Jack P
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And so was their grandfather Cliff Arquette, better known as "Charley Weaver" on radio, then the Jack Paar Tonight Show and finally Hollywood Squares.
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What did you watch this week in classic TV on DVD(or Blu)? (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Bryan^H
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And so was their grandfather Cliff Arquette, better known as "Charley Weaver" on radio, then the Jack Paar Tonight Show and finally Hollywood Squares.
Flashgear
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Seeing as we have been in an active discussion about Mariette Hartley and a little bit about Death Valley Days, I revisited one of her appearances in the long running series (18 seasons!) from season 14, 1965-66...
Death Valley Days S14E13 The Red Shawl (Dec.30, 1965) Guest cast: Mariette Hartley, Aneta Corsaut, Ken Scott, Roy Engel, John Pickard, Richard Gilden, Wilma Ewell.
In host Ronald Reagan's intro, we are told it is 1856 on the Mormon Trail to the Great Salt Lake...the Mormons, with no horses or oxen, pulling their hand carts for a 4 month, 1200 mile journey from Iowa!...While crossing a river, parents of a 4 year old boy (Mariette Hartley and Ken Scott) are swept away in the stream, losing their toddler son down river...the wagon captain and his wife (Roy Engel and Aneta Corsaut from Andy Griffith Show) are torn with the hard choice between searching for the boy who has likely drowned in the hostile indian country they are only now emerging from, and cutting their losses by continuing on course...they decide to mount a search (otherwise we don't have a show, ha), only finding the red shawl that the boy was wrapped in...but happening upon an experienced frontiersman (John Pickard), who doesn't particularly like Mormons, but heroically decides to risk his own life in leading their search nonetheless...a simple, straight forward story that quickly becomes compelling in it's humanity, with believable and fine performances all around...bravery and noble self sacrifice, by both whites and indigenous, is the common currency of this beautiful story, sympathetic to the native tribes of the desert SW...my screen caps from the Shout! DVDs...
Death Valley Days S14E13 The Red Shawl (Dec.30, 1965) Guest cast: Mariette Hartley, Aneta Corsaut, Ken Scott, Roy Engel, John Pickard, Richard Gilden, Wilma Ewell.
In host Ronald Reagan's intro, we are told it is 1856 on the Mormon Trail to the Great Salt Lake...the Mormons, with no horses or oxen, pulling their hand carts for a 4 month, 1200 mile journey from Iowa!...While crossing a river, parents of a 4 year old boy (Mariette Hartley and Ken Scott) are swept away in the stream, losing their toddler son down river...the wagon captain and his wife (Roy Engel and Aneta Corsaut from Andy Griffith Show) are torn with the hard choice between searching for the boy who has likely drowned in the hostile indian country they are only now emerging from, and cutting their losses by continuing on course...they decide to mount a search (otherwise we don't have a show, ha), only finding the red shawl that the boy was wrapped in...but happening upon an experienced frontiersman (John Pickard), who doesn't particularly like Mormons, but heroically decides to risk his own life in leading their search nonetheless...a simple, straight forward story that quickly becomes compelling in it's humanity, with believable and fine performances all around...bravery and noble self sacrifice, by both whites and indigenous, is the common currency of this beautiful story, sympathetic to the native tribes of the desert SW...my screen caps from the Shout! DVDs...
Flashgear
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Some more of my screen caps taken from the Shout DVDs of other episodes from season 14 of Death Valley Days...
The Book (Oct. 28, 1965) with Tom Skerritt and George Takei...
Devil's Gate (Dec.23, 1965) with Jim Davis, Patricia Smith and DeForest Kelley...
No Place for a Lady (Oct. 21, 1965) with Ronald Reagan, Simon Scott and Linda Marsh...
The Book (Oct. 28, 1965) with Tom Skerritt and George Takei...
Devil's Gate (Dec.23, 1965) with Jim Davis, Patricia Smith and DeForest Kelley...
No Place for a Lady (Oct. 21, 1965) with Ronald Reagan, Simon Scott and Linda Marsh...
Those screencaps looks great, with vibrant color, and what looks like some terrific locations - thanks for posting those, Randall! That's enough to get me off the fence and buy this season of Death Valley Days real soon. The fact that it's a half-hour western series is icing on the cake.
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JohnHopper
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_______________________
We reached 200 pages for this topic.
We reached 200 pages for this topic.
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Yep...200 pages, and almost 4,000 posts!
Here's what I've been watching over the past several days:
The Four Just Men
1.6 "The Beatniques"
1.10 "The Deadly Capsule"
Watched a few more of the Dan Dailey-led episodes, as part of my tribute to the late, great Honor Blackman, who co-stars with Dailey as his secretary / girlfriend. As it turns out, she isn't even in "The Beatniques" at all, and only gets two brief scenes in "The Deadly Capsule." Oh well. Dailey's reporter, Tim Collier, gets involved with some disaffected "Beat" types mixed up with blackmail in the first episode, and investigates the suspicious death of a scientist who has discovered a way to use radioactivity to prolong the shelf-life of food in the second. "The Deadly Capsule" has more suspense and a better premise, but I enjoyed watching both episodes, despite the distinct lack of Ms. Blackman.
Star Trek - 3.23 "All Our Yesterdays"
Recent discussion of Mariette Hartley, and her revealing cavewoman costume, spurred me on to give this penultimate Original Series episode a watch. It has never been a particular favorite of mine, but I found it very engaging and memorable this time out...and not just for the beguiling presence of Ms. Hartley. There's some really meaty stuff for Leonard Nimoy especially to dig his actor's teeth into, and the love/hate dynamic between Spock and McCoy really makes this one sing, despite some credulity-stretching plot concepts. Ubiquitous character actor Ian Wolfe is very good as Mr. Atoz. Certainly one of the best of the often-maligned season three.
The Bionic Woman - 1.10 "Fly Jaime"
Basically a beat-by-beat remake of the early S1 episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, "Survival of the Fittest." Jaime poses as a flight attendant on a charter airplane to protect Dr. Rudy Wells (now restructured as a more fatherly figure, in the form of Martin E. Brooks) from assassins who are also on board. When the plane crash lands near a beach somewhere in Brazil, Jaime has her hands full, keeping both Rudy and the survivors of the crash alive, as well as avoiding the overtures of a lascivious older passenger (Vito Scotti). This being the kinder, gentler Bionic series, the baddies are only injured here, not killed as in 6MDM. One wonders if Oscar Goldman (who was in Rudy's position in "Survival of the Fittest"), when he shows up with the rescue party at the epilogue, doesn't feel a slight case of deja vu. Lindsay Wagner looks cute as can be in her flight attendant's outfit.
Rawhide - 3.20 "Incident of the Boomerang"
Michael Pate (who appeared five times in the series and also wrote this episode) guest stars as a cheerful Aussie, Goffage, who, along with his childhood pal and Aborigine scout (Woody Strode), crosses paths with Favor's outfit while leading 200 head of cattle across Comanche territory. Goffage is traveling with a woman (Patricia Medina, practically busting out of her frock) of questionable background, who he intends to marry...but her old flame (James Drury) has other plans. Ms. Medina has fun playing an unrepentant flirt; she practically fills the shirtless Rowdy's water bucket with drool at one point. Frank DeKova plays the Comanche chief completely straight, but it's still a bit hard to take him seriously after seeing him goof it up on F Troop. Excellent - if quirky - episode of this very fine western series; Pate's script takes pains to give everyone, including all of the regulars, plenty to do.
Here's a better pic of Ms. Medina, in her prime:
S.W.A.T. - 2.6 "The Vendetta" (listed as "Vendetta" on the DVD)
Decent entry in this action-packed '70s cop show. The main attraction here is the guest cast, which includes Aldo Ray and Paul Mantee, as a couple of ex-cons out for revenge on Hondo and a hard-nosed real estate developer (Harris Yulin). Last but not least is a young Susan Sullivan, clad in an teeny weeny bikini, as enshrined in well-chosen screencaps by Randall, roughly 35 pages back...To wit:
(Credit: Flashgear, a.k.a. Randall)
Yancy Derringer - 1.19 "Panic in Town"
Women in the French Quarter are being terrorized and beaten by a weird figure in a clown mask; meanwhile, a group of prim do-gooders calling themselves the "Justice League" (no relation) clamor for New Orleans' administrator Colton (Kevin Hagen) to resign. Yancy (Jock Mahoney) and his very deadly sidekick, Pahoo (X Brands), are convinced the two incidents are related. The bad guys really mess up when they go after Yancy's gal pal, Madam Francine (Francis Bergen). The episode maybe bites off a bit more than it can chew, plot-wise, and ends somewhat abruptly, but remains a fun, fast-paced "Eastern."
Lawman - 1.14 "The Outcast"
Marshal Dan Troop (John Russell, who does stern and intimidating like nobody's business) intervenes when a hate-filled local rancher (Barry Kelley) and his predatory son (Mike Road) try to run off a proud young woman (Miranda Jones) and her Indian mother, to get her land and access to the water on it. The late James Drury guest stars as the rancher's right hand man who starts to question his boss. Also with familiar face Jon Lormer (as a principled newspaperman).
The Guns of Will Sonnett - 1.22 "Stopover in a Troubled Town"
A rather offbeat episode, as Will (the always-wonderful Walter Brennan) and grandson Jeff (Dack Rambo) help a single mother saloon girl (Ahna Capri) and her baby get out from under the thumb of the saloon's crooked owner (William Bryant) and reunite them with her estranged father (Karl Swenson). Some pretty obvious stunt doubles in the climactic fight between the baddie and Jeff, but otherwise this is an entertaining story. There's a neat bit of dialogue at the denouement, as Will and Jeff wistfully watch the lovely Ms. Capri ride away:
Jeff: "That's a fine woman, Grandpa."
Will: "Yeah. But you're too young for her. And I'm too old."
There is one hack job of an obvious cut in the syndicated print used on Timeless' S1 set... wish to hell these were complete and uncut (and sharper!), but this is such a cool little western series that I'll take it any way I can get it.
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JohnHopper
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Agreed! The episode is good for two elements: Spock's love affair and the portal concept with a library of eras.
Love those negative reversed shots of people crossing the portal!
I prefer the original source over the Jaime one.
Agreed all the way! What a good cast! Season 3 is a great season.
The first season is unique and worthwhile.
By season 2, the series becomes the Gunsmoke of Warner. No disrespect for Gunsmoke.
Jack P
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To remake an episode that way is frankly the ultimate comment on how a show is running out of ideas. It's amusing to me when I spot the case of one series recycling a script from another one (I still find it amazing how a "Virginian" got recycled for "Ironside"!) but this wasn't one of them.
Yep...and this is only the 10th episode of The Bionic Woman! Luckily, Lindsay Wagner has enough charm and appeal to carry the show through two more seasons.
Of course, many of the old WB shows did this sort of script re-use thing often enough (one of the first season Cheyennes even did a direct remake of To Have and Have Not, just in a western setting)...and so did some ITC shows. One of the scripts of The Baron was a previously-filmed The Saint script...apparently, the producers just crossed out Simon Templar's name and put in John Mannering's! Guess that's what happens when a studio is cranking out too many shows at the same time...
They also count on viewers either not watching the different shows using recycled scripts or that it's been long enough they just won't remember.
On a similar tangent, I've often accused the Star Trek writers of using scripts rejected from other series for "holodeck" episodes.
On a similar tangent, I've often accused the Star Trek writers of using scripts rejected from other series for "holodeck" episodes.
Jack P
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Well as promised, the Mariette marathon, Volume 1!
I started with an early appearance followed by an early iconic one. (I actually thought I had a copy of "Ride The High Country" but I don't)
Dr. Kildare, S2-"Face Of Fear"
-Robert Culp is a lab technician who thinks he's going insane because his father had been insane. Mariette is his troubled wife. Interesting how she plays a wife and mother of a seven year old son and she was only 22 then, which shows how a *lot* of actresses back then tended to play "older" in that sense early in their careers.
The Twilight Zone, S5-"The Long Morrow"
-Probably her most iconic guest shot next to "Star Trek" or at least in the top three or four. It's a very talky, stagy type of program that could only be made in the era of B/W anthology shows and also at the tail-end of the era when the pseudo-science Serling's dramas are noted for. What makes it work are the performances. The episode is likened to "The Gift Of The Magi" but there's also an echo of "Jane Eyre" when Mariette's Sandra says they can still be together even as things are but unlike that story, it doesn't end that way. Lansing feels he is too hideous for her now.
-A note on the two commentaries for this episode. Mariette's is engaging though it shows how actors over tim blur together their appearances and don't often get their chronologies straight (because for them this was work, whereas for us, these shows are fun and so we like to memorize the order!). She says her first color show was "Star Trek" which isn't true. The Skelton/Benson one is not very good since there's a lot of reading info off imdb entries that makes it not very illuminating.
After that it was onto the Westerns!
Gunsmoke, S8-"Cotter's Girl"
-Mariette is well-cast as the tomboy girl Clarey Cotter who's basically lived for years in the wild of an abandoned shack. The episode has no real dramatic conflict over the course of its hour since it's basically a light comedy of Mariette getting the "My Fair Lady" type of makeover in social graces instruction to set herself up for an eventual move to Harrisburg to live with her aunt. We get no dramatic tension of her rebelling and wanting to stay in the wild which is how a story with a more "serious" take might have done it. The episode just works as a pleasant, light diversion (and the added bonus of seeing Kitty impishly emulate Clarey's behavior at episode's end by giving Matt a hug from behind!)
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/attachments/virginian-32-jpg.70988/
The Virginian, S2-"The Drifter"
-This was recently reviewed here and spotlighted by Flashgear as we get a flashback to how the Virginian first came to Shiloh. I have to admit while I was often impressed at the writing gymnastics that had to take place to avoid dialogue where you would think the matter of the Virginian's never-revealed name would have to come up, here it falls flat in the first confrontation with Judge Garth which comes on hostile terms (this is a total contrast to that 1958 one-shot pilot Drury did where he is going out specifically to work at the ranch and Judge Garth there goes, "Oh, you're the man from Virginia.") Showing him some papers so that we know the Judge is reading an ID of some sorts but never says it at least would have worked.
-At any rate, the episode is impressive cast-wise since seeing Leif Erickson playing a ranch owner as he would several years later on his own show almost has a strange way of elevating things to a higher level with hindsight. Mariette as his daughter who has been duped by the sleazy ranch foreman Michael Forrest is good in the role and of course get the tragic end. My one quibble is it's too abrupt as it happens with barely a minute or so left in the episode which gives us only enough time for a quick fade back to the present with no final thoughts from Drury. I prefer episodes that give you just a little more breathing space at the end. (a LOT of "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea" episodes are guilty of this too)
The Virginian, S3-"Felicity's Spring"
-Mariette shares equal time in this episode with Katharine Crawford, who plays her sister and becomes the Virginian's doomed romance. Crawford is the school teacher the entire town has fallen in love with and Mariette the protective older sister who's kept the secret of Crawford's terminal illness from her so she can enjoy as much of life as possible to the last minute.....even though that will mean pain for Drury.
Gunsmoke, S10-"Big Man, Big Target"
-This one, I confess, I did not like. We get a tale of Mariette as a bored wife in a poor ramshackle ranch having an affair with outlaw J.D. Cannon, who finds a way to kill her husband and eventually has his target on Matt as well. The script I felt was poor and I also felt Mariette was miscast in the part because I just didn't buy that she could fall for someone like Cannon's character. Too much of her basic goodness is what makes that unbelievable. This is more of an Antoinette Bower part, since I could see Bower as a woman in the same position who could have some regrets about her husband, but who would still have the wildcat side underneath that would explain her attraction to someone like Cannon. It just didn't come off for me here.
Bonanza, S6-"Right Is The Fourth R"
-The only time I ever see an episode of "Bonanza" is one of these marathons and I only have the first six seasons so I can't judge the later ones. Mariette is fine in this episode but it's not a good one either IMO. In one of his final spotlight episodes, Adam Cartwright fills in for teacher Mariette at the school after she breaks her arm while learning to ride a horse at the Ponderosa (theirs is a strictly platonic relationship which is the first problem with the episode). Adam decides to teach a course in the history of the territories but when he tries to get information on the early settlement from Mariette's uncle, Everett Sloane he runs into hostile roadblocks and threats to drop his teaching. When he refuses he gets beaten up. The ending which takes place with Adam revealing the secret of what he has learned to the townsfolk is simply AWFUL. In his zeal to expose the past and get Sloane to reveal what he knows an innocent man who knows the truth gets *killed* in the process and then suddenly becomes forgotten in the final couple minutes. It's just a pretentious episode on all levels and isn't something that will ever get me to embrace "Bonanza" wholeheartedly.
The Oregon Trail-"The Race"
-A jump all the way to 1977 and the last prime time western of Mariette's career. I had only seen the original pilot and the first episode of this in the Timeless release (the pilot had given us Blair Brown as Rod Taylor's new second wife; because the pilot didn't sell for more than a year, Brown didn't return for the series and Taylor was suddenly a widower again who apparently never had a second wife, though his dead wife's name was now Brown's character). I frankly never understood why they even tried because whereas "Wagon Train" is about a series of repeated trips west, trying to build an entire series around a SINGLE journey west strikes me as very limited unless they knew right away going in it was never going to last. Indeed "The Race" is one of the episodes that never got on the air in its original NBC run. The prints of this show I'd note are color 16mm ones, the only time I have ever seen 16mm used for a show of this vintage (late 70s) and the sound is rather muffled so you have to strain a bit at times.
-Anyway, the dual track of the plot is that the wagon train has to get a supply town ahead of a rival train that's headed up by the unscrupulous Morgan Woodward who tries to slow down Taylor's group by sabotaging a number of wagons. Meanwhile, Taylor's younger son Billy (who is about 11) has bonded with Mariette, who is traveling with her recovering from consumption husband Andrew Prine. Mariette had lost her only child years earlier who would have been Billy's age so they develop a friendship......until Billy one night spots Mariette having a one-night stand with an old friend of hers while the two are on night watch. Here the episode gets a bit silly because Billy suddenly becomes the Puritanical fanatic who becomes obsessed about the trail rules being violated and who wants his father to do something about it, and then believing Mariette could face thirty-nine lashes sabotages Prine's wagon in the hopes he'll drop out and this bizarre behavior results in Mariette's sin that she regrets getting exposed to her husband. But don't worry, all ends well. While the acting is fine, this script to me again shows how the premise of this show in contrast to "Wagon Train" in the past was *very* limited in terms of the kind of stories it could tell and I'm not surprised it failed to find an audience.
I do have her two appearances on "Daniel Boone" but since that's a very different kind of "western" I'm putting those off, and I'm not sure I'll get to those near-term. I decided to close "Volume 1" with a change of pace.
Bob Newhart Show, S2-"Have You Met Miss Dietz?"
-A rare sitcom appearance in this era by Mariette as a newly divorced friend of Bob and Emily who's just moved into the apartment apparently was intended to be the beginning of a recurring role for her on the show. I've found one news clipping which said she was "joining the show" and the appearance is clearly set up that way as we see Emily pair her up on dates with first Howard and then Jerry and arguing then ensues. IMDB says that at least one cast member (unnamed) didn't like her and that ended any further appearances but I've found no source confirmation on that. It looks like the idea was to give Emily a friend of her own to confide in a way different from the Margaret Hoover character of Season 1 who'd been dropped after the first 13 episodes and to create a contrast by making Emily's friend a liberated free-spirit divorcee. Good as Mariette is in the part, I'm not sure it would have been wise for her to commit to a role like this long-term at the expense of her other range of guest shots.
Volume 2 when it comes will certainly feature the cop/detective shows and more! (I'm saving the best stuff, i.e. Trek for last!)
I started with an early appearance followed by an early iconic one. (I actually thought I had a copy of "Ride The High Country" but I don't)
Dr. Kildare, S2-"Face Of Fear"
-Robert Culp is a lab technician who thinks he's going insane because his father had been insane. Mariette is his troubled wife. Interesting how she plays a wife and mother of a seven year old son and she was only 22 then, which shows how a *lot* of actresses back then tended to play "older" in that sense early in their careers.
The Twilight Zone, S5-"The Long Morrow"
-Probably her most iconic guest shot next to "Star Trek" or at least in the top three or four. It's a very talky, stagy type of program that could only be made in the era of B/W anthology shows and also at the tail-end of the era when the pseudo-science Serling's dramas are noted for. What makes it work are the performances. The episode is likened to "The Gift Of The Magi" but there's also an echo of "Jane Eyre" when Mariette's Sandra says they can still be together even as things are but unlike that story, it doesn't end that way. Lansing feels he is too hideous for her now.
-A note on the two commentaries for this episode. Mariette's is engaging though it shows how actors over tim blur together their appearances and don't often get their chronologies straight (because for them this was work, whereas for us, these shows are fun and so we like to memorize the order!). She says her first color show was "Star Trek" which isn't true. The Skelton/Benson one is not very good since there's a lot of reading info off imdb entries that makes it not very illuminating.
After that it was onto the Westerns!
Gunsmoke, S8-"Cotter's Girl"
-Mariette is well-cast as the tomboy girl Clarey Cotter who's basically lived for years in the wild of an abandoned shack. The episode has no real dramatic conflict over the course of its hour since it's basically a light comedy of Mariette getting the "My Fair Lady" type of makeover in social graces instruction to set herself up for an eventual move to Harrisburg to live with her aunt. We get no dramatic tension of her rebelling and wanting to stay in the wild which is how a story with a more "serious" take might have done it. The episode just works as a pleasant, light diversion (and the added bonus of seeing Kitty impishly emulate Clarey's behavior at episode's end by giving Matt a hug from behind!)
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/attachments/virginian-32-jpg.70988/
The Virginian, S2-"The Drifter"
-This was recently reviewed here and spotlighted by Flashgear as we get a flashback to how the Virginian first came to Shiloh. I have to admit while I was often impressed at the writing gymnastics that had to take place to avoid dialogue where you would think the matter of the Virginian's never-revealed name would have to come up, here it falls flat in the first confrontation with Judge Garth which comes on hostile terms (this is a total contrast to that 1958 one-shot pilot Drury did where he is going out specifically to work at the ranch and Judge Garth there goes, "Oh, you're the man from Virginia.") Showing him some papers so that we know the Judge is reading an ID of some sorts but never says it at least would have worked.
-At any rate, the episode is impressive cast-wise since seeing Leif Erickson playing a ranch owner as he would several years later on his own show almost has a strange way of elevating things to a higher level with hindsight. Mariette as his daughter who has been duped by the sleazy ranch foreman Michael Forrest is good in the role and of course get the tragic end. My one quibble is it's too abrupt as it happens with barely a minute or so left in the episode which gives us only enough time for a quick fade back to the present with no final thoughts from Drury. I prefer episodes that give you just a little more breathing space at the end. (a LOT of "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea" episodes are guilty of this too)
The Virginian, S3-"Felicity's Spring"
-Mariette shares equal time in this episode with Katharine Crawford, who plays her sister and becomes the Virginian's doomed romance. Crawford is the school teacher the entire town has fallen in love with and Mariette the protective older sister who's kept the secret of Crawford's terminal illness from her so she can enjoy as much of life as possible to the last minute.....even though that will mean pain for Drury.
Gunsmoke, S10-"Big Man, Big Target"
-This one, I confess, I did not like. We get a tale of Mariette as a bored wife in a poor ramshackle ranch having an affair with outlaw J.D. Cannon, who finds a way to kill her husband and eventually has his target on Matt as well. The script I felt was poor and I also felt Mariette was miscast in the part because I just didn't buy that she could fall for someone like Cannon's character. Too much of her basic goodness is what makes that unbelievable. This is more of an Antoinette Bower part, since I could see Bower as a woman in the same position who could have some regrets about her husband, but who would still have the wildcat side underneath that would explain her attraction to someone like Cannon. It just didn't come off for me here.
Bonanza, S6-"Right Is The Fourth R"
-The only time I ever see an episode of "Bonanza" is one of these marathons and I only have the first six seasons so I can't judge the later ones. Mariette is fine in this episode but it's not a good one either IMO. In one of his final spotlight episodes, Adam Cartwright fills in for teacher Mariette at the school after she breaks her arm while learning to ride a horse at the Ponderosa (theirs is a strictly platonic relationship which is the first problem with the episode). Adam decides to teach a course in the history of the territories but when he tries to get information on the early settlement from Mariette's uncle, Everett Sloane he runs into hostile roadblocks and threats to drop his teaching. When he refuses he gets beaten up. The ending which takes place with Adam revealing the secret of what he has learned to the townsfolk is simply AWFUL. In his zeal to expose the past and get Sloane to reveal what he knows an innocent man who knows the truth gets *killed* in the process and then suddenly becomes forgotten in the final couple minutes. It's just a pretentious episode on all levels and isn't something that will ever get me to embrace "Bonanza" wholeheartedly.
The Oregon Trail-"The Race"
-A jump all the way to 1977 and the last prime time western of Mariette's career. I had only seen the original pilot and the first episode of this in the Timeless release (the pilot had given us Blair Brown as Rod Taylor's new second wife; because the pilot didn't sell for more than a year, Brown didn't return for the series and Taylor was suddenly a widower again who apparently never had a second wife, though his dead wife's name was now Brown's character). I frankly never understood why they even tried because whereas "Wagon Train" is about a series of repeated trips west, trying to build an entire series around a SINGLE journey west strikes me as very limited unless they knew right away going in it was never going to last. Indeed "The Race" is one of the episodes that never got on the air in its original NBC run. The prints of this show I'd note are color 16mm ones, the only time I have ever seen 16mm used for a show of this vintage (late 70s) and the sound is rather muffled so you have to strain a bit at times.
-Anyway, the dual track of the plot is that the wagon train has to get a supply town ahead of a rival train that's headed up by the unscrupulous Morgan Woodward who tries to slow down Taylor's group by sabotaging a number of wagons. Meanwhile, Taylor's younger son Billy (who is about 11) has bonded with Mariette, who is traveling with her recovering from consumption husband Andrew Prine. Mariette had lost her only child years earlier who would have been Billy's age so they develop a friendship......until Billy one night spots Mariette having a one-night stand with an old friend of hers while the two are on night watch. Here the episode gets a bit silly because Billy suddenly becomes the Puritanical fanatic who becomes obsessed about the trail rules being violated and who wants his father to do something about it, and then believing Mariette could face thirty-nine lashes sabotages Prine's wagon in the hopes he'll drop out and this bizarre behavior results in Mariette's sin that she regrets getting exposed to her husband. But don't worry, all ends well. While the acting is fine, this script to me again shows how the premise of this show in contrast to "Wagon Train" in the past was *very* limited in terms of the kind of stories it could tell and I'm not surprised it failed to find an audience.
I do have her two appearances on "Daniel Boone" but since that's a very different kind of "western" I'm putting those off, and I'm not sure I'll get to those near-term. I decided to close "Volume 1" with a change of pace.
Bob Newhart Show, S2-"Have You Met Miss Dietz?"
-A rare sitcom appearance in this era by Mariette as a newly divorced friend of Bob and Emily who's just moved into the apartment apparently was intended to be the beginning of a recurring role for her on the show. I've found one news clipping which said she was "joining the show" and the appearance is clearly set up that way as we see Emily pair her up on dates with first Howard and then Jerry and arguing then ensues. IMDB says that at least one cast member (unnamed) didn't like her and that ended any further appearances but I've found no source confirmation on that. It looks like the idea was to give Emily a friend of her own to confide in a way different from the Margaret Hoover character of Season 1 who'd been dropped after the first 13 episodes and to create a contrast by making Emily's friend a liberated free-spirit divorcee. Good as Mariette is in the part, I'm not sure it would have been wise for her to commit to a role like this long-term at the expense of her other range of guest shots.
Volume 2 when it comes will certainly feature the cop/detective shows and more! (I'm saving the best stuff, i.e. Trek for last!)
Flashgear
Senior HTF Member
More favorite Hitchcock intros...my screen caps from the Universal DVDs...
Alfred Hitchcock Presents S4E35 Touche (June 14, 1959)...
(Hitchcock dressed as Zorro, cutting his initials into a wall with his Rapier)
"Good evening, Amigos. I fear that the day of the illiterate swordsman has passed. They seem to be spending so much time writing that they have been neglecting their really important work, scurrying opponents. It's a very unhealthy state of affairs. Take this gentleman for instance (referring to the coming commercial break). He couldn't possibly win a duel, yet he can write sixty words per minute. Here is someone who can neither duel nor write, but can speak in volumes...and insists on doing so!"
Walt Disney's Zorro TV series was right in the middle of it's 4 year run and a huge cultural influence when Hitchcock playfully mocked it in 1959. Zorro aired on Thursday evening that season, Walt Disney itself on Friday. With Alfred Hitchcock Presents airing on Sunday night. But perhaps Hitchcock had heard rumors of Walt Disney moving to Sunday nights (as indeed it did for the Fall of 1960), although those family oriented shows were early evening fare and never would be programmed to run as late as 9:30 when Hitchcock's show came on...
Alfred Hitchcock Presents S4E35 Touche (June 14, 1959)...
(Hitchcock dressed as Zorro, cutting his initials into a wall with his Rapier)
"Good evening, Amigos. I fear that the day of the illiterate swordsman has passed. They seem to be spending so much time writing that they have been neglecting their really important work, scurrying opponents. It's a very unhealthy state of affairs. Take this gentleman for instance (referring to the coming commercial break). He couldn't possibly win a duel, yet he can write sixty words per minute. Here is someone who can neither duel nor write, but can speak in volumes...and insists on doing so!"
Walt Disney's Zorro TV series was right in the middle of it's 4 year run and a huge cultural influence when Hitchcock playfully mocked it in 1959. Zorro aired on Thursday evening that season, Walt Disney itself on Friday. With Alfred Hitchcock Presents airing on Sunday night. But perhaps Hitchcock had heard rumors of Walt Disney moving to Sunday nights (as indeed it did for the Fall of 1960), although those family oriented shows were early evening fare and never would be programmed to run as late as 9:30 when Hitchcock's show came on...
JohnHopper
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______________________
TOP SEASON 1 THE BIONIC WOMAN EPISODES
“Welcome Home, Jaime, Part I & II”
“Angel of Mercy”
“The Deadly Missiles”
“Canyon of Death”
“Mirror Image”
TOP SEASON 1 THE BIONIC WOMAN EPISODES
“Welcome Home, Jaime, Part I & II”
“Angel of Mercy”
“The Deadly Missiles”
“Canyon of Death”
“Mirror Image”
Flashgear
Senior HTF Member
Alfred Hitchcock Presents S3E38 The Impromptu Murder (June 22, 1958)...my screen caps from the Universal season 3 DVDs...
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I must interrupt this program to make a grave announcement. The invasion from Mars is already underway! I repeat, the invasion from Mars is already underway! Martians have already landed and are among us. We have captured some of them and will show them to you now, so that you may know our enemy"...
"Here are the prisoners we have taken so far...this one was caught in broad daylight at the Sans Souci Canasta Club... Notice the needle point heel, probably lethal"...
"You may have seen some of these creatures in your city. They have rounded backs, a body that looks like a tired balloon, pointed red feet with no toes and long colored legs. The uniform seems to have been designed so that we can't tell which way this one is going. Very deceptive. Notice the napsack and the space for weapon storage. And look at the shoes...obviously they were never designed for the human foot. And now, here we have the most dangerous type...notice the high oblong head and the cloche helmet. The creature can, at a moments notice, inflate this for a fast return to Mars". (Hitchcock turns to the military policeman) "Take them to our leader"...
"And now, speaking of our beloved leader (winces, referring to the imminent commercial break), I feel that it is indeed proper, in this moment of grave world wide danger, he giveth one of his one minute inspirational talks...for the next minute, I intend to step over to the stockade and interrogate our prisoners, after which I'll buzz back"...
(returning from commercial break) "I wish to state categorically that all the statements made previously were facetious. That no invasion from Mars is taking place and that the attractive costumes you see on these lovely Earthlings are the final step in a gradual evolution toward the ultimate in beauty...I shall be back... (looking nervously back and forth) I shall be back next week with another story. Until then, good night"...
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I must interrupt this program to make a grave announcement. The invasion from Mars is already underway! I repeat, the invasion from Mars is already underway! Martians have already landed and are among us. We have captured some of them and will show them to you now, so that you may know our enemy"...
"Here are the prisoners we have taken so far...this one was caught in broad daylight at the Sans Souci Canasta Club... Notice the needle point heel, probably lethal"...
"You may have seen some of these creatures in your city. They have rounded backs, a body that looks like a tired balloon, pointed red feet with no toes and long colored legs. The uniform seems to have been designed so that we can't tell which way this one is going. Very deceptive. Notice the napsack and the space for weapon storage. And look at the shoes...obviously they were never designed for the human foot. And now, here we have the most dangerous type...notice the high oblong head and the cloche helmet. The creature can, at a moments notice, inflate this for a fast return to Mars". (Hitchcock turns to the military policeman) "Take them to our leader"...
"And now, speaking of our beloved leader (winces, referring to the imminent commercial break), I feel that it is indeed proper, in this moment of grave world wide danger, he giveth one of his one minute inspirational talks...for the next minute, I intend to step over to the stockade and interrogate our prisoners, after which I'll buzz back"...
(returning from commercial break) "I wish to state categorically that all the statements made previously were facetious. That no invasion from Mars is taking place and that the attractive costumes you see on these lovely Earthlings are the final step in a gradual evolution toward the ultimate in beauty...I shall be back... (looking nervously back and forth) I shall be back next week with another story. Until then, good night"...
Wiseguy
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I recall not liking the third season at the time. They seemed to make a conscious effort to get away from the station, which was almost another character on the show, much like the Enterprise on Star Trek. There was the episode with Les learning to fly a plane, Mr. Carlson's wife having a baby, Herb on a game show, Jennifer moving apartments, an out-of-town sales meeting, etc. The show got refurbished in the 4th season (figuratively and literally) and improved with better and continuing storylines to the end...then it got cancelled.
Wiseguy
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Always thought it was odd that Knots Landing displayed the titles while the series it was a spin-off of, Dallas, didn't.
Wiseguy
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Been watching I Married Joan lately both on public domain DVDs and airings on Decades. Apparently NBC's answer to I Love Lucy (with even a similar title), it was much sillier than Lucy but still fun to watch in an it's-so-old-it's-classic frame of mind. What I find amazing is the opening credits on the DVD (apparently edited on TV airings) where an announcer states "I Married Joan, America's favorite comedy show, starring America's queen of comedy, Joan Davis!" Keep in mind the series aired during the 2nd-4th seasons of I Love Lucy, when it was number one in the ratings. I Married Joan managed to tie 25th place in its second season.
Wiseguy
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Universal remade a Rockford Files episode ("This Case Is Closed") the following year on Switch ("Death by Resurrection"). The stories of both episodes were credited to John Thomas James, a pseudonym of Roy Huggins.
JohnHopper
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