I think both were YT. The Judds pop up from time to time, seem to be a mix of TV land airings and 16mm dubs. I watched The City on the main TV, quality didn’t bother me but as I’ve said before I’m pretty forgiving with image quality. I want the best I can get, but if the best I can get is 6 or 7 I’d rather watch it than not see it at all. Time compression is the main thing that bothers me.
I agree. I have never read any backstory, but I have never understood why they took a property like that and turned it into a cartoon. (Actually the cartoon was better.)
Most of my Batman comic reading was from ~1961-1965 and full of those rather outlandish stories. Bat-Mite, IMHO, was simply horrible (and I was the target audience for that mess at the time) and some things were even worse (in all fairness, Superman comics had devolved to include more forms/colors of Kryptonite and different effects than you could imagine and had Beppo (the super monkey), Krypto (the super dog), Comet (the super horse), Streaky (the super cat), and more inanity).
What I call "The Alan Alda Effect" in full bloom... that also includes many, many, more "touchy feely" or drama oriented episodes that veer away from comedy quite a bit. I'm at roughly the same point in the series and it's hard to work up enthusiasm for each subsequent season. There *are* things to like in each (and it's still a very good series - better than most on the air in those years) in spite of it just not being as "good" as it was in those early seasons. It feels diluted.
I can only imagine what your viewing room looks like Nelson. Hundreds of cases of DVD's and BluRays all over the place with Decades playing 24/7 in the b/g.
According to Wikipedia:
Alda was a *huge* voice and influence on the direction of those later seasons.
I briefly met him in his office @ Uni around '88-'89.
I worked in a True Value hardware store in Studio City in the mid-seventies.
Hey Bob, very cool story about meeting Alda and Ferrell.
How cool you were actually able to meet Selleck, Bob.
Another epic post of extraordinary reviews, Jeff! Your judicious use of highly interesting screen caps is much appreciated as well.Yancy Derringer – 1.31 “Collector’s Item”
A typically fun episode of this rollicking “Eastern,” which follows the exploits of gambler and complete badass Yancy (played with suave confidence by Jock Mahoney) and his silent and extremely deadly Indian partner, Pahoo (X. Brands) in post-Civil War New Orleans. The late Yvette Mimieux has a tiny part here in one of her earliest acting roles, as one of a pair of young blonde thieves who hold up a high-stakes poker game on Yancy’s riverboat - all part of a plan masterminded by Yancy's friend, Wilma (Anne Neyland), to raise enough money to take care of several children left orphaned by the war. Soft-hearted Yancy is sympathetic to the scheme (even consenting to tunefully croon a brief rendition of "Dixie" as a bedtime song to the kiddies) and sets out to find a more legitimate way to procure funds. Unfortunately, crooked gambler and old enemy Toby Cook (Claude Akins, reprising his role from episode two, “Gallatin Street”) wants to muscle in on the action. Cook was a flat-out baddie in his first appearance, seemingly killed in a climactic gun battle, but he reappears here, modified somehwat as more of a roguish antihero. Another example of the series’ penchant (rather unusual for ‘50s TV westerns) for establishing a host of colorful recurring characters, here also including Yancy’s pickpocket pal, Jody (Richard Devon). Also with Janet Lord and Robert Cornthwaite (as a famed Civil War photographer whose work is crucial to the plot). Enjoyable if surprisingly lacking in action, Yancy and Pahoo sorting things out peacefully instead of blowing away half a dozen bad guys as usual.
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Most Wanted – 1.22 “The Dutchman”
Strong penultimate entry in this one-season-and-done, late ‘70s Q-M crime drama. A bearded and quietly intense Rip Torn turns up as a ruthless criminal dubbed “the Dutchman,” recently paroled and staying with the bookshop-owning daughter (Belinda Montgomery) of his former lover, who innocently believes his claims of attempting to go straight. Hardnosed police captain Linc Evers (Robert Stack) ain't buying it; he's convinced the Dutchman is behind a recent spate of supermarket robberies carried out by a gang (which includes Paul Koslo and Burr DeBenning) armed with stolen hi-tech automatic laser rifles. Fast-paced and exciting cops-and-robbers stuff. Supercute co-lead Jo Ann Harris rocks some skintight slacks in one eye-popping scene, and Shelly Novack gets a bit more to do than usual as he befriends Ms. Montgomery in a ruse to gain intel, understandably becoming a bit smitten with her in the process.
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Ellery Queen – 1.16 “The Adventure of the Judas Tree”
In between dismantling the kitchen sink in the NYC apartment he shares with his father, Inspector Queen (David Wayne), mystery novelist and sleuth extraordinaire Ellery (Jim Hutton) solves the twisty case of a war profiteer seemingly murdered, stabbed to death with a ceremonial dagger and then strung up on a Cersis tree. Suspects include the usual raft of top-notch TV and film stars, including Dana Andrews, George Maharis, Jack Krutschen, Clu Gulager, James Shigeta and Diana Muldaur. A solid entry in this highly enjoyable period detective series, produced by the creators of Columbo, Richard Levinson and William Link. As always, the warm father-and-son relationship between Hutton and Wayne is a treat, as is the reassuring presence of Tom Reese as the pair’s hulking bull moose of a legman, Sgt. Velie (who refers to Ellery as “maestro.”) The recurring gimmick of Ellery's fourth wall-breaking "challenge to the viewer" before each episode's final unmasking of the culprit is a nice touch, and I love the show's jaunty main title theme (courtesy of Elmer Bernstein).
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The Avengers – 2.1 “Mr. Teddy Bear”
This is my first time watching an entire Honor Blackman/ Cathy Gale episode of this long-running and very influential spy/adventure series from ABC Television in the UK. I’ve long been an ardent fan of the slicker, shot-on-film Diana Rigg/Mrs. Peel era of the show, but figured it was high time I checked out some of the earlier, more studio-bound and shot on videotape seasons. “Mr. Teddy Bear” was not the first Cathy Gale episode filmed, but was chosen to kick off the revamped S2 (previous co-star Ian Hendry having left the series to pursue a movie career). It was a good choice as season premiere, as talented amateur Gale and government agent John Steed (Patrick Macnee, in slightly edgier mode than the ultimate bowler-hatted gent he’d become in the Mrs. Peel years) attempt to snare the titular master assassin. Some of the series’ patented surreal elements can be glimpsed here: in one scene, the villain addresses Cathy remotely via a robotically-controlled teddy bear in an empty room full of dolls and mannequin heads. Ms. Blackman makes for an equally attractive if icier foil for Macnee, though she doesn’t get to show off her legitimate judo skills much in this episode, other than a cute bit with her and Steed training together in his flat. Steed cheekily goes in for a kiss before Cathy casually deflects by shoving his face down on the mat.
Rawhide – 3.12 “Incident at the Top of the World”
You just know it’s gonna be a standout episode of a given TV show whenever Robert Culp is the guest star. Here he plays Civil War vet Craig Kern, who’s become addicted to morphine pills after undergoing an extremely-painful but life-saving surgery. Gil Favor (Eric Fleming) reluctantly agrees to take Kern along in the hopes that the man can overcome his addiction by working on the trail. This turns out not to be one of the usually level-headed Favor’s best decisions. A typically atmospheric entry, as the drovers strive to traverse high mountain plains to evade a bitterly-cold sandstorm bearing down upon them. The actors might be faking it but look genuinely chilled, huddled in their heavy coats in the many exterior scenes. Jan Shepard tags along as Kern’s jilted yet loyal fiancé. With Paul Carr, Ron Foster and Les Tremayne, as the head of the military hospital where Kern has spent five long years in recovery. Downbeat, evocatively shot and performed episode, and per usual the crisp black-and-white transfers really shine on CBS/Paramount's remastered S3 DVDs.
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The High Chaparral – 3.7 “Trail to Nevermore”
This one starts out as another of the series' gripping desert survival yarns, as Big John Cannon (Leif Ericson), his delicate flower of a wife, Victoria (Linda Cristal) and her brother, the irrepressible Manolito (Henry Darrow), are taking their buckboard to the train station in Tucson when they are ambushed by a trio of bandits (led by Bo Svenson). Mano and Victoria struggle through the scorching heat and end up transporting the wounded John to the abandoned mining town of Nevermore…which just happens to be the hideout of their attackers. Things take an odd turn from there.
This episode aired on Halloween night, 1969, and, while certainly not a "seasonal" episode by any stretch, still contains some effectively eerie scenes as Victoria wanders alone and frightened through the ghost town, the night winds howling around her. Milton Selzer, sporting big bushy whiskers, pops up in an eccentric supporting part in the back half, as a "sodie cracker" loving former miner who is now the self-appointed sheriff of the town. Interesting if quirky episode.
Ironside – 1.18 “To Kill a Cop”
Have been toying with alternate ways to choose what shows and episodes from my collection to watch, and recently read an old post about selecting a night's line-up of programs that aired on a particular day/date in the past. That sounded like an interesting experiment and so I chose this episode, which aired 54 years ago to the day (January 25th, 1968, when I was a mere 2½ months old). Pernell Roberts plays a cop-killer (and chili restaurant owner!) who has targeted Ironside’s protégé, Ed (Don Galloway), as next on his hit list. The basic premise is fine, but Roberts' character is poorly conceived and motivated, so the plot comes off somewhat silly. Ruta Lee shows up in the last third of the episode, though, to add a touch of glamor. Raymond Burr is less central than usual but is always a commanding presence. Look for famed stuntman and future director Hal Needham as one of the police officer victims.
Kung Fu - 1.0 “The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon”
Excellent 90-minute pilot, according to Wikipedia ranking in the top 20 highest-rated TV episodes aired during the 1973 season, with very arty and effective direction by Jerry Thorpe. As it’s an “origin” episode, it’s pretty much split between flashback scenes in which the young Caine is trained as a Shaolin monk, and the" American west" timeline narrative, which finds Caine taking on a corrupt railroad boss (Barry Sullivan) and his cronies, who are badly mistreating the immigrant Chinese workers. Sullivan and Albert Salmi are always good value playing nasty creeps, and don't disappoint here. Quiet, seemingly-pacificist Caine straight up kills at least 5 people in this one, which was fun to see...obviously, the writers decided to tone down this violent streak in subsequent episodes. David Carradine – in real life about as unlike the gentle Caine as could be – really nails the part. Also with Wayne Maunders, and about every known Hollywood character actor of Asian descent the producers could round up at the time, including James Hong, Victor Sen Young, Benson Fong, Robert Ito, Richard Loo and series’ kung fu consultant and fight arranger, David Chow. And of course, regulars Philip Ahn and the great Keye Luke really make the dialogue in the Shaolin temple scenes sing.
Firefly
1.1 "Serenity”
1.2 “The Train Job”
1.7 “Jaynestown”
1.8 “Out of Gas”
I already prattled on about this short-lived space western a few pages back, so I’ll try and be brief here. I enjoyed “Shindig” so much I’ve decided to do a complete series rewatch of Firefly, starting with the excellent two-hour pilot, “Serenity,” which does a great job introducing viewers to its large main cast of characters, as well as establishing the show’s intricate future universe, set 500 years after “Earth-that-was.” Pity that the dumb Fox execs deemed it too dark and cerebral and monkeyed with the logical episode order, airing it 10th and forcing Joss Whedon and Tim Minear to hurriedly dash out the script for the lighter, funnier revamp, “The Train Job” in a single weekend, to take its place. In this one, the Serenity crew are hired by psychotic space gangster Niska (Michael Fairman) to carry out a daring train robbery on a remote planet. But Mal and co. have a change of heart when they discover that Alliance goods they stole are actually medical supplies, desperately needed by the sick townsfolk of Paradiso. Showing that, despite his frequent illegal activity out on the fringes of the galaxy, Mal does indeed possess a strong moral code, the crew end up turning the tables on Niska’s goons and return the supplies. Gregg Henry is very good here as a canny local sheriff.
Fan favorite “Jaynestown” starts off amusingly, as the Serenity crew, landing on the mud-mining moon, Canton, to pick up some contraband, are bumfuzzled to find that their boorish mercenary cohort, Jayne (Adam Baldwin), has inadvertently become a folk hero to the downtrodden indentured workers - complete with dedicated statue and folk song. “Out of Gas” (my personal favorite of the whole series) begins in arresting fashion, with a gutshot Mal bleeding all over the deck of his beloved and empty spaceship. The episode then flashes back and forth between tense scenes that depict what brought about this dire situation, interspersed with brief (and mostly comical) interludes showing how Wash, Kaylee, Jayne and resident Companion Inara joined the crew. Builds to a heartfelt, satisfying climax that demonstrates how Mal, much like Capt. Kirk with the Enterprise, is emotionally anchored to his ship, and his crew.
