What did you watch this week in classic TV on DVD(or Blu)? (1 Viewer)

[bmasters9]

Finished second season's worth of 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series

 

[Susan Nunes_329977]

Just started watching my DVD set of Mr. Novak.

 

[JohnHopper]

Rawhide Sn.1
Episode 1 - Incident of the Tumbleweed Wagon
John Hoppers great, detailed writing about this series made me finally pull this first season box off the shelf. I thought this first episode was very good with Gil and Rowdy trying to deliver a diverse and dangerous group of prisoners being transported in a wagon after the lawmen in charge of the job are killed and wounded. It is interesting to see Clint being the sidekick at this point. I'll be looking forward to seeing how his roll changes in coming episodes since he became the breakout star from this show. I don't know what season that will start to happen in.

“Head'Em Up! … Move'Em Out!”

 

[Jeff Flugel]

RAWHIDE SEASON 7

The more I watch that particular season the more I understand that Geller was launching the rough basis of his future Mission: Impossible. In short, Rawhide season 7 is Mission: Impossible in the old west!

I've always been curious about this odd penultimate season of Rawhide, or at least the first part of it run by Geller and Kowalski. Some day I'll try and check it out.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Jonny Quest Sn.1
Episode 2-Arctic Splashdown
I'm going to have a lot of fun with this series. It was one of the first ones I connected with as a small boy and it brings back great memories. Too bad there is only one season.

Flintstones Sn. 1
Episode 2 - Hot Lips Hannigan
A Fun episode

Rawhide Sn.1
Episode 1 - Incident of the Tumbleweed Wagon
John Hoppers great, detailed writing about this series made me finally pull this first season box off the shelf. I thought this first episode was very good with Gil and Rowdy trying to deliver a diverse and dangerous group of prisoners being transported in a wagon after the lawmen in charge of the job are killed and wounded. It is interesting to see Clint being the sidekick at this point. I'll be looking forward to seeing how his roll changes in coming episodes since he became the breakout star from this show. I don't know what season that will start to happen in.

Starsky and Hutch Sn.1
Pilot episode
Pretty good start to a show I watched as a young man. I even bought a Ford Torino although I didn't have the guts to buy the cool red and white one. I haven't watched this since back in the day, and I'm not sure I ever saw the pilot.

That's a good range of episodes there, Tim! Jonny Quest was one I also had super fond memories of from when I was a wee boy...at first, coming back to the show on DVD as an adult, it seemed a bit stiff and juvenile. I've since recalibrated my attitude and have come around to really appreciating it again. It helps that the background artwork and music are so very evocative.

Re: Rawhide...just wait till you get to episode 2, "Incident at Alabaster Plain." Really terrific episode there.

As I wrote earlier in this thread, I happened to watch that Starsky & Hutch pilot twice in as many years...the second time by accident. It's a pretty good pilot, and stood up to a repeat viewing. Think you'll enjoy the rest of season one. The chemistry between the two leads really keeps this show ticking along.

I had an olive green 1970 Ford Gran Torino briefly in high school - my first car as a 16 y.o. in 1983 - but it was far, far removed from the style of Starsky's baby...or Clint's, for that matter.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Just started watching my DVD set of Mr. Novak.

Have you seen the show before, Susan, or is this a first-time viewing? (As it will be for me, when I finally get my grubby mitts on a copy.)

 

[JohnHopper]

I've always been curious about this odd penultimate season of Rawhide, or at least the first part of it run by Geller and Kowalski. Some day I'll try and check it out.

Actually, they produced two thirds of season 7 but the network didn't like their direction and a change of production occurred
but I will tackle that aspect in detail in the month to come. Stay tuned for more next week on this channel. Until then …
“Head'em up and move'em out!”

 

[Ron1973]

I went AWOL, but it's all because of classic TV! I've been binge watching Hunter for the last 1 1/2 weeks-already halfway through S6. It's pretty formulaic. Someone gets murdered causing Hunter and McCall to investigate. Lots of good guest stars such as Sammy Davis, Jr. and Claude Akins. Hunter and McCall both have their share of romances while you just know they really should be together.

There was one episode that stood out, a S4 episode entitled "Murder He Wrote." Talk about a knockoff of Murder She Wrote! A wealthy man decides to knock himself off while only telling his best friend, a book writer named "Jessica" who suspiciously is made to look like Angela Lansbury as much as possible. It's a detour from the typical episode, but I still don't get the point. It was like they had to have one throwaway episode and decided for this to be it.

 

[bmasters9]

I went AWOL, but it's all because of classic TV! I've been binge watching Hunter for the last 1 1/2 weeks-already halfway through S6. It's pretty formulaic. Someone gets murdered causing Hunter and McCall to investigate. Lots of good guest stars such as Sammy Davis, Jr. and Claude Akins. Hunter and McCall both have their share of romances while you just know they really should be together.

How are you binging it-- did you have Mill Creek's all-in-one long before it became insanely expensive?

 

[Ron1973]

How are you binging it-- did you have Mill Creek's all-in-one long before it became insanely expensive?

Hulu

 

[bmasters9]

Hulu

Did not know! Just wondering.

 

[Susan Nunes_329977]

Have you seen the show before, Susan, or is this a first-time viewing? (As it will be for me, when I finally get my grubby mitts on a copy.)

I remember when it was on the air, but I didn't see it when it first ran. I saw a couple of episodes of it when somebody downloaded them to YouTube. Interesting how relevant the show is today regarding teachers.

 

[John*Wells]

Perry Mason Returns

 

[JohnHopper]

RAWHIDE SEASON 7

Episode #13
“The Meeting”
written by Robert Lewin
directed by Michael O’Herlihy
music by Rudy Schrager (stock music)
guests: Gavin MacLeod, Richard Karlan, Harry Dean Stanton, Len Wayland, Ric Roman, Don Quine, Mel Gallagher, John Hart, Al Lieteri

It’s a solo Gil Favor adventure. Arriving to town to sell his herd to his friend Hugh ‘Brew’ Brewster (actor Richard Karlan) who can only and oddly pay him the modest amount of $24 a head, Gil Favor is abducted by criminals Bowie Fiske (actor Ric Roman) and Joe Spanish (actor Harry Dean Stanton) who bring him to a remote and desolate farm where he’s locked up in a room with another trail boss named Horace Denver (actor Len Wayland) when the left-hand man of big boss Rian Powers named Harley Lear (actor John Hart) steps into and gives them a welcoming present of $3,000 in gold. Rian Powers (actor Gavin MacLeod) explains his scheme to his members: dominating the beef industry by blackmailing the buyers, controlling the price, the market and the other trail units. Favor pretends to go along with the master plan unlike argumentative Denver who ends up gunned down by Powers at the meeting. Later on, Brew pop-ups so that Favor signs an agreement document. After “The Photographer”, find another plot related to outlaws.

It’s a proto-Syndicate episode like the gangsters’ reunion “The Tram” (the sixth season of Mission: Impossible) in which a wealthy and legal eagle big shot wearing a fancy suit summons America’s most wanted outlaws for a great scheme to come. The story is unfolded slowly like a mystery, supported by an inspired film-making. It’s treated like a icy episode of The Wild Wild West. Gil Favor is given the job of the main executive. Actor Gavin MacLeod plays the Machiavellian mogul and he’s known for his recurring foe part as Big Chicken on Hawaii Five-O. To introduce the members of the Syndicate robbing people, the film editor uses wipe fades.

Many crafstmen will work on Mission: Impossible: see writer Robert Lewin, director Michael O’Herlihy, composer Rudy Schrager, actor Richard Karlan.

Really recommended! It’s really Mission: Impossible in the Old West all the way!

 

[TJPC]

Still working my way through the 10,000 episodes of “Green Acres”!

 

[Doug Wallen]

Received Dan August this afternoon. Popped in the first disc and began the pilot. I was impressed that the opening acts have hooked my wife. She wants to finish watching the pilot and might be game for more when the show actually becomes Burt's. Normally she has very little use for QM or older detective series.

 

[bmasters9]

Received Dan August this afternoon. Popped in the first disc and began the pilot. I was impressed that the opening acts have hooked my wife. She wants to finish watching the pilot and might be game for more when the show actually becomes Burt's. Normally she has very little use for QM or older detective series.

What doesn't she like about the QMs, or any older detective series?

 

[Doug Wallen]

What doesn't she like about the QMs, or any older detective series?

Just not interested in "classic" television of the "procedural" types. I really like detective series, crime shows (The Untouchables, The Invaders, The Fugitive, Matt Houston, The Rockford Files, Jake and The Fatman, Ellery Queen, etc.) and she just leaves me alone when these are played. She doesn't have the patience to allow herself to follow the 60's/70's style of storytelling. She says it takes to long to interest her in the story. Guess all the time I spent watching television growing up has made me appreciate the time spent developing characters and becoming invested in the subtleties of plotting. I do not like the shorthand used in most modern series where the story trumps characterization. Characters exist just to advance the story. Most times I cannot even recall the characters name, just guy 1 or girl 2.

 

[bmasters9]

Guess all the time I spent watching television growing up has made me appreciate the time spent developing characters and becoming invested in the subtleties of plotting.

And how the story sets a generally strong base, and builds from that base to a logical conclusion (which is one thing I've really enjoyed about The Streets of San Francisco, and similar shows, among other things)!

 

[Jeff Flugel]

As reported in the "Christmas TV" thread:

I watched "Old Dixie," the Christmas episode (1.12) from the wonderful "Eastern" adventure series, Yancy Derringer. Par for the course with this series, it was good fun, full of danger, excitement, action and good humor. Despite the usual high body count (mostly made up of bad guys receiving rough justice from Yancy, played by suave Jock Mahoney, and his stalwart Indian pal, Pahoo), this was a full-on Christmas episode, including decorating a tree with popcorn strings and a final Christmas party spent with friends and loved ones. I enjoyed the heck out of it.

Man With a Camera - 1.8 "Blind Spot"

This was my first time giving this 2-disc Mill Creek release a spin. Fun to see a young Charles Bronson as two-fisted photographer Mike Kovac, who heads to Lisbon to investigate the murder of an old war photographer buddy. Mario Alcade is good as the smooth slimeball who knows a lot more than he's telling. Interesting crime drama / action series, will be checking more out soon.

Coronet Blue - 1.2 "The Assassins"

Mike Alden answers a newspaper ad and encounters a couple who purport to be his mother (Signe Hasso) and stepfather (Edward Binns)...not to mention a cutie patootie fiancee (Janet Margolin, see below) waiting in the wings. But can he trust them? Starts off a bit slow but remains compelling drama overall, with an exciting climax, despite the somewhat oddball lead character. I like Frank Converse generally, but his mercurial combination of sad-eyed, sensitive puppy dog, restless and angry young man, and occasionally competent badass is taking some getting used to. The show has a unique look and style that does remind me somewhat of an ITC show...or at least, an ITC show with a less commanding lead character.

Peter Gunn - 3.31 "Last Resort"

Gunn is just about to leave Acapulco when he gets roped in to keep an eye on a young turk director who has been cruelly goading an aging film star on the set of a new film. Not the usual Peter Gunn gig, but when the actor is kidnapped, the suave P.I. is back in his element. Another stylish episode, which includes a pretty fierce fight between Craig Stevens and guest thug Allan Jaffe (who has a great bad guy face). With Milton Selzer and Francis X. Bushman.

Mike Hammer
1.23 "Look at the Old Man Go"
1.39 "Mere Maid"

Such a blast to see the gruff and tough side of Darren McGavin. He plays Mike Hammer like a more rugged Kolchak. There's an enjoyable capper to a flirtatious scene between McGavin and guest femme fatale Angie Dickinson (young and super sexy, no surprise there) in "Look at the Old Man Go," where Hammer beats the tar out of a thug, knee to the face, plus repeated blows to the ribs, etc.

"Mere Maid" is fun too, though it's disconcerting to see McGavin's Hammer dressed in rolled-up jeans and boat shoes, investigating a crime while on vacation. This one does include va-va-voom 50s pin-up Allison Hayes, as well as Neil "Commissioner Gordon" Hamilton.