Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
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Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
Okay, this is a new thread that in contrast to Rate The Last Film you watched is devoted to that random TV show episode in your collection you choose to sample or revisit, or if you even want it to be a case of rating the last current TV show episode you caught, go right ahead. I'll be using the four star rating scale for this instead of the ten point one we use on the film one, but I think it can produce some interesting observations.
I'll start with some Trek TOS episodes I've been watching the last few days, some of which I hadn't seen in many years (the new CD set inspired me in a couple instances).
S2-"Who Mourns For Adonias?" (2 stars)
S2-"The Apple" (1 star)
=I don't know if this observation has been made before in some reviews, but the thing that strikes me about them is that they're almost literally the same episode. And the fact that they were produced and aired so close together really signals some laziness on the writing/producing staff IMO.
1-Both episodes involve the Enterprise held captive by a big energy force-field at the heart of which is a "god" with powers. (Apollo/Vaal)
2-Both episodes involve speechmaking about the need for man to think for themselves and not stagnate under the love and gifts being offered by said "god" promising them "paradise".
3-Both episodes involve the "god" being weakened in the use of his energy to give the Enterprise the right moment to unleash full phasers to destroy the source of the power (or weaken it to the point of overload)
4-Both episdoes then use the same music for that climax of the "god's" defeat.
5-Both episodes also have incredibly sexist portrayals of Federation females, with Yeoman Landon faring only marginally better than the incredibly vapid Carolyn Palamas (since Yeoman Landon at least knows how to throw a good solid kick in a fight). It's hard for me to figure out which is worse, the one-dimensional villainy of Dr. Janice Lester in "Turnabout Intruder" or the empty-headedness of Palamas who simply lets herself be led along without a single questioning word of Apollo about his methods and who if she had a drop of real intelligence wouldn't need Kirk to give her that lofty speech about her responsibility. I have never been a big fan of Leslie Parrish to begin with, because if you ever see her in other TV guest shots of the decade or in "The Manchurian Candidate" she is basically playing the same kind of one-note character. The only performance of hers I've ever seen that showed some more nuance, ironically was one of her last on "Logan's Run" a decade later. That she then gets saddled with a demeaning script that culminates in what can only be called a metaphorical rape scene makes the episode all the more disturbing to watch now.
-Yeoman Landon, as I've said, fares a little better but just what is her role in this episode? To be the one for Chekov to smooch with and have an awkward conversation with Kirk where she can't even get a coherent discussion about the birds and the bees out. Meanwhile, "The Apple" is also the one that cements the idiocy of how security guards are treated in general in Trek with four of them biting the dust. At least give Kirk credit for showing some remorse about them and putting some humanity into their fates.
-"The Apple" I think rates as worse episode overall on the whole which is why I'll give Adonias one more star for a little more inventiveness and because it came first before these other devices got recycled. But if you watch them both back to back as I did, the laziness of the writing at this point makes it clear that S3 was not the start of Trek's problems.
S2-"The Doomsday Machine". (4 stars). This episode just remains a flawless masterpiece with me and an example of Trek at its best. An eerie premise heightened by Sol Kaplan's classic score, the sense of being "cut off" as there's no way to contact Starfleet, the non-stop action from start to finish that is perfectly paced, and a terrific nuanced guest performance by William Windom that gives us a Commodore Decker who is a tragic figure to sympathize with even as we also condemn him for his descent into madness.
I'll also say that this is the episode that really lets the new FX shine to great effect. In many episodes they are superfluous, beyond just a new shot of the planet or the Enterprise in orbit, but here they put their care into things to enhance the realism of the action taking place. We see the rubble of the destroyed planets in new shots, some of them impacting the hull of the Constellation, we see better views of the Doomsday Machine and the battle by the Enterprise. I really loved the new shot that shows the planet killer firing first at the Enterprise and we see it blown away from the Constellation.
And best of all, unlike some other episodes that end on an very awkward moment of low comedy that cheapens the seriousness of what went on before, the "I found one sufficient" line was just a nice bit of understated humor that came off more as tension inducing relief after the ordeal.
S2-"Wolf In The Fold". (2 stars). We're back to the problem of Trek's sexism problem once again, and also the fact that this episode is loaded with (1) an overly long and talky sequence in the briefing room as they try to define what kind of creature is responsible for this and (2) two pieces of convenient duex ex machina technology for plot points that are never referred to before or utilized again in the series. We have a pscyhotricorder that supposedly can give us an accurate picture of what someone did in the last 24 hours? And the computer we're told is foolproof as to whether someone is telling a lie or not? (Gee, what happened to the fact that the computer can be infallible or tampered with as we saw in "Court-Martial?") And given how a few episodes later, "The Ultimate Computer" would give us the warning of the danger of becoming too reliant on computers, in this episode there sure is heck a lot of overreliance on the computer to supply all the answers!
The episode also is poorly directed in that there is no suspense that whiny Mr. Peterson from the Bob Newhart Show is going to be unmasked as the real killer. That knowing look he gives to the lieutenant who beams down and the obvious movement when the lights come back on after Dean Devlin's mother is killed. A little more subtlety please! I'd forgotten that the belly dancer's jealous boyfriend later became Detective Royster on "Police Woman" a few years later.
S2-"Return To Tomorrow" (2.5 stars). A little better but it falls off-target with some overly hammy moments and also I have to confess, I don't think Duning was the right choice to score this episode. The score works in other contexts but here, it just seems a little too overly melodramatic. Case in point is our introduction to Diana Muldaur's Dr. Mulhall. Up comes the big sweeping romantic theme as if we have to be told with a sledgehammer, "This is the grand entrance for our beautiful woman of the story!" Again, something more low-key would have been welcome.
I'll start with some Trek TOS episodes I've been watching the last few days, some of which I hadn't seen in many years (the new CD set inspired me in a couple instances).
S2-"Who Mourns For Adonias?" (2 stars)
S2-"The Apple" (1 star)
=I don't know if this observation has been made before in some reviews, but the thing that strikes me about them is that they're almost literally the same episode. And the fact that they were produced and aired so close together really signals some laziness on the writing/producing staff IMO.
1-Both episodes involve the Enterprise held captive by a big energy force-field at the heart of which is a "god" with powers. (Apollo/Vaal)
2-Both episodes involve speechmaking about the need for man to think for themselves and not stagnate under the love and gifts being offered by said "god" promising them "paradise".
3-Both episodes involve the "god" being weakened in the use of his energy to give the Enterprise the right moment to unleash full phasers to destroy the source of the power (or weaken it to the point of overload)
4-Both episdoes then use the same music for that climax of the "god's" defeat.
5-Both episodes also have incredibly sexist portrayals of Federation females, with Yeoman Landon faring only marginally better than the incredibly vapid Carolyn Palamas (since Yeoman Landon at least knows how to throw a good solid kick in a fight). It's hard for me to figure out which is worse, the one-dimensional villainy of Dr. Janice Lester in "Turnabout Intruder" or the empty-headedness of Palamas who simply lets herself be led along without a single questioning word of Apollo about his methods and who if she had a drop of real intelligence wouldn't need Kirk to give her that lofty speech about her responsibility. I have never been a big fan of Leslie Parrish to begin with, because if you ever see her in other TV guest shots of the decade or in "The Manchurian Candidate" she is basically playing the same kind of one-note character. The only performance of hers I've ever seen that showed some more nuance, ironically was one of her last on "Logan's Run" a decade later. That she then gets saddled with a demeaning script that culminates in what can only be called a metaphorical rape scene makes the episode all the more disturbing to watch now.
-Yeoman Landon, as I've said, fares a little better but just what is her role in this episode? To be the one for Chekov to smooch with and have an awkward conversation with Kirk where she can't even get a coherent discussion about the birds and the bees out. Meanwhile, "The Apple" is also the one that cements the idiocy of how security guards are treated in general in Trek with four of them biting the dust. At least give Kirk credit for showing some remorse about them and putting some humanity into their fates.
-"The Apple" I think rates as worse episode overall on the whole which is why I'll give Adonias one more star for a little more inventiveness and because it came first before these other devices got recycled. But if you watch them both back to back as I did, the laziness of the writing at this point makes it clear that S3 was not the start of Trek's problems.
S2-"The Doomsday Machine". (4 stars). This episode just remains a flawless masterpiece with me and an example of Trek at its best. An eerie premise heightened by Sol Kaplan's classic score, the sense of being "cut off" as there's no way to contact Starfleet, the non-stop action from start to finish that is perfectly paced, and a terrific nuanced guest performance by William Windom that gives us a Commodore Decker who is a tragic figure to sympathize with even as we also condemn him for his descent into madness.
I'll also say that this is the episode that really lets the new FX shine to great effect. In many episodes they are superfluous, beyond just a new shot of the planet or the Enterprise in orbit, but here they put their care into things to enhance the realism of the action taking place. We see the rubble of the destroyed planets in new shots, some of them impacting the hull of the Constellation, we see better views of the Doomsday Machine and the battle by the Enterprise. I really loved the new shot that shows the planet killer firing first at the Enterprise and we see it blown away from the Constellation.
And best of all, unlike some other episodes that end on an very awkward moment of low comedy that cheapens the seriousness of what went on before, the "I found one sufficient" line was just a nice bit of understated humor that came off more as tension inducing relief after the ordeal.
S2-"Wolf In The Fold". (2 stars). We're back to the problem of Trek's sexism problem once again, and also the fact that this episode is loaded with (1) an overly long and talky sequence in the briefing room as they try to define what kind of creature is responsible for this and (2) two pieces of convenient duex ex machina technology for plot points that are never referred to before or utilized again in the series. We have a pscyhotricorder that supposedly can give us an accurate picture of what someone did in the last 24 hours? And the computer we're told is foolproof as to whether someone is telling a lie or not? (Gee, what happened to the fact that the computer can be infallible or tampered with as we saw in "Court-Martial?") And given how a few episodes later, "The Ultimate Computer" would give us the warning of the danger of becoming too reliant on computers, in this episode there sure is heck a lot of overreliance on the computer to supply all the answers!
The episode also is poorly directed in that there is no suspense that whiny Mr. Peterson from the Bob Newhart Show is going to be unmasked as the real killer. That knowing look he gives to the lieutenant who beams down and the obvious movement when the lights come back on after Dean Devlin's mother is killed. A little more subtlety please! I'd forgotten that the belly dancer's jealous boyfriend later became Detective Royster on "Police Woman" a few years later.
S2-"Return To Tomorrow" (2.5 stars). A little better but it falls off-target with some overly hammy moments and also I have to confess, I don't think Duning was the right choice to score this episode. The score works in other contexts but here, it just seems a little too overly melodramatic. Case in point is our introduction to Diana Muldaur's Dr. Mulhall. Up comes the big sweeping romantic theme as if we have to be told with a sledgehammer, "This is the grand entrance for our beautiful woman of the story!" Again, something more low-key would have been welcome.
Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
The only TV show I am watching right now is Star Trek TNG Season 2, so I will briefly comment on the last two episodes I saw on Blu-Ray (I am still floored at how great the picture looks).
Loud As A Whisper - I am not going to rate the episode quite yet since I want to watch the other shows in season 2 order (what the heck...4 stars...but I reserve the right to change it later based on the other episodes), but I have to say I was very impressed with this one and always liked it. I LOVE the idea of having a "chorus" (passion, logic, reason) to speak for Riva. From the opening moments of the show I was really drawn in to the story and impressed by how "science-fiction" the idea was. These types of episodes are what makes Star Trek TNG (and TOS, for that matter, in the case of an episode like Where No Man Has Gone Before) so enjoyable to revisit time and time again.
Anyway, as the story moved forward I remember wincing when his "voice" was killed during negotiations, and I loved how the episode resolved. The only thing I would say that didn't quite seem to pay off was Giordi's discussion with Dr. Pulaski, who continues to stick out like a sore thumb throughout the early parts of the second season. I just never cared for her character - she isn't the "crusty, Bones-like character" they were going for. They introduced this story of Giordi possibly receiving his sight back, but it's almost a Maguffin in that it is not used to resolve the main plot, which is what may be expected. Ron Jones' score fits perfectly...just gives me another reason to call Berman a bonehead once Jones was let go...lol...
The best thing I can say about the episode was it lingered in my thoughts for a couple of days afterwards and at least so far it is one of the strongest episodes of the second season. I'd even go so far as to say that at this point I would put it right up there with Where No One Has Gone Before and Symbiosis (among a couple of others from season one) as some of the best TNG episodes in its infancy.
Loud As A Whisper - I am not going to rate the episode quite yet since I want to watch the other shows in season 2 order (what the heck...4 stars...but I reserve the right to change it later based on the other episodes), but I have to say I was very impressed with this one and always liked it. I LOVE the idea of having a "chorus" (passion, logic, reason) to speak for Riva. From the opening moments of the show I was really drawn in to the story and impressed by how "science-fiction" the idea was. These types of episodes are what makes Star Trek TNG (and TOS, for that matter, in the case of an episode like Where No Man Has Gone Before) so enjoyable to revisit time and time again.
Anyway, as the story moved forward I remember wincing when his "voice" was killed during negotiations, and I loved how the episode resolved. The only thing I would say that didn't quite seem to pay off was Giordi's discussion with Dr. Pulaski, who continues to stick out like a sore thumb throughout the early parts of the second season. I just never cared for her character - she isn't the "crusty, Bones-like character" they were going for. They introduced this story of Giordi possibly receiving his sight back, but it's almost a Maguffin in that it is not used to resolve the main plot, which is what may be expected. Ron Jones' score fits perfectly...just gives me another reason to call Berman a bonehead once Jones was let go...lol...
The best thing I can say about the episode was it lingered in my thoughts for a couple of days afterwards and at least so far it is one of the strongest episodes of the second season. I'd even go so far as to say that at this point I would put it right up there with Where No One Has Gone Before and Symbiosis (among a couple of others from season one) as some of the best TNG episodes in its infancy.
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
A few more Trek TOS episodes.
S2-"By Any Other Name" (1 star)
-This is another bad S2 episode that IMO hasn't been raked over the coals enough over the years. First off, we get a wildly uneven tone with a tense first half with villains who are really nasty given the callous way they murder a crewman, but then suddenly after everyone else is compacted, the episode shifts into low comedy of the Spock's Brain variety even before there was a Spock's Brain. The notion that these super intelligent beings would have no intellectual understanding of human emotions is a ridiculous conceit, and the final scene of everyone having a big happy Kumbaya session of "let's all be friends" now really comes off as distasteful considering that Rojan is still a cold-blooded murderer (I guess Kirk wasn't haunted by the memory of Yeoman Thompson being crushed too long! Give them a credit though because I think when people first see this episode they automatically think it's the guard who'll get crushed so this was at least a change of pace)
-Oddly, many of these elements were remade again in S3's "Wink Of An Eye" to better effect (and that episode itself was a ripoff of a S1 "Wild Wild West" episode that Gene Coon had produced before he did the story draft for "Wink" but that's another story). In "Wink" you also had a highly advanced race siezing the Enterprise so they could have it in effect for centuries with the crew put in a "suspended" state, and you also had one of those silly "Kirk makes the alien guy jealous which leads to a fight" moments. But at least "Wink" didn't end with this bogus kumbaya session and Kirk more realistically has to leave them and tell them you're on your own.
S2-"The Omega Glory" (3 stars)
-I'll be honest, I think this episode gets a little too much of a bum rap. We've seen "parallel planet" matters done to death already and would see them used again in S3 but frankly I find a Cold War holocaust parallel more believable for story purposes here than I do the whole American Indian thing of "Paradise Syndrome" in S3. Some fanfic writers have suggested maybe the Constitution and flag were actually left by a previous Federation ship a century or two ago during the Yang-Kohm war and became inspirational documents to the Yangs (this would be a more believable premise than one book on Chicago mobs of the 20s becoming the basis for a planet in "A Piece Of The Action"). At any rate, I'll gladly take Kirk giving a lofty speech about the meaning of the Constitution than some of his other lofty speeches of other episodes that generally get more of a pass.
-The flaws. Well, the matter of the Prime Directive as defined by Kirk suddenly contradicts a number of previous episodes. Kirk says a captain must even risk the life of his crew for the Prime Directive, so that means he should have passively accepted his fate in "A Taste Of Armageddon". And at the end of the episode (though this was fixed in the Blish paperback adaptation) they forget that Sulu and the landing party need to stay a few hours at least before they can beam back!
S2-"The Ultimate Computer" (3.5 stars)
-One of my favorites because the issue of whether giving too much power to computers is handled in the context of a story that is gripping and entertaining and not with the sense that the action is being stopped cold for the moralizing speeches. Daystrom is given enough nuance to explain his descent to madness.
-I obtained an earlier draft of the script a year ago and noticed some changes that were made in the final episode. Daystrom's first name was originally John (this pops up inadvertantly in the Blish adaptation, revealing his use of a draft version). Also, the opening scene called for Commodore Enright and Commodore Wesley both to beam aboard with Enright giving the lecture on how important the M-5 is with Wesley serving more the role of a close friend of Kirk's who feels sorry for the fact that his friend is being shoved into this useless position. Obviously, eliminating Enright as an on-screen character (listen carefully and you'll notice the Enright voiceover is James Doohan) was done as a budget saver this late in the season.
S2-"By Any Other Name" (1 star)
-This is another bad S2 episode that IMO hasn't been raked over the coals enough over the years. First off, we get a wildly uneven tone with a tense first half with villains who are really nasty given the callous way they murder a crewman, but then suddenly after everyone else is compacted, the episode shifts into low comedy of the Spock's Brain variety even before there was a Spock's Brain. The notion that these super intelligent beings would have no intellectual understanding of human emotions is a ridiculous conceit, and the final scene of everyone having a big happy Kumbaya session of "let's all be friends" now really comes off as distasteful considering that Rojan is still a cold-blooded murderer (I guess Kirk wasn't haunted by the memory of Yeoman Thompson being crushed too long! Give them a credit though because I think when people first see this episode they automatically think it's the guard who'll get crushed so this was at least a change of pace)
-Oddly, many of these elements were remade again in S3's "Wink Of An Eye" to better effect (and that episode itself was a ripoff of a S1 "Wild Wild West" episode that Gene Coon had produced before he did the story draft for "Wink" but that's another story). In "Wink" you also had a highly advanced race siezing the Enterprise so they could have it in effect for centuries with the crew put in a "suspended" state, and you also had one of those silly "Kirk makes the alien guy jealous which leads to a fight" moments. But at least "Wink" didn't end with this bogus kumbaya session and Kirk more realistically has to leave them and tell them you're on your own.
S2-"The Omega Glory" (3 stars)
-I'll be honest, I think this episode gets a little too much of a bum rap. We've seen "parallel planet" matters done to death already and would see them used again in S3 but frankly I find a Cold War holocaust parallel more believable for story purposes here than I do the whole American Indian thing of "Paradise Syndrome" in S3. Some fanfic writers have suggested maybe the Constitution and flag were actually left by a previous Federation ship a century or two ago during the Yang-Kohm war and became inspirational documents to the Yangs (this would be a more believable premise than one book on Chicago mobs of the 20s becoming the basis for a planet in "A Piece Of The Action"). At any rate, I'll gladly take Kirk giving a lofty speech about the meaning of the Constitution than some of his other lofty speeches of other episodes that generally get more of a pass.
-The flaws. Well, the matter of the Prime Directive as defined by Kirk suddenly contradicts a number of previous episodes. Kirk says a captain must even risk the life of his crew for the Prime Directive, so that means he should have passively accepted his fate in "A Taste Of Armageddon". And at the end of the episode (though this was fixed in the Blish paperback adaptation) they forget that Sulu and the landing party need to stay a few hours at least before they can beam back!
S2-"The Ultimate Computer" (3.5 stars)
-One of my favorites because the issue of whether giving too much power to computers is handled in the context of a story that is gripping and entertaining and not with the sense that the action is being stopped cold for the moralizing speeches. Daystrom is given enough nuance to explain his descent to madness.
-I obtained an earlier draft of the script a year ago and noticed some changes that were made in the final episode. Daystrom's first name was originally John (this pops up inadvertantly in the Blish adaptation, revealing his use of a draft version). Also, the opening scene called for Commodore Enright and Commodore Wesley both to beam aboard with Enright giving the lecture on how important the M-5 is with Wesley serving more the role of a close friend of Kirk's who feels sorry for the fact that his friend is being shoved into this useless position. Obviously, eliminating Enright as an on-screen character (listen carefully and you'll notice the Enright voiceover is James Doohan) was done as a budget saver this late in the season.
Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
I watch way too many TV shows to review all of them. My wife and I currently watch Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Homeland, Justified, Downton Abbey, Parks and Recreation and Revolution just to name a few. Most of those are on DVD (or Blu-Ray if Netflix has them).
One older show I've started to watch is I SPY. Aside from Star Trek and The Twilight Zone, I'm not very familiar with 60's era dramas. I know it is a popular show as it still airs in syndication, usually on those "nostalgia" channels that lurk around the edges of digital TV.
I've only seen the first two episodes of Season 1. The second episode was better than the pilot. One thing I'm going to have to get used to is the slower pacing. Maybe this is typical for the era but both episodes started out very slowly with lots of talking before we got to any espionage or action scenes. I suppose part of that is due to each episode being 51 minutes instead of the current length of 44. I'm also not used to Bill Cosby being so serious.
What do you guys think? Keep watching I SPY or start Man From UNCLE?
One older show I've started to watch is I SPY. Aside from Star Trek and The Twilight Zone, I'm not very familiar with 60's era dramas. I know it is a popular show as it still airs in syndication, usually on those "nostalgia" channels that lurk around the edges of digital TV.
I've only seen the first two episodes of Season 1. The second episode was better than the pilot. One thing I'm going to have to get used to is the slower pacing. Maybe this is typical for the era but both episodes started out very slowly with lots of talking before we got to any espionage or action scenes. I suppose part of that is due to each episode being 51 minutes instead of the current length of 44. I'm also not used to Bill Cosby being so serious.
What do you guys think? Keep watching I SPY or start Man From UNCLE?
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
I Spy is okay, but if its action you want, you're not going to see too much. The stories were really more about the byplay between Culp and Cosby and their exchanges.
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
An intriguing episode of "Mannix" last night.
S7, Episode 13-"All The Dead Were Strangers". (3 stars)
-An interesting tale in which the survivors of a plane crash on a mountaintop are being eliminated one by one because they all revealed some unpleasant secrets about each other. It's the usual ten little Indians type of tale with an unexpected twist at the end that's done effectively (in contrast to many similar tales where you can see things from a mile off). Guest stars include Anthony Zerbe, channeling his "Omega Man" fanaticism as a flamboyant evangelist, Donald Moffat and as Mannix's client, the underrated Julie Gregg (Sandra Corleone in "The Godfather" and a frequent TV guest in the late 60s and early 70s).
-A lot of Mannix episodes were know for doing a "reverse twist" in the final act, that sometimes could come off as not playing fair with the viewer or sometimes exposing the ostensible sympathetic lead guest star as the real villain and then we get a lot of last act exposition from Mannix explaining how he knew all along. This episode, which amazingly is credited to Karl Tunberg, the man who ended up with sole credit for the screenplay of "Ben Hur" (even though most of its final polishing was done by Christopher Fry) manages to avoid that and allow the final act twist to play fair with the viewer and make one go, "Duh, I should have seen that!" instead of feeling cheated or manipulated.
The entire eight year run of Mannix is available on DVD now, and it's the kind of show that's great to sample here and there from over the course of its run, much like other long-running cop/detective shows that you need not see in sequence (save for S1 when Mannix works for the high-tech detective agency run by Joseph Campanella which is another kind of program altogether!)
S7, Episode 13-"All The Dead Were Strangers". (3 stars)
-An interesting tale in which the survivors of a plane crash on a mountaintop are being eliminated one by one because they all revealed some unpleasant secrets about each other. It's the usual ten little Indians type of tale with an unexpected twist at the end that's done effectively (in contrast to many similar tales where you can see things from a mile off). Guest stars include Anthony Zerbe, channeling his "Omega Man" fanaticism as a flamboyant evangelist, Donald Moffat and as Mannix's client, the underrated Julie Gregg (Sandra Corleone in "The Godfather" and a frequent TV guest in the late 60s and early 70s).
-A lot of Mannix episodes were know for doing a "reverse twist" in the final act, that sometimes could come off as not playing fair with the viewer or sometimes exposing the ostensible sympathetic lead guest star as the real villain and then we get a lot of last act exposition from Mannix explaining how he knew all along. This episode, which amazingly is credited to Karl Tunberg, the man who ended up with sole credit for the screenplay of "Ben Hur" (even though most of its final polishing was done by Christopher Fry) manages to avoid that and allow the final act twist to play fair with the viewer and make one go, "Duh, I should have seen that!" instead of feeling cheated or manipulated.
The entire eight year run of Mannix is available on DVD now, and it's the kind of show that's great to sample here and there from over the course of its run, much like other long-running cop/detective shows that you need not see in sequence (save for S1 when Mannix works for the high-tech detective agency run by Joseph Campanella which is another kind of program altogether!)
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
I've acquired a number of old Saturday Night Live episodes -- recorded live with original commercials, which of course adds to the entertainment!
There are so many that I've started off with a few episodes from different eras: including the early '80s Dick Ebersol-produced years, which were the first I remember watching as a kid. Though the cast is vastly inferior to the mid/late '80s renaissance the series enjoyed (the Dana Carvey/Jon Lovitz/Dennis Miller era), there are infrequent moments of comedy here, including a Daniel J. Travanti hosted show that opens with Eddie Murphy imploring viewers to call a 900 number (which was real!) to determine whether they should cook or spare the life of a lobster. There's an Atari PAC-MAN commercial on here along with one of the funniest Memorex cassette commercials I can recall.
There are so many that I've started off with a few episodes from different eras: including the early '80s Dick Ebersol-produced years, which were the first I remember watching as a kid. Though the cast is vastly inferior to the mid/late '80s renaissance the series enjoyed (the Dana Carvey/Jon Lovitz/Dennis Miller era), there are infrequent moments of comedy here, including a Daniel J. Travanti hosted show that opens with Eddie Murphy imploring viewers to call a 900 number (which was real!) to determine whether they should cook or spare the life of a lobster. There's an Atari PAC-MAN commercial on here along with one of the funniest Memorex cassette commercials I can recall.
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
I've been of late also doing a lot of transferring of vintage game shows I recorded off GSN back when they were a great channel to DVD. Finishing up my "To Tell The Truth" programs from 1966-67 and one program from January 1967 has the panel trying to guess which of three is writer Hunter S. Thompson, just after he'd written his book on the Hell's Angels. All of them guess the correct one. The weird contrast is seeing Thompson introduced by program host Budd Colllyer, the original voice of Superman on the radio, and whose friendly wholesome personality (always wore bow ties which were out of style by this point and was a devout Presbyterian elder in his church) represents a generation vanishing from the scene at this time (he died in 1969).
You also end up spotting unusual things like New York Mets organist Jane Jarvis as an imposter in one game, Peggy Fleming as a subject in 1966 before her Olympic stardom etc. Programs like these are a valuable preservation of the broader culture of the day.
You also end up spotting unusual things like New York Mets organist Jane Jarvis as an imposter in one game, Peggy Fleming as a subject in 1966 before her Olympic stardom etc. Programs like these are a valuable preservation of the broader culture of the day.
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
The Adam West "Batman" is the #1 vintage TV show not released on DVD, but thankfully I have a homemade set from uncut airings on TV Land Canada that more than satisfy my Bat urges until we get an official release (if ever!). I watched the two separate appearances from Season and Season 2 of David Wayne as the Mad Hatter. The interesting thing is that the two different episodes took elements from the same comic book story that had originally run in the early 60s so as a result there's a little less silliness overall when the comic book itself was serving as an inspiration for some episodes. The wheels really fell off the series in its final series when it was cut to a half hour and brought in Batgirl who really didn't bring much to the show (and frankly I never liked Yvonne Craig much anyway!)
Also took in some Star Trek S3 episodes that ran the gamut from good to bad to ugly!
"Spock's Brain" (2 stars)
-To be honest, this is not the worst episode of the series IMO because if you just put your brain on hold (litereally!) and relax, it's fun. It amuses me how the episode really goes downhill once they step in the elevator that takes them down! Strange how no one else in the Eymorg population is wandering about in the last half of the show. But watching this again, it suddenly occurred to me that if you think hard, "Star Trek III" is basically a big budget version of "Spock's Brain" on a lot of levels! I mean think of it, Spock has something taken out of him, his body is in a peculiar detached state and then we must see a climactic operation of sorts to make Spock whole again......
"The Savage Curtain" (1.5 stars)
-A limp remake of "Arena" dressed up with the silly gimmick of Abraham Lincoln in space. And a lot of dull tedious sermonizing that isn't surprising when you see that Roddenberry himself is credited with the teleplay, but there was one speech I liked that everyone in today's day and age should pay very close attention to when Lincoln apologizes for calling Uhura a "Negress" and she responds about how they have learned not to take offense from words. That's one bit of Trek philosophy in today's PC age we could do well to listen to!
"All Our Yesterdays" (4 stars)
-One of my top five episodes that has the strongest and most poignant of love stories in Trek (the Kirk-Edith relationship in "City" is not a case of a mutually felt relationship), the most effective "time travel" episode in the series and last but not least Mariette Hartley's Zarabeth, the absolute hands-down sexiest woman in the whole TOS as far as I'm concerned! But it's not simply the fact that Hartley looks incredible in her cavegirl outfit, it's the fact that unlike many other Trek TOS women who define "vapid" to a tee even when looking good (Leslie Parrish, Angelique Pettyjohn) Zarabeth is an absolute breath of fresh air with her totally natural quality and her exceptional intelligence. It's a terrific acting performance by Hartley who with her intelligent demeanor and delivery comes off like a fairy tale princess in exile who doesn't get a happy ending.
-I wrote here how I had found what was listed as the "final" draft version of this script and did a piece for it on-line and it amazes me how the aired episode is a hundred times better than the final draft version, and that the final rewriting strengthened it immeasurably. Seldom is that the case in much TV writing but this time out, as Trek was dying with one weak story after another they came up with a home run here.
Also took in some Star Trek S3 episodes that ran the gamut from good to bad to ugly!
"Spock's Brain" (2 stars)
-To be honest, this is not the worst episode of the series IMO because if you just put your brain on hold (litereally!) and relax, it's fun. It amuses me how the episode really goes downhill once they step in the elevator that takes them down! Strange how no one else in the Eymorg population is wandering about in the last half of the show. But watching this again, it suddenly occurred to me that if you think hard, "Star Trek III" is basically a big budget version of "Spock's Brain" on a lot of levels! I mean think of it, Spock has something taken out of him, his body is in a peculiar detached state and then we must see a climactic operation of sorts to make Spock whole again......
"The Savage Curtain" (1.5 stars)
-A limp remake of "Arena" dressed up with the silly gimmick of Abraham Lincoln in space. And a lot of dull tedious sermonizing that isn't surprising when you see that Roddenberry himself is credited with the teleplay, but there was one speech I liked that everyone in today's day and age should pay very close attention to when Lincoln apologizes for calling Uhura a "Negress" and she responds about how they have learned not to take offense from words. That's one bit of Trek philosophy in today's PC age we could do well to listen to!
"All Our Yesterdays" (4 stars)
-One of my top five episodes that has the strongest and most poignant of love stories in Trek (the Kirk-Edith relationship in "City" is not a case of a mutually felt relationship), the most effective "time travel" episode in the series and last but not least Mariette Hartley's Zarabeth, the absolute hands-down sexiest woman in the whole TOS as far as I'm concerned! But it's not simply the fact that Hartley looks incredible in her cavegirl outfit, it's the fact that unlike many other Trek TOS women who define "vapid" to a tee even when looking good (Leslie Parrish, Angelique Pettyjohn) Zarabeth is an absolute breath of fresh air with her totally natural quality and her exceptional intelligence. It's a terrific acting performance by Hartley who with her intelligent demeanor and delivery comes off like a fairy tale princess in exile who doesn't get a happy ending.
-I wrote here how I had found what was listed as the "final" draft version of this script and did a piece for it on-line and it amazes me how the aired episode is a hundred times better than the final draft version, and that the final rewriting strengthened it immeasurably. Seldom is that the case in much TV writing but this time out, as Trek was dying with one weak story after another they came up with a home run here.
Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
This year, in addition to going through ST:TNG Season 2 (at least), I am going back adn revisiting the entire run of MASH, one of my all-time favorite TV shows. I am two episodes away from finishing season 1, and I wanted to comment on a couple of episodes. It is difficult to be "suprised" watching these shows now since I know which characters stay, which go, etc. Season 1 got its mileage from the zany comedic aspects of it. The characters are generally very selfish and obviously "finding their way" and what works/doesn't work. This time around I was really impressed by Larry Linville, who does an outstanding job as Frank Burns. You hate him, and he gets under your skin, but every now and then a bit of humanity shows so that as a viewer you don't hate him completely.
One of the strengths of MASH, in my opinion, was the way it gave character depth over time. I liked how each character, faults and all, could sometimes be better than their faults, and the ones you dislike you can sometimes like, while the ones you like you can sometimes dislike (ie Hawkeye in the episode "Sticky Wicket"). Each character was cartoonish at times but had a humanity to them, and I loved seeing that developed over the course of the show. Having said that, I feel there are two stand-out episodes in season one (which I recently watched):
1) Sometimes You Hear the Bullet - I am still affected by this episode as I feel it is sincere and well acted. I still feel the emotional punch of Hawkeye losing his friend and Henry Blake's comments to him after the loss. In the midst of the out-of-control comedy the other episodes gave, this showed the cast could do drama effectively and movingly. It packs a powerful punch and is a well-rounded episode.
2) The Army-Navy Game - I never realized the story was written by McLean Stevenson; I have to say this was the best and most mature comedic episode of MASH in season 1; everything came together, the jokes were sharp, the comic timing was perfect (especially with the difusion of the bomb)...this episode contained all the things I liked about the comedic elements of MASH.
Although the humor was sometimes very brash and callous, and even though characters were still being fleshed out, overall season one is not that bad despite its faults. One thing I found disorienting was how the shows were broadcast (out of order); it made for strange viewing since sometimes Ugly John or Spearchucker would be in something (or, say Lieutenant Dish) and then it was like the characters didn't exist. I do think it was a good idea to get rid of Ugly John and Spearchucker since you already had enough between Pierce, Trapper, and Burns. I love Henry Blake...great character (and great performance). I also liked that over time Margaret became more multi-dimensional and depper in her character - she sometimes came off as a ditz in season 1 and her relationship with Burns seemed silly. However, as the seasons went by I think their relationship played a pivotal part in Frank's role in the show.
Okay - I could go on but I think I have said enough. I enjoyed season one and look forward to revisiting season 2.
One of the strengths of MASH, in my opinion, was the way it gave character depth over time. I liked how each character, faults and all, could sometimes be better than their faults, and the ones you dislike you can sometimes like, while the ones you like you can sometimes dislike (ie Hawkeye in the episode "Sticky Wicket"). Each character was cartoonish at times but had a humanity to them, and I loved seeing that developed over the course of the show. Having said that, I feel there are two stand-out episodes in season one (which I recently watched):
1) Sometimes You Hear the Bullet - I am still affected by this episode as I feel it is sincere and well acted. I still feel the emotional punch of Hawkeye losing his friend and Henry Blake's comments to him after the loss. In the midst of the out-of-control comedy the other episodes gave, this showed the cast could do drama effectively and movingly. It packs a powerful punch and is a well-rounded episode.
2) The Army-Navy Game - I never realized the story was written by McLean Stevenson; I have to say this was the best and most mature comedic episode of MASH in season 1; everything came together, the jokes were sharp, the comic timing was perfect (especially with the difusion of the bomb)...this episode contained all the things I liked about the comedic elements of MASH.
Although the humor was sometimes very brash and callous, and even though characters were still being fleshed out, overall season one is not that bad despite its faults. One thing I found disorienting was how the shows were broadcast (out of order); it made for strange viewing since sometimes Ugly John or Spearchucker would be in something (or, say Lieutenant Dish) and then it was like the characters didn't exist. I do think it was a good idea to get rid of Ugly John and Spearchucker since you already had enough between Pierce, Trapper, and Burns. I love Henry Blake...great character (and great performance). I also liked that over time Margaret became more multi-dimensional and depper in her character - she sometimes came off as a ditz in season 1 and her relationship with Burns seemed silly. However, as the seasons went by I think their relationship played a pivotal part in Frank's role in the show.
Okay - I could go on but I think I have said enough. I enjoyed season one and look forward to revisiting season 2.
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
Studio One: "Pontius Pilate" (1954?)
=This live drama starred Cyril Ritchard and Geraldine Fitzgerald and was directed by Franklin Schaffner in a highly fictionalized look at Pilate and his wife and the events of the Crucifixion with an overly mdelodramatic final act. I have to confess whenever I sample one of these programs, I sometimes find myself wondering just why these kinds of live dramas get hailed as the epitome of what the "Golden Age Of Television" was all about. For the most part they tend to be rather clunky and overly talky and don't know how to effectively utilize the medium that IMO filmed dramas learned how to do much better (think for instance why the videotaped Twilight Zone episodes are never regarded highly because they reveal the same production limitations overall). They also of course fell victim to the occasional blooper shark. In one scene where we see two Romans talking to each other some stagehand in a white shirt and tie is inexplicably walking across the stage behind them oblivious to the fact he's on camera!
=This live drama starred Cyril Ritchard and Geraldine Fitzgerald and was directed by Franklin Schaffner in a highly fictionalized look at Pilate and his wife and the events of the Crucifixion with an overly mdelodramatic final act. I have to confess whenever I sample one of these programs, I sometimes find myself wondering just why these kinds of live dramas get hailed as the epitome of what the "Golden Age Of Television" was all about. For the most part they tend to be rather clunky and overly talky and don't know how to effectively utilize the medium that IMO filmed dramas learned how to do much better (think for instance why the videotaped Twilight Zone episodes are never regarded highly because they reveal the same production limitations overall). They also of course fell victim to the occasional blooper shark. In one scene where we see two Romans talking to each other some stagehand in a white shirt and tie is inexplicably walking across the stage behind them oblivious to the fact he's on camera!
- Paul MacLean
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
I'm well into my sixth (or is it seventh?) viewing of I, Claudius -- arguably the greatest television production of all time (certainly from a dramatic and acting perspective, if not a visual one). Robert Graves' history of the early Caesars is superbly well-adapted (by Jack Pullman) and guided by the expert hand of director Herbert Wise, and 37 years on, the series has lost none of its potency.
It's quite remarkable the number of actors in I, Claudius who went on to have successful careers, like Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, Sian Philips and Margaret Tyzack. A few even become bona fide stars, like John Hurt, John Rhys-Davis and of course Patrick Stewart.
I dare say Jacobi delivers the best performance in TV history. He is totally immersed in the character of Claudius (whose his stammer, limp and twitching all feel completely organic to to the character, and not like put-on "schtick"). Moreover he convincingly plays Claudius from the age of roughly 20 to that of 64.
Violence and nudity (rare on television at the time) are skillfully handled with both the appropriate candor and restraint (rather different from the tawdry "historic" soap operas seen on HBO and Showtime these days).
The production value is modest -- there are no Ben-Hur-style chariot races or Spartacus-like battles. But this is an "interior" drama, centering on the private lives of the people who ruled the world, and series of this type don't come any better. I, Claudius has been called "the Citizen Kane of television" and I'd wholeheartedly agree with that description.
It's quite remarkable the number of actors in I, Claudius who went on to have successful careers, like Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, Sian Philips and Margaret Tyzack. A few even become bona fide stars, like John Hurt, John Rhys-Davis and of course Patrick Stewart.
I dare say Jacobi delivers the best performance in TV history. He is totally immersed in the character of Claudius (whose his stammer, limp and twitching all feel completely organic to to the character, and not like put-on "schtick"). Moreover he convincingly plays Claudius from the age of roughly 20 to that of 64.
Violence and nudity (rare on television at the time) are skillfully handled with both the appropriate candor and restraint (rather different from the tawdry "historic" soap operas seen on HBO and Showtime these days).
The production value is modest -- there are no Ben-Hur-style chariot races or Spartacus-like battles. But this is an "interior" drama, centering on the private lives of the people who ruled the world, and series of this type don't come any better. I, Claudius has been called "the Citizen Kane of television" and I'd wholeheartedly agree with that description.
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
"The Incredible Hulk-The First"
I revisited this two part episode of the Bill Bixby series the other day and it was the first time I'd seen it in a few years. This particular episode, which centers on an old man who was once a Hulk himself (Harry Townes) as part of a scientific experiment gone wrong, but was cured, but wants to be one again even as David tries to use the old equipment to cure himself, is the most unsubtle knock-off of the original "Frankenstein" movie there is. The late scientist who did the experiment was "Dr. Clive" (as in Colin), the name of Townes' character who had been the assistant is "Dell Frye" (as in Dwight Frye) and the manner in how Clive's old house has a rooftop means of opening up also is a steal.
To me, "Incredible Hulk's" biggest flaw as a series though was Kenneth Johnson's decision to turn it into another variant on the formula of "The Fugitive" and which other series a decade earlier had knocked off with "The Invaders", "Run For Your Life" and "The Immortal" of the "man on the run". Much of the series is just warmed-over "The Fugitive" with the added dimension of two scenes where David must turn into the Hulk. Even so, this could have been handled better IMO had Johnson not come up with the conceit of having Banner never see his Gerard style antagonist Jack McGee, face-to-face. Considering that the most memorable line the series ever produced was, "Don't make me angry, you wouldn't lilke me angry" it might astonish casual viewers of the series to realize that replayed moment from the pilot is practically the ONLY time we ever see these two antagonists squaring off face-to-face. It's always McGee arrives late, or David keeps himself hidden, and worst of all after five years, McGee never is enough of an investigative reporter to start realizing that David Banner is not dead and that he in fact is the creature. It *really* stretches credibility that not once does any witness give a description of the mysterious "David" that an artist would draw into a credible likeness of the supposedly dead Dr. Banner. The series IMO should have shaken up this dynamic by having McGee learn the secret but be unable to prove it, but instead it stayed in a rut on this point and never gave us a final episode that cleared up the loose ends the pilot established (namely that the death of David's colleague was an accident caused by an explosion inadvertantaly triggered by McGee hiding in a storeroom and knocking over chemicals and not because the creature killed her). This is why unlike "The Fugitive" which gave us a satisfying coda that makes seeing the earlier episodes easier because you know ultimately Dr. Kimble will receive vindication, the "Incredible Hulk" is seldom the kind of series I can enjoy popping a random episode in and seeing.
I revisited this two part episode of the Bill Bixby series the other day and it was the first time I'd seen it in a few years. This particular episode, which centers on an old man who was once a Hulk himself (Harry Townes) as part of a scientific experiment gone wrong, but was cured, but wants to be one again even as David tries to use the old equipment to cure himself, is the most unsubtle knock-off of the original "Frankenstein" movie there is. The late scientist who did the experiment was "Dr. Clive" (as in Colin), the name of Townes' character who had been the assistant is "Dell Frye" (as in Dwight Frye) and the manner in how Clive's old house has a rooftop means of opening up also is a steal.
To me, "Incredible Hulk's" biggest flaw as a series though was Kenneth Johnson's decision to turn it into another variant on the formula of "The Fugitive" and which other series a decade earlier had knocked off with "The Invaders", "Run For Your Life" and "The Immortal" of the "man on the run". Much of the series is just warmed-over "The Fugitive" with the added dimension of two scenes where David must turn into the Hulk. Even so, this could have been handled better IMO had Johnson not come up with the conceit of having Banner never see his Gerard style antagonist Jack McGee, face-to-face. Considering that the most memorable line the series ever produced was, "Don't make me angry, you wouldn't lilke me angry" it might astonish casual viewers of the series to realize that replayed moment from the pilot is practically the ONLY time we ever see these two antagonists squaring off face-to-face. It's always McGee arrives late, or David keeps himself hidden, and worst of all after five years, McGee never is enough of an investigative reporter to start realizing that David Banner is not dead and that he in fact is the creature. It *really* stretches credibility that not once does any witness give a description of the mysterious "David" that an artist would draw into a credible likeness of the supposedly dead Dr. Banner. The series IMO should have shaken up this dynamic by having McGee learn the secret but be unable to prove it, but instead it stayed in a rut on this point and never gave us a final episode that cleared up the loose ends the pilot established (namely that the death of David's colleague was an accident caused by an explosion inadvertantaly triggered by McGee hiding in a storeroom and knocking over chemicals and not because the creature killed her). This is why unlike "The Fugitive" which gave us a satisfying coda that makes seeing the earlier episodes easier because you know ultimately Dr. Kimble will receive vindication, the "Incredible Hulk" is seldom the kind of series I can enjoy popping a random episode in and seeing.
- AndyDursin
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
Well, it works for me.
You make valid points across the board Eric in terms of seriously analyzing it, but I drop in and out of the series occasionally for other reasons...namely, Bixby's earnest performance, and some deliriously, insanely wonderful episodes like this one!
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched
And of course let's not forget the other shameful exercises of Universal TV doing things cheaply with "747" doing a whole episode around footage from "Airport 1975" and "Never Give A Trucker An Even Break" that used footage from "Duel" and got Spielberg royally P.O'd in the process.
I do though get a laugh at the inside joke gimmick of casting Ray Walston as a magician just so there can be a nod to two of Bixby's previous series and titling the episode "My Favorite Magician" (now if they'd only found a way to call it "The Courtship Of My Favorite Magician" they could have had the hat trick!). Bixby and Walston incidentally made "My Favorite Martian" IMO the best of the supernatural gimmick sitcoms of the 60s, much funnier than "Bewitched", "I Dream Of Jeannie" or any of the other imitators because they had a chemistry straight out of old-style vaudeville.
I do though get a laugh at the inside joke gimmick of casting Ray Walston as a magician just so there can be a nod to two of Bixby's previous series and titling the episode "My Favorite Magician" (now if they'd only found a way to call it "The Courtship Of My Favorite Magician" they could have had the hat trick!). Bixby and Walston incidentally made "My Favorite Martian" IMO the best of the supernatural gimmick sitcoms of the 60s, much funnier than "Bewitched", "I Dream Of Jeannie" or any of the other imitators because they had a chemistry straight out of old-style vaudeville.