[narfstar]

I just watched the movie RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR. Movie is a downer but interesting. The ending surprised me which means I liked it. I tend to figure movies out so when they take me by surprised they have some merit.

[narfstar]

So far so good it was OK. Looks like they want some of Walking Dead's action

[josemas]

Some series and collections recently watched-

Dr. Who-"Invasion of the Dinosaurs" (1974) and "The Monster of Peladon" (1974)-  My journey through the Pertwee years comes to an end.  Our library had a very nice sampling so I got a good taste for this Doctor.  I think he's my favorite of the first three (despite those lame puppet dinosaurs in the Invasion story arc).  Now onto the the Baker years!

Columbo Season 5- (1975-1976) Six movies this season with several actors returning for another go-round with the good lieutenant including Jack Cassidy, Robert Vaughn and Patrick McGoohan (who also directs a couple of episodes).  Other stars this season include Janet Leigh, Ricardo Montalban, Sam Jaffee,  Leslie Neilson. Maurice Evans, Sal Mineo and Wilfred Hyde-White.

The Rat Patrol Season 1 (1966-1967)  I was in the third grade when this show debuted and it was quite popular with me and my friends.  I hadn't seen it since it left the air in 1968 though. 
It wasn't as good as I remembered it.  Not much character development among the cast regulars as most of the time is spent just squeezing in the storyline for each half hour episode. 
I did notice that most of the season was shot in Spain.  Something I hadn't caught when I was a kid. 
I also remember reading, some years ago, how star Christopher George suffered an injury during the shooting of the first season, when a jeep overturned, that damaged his heart and eventually led to his early death at age 54.

Public Prosecutor (1947-1948)- 8 episodes  This NBC show was supposedly the first filmed show for American television.  All other shows were still being shot live at the time.  More and more filmed shows would emerge in the coming decade and eventually live dramas or comedies on television would become a rarity.  John Howard (who had starred in the Bulldog Drummond movie series) stars and invites the watcher to guess who the culprit is in each 17 1/2 minute show (they were shot for a, now, long obsolete 20 minute time slot).

Best

Joe

[narfstar]

I loved watching the Rat Patrol when it originally aired. I will have to give the third Doctor another chance. I would skip over them because he was stuck on earth and I enjoyed the travels.

The Strain has kept my interest. It is nothing special but not bad either.

[Coleoptere]

Just watched Transformers: Age of Extinction over the weekend. Then, when I get the chance, rewatch some old comic book-based TV cartoons.

[narfstar]

I am not really enjoying Extant. I find myself wanting it to just get over. I would rather it had been a movie all said and done.

[Captain Audio]

I am not really enjoying Extant. I find myself wanting it to just get over. I would rather it had been a movie all said and done.

Same here, I just don't like the society the characters appear to live in. Their future looks more than a little boring.

[josemas]

Some more series and collections recently watched-

Good Morning World (1967-1968)  Pretty much the same producers and writers that brought you The Dick Van Dyke Show were behind this series which has as its two protagonists a couple of joking DJs.  It's fairly typical of some shows of the era and probably would have lasted longer but was apparently up against some stiff competition from the other channels.  I had no memory of the show so I guess I must have been one of those watching its competition.  Notable today as the show that gave Goldie Hawn her first break (she plays the one DJ;s girlfriend).

Timeslip- "The Wrong End of Time" and "The Time of the Icebox" (1970)  Paw recommended this one to me.  It's a one season sci-fi show that ran serialized adventures and seems to me to be aiming for the same audience as Dr Who.  Originally broadcast in color it survives primarily in black and white kineoscopes.  One color episode from the second serial does survive and gives one an idea of how the show originally looked.  The show features two young (aprox 12-13 year old) kids who find a way of moving back and forth in time.  The first adventure takes them back to WWII and the second into the future.

The Pacific (2010)  Excellent miniseries that gives a good depiction of the island hoping battles that the American troops went through during WWII.  Brought to you by the same producers who did Band of Brothers.

Castle Season 3 (2010-2011)  Another fun season ending on a cliffhanger.  This show has become a favorite of the Lil Missus and she watches the daily reruns on cable regularly now.

Best

Joe

[profh0011]

Let's see, lately...

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT -- I only have the first 2 seasons (plus a handful after).  GREAT, often instense, the best part is the characters.

JAKE & THE FATMAN -- another one where I only have about a season-and-a-half.  I was taping too many shows and felt I had to cut back somewhere.  Again, I love the characters on this, though "McCabe" (William Conrad) goes out of his way NOT to be likable.  Joe Penny as Jake is fabulous, and Alan Campbell as Derak is also extremely likable.  Jake & Derek really remind me of an older and younger brother. You can see how they both light up whenever the other one's around, and they BOTH mostly tolerate their boss.

CARRY ON -- I started watching the movies I have for the 2nd time.  ...SERGEANT, ...NURSE and ...TEACHER so far.  All low-key with some slapstick, and a wonderful slowly-evolving ensemble cast.  They hadn't gotten bawdy & raunchy yet at this stage.

DARIA -- again? I've lost count how many times I've seen these now.

DOCTOR WHO -- after several marathons where I had fun getting more chaotic as I went, this time around, i started from the beginning again to watch them in sequence, which I haven't done in at least 3 years.  But this time, while I'm planning to watch most of them, I've decided to SKIP any I just don't care for.  Which, oddly enough, included the first 2 Daleks stories (I substituted the 2 Peter Cushing films instead-- NO, REALLY!)  Just got to the end of The War Games today.  Wow.

Meanwhile, in movies...

MOTHRA -- a real fave, a giant-monster "fairy tale"

KING KONG ESCAPES -- my single favorite Japanese giant-monster film!  The villain played by Eisei Amamoto dresses just like William Hartnell did in "The War Machines".  I paid tribute to this movie in my "Bunny Roget" cartoons at my blog.

[jimmm kelly]

Talking about GOOD MORNING WORLD reminds me of all those TV shows in the '60s that I always pulled for, but they didn't make it.

It's funny how giddy I would get in September as all the new shows were previewed. Hope sprang eternal for each new series that arrived on the schedule.

One of those series that comes to mind is IT'S A MAN'S WORLD--from 1962. I don't remember much about the show, since I wasn't even in Kindergarten at the time it first aired. There were some young men living on a houseboat. One of the guys was played by Glenn Corbett, who always seemed to show up on some of my favourite TV shows. And another guy was played by Ted Bessell, who later showed up as Donald Hollinger on THAT GIRL. Most of the content was way over my head as these guys had romances with young women. But I always thought it was a cool thing to live on a houseboat.

[Komic_Brew]

I just watched the Monty Python live (mostly) show. It was hilarious!
reminded me of my youth

[narfstar]

I don't remember either WORLD show. I found an episode of Tim Conway's Rango on youtube. Only one season, also an episode of the Tim Conway show. Tim Conway is always funny. Monty Python is hit and miss with me. Some of it is exceptionally funny while some of it falls very short.

[profh0011]

CARRY ON SERGEANT
CARRY ON NURSE
CARRY ON TEACHER
CARRY ON CONSTABLE

The 4th introduced Sidney James to the cast, and was also where it slowly, almost imperceptably, began to evolve from low-key humor to bawdy and raunchy.  James in this one fills the same slot taken by William Hartnell in the 1st film, with a rather similar plot.

[mr_goldenage]

I mostly watch the International news for the bits and pieces on Ukraine and the "war" going on there and watching that rat "Putin" ( I pronounce it Putt Inn ) the aggressor ..... I know boring.

RB

[jimmm kelly]

CARRY ON SERGEANT
CARRY ON NURSE
CARRY ON TEACHER
CARRY ON CONSTABLE

The 4th introduced Sidney James to the cast, and was also where it slowly, almost imperceptably, began to evolve from low-key humor to bawdy and raunchy.  James in this one fills the same slot taken by William Hartnell in the 1st film, with a rather similar plot.

After reading this, I decided to watch CARRY ON SERGEANT off the internet, as I wanted to see how William Hartnell's performance compares with his DOCTOR WHO.

The humour is low-key as stated and quite the contrast to those CARRY ON movies I remember watching on TV in the '60s and '70s.

It seems like British comedies were always trying to scandalize their audience--and I guess they've never succeeded because they keep pushing the edge further and further. The Brits always seem to be ten years ahead of whatever standards of indecency you see on American TV--even on cable.

I just finished binge-watching HIM & HER the other day and it really pushes the limit. At first I had a hard time getting into it--or understanding why it's supposed to be a comedy. But having "Boom Bang-a-Bang" by Lulu at the end of every episode always gave me a reason to push on through to the end--and listen to the whole theme each time ["Boom Bang-a-Bang" won the Eurovision contest for the U.K. in 1969--although it was in a four-way tie with Spain, France and the Netherlands].

If I'm to believe British comedy, the upper class are not even worth anyone's attention because they are so depraved, the middle class is superficial and full of posh pretentions, while the lower class is lazy and ignorant yet somehow noble in their pathetic hopelessness.

Where stand the artists that create these comedies? I ask. I'd guess they're mostly middle class but filled with self-loathing for being middle class--while they seem to both admire and deride the lower class, in which they would never belong because they're too smart.

On HIM & HER, the him and the her are the only two redeeming characters. Yet Steve (played by Russell Tovey) is lazy, ignorant and weak. Though in contrast to everyone else, he's the most sympathetic character. While Becky (played by Sarah Solemani) seems to think she's a bit better than Steve. At least that's what I got from her character--but Solemani wears this inscrutable half-grin of bemusement most of the time, such as to suggest she knows more than she's telling. I could never be sure whether this means Becky really does know more or whether it means nothing at all.

Of all the characters the most evil and horrible is Laura (played by Kerry Howard). The first episode gives no hint of the utterly despicable villain she will become. I think she is possibly the most evil character to ever appear in fiction. I have never wanted a character to meet a horrible end so much. And I think her death would please every other character in the series. It's comforting to think of Shelly (played by Camille Corduri) one day dancing on Laura's grave.

The series seems to be done, but maybe like THE OFFICE it will come back for specials--we can only hope. A "Funeral for Laura" special would probably do very well in the ratings.

BOOM BANG-A-BANG by Lulu, Eurovision '69

[profh0011]

Interesting observations on the British classes. According to a couple of friends of mind, British government right now is EVEN MORE depraved than American-- which is shocking, to say the least. People need to vote BASTARDS the hell out of office if they ever want anything to change for the better.

I only have the "early" CARRY ONs for the most part, and most with commercial breaks (AUGH!). Taped off Channel 9 in the middle of the night, by the looks of it, way back in the 80s.  Somehow I never watched any of them until about 3 years ago, and I found them delightful in a very laid-back way.  They remind me of Saturday afternoon matinee shows, where mindless fun for a couple hours was just what was called for.

I'm sure I have the 5th one somewhere, but last night I watched the 6th, CARRY ON CRUISING.  My Dad was such a fan of THE LOVE BOAT series, I bet he'd have liked this.

One of my favorite takes on British classes was TO THE MANOR BORN, where Audrey Fforbes-Hamilton looks down on anyone who was a self-made millionaire (as opposed to inheriting it).  She starts out as a bit of a monster (albeit a funny one) but over 20 episodes genuinely grows into someone likable.  Of course, my favorite character was "Richard Devere" (alias Bederich Pouloveska), and I still remember almost falling out of my chair when I first learned he was-- LIKE ME-- half Polish and half Czechoslovakian.

As for shocking comedy... I recall I initially found ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS impossible to watch... and I adored Joanna Lumley.  Maybe that was the reason!!  About 8 years later, I happened across it again.. and suddenly got hooked.  WHAT had happened to my taste in shows in the meantime???

[profh0011]

More WHO...

SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE  --long a favorite since it first turned up in Philly around 1985.

THE SILURIANS  --the very 1st WHO tv story i ever saw, sometime in the early-mid 70s.

THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH  --the 2nd one I ever saw... both of these were in color originally, though I missed about HALF of each of them when they were run one episode per night at 7:30 PM, M-F.  The 1st one I ever made it all the way thru was INFERNO.  As it happens, I have all the then-available stories (1984) in both movie and episodic form, starting with INFERNO, and I haven't watched the individual episodes since the 80s.  So I'm planning to do that this time around.  Some of the cliffhangers got BUTCHERED in the movie edits, and I'd like to see them intact again.

[profh0011]

I really enjoy the historicals that were done with a lot of humor... so THE ROMANS and THE GUNFIGHTERS are 2 of my favorite stories... the latter, particularly, has become of the very few stories in the entire 26-year run I've pulled out to watch by itself more than once now!

"This here's the Clantons!"
"Oh dear... I mean, what a pleasure!"

...and...

"Marshal, would you mind taking this? People keep giving me guns!"

[profh0011]

I decided not to wait several years again this time... and I've pulled out my CAMPION collection to watch again, only a few months after the last viewing.

My PBS station, obviously, ran the series out of sequence.  The pilot-- "Look To The Lady"-- was done in a rather different, BIZARRE style, unlike any of the other stories, and was clearly intended to be seen FIRST, and, among other things, INTRODUCE the characters to the audience.  So this time, I'm watching this one FIRST.

Here's something I just posted at the IMDB board, concerning Peter Davison...

"I enjoy Peter Davison as a person and as an actor. The problem with his DOCTOR WHO run was that at least 80% of it was ABYSMALLY-written. CAMPION does not suffer from this problem, the result, Davison is at least TEN TIMES better in CAMPION than he ever was in WHO.

In fact, from the first episode of CAMPION I ever saw, it struck me, quite strongly, that Albert reminds me MORE of the "real" Doctor than Davison EVER did when he was playing "The Doctor". Had he been like this on WHO, I think his run on that show would have been much more entertaining.

The recent 50th Anniversary special-- written by Davison-- only strengthens my feeling on this. He was HILARIOUS in that-- something he was never allowed to be on DOCTOR WHO."

[bowers]

I've only been following three TV series this Summer- "Musketeers" on BBC US, "Falling Skies" on TNT, and "Crossbones" on NBC. Like "Musketeers" a lot. Well-written and excellent costumes and production values. This series really captures the grittiness of the period, although the modern idioms that pop up are a bit annoying. Peter Capaldi is the ultimate Richelieu. Capaldi sure gets around, doesn't he? "Falling Skies" is an old favorite, but the first few episodes of the season were a bit confusing. Last season's storyline was partially abandoned and a new direction was taken. It's finally come together and seems headed for a blockbuster season finale. "Crossbones" was actually much better than I expected. Malkovich played an exceedingly strange but fascinating Capt. Teach, racked with madness and an equal portion of genius. NBC recently canceled this show due to low ratings, so I'm glad at least a partial resolution was made in the final episodes. Oh, well, NBC can just whip up some more "reality" crap or more cold-case crime documentaries. Ready for the new season of The Doctor- can't wait to see what PC does with the role! Cheers, Bowers

[jimmm kelly]

Peter Capaldi was in LOCAL HERO (1983), a movie beloved by all my movie going friends when I was at the University of Alberta. We would sit around and quote lines, in our best Scottish accents (which weren't very good). Not our most beloved movie from Bill Forsyth--that was GREGORY'S GIRL--but a close second.

Peter Capaldi in LOCAL HERO was a geeky, tall lad--a bit odd but instantly identifiable. Truly the kind of young fellow we wanted to emulate. And he was the same age as myself at that time--just a few months older.

So I'm shocked to see some old, wrinkled, grey-haired gentleman calling himself Peter Capaldi who is supposed to be the new Doctor.

This forces me to consider a few disturbing realities: This Peter Capaldi must be another fellow who has stolen that other actor's name (but I think there are some actor guild rules against this, thus Peter Moffett becomes Peter Davison). Or the original Peter Capaldi has been advanced aged (which happens a lot in DOCTOR WHO) and he's become this old man too soon. Or Peter Capaldi is aging at a natural rate--but then what does that say about me? Am I really so old?

[bowers]

Jimm, I was also a big fan of "Local Hero" and will have to watch it again to look for Capaldi. The other recent series I saw him in was BBC America's "The Hour". No, Jimm, we're not really old- just much more experienced! Cheers, Bowers

[profh0011]

"CARRY ON REGARDLESS" has not turned up yet. Last week I watched "CARRY ON CABBY", and today, "CARRY ON CLEO". The latter appears to be the point where they left low-key humor behind and evolved into SEX farce. And it was only 1964!!

This one had Joan Sims ("Katryka" in "The Mysterious Planet"), Sheila Hancock ("Helen A" in "The Happiness Patrol"), Jon Pertwee ("The Doctor" in seasons 7-11), and Julie Stevens ("Venus Smith" from THE AVENGERS, season 2!).

Meanwhile on "WHO"...
INFERNO  (that's enough of this, I may never watch this nasty piece of work again)
TERROR OF THE AUTONS (still a real all-time favorite for me)

Up next:  THE MIND OF EVIL

[jimmm kelly]

I just watched online AL

[josemas]

Feature films watched the last couple of months-

Songs and Saddles-1938, The Black Pirate-1926, The Wolf of Wall Street-2013, Stunt Pilot-1939, A Good Day to Die Hard-2013, Miracle at St. Anna-2008, On Top of Old Smokey-1953,  Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom-2013, Sky Patrol-1939, Dolphin Tale-2011, The Utah Kid-1930, Phantoms of the North-1929, The Three Stooges-2012, Red Riding-1974-2009. The Case of the Stuttering Bishop-1937, Little Miss Marker-1934, Fast and Furious 6-2013, Danger Flight-1939, Red Riding-1983-2009, Hill of Utah-1951, Ender's Game-2013, Rush-2013, Justice League: Secret Origins-2001, Here's Flash Casey-1938, Inside Llewyn Davis-2013, Being There-1979, Gravity-2013, Send for Paul Temple-1946, Curse of the Pink Panther-1983, The Blazing Sun-1950, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms-1953, Detroit 9000-1973, The Cosmic Man-1959, Murder by Death-1976, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty-2013, Everybody's Dancin'-1950, Sharknado-2013, The Cowboy and the Indians-1949, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes-2014, World Without End-1956, Switchblade Sisters-1975, Conductor 1492-1924, Varieties on Parade-1951, Gangster Squad-2013, Billy the Kid Wanted-1941, The Wizard of Oz-1939, The Blue Bird-1940, The Stranger from Venus-1954, Frozen-2013, John Carter-2013, Yes Sir, Mr. Bones-1951, Shinjuku Incident-2009. The Leggo Movie-2014, Spirited Killer-1994, Houdini-2014, Kai Po Che-2013, Square Dance Jubilee-1949, The Wrath of the Gods-1914, Charlie Chan's Secret-1936, and Haywire-2012.

For my Saturday morning movie watching I finished up the quartet of Tailspin Tommy films that Monogram released in 1939 and then I moved onto a collection called Showtime, U.S.A. which I am currently working my way through.  They all consist of films with slim plots designed to showcase various singers, dancers and other variety acts of the day.

Also finished up the last of Warners' Perry Mason movies (this one starring Donald Woods), the next Pink Panther movie (this one starring Ted Wass and featuring Roger Moore (!) as Inspector Clouseau), another Charlie Chan movie, the first Paul Temple movie, the second Casey, Crime Photographer movie, several B Westerns (including four beautifully restored Gene Autry films) and my usual mix of sci-fi, horror, silent, crime, war, drama, comedy, animated, musicals and what-not.

Best

Joe