Ironside (TV Series) Programmed for Panic (1972) User Reviews

Ratings

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 2 December 2013]

Someone had to be asleep at NBC to have aired this particular Ironside program. The Chief and his squad nail a killer right on television.

Raymond Burr is the guest on a talk show hosted by James Gregory where a murder in San Francisco has gotten as much attention in the same manner that the Kitty Genovese murder did in New York. Some folks heard her scream, but no one helped.

They've got a suspect in mind and Burr going on the show with Elizabeth Baur and Don Mitchell in the background and Don Galloway on surveillance of the suspect. Would you believe he actually comes on the program in answer to the public inquiry and leaves a telltale clue to incriminate himself?

What ratings this show will have, but it truly was a ridiculous premise to hang a plot on.

Hasn't aged well

[Tomlonso · 4/10 · 28 August 2017]

As someone who remembers the Bicentennial, watching this show in the second decade of the 21st century brought back a lot of memories, not all of them pleasant.

The set-up is that Chief Ironside is using a TV talk show to trap the killer. We can all figure out early in the show who the killer is, the question becomes whether Ironside's ploy will work.

What makes this episode painful is the dialogue on the TV talk show. The host and guests speak in the pretentious, preachy, self-absorbed psycho-babble of the 70's. As someone who was there, all I can say is it seemed like a good idea at the time. But to modern ears it seems as awkward and forced as a middle school date. Nevertheless it fills the time. Without the talk show segments, the episode would be about 5 minutes long.

Avoid this episode if you can.

Thought Provoking

[amorehl · 9/10 · 6 July 2023]

I can see how this episode would not be everyone's cup of tea. It wasn't mine either, to begin with. But as it continued, I realized how relevant the discussion still was today. Sadly, the problems continue, certainly where this show is set, in San Francisco, but in the other big cities as well. The panel, led by James Gregory, discuss whether someone should have come to the victim's aid &/or called the police. Not intervening directly, I can certainly understand. For starters, most women aren't physically strong enough to do battle with a male attacker. Even men would face great danger if the attacker were armed, as one "man on the street" pointed out. And now, today, there is the added danger that a "Good Samaritan" would face legal action if he injures the attacker. Yet the likelihood that the police will be there to protect us is less than ever.

The young man who eventually did intervene was honestly portrayed by Ed Begley, Jr. He admitted he was afraid when he went to the woman's aid. Most of us would be too. OTOH, not calling the police - that, I don't understand. I certainly would call the police if I thought the woman was in danger. Like another reviewer (who thought the show "preachy"), I too was there at the time, and I didn't understand such bystander inaction then anymore than I do now.

The panel also discusses the effect of widespread television coverage of such events: turning us into cynical spectators who merely watch such events. Of course, the media has gotten exponentially larger in the ensuing 50 years, and that characterization of us seems, to a large extent, to hold true. Granted, as Ironside argues, that's not true of everyone . . . And at least we get to watch him closing in on the killer; that's always fun.

While I found this to be a very thought-provoking episode, it was ultimately a depressing one. At least back when the show originally aired, one could hope things would get better. But 50 years on, we know they haven't.

Ironside tackles "Genovese Syndrome" with The Professor!

[TopekaBob · 9/10 · 18 February 2022]

There's a lot of interesting things going on in this Ironside episode, making it a fascinating show.

Ironside and his crew use a one hour live TV special to flush out a murderer who killed his lover in a park. While she was attacked nobody came out to help in time, a huge issue back then based on a 1964 case in New York where allegedly a similar thing happened, which eventually became known as the "bystander effect" or the "Genovese Syndrome." While the show goes on, the director displays it on different types of TV's across all kinds of settings - in bars, on a portable TV in a car, on a small set in a park, etc. Etc., making it more dramatic.

The Professor from Gilligan's Island plays the murderer - great against type casting! Russell Johnson also appeared in Twilight Zone. James Gregory continues the Ironside/Star Trek connection as he was in the original series. My favorite show he appeared in was a cool episode of "Thriller." And look for Ed Begley Jr, who of course went on to hundreds of movies and tv shows and is still active.