants to call Hollywood, The Skipper can't wait to get back to Hawaii and have his favorite steak sandwich-one steak stacked between two other steaks! Alas, a storm is about to hit, so our lovable castaways, minus Tina Louise who wasn't too lovable apparently, have to scuttle for shelter. The cable is washed back to sea, but don't fret, The Professor says that once the salt water corrodes the exposed cable, they will track it down, and the elusive rescue will finally happen. Not so fast! Gilligan poured liquid rubber over the exposed part so it wouldn't get wet! It ended with The Skipper telling Gilligan to dive again to find the cable, something he had already tried 62 times prior. He refused, only to see 5 more castaways staring him down in anger, so he went for time 63.

Vudu's SD offerings look really good, but the HD, at least for this series, is outstanding. The crispness and sharpness are beyond belief. You can see variations in Russell Johnson's hair color, you can see a 5 o'clock shadow on Alan Hale, Jr. You can see the not so whiteness of Jim Backus' teeth. What is really outstanding is the detail of Tina Louise's hair. I swear in some shots she's wearing a wig. They must have used a ton of hair spray on her. You can see individual hairs sticking out that do not move at all when she moves. Dawn Wells is even more stunning in HD! It's also apparent that Natalie Schafer is wearing fairly heavy makeup. I've heard that she did not want closeups because of wrinkles due to age. I didn't see any wrinkles, but I did see quite a bit of makeup.

Vudu sells each season digitally for $29.99. I'm going to eventually bite on that.

If you're a fan of the show, there are some documentaries done by a guy who's a more avid watcher than I am that are available on YouTube. He breaks down goofs and errors from each season, some of which you start to believe were done on purpose.

If anyone can find it, either S2 or S3 were broadcast with a slightly darker sounding theme song. Syndication and DVD's all use the same opening. Someone had uploaded it to YouTube straight from the 16mm film. I can't find it now-I was going to share it.

 

[BobO'Link]

Evening Shade - The Complete Series (vei)
Far From The Madden Crowd (1.23) Terry Bradshaw. Wood wants anybody but Terry (former teammate) to speak at the Sport's Banquet. During the banquet, Ava goes into labor.

The Baby Show (1.25) Evening Shade holds a vigil as there are complications with the delivery of the baby.

With any luck, I should have some comments on season 2 soon.

The Time Tunnel - Complete Series (bluray)
The Day The Sky Fell In (1.4) Linden Chiles, Susan Flannery, Sheldon Collins, Lew Gallo. Pearl Harbor and Tony's dad. What can I say, probably my favorite episode as I enjoy father/son outings. Excellent work by both actors in the final act. Out of place moment - Jerry defusing a WWII bomb in the least tense scene ever.

The Last Patrol (1.4) Carroll O'Connor in a dual role as a British officer . Interesting casting since we now see O'Connor as mainly Archie or Chief Gillespie. Battle of New Orleans was real, but the General was not. Crosses and double crosses as well as "save my partner, not me" sacrifices with a terminal relative thrown in. Should Gen. Kirk have allowed Col. Southall visit the past??? Interesting question that was glossed over. Didn't realize the Tunnel had the ability to reclothe our heros (put them back in their "traveling" clothes) before they spiraled into the next adventure.

Have Gun - Will Travel - Complete Series Epik Pak
Juliet (2.20) Miranda Jones, Earl Hodgens, John Beradino, Allen Case. A blood feud catches up to Paladin and the final family member who he is protecting.

Hunt The Man Down (2.21) Bruce Gordon, Peter Adams, Harry Dean Stanton, Willard Sage. Paladin acts as a stand-in for a partner in a Civil War payroll chest robbery. Treachery abounds and partners are offed one by one. (This is the episode on the disc, not as described on IMDB.)

The Scorched Feather (2.22) Lon Chaney Jr., Mario Alcalde. Paladin is hired to protect an old Indian Scout. Seems that the civilized young man who is concerned for his father is a half breed Indian who is itching for a fight. Schizophrenia/split personality showing up here. Unusual.

The Rockford Files - Complete Series (bluray)
Backlash Of The Hunter (Parts 1 and 2) (1.0) Lindsy Wagner, William Smith, Nita Talbott, Bill Mumy, Bill Quinn, Joe Santos, Lou Antonio. As I have said previously, I did not watch this regularly during its run as I was finishing high school and off to college. Based on all of the fine comments about the series (even the sets released by Universal) by you good folks prompted my purchase of the Mill Creek bluray set. A big Thank You to all. I have no knowledge of cut or extended scenes, but I really enjoyed this pilot (except for Rocky, I prefer Noah Beery Jr.) Excellent episode(s) or movie.

The Kirkoff Case (1.1) Roger Davis, Julie Sommars, James Woods, Abe Vigoda, Philip Kenneally, Milt Kogan. This is the show I remember seeing periodically, fun, exciting, not sure what Rockford would try next. Pretty good mystery and plenty of fun watching the chase through the country club. I felt I had a half grin on my face through much of the episode.

I used to have some Universal flipper discs and hated them so I appreciate Mill Creek using single sided discs. I have no great knowledge of what this should look like, but I am very pleased with the quality of what I have seen so far. Doesn't look as pristine as Star Trek TOS, but it looks pretty dang good from my seat. I know I am going to enjoy getting acquainted with this character.

Seven (7) Days - Complete Series (vei)
Pilot (Parts 1 and 2) Glad to have this on as it was a favorite while UPN was on air. Started in '98, so it meets the automobile definition of classic. Still enjoyable and it seems that vei,inc. has put 5 episodes on each disc . Hope that doesn't change as I work my way through this set. Again, I sure enjoy time travel stories and series, they just never seem to last very long. Where are you Journeyman???

Dad gummit, Doug!! I don't yet own a copy of the full series of Evening Shade - just the original S1 release (which is still in shrink wrap). I really want this one and you're making it very hard to resist (which I must for a while due to budget constraints...).

I *do* own copies of The Time Tunnel (BR), Have Gun Will Travel (Megapak), and Rockford Files (BR) and your reviews are just making me want to get 'em out for a viewing. I've not yet finished Have Gun... or Rockford... and have been doling them out sporadically. I try not to binge those shows with longer runs so I don't get burnt out on them doing so but sometimes it's really hard to do...

 

[Dan McW]

Bronk #19, "Target: Unknown," featured Sutton Roley directing a chase scene involving two helicopters, which must have meant a third copter was in the air filming the other two. Guest stars included Fernando Lamas as a duplicitous type (surprise) and Richard Lynch as an internationally wanted criminal named Scorpio.

Episode 20, "Jailbreak" (you can guess what that one was about), had a large cast headed by the omnipresent Bradford Dillman. Buried in the credits were Gloria Stuart as the mother of a female prisoner, Cody Palance, and David "Mad Ghoul" Bruce in one of his final roles. The jailbreak scenes were pretty well handled, although the criminals managed to get into a gunroom awfully easy. This was another episode that just broke the 49-minute mark after a season full of mostly 50-minute-plus episodes.

 

[JohnHopper]

Bronk #19, "Target: Unknown," featured Sutton Roley directing a chase scene involving two helicopters, which must have meant a third copter was in the air filming the other two. Guest stars included Fernando Lamas as a duplicitous type (surprise) and Richard Lynch as an internationally wanted criminal named Scorpio.

Looks intriguing! With magician Sutton Roley on the camera, I need to watch that. Thanks for the heads-up!

 

[JohnHopper]

Just double-checked Roley's credits on Bronk, he did seven episodes:
"The Vigilante" (1976)
"Vengeance" (1976)
"Target: Unknown" (1976)
"Jackson Blue" (1976)
"Next of Kin" (1976)
"The Pickoff" (1975)
"Wheels of Death" (1975)

 

[JohnHopper]

Find the list of directors working on Bronk:
Sutton Roley ... (7 episodes, 1975-1976)
John Peyser ... (3 episodes, 1975)
Reza Badiyi ... (2 episodes, 1975-1976)
Corey Allen ... (2 episodes, 1975)
Richard Donner ... (2 episodes, 1975)
Paul Krasny ... (2 episodes, 1975)
Allen Baron ... (2 episodes, 1976)
Stuart Hagmann ... (1 episode, 1975)
Russ Mayberry ... (1 episode, 1975)
Don Weis ... (1 episode, 1975)
Alex March ... (1 episode, 1976)
Ric Rondell ... (1 episode, 1976)

Find the best ones
Sutton Roley
Reza Badiyi
Richard Donner
Paul Krasny
Stuart Hagmann

Badiyi, Hagmann, Krasny and Roley all worked for Bruce Geller's previous series: Mission: Impossible and Mannix.
Richard Donner is a renown movie director.
Both Donner and Roley worked on Combat!.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

On vacation back home in lovely Washington State, but still managed to get some vintage TV watching done. Have limited computer access, so will keep this one briefer than normal.

Van Der Valk - 1.2 "Destroying Angel"
Watched this one on my Fire tablet on the long, crushingly boring plane trip home. Piet Van Der Valk (played with a nice mix of tartness and eccentricity by Barry Foster) is a very different sort of detective, very fond of his beer, cigars and food. He has a indirect but effective investigative style. This one, about a criminal found poisoned in a seedy bar / whorehouse, didn't have much in the way of tension, but held my interest throughout, thanks to good performances, sharp dialogue and some nice location work in Amsterdam. Recommended for Brit TV fans.

Daniel Boone - 1.1 "Ken-Tuck-E"
A little more goofy and Disney-fied than I expected, but still an enjoyable first episode. Fess Parker is always good value, and I enjoyed Albert Salmi as his irascible pal. I also liked Ed Ames as the whip-wielding Mingo, even though he was hardly authentic as a Native American. Ed Ames is one thing...accepting Robert F. Simon as Chief Blackfish was a step too far. The story takes a handful of credibility-straining turns, but overall, my westerns' loving Dad and I were suitably entertained.

The Rifleman
1.1 "The Sharpshooter"
1.2 "Home Ranch"
Just love these tough, taut early Sam Peckinpah episodes, when Johnny Crawford was a cute little kid, the bad guys more hard-bitten, and big Chuck Connors dishes out some rough frontier justice. The revamped pilot features nice turns by Dennis Hopper (as a sensitive gunman who befriends Mark), Leif Erickson as the baddie, plus Sidney Blackmer and R.G. Amstrong. Lucas McCain manages not to kill anybody in the second episode, but still handles himself like a boss. The brief but oh-so-effective opening title sequence ranks as one of the best, IMO...and few can beat Chuck Connors in the "mean look" department.

Mr. Novak
1.1 "First Year, First Day"
1.3 "I Don't Even Live Here"
Was excited to check this early '60s drama out, especially after hearing Randall, Doug and others here championing it - and I'm happy to report that it didn't disappoint. "First Year, First Day" had a real authentic vibe to it, and is an engrossing start to the series. Didn't feel like facing Kim Darby as a blind girl crushing on Mr. Novak (Darby's never been one of my favorites, though I'm sure she's good in the episode), so I skipped episode 2 and moved on to ep 3, which was a cracker. Novak clashes with a popular teacher (Peter Gunn's Herschel Bernardi, excellent here) whose comic persona masks an insecure man who is short-changing his students' educational needs. Diane Ladd appears as his worried wife, and look for 19-year-old Shelley Fabares as one of Novak's students, five years after her stint on The Donna Reed Show. Overall, I'm very impressed with this series, and can't wait to dig into more of this Season 1 set. I know these transfers come from old prints, but I thought they looked quite nice on my parents' 42 inch HDTV. An expensive but worthy purchase. Big thanks to Warner Archive for putting this out...now, how about Season 2?

Adam-12 - 1.1 "Log 1"
The first episode of this long-running series feels a little stiff and forced, but was still a good watch, mainly for the vintage Los Angeles locations, cars, etc., plus Martin Milner, who gets a nice, very Jack Webb-ian rat-a-tat rant and does a fine job with it. Series co-creator Webb also directed this episode, which features a pretty bitchin' car chase.

 

[bmasters9]

Van Der Valk - 1.2 "Destroying Angel"
Watched this one on my Fire tablet on the long, crushingly boring plane trip home.

Why was your trip home crushingly boring?

 

[Rustifer]

Episode Commentary
Father Knows Best
"No Apron Strings" (S3E1)

I love family breakfast scenes in 1950's sitcoms. Everyone sits at the kitchen table together, fully dressed and wolfing down piles of pancakes, mountains of eggs and an entire pig's worth of bacon. Afterwards, each waddles off to school or work while Mom makes a quick trip to CVS to resupply the family's Tums stash. And toilet paper. God knows, the family needs lots of toilet paper.

Bud (Billy Gray) heads to Amaldi's store after breakfast in hopes of running in to Georgia (Denise Alexander), Mr. Amaldi's daughter and Bud's classmate. Bud's sweet on the girl, and bestows upon her a necklace. Going steady, by golly. But Georgia has misgivings about their relationship. Bud's dad is a successful insurance agent while her father runs a small food market. She figures she's the proverbial girl from the wrong side of the tracks. One would think Georgia's a tatooed meth-headed bimbo. Nope. More like a nun in demeanor. There'll be no sweaty hanky panky in the storeroom after hours with her.

Bud and Georgia discuss canned peaches; Bud feels like crap forgetting Mom's birthday; Margaret remembers Tums for the grocery list

Bud and Georgia have a date planned for Friday night to visit the observatory. Not a drive-in theater, or the malt shop, or even the mall. The observatory. Georgia has fear that Bud will cancel the date due to social pressure from his conservative family. Oh-oh, Bud suddenly remembers it's his mom's (Jane Wyatt) birthday party on Friday. Schedule conflict! Feeling lower than fish poop in the ocean, Georgia is surprised when Bud finally shows up after blowing off mom's birthday. All would be fine except that Georgia's father (Frank Puglia) has gone to the Anderson's house to give them a piece of his mind. When Bud and Georgia rush to the house expecting major conflict, they find everyone happily singing Polly Wolly Doodle while Jim (Robert Young) sells Mr. Amaldi an overpriced property insurance policy.

A bit of a riff on West Side Story, this episode nonetheless has some sweet moments and a relevant message about social class. I'm not saying it made me cry, but I did mix another martini for emotional stability.

Randoms:
Denise Alexander went on to star in General Hospital for a long stint before eventually being killed off. She returned to the role many years later having been miraculously revived. That's some hospital.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Why was your trip home crushingly boring?

Well, it's a 10 hour flight, Ben...one that I've done roughly 50 times over the past 15 years. Door-to-door (including layovers and bus transfers, etc.) it's a 24 - 25 hour trip - with a 6 year old. I like being here, visiting family and friends, but the travelling part? Not so much.

 

[Rustifer]

few can beat Chuck Connors in the "mean look" department.

Ain't that the truth! If he asks you for a light, you better damn well have one.

In those good old days, menfolk wore their jeans practically up to their nipples. None of this hip hugging, underwear-revealing stuff.

 

[BobO'Link]

Well, it's a 10 hour flight, Ben...one that I've done roughly 50 times over the past 15 years. Door-to-door (including layovers and bus transfers, etc.) it's a 24 - 25 hour trip - with a 6 year old. I like being here, visiting family and friends, but the travelling part? Not so much.

And it's mostly over water isn't it? That would just make it worse with no "scenery" to look at below to break up monotony.

I can't imagine doing such a trip with a small child. We (my wife and I) took a couple of our grandkids, ages 7 & 4 1/2 at the time, on a ~12 hour drive (~10 if I'm by myself, longer with the wife/kids because they have to stop to eat/go to the bathroom just every 30 minutes) to see our son (their uncle) and that was bad enough - even being able to stop, get out, and walk around a bit. Roughly half the trip is going across Oklahoma (I-40 from Arkansas to the Pan Handle). About a half hour from the TX/OK border we let them call their mom to give her a status update. The 4yo tells her "We've been drivin' and drivin' and were *still in Okiehoma!*" and had a little melt down. It was "Party in the back seat" when we crossed the border.

 

[bmasters9]

Well, it's a 10 hour flight, Ben...one that I've done roughly 50 times over the past 15 years. Door-to-door (including layovers and bus transfers, etc.) it's a 24 - 25 hour trip - with a 6 year old. I like being here, visiting family and friends, but the travelling part? Not so much.

Didn't know you had a child! Son or daughter?

 

[Flashgear]

On vacation back home in lovely Washington State, but still managed to get some vintage TV watching done.

Welcome back to this side of the International Date Line, Jeff. Please excuse my age related disorientation in previously welcoming you home to Oregon, ha, ha. You are a very respectful and tolerant young 'un in allowing that to go without correction...being a Teacher especially, ha, ha...

That long flight from Japan would be one I would dread, along with a 12 hr. flight to Australia. And being a now old man, I would obsess about deep vein thrombosis and feel the need for a carefully timed sedative or alcohol consumption in numbing drams tied into minimizing my need to use the restroom...the longer line at the restrooms and the loitering blockheads plugging up the aisles being a major concern...but the worst flight of my life was an excruciating 16 hours in the air with two brief stops in a freezing air transport command Hercules cargo plane...Larnaca Cyprus to Montreal Dorval with brief stops at Manstein USAF Germany and Bentwaters RAF in the UK...I was a 19 year old infantryman (hey, that's a Rifleman too!) riding those long hours bound up in a parka and sitting in a brutally uncomfortable jump seat, sometimes laying down for brief interludes in a rigged up cargo netting, and it felt like it was -20 all the way, even over the Med...

Daniel Boone - 1.1 "Ken-Tuck-E"
A little more goofy and Disney-fied than I expected, but still an enjoyable first episode.

I hope you get to see more episodes of this very entertaining series that is so closely embedded in my childhood synapses that I sometimes absentmindedly sing the theme song under my breath while out in public and in broad daylight, provoking concern, consternation and even sympathy from the general public...Daniel Boone is wonderful, reliable, old fashioned entertainment and remains so throughout it's six seasons, The always likable Fess Parker, along with Albert Salmi and Ed Ames among the excellent supporting cast, you get C+W star and sausage magnate Jimmy Dean and retired NFL star Rosey Grier starting his acting career in the latter seasons...great guest stars and Patricia Blair's redhead loveliness throughout ...the color seasons (S2-on) look beautiful, the first season looks mostly ok, but I wish Fox had remastered it from the start.

The Rifleman
1.1 "The Sharpshooter"
1.2 "Home Ranch"
Just love these tough, taut early Sam Peckinpah episodes, when Johnny Crawford was a cute little kid, the bad guys more hard-bitten, and big Chuck Connors dishes out some rough frontier justice.

Watched The Rifleman as a kid first run, at least as early as about 1959-60...when I first saw the very early episodes many years later, I was truly shocked that ABC (which admittedly needed hit shows desperately) or any other network could have aired these shockingly violent scenes of Lucas being brutalized and the McCain farm being burned with Peckinpah (mostly) unleashed in the TV landscape of 1958...certainly the violence wasn't more graphic than what was being shown in contemporary 1950's theatrical Westerns (Man From Laramie, for instance, as that 1955 Jimmy Stewart movie naturally comes to mind)...but for television of 1958, the early Rifleman's were a shocking anomaly...and Peckinpah was soon restrained of course...for as long as he continued to work outside the realm of feature films...

Mr. Novak
1.1 "First Year, First Day"
1.3 "I Don't Even Live Here"
Was excited to check this early '60s drama out, especially after hearing Randall, Doug and others here championing it - and I'm happy to report that it didn't disappoint. "First Year, First Day" had a real authentic vibe to it, and is an engrossing start to the series. Didn't feel like facing Kim Darby as a blind girl crushing on Mr. Novak (Darby's never been one of my favorites, though I'm sure she's good in the episode), so I skipped episode 2 and moved on to ep 3, which was a cracker. Novak clashes with a popular teacher (Peter Gunn's Herschel Bernardi, excellent here) whose comic persona masks an insecure man who is short-changing his students' educational needs. Diane Ladd appears as his worried wife, and look for 19-year-old Shelley Fabares as one of Novak's students, five years after her stint on The Donna Reed Show. Overall, I'm very impressed with this series, and can't wait to dig into more of this Season 1 set. I know these transfers come from old prints, but I thought they looked quite nice on my parents' 42 inch HDTV. An expensive but worthy purchase. Big thanks to Warner Archive for putting this out...now, how about Season 2?

Glad you're finally seeing this truly great TV drama from the early '60s, Jeff...but I hope you give the Kim Darby episode a viewing also, as it has it's virtues...Herschel Bernardi's performance really blew me away, I just didn't expect the power of that story, which sneaks up on you...and Diane Ladd's powerful performance, all of an extraordinarily heart breaking 4 minute single scene, is one of my favorite moments in the whole series...

 

[Rustifer]

That long flight from Japan would be one I would dread, along with a 12 hr. flight to Australia. And being a now old man, I would obsess about deep vein thrombosis and feel the need for a carefully timed sedative or alcohol consumption in numbing drams tied into minimizing my need to use the restroom...the longer line at the restrooms and the loitering blockheads plugging up the aisles being a major concern...but the worst flight of my life was an excruciating 16 hours in the air with two brief stops in a freezing air transport command Hercules cargo plane...Larnaca Cyprus to Montreal Dorval with brief stops at Manstein USAF Germany and Bentwaters RAF in the UK...I was a 19 year old infantryman (hey, that's a Rifleman too!) riding those long hours bound up in a parka and sitting in a brutally uncomfortable jump seat, sometimes laying down for brief interludes in a rigged up cargo netting, and it felt like it was -20 all the way, even over the Med...

Randall-
I could so go off a cliff recounting my own air travel travails, but I'll refrain since mine are all silly business-oriented and not at all like brave service guys like you went through.

Well, it's a 10 hour flight, Ben...one that I've done roughly 50 times over the past 15 years. Door-to-door (including layovers and bus transfers, etc.) it's a 24 - 25 hour trip - with a 6 year old. I like being here, visiting family and friends, but the travelling part? Not so much.

I sure hope your visit with friends and family outweigh the travel issues, Jeff. Hopefully they all have well-stocked bars, great food and open arms to make your trip well worth while.

 

[Dan McW]

Bronk #21, "Vengeance," was another Sutton Roley-directed episode. Ramon Bieri played an insanely vengeful NYC cop coming to Bronk's territory to nab an international terrorist. The episode culminates with an extremely tense scene in the back of a jetful of passengers. Great outing by Bieri. One Trenace Roley played a receptionist in the episode in her only career credit.

 

[Rustifer]

Episode Commentary
Hogan's Heroes
"The Pizza Parlor" (S1E22)

It must have been a different world back then when the creators of this series, Bernard Fein and Albert Ruddy, made a pitch to the network to air their show's concept:
"So...even though the Germans were turning an entire race into bratwurst and treating prisoners of war like sewer slime, we think there's a comedic gem in all that", they argued. "There were fine people on both sides. Some of those prison guards were just lovable buffoons."
Many a TV series was born from less convincing storylines. My old man, a WWII vet, thought Hogan's Heroes was a blast. So there's that, I guess.

Italian Major Bonacelli (Hans Connried) has come to Stalag 13 to study how Germans run their prison camps, which we know from this show were like Beverly Hills country clubs. However, Bonacelli is more interested in defecting to anywhere where German food is not served. Swedish meatballs would be nice. Egg Foo Yung would be heavenly.
Bonacelli meets Hogan and the boys, who are interested in turning the Major into a spy to help free the Italians from Germany's rule. The strategy for this endeavor is to create a homemade pizza for the Major, who's been longing for his country's native dishes. As they say, the only trouble with eating Italian food is that you're hungry five or six days later.

Klink and Bonacelli discuss Sauerbraten; Who put anchovies on the damn pie? The Major enjoys 5 star service in a prison camp

LeBeau (Robert Clary) searches for a pizza recipe, as if it's akin to creating Beef Bourguignonne. Incredibly, Hogan has access to all necessary ingredients and equipment to produce a magnificent pizza pie--served on a checkered tablecloth and a bottle of fine chianti. This was, of course, a common occurrence across all prison camps in Germany at the time. It was fun to let prisoners whip up regional cuisines.
As planned, LeBeau's delicately seasoned pizza sauce is enough to convince the Major to turn coat and spy for the cause. If only Harry Truman knew that pizza could be more effective than atomic bombs. Santa Lucia!

Randoms:
Interestingly, the actors who played the four major German roles: Klemperer, Banner, Askin and Caine were all Jewish. That must've gone over well at the family Hanakkuh dinners.

The series was not aired in Germany until 1992, but was generally unpopular with the audience--mostly due to bad lip-syncing.

Richard Dawson's role as a military prisoner in the 1965 film King Rat led to his stint on Hogan's Heroes.

John Banner (Sgt. Schultz) came to America in 1939 as a German refugee. He did not speak English at first, but as an accomplished actor was able to learn his lines phonetically. He served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army from 1943-1945.