Ironside (TV Series) Five Days in the Death of Sgt. Brown (1972) User Reviews

What about Part II?

[mpmbd · 9/10 · 8 March 2011]

I just watched this episode on RetroTV. Many of the events in the episode were unresolved when it concluded. At the end, it is noted that it will continue in Part II. But the Episode Guide does not show any second part of this episode. The Part I is definitely one of the more interesting episodes and offers few clues as to how the many events included will be resolved. Some of the significant guest stars in this episode are not shown as appearing in any other episode. A continuation of the events of Part I in Part II would absolutely require their appearance. E.G. Marshall, David Hartman, and Vic Morrow are among these stars. So it looks as if the second part of this episode never was aired. Does anyone have additional information?

There is indeed Part II of this episode. RetroTV featured it the following day. Very interesting. Watch both episodes if you have opportunity.

Dramatic

[savanna-2 · 7/10 · 4 July 2017]

If you're like the first reviewer and are wondering about part two, it wasn't an Ironside episode. Here's a short synopsis I found:

Episode aired 14 September 1972. ... While in Los Angeles to testify for a trial against gangster Frank Harmon, Ed is shot and falls off the balcony of his hotel room. ... This 2- parter was concluded on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors: Five Days in the Death of Sgt.Brown.

It seems some channels have rectified the problem and now include the episode in the lineup. If you happen to be unlucky enough to watch it on a channel that doesn't, then check you tube.

Finding out it was a two part episode with the idea of launching a new series, explains the effort made to introduce to all these new characters that would never be seen on Ironside again.

The part that confused me had to do with the advanced technology, why wouldn't Ironside himself have been a candidate? They go to a lot of trouble to show flashbacks from when Ironside was first injured as being his impetus to find help for Ed, so he doesn't end up paralyzed, but never explain why it would only work for Ed.

Boffo opening to season six with Bold Ones Crossover

[TopekaBob · 9/10 · 19 February 2022]

Ironside had some boffo episodes where they went all out, with tie-ins to other shows to get the most for their money. This is the case with this episode, where Part I was aired as an Ironside and Part II aired as an episode of The Bold Ones. In syndication and on the DVD it Part II shows up as an Ironside episode.

This is really a "Maguffin" episode where it's really not that important why Ed was shot and being attacked by assassins, but that it's happening, and that he's paralyzed and needs an operation. Yes, an Ironside characters study!

We do see more of the characters here. Mark Sanger, now sporting a hip 70's moustache, which makes him look a lot older and wiser, is pretty intense, while Ironside gets flashbacks of his own shooting and paralysis throughout.

Like many Ironside episodes, the villian is nasty and a psychopath. There's also something completely new for Ironside up to this point: an allusion to a gay relationship. Even though Ironside was set in San Francisco, through six seasons we see no reference to the gay community. But in this episode the assassin's accomplice is a male nurse who seems to be his boyfriend. It's not outright said, of course, that seems to be the vibe.

Fun to see EG Marshall, legendary actor from films such as "12 Angry Men," and the host of "CBS Mystery Theater." David Hartman is so dull, I do wonder about his appeal in the 1970's. Vic Morrow is the opposite, incredibly intense and seething, all the time, over everything! Classic Vic Morrow.

Enjoy.

Ironside Pilot??

[oklahomasampsons-911-913615 · 10/10 · 30 December 2018]

I just watched the episode on Hulu. It lists this episode as a pilot episode in two parts airing in 1967

Well-done tie-in between Ironside & The New Doctors

[amorehl · 10/10 · 5 July 2023]

This 2-part, Season 6 opener began on Ironside and concluded on "The Bold Ones: The New Doctors." It starts with the team in L. A. for one of their cases, the trial of gangster Frank Harmon. Ed Brown begins his testimony. That evening, while the team are gathered on a hotel balcony, Ed is shot and falls over the ledge. He is taken to the Craig Institute, the setting for "TBO:TND." Characters from that show appear as the doctors treating Ed: E. G. Marshall as Neurologist Dr. David Craig, and David Hartman as Dr. Paul Hunter. Ed has suffered a broken back, damage to his spine, and paralysis. Not surprisingly, Ironside has been keeping track of medical and surgical developments in the field, and asks Dr. Craig about research being done by Dr. Ritter (Ed Morrow) with new surgical/neurological techniques and the use of polypeptides. It turns out that Dr. Ritter's experimental surgical procedure is the only option for Ed to walk again. It has to be done quickly because otherwise his paralysis would become permanent. Under his pre-surgery sedation, Ed has a revealing dream that cleverly connects his time at the hospital and his surgery to the reason he was shot.

As for Ironside, along with questioning whether the gangster was responsible for Ed's shooting, he has flashbacks to the night he was shot and paralyzed. Both his situation and Ed's make for great logical tie-ins to "TBO:TND". The end credits for that show indicate why this episode is so interesting: "The story, techniques and equipment shown are based on actual developments at the frontiers of medicine." Also of note is the fact that "TBO:TND" was produced in part by Raymond Burr's production company, Harbour Productions, and Burr was an Executive Producer.

Finally, an interesting, albeit trivial, note of what must be a record: 2 separate characters falling off 2 separate buildings in a single episode!