Reviews

When the show began, it wasn't so bad. But adding Mama Doris was a mistake and does nothing to the show's entertainment. The whole thing has gotten out of hand with her interrupting and loud behavior. I stopped watching last season as I couldn't stand her anymore. There was also a particular episode where Anthony Anderson made a blatant comment about white people which I thought was totally unacceptable and it wasn't funny. ABC should either get rid of Mama Doris or just cancel the show along with Match Game and Card Sharks --the originals are so much better.

I liked this movie and viewing it today it does seem dated. It did come at the early stages of AIDS and for a professional LA doctor to screw around with a promiscious gay male, probably wouldn't be portrayed so casually, if this were made today. I also liked when Bart and Zach went out for lunch right after Bart got examined at the doctor's office.He almost pushed Zach aside saying, "Who eats lunch?" Then I thought when Bart got his hamburger he took off the bun and Zach told him "The bread is not going to kill you." Zach goes on to say.."Give me a break doc; if I say this is poison, this is poison." Funny, this was long before Atkins and becoming a carbophobic society.!! Anyway, great acting by Hamlin, Ontkean and Kate Jackson!

It's funny reading how many people remember this movie. I was one who saw it originally in 1982 on ABC and was probably impatiently waiting for them to re-run it, because I liked it so much. Well, I have the repeat telecast from 1985 from "The ABC Saturday Night Movie." It drove me crazy to find it on an old VHS tape. I just converted it to DVD so I have the complete version. I don't know if this movie was ever cut when it was shown in syndication which is usual for more commercial time. I guess I have a found gem and should put it on ebay or ioffer.com. The acting is pretty good and Valerie harper and Ruth Gordon are priceless. Dennis Weaver always seems to get parts of a drunken father or abusive husband (see "Intimate Strangers"). See this movie if you can!

If you go to www.warnerarchive.com you can order "The Stranger Within" which is an official release and not a bootleg copy. Note they include a disclaimer that says "not re-mastered for the purposes of this release but taken from the best possible print." Anyway, it would be great for all of us to see our beloved "Jeannie" in a movie where she is clearly a totally different person. David Doyle as the couple's friend is a treat as he puts Eden into a trance so they can find out how she got pregnant. At first, she says nothing but on the second try, she tells them it was an alien. Great fun for the '70's--may be dated today.

Apparently there was enough interest in "Dying Room Only" that made Warner Bros. release this on DVD on 1/19/10. Its on a web-site called www.warnerarchive.com. This is also a re-mastered print which isn't too common for made-for-TV-movies. I just ordered mine and it is definitely worth the investment. TV airings of this movie have all since passed and probably won't get the time of day any longer, so the DVD is worth it's weight in gold. ($19.99) It is crystal clear and the movie is un-cut. There aren't any extras or special features but it is still a treat. Kudos to Warner Bros!! (who has the Lorimar Productions library of movies).

Enjoyable holiday special from Rankin/Bass that was out of the public eye for a decade or so. ABC and ABC family run this on a continual basis throughout the holiday season. However, The Family Channel cuts Jessica's song "My World is Beginning Today" and Kris' song "If You Sit on My Lap Today." Also, when Kris and Jessica get married in the forest, that song is edited as well. Buy the DVD version which has restored all the songs in its glory. It has to been seen and appreciated for the time it was made (1970)and hopefully children of a new generation will find it amusing. I remember a long time ago that kids would leave the theater when a song came on to grab some popcorn. Truly sad.

I used to watch this movie faithfully every Christmas Eve when my Dad was alive. There was no other way to watch Alistair Sim and listen to my father laugh at some of the lines in the movie that aren't heard in other versions. When Bob Crachit has to ask Scrooge for Christmas day off and Scrooge finally obliges. Crachit: "This is awfully generous of you, Mr. Scrooge" Scrooge: "I know it is, you don't have to tell me." When Scrooge goes to see Marley the last time and walks up the stairs to see the undertaker waiting... Scrooge: "You don't believe in letting any grass grow under your feet." Undertaker: "Ours is a very competitive business, sir." I could go on and on but this movie is first rate and tells the Charles Dickens story better than most. I am a big fan of the musical version, "Scrooge" (1970) with Albert Finney, but more so for the musical score, not the story. There are scenes that are sped up to accommodate the music or left out altogether. The Alistair Sim version follows the story very closely and shows us his sister, Fan, dying and Scrooge saying: "Forgive me Fan, forgive me Fan." I get goose pimples every time I see him cry. Buy it, rent it, watch it with somebody who has never seen it and you will be pleased! Catch the Christmas Spirit with Alistair Sim!!

I haven't seen this movie in years but it was kind of eerie when New York City's Roosevelt Island Tram car got stuck for over 11 hours in April of 2006. It reminded me of this movie and all I can remember is that Ruth McDevitt is in it and she's wearing a hat and it flies off her head and she utters "Dam" and covers her mouth after she says it. That was probably one of the few curse words allowed on 1974 TV which it why it stuck in my head. Overall, I don't remember much of the movie but Bobby Sherman was one of the people stuck in the tram and he was supposedly one of the draws of this TV-movie. ABC ran the trailer for this movie over and over again and like all of their movies of the week, had that "I have to watch it" feeling. Too bad a lot of these rare gems are not seen anymore and with the advent of cable and satellite TV, you would think somebody would create a home for these movies. A sort of "70's retro-movie channel." A DVD release would be great, but who would remember it?

I'm happy to tell the people on these message boards that "The Girl Most Likely To..." was released on DVD in October 2005. You can purchase it through amazon.com. It seems there was enough of a fan base to get this movie out on DVD as it was never on VHS and these '70's made for TV movies are rare to be shown nowadays. I only wish that more movie companies would see that there is a market for these fondly remembered TV movies and get them out on DVD. This one was very much appreciated by me who only had a very old copy of this from TV. To see it again, un-cut and in pristine condition is a wonderful treat. It would be a great Christmas present for anyone who doesn't know that it's out. I discovered it by accident! Stockard Channing is superb in this movie and Joan Rivers should be thanked for writing the script and getting it on DVD.

I never saw this show in its original run on ABC as there were few VCR's back them (better known as Betamex). It brought such a joy to my face to see Ralph, Alice, Norton and Trixie together again. The episode centers around Ralph and another one of his hair-brained schemes. This time he takes his Mother-in-Laws check, (played wonderfully by Eileen Heckhart), Ed's bonus check and withdraws all the money out of his joint account with Alice to buy lottery tickets in the hopes to win a million dollars. I can't tell you what happens afterwards because my time ran out watching this episode at the Museum of Television and Radio. But I would watch it again, completely this time. The set was exactly the same (in color) and of course, Jackie Gleason and the others aged quite a bit. Gleason lost weight, Carney gained. I don't know why they couldn't get Joyce Randolph to revive her role as Trixie. I have nothing against Jane Kean but she was in the later "Honeymooners" sketches with Shiela MacCrae (1966-1970)so it seemed like she didn't fit in. Interestingly enough, both Joyce Randolph and Jane Kean are still with us today. It would be nice if we could see them interviewed in some sort of a DVD release, which wouldn't be a bad idea. I doubt this or any of the the other "Honeymooners" reunions made in the late '70s were ever seen since their original broadcasts.

I recently got a copy of this movie through e-bay as these '70's TV movies are almost all forgotten and rarely run on late night TV anymore. I'm hoping somebody has a Nostaglic '70/'80's movie station coming soon because "Short Walk to Daylight" should be at the top of the list. The movie, given the time era it was made (1972) is actually very good and I felt the actors gave a good performance. Brooke Bundy may have gone a little over the top with her crying but she wasn't bad. The characters are all strangers waiting for a subway on an early Sunday morning and by the end of the movie have bonded together in a time of crisis.An earthquake strikes New York City leading to the disaster of the subway crashing and coming off the tracks. It seems realistic as this movie was made at a time when we didn't have computers to enhance the disaster. The walls come crumbling down, the earthquake has after-shocks and it makes for all the suspense these TV movies tried to generate. Some survive, some don't, typical of a disaster movie.There's some good elements of suspense along the way. Just when you think they're going to get out of the tunnel, they run into another obstacle. James Brolin was pretty popular at the time doing "Marcus Welby" and plays a hard-edged, NYC cop. I wouldn't want to spoil the ending but this movie is worth a look and given the length (90 minutes)it will keep you on the edge of your seat.

If you research CBS's fall schedule in 1967-68, they placed this show in a terrible time slot. "He & She" was out-of-place on the network to begin with, which, at the time was loaded with rural sitcoms. I believe this show was on right after "Green Acres." It was an adult type show that deserved to be on Saturday nights, perhaps following a classic, like "The Jackie Gleason Show." Jack Cassidy definitely was a pre-Ted Baxter and Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin were a post Rob & Laura. This show was filmed in front of a live audience and most shows back then were not. It was a shame. CBS never gave this show a chance and it was years ahead of its time. When the network purged all of their rural sitcoms in 1971, they should have brought this gem back, first in re-runs, and then new production starting right after. TV Land did re-run an episode or two, but for the most part, nobody has seen this show since it left the airwaves in 1968.

I'll give ABC a point or two by trying to revive "Match Game." It was actually their last attempt at a game show. Some people don't know this but Bert Convy did the pilot and it might have survived a longer life if he hosted it on a regular basis. Unfortunately, he became ill after the pilot taped and Ross Schaefer was brought in as host. Gene Rayburn, though alive at the time, was considered "too old" and was not asked to return to the role that made him famous. The Noon time slot is always a "death sentence" because most of the ABC affiliates pre-empted it for the news. There was too many soap stars and less or none of the '70's semi-regulars like Fannie Flagg, Betty White, or Joyce Bulifant. They did get Brett Somers for a couple of weeks and this helped give it a nostalgic feel but not having Brett on a regular basis was a mistake. The Star Wheel didn't increase in value since the original went off in 1982. The addition of "Match-Up" was probably a "tweak" that could have been eliminated after the first 13 weeks and gone back to the original format of the '70s. Perhaps ABC didn't want the shows to "straddle" any longer. GSN airs this version every now and then but most people do not find it as amusing as the '70's version and for good reason. There was no "real" chemistry between Ross and the celebrities and there was less banter.

I managed to get a copy of this movie many years ago on VHS. For some reason, this TV Movie of the Week was stuck in my head for years. It was very suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my seat. The scene where Forsythe discovers the body of Mr. Gaines in the meat locker was pretty scary. I'll never forget that. Claudia McNeill ("A Raisin in the Sun")is superb as Mr. Gaine's housekeeper. She does a good job lying for the cop, played by Earl Holliman. This movie is rare to be seen today as most of the TV movies of the '70's are pretty much forgotten but there are a few gems, this being one of them. Try to get it on ebay if you can!

In the very early '70's, my local station WNEW-TV in New York ran this series over and over again. Since then, "The Mothers-in-Law" disappeared into oblivion. Probably nobody has seen it on TV since the mid '80s when Desi Arnaz died. Well, it ever comes back, you have to see the great chemistry between Arden and Ballard. The show was written by the same writers as "I Love Lucy", Madelyn Pugh Davis and Bob Carroll, Jr. That being said, the scripts, although considered "old-hat", were very funny. Kaye and Eve get into some very funny situations and are real pros! Too bad it only lasted two seasons. This is also one of the rare TV shows where everybody (except Deborah Walley) used their real first name!