...And, not just in the form of the late, legendary '60s and '70s thespian goddess Julie Gregg, one of the privileged ladies (Marianna Hill being the other) to have both a "Batman" episodic acting credit, and a role in "The Godfather" saga! "Batman" butler 'Alfred' (Alan Napier) figures heavily in this episode, which is beyond cool, as his veteran presence is always welcome! In fact, the 'Alfred' character seemed to be more often showcased in 'Penguin' episodes, which made me wonder if there was some unusual connection between Burgess Meredith, and Mr. Napier! In any event, good show, sir!
Reviews
18 Reviews
Funny in-joke
28 February 2022
Not the usual "ODAAT" fare...
14 February 2022
My memory of the (bizarrely) long-running "One Day at a Time" was that it was an egregiously unfunny show that worked better as a half-hour soapbox for the legendary Norman Lear's typical, sledgehammer style, unsubtle social messaging! Having watched reruns of it recently, my initially negative opinion regarding its so-called comedic entertainment value has only grown! The death of series star Bonnie Franklin, nearly ten years ago, hit me hard, because even though I was never a fan of the series, I found Ms. Franklin to be, aside from luminously beyond gorgeous, a competent and energetic series lead, deserving of a far better vehicle! I say all of this because this particular episode, guest starring a good, young actress named Lane Binkley, kinda spoke to me personally during my brief, adolescent, first-hand experience as an epileptic! I legit have no idea if the fear and ignorance of others regarding this condition (especially at the time) was in any way accurate, yet I give the episode's writers much credit for tackling the issue at all! Again, "ODAAT" was too often a laughter-bereft mess, yet, as long as the sparkling talent of the late Ms. Franklin was out there soldiering through it, I was more than happy to (occasionally) be out there, in the viewing trenches, supporting her in her efforts to lift up what was largely, absolute comedic dreck, but which still, every once in a while, managed to hit an important dramatic bullseye, even as nary a laugh were elicited in the process!
One Day at a Time
(1975–1984)
How did this dreadfully unfunny sitcom become so popular?!
23 January 2022
Am currently watching season 1 of "One Day at a Time", which, I recall by the time season 2 came around, I viewed it as the show that kicked the legendary Richard Masur off of it because he was the only one who was funny! I legit don't have strongly positive memories of "ODAAT"s humor-quotient (because it was practically non-existent), but, watching it now, it is even more apparent what a wit-bereft series it actually was! The late Bonnie Franklin was both impressively energetic, and luminously beyond gorgeous here, but, as a series lead, she was mostly adrift, due to poor, unfunny writing, and a weak supporting cast (with MacKenzie Phillips being the obvious exception)! Mother of God, this show was as astonishingly horrible as it was inexplicably popular!
A reunion of the supremely talented writer John McGreevey and the ethereally beautiful actress Myrna Fahey...
10 July 2021
Was genuinely curious, upon the recent passing of the legendary William Smith, to sample a "Laredo" episode as a sort of tribute! The episode I chose---the first season's 'Three's Company' had, at least on paper, an impressive pedigree in that it featured veteran actor David Brian, but, mostly, that it was a creative re-teaming of a thoroughly impressive writer (John McGreevey), and an astonishingly beautiful, memorably impactful actress in the late Myrna Fahey! Previously, the two were part of an exceedingly memorable creative collaboration in the 90 minute "Wagon Train" episode titled "The Melanie Craig Story" (also featuring a strong performance from the late Jim Davis)! The "Laredo" episode also featured the same bizarrely, comically whimsical music, but where the episodes differ lies in the impressive literacy of the "Wagon Train" script, and the masterfully anchoring performance of the comely Ms. Fahey! The "Laredo" script, unfortunately, in no way meets the tremendous quality, and high standards of McGreevey's much better, previously authored outing!
Jigsaw
(1968)
This was actually an incredibly good movie...
7 March 2021
Even though the casting of this movie distracted me (leads Harry Guardino and Bradford Dillman, as well as "bad guy" Pat Hingle were all staples of various Clint Eastwood movies of the '70's and '80's), I legitimately couldn't imagine anyone else besides these three uniquely charismatic actors in their roles! Even though the movie was a supposed reworking of the Gregory Peck film "Mirage", this picture totally stands on its own as a showcase for lifelong character actors, here in starring roles, who showed, without a shadow of a doubt, that stardom was clearly where they deservedly belonged! Aside from the previously mentioned, gloriously talented actors, there was also on hand the supremely skilled Hope Lange, and the phenomenally talented, insanely mesmerizing Diana Hyland (here, as Guardino's wife)! Throw in exceedingly competent, suspenseful direction by the veteran helmer James Goldstone, and what emerges is a below-the-radar, audience-pleasing masterpiece that is every bit as memorable as the "big-ticket" feature film it supposedly copied!
Police Surgeon
(1971–1975)
Not amazingly great, but interesting...
20 November 2020
"Dr. Simon Locke" and the ensuing "Police Surgeon" were both admittedly made-on-the-cheap, Canadian television series! With a writing/directing/production team that comprised (in part) veterans of such series as "The Fugitive" and "Mannix" (Wilton Schiller, Chester Krumholz, John Meredyth Lucas, et al), and guest stars that were among the most popular American episodic television actors at the time, both incarnations of the series hardly lacked for talent, yet, apparently the miniscule budget showed the most in the inferior production values! The late, great Jack Albertson starred in the first season of the later-retooled series---and he allegedly left after balking over the insanely primitive working conditions, once even claiming that there were no dressing rooms, and that actors were left with the only option of changing clothes "in the bushes"! If true, there's cheap, and then there's CHEAP! Which is sad, because there was a lot of legitimate talent attached to the series! Perhaps if the production "purse strings" were a little more charitably open, the series could've had a longer run, and been more memorable for the right reasons!
Burke's Law
(1994–1995)
Surprised this reboot didn't last longer...
10 August 2020
At a time when Angela Lansbury's wildly successful "Murder She Wrote" was winding down, and Dick Van Dyke was in the throes of his late-career resurgence with the equally popular "Diagnosis: Murder", CBS, smartly recognizing the trend of uncomplicated, viewer-friendly mysteries that skewed toward an older demographic, rolled out a reboot of Gene Barry's famous Aaron Spelling-produced '60's series "Burke's Law"! The fact that Spelling had been able to consistently reinvent his product throughout the years to continue producing hit shows marketed toward a younger audience only helped him in the creation of this new "Burke's" endeavor! The fact that star Gene Barry was still a commanding presence in his later years greatly bolstered the seamless execution of this reboot! The new "Burke's Law" benefited from the apparently unlimited budget Spelling threw into the first year of all of his shows! He could place in guest-star roles just about any of the esteemed older actors of one-time prominence, and mix them with the popular younger actors who'd appeared in one of his many nighttime soaps! The solutions to the various "mysteries" were largely, arbitrarily resolved, but the real fun lay in Gene Barry's infectiously fun lead turn, ably supported by his TV "son"---the reliably stoic Peter Barton! This "Burke's Law" reboot was, to my mind, every bit the satisfying, cotton candy-mystery TV puffery that these other hit CBS mystery series were! It was far from amazing, but it was genuinely enjoyable as a latter-day example of pure formula TV made uniquely entertaining and compellingly watchable by all the ingredients that comprised the singular imprint of an Aaron Spelling production!
Knock Knock
(I) (2015)
The naysayers are not entirely wrong about this film...
15 April 2020
If you're in the mood for a trashy, guilty pleasure (and you're careful not to set your expectations too high!) "Knock Knock" may have just enough mild erotica (plus a whole bunch of crazy!) to pass as acceptable entertainment time-filler! Keanu Reeves starts out the film in typical low-key "Keanu mode", only to ratchet things up to a far more emotive sense of desperation as dictated by the plot! The two main ladies in the movie (Ana de Armas and Lorenza Izzo) start out as seemingly benign, giggly hotties somewhat in distress! Keanu's character's helpful chivalrousness toward the ladies results in---for him---unforeseen negative consequences! Ms. Izzo is pretty good at playing an unpredictable psychotic, while the gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous Ms. de Armas (more recently seen to far better effect in the hit film "Knives Out") registers as a deeply troubled childlike seductress! The main weakness of the film lies in the fact that viewers of thriller movies, while unlikely to correctly guess where the plot will lead, will probably predict far better dramatic developments than what the movie actually provides! Truthfully, I only bothered with this movie at all because Ana de Armas was in it, and---from a hormonal standpoint alone, she does not disappoint (not to knock Ms. de Armas, who, when given strong material like Knives Out, proves herself to be an exceptionally capable performer!) Knock Knock, by contrast, doesn't require exceptionalism! The beauty of both actresses is something to behold, and it almost makes believable the mild, internal moral struggle of Reeves' character, but, honestly, no one is being tasked here with anything more demanding than trying to bring an essentially preposterous story to entertaining life! Even if the script isn't especially clever, the performers' full-on commitment to the crazy somewhat elevated the production overall!
Terrific guest cast elevates not-amazing story
19 January 2020
The excellent Kristoffer Tabori plays a young, soon-to-be heir to a fortune recently released from a facility for the criminally insane, having served time for a murder he was believed to have committed! An alcoholic blackout had supposedly prevented him from remembering the murder from years ago; unfortunately, not long after his release, more murders (and more alcoholic blackouts) ensue! This episode was not terribly well-written, but besides the always-stellar Tabori, there was a young Sondra Locke as Tabori's not-blood-related, but still-overprotective "sister"---Ms. Locke also gives an excellent performance here, and watching her with Tabori (whose real-life father was Clint Eastwood 's directing mentor Don Siegel) had me wondering if Tabori might 've mentioned Locke to his father, (as he supposedly did for Andy Robinson, who did memorable work in two Siegel movies), which might have started the longtime Eastwood/Locke connection! As I said, the episode itself was not terrific, allowing my mind to wander thusly! Still, the late "Soap" & "Who's the Boss?" star Katherine Helmond, and the excellent stage/ TV/ film actor Biff McGuire are also on hand to elevate the uninspired mediocrity!
It Chapter Two
(2019)
Points deducted for unnecessarily super-long movie...
16 September 2019
First of all, I have to admit that the only reason I saw this movie was because Jessica Chastain-who I would gladly watch in a 2 hour film of her reading from the phone book-was in it! Also, I still haven't seen the first "It" movie, so I went in hoping that everything previous of which I was not aware would be self-explanatory! Largely, through flashbacks, it was! I learned that this film was directed by Andy Muschitta, who had previously directed Ms. Chastain in a very good horror film called "Mama", so I felt confident that I was in for a good cinematic experience! For about the first hour and a half, I was: the story was involving, and the film was quite well-made up to this point! Unfortunately, it went on for what seemed like the most interminable additional hour in the history of time! Attempts to make what should've stayed a small, tightly-woven tale into a forever escalatingly epic scarefest greatly diminished the effectiveness of the story! There were enough good performances and good moments to recommend the story to any horror fan, but, Mother of God, if ever there was a movie in dire need of editing, it would be "It Chapter Two"! And that's a real shame! In trying too hard to wow its audience, the film instead ultimately burns a lot of the creative good will generated by its infinitely better first half!
Wow! This movie was extremely NOT AMAZING!
30 July 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is, by far, the most pointless, meandering, excruciatingly un-entertaining work of the usually reliable master, Quentin Tarantino! Only a handful of good-to-very good performances save this unintentional "disaster film" from complete worthlessness! Fortunately for the picture, one of those performances is by one of its stars, Brad Pitt, who is consistently watchable and entertaining throughout, even as the film he inhabits so often isn't! Pitt's fellow co-lead, Leonardo DiCaprio is barely memorable (and not even particularly good) as a character who isn't especially likeable, or compelling, anyway! Most telling of DiCaprio's shortcomings in the film is the way he easily gets his "thespian clock" cleaned by a then-9 year old actress, Julia Butters, who dominates scenes with him with a seemingly effortless, naturalistic style (seriously, she is one of the best things about the film)! Also very good is the gorgeous Margaret Qualley (Andie MacDowell's real-life daughter) who plays a comely hitchhiker who brings an unsuspecting Pitt into contact with several Manson family members! The fight scene between Pitt and "Bruce Lee" was also entertaining, yet these are all mere moments in a largely overstuffed, hapless mess of a picture! Also, conspicuously absent from the film is writer Tarantino's gift of creating memorable, quotable, dialogue! Not only is the movie crafted in a blandly disposable way, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has precious little of the inspired genius that has profoundly uplifted so many other Tarantino films before it!
Unusual coincidences...
11 May 2019
I see that, according to IMDB, the exceptionally pretty, high-pitched voiced Arlene Golonka not only appeared in an episode of "Cannon" titled "The Dead Samaritan" , but, also---several years later---in an episode of "The New Dragnet" also titled "Dead Samaritan" ! Kind of like how Hall of Fame super-gorgeous actress Sherry Jackson once appeared in a "Maverick" episode titled " Red Dog", then, several years later, in a "Rockford Files" episode titled " The Real Easy Red Dog"!
The small world of Quinn Martin
18 July 2018
Interestingly, guest actors Pamela Franklin, Phyllis Thaxter and Robert Pine also turned up together in a (completely unrelated) "Barnaby Jones" episode a few years later! Perhaps they all had fun together, and sought to repeat the experience!
By far, the most un-Barnaby-like episode of the series...
27 June 2018
Wow, was I unprepared for this episode! "The Deadly Prize" is easily the worst entry of the series' first few seasons (although it may be matched in overall horribleness by some episodes in the later "J.R." seasons!) It had good guest actors in George Maharis, Albert Salmi and Madlyn Rhue, yet---bizarrely, some of their roles are quite thanklessly short! The writing for this episode has an extremely artificial noir-type feel to it. In no way is this episode like other "Barnaby" adventures and this difference---rather than being refreshing ---results in a thoroughly maddening waste of time! Normally, I'd be concerned with giving away plot spoilers, but-quite simply-in order to spoil something, you first have to understand it! On the plus side, former Miss America (and 'Barnaby' regular) Lee Meriwether looks unimaginably amazing here---even more so than her usual, run-of-the-mill gorgeousness! "Barnaby" fans, proceed to this episode at your own risk! It is that different...and that bad!
Most Wanted
(1976–1977)
Sometimes, fortune smiles on you unexpectedly...
18 April 2018
I still don't know what possessed me to look it up, but I luckily happened upon the fact that Amazon was offering the complete series DVD of Most Wanted for sale! I instantly snatched it up, and have been happily watching this long-ago, single-season, hidden Quinn Martin gem ever since! To be completely honest, I'd buy ANY DVD that had the Quinn Martin name attached to it, but I had a special fondness for this short-lived series! Typical of QM shows, Most Wanted had terrific guest stars, and well-written, though admittedly formulaic, stories! Robert Stack was very good as the series star, Jo Ann Harris was gorgeous, sexy and compelling in her role, and the late Shelly Novack, just one year before his death, was hugely entertaining in a star-making way, which unfortunately never happened for him! God, I loved Most Wanted! I am incredibly grateful that Amazon was able to put it out there for purchase!
It Takes Two
(1982–1983)
Just watched the Robert Picardo/botched plastic surgery episode...
9 January 2018
I remember It Takes Two as being a very funny show! The one standout for me was the Picardo episode! When the disgruntled Picardo takes hostages at the hospital (waiting for the plastic surgeon whom he felt botched his face job), I was on the floor with one of the elderly Billie Bird's scattered, backhanded reassurances to him: "You're not homely. Why, in a certain light, you're almost plain!"
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