I've argued that much of Ironside's appeal is the high expectations of the actors, director's, and writers, no doubt coming from Raymond Burr's presence. He was known to fire directors halfway through a shoot and complain about scripts if they weren't up to snuff.
This is a solid episode but is excellent for showing all Ironside cylinders working as the crew sets out in their different directions gathering evidence.
One short but excellent scene is when Ed has to go to a Go Go Dancing Bar to interview a go go dancer. Barbara Brownell plays Candy, the dancer, sad-eyed and depressed by her job, yet insecure. The director frames Ed's interview with her by having another go go dancer dancing behind them and between them, symbolizing the gap between Candy and "respectability". Too much interpretation for an episodic TV show? No, the director took the time to set that shot up on purpose. Then some poignant acting and writing as Candy asks if the other dancer is better than her. Don Galloway plays it great as at first he curtly says he's a cop and that's not his business, then turns around and gives her some humanity. All in about three minutes. That scene is worth watching the whole episode!
There's also a fun bit at the end where the sting is being set up and a quick cut goes to the building guard reading a newspaper and it's Ed. Even Galloway looks like he's suppressing a laugh as he knows how funny it is to be wearing that brown guard uniform.
Michael Bell plays the bad guy in this one, and he's super sleazy (not a hard thing to get in the 1970's!). I was watching him, though, and it was his voice that caught my attention. Which made sense because Bell ranks as one of the most prolific voice actors in history, voicing characters on almost every animated show from the 70's- to the 90's. He's still going strong as of 2022. For me, most notably, he was Zan and Gleek the space monkey in Superfriends!
The Ironside/Star Trek connection is very well served in this episode: Bell appeared in Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and Star Trek: The Next Generation and also voiced several Star Trek video games, while Vince Howard, who plays the guard here, was in the original series Star Trek episode, The Man Trap.
This is a solid episode but is excellent for showing all Ironside cylinders working as the crew sets out in their different directions gathering evidence.
One short but excellent scene is when Ed has to go to a Go Go Dancing Bar to interview a go go dancer. Barbara Brownell plays Candy, the dancer, sad-eyed and depressed by her job, yet insecure. The director frames Ed's interview with her by having another go go dancer dancing behind them and between them, symbolizing the gap between Candy and "respectability". Too much interpretation for an episodic TV show? No, the director took the time to set that shot up on purpose. Then some poignant acting and writing as Candy asks if the other dancer is better than her. Don Galloway plays it great as at first he curtly says he's a cop and that's not his business, then turns around and gives her some humanity. All in about three minutes. That scene is worth watching the whole episode!
There's also a fun bit at the end where the sting is being set up and a quick cut goes to the building guard reading a newspaper and it's Ed. Even Galloway looks like he's suppressing a laugh as he knows how funny it is to be wearing that brown guard uniform.
Michael Bell plays the bad guy in this one, and he's super sleazy (not a hard thing to get in the 1970's!). I was watching him, though, and it was his voice that caught my attention. Which made sense because Bell ranks as one of the most prolific voice actors in history, voicing characters on almost every animated show from the 70's- to the 90's. He's still going strong as of 2022. For me, most notably, he was Zan and Gleek the space monkey in Superfriends!
The Ironside/Star Trek connection is very well served in this episode: Bell appeared in Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and Star Trek: The Next Generation and also voiced several Star Trek video games, while Vince Howard, who plays the guard here, was in the original series Star Trek episode, The Man Trap.
