Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

[mkaroly]

Columbo Season 7 is in the books. Lasting only five episodes, season 7 was Columbo's final season until he appeared back on the air in 1989. I felt that all the episodes were entertaining with a couple standouts.

The season opener Try and Catch Me with Ruth Gordon is decent. She has a unique performance style and delivery - her character was very charming but clumsy and in over her head. I tried to sympathize with her character but was ultimately unable to. The Jonathan Demme directed Murder Under Glass was also entertaining...mainly due to Louis Jourdan's performance. He exudes on-screen charisma, though this episode did a lot of sleight-of-hand as I never saw the killer replace the wine opener, and I didn't see Columbo switch wine glasses.

The next two episodes were my favorite of the season. First, I thought Make Me A Perfect Murder was outstanding. And the weird thing is that I sympathized with Kay...lol...I don't know what that says about me, but this is the only Columbo episode to this point where I wanted the murderer to get away with it. Trish Van Devere gave an amazing performance, and I loved the murder sequence and camera work in that episode (I did not care for how the story dragged while Columbo fiddled around in the TV control room). How to Dial A Murder was extremely disturbing thanks to the murder weapon (two dogs), the murderer/mind control expert (Nicol Williamson), and a young girl whose life is in danger (a very young Kim Cattrall). It was a very creepy episode.

The season closer, The Conspirators, is a playful episode. Clive Revill is a joy to watch, though this episode maybe could have been a bit shorter (the Erotic Art book thing was unnecessary). The makers of this episode milked the resolution for all it was worth, but I can't complain about it much. Columbo's initial seven season run still remains wildly entertaining. I am looking forward to watching the return of Columbo episodes as there are a few there that I really like.

[Eric Paddon]

"Try And Catch Me" also has the bonus of Mariette Hartley's belly-dancing class.

"Make Me A Perfect Murder's" flaw for me was that it pretty much recycled Robert Culp's final killing in "Double Exposure" method-wise and also came down to the same gotcha clue (something not retrieved). It also has the distinction of giving us Patrick O'Neal as the only one-time Columbo killer returning in a "demoted" role of non-killer (this never happened to anyone else in the original run. Culp returned as a non-killer in the 90s).

Glad you enjoyed going through the full run of the series! The great thing about Columbo is that it's also a highly rewatchable show where there's always some interesting nuance that can be gained from further viewings.

[mkaroly]

"Try And Catch Me" also has the bonus of Mariette Hartley's belly-dancing class.

Absolutely!!!!!

[AndyDursin]

A grab bag of things I've viewed during the pandemic:

HOTEL - I bought a bunch of VEI's DVD sets that were on sale over the last couple of weeks (including THE BAD NEWS BEARS series for $10 and the hideous POWERS OF MATTHEW STAR for $15). I realize they have their limitations in terms of compression at times, but they're still good value and the compression isn't as bad as other, older discs I've seen from Mill Creek.

In terms of HOTEL, I was too young for this show when it originally aired, but a few episodes in, it's pretty enjoyable as a "harder edged LOVE BOAT on Land." The pilot episode reteams V personnel Michael Durrell and David Packer, the latter among a group of young yuppies at a bachelor party who end up raping Morgan Fairchild. This storyline is balanced out with formulaic fare ranging from comedic to dramatic, very much in keeping with Aaron Spelling's sojourns on the Pacific Princess, sans the laugh track and broader laughs. $30 isn't bad for 115 episodes of this, which at this point, I might burn off before September!

BAR RESCUE - How did I never watch this show before? OK, so it was on Spike TV (now the Paramount Network), so my eyes seldom crossed that channel -- but goodness this is great TV. A fusion of a decent reality series, cooking show, renovation-series and restaurant how-to, John Taffer brings his bombastic personality as he encounters problematic establishments either run-down or badly managed -- or both. This show generates big ratings and is re-run daily on the Paramount Network -- with good reason. It's been on the air since 2013 and manages to be consistently entertaining regardless of "staged" elements. It's also great fun to look up how long any of the profiled bars lasted after Taffer's renovations -- most of them were gone within months, but the ones that survived are still going years later (the show has inspired a series of fan sites, including Bar Rescue Updates).

NOW YOU SEE IT - Another rarely-run gameshow, Buzzr has been airing this mid '70s series which is one of the most dated examples of its era I've ever seen. From the music to the wardrobes, you can't get closer to its time period, while the game itself -- basically just a word hunt where the returning champion literally sits and does nothing until the final round -- is simple, straightforward and at least different than most of its later genre efforts. Still it casts a hypnotic spell!

[Eric Paddon]

NOW YOU SEE IT - Another rarely-run gameshow, Buzzr has been airing this mid '70s series which is one of the most dated examples of its era I've ever seen. From the music to the wardrobes, you can't get closer to its time period, while the game itself -- basically just a word hunt where the returning champion literally sits and does nothing until the final round -- is simple, straightforward and at least different than most of its later genre efforts. Still it casts a hypnotic spell!

The theme music was a Quincy Jones composition "Chump Change." NYSI is one of those mid-70s game shows (it ran 74-75 for 13 months) that exists only because CBS wasn't as quick to erase the tapes as the other two networks were.

Jack Narz was already hosting the syndicated "Concentration" when he got this job. His low-key style is best suited for those kind of shows whereas he would have been less effective on a show with celebrities trying to play traffic cop.

NYSI would undergo a format change in the final months of its run where they got rid of the first round "qualifier" and jumped straight to the second round with a returning champ and challenger (and two losses and you're out). This was to squeeze in more turns at the bonus round (and the show became a "straddled" one as a consequence).

[AndyDursin]

Think I've seen every episode of the MATCH GAME/HOLLYWOOD SQUARES HOUR Buzzr has available lol

It's incredible how many people on this show died of AIDS at an early age. I've counted at least a handful I've seen in this show -- but it WAS the era.

Also remarkable how bored Rayburn looks at times. On one part of the Hollywood Squares, he has his head buried in his hands for virtually the entire episode lol.

[Eric Paddon]

They've only digitized and aired 75 episodes. Overall there were about 190 (39 weeks but several days were pre-empted).

Yeah, quite a few closeted performers passed through then who later succumbed. And yes, Rayburn rather quickly felt he'd made a mistake giving up a local NY show to do do MG/HSQ. He disliked Bauman (who wasn't cast well as a co-host; the HSQ part of the game was a train wreck waiting to happen and Bauman's inability to take charge made it worse) and just didn't put in the same kind of effort.

[AndyDursin]

Is the book on Rayburn worth reading? I picked it up on the Kindle for $10 (the hardcover was $30).

Bauman is so ill at ease. I still think it's so weird how he grabs the arm of the Match Game winner and violently escorts them to the Hollywood Squares set, no matter if it's a woman or a guy!

I also almost fell out of my chair last night when one "star" was billed as coming from GOOD NIGHT BEANTOWN.

I vaguely remember watching that show as a kid, just because Bill Bixby was on it and I missed the Hulk. Nice theme by Dennis McCarthy at least!

[Eric Paddon]

I watched "Goodnight Beantown" at the time simply because Mariette Hartley had become the first crush of my life from Trek, and naturally I was happy to watch any series she was in!

The Fall '83 obsession with promoting and plugging "Mister Smith" though (accounting for the frequent bookings of Leonard Frey) is really pathetic with hindsight.

Yes, the Rayburn book is comprehensive. The author of it, as well as bios of Allen Ludden and Bill Cullen, did a thorough job of finding as much archival info and he also had interviews with Rayburn's late agent, Fred Wostbrock and his family members.

[AndyDursin]

Thanks. And which game show book is worth picking up at this point -- in terms of reference.

[Eric Paddon]

The best reference book ever on TV game shows is the out of print "Encyclopedia Of TV Game Shows". Used copies are still affordable. This book helped reconnect me with the game shows I grew up with in the 70s and 80s and helped give me a building block for organizing my collection.

[AndyDursin]

Thanks I just placed an order.

These Match/Hollywood Squares episodes must be, what, the first 3 months of the show roughly? I've seen a "Christmas episode" and it must have been taped right before MR. SMITH got canceled because there were still references to it.

The amount of shilling for that series is seriously ridiculous. That and another NBC flop comedy, WE GOT IT MADE. One of the young guys from that show, Tom Villard, was an AIDS victim, just like Leonard Frey and another younger guy who was in ANOTHER WORLD.

[Eric Paddon]

They actually got as far as mid-February 1984 before they stopped with the digitizing. That''s three and a half months worth since they debuted October 31, 1983. I suspect the virus is why we haven't had more (and why only 30 episodes of the Narz Concentration ended up airing)

It was really laughable when an audience match of "Mister BLANK" had "Smith" as the $1,000 answer which means the "studio audience asked to give their best response" had to have consisted of NBC executives!

I remember that "We Got It Made" got high numbers its first weeks before the numbers dropped off. It was one of those shows that gave us a lot of game show regulars in the next couple years. Often you can end up seeing a short-lived show give us a game show regular who long outlasted the show that got her first booked. Shelley Smith, who was on a short lived 1980 show called "The Associates" comes to mind. That show enabled her to become a frequent regular on Pyramid and Super Password and other shows all through the 80s and the only other work I know of her doing was another short lived series in 83 called "For Love And Honor."

[AndyDursin]

I hope they get back to work and digitize some of those other episodes!

That's a great point on Smith, the only series I knew she was on was SCARECROW AND MRS KING. But you're right Eric, the game show gig was good for a lot of B-level celebrities whose careers might've come and gone but they'd keep getting work on these series before they mostly kicked the bucket in, what, the early 90s? I knew Smith more from the $100,000 Pyramid appearances than any actual "acting gig."

It's been great having Buzzr on PlutoTV, I've watched more of that than Directv during this whole thing. Though I wonder how much content they circulate in some cases -- there were years of TATTLETALES but they only seem to show the same mid 70s episodes, which was the same on Game Show Network.

I also wish they'd run NOW YOU SEE IT some other time than Sundays at 1am. I'm usually asleep but the few times I've been awake I find that show SO hypnotic. Between the music and the sets, it's like a "Mod" era fever dream lol. Even more than the '70s WHAT'S MY LINE with the sets and "mod" theme song there too. They run that at 8-9am on weekdays so I'm catching a little bit of that after I drop Theo off at day camp.

[jkholm]

I had never heard of NOW YOU SEE IT before I saw it on Buzzr. It's weird the way Narz keeps saying, "Letter...letter...letter."