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

[Rustifer]

Episode Commentary
The Lone Ranger
"Colorado Gold" (S4E14) 1954

I feel it's slightly sacrilegious to make fun of a series that was one of my foundational building blocks of childhood. The Lone Ranger was a hero in a million kids' eyes, something we all aspired to be. All that was needed was a thin black eye mask, an Indian sidekick and an ironclad resolve to right all that was wrong. Imagine today strolling into a Walmart as the Lone Ranger. Why, before he could get past the greeter, he'd be taken down by security and tased until his hair crackled. Looking back on the series now, I see the over simplistic approach to good vs. bad. There's no gray area and justice is always assured. It's not so simple today. Hi-yo, Silver.

Luther Gage (Robert Shayne) and his henchmen have just blown a hole into his neighboring gold mine, the Queen B, using what appears to be a couple of M-80s left over from July 4th. In a crazy scheme to control both mines, owned by the Farnum family, Gage takes the low road to asset acquisition.

Discussing the price of gold on the Exchange; moving horse poop off the trail, Lone Ranger starts 2nd career as a Baptist preacher

Meanwhile far away, the Lone Ranger is inexplicably chopping wood like a Boy Scout angling for an honor badge. Is this for a purpose, or just to maintain his 28 inch waist? Tonto rides up and delivers a letter to him from Mrs. Farnum, an old friend, asking LR to look into her mine to see whether it's still worth anything. Well, this certainly beats chopping wood, so he and Tonto are off to Colorado. It's a shame they live in Pittsburgh--that long horse trek is a killer. Also summoned is Mrs. Farnum's son Jim, a mine engineer. Gage arranges to have Jim killed before he gets to the mine. Laying wounded in the stagecoach transporting him, Jim is rescued by our masked hero. He and Tonto haul the poor man out of the stage like a sack of flour. Attending EMTs are horrified. Surprisingly, Jim's not badly hurt.

The Lone Ranger, Tonto and Jim soon make short work of Gage's attempt to defraud the Farnums, despite almost being buried alive under an avalanche of paper mache rocks. Gage is summarily arrested and sent to jail, having learned one important lesson: Mine your own business.

Notes:
The Lone Ranger's real name was reported to be John Reid. Tonto's name was transposed from Brad.

 

[bmasters9]

Two major differences about the second half of The Untouchables on DVD:

--The writing and directing credits for each episode from here forward are moved to the top of the show after the titles, unlike in the first half, where they were included with the closing credits.

--There is also a card at the end of each episode reading, "this has been an ABC TELEVISION NETWORK Presentation" (in those combined styles).

Also, the voiceover of the show title (said voiceover being over the Desilu logo and Langford/Desilu copyright) returns to the closing credits (it was on the first go, but not on the second), and each episode from here forward has the CBSTD distribution logo.

 

[MatthewA]

LA Law: "Petticoat Injunction" (2/18/1988): Benny has a date with a woman named Ivy who is similarly disabled, but things don't go well when she visits him at the office. Arnie represents Jack Seiling (Daniel Greene, Falcon Crest), the star of a TV show that gets good reviews but bad ratings in its current time slot, and one whose publicity he objects to. When Leland receives a six-figure check that reveals the motivations for the suit, he rejects the money on ethical grounds. After the horrific crime committed against her client, Grace wants to give up practicing law and be a homemaker. A young lawyer (Paul Regina, Brothers) calls into question Stuart's ability to remember who robbed him and Ann because they had a bottle of wine with dinner between them.

The act 1 episode credits reveal one name missing that used to be there: series co-creator and supervising producer Terry Louise Fisher, who, after being fired from the show after their working relationship turned south, sued both Steven Bochco and 20th Century Fox.

Original logo on region 2 release, but it cuts off halfway!

LA Law: "The Bald Ones" (2/25/1988): Douglas visits his ailing mother (Nan Martin, The Drew Carey Show) in the hospital. When she dies, Errol returns to make a deal he quickly rebuffs, while another half-brother named Gordon Salt (Jeffrey Tambor, The Larry Sanders Show) shows up at the funeral. He's a psychologist from Seattle who offers insights into Douglas's resentments over his mother's coldness towards him, even in death, and offers to help him reconcile with Sheila. Victor represents an uneducated woman suing a lawyer named August Redding (Ralph Bellamy) for lying to her; his argument is that the judge's advanced age is responsible for why he neglected things and why the woman didn't get a larger settlement for her husband's death, potentially from chemicals he was exposed to on the job. A judge (Earl Boen, The Man With Two Brains) tells Kuzak he cannot introduce prior convictions as independent evidence. Jonathan has to assist Abby on a case, and it does not go well at all until a Motown cassette tape turns it into a not-so-big chill. A case of two teenage boys accused of murder and robbery convinces Grace not to give up practicing law.

From the "Thank You For Being A Friend" Department: Nan Martin, Earl Boen, and Jeffrey Tambor are all Golden Girls guest stars, Martin in season 2 (she also didn't make it to the end of the episode), Tambor in season 5 (also as a doctor, albeit a medical doctor), and Boen in season 6 and 7 as the Priest who presides over Dorothy's brother Phil's funeral and her wedding to Blanche's Uncle Lucas (Leslie Nielsen, with whom he appeared in Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult).

From the "Together Through The Years" Department: Two guest stars also appeared with Jason Bateman; Nan Martin appeared on Valerie, meanwhile Jeffrey Tambor eventually became his co-star on Arrested Development. Not to spoil anything, but art imitates life here, or more accurately life would go on to imitate art and threaten to derail that show's return to TV.

From the "Here We Are, Face To Face" Department: Earl Boen's many other roles include Freddy's father on Silver Spoons, making it all the more noticeable that Judge Sidney Schroeder (Bernie Hern, also in The Man With Two Brains), who presided over several cases in previous episodes, doesn't preside over any of the ones in this ones. Boen also played Cliff Barnes' doctor on Dallas long after Priscilla Pointer's character, his mother, was killed off. Pointer's character of Judge Pelhman presides over the case involving the elderly attorney.

From the "I've Got a Golden Ticket" Department: Leonard Stone (Judge Paul Hansen, who hears Jonathan and Abby's presentation) is best known as "Square Deal Sam" Beauregarde in 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He was also a stage hand in 1974's Mame where the title character married a man named Beauregarde.

Music: "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" by The Temptations

Original logo on region 2 release.

LA Law: "Fetus Completus" (3/3/1988): Ann argues with the other lawyers over the rights of an unborn baby girl in the eighth month of pregnancy when the mother (Alexandra Johnson) has terminal leukemia. Despite having the support of another doctor (Kenneth Kimmins, Coach), the hospital doesn't want to perform an emergency c-section for fear of legal liabilities if something bad happens to either the mother or her daughter, and the woman's husband (Tony Goldwyn) also objects for the same reasons. Grace seeks the death penalty for a 19-year-old murder suspect Andrew Prescott (Christian Slater) whose defense attorney is Kuzak! When Andrew wants to take the stand and insist the death was accidental, he advises him against it. Douglas tries to patch things up with Sheila, but when he finds Gordon immersed in one of her hobbies, he then tells Arnie he now wants to go after both of them with both barrels blazing. When he goes to Rusty, his father's mistress, he learns she knew about the third half-brother.

From the "Death, Where Is Thy Sting?" Department: Tony Goldwyn plays the husband of a dying woman a few months after playing a gay man dying of AIDS on Designing Women.

From the "Visions of the Future" Department: After playing an accused murderer here, Christian Slater has since gotten into trouble with the law multiple times.

Music: "1812 Overture" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (public domain)

Original logo on region 2 release.

LA Law: "Belle of the Bald" (4/14/1988): Douglas admits his feelings about Rusty to Leland, but when she comes to the office, he tries to give her the old kiss-off and finds breaking up is hard to do. The office gets a new paper shredder; Roxanne shows Benny how to use it, but when he has to photocopy one document and destroy another, someone switches them around while he puts them down. Disaster ensues when the wrong file enters the shredder. Grace goes back to work at the D.A.'s office; her first case back on the job involves a man named David Murray (Kevin Scannell, Harper Valley PTA) who killed a swan on the golf course; his attorney (Dan Hedaya, Cheers) argues that it was in self-defense. Kuzak represents a woman accused of murder for killing her rapist; the prosecution shows a videotape of her doing it in full view at a social gathering. The rapist got off because he was the son of a diplomat. Kuzak argues she should get off because of temporary insanity, but Grace admonishes him for using that argument, calling it "endorsing street justice."

From the "Here Comes the Judge" Department: The late James Avery, later known as Uncle Phil on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, plays the judge in the murder/rape case a few years after having played a judge on Webster in an episode involving a custody dispute over the title character.

Music: Big band versions of "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" and "The Second Time Around"

LA Law: "Open Heart Perjury" (4/21/1988): Errol Farrell is back with a warning for Douglas, who tries to bury the hatchet. Judge Monica Farrell (Cynthia Sikes, St. Elsewhere) denies Arnie's motion to modify alimony payments for a deadbeat client whose ex-wife is a novelist. When they meet at a party and she mentions her divorce to him in passing, he uses this to get her to recuse herself from the case. She recuses herself but still asks him to represent her in her own divorce. Jonathan acts as a litigator in a case involving an old woman named Mrs. Crutcher (Irene Tedrow) who lost everything in a gold mining scam while the defendant (Richard Masur, One Day at a Time) insists the geological reports were accurate. Douglas proposes to Sheila a deal regarding financial assets and joint custody of their children (Coleby Lombardo, Joshua Smith). Roxanne has a date with a salesman named Dave Meyer (Dann Florek, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit) that turns into an unexpected double date with Kuzak and Grace.

Original logo on region 2 release.

LA Law: "Leapin' Lizards" (4/28/1988): Arnie spends his 37th birthday on a date with Monica, but he gets more than he bargained for when he goes back to her place. Ann represents Julius Goldfarb (Martin Ferrero, Jurassic Park), an actor being sued by the production company who wants to reboot his signature role as The Salamander without him and stop him from making personal appearances. The producer (Dick Sargent, Bewitched) argues his antics turned the character into a joke. Douglas has a separation from his wife. Monica presides over a case of a cop (Robert Davi) representing himself in a case involving custody of his three children. Roxanne owes the IRS $14,000, so she takes Stuart's advice and files for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. In her despair, she turns to Dave Meyer.

Original logo on region 2 release.

LA Law: "Chariots of Meyer" (5/5/1988): Roxanne is robbed on the way to work. In more need of extra income than ever, she accepts David Meyer's offer of car-sitting while he is on business. The men in the office want to get to know the two twins (Denise and Diane Gallup) in a bizarre case Victor is handling; one of them is already an old acquaintance. Leland represents Vernon Kepler (Dan O'Herlihy), an elderly lawyer accused of hitting Steven Henderson (Peter Hobbs) over the head with his wooden leg for slandering him; he tells the man to settle. Meanwhile, his granddaughter Jennifer (Dana Sparks) applies for a job at the firm. Grace resents a defense attorney (James Earl Jones, The Great White Hope) making race an issue in the case of a jewelry store theft when the black defendant (Scott Lawrence) has a long list of prior convictions, the incident left a white security guard (Nick Angotti) paralyzed, and the jury is not in any way homogenous.

From the "Luke, I Am Your Father" Department: James Earl Jones originated the voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. Scott Lawrence, who played his client, took over the role in several subsequent TV shows and video games.

 

[bmasters9]

Original logo on region 2 release, but it cuts off halfway!

What do you mean by that-- does it fade out as the "Television" part of the logo starts to put itself over the 20th Century Fox monolith?

 

[MatthewA]

It just stops and goes back to the episode menu. No transition. No cut to black.

 

[bmasters9]

It just stops and goes back to the episode menu. No transition. No cut to black.

Unheard of! Many older logos that I've seen on DVD (Universal's globe, Paramount's Blue Mtn., CPT's 80s Torch Lady, Cannell's typewriter logo, etc.) at least faded out to black (or otherwise went to a black screen), but I'm not sure if I've ever heard of a logo cutting off mid-stream and going straight back to the menu!

Was it the way the DVD was authored that would have that logo doing that?

 

[MatthewA]

Was it the way the DVD was authored that would have that logo doing that?

Probably. It was just that one.

 

[bmasters9]

Probably. It was just that one.

I see-- didn't know the context (you don't say that [logo cutting off] about the other instances, so that's why I wondered).

 

[Ron1973]

I promise that I haven't disappeared!

I finished up Green Acres. Prime isn't showing every episode, so it seems I missed out on the last two episodes that were not so good. I then watched Return to Green Acres on YouTube. Reunion movies are never as good as the original show, but in this case, though, I think they did a pretty good job of keeping the spirit of the show alive. I then caught up with appearances of Eva and Eddie on various shows. There is one hilarious clip from 1972 where Chuck Norris is trying to teach Eva self defense.

YouTube gives suggestions based on what you've watched, so I somehow found myself watching some old episodes of What's My Line? The celebrity mystery guest is worth watching just by itself. They even managed to rope Billy Graham in for an episode. Raymond Burr was on another one. There just isn't anything, in my opinion anyway, that can touch those old shows like that.

I then looked at Prime again to look for something to binge. I wound up watching, and am still watching, Renegade. I used to watch it with my mother on Saturday night when it was in first run syndication. Hulu had it a few years ago, but the prints were beyond terrible. I know the show says at the end that it was edited on "Avid," so I know that means filmed but edited on tape. The episodes on Prime don't look bad at all. They aren't HD by any stretch, but they look good enough on my 55" LED LG. I'm in S4 right now, the last season of syndication. They pulled out the stops to bring in some old names. Kent McCord, Kathleen Freeman, Erin Gray, and Robert Fuller have all been spotted just in this season. I still can't get over Stephen J. Cannell being a dirty cop!

 

[Jeff Flugel]

I wound up watching, and am still watching, Renegade. I used to watch it with my mother on Saturday night when it was in first run syndication. Hulu had it a few years ago, but the prints were beyond terrible. I know the show says at the end that it was edited on "Avid," so I know that means filmed but edited on tape. The episodes on Prime don't look bad at all. They aren't HD by any stretch, but they look good enough on my 55" LED LG. I'm in S4 right now, the last season of syndication. They pulled out the stops to bring in some old names. Kent McCord, Kathleen Freeman, Erin Gray, and Robert Fuller have all been spotted just in this season. I still can't get over Stephen J. Cannell being a dirty cop!

Is this the one with Lorenzo Lamas? Don't remember much about it, but it surprises me to find out that the show ran for 5 seasons!

Glad you were able to find something to watch on Amazon Prime, Ron.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

A real mixed-bag of episodes this past week, ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime, and points in between:

The Wild Wild West
2.18 "The Night of the Gypsy Peril"
2.20 "The Night of the Vicious Valentine"
I watched these episodes before I heard the sad news of Robert Conrad's death. He truly was a great television action star, and was a perfect fit for the suave, tough and endlessly resourceful James West. May he rest in peace.

I'm not sure if I've ever seen "Gypsy Peril" - certainly not since the days of my watching this show religiously every day after school on KCPQ Channel 13 in the late '70s / early '80s. What can I say about this episode? Hmm...well, not much, other than it just might be the all-time worst episode of the whole series! Jim and Artie have tangled with some of the most deadly, Machiavellian criminal masterminds imaginable throughout the show's four-year run and came out on top...yet here they struggle to get the better of a portly con man, a handful of cowboys and a penny-ante gypsy circus. We also get long scenes of baby-faced Mark Slade (Blue on The High Chaparral) moping around with a supposed priceless elephant, getting ripped off by gypsy boss Ruta Lee, etc. Weak villains, a plot better suited for the boys of F-Troop than our ace Secret Service agents, and one of the lamest Artemus Gordon disguises ever make this a very subpar outing. Still, any episode of TWWW, even this one, has its compensations: Jim and Artie have a few good interactions together, there's a decent knife fight between West and a jealous gypsy, and Ruta Lee (in her second appearance in the series) ain't exactly ugly.



"Vicious Valentine" is much, MUCH better (I just wish I had watched this one after, and not before, "Gypsy Peril."). This is the one that garnered guest villainess Agnes Moorehead a supporting actress Emmy award. Several of the richest and most influential men in America are being murdered shortly after getting married to much younger, beautiful women. West and Gordon soon find out that famous matchmaker, Emma Valentine (Moorehead), has concocted a dastardly plan to seize control of the country by setting up her lethal ladies-in-waiting to seize their deceased hubbies' assets. The show's set decorators and costumers go hog wild in this episode, and the colors really pop. We also get appearances by Diane McBain and Sherry Jackson, several good fights and an ingenious final deathtrap, and a great disguise for Artie (as a Jewish tailor).

Flipper - 1.11 "The Second Time Around"
Ranger Porter and the boys deal with a couple of beachside campers - a sulky young champion water skiier (Lynda Day, before she added the "George"), in a wheelchair after suffering a serious injury, and her worried mother - as a big hurricane approaches . About the only one who can get the girl to smile is chirpy, cheerful Flipper. I enjoyed this, a pretty good episode with some effective stormy atmosphere.

Fantasy Island - 2.12 "Charlie's Cherubs / Stalag 3"
Yeesh...this was a real stinker. I'm beginning to regret purchasing this 2nd season set on a nostalgic whim last summer. This one was the worst episode of the handful I've viewed...I shudder to think what other, even worse horrors await. In an egregious act of executive producer Aaron Spelling's crossover nepotism, "Charlie's Cherubs" presents three secretaries (including bodacious Melinda Naud, Lt. Crandall from the Operation Petticoat TV series, pictured below right) whose fantasy is to have an adventure just like the heroines of their favorite TV show, Charlie's Angels, with Tattoo acting as their "Bosley." These gals couldn't act their way out of a paper bag, and make the actual Angel actresses look like Meryl Streep by comparison. Nita Talbot gets a few scenes as the Cherub's employer.

Almost is bad is "Stalag 3," which wastes the talents of former movie stars Cornel Wilde, Yvonne De Carlo and Nehemiah Persoff in a beyond-stupid script involving a band of WWII vets being incarcerated once again in the prison camp they escaped from decades before. Just embarrassing all around, this episode doesn't even deliver in the usual Spelling jiggle department.

Bronco - 2.15 "Montana Passage"
This is a re-fry of an earlier S1 Cheyenne episode ("The Last Train West"), this time set on a riverboat instead of a train. The plot and characters are re-jiggered just enough to work, but this one isn't in the same league as its predecessor, despite a good guest cast, including Mala Powers, Mari Blanchard, Robert Colbert and Rex Reason. I'm a big fan of Bronco but this isn't one of the better episodes...

Man in a Suitcase - 1.27 "The Revolutionaries"
Disgraced ex-CIA agent turned private eye, McGill (Richard Bradford), heads to Sweden to escort the daughter of an exiled Arab politician, Dr. Maza (Hugh Burden), to safety in London, before his ex-countryman, ruthless Col. Haider (Ferdy Mayne) and his goons attempt to silence him...

Usually McGill is pretty sharp and anticipates most of the angles in a given case, but he is not operating up to par for about two-thirds of this episode. He's wrong-footed, clubbed and generally outwitted to an uncharacteristic degree, until finally turning the tables on the baddies in the exciting and action-packed last act. While it's perhaps a stretch to accept Hugh Burden and Ferdy Mayne as Arabs, they're both such good actors that I just rolled with it. The episode ends on an upbeat note, with McGill off to meet sexy Swedish literary agent, Toni Olsson (Marga Roche), for a "breakfast" date. Absolutely adore this series, and Richard Bradford's intense, brooding Method-inspired performance.

The Fugitive
3.9 & 3.10 "Landscape with Running Figures, Parts 1 & 2"
A downtrodden and exhausted Kimble makes a crucial mistake, setting off a city-wide manhunt which attracts a vacationing Lt. Gerard, who drags his fed-up wife (Barbara Rush) along with him. Mrs. Gerard has had enough of playing second banana to the Fugitive and buys a bus ticket out of town...coincidentally, the same bus Kimble sneaks onto to avoid a police roadblock. Before you know it, the bus crashes, Mrs. Gerard is temporarily blinded, and Kimble once again puts his neck on the block, hotwires a truck and drives off with the woman to find help...only to end up in a completely empty small town, evacuated due to a storm warning.

Once one swallows the string of coincidences the script contrives to bring Kimble and Mrs. Gerard together, this is an altogether excellent two-parter, with plenty of tension and high-caliber acting. And boy, does this episode feature a bunch of jerks; it seems like everywhere he turns, people treat Kimble like dirt. When he wrestles the tire iron away from the teenage punks who assaulted him and terrorized Mrs. Gerard, I was rooting for him to brain the little creeps...but no, Kimble is a far, far better man than I. Also with Herschel Bernardi, Jud Taylor and Judee Morton.

Strange Report - 1.16 "Lonely Hearts - Who Killed Dan Cupid?"
When the kindly head of a "lonelyhearts" matchmaking service dies in an apparent suicide, his suspicious secretary asks former criminologist Adam Strange (Anthony Quayle) to investigate. It doesn't take long for Strange and his assistant, Ham (Kaz Garras), to figure out that the man was indeed murdered...but why? Another very engaging episode of this lesser-known but top tier ITC series - although third lead (and cutie patootie) Anneke Wills gets little to do this time out, other than make tea and prepare a flapjack breakfast for the boys.

 

[Taylor * D]

It was a pretty good week for me. I finally finished watching Alice. Just a few thoughts: the show really lost its touch when Polly Holliday left at the end of season 3. I wasn't a huge fan of Diane Ladd, but Celia Weston was a nice addition to the cast. The finale has got to be one of the worst, if not THE worst, I've ever seen. So incredibly random. Just for completists sake, I'm also watching Flo. Polly Holliday is good, but that sharp-tongued, independent woman that was present in the first three seasons of Alice was never truly captured again.

My partner and I also started watching the ninth season of Dallas, aka The Dream Season. Its their first time watching, and my second rewatch. This was one of my favourite seasons on my initial viewing. I appreciated the shift to more female-centric storylines (Dallas having brought Peter Dunne over from Knots Landing to take the show in a new direction after the departure of You-Know-who). Tonally the show wasn't the same, but I liked a lot of the ideas that were introduced.

I began the fourth season of Benson. I've really grown fond of this show, mostly because of Robert Guillaume, but the humour is also different from other sitcoms that aired at the same time.

 

[Flashgear]

I just got Warner Archive's THE FBI season 6, an action packed season with many of the best guest stars, and have finally decided to complete this series in my collection up to the final season 9. The sixth season premiere episode is The Condemned (Sept. 20, 1970) D: Virgil W. Vogel, W: Robert Heverly. Guest starring Martin Sheen, Tim McIntire, Joe Mantell, Royal Dano...and an insanely hot Joan Van Ark...

Martin Sheen and Tim McIntire are sweaty and panicky bank robbers on the run, Joan Van Ark as the girl who comes between them...they join up with old hand Joe Mantell to up their game to a more professional standard, with much more lethal firepower as well...Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr., natch.) Special Agent Tom Colby (William Reynolds) and Agent Marley (James Sikking from the later NYPD Blue) are hot on their trail...
My screen caps from the WAC DVD set...

Efrem's FBI issued industrial strength hair spray was failing him...J. Edgar Hoover himself might have ordered a hair cut upon seeing this...although Efrem Zimbalist was held in high regard by the FBI Director...check out his mile-wide '70s tie...

Another Royal Dano sighting!

The insanely hot Joan Van Ark enters the room...check out Martin Sheen's stunned expression...I don't blame him at all....wow!

Behold...

Joe Mantell definitely doesn't know how to handle this carbine...the FBI's technical advisers must have had a day off, ha, ha...

Continued next post...

 

[Flashgear]

The FBI season 6 episode 1 The Condemned (Sept. 20, 1970) continued...in addition to the spectacular Joan Van Ark, there is an eye popping helicopter chase in this one...my screen caps from the WAC DVDs...

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Behold...
View attachment 68369

Great stuff, Randall! Gotta love how well-dressed everyone is in The FBI...even the sweaty punk criminals.

And Joan Van Ark..."Wow!" indeed.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Knew I was forgetting something...left out one more show that I watched last week from my above post:

Department S - 1.17 "The Duplicated Man"
When an airplane carrying an MI5 agent (Robert Urquhart) blows up over the English Channel, everyone presumes the man is dead...except for Department S head Sir Curtis Seretse (Dennis Alaba Peters), who sets his team on the trail of a double agent...

A rather average episode of this mostly very fine ITC series. The plot of this episode is less outre than the norm, and so feels a little more stock ITC spy drama...all done with the studio's customary polish, of course. Peter Wyngarde's flamboyant Jason King always livens up proceedings, and his co-stars, Joel Fabiani and Rosemary Nichols, are also quite likeable and get the lion's share of the action this time out.

 

[JohnHopper]

The Wild Wild West
2.18 "The Night of the Gypsy Peril"
2.20 "The Night of the Vicious Valentine"
I watched these episodes before I heard the sad news of Robert Conrad's death. He truly was a great television action star, and was a perfect fit for the suave, tough and endlessly resourceful James West. May he rest in peace.

I'm not sure if I've ever seen "Gypsy Peril" - certainly not since the days of my watching this show religiously every day after school on KCPQ Channel 13 in the late '70s / early '80s. What can I say about this episode? Hmm...well, not much, other than it just might be the all-time worst episode of the whole series! Jim and Artie have tangled with some of the most deadly, Machiavellian criminal masterminds imaginable throughout the show's four-year run and came out on top...yet here they struggle to get the better of a portly con man, a handful of cowboys and a penny-ante gypsy circus. We also get long scenes of baby-faced Mark Slade (Blue on The High Chaparral) moping around with a supposed priceless elephant, getting ripped off by gypsy boss Ruta Lee, etc. Weak villains, a plot better suited for the boys of F-Troop than our ace Secret Service agents, and one of the lamest Artemus Gordon disguises ever make this a very subpar outing. Still, any episode of TWWW, even this one, has its compensations: Jim and Artie have a few good interactions together, there's a decent knife fight between West and a jealous gypsy, and Ruta Lee (in her second appearance in the series) ain't exactly ugly.

"Vicious Valentine" is much, MUCH better (I just wish I had watched this one after, and not before, "Gypsy Peril."). This is the one that garnered guest villainess Agnes Moorehead a supporting actress Emmy award. Several of the richest and most influential men in America are being murdered shortly after getting married to much younger, beautiful women. West and Gordon soon find out that famous matchmaker, Emma Valentine (Moorehead), has concocted a dastardly plan to seize control of the country by setting up her lethal ladies-in-waiting to seize their deceased hubbies' assets. The show's set decorators and costumers go hog wild in this episode, and the colors really pop. We also get appearances by Diane McBain and Sherry Jackson, several good fights and an ingenious final deathtrap, and a great disguise for Artie (as a Jewish tailor).

I agree with you about your judgment on these two entries.
GYPSY is a very banal and conventional story that reminds the leaning of season 1 producer Collier Young. The location of the gypsy camp is over-used in Combat!.
VALENTINE plays like a combo of Avengers episode.
The action scene at the print shop is strong: see the redhead hysteric that comes out of open heart wall.
Emma Valentine is one of the two female foes that escape from Jim during the conclusion: see Lucrece Posey
in “The Night of the Poisonous Posey”.

 

[Doug Wallen]

Amped up my viewing of Gunsmoke - Season 9
Kate Heller (9.1) Mabel Albertson, Tom Lowell. A teen tries to impress a saloon girl by committing murder, gets laughed at, shoots Matt as he is going home and then has to nurse him back to health hoping he is not recognized. Great character study of a boy longing to be grown up.

Lover Boy (9.2) Ken Curtis, Sheree North. Kyle Kelly, a love 'em and leave 'em guy just drifts along until a former scorned lover creates trouble for him. Kyle has a new married girlfriend who suggests setting up her husband. If I had no knowledge of Ken Curtis as Festus, this could have been an exceptional episode. Being very familiar with Festus, the episode just struck me as a bit creepy. His Festus is just so indelibly imprinted over the actor. Still, it did show his range better than Festus ever did. I guess this was interesting for a change of pace.

Legends Don't Sleep (9.3) William Talman, Scott Marlowe, Hope Summers. A young man searching for a purpose meets one of his childhood heroes (outlaw) and tries to learn from him. World weary performance from Willam Talman just makes this episode. Modern day trope - murder by cop.

Tobe (9.4) Harry Townes, Mary LaRoche, Philip Abbot. A down on his luck farmer gives up farming and takes a job with Mr. Jonas. Chester introduces Tobe to Hanna (who is on the run from an abusive gambler/former partner). This was the first story focused on Chester this season.

Easy Come (9.5) Andrew Prine, Carl Reindel. Bespectacled and slight of frame, Elmo Sippy looks like a schoolteacher, but he's a cowboy who likes to gamble. When he arrives in Dodge and loses money to a gambler he knows will kill if he's not paid, Elmo ducks out of the Long Branch and steals the money from the till of the general store. It's his first foray into dishonesty, and he's elated to find it was "easy"--so much easier than being a cowpoke. When a little later he finds it necessary to use violence to get the money he wants, he discovers that killing is easy, too. Soon, the slight man on whom a gun belt looks absurd is a one-man crime wave, killing for the apparent joy of it.

My Sister's Keeper (9.6) Nancy Wickwire, James Broderick, Jennifer Billingsley. A widower with nothing to live for goes to work for and live on the farm of a widow woman and her sister.

Quint's Trail (9.7) Everett Sloane, Sharon Farrell, Dan Haggerty, Shirley O'Hara. Starts out as a Chester story and morphs into a Quint story. Quint is hired to escort a family on the first leg of their journey to Oregon. On the way, he learns the reason for their going, a motive that could have repercussions for Quint.

Carter Caper (9.8) Jeremy Slate, Barney Phillips, Anjanette Comer, William Phipps, Rayford Barnes. A man with a grudge hits upon the perfect revenge when he spreads the word in Dodge that short-tempered Billy is so good with a gun that he shot down the famous gunfighter, Beau Carter.

Ex-Con (9.9) Jeanne Cooper, John Kellogg, Richard Devon. On his way to Larned, Matt, feverish, spends the night at an abandoned shack. When he wakes up after losing a day, a recently released convict who swore to kill Matt, is himself found against a wall, dead, unarmed, shot twice, and the murder weapon appears to belong to the marshal. A whodunit that Matt has to unravel.

Extradition Part 1, Part 2 (9.10, 9.11) Gilbert Roland, Gene Evans, Anna Novarro, Alex Montoya, Walter Burke. Matt crosses into Mexico searching for a fugitive felon who killed a friend of his. Was this the first two-parter?

The Magician (9.12) Brooke Bundy, Lloyd Corrigan, Tom Simcox. A mild old peddler of patent medicines and card tricks arrives in Dodge with his grown daughter, hoping to settle down, but instead they find their worst luck yet, beginning with a card game with a rich man and his spoiled son. Implied rape scene. Nice little tale of what goes around comes around.

Pa Hack's Brood (9.13) Milton Selzer, George Lindsey, Lynn Loring, James Hampton, Marianna Hill. A repugnant drifter hopes to use his nubile daughter to get his hands on a piece of land.

The Glory And The Mud (9.14) Kent Smith, Marsha Hunt, James Best, Robert Sorrells. A retired lawman and showman wants only to settle down with the Dodge seamstress he left behind twenty years ago, but a young whippersnapper hopes to make a name for himself by challenging the aging gun to a duel.

Dry Well (9.15) Ned Glass, Tom Simcox, Karen Sharpe. It's a test of wills when Quint witnesses a murder and the father of one of the prime suspects lowers Quint into a well to try to force him to promise his silence.

Prarie Wolfer (9.16) Ken Curtis, Noah Beery, Jr., Don Dubbins, Holly McIntire. Ken Curtis appears to be joining the cast as Festus with this one. Festus returns to Dodge from wolfing and is hired by the Cattleman's Association to hunt down the wolves killing everyone's cattle. What he finds is that what's been doing the preying may wind him up in prison if he doesn't get Matt's help.

Friend (9.17) Tom Reese, Jan Shepard, Ben Wright, Butch Patrick, George Keymas, Ralph Moody. A man carrying a tempting sum of money is attacked from behind by someone who beats him and leaves him for dead. Lucky for the injured man, an old friend of Matt is there to take him in to Doc Adams for mending.

Once A Haggen (9.18) Slim Pickens, Ken Curtis, Elizabeth MacRae, Kenneth Tobey. Bucko, a close friend of Festus, is accused of murdering a man to whom he lost at poker. When his alibi witness lies out of fear, Bucko is sentenced to hang, and Festus, who'd begun to see the marshal as a friend, vows Bucko won't swing.

JAG - Complete First Season
Scimitar (1.9) Ron Livingston, Nicholas Kadi. Two Marines in a Humvee mistakenly drive into Iraq; an Iraqi detail intercepts them, kills one, and captures the other. Ihe Iraqis try the survivor for espionage; Harm and Meg defend. Harm also carries out the duty of springing the Marine.

Boot (1.10) John Finn, Jenny Gago, Julie Caitlin Brown, Sam Sorbo, Renee Hughes. Two Marines in a Humvee mistakenly drive into Iraq; an Iraqi detail intercepts them, kills one, and captures the other. Ihe Iraqis try the survivor for espionage; Harm and Meg defend. Harm also carries out the duty of springing the Marine.

Sightings (1.11) Wings Hauser, William Lucking, Madeleine Zima. In south Texas residents have reported strange phenomena, stories of supernatural events have abounded, and a 10-year-old girl has disappeared. Harm and Meg investigate; they find the girl, and they solve the greater mystery.

The Brotherhood (1.12) Cress Williams, T. E. Russell, Marjean Holden. During a landing exercise Marines find a beaten, comatose fellow Marine on the beach; while investigating, Harm and Meg find inconsistent data. They and the company commander run into trouble, but they sort things out and set them right.

Doctor Who - Colin Baker Season 2 - Blu-ray
Trail Of A Time Lord - Terror of the Vervoids (23.9, 23.10, 23.11, 23.12) I still really enjoy Colin Baker's take on the Doctor and I really enjoyed the season long trial. I liked how this story was our introduction to Mel that didn't fall into a typical introduction episode. It was nice to see that Mel and the Doctor already had a "relationship". I enjoyed the intercutting of the story (just not the inevitable "____yard" comments). It was very apparent that something was up in the matrix.

Trial Of A Time Lord - The Ultimate Foe (23.13, 23.14) Does the title refer to the Valeyard or the Master? Does it really matter? A very high concept ending that works for me considering the writers issues with JNT concerning this final chapter. Good story, just sorry that Colin was unable to have a legitimate regeneration story. Excellent supplements on this bluray that help explain the differences. A shame that JNT can only present his side through archival interviews.

With yesterday's disheartening news concerning Robert Conrad, I pulled my Season 1 set of Wild Wild West and enjoyed the following episodes:
The Night of the Inferno (1.1) Victor Buono, Nehemiah Persoff, Suzanne Pleshette and special guest star James Gregory. Great pilot that fully introduces the concept and gives us some great memories, "You are the biggest Chinese I have seen!"

The Night the Wizard Shook The Earth (1.3) Michael Dunn, Richard Kiel, Leslie Parrish (need I say more?) The first appearance of Dr. Loveless. I like the use of carriages in this one. Also great to see how well used "Jaws" is used in this story.

The Night of Sudden Death (1.4} Robert Loggia, Antoinette Bower, Sandy Kenyon, Harlan Warde. Robbery, counterfeit plates, circus wild animals and the Gilligan's Island lagoon all make for an unusual episode. Interesting robbery, but lackluster story. It does have a very young Robert Loggia though.

It was obvious that right out of the box, Robert Conrad was exceptional in his portrayal of James West. The role fit him like a glove. RIP good sir.

I ended my week with the next five episodes of The Time Tunnel - Complete bluray set.
The Revenge of Robin Hood (1.16) John Crawford. King John against Robin Hood over the Magna Charta with two time travelling observers. Diverting enough.

Kill Two by Two (1.17) Mako, Philip Ahn. The Time Tunnel does Hell In The Pacific for the small screen. Episode was much better than I thought it would be.

Visitors From Beyond The Stars (1.18) Fred Beir, Ross Elliott. The old west invaded by aliens for "all of your protein material". This one put me to sleep.

The Ghost of Nero (1.19) Richard Jaeckel. A ghost story based upon a dying remark where Nero placed a curse on his suspected murderers family. Possession occurs and the spirit of Nero at last enters Benito Mussolini (best moment in the whole episode). At least I stayed awake .

The Walls of Jericho (1.20) Rhodes Reason, Michael Pate, Myrna Fahey, Lisa Gaye, Arnold Moss. Coming from a very conservative religious upbringing, this was the episode I was eagerly awaiting from the first info I heard about it. My grandfather who rarely watched tv even tuned in for this one. This episode evokes warm memories for me. Maybe not the most accurate retelling of the biblical story, but immensely entertaining. One of the reasons I enjoy collecting these olds series - such great memories.

Happy viewing folks.

 

[Ron1973]

Is this the one with Lorenzo Lamas? Don't remember much about it, but it surprises me to find out that the show ran for 5 seasons!

Glad you were able to find something to watch on Amazon Prime, Ron.

Yes, that's the one. Admittedly, it gets tiring towards the end. They were really reaching at the tail end of S4 and then S5. They brought in Johnny Cash as a bounty that Reno picks up. They're both busted as a cop recognizes Reno. Once in the cell, Reno starts lamenting he wishes he would've taken the bullet that killed his girlfriend. What ensues is an absolutely outlandish retelling of It's a Wonderful Life with Johnny Cash's character being "Clarence" to Reno. I just finished up one from S5 where Reno has a near death experience, but he's sent back to clear the name of a guy who was mistakenly branded a suspect and killed. This dude comes back with Reno, but only Reno can hear him and see him. Everyone thinks he's lost his marbles. Like I said, I enjoy the show, it's nice to catch up on it, but it's not going to be something I'll be in a hurry to visit for a while.

 

[JohnHopper]

With yesterday's disheartening news concerning Robert Conrad, I pulled my Season 1 set of Wild Wild West and enjoyed the following episodes:
The Night of the Inferno (1.1) Victor Buono, Nehemiah Persoff, Suzanne Pleshette and special guest star James Gregory. Great pilot that fully introduces the concept and gives us some great memories, "You are the biggest Chinese I have seen!"

The Night the Wizard Shook The Earth (1.3) Michael Dunn, Richard Kiel, Leslie Parrish (need I say more?) The first appearance of Dr. Loveless. I like the use of carriages in this one. Also great to see how well used "Jaws" is used in this story.

The Night of Sudden Death (1.4} Robert Loggia, Antoinette Bower, Sandy Kenyon, Harlan Warde. Robbery, counterfeit plates, circus wild animals and the Gilligan's Island lagoon all make for an unusual episode. Interesting robbery, but lackluster story. It does have a very young Robert Loggia though.

It was obvious that right out of the box, Robert Conrad was exceptional in his portrayal of James West. The role fit him like a glove. RIP good sir.

Agreed all the way!
This unique pilot is fabulous and unused footages from that pilot were added in a later episode: “The Night of the Freebooters”.
WIZARD is the most serious Dr. Loveless episode and a great introduction.
SUDDEN DEATH is a shallow entry with a weak second part in the circus.​