What did you watch this week in classic TV on DVD(or Blu)? (3 Viewers)

[The 1960's]

S03E25 The Cruelest Sea of All (Apr.05.1963)
Stars Martin Milner Glenn Corbett Diane Baker as Elissa Shomra Mare Edward Binns Paula Stewart Jack Stamberger Peggy Workinger​

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A mysterious show swimmer (Diane Baker) falls for Tod, but as she's reluctant to talk about her past Tod can't believe some of what she does reveal.​

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Here Elissa explains to Tod and Linc just how she does it.​

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Then shows Tod how small he really is.​

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Compared to Linc.​

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Tod is not at all amused.​

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Linc is feeling pretty darn good about himself.​

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This has been a special supplementary edition to my FULL Photo Essay here.​

 

[Purple Wig]

Picked up the Mr. Novak soundtrack LP for a quarter at a charity rummage sale today.

 

[Purple Wig]

But passed on this Odd Couple themed edition of Yahtzee.

 

[The 1960's]

Naked City (1958-1963)
Stars John McIntire James Franciscus Suzanne Storrs Harry Bellaver Horace McMahon Paul Burke Nancy Malone​

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As viewers tuned in each week they were greeted with this 1st season Introduction ...​

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S01E18 Goodbye My Lady Love (Jan.27.1959)
James Barton William Edmonson Louis Guss Guy Raymond Pat Malone William Baron Gilbert Mack Ed Simon​

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Special-guest commentary by Josh Alan Friedman (BlackCracker.fm) *

My favorite episode of Season One, is "Goodbye My Lady Love." James Barton (Bing Crobsy’s favorite performer), turns in a socko portrayal of a noble bum. He pipe dreams of returning by horse and buggy to the small town of his idyllic youth, and thus becomes a horse thief, an ongoing headache for Lt. Dan Muldoon. In the days of magazine articles spawning TV episodes, this was commissioned from a real story. Barton sings like Tom Waits and I love the dainty way he holds the reigns when he steals the buggies, before the cops catch him every time.

Like the searing 1956 docufilm, On the Bowery, this episode of Naked City is chock full of authentic Bowery locations. Most notably, the mythic Sammy’s Bowery Follies, the only saloon for bums that featured live 1890’s-style musical entertainment. The episode resonates with real 1950’s derelicts, some of who probably perished before the 1960s. Real actors are mixed in. Iconic filmography of Lost New York.​

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[The 1960's]

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* The episode synopsis above was specially written for The Home Theater Forum at my request by longtime childhood friend Josh Alan Friedman. His love for Naked City can be read at Eight Million Stories. At the time of this writing Josh hadn’t fully appreciated the 30 minute Season One episodes. He is an accomplished musician, author and indisputably the greatest authority on Times Square in the world. He comes from a very talented family. His father, Bruce Jay Friedman was a novelist, playwright and screenwriter, and his younger brother Drew Friedman, is a well known American cartoonist and illustrator.​

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[Flashgear]

Great post about Naked City, Neal! Compliments to you and your friend Josh.

That's one of the real draws to a show like this: you're transported to a lost world, with a time and place and a slice of life that seems so alien to our times, yet had it's place in our own lifetimes! The fabled Bowery of the 'Angels with dirty faces' and the 'East Side Kids' were part of our popular culture that we thought we knew, but never could in it's true, earthy and desperate reality of loneliness for some amidst the turmoil of '8 million stories' in a city laid bare as the 'Naked City'. The fact that so many of the people seen here, skidrow bums, bar patrons, entertainers and cops alike, were real denizens of that world makes the fable that plays out all the more authentic as a wished-for happy ending.

 

[Flashgear]

Last week, we sadly lost the wonderful, perpetually suave British actor Peter Bowles, who passed away at 85. Always terrifically droll and nattily dressed, Bowles started out his career with several appearances on fondly-remembered TV dramas, before making his mark in comedies, including Vice Versa, Only When I Laugh, The Bounder, The Irish R.M., Lytton's Diary, Perfect Scoundrels, and Executive Stress. He achieved his greatest success in two popular series: first, as the pompous Guthrie Featherstone on Rumpole of the Bailey, and especially, co-starring alongside Penelope Keith in the gentle and very charming sitcom, To the Manor Born. Bowles was a fine actor who was equally adept at both comedy and drama, and kept working on stage and screen to nearly the end of his life, most recently in the popular ITV historical drama Victoria. Bowles also has a warm place in the hearts of ITC fans everywhere for his many guest star turns in various productions, including Danger Man, The Baron, The Saint, The Prisoner, Department S, and the following memorable episode of The Persuaders!

The Persuaders! - 1.15 "Element of Risk"
While chatting up a pretty woman in the customs line at Heathrow airport, millionaire playboy Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis) is mistaken for a notorious criminal named Lomax, who has masterminded a daring gold bullion heist. The real Lomax (Shane Rimmer) is detained by the police, while Danny is whisked away by Lomax's criminal contacts, led by Mitchell (Bowles). Suspected of being an imposter by one of the gang, the ruthless Carl (William Marlowe), Danny must continue the ruse to stay alive. Meanwhile, Lord Brett Sinclair (Roger Moore), at first miffed that Danny's absence has dashed their double date plans with a pair of cute twins (Karen and Katherine Kessey), eventually realizes the dire straits his pal is in, and finagles a way to join the gang as a last-minute replacement pilot. But the jig is up when the real Lomax escapes from police custody and turns up at the bad guys' hideout...

And as for the late, great Peter Bowles? Rest in peace, good sir. Your work will continue to entertain and amuse viewers for years to come.

Very nice tribute to Peter Bowles, Jeff! Another one of those great British character actors of yesterday. Thankfully with a longer career than some and still vital up to nearly the very end of his life. Great series of very interesting posts that you continue to treat the rest of us to. Many thanks!

 

[JohnHopper]

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Danger Man
“Fish on the Hook”
Series 2/Episode 1/November 17, 1964
guest: Peter Bowles

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[JohnHopper]

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The Prisoner
“A, B and C”
Episode 3/October 13, 1967
guest: Peter Bowles

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[The 1960's]

Great post about Naked City, Neal! Compliments to you and your friend Josh.

That's one of the real draws to a show like this: you're transported to a lost world, with a time and place and a slice of life that seems so alien to our times, yet had it's place in our own lifetimes! The fabled Bowery of the 'Angels with dirty faces' and the 'East Side Kids' were part of our popular culture that we thought we knew, but never could in it's true, earthy and desperate reality of loneliness for some amidst the turmoil of '8 million stories' in a city laid bare as the 'Naked City'. The fact that so many of the people seen here, skidrow bums, bar patrons, entertainers and cops alike, were real denizens of that world makes the fable that plays out all the more authentic as a wished-for happy ending.

Thank you for your kind words Randall. Josh will be reading your comments as well and I’m sure he’ll be delighted. This one was a true labor of love. It also wasn't easy to cut down 175 images to a mere 36.

Let me tell you that the world really hasn’t changed all that much. Depending on what area of NYC you travel to you will see there are still bums that look exactly the same as what we see here on Naked City. The only difference is they are not only Caucasian, but Hispanic and African American too.

 

[Purple Wig]

Run For Your Life - Tell It Like It Is. S3E10. Took a break from my Quinn Martin and classic TV movie viewing to watch one of the few available (to me) episodes of this series, and it was a first rate one. Star Ben Gazzara also directed this episode, with James Daly as a Joe Pyne style rabble rousing TV host who brings Gazzara's old friend and employer, a judge (Franchot Tone) on to his program, under the guise of promoting his memoir, when in reality he plans to ambush the judge and smear him with a phony charge. The great Michael Strong also appears as a world weary police detective. This is one series I really wish would see a release but it doesn't seem like there's much hope there, I think I remember reading about some kind of rights issue and besides that, I don't think the show is very widely known. Respected as Gazzara is, it seems like his film work is what appeals to the "Criterion demographic"; I've always been a bit surprised and disappointed that most of the people I know who are into film don't have much knowledge of or enthusiasm for its broadcast equivalent. For instance, as much as Warren Oates became a cult figure, I knew people who would make it a point to see any of his film work, but not really be familiar with his tv work. Shirl Hendryx, who wrote this episode, has a string of credits beginning with Suspense, Climax!, Johnny Staccato, through Hawaii Five-0, the Outsider, Mannix, Combat, most of the QM series, which appear to stop in 1985 with two exceptions; a Disney show in 2001 and "Smartphone Theatre" in 2020, writing and directing an episode called “Toilet Sonata”.

 

[Flashgear]

Maverick Season 5 Episode 4, Three Queens Full (Nov. 12, 1961) D: Michael O' herlihy, W: William Bruckner, Robert Hamner. Starring Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, Guest starring Jim Backus, Kasey Rogers, Merry Anders, Allyson Ames, Harry Lauter, Frank Ferguson, Jake Sheffield, Larry Chance, Joseph Gallison, Willard Waterman.

This was Maverick's parody of television's number one show Bonanza. The series had previously done a well received parody of Gunsmoke (Gun-Shy) as an episode of season two in 1959.

Bart Maverick is just plying his trade as a professional gambler when local rancher 'Pa Wheelwright' (the delightful Jim Backus) takes interest in him for a job he has in mind...Pa Wheelwright and his 3 idiotic sons Henry (Larry Chance), Moose (Jake Sheffield) and Small Paul (Joseph Gallison) operate the enormous 'Subrosa Ranch', and Pa Wheelwright has sent away to San Francisco for three mail-order brides for his dimwitted but good natured sons. Those girls (Kasey Rogers, Merry Anders and Allyson Ames) are about to arrive in the company of a matchmaker (Willard Waterman). Pa Wheelwright thinks that Bart Maverick is a very respectable man, a guy who "changes into a clean shirt everyday!"...the perfect gentleman to escort the girls to the Subrosa Ranch and keep them safe while Pa and his sons attend to an urgent matter at their mining interests.

Bart, conned into the job by Pa Wheelwright and his crooked Sheriff (Frank Ferguson), really has no choice in the matter. And his problems really arise when, soon after the girls arrive on the stagecoach, the matchmaker is mysteriously murdered. The proper and prim mail order brides, though lovely, are actually gritty and calculating saloon girls...grifters who plan to steal the Wheelwrights blind...and a local saloonkeeper and enemy of the Wheelwrights (Harry Lauter), plans to use the girls to ruin Pa Wheelright and take the Subrosa for himself!

Bart has only one way out: convince the hard-edged saloon girls (each with a heart of gold, naturally) that they'd be better off giving the Wheelwright boys a chance, and at least allow the sons to court them. But Bart is soon horrified at the raw and unrefined manner of these girls gone wild...as with Professor Henry Higgins of My Fair Lady and Pygmalion, he must first refine these girls with lessons on etiquette, diction and proper ladylike comportment in order for himself to escape Pa Wheelwright's wrath should he discover their deception. But Pa Wheelwright also has a terrible secret...he himself is a grifter who swindled the local indians out of the land that the enormous Subrosa Ranch sits on!

My screen caps from the WAC DVD set...

Funny episode and an effective parody... I wonder what the Bonanza people thought about it?

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Maverick Season 5 Episode 4, Three Queens Full (Nov. 12, 1961) D: Michael O' herlihy, W: William Bruckner, Robert Hamner. Starring Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, Guest starring Jim Backus, Kasey Rogers, Merry Anders, Allyson Ames, Harry Lauter, Frank Ferguson, Jake Sheffield, Larry Chance, Joseph Gallison, Willard Waterman.

This was Maverick's parody of television's number one show Bonanza. The series had previously done a well received parody of Gunsmoke (Gun-Shy) as an episode of season two in 1959.

Heh."Small Paul"... Great stuff, Randall! Thanks for spotlighting this parody episode. Great cast of mercenary lovelies there, too. As you know, I recently ordered Maverick S5 and so look forward to checking this one out soon. Definitely sounds like a pretty ruthless piss-take of the estimable (yet definitely parody-worthy) Bonanza. Hopefully Lorne Greene and co. had a sense of humor about it.

 

[Desslar]

Maverick Season 5 Episode 4, Three Queens Full (Nov. 12, 1961) D: Michael O' herlihy, W: William Bruckner, Robert Hamner. Starring Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, Guest starring Jim Backus, Kasey Rogers, Merry Anders, Allyson Ames, Harry Lauter, Frank Ferguson, Jake Sheffield, Larry Chance, Joseph Gallison, Willard Waterman.

This was Maverick's parody of television's number one show Bonanza. The series had previously done a well received parody of Gunsmoke (Gun-Shy) as an episode of season two in 1959.

Funny episode and an effective parody... I wonder what the Bonanza people thought about it?

Is Maverick a full-on comedy, or just a lighthearted western? I didn't realize they went that far into parody. I'm not really into TV westerns, but if it is more of a comedy I'll check it out. Jim Backus is usually good for a laugh.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Is Maverick a full-on comedy, or just a lighthearted western? I didn't realize they went that far into parody. I'm not really into TV westerns, but if it is more of a comedy I'll check it out. Jim Backus is usually good for a laugh.

Maverick is only rarely an out-and-out comedy...it's definitely more of a lighthearted western series. I don't think the parody episode Randall reviewed above is all that typical. Some of the Jack Kelly "Brother Bart" episodes are quite dramatic, actually, and very effective for their seriousness. The episodes featuring James Garner as Bret Maverick take full advantage of Garner's endless easygoing charm and are often more lighthearted, frequently featuring some kind of elaborate con...though he, too, has his share of episodes which veer into more dramatic territory. It's a terrific show overall, very entertaining, and one I'd heartily recommend as an easy entry point for those who aren't normally into westerns.

 

[JohnHopper]

This was Maverick's parody of television's number one show Bonanza. The series had previously done a well received parody of Gunsmoke (Gun-Shy) as an episode of season two in 1959.

I wish you would be kind enough to post some pictures and a nice review about that famous parody (“Gun-Shy”, season 2, episode 16) on Gunsmoke. Thanks. On Imdb, you only get a weak picture of the actors portraying the four regulars.

Ben Gage as Marshal Mort Dooley (Matt Dillon)
Walker Edmiston as Clyde Diefendorfer (Chester Goode)
Marshall Kent as Doc Stucke (Doc Adams)
Kathleen O’Malley as Miss Amy (Miss Kitty), owner of the Weeping Willow (Long Branch)

 

[Jeff Flugel]

The Streets of San Francisco
2.10 “Shield of Honor”
2.18 “Crossfire”
I so enjoyed the company of detectives Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) last week that I couldn’t help myself and spun a few more episodes of this engrossing crime drama, yet another feather in the cap of Quinn Martin, reliable producer of quality entertainment. Stone suspects an inside job when a key witness in a mob trial is assassinated right inside police headquarters in “Shield of Honor.” The episode doesn’t make the most of guest star Peter Mark Richman, but Mariette Hartley gets some juicy stuff to do as a policewoman and former girlfriend of Keller’s who might be compromised. Robert Foxworth and Kurt Russell’s dad Bing co-star.

Though rather testy with each other in “Shield of Honor,” Stone and Keller are back to their regular good-natured bonhomie in “Crossfire,” as they investigate a series of sniper attacks at a local college campus, one of which results in the death of a noted professor. Pamela Franklin plays a student who was having an affair with the dead man, and seems to be the next target. Several aspects in the case indicate that the shooter could be a Vietnam vet…is the girl’s Marine fiancée (Nick Nolte), recently discharged from a veteran’s hospital, responsible for the deaths? Also with Celeste Holm, Frank Ashmore and June Dayton. There’s just something about the chemistry between Malden and Douglas, and the actors' innate likability, that makes this show compulsive viewing, despite the sometimes lurid subject matter.

The Rockford Files – 6.1 “Paradise Cove”
A delightful episode, this, written and directed by Stephen J. Cannell. Rockford is in a jam, as he owes over $30,000 in a civil suit to corrupt, retired sheriff C.C. Calloway (Leif Ericson), who wants Rockford kicked out of the Paradise Cove trailer park. Jim soon figures out that there’s a reason behind Calloway’s animosity; seems that a fortune in stolen gold might be buried under Rockford’s trailer. Jim teams up with an attractive court-appointed assessor (Mariette Hartley) and his weaselly friend Angel (Stuart Margolin, almost tolerable) to con Calloway into waiving his suit in exchange for access to the gold. Apparently, Hartley was cast due to her fantastic chemistry with Garner when they appeared together in a series of Polaroid commercials; that spark continues here, with Hartley breathing real life and warmth into what could've been a mediocre part (and was subsequently rewarded with an Emmy nomination). I was a little surprised to see Rockfish living in a busy trailer park in this episode…my memory of the earlier seasons was of his trailer pretty much standing on its own in a beachside parking lot. Did the trailer park just magically spring up here in S6, or is my memory completely off?

The Rebel – 2.10 “Don Gringo”
Very odd but nonetheless entertaining episode finds Johnny Yuma (Nick Adams) rescuing and then kindly accompanying a naïve and impetuous young senorita (Gigi Perreau) down to Mexico to be married after Indians kill her escort in a raid. It’s all the gentlemanly Yuma can do to keep the girl’s virtue intact, as she swoons over his badass heroic ways. Much to Johnny’s chagrin, she continues to throw herself at him even on the eve of her wedding to Don Renaldo (Eugene Iglesias), the proud grandson of Don Diego (Edgar Barrier). The lovely Ms. Perreau turns in a spirited performance, but her character is a real headache. Yuma shows what a true hombre he is when his speed on the draw quickly deflates a trio of horny passing cowboys. The idiosyncratic script was written by Cyril Hume and directed by Irvin Kershner, who would go on to helm The Empire Strikes Back 20 years later. Ms. Perreau would return later in S2 in a different role ("The Promise").

Hondo
1.1 "Hondo and the Eagle Claw”
1.2 "Hondo and the War Cry”
Been sitting on this DVD set for several months now, and finally the time was right to crack it open. Really enjoyed these two episodes, which are basically a loose two-parter (later re-edited into the feature Hondo and the Apaches for theatrical release overseas), which establishes the premise for this short-lived 1967-1968 western. The series, a TV adaptation of the terrific 1953 John Wayne film, was the brainchild of Andrew J. Fenady (who also created The Rebel). While star Ralph Taeger is certainly no Duke Wayne, he’s a decent replacement, and an imposing physical specimen, convincing as the titular rough-and-tumble Indian scout, former Confederate soldier and all-around tough S.O.B. His performance grows more endearing the more one watches the show.

Producer Fenady rings enough changes from the film version to make this work as a continuing series, such as tying the wandering Hondo and his independent hound, Sam, to Fort Lowell for the duration, keeping Hondo's tragic back story but making Apache Chief Vittorio (played once again by Michael Pate, reprising his role some 14 years after the original film) into a father figure, with Hondo once married to Vittorio's daughter, Destarte, and living among the Indians until she was murdered in a massacre by Army troops. This familial connection with Vittorio leads General Sherman (Gary Merrill) to handpick Hondo for the tough job of brokering peace between the Apaches and white settlers in the post-Civil War Arizona territory.

Pretty, statuesque Kathie Browne (a welcome trade-off for the movie's Geraldine Page) co-stars as newly-widowed storekeeper, Angie. Fenady surrounds his two leads with an impressive regular cast, including, aside from Pate: Noah Beery, Jr. as Hondo’s easygoing fellow scout and pal, Buffalo Baker; Gary Clarke as Richards, the hard-edged captain of Fort Lowell; Buddy Foster as Angie’s son, Johnny; and William Bryant as Col. Crook. We also get appearances in these two episodes by Jim Davis, Victor Lundin, Randy Boone, Laramie’s John Smith (as Angie's good-for-nothing husband), Don Collier, Michael Rennie and, in one of his last acting roles, Robert Taylor. I enjoyed these episodes very much, especially “Hondo and the War Cry,” which is chock full of rousing action, intrigue and low-key romance. This is a sturdy late period TV western that unfortunately lost the ratings war and was cancelled after 17 episodes. The transfers on Warner Archive’s DVD set are fine, a little faded around the edges but very watchable.

Longstreet – 1.19 “Anatomy of a Mayday”
Charmed by Kathie Browne’s good looks, knockout figure and solid acting chops, I decided to check out a few more of her (many) TV appearances. Here she plays the distraught fiancée of Mike Longstreet’s friend, Barry (Jeremy Slate), who is missing and presumed dead, after his sailboat blows up in suspicious circumstances. Mike (James Franciscus) doggedly pokes and prods various suspects, including Harold J. Stone, Arch Johnson, John Kellogg and Ross Hagen. Another solid little crime drama, featuring some warm interplay between regulars Franciscus, Marlyn Mason and Peter Mark Richman.

Banacek – 2.8 “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t”
When amateur magician Bradley Merrick (Jay Robinson), suspected of carrying out a $1,750,000 securities fraud at the bank previously run by his father, disappears for real during a benefit performance in front of the watchful eyes of the police, the insurance company hires slick investigator Thomas Banacek (George Peppard) to find him. I wasn’t fooled by the central “hidden in plain sight” plot gimmick, but that didn’t lessen my enjoyment watching the story unfold, as Banacek hops between L.A. and Las Vegas, maneuvering between assorted gangsters, trophy wives, showgirls and the missing man’s dysfunctional family members in order to collect his cool 10% finder’s fee. The Rockford Files’ Gretchen Corbett plays Merrick’s daughter who tags along with Banacek to find out what happened to her father. Also with Nancy Olson, Lynnette Metty, Phillip Pine, Bruce Gordon, Kathrine Baumann, Walter Brooke, Peter Marshall and Kathie Browne in a bit part as an unlucky witness. Reportedly Banacek was doing well in the ratings, and it was Peppard himself who put the kibosh on a third season. The star was in the midst of an acrimonious divorce from Elizabeth Ashley and didn’t want any additional income going her way. As always, Peppard is on smug, supremely confident form. And apparently he wore more than one hat on this series, as the end credits for this episode list him as 2nd Unit Director.

Ironside – 2.11 “The Macabre Mr. Micawber”
The murder of a rich man and the beating of his chauffeur (Burgess Meredith) are tied to several shady characters’ attempts to get their hands on a pet mynah bird named Mr. Micawber. Chief Ironside (Raymond Burr) and team have to figure out just what the bird knows. Pleasant enough viewing, though not really worthy of its memorable title. Meredith is typically fine in an undemanding part. Also with Jack Kruschen, Bill Fletcher and – you guessed it - Kathie Browne.

The Felony Squad – 1.21 “The Strangler”
Thanks to Neal a.k.a The 1960’s for linking to some nice-looking, uncut YouTube episodes of this 1966-1969 half-hour police procedural. Howard Duff is veteran Det. Sgt. Sam Sloane, showing the ropes to his junior partner Jim Briggs (a very young Dennis Cole). Joe Friday’s old Dragnet sidekick, Ben Alexander, co-stars as a gruff Desk Sgt. who just happens to be Jim’s father. In this fast-paced outing, there’s a strangler targeting wealthy young women in a beach community, and the chief suspect is an artist (Dean Harens) who was falsely accused of assault by a woman six years before. Kathie Browne plays his understanding wife. One look at the guest cast (which includes Norma Crane, Steve Marlo and Jason Evers) should give seasoned classic TV fans a good inkling as to the likely culprit. It was nice to finally catch an episode of this show, which I’d heard about previously but never actually seen. It's a good show, and Duff is solid in the lead. Pete Rugolo provides the bouncy main title theme.

 

[The 1960's]

Maverick Season 5 Episode 4, Three Queens Full (Nov. 12, 1961) D: Michael O' herlihy, W: William Bruckner, Robert Hamner. Starring Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, Guest starring Jim Backus, Kasey Rogers, Merry Anders, Allyson Ames, Harry Lauter, Frank Ferguson, Jake Sheffield, Larry Chance, Joseph Gallison, Willard Waterman.

This was Maverick's parody of television's number one show Bonanza. The series had previously done a well received parody of Gunsmoke (Gun-Shy) as an episode of season two in 1959.

Funny episode and an effective parody... I wonder what the Bonanza people thought about it?

Thanks for this Randall, I just went looking to see if I had purchased Season 5 and I hadn’t. Then I looked in my iTunes library and discovered I have a very nice digital copy. I will watch it real soon!

The Felony Squad – 1.21 “The Strangler”
Thanks to Neal a.k.a The 1960’s for linking to some nice-looking, uncut YouTube episodes of this 1966-1969 half-hour police procedural. Howard Duff is veteran Det. Sgt. Sam Sloane, showing the ropes to his junior detective partner Jim Briggs (a very young Dennis Cole). Joe Friday’s old Dragnet sidekick, Ben Alexander, co-stars as a gruff Desk Sgt. who just happens to be Jim’s father. In this fast-paced outing, there’s a strangler targeting wealthy young women in a beach community, and the chief suspect is an artist (Dean Harens) who was falsely accused of assault by a woman six years before. Kathie Browne plays his understanding wife. One look at the guest cast (which includes Norma Crane, Steve Marlo and Jason Evers) should give seasoned classic TV fans a good inkling as to the likely culprit. It was nice to finally catch an episode of this show, which I’d heard about previously but never actually seen. It's a good show, and Duff is solid in the lead. Pete Rugolo provides the bouncy main title theme.

Thanks Jeff! Yet another show which has never been released to physical media. While not an extreme favorite I’d sure welcome it. The best part about posting The Felony Squad was that The Felony Kid discovered one he apparently hadn’t seen! Didn't realize Pete Rugolo did the music here as well. The guy was everywhere!

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[JohnHopper]

I just initiated the first episode of the first disc from Gunsmoke season 5.​

I was not disappointed. It features the beautiful Suzanne Lloyd. Keep it moving.​

Watching Gunsmoke backwards, the leading characters keep on rejuvenating.​

 

[Nelson Au]

I just completed the 10th Season of M*A*S*H last week and started on the 11th. Almost done!

I’ve been carrying on with Star Trek TOS and Voyager random episodes. And I’ll try to check out some Route 66.

This weekend on the Decades Binge is Vega$. I watched this when it was airing originally. Recently picked it up on DVD. I mention this because they are promoting next week’s binge which is Hawaiian Eye. I know several members here mention the desire to see that series released or is 77 Sunset Strip, or both?