BYW: Here are some TV Guide covers done by one of my favorite artists, Bob Peak. Just to show the level of talent needed to snag a cover assignment...
I remember when you posted a piece of your art. You were/are no slouch.
And I never understood that late business as it was *always* on the grocery store magazine rack by Thursday. If it could be there then why couldn't it be in our mailbox at least by Friday?!?
I've looked at those in the past. I always wish for more to be added but it never seems to happen.
My mom still subscribes to TV Guide and Readers Digest. On some level it’s comforting but like you say, the Guide of today shares the name but little else. I’ll still flip through the Digest though and it doesn’t seem much different than how I remember it being when I’d read it at my Grandparents in the 70’s.
Bob & Russ, these synopses gave me a little smile.
Alan, my wife and I subscribe to Reader's Digest, mainly for its 'Word Power' section. I guess it's a way to help stave off our brains from addling into rice pudding. Too many times, we'll run across a word like sigmoid and realize we're half way there to pudding status. Sigmoid??
Nope... About 8 years ago my primary support building was our HS. I stationed myself in the Library because it was somewhat central, had the main server/network rack in a closet, fun kids working as Library assistants to hang around, and a Librarian (aka Media Center Specialist) who was a couple of years older than me and was pretty cool. She ordered several magazines for their magazine rack solely because I read them, one of them being Reader's Digest. It was a rare issue where I found myself scoring less than 90% on those "Word Power" sections, and they had words like sigmoid then as well. I was constantly surprising myself with the words I knew, not that I ever had opportunity to use any of them in casual conversation. That said, I had to look up sigmoid... and you'd think I'd have known it as I took advanced mathmatics in HS (calculus and trig).
Well Jeff - You and I may be the only ones that still like Matt Houston. It was TV cheese at it's cheesiest.Matt Houston – 1.1 “X-22”
Watched the two-hour pilot episode of this ‘80s detective show (which ran from 1982 – 1985) on YouTube, in anticipation of receiving VEI’s complete series set. I remember loving this show, particularly its first season, back as a high schooler when it was first airing on (if memory serves) Friday nights on ABC. Lee Horsely nails his swaggering yet immensely likable self-made Texan millionaire / private eye character from the off, displaying plenty of charisma and charm, as well as proving a light touch with the humor. The gorgeous Pamela Hemsley lays on the faux Texas accent a bit thick, at least in this premiere episode, but has great, easy-going chemistry with Horsely. This is another of those ‘80s shows that happily cast well-known faces from past TV and movie glories…in this one, we get Cesare Danova as the murder victim, Jill St. John, Dale Robertson and Barbara Carrera (as usual, oozing sexuality) as suspects, and good ol’ Wishbone himself, Paul Brinegar, in a recurring role as one of Houston’s ranch hands.
This one often gets labelled as an inferior Magnum, P.I. clone, but I think that’s selling it short. Sure, Horsely is another good-looking private dick sporting a porn ‘tache driving around in a sweet car, but Matt Houston quickly carves out its own identity. I wouldn’t claim it’s anywhere near as good as Magnum (which is for my money one of the best TV shows of the ‘80s), but it’s pretty damn entertaining in its own right, breezy, fun and action-packed, with a high babe quotient, the kind of meat-and-potatoes fare that is just right for late-night, vegging on the sofa viewing.
Bonanza
3.11 “Day of the Dragon”
5.6 “A Question of Strength”
A couple of fine, if unremarkable, episodes of this popular, long-running western. Pretty Lisa Lu gives a heartfelt performance as a Chinese slave girl who Little Joe accidentally acquires in a card game. Joe takes her back to the Ponderosa, where the befuddled but charmed Cartwright family free her but haven’t the heart to turn her out alone into a strange new world. Things get dangerous when a ruthless warlord (Richard Loo) rides in with his soldiers looking to reclaim his “property,” leading to a violent showdown at the climax. Ms. Lu also provides an interesting commentary on the DVD, and seems proud of this episode.
“A Question of Strength” is a less lively but remains a well-acted drama, as Hoss accompanies a friendly novitiate nun, sister Mary Kathleen (adorable little pixie Judy Carne, of Laugh-In fame) and her stern superior, Mother Veronica (Ilka Windish) on a stagecoach. A couple of thugs chase down the stage, causing it to crash and kill the driver. The naïve Mary Kathleen hands over Mother Veronica’s money belt, unaware it contains $10,000 need to open a hospital in Denver. Later, Hoss and the nuns arrive at the next stage stop, only to find one of the robbers (John Kellogg) shot and left for dead. Does he still have the money he stole, and what will Mary Kathleen do to get it back? The usually formidable Hoss is pretty worthless at dealing with the bad guys this episode, but nevertheless his big heart shows through. Interestingly, both episodes feature exciting, on-location “bandits pursuing a wagon” chase sequences.
Gideon’s Way - "The Firebug"
Yet another rock-solid hour of impeccably-acted crime drama. George Cole (later to achieve fame as shifty con man Arthur Daley on Minder) is very good here as Bishop, the “Firebug” of the title, once a kind, law-abiding husband whose tragic loss of his wife and young daughter in a fire sets him on the path of madness, arson and murder. Cole has several creepy scenes of him talking to the doll that belonged to his dead daughter. One of my favorite things about this series is its depiction of the minutiae of police procedure, and the cumulative feeling of the whole police force working in unison to gradually, inexorably track down and stop any and all criminals threatening the safety of London's citizens.
Despite the dark subject matter of this episode, there are some nicely-played moments of humor: DCI Keen (Alexander Davion) bargaining with a child to borrow his bicycle to check up on a lead, and then riding wobbily away as the kid looks on with disgust; the irritable old neighbor who witnessed Bishop leaving an arson scene, grudgingly repeating her testimony to Commander Gideon; and Gideon and Keen's wry remarks about Keen having to cancel a date with his latest girl du jour to stay on the case. These moments expertly leaven the grim plot details without overpowering the dramatic impact of the story. As usual with this show, there is a lot of evocative location footage around London which "opens up" the story, while the various tenement and warehouse sets - especially the ruins of Bishop's burned-out terraced house - are very well-done and add to the realism of the whole enterprise.
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H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man – 1.5 “Picnic with Death”
A car accident outs invisible man Dr. Peter Turner to the world. Peeved at all the media attention, Turner tries to focus on his research to regain his visibility, but gets roped by his precocious niece (Deborah Watling, later companion Victoria in the Patrick Troughton era of Doctor Who) into preventing a brother and sister (Derek Bond and Faith Brook) from murdering the man’s invalid wife for her money. Not as much invisibility special effects gimmickry in this one, but we do get a hair-raising finale, as Turner performs a last-minute rescue before a car with the intended victim plunges over a cliff. There’s also an amusing cameo by Hammer horror vet Michael Ripper. This is an enjoyable, old-fashioned ITC thriller series, marred somewhat by the charmless voice work of Tim Turner as the invisible man. I think it would be far better remembered today if the producers had went to the trouble of casting someone with a more mellifluous, memorable voice, ala Claude Rains or Vincent Price from the Universal series of films.
Make that three. While I thought the pilot movie was awful, the series itself was more adult and darker than I remembered or expected. It was really a very pleasant surprise.Well Jeff - You and I may be the only ones that still like Matt Houston. It was TV cheese at it's cheesiest.
Good stuff, Russ! You kid because you love.
Great and well-written reviews as usual, Jeff.Matt Houston – 1.1 “X-22”
Watched the two-hour pilot episode of this ‘80s detective show (which ran from 1982 – 1985) on YouTube, in anticipation of receiving VEI’s complete series set. I remember loving this show, particularly its first season, back as a high schooler when it was first airing on (if memory serves) Friday nights on ABC. Lee Horsely nails his swaggering yet immensely likable self-made Texan millionaire / private eye character from the off, displaying plenty of charisma and charm, as well as proving a light touch with the humor. The gorgeous Pamela Hemsley lays on the faux Texas accent a bit thick, at least in this premiere episode, but has great, easy-going chemistry with Horsely. This is another of those ‘80s shows that happily cast well-known faces from past TV and movie glories…in this one, we get Cesare Danova as the murder victim, Jill St. John, Dale Robertson and Barbara Carrera (as usual, oozing sexuality) as suspects, and good ol’ Wishbone himself, Paul Brinegar, in a recurring role as one of Houston’s ranch hands.
This one often gets labelled as an inferior Magnum, P.I. clone, but I think that’s selling it short. Sure, Horsely is another good-looking private dick sporting a porn ‘tache driving around in a sweet car, but Matt Houston quickly carves out its own identity. I wouldn’t claim it’s anywhere near as good as Magnum (which is for my money one of the best TV shows of the ‘80s), but it’s pretty damn entertaining in its own right, breezy, fun and action-packed, with a high babe quotient, the kind of meat-and-potatoes fare that is just right for late-night, vegging on the sofa viewing.
Bonanza
3.11 “Day of the Dragon”
5.6 “A Question of Strength”
A couple of fine, if unremarkable, episodes of this popular, long-running western. Pretty Lisa Lu gives a heartfelt performance as a Chinese slave girl who Little Joe accidentally acquires in a card game. Joe takes her back to the Ponderosa, where the befuddled but charmed Cartwright family free her but haven’t the heart to turn her out alone into a strange new world. Things get dangerous when a ruthless warlord (Richard Loo) rides in with his soldiers looking to reclaim his “property,” leading to a violent showdown at the climax. Ms. Lu also provides an interesting commentary on the DVD, and seems proud of this episode.
“A Question of Strength” is less lively but remains a well-acted drama, as Hoss accompanies a friendly novitiate nun, sister Mary Kathleen (adorable little pixie Judy Carne, of Laugh-In fame), and her stern, disapproving superior, Mother Veronica (Ilka Windish) on a stagecoach bound for Denver. Along the way, a couple of thugs chase down the stage, causing it to crash and kill the driver. The naïve Mary Kathleen hands over Mother Veronica’s money belt, unaware it contains $10,000 needed to open a hospital. Later, Hoss and the nuns arrive at the next stage stop, only to find one of the robbers (John Kellogg) shot and left for dead. Does he still have the money he stole, and what will Mary Kathleen do to get it back? The usually formidable Hoss is pretty worthless at dealing with the bad guys this episode, but nevertheless his big heart shows through. Interestingly, both episodes feature exciting, on-location “bandits pursuing a wagon” chase sequences.
Gideon’s Way - "The Firebug"
Yet another rock-solid hour of impeccably-acted crime drama. George Cole (later to achieve fame as shifty con man Arthur Daley on Minder) is very good here as Bishop, the “firebug” of the title, once a kind, law-abiding husband whose tragic loss of his wife and young daughter in a fire sets him on the path of madness, arson and murder. Cole has several creepy scenes of him talking to the singed doll that belonged to his dead daughter. One of my favorite things about this series is its depiction of the minutiae of police procedure, and the cumulative feeling of the whole police force working in unison to gradually, inexorably track down and stop any and all criminals threatening the safety of London's citizenry.
Despite the dark subject matter of this episode, there are some nicely-played moments of humor: DCI Keen (Alexander Davion) bargaining with a child to borrow his bicycle to check up on a lead, and then riding wobbily away as the kid looks on with disgust; the irritable old neighbor who witnessed Bishop leaving an arson scene, grudgingly repeating her testimony to Commander Gideon; and Gideon and Keen's wry remarks about Keen having to cancel a date with his latest girl du jour to stay on the case. These moments expertly leaven the grim plot details without overpowering the dramatic impact of the story. As usual with this show, there is a lot of evocative location footage around London which "opens up" the episode, while the various tenement and warehouse sets - especially the ruins of Bishop's burned-out terraced house - are very well-done and add to the realism of the whole enterprise.
View attachment 86865 View attachment 86866
H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man – 1.5 “Picnic with Death”
A car accident outs invisible man Dr. Peter Brady to the world. Peeved at all the media attention, Brady tries to focus on his research to regain his visibility, but gets roped by his precocious niece (Deborah Watling, later companion Victoria in the Patrick Troughton era of Doctor Who) into preventing a brother and sister (Derek Bond and Faith Brook) from murdering the man’s invalid wife for her money. Not as much invisibility special effects gimmickry in this one, but we do get a hair-raising finale, as Brady performs a last-minute invisible rescue before a car with the intended victim trapped inside plunges over a cliff. There’s also an amusing cameo by Hammer horror vet Michael Ripper. This is an enjoyable, old-fashioned ITC thriller series, marred somewhat by the charmless voice work of Tim Turner as the invisible man. I think it would be far better remembered today if the producers had went to the trouble of casting someone with a more mellifluous, memorable voice, ala Claude Rains or Vincent Price from the Universal series of films.
