What did you watch this week in classic TV on DVD(or Blu)? (4 Viewers)

[mark-edk]

I followed up on Ozzie's 'Busy Christmas' with 'The Day After Christmas' which was the show that aired the week after Busy's original airing. Another charming seasonal show with laughs, sentiment, and a chance for the boys to show off a few ice skating moves. But the tree, in the den the previous week, was now in the living room.

Also watched 'Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid' from another favorite show, 'That Girl!'. Nitpicker that I am I noticed that in a scene with Ann's dad reading the paper he suddenly reaches over, picks up the phone, and says 'Hello'. Only the phone didn't ring! (Someone messed up, at least on the Amazon streaming version.) The writer of this episode, James Brooks, went on to do impressive work with MTM productions, particularly on the Mary Tyler Moore show. There he wrote an episode in a similar vein and called it 'Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid II'.

 

[Doug Wallen]

Watching lots of classic tv as well as some movies during the holidays.

Rawhide - Complete 1st Season
Finally finished up this first season and have really enjoyed this one.
Incident of the Dog Days (1.14) R. G. Armstrong, Don Dubbins. Decisions need to be made by Mr. Favor and most of them were incorrect. Trouble on the trail. Excellent episode.

Incident of the Calico Gun (1.15) Jack Lord, Gloria Talbott. The drive is infiltrated by a con woman trying to set up our hero's for theft.

Incident of the Misplaced Indians (1.16) Kim Hunter, Lyle Talbott, Virginia Gregg. A frightened woman cooks with poison and is very fearful of Indians.

Incident of Fear in the Streets (1.17) Gary Merril, Morris Ankrum. A town is paralyzed by a hanging and the criminal's father is seeking revenge. Pete's life is hanging in the balance.

Incident Below the Brazos (1.18) Leslie Nielson, Martin Landau, Kathleen Crowley. The drive is near a homested area and the cattle are spooked leading to a death. The wife expects revenge.

Incident of the Dry Drive (1.19) Victor Jory. Gil Favor meets up with a former trail boss who is corrupt. The herd needs water and Hode will not share.

Incident of the Judas Trap (1.20) Nina Foch, Gerald Mohr, Phyllis Coates. Pete's past is being uncovered and he is involved in a very strange love triangle/quadrangle.

Incident in No Man's Land (1.21) Brian Kieth, Phyllis Avery, Reed Hadley. A forced labor camp, prison escape and female tent city tempt our hero's.

Incident of a Burst of Evil (1.22) Linda Cristal, H. M. Wynant, Elisha Cook. Rowdy falls for a beautiful woman who may be a Commanchero.

Bonus Episode:
Incident of the Roman Candles (2.2) Richard Eyer, Beverly Garland, Robert Ellenstein, Will Wright. A boy finds his way into the camp by telling tall tales and untruths. He is looking for his father as there is trouble at home.

Gunsmoke - Seasons 8-9
Blind Man's Bluff (8.24) Will Hutchins, Crahan Denton, Judson Pratt. A murder completed in a drunken rage causes trouble for Billy Poe. Matt is temporarily blinded while tracking down Billy Poe. Excellent episode about redemption.

Quint's Indian (8.25) Episode investigation prejudice against Indian's and how it affects Quint.

Anybody Can Kill A Marshall (8.26) Milton Selzer, James Westerfield, Warren Stevens, Joyce Van Patten, Howard McNear. Unsettling episode where two bank robbers believe that Matt is "unkillable". They hire a drifter for $200 to kill Matt. Interesting character study.

Two Of A Kind (8.27) Richard Jaeckel, Kent Smith, Tim Finnegan, Ben Wright. Fighting Irishmen with a rivalry own a mining claim together.

Evening Shade - The Complete Series
The Thanksgiving Show (2.9) Billy Bob Thornton. Wood's black sheep cousin arrives for Thanksgiving at the Newton's.

Busted (2.10) As the local DA, Ava closes down Fontana's business.

Cannon - The Complete Series
Pilot (1.0) Vera Miles, J.D. Cannon, Lynda Day, Barry Sullivan. Cannon travels to help the wife of a buddy who died under questionable circumstances. Has all the fine earmarks of a QM series.

The Salinas Jackpot (1.1) Tom Skerrit, Sharon Acker, Charles Bateman. Rodeo heist.

Death Chain (1.2) William Windom, Sorrell Booke, Don Gordon, June Dayton. Murder tied into a theft and blackmail.

Call Unicorn (1.3) Wayne Rogers, Patricia Smith, Charles Cioffi, Joe Maross. Cannon goes undercover to expose a trucking theft ring.

Country Blues (1.4) Clu Gulager, Dianne Varsi, Joan Van Ark, David Huddleston, Ford Rainey, Robert Hogan. Cannon is hired by an insurance company to investigate the mysterious death of a country singer.

Scream of Silence (1.5) Tim O'Connor, Jason Evers, Radames Pera, Whit Bissell. A kidnapping leaves the victim mute.

Tarzan - The First Season Part 1
The Figurehead (1.10) Anthony Caruso. Jai and a young prince change places.

Village of Fire (1.11) Nobu McCarthy. Jai is scratched by an infected jaguar and Tarzan is searching for the antidote before time runs out.

Lost In Space - The Complete Classic Series (WM)
A Visit to Hades (2.12) Gerald Mohr. A harp is a gateway to another dimension.

Wreck of the Robot (2.13) The robot is analyzed in order to create unbeatable weapons.

The Dream Monster (2.14) John Abbott. Dr. Smith agrees to give away the emotions of the Robinson's.

The Golden Man (2.15) Dennis Patrick. Looks can be deceiving.

The High Chaparral - Season 4
It Takes A Smart Man (4.6) Richard Bradford. Buck is the pawn in a man's plan to blackmail Big John.

A Good Sound Profit (4.7) Harold Gould, Joe de Santis. Big John is doing undercover work for Juarez of Mexico.

Perry Mason - Season 7-9
TCoT Betrayed Bride (8.5) Michael Forest, Jacques Aubuchon, Jeannette Nolan. A gigilo is murdered and his french bride is accused.

TCoT Nautical Knot (8.6) Tom Tully, Lisa Gaye, Barbara Bain. Shenanigans involving an eccentric uncle and the company he runs.

TCoT Bullied Bowler (8.7) Mike Connors, Anne Seymour, Milton Selzer, Charles H. Gray. Perry is absent so Joe Kelly, (a friend of Paul.s) takes the case.

TCo A Place Called Midnight (8.8) Jim Davis, Gerald Mohr, Robert Emhardt, Werner Klemperer, Harry Townes, Eddie Firestone. International intrigue as Perry gets involved in a search for missing Nazi gold.

Happy Holidays everyone. Enjoy your viewing.

 

[Ron1973]

I've watched Christmas episodes from The Beverly Hillbillies from S5 (my favorite) and from S7 with the Petticoat Junction crossovers. Last night I added a S3 episode with a New Year's theme, "Start the New Year Right," followed by the second part of the story, "Clampett General Hospital."

I watched a Andy Williams Christmas special on Amazon this past weekend. The picture quality was absolutely outstanding. The audio left a lot to be desired.

Out of sheer curiosity of what it looked like in HD, I bought the first episode of Lost in Space on Amazon. Oh my goodness! The visual is better than anything I've ever seen. You can make out minute details you never thought of being there such as the texture of the floor on the Jupiter 2. I can get the rest of S1 for $12, something I might do eventually.

While not technically TV, I rented the supposed to be HD version of Home Alone 2 on Amazon. Ugh! It didn't look any better than DVD quality AND it was pan and scan. I have the first movie on DVD and it's been done in some sort of weird letterboxing where it's in a square in the middle of the TV with black bars on the sides and the top. I don't know what they were attempting to accomplish, but my luck with that particular movie franchise isn't too great!

Again, not TV, but I did watch Laurel and Hardy's Babes in Toyland on Amazon as it was free to stream this past weekend. I don't remember ever watching this, and I absolutely loved it. I watched the colorized version after not being able to find the original version. The colorization was supposed to have been done in 2006 when colorization was supposed to be so much advanced over Ted Turner's hideous efforts. It didn't look natural at all and had lots of background flickering. The color looked washed out like it had been sourced from a well worn negative print. Of course, I know it wasn't, but they didn't too much to sell me on their efforts.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

Watching right now: disc two of Sealab 2020 (Hanna-Barbera, 1972)

Episodes on this disc:
9. "The Deepest Dive" (November 4, 1972)
The crew of Sealab are testing a new submersible vehicle called the "Crystal Ball," which is made mostly out of glass and is supposed to be better than conventional submersibles and dive deeper. They are given a mission to place a seismograph unit at the bottom of a deep part of the sea, but for some reason the unit stops functioning. They go back out with a second seismograph unit and realize that a giant squid had taken the first unit and used it for material at its rock home. The squid catches the Crystal Ball and the crew is stuck trying to escape from its grasp. They eventually get free and the seismograph unit works.

10. "The Challenge" (November 11, 1972)
The Sealab team meet Alex, an archaeologist who has dedicated the last seven years to finding the sunken ship Viking, which sank over 100 years ago. It is rumored that the ship has been carrying some Aztec treasures. Alex's brother, Chuck, is very excited by the discovery, and his excitement is getting in the way. Sealab follows rules and guidelines that guarantee safety, but prevent Chuck from finding the treasure faster. Alex is willing to cut his losses if lives could be lost, but Chuck will not let the last seven years of his brother's life be for nothing.

11. "Collision of the Aquarius" (November 18, 1972)
A malfunctioning cargo submarine crashes into the side of the Seamount and its damaged nuclear reactor threatens Sealab, forcing an evacuation. The oceanauts race against time to prevent the submarine's reactor from melting down, but complicating the situation is its commander, who has an acrimonious history with Captain Murphy.
NOTE: This episode was re-made in 2002, with the voice actors of the comedy series Sealab 2021, and retitled as "7211."

12. "The Capture" (November 25, 1972)
The Sealab crew reluctantly assists biologist Mr. Harlem in collecting animal species living on the Challenger Seamount. Two of the children are upset by this and secretly release the captured animals. Whilst trying to release the animals from their cages, the children become trapped in the cages and get dragged over the edge of the Seamount.

13. "The Arctic Story" (December 2, 1972)
Members of the crew use the submarine Dolphin in a desperate search for a two-man Arctic rescue station which is underneath a capsized ice floe.

~Ben

 

[JohnHopper]

¶
¶ I'm currently watching and working on the first disc of season 16 from Gunsmoke.
¶​

 

[Rustifer]

Episode Commentary
Gilligan's Island
"Physical Fitness" (S1E32)

Okay, let's face it--the Skipper (Alan Hale, Jr.) is overweight. Pleasantly plumb. Chunky Charlie. So what if he likes congealed pork fat at breakfast, washed down with a quart of chocolate milk? Unfortunately, he splits his size 54 trousers bending over to pick up a dropped Almond Joy bar. Something must be done.

The Navy manual indicates that a man of his height should weigh 199 lbs. Skipper hasn't weighed 199 since 5th grade. Gilligan (Bob Denver) takes on the task of helping the Skipper lose some poundage. Lettuce for lunch. Pine Floats (toothpicks in water) for dinner. This is beyond Skipper's endurance--he must cheat to eat. But clever Gilligan foils his every attempt at solid food. Ginger (Tina Louise), bless her trailer trash heart, suggests an exercise that will help Skipper lose weight, but his moral fiber prevents such salaciousness.

On the flipside, Gilligan is found to be 5 lbs. underweight. So while the Skipper dreams of charbroiled steaks, mushroom gravy and potatoes au gratin, Gilligan is consuming truckloads of bananas and pineapples. Meanwhile, the Professor (Russell Johnson) invents some sort of glowy glop that can be seen by aircraft flying far overhead. Rescue could be imminent. Ginger is impressed. "You know what I find so
fascinating about science?" she purrs. "It's so scientific." This is from a gal who attended Ball State University because it sounded like a party school.

Unfortunately in his eating frenzy, Gilligan accidentally consumes the glop. In the end, no rescue. Gilligan doesn't gain a pound, the Skipper doesn't lose an ounce. As the hardship life of the castaways continue, Mr. Howell brews up a spectacular pot of bouillabaisse to ease their pain.

Edit: Well crap. I forgot to add in any pics. Too much a pain after posting.

 

[BobO'Link]

Out of sheer curiosity of what it looked like in HD, I bought the first episode of Lost in Space on Amazon. Oh my goodness! The visual is better than anything I've ever seen. You can make out minute details you never thought of being there such as the texture of the floor on the Jupiter 2. I can get the rest of S1 for $12, something I might do eventually.

If you're a fan at all of the show - do it. The BRs look incredible. I own the newer cropped WS DVD set but haven't made time for it (I did watch the WS episode on the BR set and recall the cropping making the image look a bit tight). It was purchased because I stumbled upon it at WM for $20. For that price I'll own it.

While not technically TV, I rented the supposed to be HD version of Home Alone 2 on Amazon. Ugh! It didn't look any better than DVD quality AND it was pan and scan. I have the first movie on DVD and it's been done in some sort of weird letterboxing where it's in a square in the middle of the TV with black bars on the sides and the top. I don't know what they were attempting to accomplish, but my luck with that particular movie franchise isn't too great!

Sounds like you have the early, non-anamorphic, DVD release. If your set has a "zoom" function you should be able to tinker with the image size controls to get that enabled. At that point you can zoom in on the image and should be able to remove the side bars. Better yet... check BB. They regularly have the HA1/HA2 BR set on sale for $10 (it's $15 right now - with Amazon doing a PM). If you're happy with DVD you can get the 2 movie set from BB or Amazon for $8 - and it's in proper WS. Unfortunately, BB has already ended their free shipping promo for this year.

Again, not TV, but I did watch Laurel and Hardy's Babes in Toyland on Amazon as it was free to stream this past weekend. I don't remember ever watching this, and I absolutely loved it. I watched the colorized version after not being able to find the original version. The colorization was supposed to have been done in 2006 when colorization was supposed to be so much advanced over Ted Turner's hideous efforts. It didn't look natural at all and had lots of background flickering. The color looked washed out like it had been sourced from a well worn negative print. Of course, I know it wasn't, but they didn't too much to sell me on their efforts.

IMHO, the better colorization efforts are still rather lacking as they often look washed out and magnify issues present in the BW film (that "well worn negative" print look with blooming whites and/or crushed blacks). Things that you never really notice in BW stand out when colorized - especially in faces.

The *only* colorized product I watch with any kind of regularity is Holiday Inn simply because of the colorization on Marjorie Reynold's gowns in the song/dance sequences looks pretty good. However, those viewings are fairly infrequent as I prefer it in BW due to the standard colorization issues in the rest of the film.

 

[Rustifer]

While not technically TV, I rented the supposed to be HD version of Home Alone 2 on Amazon

I saw on the news where the Canadian version of this movie had edited out a 7 second cameo of Donald Trump. The Donald has since blamed the Prime Minister, the Canadian people as a whole, North America in general, the producers of the movie and cancelled his twitter feed from Macauly Culkin.
He also refuses to eat poutine now.

 

[BobO'Link]

It's....

Monty Python's Flying Circus!

I'm currently watching my spankin' new Complete Series Norwegian Blu-ray edition. Yes... my box exploded in shipment (or rather destroyed itself like many others). However, the season sets survived with no damage.

WOW! Just... WOW! I'd have never thought a show produced mostly on video tape could look this good. I worked in broadcasting for over 20 years (directing commercials and newscasts). This is like sitting in the control room watching a live output of the production board. Better than any quad tape playback I've ever seen. They've even managed to remove most analog camera and tape issues. Based on what I've seen so far, you *really* have to know what to look for to see what little is left. Gilliam's animations are crisp and glorious to see. I've said several times over the years that there's little use to putting video taped programs on BR as, at best, you're going to get DVD quality from such sources. This release proves me very wrong! It *can* be done, and look better than the original airings, if you're willing to put in the time and effort to do proper restorations. Of course it helps if your master is PAL and not NTSC as it is with this series.

And there's a ~175 page perfect bound paperback book for *each* season! I've only scanned one of them. It's a treasure trove of historical information about the show. The 4 will make excellent companions to the book "Monty Python's Flying Circus: An Utterly Complete, Thoroughly Unillustrated, Absolutely Unauthorized Guide to Possibly All the References From Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson to Zambesi."

I'm not even going to try to talk about the show itself. I've found over the years that you're either a fan or you're not. There seems to be very little, if any, middle ground. I'll just say that when I discovered the show in mid 1977 it was a breath of fresh air (I'd graduated college and moved to Texas - we didn't get this type of "subversive" material on TV where I'd lived in the Bible Belt). It was quite obvious this is from where much of the inspiration for SNL came and these guys did it far better (don't get me wrong as I'm a huge fan of the early seasons of SNL, my generation's Saturday night appointment TV around which parties were organized every week). I was astounded this stuff was on TV! Thank you PBS!! I truly hated moving back home after 9 months and losing this program. It'd be ~10 years before I'd see it again.

Enough prattling on... I'm off to watch "How to Recognise Different Types of Trees from Quite a Long Way Away"...

 

[BobO'Link]

I saw on the news where the Canadian version of this movie had edited out a 7 second cameo of Donald Trump. The Donald has since blamed the Prime Minister, the Canadian people as a whole, North America in general, the producers of the movie and cancelled his twitter feed from Macauly Culkin.

Some of my grandkids saw these two movies for the first time at my house this Christmas. You should have seen the look on the 8yo's face when she discovered Culkin is almost 40!

I can't say I've ever really noticed that cameo. I didn't watch that one with the grandkids as, to me, it's one of those sequels that mostly remakes the superior original - and I refuse to watch 3 & 4 ever again, telling them they just need to ignore that they exist (when the 7yo heard there were more he almost obsessed over watching them). See how I connected? HA3 & 4 are made-for-TV movies.

 

[Rustifer]

Some of my grandkids saw these two movies for the first time at my house this Christmas. You should have seen the look on the 8yo's face when she discovered Culkin is almost 40!

There's no stopping the inexorable march of time...

 

[Ron1973]

If you're a fan at all of the show - do it. The BRs look incredible. I own the newer cropped WS DVD set but haven't made time for it (I did watch the WS episode on the BR set and recall the cropping making the image look a bit tight). It was purchased because I stumbled upon it at WM for $20. For that price I'll own it.

Sounds like you have the early, non-anamorphic, DVD release. If your set has a "zoom" function you should be able to tinker with the image size controls to get that enabled. At that point you can zoom in on the image and should be able to remove the side bars. Better yet... check BB. They regularly have the HA1/HA2 BR set on sale for $10 (it's $15 right now - with Amazon doing a PM). If you're happy with DVD you can get the 2 movie set from BB or Amazon for $8 - and it's in proper WS. Unfortunately, BB has already ended their free shipping promo for this year.

IMHO, the better colorization efforts are still rather lacking as they often look washed out and magnify issues present in the BW film (that "well worn negative" print look with blooming whites and/or crushed blacks). Things that you never really notice in BW stand out when colorized - especially in faces.

The *only* colorized product I watch with any kind of regularity is Holiday Inn simply because of the colorization on Marjorie Reynold's gowns in the song/dance sequences looks pretty good. However, those viewings are fairly infrequent as I prefer it in BW due to the standard colorization issues in the rest of the film.

I didn't spring for the season proper since I was afraid of it being in WS. Thankfully it was 4x3 HD. I might simply spring for the blu-ray set. I know you're supposed to "own" it after you purchase it, but I went through the nightmare of purchasing music through MusicMatch Jukebox years ago, only to see them bought out by Yahoo!, and then to see them go out. So much for what I "bought."

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Some of my grandkids saw these two movies for the first time at my house this Christmas. You should have seen the look on the 8yo's face when she discovered Culkin is almost 40!

I can't say I've ever really noticed that cameo. I didn't watch that one with the grandkids as, to me, it's one of those sequels that mostly remakes the superior original - and I refuse to watch 3 & 4 ever again, telling them they just need to ignore that they exist (when the 7yo heard there were more he almost obsessed over watching them). See how I connected? HA3 & 4 are made-for-TV movies.

I love the original Home Alone, but could only make it through the sequel once (and wisely never bothered with the others). Same plot, minus much of the charm, most of the slapstick gags repeated (but dialed up to 11), and too many forced coincidences so that they could repeat the plot, once again at Christmas. I remember thinking, at the time of Home Alone 2 --if they had to make a sequel at all-- a better idea would be to flip it around some.

Have it take place in the Summer, since they've already done Christmas/Winter. Given what happened in the first movie, the parents/family would never lose track of Kevin on another family trip, so rather Kevin is sent away to summer camp in the deep woods of the upper Midwest, probably with older brother Buzz. He somehow gets accidentally separated from the camp councilors and the other kids, and has to fend for himself, but he has nascent camp-craft skills. And it happens that he's wandered into a part of the forest that is adjacent to the state penitentiary, where "Wet Bandits" Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are incarcerated, and have just tunneled out of (cartoon convict-style) to escape... and guess who is the first person they run into? Maybe use it to loosely adapt O. Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief". Call it Home Away from Home Alone (1992). And no further sequels.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

View attachment 66585

There's no stopping the inexorable march of time...

Yet another sad story of a child actor whose adult life spiralled off into substance abuse problems.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

It's....

Monty Python's Flying Circus!

I'm currently watching my spankin' new Complete Series Norwegian Blu-ray edition. Yes... my box exploded in shipment (or rather destroyed itself like many others). However, the season sets survived with no damage.

WOW! Just... WOW! I'd have never thought a show produced mostly on video tape could look this good. I worked in broadcasting for over 20 years (directing commercials and newscasts). This is like sitting in the control room watching a live output of the production board. Better than any quad tape playback I've ever seen. They've even managed to remove most analog camera and tape issues. Based on what I've seen so far, you *really* have to know what to look for to see what little is left. Gilliam's animations are crisp and glorious to see. I've said several times over the years that there's little use to putting video taped programs on BR as, at best, you're going to get DVD quality from such sources. This release proves me very wrong! It *can* be done, and look better than the original airings, if you're willing to put in the time and effort to do proper restorations. Of course it helps if your master is PAL and not NTSC as it is with this series.

And there's a ~175 page perfect bound paperback book for *each* season! I've only scanned one of them. It's a treasure trove of historical information about the show. The 4 will make excellent companions to the book "Monty Python's Flying Circus: An Utterly Complete, Thoroughly Unillustrated, Absolutely Unauthorized Guide to Possibly All the References From Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson to Zambesi."

I'm not even going to try to talk about the show itself. I've found over the years that you're either a fan or you're not. There seems to be very little, if any, middle ground. I'll just say that when I discovered the show in mid 1977 it was a breath of fresh air (I'd graduated college and moved to Texas - we didn't get this type of "subversive" material on TV where I'd lived in the Bible Belt). It was quite obvious this is from where much of the inspiration for SNL came and these guys did it far better (don't get me wrong as I'm a huge fan of the early seasons of SNL, my generation's Saturday night appointment TV around which parties were organized every week). I was astounded this stuff was on TV! Thank you PBS!! I truly hated moving back home after 9 months and losing this program. It'd be ~10 years before I'd see it again.

Enough prattling on... I'm off to watch "How to Recognise Different Types of Trees from Quite a Long Way Away"...

Sounds like Network did another one of their outstanding remastering jobs on Python. Hope you really enjoy that set, Howie!

 

[Purple Wig]

Watching lots of classic tv as well as some movies during the holidays.

Rawhide - Complete 1st Season
Finally finished up this first season and have really enjoyed this one.
Incident of the Dog Days (1.14) R. G. Armstrong, Don Dubbins. Decisions need to be made by Mr. Favor and most of them were incorrect. Trouble on the trail. Excellent episode.

Incident of the Calico Gun (1.15) Jack Lord, Gloria Talbott. The drive is infiltrated by a con woman trying to set up our hero's for theft.

Incident of the Misplaced Indians (1.16) Kim Hunter, Lyle Talbott, Virginia Gregg. A frightened woman cooks with poison and is very fearful of Indians.

Incident of Fear in the Streets (1.17) Gary Merril, Morris Ankrum. A town is paralyzed by a hanging and the criminal's father is seeking revenge. Pete's life is hanging in the balance.

Incident Below the Brazos (1.18) Leslie Nielson, Martin Landau, Kathleen Crowley. The drive is near a homested area and the cattle are spooked leading to a death. The wife expects revenge.

Incident of the Dry Drive (1.19) Victor Jory. Gil Favor meets up with a former trail boss who is corrupt. The herd needs water and Hode will not share.

Incident of the Judas Trap (1.20) Nina Foch, Gerald Mohr, Phyllis Coates. Pete's past is being uncovered and he is involved in a very strange love triangle/quadrangle.

Incident in No Man's Land (1.21) Brian Kieth, Phyllis Avery, Reed Hadley. A forced labor camp, prison escape and female tent city tempt our hero's.

Incident of a Burst of Evil (1.22) Linda Cristal, H. M. Wynant, Elisha Cook. Rowdy falls for a beautiful woman who may be a Commanchero.

Bonus Episode:
Incident of the Roman Candles (2.2) Richard Eyer, Beverly Garland, Robert Ellenstein, Will Wright. A boy finds his way into the camp by telling tall tales and untruths. He is looking for his father as there is trouble at home.

Gunsmoke - Seasons 8-9
Blind Man's Bluff (8.24) Will Hutchins, Crahan Denton, Judson Pratt. A murder completed in a drunken rage causes trouble for Billy Poe. Matt is temporarily blinded while tracking down Billy Poe. Excellent episode about redemption.

Quint's Indian (8.25) Episode investigation prejudice against Indian's and how it affects Quint.

Anybody Can Kill A Marshall (8.26) Milton Selzer, James Westerfield, Warren Stevens, Joyce Van Patten, Howard McNear. Unsettling episode where two bank robbers believe that Matt is "unkillable". They hire a drifter for $200 to kill Matt. Interesting character study.

Two Of A Kind (8.27) Richard Jaeckel, Kent Smith, Tim Finnegan, Ben Wright. Fighting Irishmen with a rivalry own a mining claim together.

Evening Shade - The Complete Series
The Thanksgiving Show (2.9) Billy Bob Thornton. Wood's black sheep cousin arrives for Thanksgiving at the Newton's.

Busted (2.10) As the local DA, Ava closes down Fontana's business.

Cannon - The Complete Series
Pilot (1.0) Vera Miles, J.D. Cannon, Lynda Day, Barry Sullivan. Cannon travels to help the wife of a buddy who died under questionable circumstances. Has all the fine earmarks of a QM series.

The Salinas Jackpot (1.1) Tom Skerrit, Sharon Acker, Charles Bateman. Rodeo heist.

Death Chain (1.2) William Windom, Sorrell Booke, Don Gordon, June Dayton. Murder tied into a theft and blackmail.

Call Unicorn (1.3) Wayne Rogers, Patricia Smith, Charles Cioffi, Joe Maross. Cannon goes undercover to expose a trucking theft ring.

Country Blues (1.4) Clu Gulager, Dianne Varsi, Joan Van Ark, David Huddleston, Ford Rainey, Robert Hogan. Cannon is hired by an insurance company to investigate the mysterious death of a country singer.

Scream of Silence (1.5) Tim O'Connor, Jason Evers, Radames Pera, Whit Bissell. A kidnapping leaves the victim mute.

Tarzan - The First Season Part 1
The Figurehead (1.10) Anthony Caruso. Jai and a young prince change places.

Village of Fire (1.11) Nobu McCarthy. Jai is scratched by an infected jaguar and Tarzan is searching for the antidote before time runs out.

Lost In Space - The Complete Classic Series (WM)
A Visit to Hades (2.12) Gerald Mohr. A harp is a gateway to another dimension.

Wreck of the Robot (2.13) The robot is analyzed in order to create unbeatable weapons.

The Dream Monster (2.14) John Abbott. Dr. Smith agrees to give away the emotions of the Robinson's.

The Golden Man (2.15) Dennis Patrick. Looks can be deceiving.

The High Chaparral - Season 4
It Takes A Smart Man (4.6) Richard Bradford. Buck is the pawn in a man's plan to blackmail Big John.

A Good Sound Profit (4.7) Harold Gould, Joe de Santis. Big John is doing undercover work for Juarez of Mexico.

Perry Mason - Season 7-9
TCoT Betrayed Bride (8.5) Michael Forest, Jacques Aubuchon, Jeannette Nolan. A gigilo is murdered and his french bride is accused.

TCoT Nautical Knot (8.6) Tom Tully, Lisa Gaye, Barbara Bain. Shenanigans involving an eccentric uncle and the company he runs.

TCoT Bullied Bowler (8.7) Mike Connors, Anne Seymour, Milton Selzer, Charles H. Gray. Perry is absent so Joe Kelly, (a friend of Paul.s) takes the case.

TCo A Place Called Midnight (8.8) Jim Davis, Gerald Mohr, Robert Emhardt, Werner Klemperer, Harry Townes, Eddie Firestone. International intrigue as Perry gets involved in a search for missing Nazi gold.

Happy Holidays everyone. Enjoy your viewing.

“It Takes A Smart Man” is a memorable episode notable for an intense performance by Bradford relatively soon after his run on “Man In A Suitcase”.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Episode Commentary
Gilligan's Island
"Physical Fitness" (S1E32)

Okay, let's face it--the Skipper (Alan Hale, Jr.) is overweight. Pleasantly plumb. Chunky Charlie. So what if he likes congealed pork fat at breakfast, washed down with a quart of chocolate milk? Unfortunately, he splits his size 54 trousers bending over to pick up a dropped Almond Joy bar. Something must be done.

The Navy manual indicates that a man of his height should weigh 199 lbs. Skipper hasn't weighed 199 since 5th grade. Gilligan (Bob Denver) takes on the task of helping the Skipper lose some poundage. Lettuce for lunch. Pine Floats (toothpicks in water) for dinner. This is beyond Skipper's endurance--he must cheat to eat. But clever Gilligan foils his every attempt at solid food. Ginger (Tina Louise), bless her trailer trash heart, suggests an exercise that will help Skipper lose weight, but his moral fiber prevents such salaciousness.

On the flipside, Gilligan is found to be 5 lbs. underweight. So while the Skipper dreams of charbroiled steaks, mushroom gravy and potatoes au gratin, Gilligan is consuming truckloads of bananas and pineapples. Meanwhile, the Professor (Russell Johnson) invents some sort of glowy glop that can be seen by aircraft flying far overhead. Rescue could be imminent. Ginger is impressed. "You know what I find so
fascinating about science?" she purrs. "It's so scientific." This is from a gal who attended Ball State University because it sounded like a party school.

Unfortunately in his eating frenzy, Gilligan accidentally consumes the glop. In the end, no rescue. Gilligan doesn't gain a pound, the Skipper doesn't lose an ounce. As the hardship life of the castaways continue, Mr. Howell brews up a spectacular pot of bouillabaisse to ease their pain.

Edit: Well crap. I forgot to add in any pics. Too much a pain after posting.

Great stuff, Russ! Glad to see you back to your old tricks. Perhaps for 2020, one of my archive TV watching goals will be to actually watch an episode of Gilligan's Island for the first time in 30 years...even as a kid, I thought it was a pretty dumb show. Of course (me being a TV junkie), that didn't stop me watching every episode multiple times.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

“It Takes A Smart Man” is a memorable episode notable for an intense performance by Bradford relatively soon after his run on “Man In A Suitcase”.

Bradford is so good in Man in a Suitcase...pity his career never really took off as it should. Will look forward to his appearance in The High Chaparral.

 

[bmasters9]

It's....
And there's a ~175 page perfect bound paperback book for *each* season! I've only scanned one of them. It's a treasure trove of historical information about the show. The 4 will make excellent companions to the book "Monty Python's Flying Circus: An Utterly Complete, Thoroughly Unillustrated, Absolutely Unauthorized Guide to Possibly All the References From Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson to Zambesi."

A 175-page book for each season?! That will make plenty of interesting reading material!

 

[Rustifer]

Great stuff, Russ! Glad to see you back to your old tricks. Perhaps for 2020, one of my archive TV watching goals will be to actually watch an episode of Gilligan's Island for the first time in 30 years...even as a kid, I thought it was a pretty dumb show.

Trust me, Jeff, it remains a pretty dumb show. But it's so damn easy as a satirical target, I just can't resist.