Only a few more days, and I'll be flying back to the States for a month. Looking forward to seeing family and friends, and being back in America again for a while. (This is also the time I pile my bags full of DVDs and Blu-Rays to take with me back to Japan). So, as a lead-up to our trip, it's back to U.S. TV show watching, starting with:
The Beverly Hillbillies
1.12 "The Great Feud"
1.13 "Home for Christmas"
"The Great Feud" was pretty ridiculous, even by Hillbillies standards, but of course there are still plenty of laughs to be had, as the Clampetts march on their neighbors, the Drysdales, due to Sonny Drysdale's courting Elly May and then shuffling off when he hears marriage is expected. The best part of this episode is the frequent narration by Lester Flatt. The next episode is better, as the Clampetts head home to surprise Cousin Pearl for the holidays. Seeing Jed and family's first experience on an airplane flight was highly amusing, and the show ends on a nice Christmassy note.
Bonanza - 3.02 "Springtime"
What starts out as one of Bonanza's occasional comic episodes ends up becoming a very fine story with several touching, heartfelt moments. Some opening horseplay between Adam, Hoss and Little Joe results in an old friend of Ben's, miserly old businessman Jedidiah Milbank (John Carradine, in prime ham mode), getting injured. The Cartwright's end up hosting the man while he recuperates, and the three Cartwright sons are each given an unpleasant task to perform for the bedridden Milbank as he recovers. We follow each of them as they deal with these problems in their own inimitable way, each true to their own honorable and kindhearted character.
This is an outstanding episode which boasts all the strengths of the series - boisterous good humor, the drama inherent in doing the right thing in difficult circumstances, and an emphasis on basic human decency - and caps it off with some terrific guest performances - not only Carradine, but also Denver Pyle, John Qualen and Lorna Thayer.
The Andy Griffith Show - 4.01 "Opie the Bird Man"
A fan favorite episode, by all accounts. This was my first time watching it, and it is indeed a very fine episode, focusing on our four main leads - Andy, Barney, Opie and Aunt Bea. Opie accidentally kills a mother bird and ends up raising her babies, under the stern but loving and wise tutelage of Andy. I can think of no other TV series father and son relationship portrayed more deftly, or more believably, than the one between Andy Griffith and Ron Howard. And Don Knotts gets a lot of good material here to lighten things up, with lots of running jokes about his so-called expertise in various fields, including weapons and wild animals.
Starsky & Hutch - 1.1 "Pilot"
I got about half-way through this 71 minute pilot before I realized I had watched it previously just a few years ago. Oh, well, that happens sometimes. It's still a very good, relatively low-key opener for the series, with a different actor playing Captain Dobie, and fun bad guy turns from Michael Lerner, Michael Conrad and Richard Lynch (who looks even creepier as a young guy). The main emphasis is on establishing the rapport between Glaser and Soul, and they click immediately as a memorable pair of close, maverick cop buddies,
The Invaders - 1.8 "Quantity: Unknown"
Another strong episode of this remarkably consistent Quinn-Martin sci-fi thriller. This time David Vincent tries to keep a mysterious piece of technology out of alien hands, by turns helped and stymied by an impressive guest cast, which includes James Whitmore, Susan Strasberg, Milton Selzer, Douglas Henderson and good ol' Hamilton Burger himself, William Tallman. Though predominantly an exercise in paranoia and tension, The Invaders frequently features some good action, and this episode is no exception, concluding with a strikingly photographed fight sequence.
Susan Strasberg, as the best-looking metallurgist in TV history.
The Texan - 2.5 "Blue Norther"
Star Rory Calhoun co-produced this solid western series. The transfers on the Timeless DVD set are variable but this episode looked OK (the sound was a little poor, though). The Texan is ambushed by some scumbag outlaws (including a very young Harry Dean Stanton). Left for dead and his horse stolen, he boards a stagecoach and ends up sheltering from a heavy storm with several characters, including a chatty saleman (Parley Baer) and a principled gunman (Dan Barton). A typical 50s western story, for all that nicely played and done to a turn. Calhoun has a fine line in steely-eyed charisma, and made several very good big screen westerns in his career, none better than his riff on Doc Holliday, the magnificent Dawn at Socorro.
The Beverly Hillbillies
1.12 "The Great Feud"
1.13 "Home for Christmas"
"The Great Feud" was pretty ridiculous, even by Hillbillies standards, but of course there are still plenty of laughs to be had, as the Clampetts march on their neighbors, the Drysdales, due to Sonny Drysdale's courting Elly May and then shuffling off when he hears marriage is expected. The best part of this episode is the frequent narration by Lester Flatt. The next episode is better, as the Clampetts head home to surprise Cousin Pearl for the holidays. Seeing Jed and family's first experience on an airplane flight was highly amusing, and the show ends on a nice Christmassy note.
Bonanza - 3.02 "Springtime"
What starts out as one of Bonanza's occasional comic episodes ends up becoming a very fine story with several touching, heartfelt moments. Some opening horseplay between Adam, Hoss and Little Joe results in an old friend of Ben's, miserly old businessman Jedidiah Milbank (John Carradine, in prime ham mode), getting injured. The Cartwright's end up hosting the man while he recuperates, and the three Cartwright sons are each given an unpleasant task to perform for the bedridden Milbank as he recovers. We follow each of them as they deal with these problems in their own inimitable way, each true to their own honorable and kindhearted character.
This is an outstanding episode which boasts all the strengths of the series - boisterous good humor, the drama inherent in doing the right thing in difficult circumstances, and an emphasis on basic human decency - and caps it off with some terrific guest performances - not only Carradine, but also Denver Pyle, John Qualen and Lorna Thayer.
The Andy Griffith Show - 4.01 "Opie the Bird Man"
A fan favorite episode, by all accounts. This was my first time watching it, and it is indeed a very fine episode, focusing on our four main leads - Andy, Barney, Opie and Aunt Bea. Opie accidentally kills a mother bird and ends up raising her babies, under the stern but loving and wise tutelage of Andy. I can think of no other TV series father and son relationship portrayed more deftly, or more believably, than the one between Andy Griffith and Ron Howard. And Don Knotts gets a lot of good material here to lighten things up, with lots of running jokes about his so-called expertise in various fields, including weapons and wild animals.
Starsky & Hutch - 1.1 "Pilot"
I got about half-way through this 71 minute pilot before I realized I had watched it previously just a few years ago. Oh, well, that happens sometimes. It's still a very good, relatively low-key opener for the series, with a different actor playing Captain Dobie, and fun bad guy turns from Michael Lerner, Michael Conrad and Richard Lynch (who looks even creepier as a young guy). The main emphasis is on establishing the rapport between Glaser and Soul, and they click immediately as a memorable pair of close, maverick cop buddies,
The Invaders - 1.8 "Quantity: Unknown"
Another strong episode of this remarkably consistent Quinn-Martin sci-fi thriller. This time David Vincent tries to keep a mysterious piece of technology out of alien hands, by turns helped and stymied by an impressive guest cast, which includes James Whitmore, Susan Strasberg, Milton Selzer, Douglas Henderson and good ol' Hamilton Burger himself, William Tallman. Though predominantly an exercise in paranoia and tension, The Invaders frequently features some good action, and this episode is no exception, concluding with a strikingly photographed fight sequence.
Susan Strasberg, as the best-looking metallurgist in TV history.
The Texan - 2.5 "Blue Norther"
Star Rory Calhoun co-produced this solid western series. The transfers on the Timeless DVD set are variable but this episode looked OK (the sound was a little poor, though). The Texan is ambushed by some scumbag outlaws (including a very young Harry Dean Stanton). Left for dead and his horse stolen, he boards a stagecoach and ends up sheltering from a heavy storm with several characters, including a chatty saleman (Parley Baer) and a principled gunman (Dan Barton). A typical 50s western story, for all that nicely played and done to a turn. Calhoun has a fine line in steely-eyed charisma, and made several very good big screen westerns in his career, none better than his riff on Doc Holliday, the magnificent Dawn at Socorro.
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