Showing posts with label TV shows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV shows. Show all posts
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| Al Lewis camps it up with John Carradine |
"See what sandpaper skin and a touch of malnutrition can do for the complexion?"
The Munsters TV series, NBC's answer to ABC's The Addams Family, but more watchable, aired for two seasons from 1964 - 66. Its swan song was this theatrical feature which was released in 1966. In the movie, Herman Munster (Fred Gwynnne) learns that an uncle has died, making him the new Lord Munster, and heir to a British estate. Herman's English relatives, who reside in the estate, aren't too thrilled with this development. In fact, Freddie Munster (Terry-Thomas) tries to kill them off while they're still sailing across the ocean. Freddie's fellow conspirators include his mother, Lady Effigie (Hermione Gingold), and sister, Grace (Jeanne Arnold), the butler, Cruikshank (John Carradine), and a mysterious figure known only as the Griffin. Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, and Al Lewis as Grandpa are excellent in their roles, and they get good support from classy veterans Gingold, Terry-Thomas, Arnold, and Carradine. Butch Patrick and Debbie Watson are also notable as the Munster children, Eddie and Marilyn, with Robert Pine effective as an affected fellow who falls for Marilyn but whose family strenuously objects to the Munsters from any coast. It all leads to Herman becoming a contestant in a race that is frenetic but not especially funny. There are a few amusing moments throughout the movie, and kids may find more chuckles than the rest of us, but this basically proves that when it comes to TV sitcoms, no matter how cute and charming, less is definitely more.
Verdict: For Munster fanatics. **1/2.
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| Jo Van Fleet and Robert Conrad in the final episode |
THE WILD, WILD WEST Season Four. 1968. CBS.
While there were less outstanding episodes in The Wild, Wild West's last season than in previous years, it remained an entertaining, generally well-made and well-acted program until the end. During Ross Martin's illness, Charles Aidman filled in for Artemis Gordon as "Jeremy Pike" in several episodes. [William Schallert filled in as "Frank Harper" in one two-part episode.] There was a suspenseful scene in a vault in the first episode, "Night of the Big Blackmail," with Harvey Korman; a mechanical squid and an underwater HQ in "Kraken;" a giant tuning fork sonics weapon in "Avaricious Actuary;" a certain song that holds the key to which secret service agent might be a traitor in "the Janus;" an obnoxious opera singer (Patrice Munsel) in the unusual episode "Night of the Diva;" a tank used to tear homesteaders' dwellings apart in "Juggernaut;" a vial of deadly plague in "Gruesome Games;" and a deadly new explosive in "Doomsday Formula" with Kevin McCarthy. Dr. Loveless (Michael Dunn) plays dummy to a robot ventriloquist and kidnaps several people in ways related to a nursery rhyme in "Miquelito's Revenge;" and "Bleak Island," concerning skulduggery in a spooky old house on a cliff, features fine performances from John Williams, Beverly Garland and, especially, Robert H. Herron. The two best episodes were "The Sedgwick Curse," in which people disappear without a trace from a sinister hotel; and the very last episode of the series, the slightly sexist "Night of the Tycoons," in which Jo Van Fleet expertly plays the sole female member of a board of directors who are being killed off one by one. Robert Conrad and Ross Martin still seem to be having fun, and Aidman and Schallert make admirable and likable fill-ins.
Verdict: Nice wind-up to an unusual and entertaining TV series. ***.
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| Ken Wahl as Vinnie Terranova |
Vinnie Terranova (Ken Wahl) gets out of prison after several months and is the shame of his mother, whose other son is a priest. What Ma doesn't know -- and his brother does -- is that Vinnie only went to jail to cement his cover as an agent for the OCB (Organized Crime Bureau). His first assignment is to go to work for mob boss Sonny Steelgrave (Ray Sharkey), with whom he truly becomes friends. Wiseguy looks at the conflicted feelings of agents who have to get close to bad guys as part of their job, but who get to know them on a personal level and ultimately feel as if they are betraying them. In the first season's second story arc, Vinnie gets involved with hit man Roger LoCocco (William Russ) and his bosses, the nutty brother and sister team of Mel (Kevin Spacey, in his first major role) and Susan Profitt (Joan Severance). Wahl is perfect as Terranova, embodying the toughness he would need as an undercover hoodlum as well as the sensitivity to care not only for victims but on occasion for the bad guys as well (this gets a little sticky at times); his Brooklyn accent gets thicker as the season progresses. The other players already mentioned are also on the money, and there's fine work as well from Dennis Lipscomb as mob accountant Sidney; David Steinberg as a rogue government agent; Elsa Raven as Vinnie's mother; David Marciano as the psychotic Lorenzo; and others. Jim Byrnes is fine as "Lifeguard," an agent who answers all of Vinnie's questions and gives him information, and Jonathan Banks, a superb actor, is simply outstanding as Frank McPike, Vinnie's hard-headed but complex liaison in the agency. Joe Dallesandro is certainly interesting casting as rival mob boss, Patrice. While some of the developments in the series are not credible -- Vinnie proposing to a perfectly psychotic woman at one point -- and Vinnie is sometimes too sympathetic to the criminals (the second story arc in particular has a head-scratching wind-up) Wiseguy is entertaining and well-acted.
Verdict: Not quite a classic show but not bad and often suspenseful. ***.
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| Ralph and Ed Norton do drag! |
THE HONEYMOONERS SPECIALS
"Just what I always suspected! I'm calling Anita Bryant in the morning!" -- Alice's mother after seeing Ralph rubbing Ed's back.
"The Honeymooners: Second Honeymoon" (1976). Director: Jackie Gleason.
"The Honeymooners Christmas Special" (1978). Director: Jackie Gleason.
"The Honeymooners Valentine Special" (1978). Director: Jackie Gleason.
Jackie Gleason brought back most of the cast of the original Honeymooners -- Jane Kean of the Color Honeymooners replaced Joyce Randolph -- for four reunion specials in the late seventies, three of which are available on DVD. In "Second Honeymoon" Ralph (Jackie Gleason) and Alice (Audrey Meadows) are going to renew their vows at the raccoon lodge when Ralph gets the mistaken impression that Alice is pregnant. In the Christmas special, Ralph gets another hare-brained idea and uses his savings, his mother-in-law's social security check, and Norton's Xmas bonus to buy hundreds of lottery tickets. In the Valentine special, the funniest of the three, Ralph is convinced that Alice is plotting to murder him due to a gigolo she's met, and he and Ed (Art Carney) dress in drag to trap this other man. Some of the routines in these are over-familiar, the apartment looks especially stark on a large stage and in color, and Ralph and Alice still don't have a phone or most modern conveniences, but the cast's timing is still impeccable and there are a lot of laughs. Eileen Heckart [The Bad Seed; Miracle in the Rain] plays Ralph's mother-in-law in the Valentine special, and while she's a fine actress, she's not really suitable for the role. Templeton Fox is a little more on the mark, but neither of them can compare to Ethel Owen, who really nailed the role in the original series in the fifties. The fourth special had Ralph putting on "A Christmas Carol" for the Raccoon lodge, but this has not yet been released on DVD. Jane Kean was in the right time and place when these reunions were announced and got the part of Trixie again, but in all fairness it should have gone to Joyce Randolph, the original Trixie, as these were "reunions."
Verdict: Everyone's a little grayer, but the magic is still there. ***.
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| Raymond Burr |
"This is no longer a simple murder case. It's turning into a comic opera!" -- Hamilton Burger.
"I've been on the bench twenty years and this is the longest preliminary hearing I can ever recall." -- judge
The ninth season was the final season of one of television's most memorable series. Ray Collins (Lt. Tragg) had passed away after being ill for quite some time, and his name was finally removed from the credits. Wesley Lau was replaced by Richard Anderson as Lt. Drumm. The high quality of the show was maintained until the very end. Among the most notable episodes are" "Laughing Lady," with John Dall, Constance Towers, and Allison Hayes in the story of a woman who insists another lady murdered her ex-lover; "Carefree Coronary," an unusual story in which Perry investigates possible insurance fraud involving coronary patients; "Hasty Honeymooner," in a which a man is accused of murdering the wife he found in a lonely hearts club; and "Wrathful Wraith," which begins with the charges against Perry's client being dismissed. Also: "The Silent Six," loosely inspired by the Kitty Genovese case and with a fine performance from David Macklin, has a woman beaten while her neighbors just listen. "The Fugitive Fraulein" is another unusual episode in which Perry defends a grandmother accused of murder -- in East Berlin! Perry starts out as a witness for the prosecution in "Midnight Howler" then defends the person he's testifying against. "Baffling Bug" is a suspenseful story regarding industrial espionage guest-starring Grant Williams. Other memorable episodes include "Avenging Angel:" " Tsarina's Tiara;" "Fanciful Frail;" "Bogus Buccaneers;" "Vanishing Victim;" "Positive Negative;" "Fatal Fortune;" "Candy Queen;" and "Crafty Kidnapper." "Twice-Told Twist" is worthy of mention because it's the only color episode of the series.
And those fine episodes weren't even the best of the season. The three best stories were "Dead Ringer," in which Raymond Burr plays a dual role, including a seedy limey sailor who impersonates him for cash; Burr, who is terrific, winds up cross-examining himself! "Misguided Model" is another excellent episode about a boxer accused of murder that has no trial or courtroom scenes yet still is riveting. The final episode, "Final Fadeout," has a nasty actor (James Stacy) murdered and the suspects are numerous; an excellent Estelle Winwood is also in the cast. DA Burger becomes really apoplectic in this episode and William Talman gives an especially fine performance.
And that was it. Of course Burr played Mason in several telefilms of varying quality and Monte Markham tackled the role in The New Perry Mason, which didn't last long. Now Robert Downey Jr. is set to play Perry in a theatrical film. Perry Mason was played by more than one actor in the golden age of movies, but Raymond Burr, who found the part of a lifetime and ran with it, will always be the thespian most closely associated with the role. Hats off to the many actors, fine writers, and gifted directors who together kept this show so entertaining for so many seasons.
Verdict: Simply a sublime series. ****.
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| George Maharis in "Miss Belle" |
This British import ran for one season and was produced by Joan Harrison, who worked on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but if this show is any indication she had lowered her standards for scripts considerably for the later series. The majority of episodes not only would have been instantly rejected by Hitch, but are lame by any standard, with weak premises devoid of a final snap or twist. There are very few exceptions. "The New People" is an excellent, creepy, and suspenseful episode [directed by Peter Sasdy from Charles Beaumont] in which a young couple have very strange if fun-loving neighbors; the cast includes Robert Reed and a notable Milo O'Shea. "One on an Island" [from Donald Westlake] features a fine performance from Brandon De Wilde [All Fall Down] in an absorbing story of a young man shipwrecked on an isolated island. It shouldn't work at all but somehow it does. "Matakitas is Coming" stars Vera Miles as a woman who writes about murders for a magazine and finds herself locked in a library that has somehow gone back in time to the night a librarian was murdered by a maniac back in the 1920s. The murderer is creeping about, and so is the victim ... The episode has an excellent premise even if its execution is uneven and a little confusing. Also Miles is a little too perfunctory at times given her character's situation. "Somewhere in a Crowd," with David Hedison [Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea] giving one of his best performances (in a tale wherein the same group of people keep showing up at disasters), would have been one of the series' more memorable episodes were it not for the fact that it's a complete, uncredited rip-off of Ray Bradbury's 1948 short story "The Crowd." George Maharis appears in an unpleasant look at child abuse -- a woman raises her little nephew as a girl -- in "Miss Belle." And there were episodes even worse than that.NOTE: Some of the episodes from the show were strung together to make TV movies. One, Journey to the Unknown, features Joan Crawford as host and presents "Matakitas" and an episode with Patty Duke vacationing at the English seaside at an inn with a strange landlady.
Verdict: Three decent episodes does not a great series make. **.
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| Dennis O'Keefe |
This sitcom starring popular actor Dennis O'Keefe lasted for one season in 1959. The premise had him as a newspaper columnist with one son, Randy (Ricky Kelman), and a housekeeper named "Sarge" (played by Hope Emerson after she was replaced on Peter Gunn). The very lovely Eloise Hardt plays a sometimes girlfriend, Karen. Three episodes from this lost, pretty much forgotten series are available at the Internet Archives, and two more on youtube. In "June Thursday" 42-year-old Hal Towne (O'Keefe, who was actually a somewhat older-looking fifty-one at the time)) tries to make a star out of a talented cigarette girl. In another episode Randy sends a note to a cute little girl, but her grandmother (Zazu Pitts) thinks the note is for her and that it was sent by Hal! In "Counterfeiters" two elderly counterfeiters buy tickets from Randy with phoney bills, leading to complications. In another episode Hal tries to romance his son's teacher, upon whom he has an unrequited crush, while another teacher (Nancy Kulp, who was eternally cast as the homely "other woman) tries to get a date with him. The best and most amusing episode you can find on line [on youtube], "The Regency Club," has Hal romancing a snobbish society lady who's only dating him so she can dump him, but he goes her one better with some help from his son, housekeeper, and Karen [why Hal would want any other woman when the very attractive, classy yet down-to-earth Karen is available is the question]. Judging from these episodes, there have certainly been worse sitcoms than The Dennis O'Keefe Show and much better ones as well. The cast is appealing, O'Keefe is fine, Emerson amusing, Kelman a cute kid, and Jerome Cowan scores, as he generally does, as a rival columnist. O'Keefe was in Hold That Kiss, Weekend for Three, and many, many other movies.
Verdict: No I Love Lucy, but O'Keefe fans may enjoy. **1/2.
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| The Seaview crew must battle a giant lizard in "Night of Terror" |
Irwin Allen's series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea had an excellent first season, a good second season -- and then deteriorated badly. The producer clearly thought of it strictly as a Kiddie show, and figured the children wanted more and sillier monsters over good storylines. Reportedly this was extremely embarrassing to star Richard Basehart, who hated the scripts. There were far too many episodes in which Admiral Nelson (Basehart) or Captain Crane (David Hedison) are mesmerized or brainwashed into trying to destroy the Seaview or each other. The nadir of monsters were the idiotic lobster-like creatures (not to be confused with the Lobster Men of the fourth season) of "Doomsday Island." There were very few memorable episodes: "Day of Evil" combines nuclear reactor problems with an alien impersonating Nelson who wants to create a holocaust. "The Thing from Inner Space" features Hugh Marlowe as a TV host urging Nelson to search for a monster that killed his crew. "The Brand of the Beast" has Nelson turning into a werewolf and has some suspense. "The Day the World Ended" is another suspenseful episode in which all life on earth seems to have disappeared. "Deadly Waters" is a serious episode -- and the best of the season -- in which the Seaview is trapped on the ocean's bottom below crush depth. Seaman Riley was replaced by Patterson (Paul Trinka), and the unnamed Ship's Doctor (Richard Bull) made many appearances, along with Kowalksi (Del Monroe) and Sharkey (Terry Becker). The acting was generally quite good, with Basehart, Hedison and the others playing more or less with conviction regardless of how absurd the plots and creatures were, although Admiral Nelson seemed increasingly dyspeptic (along with Sharkey), possibly because of Basehart's feelings about the series. A big lizard from Allen's The Lost World showed up yet again in "Night of Terror."
Verdict: Way too much silliness and stupid scripts. **.
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| John Cassavetes as Johnny Staccato |
JOHNNY STACCATO 1959 television series.
Johnny Staccato (John Cassavetes) is a "jazz detective" because he's not only a private eye, but plays piano in a jazz combo at Waldo's. There were 27 black and white half hour episodes. Waldo was played by Eduardo Ciannelli. Cassavetes was excellent as a different type of slightly brooding detective. Halfway through the series, the piano playing opening was replaced with a more action-oriented sequence. Among some of the more memorable episodes: "Night of Jeopardy" -- a mob counterfeiter thinks Johnny has possession of a certain package; "Double Feature" -- Johnny's exact double is a deadly hit man; "Swinging Long Hair" -- an Iron Curtain pianist and his wife run from murderous agents; "Nice Little Town" -- a powerful episode in which a soldier who broke under torture is called a communist and murdered; "The Mask of Jason" -- a disfigured man (Bert Remsen) tries to reconnect with his horrible beauty queen ex-wife (Mary Tyler Moore); "Piece of Paradise" -- a jockey (a superb Walter Burke) is accused of strangling a dance hall girl; "Solomon" -- a defense attorney (an overacting Elisha Cook Jr.) wants Johnny to perjure himself for his client (an excellent Cloris Leachman); "The Wild Reed" -- a troubled saxophonist (Harry Guardino) with a drug problem; "List of Death" -- Johnny is hired by a dying mobster with a new face (Paul Stewart); "Murder for Credit" -- who killed a singer making a comeback, with memorable performances by Martin Landau, Charles McGraw and Marilyn Clark. Generally well-scripted and always well-acted, Johnny Staccato was a fine addition to the private eye television genre.
Verdict: Cool, man, cool. ***.
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| "I am the queen of the gypsies..." |
SQUIRE/FRED MERTZ: "There's lots of ale and stout upon the shelf.
And I take a drop or two myself"
PEASANTS: "A drop, he says! The squire's got the gout.
The stout makes him ail, and the ale makes him stout."
Needing to quickly replenish the treasury of the Ladies Wednesday Fine Arts League (or whatever the heck it's called), Lucy decides to write and put on an operetta entitled "The Pleasant Peasant." Since Ethel can sing much better than Lucy, she is given the lead role of Lily, while Lucy has to be content with Camille, "the snaggle-toothed old queen of the gypsies." To drown out Lucy's awful singing, the cast has been instructed to join in every time she opens her mouth. The costumes and scenery have been rented, everything's going well on opening night, but as always when Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) is in charge, things don't go quite as expected ...
Asked who wrote the songs, Lucy replies "Did you ever hear of Victor Herbert?" Of course, Lucy wrote the songs herself. When I first saw this in reruns as a child, I thought the rather tuneful music really was composed by Victor Herbert -- it's in his melodious style -- but I've never been able to determine who really did the music. [I Love Lucy has credited composers such as Eliot Daniel and Wilbur Hatch but they did general music for many episodes.] In any case, all of the songs are surprisingly memorable, including Ethel/Vivian Vance's delightfully-performed number "Lily of the Valley" ["when other girls go walking on their arm they've got a swell beau; whenever I go walking on my arm is just my elbow"], Ricky's love song to Lily, the drinking song, the Squire/Fred's number, and so on. I assume the clever and amusing lyrics were written by the Lucy writing team, Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Davis and Bob Carroll, Jr. The episode was directed by Marc Daniels.
Ball, Vance, Desi Arnaz, and William Frawley are all in top form, aided and abetted by Myra Marsh as the club president and the other ladies, especially the woman who interrupts the performance to sing to Lucy about a bounced check, and whose identity I can't determine [she isn't listed on imdb nor even on the I Love Lucy DVD], although I have definitely seen her elsewhere, possibly other Lucy episodes.
Verdict: Classic comedy. ****.
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| Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin -- in color |
Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) came back for a second season of the generally light-hearted spy show, this time in color and "armed" with special pen communicators. There was more humor this season, with some rather stupid episodes, but quite a few were memorable. The two-part "Alexander the Greater Affair" features Rip Torn as a megalomaniac out to rule the world. "The Foxes and Hounds Affair" presents an amusing -- and explosive -- rivalry between two Thrush agents played by Patricia Medina and a wonderful Vincent Price. "The Dippy Blonde Affair" has a Thrush executive falling for the girlfriend (Joyce Jameson) of a colleague he murdered after she's enlisted by UNCLE to play along and find out what she can. Thrush develops a strain of deadly and nearly invisible bees in "The Birds and the Bees Affair," in which Illya and a lovely companion are subjected to torture by sonics. "The Bridge of Lions Affair" features Maurice Evans, Bernard Fox and Vera Miles in a tale of artificial rejuvenation and the power plays surrounding it. The season's best episode, "The Waverly Ring Affair," is a suspenseful business in which the agents must figure out which co-worker, Larry Blyden or Elizabeth Allen, is a traitor working for Thrush. Other good episodes include "The Ultimate Computer;" "Discotheque Affair;" "Re-Collectors;" "Arabian Affair;" "Adriatic Express;" "Project Deephole;" "Minus X Affair" with Eve Arden; and "The Children's Day Affair," in which Jeanne Cooper plays Mother Fear, who runs a boy's school and is training the little fellows to wipe out agents at a special conference. The worst episode is probably "The Deadly Toys Affair," which guest-stars an overbearing Angela Lansbury in one of her least memorable performances; way too much camp. Vaughn and McCallum are perfect and Leo G. Carroll nearly steals the show as their boss, Alexander Waverly. The souped-up theme music is pretty neat. NOTE: The big-screen adaptation of the show due in 2014 will not star Tom Cruise but rather Henry Cavell of The Man of Steel.
Verdict: Cool show if too often on the edges of camp. ***.
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| John Bromfield |
The Sheriff of Cochise was a modern-day "detective" show that metamorphosed in its second season into United States Marshall [aka U. S. Marshall) when the main character went from being a sheriff in Cochise County, Arizona to a Marshall in Tucson. John Bromfield stars as Frank Morgan, a no-nonsense lawman who was also a veteran of the Korean War. About a dozen or so episodes of the series are available on DVD or on youtube. In "Lynching Party" James Best is accused of murder when he is confronted by his girlfriend, Gloria Talbott's, angry old man. In "Trigger Happy," Martin Milner is accused of murdering the man he was sent to arrest; Jean Allison and Donna Douglas are also in the cast and are notable, as is Milner. Charles Bronson is vivid as a soldier who goes on the warpath in the well-done "Pursuit," with Abbie Shelton and Robert Fuller. "Helldorado" finds the sheriff protecting gambler Robert Horton during an annual celebration week, with Frank Ferguson as an excitable old codger who lost a lot of money. Other guest stars on the show include Joan Taylor, Jack Lord [in a fine turn as a hard-bitten killer], Kathryn Card from I Love Lucy, Michael Landon, Michael Connors, and Ric Vallin. In movies such as Three Bad Sisters and The Big Bluff, handsome star Bromfield was usually a sleazy, sexy character who was busy lovin' up and two-timing the women. In this series he's the good guy, stalwart and brave, and he's fine, but the character is humorless -- and dateless. The producers should have brought in a few femme fatales for Bromfield to fool around with and vice versa -- it might have made the show more interesting and more fun. It's as if the part were created for Broderick Crawford, the homely star of Highway Patrol! The show was produced by Desilu.
Verdict: Standard but reasonably entertaining intrigue. **1/2.
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| The cast of MI including Warren, Nimoy, Lupus and Elliott |
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE Season Five. 1970.
The big change for season five was to do away with the rotating females and use Lesley Ann Warren as "Dana" on a weekly basis. Another change was that Sam Elliott was brought in to play a doctor named Doug Roberts and replaced Peter Lupus for about half of the episodes. Neither Warren nor Elliott lasted more than one season, and Leonard Nimoy made this his last season as well. Another change was that more unexpected developments occurred during missions, increasing the suspense. The jazzed up theme music was pretty lousy, however. This was still a solid season, with several especially good episodes. Robert Conrad played a hit man in "The Killer" and Anthony Zerbe guest-starred in "The Amateur." The object was to get an important list regarding a heroin outfit from a dying mobster in "Squeeze Play." Barney's brother is killed by criminals in "Cat's Paw" with a memorable performance by Abby Lincoln. Lupus and Elliott both appear in "The Party" with intrigue surrounding a bash at an embassy. Henry Darrow and Kevin Hagen score in "Blast," about an unknown person trying to raise funds for a revolution. In the unusual "Homecoming," Phelps and the team investigate serial murders in Jim's home town; Loretta Swit guest-stars. The season had other good episodes as well.
Verdict: This team doesn't quit. ***.
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| Lee Phillips and Don DeFore |
Daddy-O was a situation comedy with a fairly unusual premise. Ben (Don DeFore of Killer Bait) is a carpenter who is working on a house for TV producer Albert Shapian (Lee Phillips). For some reason, never explained, Albert thinks Ben would make a good actor, and the fellow winds up in a show called Daddy-O, produced by Shapian, wherein he plays a hapless family man in slapstick situations. The show-within-the-show is a big hit, but despite all the money Ben is dissatisfied. He thinks his work is frivolous whereas before he was helping to build homes and thereby helping the nation. He wants to quit Daddy-O, but Shapian won't think of it. At a hospital where Ben's wife Polly (Jean Byron) volunteers, he meets an elderly female patient who tells him how much the show means to her and other lonely people of all ages, to whom it has given a family. Ben decides to stay with Daddy O, not realizing that the old lady was an actress paid by Shavian, although she tells the producer that she actually meant every word. Other characters in the show include Ben's two teenaged sons, and Shavian's dumb brunette but sexy secretary. In the opening sequence -- a scene from Daddy O -- Sheila James from Dobie Gillis plays his daughter. Shavian seems to have a bit of a thing for Polly.
This pilot was apparently aired but wasn't turned into a series. The actors are fine -- even bland DeFore -- but perhaps it was too critical of dumb sitcoms for its own good, and without delivering the major laughs that any good sitcom requires. A surprising scene has Shapian and his colleagues adjusting the laugh track on an episode -- the fact that sitcoms used laugh tracks was generally downplayed in this era. Still Daddy-O is amiable and has a few chuckles in it. Had this gone to series it might have developed into a memorable show. Phillips at least gives the project a little sex appeal, as does his uncredited secretary. Created and written by Max Shulman. DeFore wound up in the long-running Hazel with Shirley Booth.
Verdict: Had possibilities. **1/2.
DOWNTON ABBEY Season One. 2010. Seven episodes. Created and [co-] written by Julian Fellowes.The male heir to the British estate, Downton Abbey, is lost on the Titanic in 1912. Since Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), and his wife, Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) have no male offspring, and the heir must be male, Cora and her oldest daughter, Mary (Michelle Dockery) are faced with the prospect of losing a fortune. Haughty Mary has two sisters, the comparatively plain Edith (Laura Carmichael), who is basically treated like crap by the rest of her condescending family, and budding feminist Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay), who tries to help one of the ambitious maids get a job as a secretary. The new heir is a cousin named Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens), and everyone hopes that he and Mary will make a love match and solve all of their problems, but things get a little complicated. Matthew has a mother, Isobel (Penelope Wilton), who proves an irritant to Crawley family matriarch, the Dowager Countess Violet (Maggie Smith), although on occasion they have the same goals. Violet forms an alliance with Cora.
In the meantime, there's drama amongst the servants as well. The new valet, Bates (Brendan Coyle) is not only lame, but has an unsavory history. He has raised the everlasting ire of Thomas (Rob-James Collier), who had hoped to get his job, and who teams with the sour Sarah O'Brien (Siobhan Finneran) to scheme to get rid of him. [More on Thomas in a bit.] Sarah mistakenly believes Cora plans to replace her as personal maid and wreaks a terrible vengeance. The butler Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) and head maid Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan), run the household with the help of cook, Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol), who is losing her sight; young William (Thomas Howes), who is losing his mother; and Daisy (Sophie McShera), who has a hopeless crush on Thomas. Then there's the "radical" chauffeur Branson (Allen Leech), who talks politics with Sybil.
Downton Abbey is handsomely produced and well-acted for the most part. Smith sometimes overdoes the cutesyness of her character, and McGovern, while not a bad actress, simply seems miscast and uncertain of how to proceed. The show begins quite reasonably, but in the second episode turns into a slightly absurd soap opera when it introduces a handsome young Turkish character who dies in unexpected circumstances not much later, suddenly turning Downton into Dynasty. Much more problematic is the character of Thomas, who is gay, and while the actor wisely doesn't play him too stereotypically [aside from arched eyebrows and the occasional pursed lips], it's hard not to notice that Thomas is like an old-fashioned nasty "faggot" being fairly horrible to everyone. Gay characters are welcome in programming, but surely Fellowes could have come up with a less odious creature than this, whose inclusion even seems homophobic. [Not that all gay characters have to be perfect, of course, but this man's evil doesn't quite seem divorced from his homosexuality.] Another odd thing is that some of the characters talk "wisely" about Thomas as if it were the 21st century and not 1912! Why the hell would the unsophisticated cook know of his sexual orientation -- in 1912 no less!
Aside from that, let's get real about Downton Abbey. Its main strength is simply that it's entertaining. It's not really great drama, and it will push the envelope of credulity if it will get people watching. Taken with a grain of salt, Downton Abbey is fun if nothing else. And it does have some marvelous and memorable sequences to be fair [such as Violet being selfless regarding her prize roses].
Verdict: Proof that the British can dumb things down just as well as the Americans when they want to, but it does hold the attention. ***.
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| Ross Martin, Betty Garde, and John Vivyan |
In this series, one of several created by Blake Edwards, Mr. Lucky (John Vivyan) -- with no first name -- operates a legal gambling ship outside the limit with his friend, associate and fellow adventurer Andamo (Ross Martin) -- which could be the fellow's first name or last. The boat is named the Fortuna, which means luck. Halfway through the first and only season of the show, Lucky decides to give up gambling and turn the Fortuna into an exclusive and very expensive private restaurant and night spot; oddly the scripts seemed somewhat better afterward and there was even more action. Pippa Scott was a semi-regular who played Lucky's girlfriend while Andamo played the field. Another character who appeared frequently was Lt. Rovaks, (Tim Brown), whose voice was so squeaky that he sounded like a cartoon character [maybe "Lucky Duck."] Mr. Lucky, frankly, was not one of the classic shows of television, nor was it one of Edwards' better or more successful series, but some of the generally mediocre episodes were somewhat more memorable than usual, with the best single episode being one wherein Lucky gets targeted by a hit woman played by Mari Blanchard. Another memorable episode has Jack Nicholson and Richard Chamberlain robbing the Fortuna and its customers at gunpoint. There were plenty of desperate, kooky or sinister females, as well as gangsters [one of whom is played by Lou Krugman, from the "Lucy Gets in Pictures" episode of I Love Lucy] and other reprobates. Despite the competent and often charming performances of the two leads -- although Vivyan was a borderline stiff -- the characters were shadowy and never quite came alive. Other guest-stars on the show included Betty Garde [that tough maid in a classic Honeymooners episode]; Grant Williams, Barbara Bain, Cyril Delevanti, Eleanor Audley, Lee Van Cleef, Nita Talbot, and Doris Singleton [Carolyn/Lillian Appleby on I Love Lucy] who's striking as an especially ruthless female with murder on her mind. Henry Mancini's music is nothing special. Ross Martin ["Death Ship" on The Twilight Zone] would have much more success with The Wild, Wild West a few years later.
Verdict: Stick with Mike Hammer with Darren McGavin.**
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| Casting coup: Leonard Nimoy as Paris |
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE Season Four. 1969.
Martin Landau and Barbara Bain went off in a huff and a puff and were replaced by -- in a casting coup -- Leonard Nimoy and a host of rotating females. Nimoy played master of disguise Paris, and the leading ladies included Lee Meriwether (the most frequent), Anne Francis, Sally Ann Howes, Jessica Walter, Antoinette Bower, and others. This was a solid season with many memorable episodes; among the best were: "Double Circle," in which a fake room is employed in order to get at a secret formula; "The Falcon," in which a royal family is in danger from a would-be usurper, and everything that could possible go wrong does; and "Chico" in which a dog helps steal a stamp which conceals an important microdot. As for notable guest-stars, Luther Adler is outstanding in "Phantoms," about a purge of young artists; John Willians scores in "Lover's Knot," which features a Mata Hari-type lady spy; Pernell Roberts and Cicely Tyson are great in "Death Squad," in which a vacationing Barney (Greg Morris) is accused of murder; and a mustache-less Torin Thatcher almost steals the show in "Numbers Game," about attempts to get at a Swiss bank account. Nimoy probably does his best work in "Commandante" and "The Choice." Jason Evers and John Vernon make an impression in, respectively, the aforementioned "Double Circle" and "Falcon."
Verdict: No Cinnamon, but still lots of spice. ***.
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| Dan Adams (Rod Cameron ) questions a suspect |
Rod Cameron starred in this well-made and entertaining detective series that lasted one season. Cameron plays Dan Adams, a private dick who used to work for Naval Intelligence and works out of San Diego with a Coronado address. Many of the episodes were directed by movie serial master William Witney, who helmed G-Men vs the Black Dragon, in which Cameron played agent Rex Bennett [reprising the role in Secret Service in Darkest Africa]. Cameron may have been stone-faced as Bennett, but he's much, much better as the tough but human and compassionate Adams, who gets involved in some very intriguing cases, and has a solid core of law and order values. Some of the best episodes include: "Doomtown," in which the village geek is accused of a murder he didn't commit; "Remember the Alamo," in which it isn't certain if a man's (David White from Bewitched) younger wife has been kidnapped or not, but his secretary (Beverly Garland) may hold the answer; "Gone With Thy Loot," which has a lot of skulduggery over some stolen jewels; "Blonde Herring," a shipboard adventure with a sizzling Carol Ohmart, and an effective Sue Ann Langdon and Harry Lauter in supporting parts; and "They Met in Honolulu" in which Hayden Rourke's much younger bride simply disappears right after the ceremony. The best episodes are: "Run, Shep, Run" with Jay Novello giving another amazing character turn as a Southern doctor in a swampland chase and mystery; "Sincerely Yours, Napoleon," in which a married, middle-aged man tells his wife (Virginia Christine) that he spent their life savings on certain letters but there's a honey (Sue Ann Langdon, again) in the pot; and "Flight to La Paz," in which Adams is aboard a plane that crash lands in an isolated area and a suitcase of money ignites all kinds of passion in the passengers; Harry Bartell and Laurie Mitchell [Queen of Outer Space] are both excellent in this. [Bartell was the process server who pretended to be a big fan of Ricky's on the I Love Lucy courtoom episode.] Out of 39 episodes there isn't a real stinker in the bunch.Other notable guest-stars include Mary LaRoche, Patricia Medina, Norma Varden, and Coleen Gray [The Leech Woman], who is excellent as a conflicted woman who tries to help the sick mobster father that she's been estranged from for many years in "The Anxious Mariner."
Verdict: Very entertaining and well-done mystery series. ***.
Robert Wagner appeared in a number of high-profile movies, such as A Kiss Before Dying, before becoming even more successful as a TV star in middle-age, with such programs as It Takes a Thief, Switch, and Hart to Hart. Wagner -- via Scott Eyman -- writes about his early life and his lousy relationship with his father, his desire to be nothing but a movie star from his youngest days, his marriages to Natalie Wood and Jill St. John, and the tragic night that Natalie drowned. There are some surprises in the book, such as (a very few) details about his four-year affair with the older Barbara Stanwyck, which may have been highly exaggerated. Wagner has a sense of humor, but comes off as a rather superficial third-tier celebrity bashing a few enemies -- such as Natalie's less successful sister, Lana, whom he skewers, and co-star Stefanie Powers, whom he felt betrayed him -- and justifying some of his bad actions as well. Wagner outs numerous people as gay or bisexual, but remains mum on the rumors surrounding his own sexuality. Although Wagner has pleasant things to say about some gay men he knew, he's not above the occasional stereotypical whack; he comes off as an old-fashioned guy trying to affect a liberal posture. If the book has any value, it is as an insider's look at old Hollywood, the dying (and now dead) studio system, and some of the characters who inhabited that long-ago world, about which much has already been written. The book is entertaining enough but overlong.
Verdict: Hardly essential reading, but Wagner's fans may eat it up. **1/2.
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| Robert Wagner steals a kiss |
The telefilm Magnificent Thief served as the pilot for this nominal spy series, which had a clever premise. Alexander Mundy (Robert Wagner), a gifted burglar, is told that he can stay out of jail if he goes to work for the government, herein personified by his liaison Noah Bain (Malachi Throne). As Bain tells him, "I don't want you to spy -- I want you to steal." So in the first brief season of sixteen episodes -- It Takes a Thief was a mid-season replacement -- Mundy has to snatch, under frequently impossible circumstances, everything from children accidentally left behind the iron curtain when their parents defect to a rare, extremely valuable DaVinci. None of the episodes are outstanding, but a few were better than average. "It Takes One to Know One" introduces a rival thief-impersonator played by Susan St. James (who'd show up again) and has a highly suspenseful climax when the two each try to snatch some royal jewels in a casino packed with booby traps. "One Illegal Angel" features an exiled dictator and a forged DaVinci and the necessity of getting the real painting away from said dictator. "Totally By Design" features a notable Mari Blanchard [Twice-Told Tales] as a vain princess who has fashion designer Mundy create a new trousseau for her even as he schemes to rob the palace safe. Celeste Yarnell and Marti Stevens guest-star in "Locked in the Cradle of the Keep," in which Al has to figure out just what he's supposed to steal before he can actually steal it. The show needed some better directors and better scripts, but it was basically mindless fun. Katharine Crawford [Kraft Suspense Theatre] appeared twice as another government agent. Wagner gets across his slightly amoral character without straining himself, and Throne is just fine as Noah Bain. In any case, the series is much better than the telefilm that spawned it.
Verdict: Acceptable time-waster. **1/2.