Reviews

A visiting Army sergeant visits the 4077th with his "moose"-actually, a young Korean woman who's his servant. When Hawkeye sizes up the situation, he confronts that sergeant but that officer tells him there's nothing he can do about it which is confirmed when Pierce then tells Henry. So instead, he then plays poker with him in order to "win" her. I'll stop there and just say that the woman character is only fitfully amusing when mixing certain American slang terms. In fact, the only genuinely funny moment to me was seeing Radar-who's spying through his telescope during the poker game-suddenly getting distracted by a robed woman from behind as she starts to go to the showers. I will say this was quite an early indication of how moral the leading character is concerning certain things that makes him such an admirable hero much of the time of the series run. Still, this ep gets a middling grade from me.

In this ep of "Dragnet 1968", Joe and Bill have to deal with an abused infant at a hospital and go looking for the mother. They managed to find her residence after initially being given the wrong address. She tells them her baby was just falling down the stairs and doesn't need any more treatment at the hospital but the two cops saw worse on the months-old kid and realize that's not so. When the hubby enters, he seems quite menacing and things just fall apart by that point...This was quite a shocking ep of this Jack Webb-created series even though we never see the baby's face. I have to admit that the woman's acting does seem shrill here but it's still pretty effective with what she was given. Oh, and what a nice surprise that the husband was played by future "Hill Street Blues" star Kiel Martin! So that's a recommendation of "The Little Victim".

I saw an edited version of this Three Stooges short on MeTV just now. It seems Moe, Larry, and Joe's pet horse Birdie (who like Mister Ed talks) is missing her soul mate who's about to be sent to the glue factory. So the boys try to rescue him. I found this funny enough with all the physical gags employed mostly throughout. Among the supporting cast is Emil Sitka who appeared a lot with them from the late '40s through the '60s when the Stooges did features and Joe DeRita replaced Joe Besser. Don't know why this short was cut. Maybe for time in the slot it was in. Anyway, if you're not too discriminating concerning what Stooges short to watch, Horsing Around isn't too bad.

Present-day Elmer Fudd moans about not being able to catch "that Wabbit" when a voice from above tells him to think of the future, all the way to 2000 (this cartoon was made in 1944). So during that time he and Bugs Bunny are old men. Then after a while we go back to when they were toddlers. I'll just stop there and just say this was another very funny cartoon from both Warner Bros. And especially director Bob Clampett. He usually times these shorts just right with fast speed most of the time, only occasionally slowing down for surprises in tone especially when Elmer cries for whatever reason. Anyway, that's a high recommendation of The Old Grey Hare.

Joe's heavyset woman fiancee has lost her ring so he, Moe, and Larry look for it. It turns out a wrestler stole it and they all try to get it back...The version I saw from MeTV seemed to be edited especially after I read the other reviews on this site citing some scenes I didn't see. Be that as it may, I did like the various punches done by the boys even though Joe is for the most part spared as he didn't like being the target of physical gags. It's because of him that for the first time in these Columbia shorts, Moe and Larry have their hair slicked back as they did in real life. Oh, and the woman who played Joe's girlfriend was also good for some physical gags. So that's my recommendation of Muscle Up a Little Closer.

This has Moe, Larry, and Shemp as stagehands who also appear in a skit during the stage show playing Southern gentlemen. Emil Sitka is the show's producer who's tired of a certain critic panning his revues to he makes those Stooges throw him out. But those guys don't even know what he looks like...Plenty of funny visual gags and lines in this uneven storyline but what else do you expect from shorts like this? Also appearing is Christine McIntyre as, I think, a woman in that skit I referenced. Perhaps the funniest sequences involves first making a cake and then seeing them eat it on stage. So that's a recommendation of Thre Hams on Rye.

In this Three Stooges short, Moe is made to look like Adolf Hitler with that mustasche with Larry and Curly as his minions. I just found out this was a sequel to their earlier short, You Nazty Spy! Anyway, the one-liners and visual gags come fast and furious especially when a certain pool ball meant to explode keeps getting missed by unbelievable means various times. Some of the characters are made to look like certain leaders of the Axis countries during this period of World War II. I also chuckled at a couple of lines referencing those two big department store chains of the time, Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck, and Co. So that's my recommendation of I"ll Never Heil Again.

In his book "The Boys", Ron Howard wrote of an anecdote about his 5-year-old self being told by the director (in this case, Sheldon Leonard) to cup his hands around a toy turtle he was carrying as he ran to his sheriff father's office so the camera wouldn't pick up on how fake it looked. Yes, this was a backdoor pilot of "The Andy Griffith Show" in which Griffith played Andy Taylor and Ronny, as he was known at the time, was his son Opie. Frances Bavier was also in this one though not as Aunt Bee but as a woman named Henrietta Perkins who complains to Andy about having to continually pay a fine for a suit someone she loved was buried in! Oh, the actual plot of this ep is Danny Williams is arrested for passing a stop sign and so he agrees to pay the fine after some haggling with the sheriff but then Andy keeps upping the price! There's also the town drunk, played here by Frank Cady who'd later become Sam Drucker in "Petticoat Junction" and "Green Acres", and another character involved in Bavier's storyline. I'll just say this was a funny pilot for that most classic of sitcoms "The Andy Griffith Show". Oh, and Ron's father Rance also appears near the end saying a couple of lines.

During a performance at a jazz club as the headliner introes a fellow musician, that person is revealed to have a knife in his back as he keels over! So Pete has to solve his murder but, as one would expect, he gets lots of resistance. I'll stop there and just say this was a fine second ep of this now-classic series. Some of the reviewers have complained these eps are perhaps too short with the less than 30-minute running time. Part of me seems to agree with that though enough material seems to have happened to make it mostly entertaining enough to watch from beginning to end. Anyway, "Streetcar Jones" is highly recommended.

A sign this may be a different type of "Dragnet" ep is that the theme song is only played with a percussion drum. Then the only characters appearing is Friday, Gannon, and a rookie cop played by Kent McCord. McCord is in the interrogation room with Joe and Bill because he's been ID'd as the suspect of a liquor store robbery. Kent keeps denying he was the one who did it but the constant questions of especially Friday wear him down. Then he gets questioned about his off-duty life and that has Joe doing a speech about how unglamorous being a cop is but despite that, he's very proud to be one, that's for sure! I'll just now say this was a most excellent ep of this revived version of this classic cop show. And yes, this was the same Kent McCord who went on to star in Jack Webb's later series as producer, "Adam-12".

While Sally and Mildred are visiting a hospital looking for a friend, Mildred witnesses a murder in another room. But when Sally and staff come back there, it's empty. Eventually, some kind of Satanic cult is involved. I'll stop there and just say this was quite scary and funny with fine turns from Werner Klemperer (yes, the former Colonel Klink of "Hogan's Heroes") and Keenan Wynn who I just also watched in an ep of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" as well as Robert Hooks. I also liked the small part of John Fiedler as a coroner. Oh, and I also loved the music score that played throughout this particular ep. So that's a recommendation of "The Devil You Say".

From the previous ep "Bad Medicine", Richard Kiel returns for this next ep as a monster from my current home state of Louisiana covered in moss. He's involved in several murders that reporter Carl Kolchak is investigating from his Chicago (my actual birth town) beat. I'll stop there and mention that Keenan Wynn was the only guest star I recognized especially when he does his familiar bellowing to funny effect. I also commend the writers (one of whom was David Chase, decades before he created "The Sopranos") for putting little facts concerning Louisiana in the dialogue like "parish" being what a "county" is referred to there. In summary, this was another thrilling ep of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker".

Tony and Doug are in the island of Krakatoa where the natives are trying to sacrifice someone in the volcano but are kept from doing so by a British scientist. That scientist has a daughter who like him are devoted to studying that volcano to find out how long before it erupts. She's played by Ellen Burstyn then credited as "Ellen McRae". She's quite attractive here. Anyway, Tony and Doug try to warn them about getting off but they don't believe them concerning timing of danger. And back in the present-day control room, they have their own problems of trying to get Tony and Doug out of there before that explosion. There's an interesting sequence in which one of those time travelers is temporarily sent back to that control room and he's the only one moving while everyone else is in freeze-frame mode. I think I've written enough about this ep so I'll just say I recommend it and leave it at that.

In this ep, Johnny Cash plays a successful singer not unlike himself who wants to do away with his wife and a teen girl background singer that could get exposed of his relations with the latter if he ever crosses his spouse played here by the legendary Ida Lupino. Their relationship is very loveless as she constantly has him under her thumb. When the deed is done, Lieutenant Columbo is not too far away...With Cash doing what he does best, singing, and then also turning on the charm in trying to fool the LA police detective, he seems to be having the time of his life here, that's for sure! A very entertaining ep. Directed by Nicholas Colasanto later to be best known for playing Coach Ernie Pantusso on "Cheers".

After a plane crashes in a desolate ghost town, Mannix goes there and finds himself not welcome to say the least. Of the few people that actually live there, he only gets cooperation from the elderly woman and her daughter. Oh, and there's also a bait-and-switch of who's revealed to be the wife of the man who crashed his plane. Among the guest star cast, I only recognized James B. Sikking-here billed without his middle initial-in a smallish role though a much bigger one than the role he had in "Cannon" during this same period. Some nice tension as Joe keeps sneaking through the sparsely populated dusty town. So that's a recommendation for this ep.

In what turned out to be the final ep of the "McCloud" series, there are some victims with teeth marks on the neck while there's also a sniper up on a building. Actually, there's more emphasis on Dracula than on that sniper who's only depicted shooting someone at the beginning before he reveals his face near the end. Of course, this being a somewhat realistic-like show, no one really, well, maybe McCloud's reporter girlfriend who's doing a book on vampires, believes the coroner's insistence of such a creature existing. Also, there's an actor famous for playing the count involved. He's played by John Carradine whose previous flicks as such appears on the TV screen when that reporter is watching them. Anyway, this was quite exciting and amusing to watch.

A man is on the run with a suitcase of his entire account he just closed. He has a worried wife and an ex-girlfriend who's engaged to the sheriff who doesn't like Cannon snooping around since he's from out of town. Oh, and when we find out who the killer was...well, it probably wouldn't be surprising to anyone who's watched a lot of these detective shows especially from this era. I found this quite thrilling to watch, that's for sure! I didn't recognize any of the guests announced at the beginning or printed at the end so I surprised to see Joe E. Tata listed in the latter as I didn't place the guy who would eventually play Nat, the owner of the Peach Pit on "Beverly Hills, 90210" in this ep...

In this ep, Barnaby Jones gets mixed up in the film piracy business when a veteran film editor gets an unfortunate accident involving such unsavory types. One of whom is played by Conrad Janis who during this season was a regular during the first year of "Mork & Mindy" playing Mindy's father. In this ep, he's one of the people being announced in the beginning credits as one of the guest stars but on a "Cannon" ep from a few years before, he was one of the smaller players in the end ones. Anyway, this was one of a few eps Buddy Ebsen was front-and-center as opposed to staying in the background for Lee Meriwether or Mark Shera as he wanted reduced screen time by this period. Anyway, a very entertaining and timely ep for this era, that's for sure!

While this third season premiere ep of "Mission: Impossible" resembled the Ingrid Bergman film Anastasia from the previous decade, it's still a hoot seeing the IMF team doing their rounds especially when Cinnamon Carter basically portrays the Bergman role very convincingly to her captive audience with one notable exception. That exception is someone who wants to take over the country as a dictator and you can bet he wants it bad! I'll stop there and just say this is one of the best eps of "M: I" I've seen so far not only because of Barbara Bain's performance but also her hubby Martin Landau's as he does one of his convincing disguises. So that's a high recommendation for "The Heir Apparent".

This is one of the more interesting eps of "The Fugitive" as star David Janssen is teamed with Charles Bronson who was becoming a movie star by this point and Anne Francis who had just done a one-season stint as secret agent Honey West. This time, Dr. Richard Kimble is a deckhand on a ship in which Bronson who is actually a federal agent poses as the skipper in order to follow Ms. Francis who's the wife of an embezzler she still carries a torch for! Oh, and all this takes place in Mexico. I'll just say this was another thrilling ep of this very exiting series that I've been catching up on MeTV recently. Very highly recommended.

I taped this ep of "Mannix" a little after the beginning so I didn't see Joe shoot the guy who got it. The first part I saw was a gang of teens in a dilapidated hangout deciding to get this guy who's about to take a plane to see his father on his birthday. Joe sends Peggy on an errand leaving him alone when those teens threaten him. I'll stop there and just say this was quite a nailbiter throughout as you wonder how Joe will survive this time. I liked both Mike Connors and Gail Fisher's performances in this one. Ditto most of the guest performances especially the one who played the wino. I highly recommend this one.

This ep of "Cannon" begins-"Columbo"-style-with a murder actually being depicted and seeing "whodunnit"! A fine-looking young woman is at a forest at night by herself being watched by several drunk men, one of whom has a rifle in which he spies on her through the lens which he then shares with the other men with him. They confront her and...well, then someone calls Frank Cannon and he then goes to this small town, presumably in the Deep South, to investigate. Lots of thrilling stuff here and it's safe to say that most of this small town is racist considering who the suspect is. The only gust star I recognized was Tom Skerritt who was previously in the movie MASH and years later had a recurring role on "Cheers" as Evan Drake. He plays a sherriff. I highly recommend this ep of "Cannon".

This is the very first ep of "The Invaders" I watched after taping it off of MeTV. What entertained me about this one was seeing J. D. Cannon, who I remember somewhat from the series "McCloud" since until recently, I'd never seen an entire ep, playing a drug kingpin who reluctantly makes a deal with the leading player of this series. His distinctive voice was sooooo familiar that it's hard to not be pleasantly distracted by it and he chews the scenery for all it's worth, that's for sure! Perhaps because it's much later during the second season of this series run, part of the narrative confused me but I enjoyed this ep, just the same.

Though as a kid of the early '70s, I remember stumbling upon "McCloud" during certain scenes, this is my first time watching an ep in its entirety. Here, Sam and superior Clifford work together in Russia as Sam's country music star friend is battling addiction and Clifford is trying to help a professor and his daughter-who's a decoy concerning that country music star-defect. I'll stop there and just say while part of me was confused during some of the narrative, I started enjoying it more as it got along thanks to stars Dennis Weaver and J. D. Cannon as well as guest stars Hoyt Axton, L. Q. Jones, and Britt Ekland. Quite an enjoyable ep of "McCloud".

While as a kid of the early '70s, I knew of "McMillan & Wife" as one of the series part of the "NBC Sunday Mystery Movie" wheel, this was the first time I actually sat down and watched an ep after taping from Cozi TV. Mac and Sally along with maid Mildred are traveling to Mac's ancestral hometown in Scotland to visit his uncle. That uncle is already dead when they arrive. I'll stop there and just say this was quite funny and a little suspenseful and I love all the banter between Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James as well as John Schuck when his sergeant character also arrives. Nice guest star turns by familiar faces like Roddy McDowell and Roger C. Carmel. Oh, and Nancy Walker as Mildred was also a hoot! Good initial viewing of a "McMillan & Wife" ep.