[narfstar]

Hulu has episodes of this funny UK toon

[profh0011]

McCLOUD:  TOP OF THE WORLD, MA!
The Country Boy and The Mobster     ******

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Bubba White's in town to collect ten thousand dollars. He drove all the way from Dayton Ohio with his mother (in a car--ahem-- "borrowed" from his collection agency boss), booked her into the most expensive hotel suite he could find, then went looking for the people who stiffed him his 10%. What he doesn't realize is, the man he's looking for is a high-level racketeer the NYC cops have been after for at least 7 years, and his own boss-- who works for the racketeer-- is the one who really stiffed him. No surprise-- turns out the guy's been stealing from the racketeer for 3 years!

When Bubba's (stolen) car runs out of gas, he just grabs another one... which brings him to the attention of Sam McCloud & Joe Broadhurst, assigned to stolen car detail. A young boy who saw Bubba helps point Sam in the right direction, and soon he & Joe are interviewing Mrs. White, who's worried about her son. When Sam promises her to find Bubba, Joe points out, "McCloud, you're still assigned to stolen car detail!" "He stole a car, didn't he?" (There's that lateral thinking again!)

When the investigation-- and Bubba's somewhat violent activities-- lead to mobster Jack Faraday, Captain (or is that "Chief"?) Clifford tells Sam to get back to stolen cars, since Clifford CAN'T tell the Police Commissioner the job of nailing the city's biggest racketeer has been assigned to "an exchange student from Taos, New Mexico". "Guess I'll have to make the best of it, Chief." Of course, we know what that means.

Before long, Bubba's boss, who came in at the request of the cops to pick up his car, has been found out by HIS boss, and winds up DEAD in a sleazy hotel room, as part of a frame-up to make Bubba look like the killer. But even a bullet wound in the shoulder is not enough to stop this ex-football linebacker, and, with info gathered by a photographer's model Bubba's befriended, he goes after Faraday. She winds up calling Sam, and HE arrives moments before the rest of the cops do (with warrants), in just in time to save Bubba's life.

The "laid-back" tone of the 2nd season continues here. While this story takes place in far more "gritty" surroundings than the last one did, it still has a "COLUMBO" sort of feel to it, with the focus being more on Bubba and the gangsters than McCloud and the rest of the police. Sam even goes into his "country Columbo" routine when he interviews Faraday in his fancy office, managing to get on his nerves while telling a story about a Taos crook which ends with the abrupt punchline, "They HUNG him." --just trying to shake things loose.

A lot of familiar faces in this one! You've got Robert Webber (12 ANGRY MEN, THE SILENCERS, THE DIRTY DOZEN, REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER) as Faraday, the main villain; Stephanie Powers (THE GIRL FROM UNCLE, HART TO HART) as Jackie Dawn, the tough-as-nails photo model; Joan Blondell (HERE COMES THE BRIDES) as Ernestine White, Bubba's Ma; Bob Svenson (WALKING TALL, Dan Curtis' FRANKENSTEIN) as Charles "Bubba" White; Vincent Gardenia (ALL IN THE FAMILY and countless guest-shots on TV shows) as Barney Sweetwater, Bubba's boss who really caused the whole problem; Milton Selzer (countless TV appearances) as Flynn, the sleazy hotel manager who tries to frame Bubba for murder; Val Avery (another longtime TV vet) as Gruber, Ed Peck (who I recognized as "Col. Fellini" in the STAR TREK episode "Tomorrow Is Yesterday"-- "I'm going to lock you up for two hundred years!!") as the bartender whose bar gets trashed by Bubba; and Antony Carbone (A BUCKET OF BLOOD, CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA, PIT AND THE PENDULUM) as Dave, Faraday's hit man.

Watching episodes from this season really brings back memories for me, of a time when it seemed TV became a haven for "kindler, gentler", more "human" TV shows. It didn't last. After Viet Nam ended and Watergate happened, it seems to me the whole mood of the country got more cynical and callous. Oh well!

Following this season, producer Dean Hargrove would move on to MADIGAN, followed by-- appropriately enough-- COLUMBO. In the years since, his credits have included PERRY MASON, FATHER DOWLING MYSTERIES, MATLOCK, JAKE & THE FATMAN, and DIAGNOSIS MURDER. And to think it all started with these 7 "low key" McCLOUDs! Meanwhile, Peter Allan Fields' later work included executive story consultant on THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, RETURN OF THE SAINT (a real favorite of mine), STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION and producer of STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE.

[josemas]

I recently snagged a season 1 & 2 collection of McCloud at Big Lots and Henry's commentaries have me itching to start watching it.  I haven't seen any of this series since the original 1970's broadcasts.

Best

Joe

[profh0011]

I hope you've got the version of Season 1 from Australia.  I've been reading that the Australian DVDs are the only ones with the 1st season intact in its original 1-hour format (6 episodes).  Sometime in the mid-70's, someone took the 6 episodes and re-edited them into 3 "movies". If they'd done them as if they were "double features", that wouldn't have been too bad, but these were inter-cut to make them appear as one story in each case.  TOTAL BUTCHER JOBS!!!  4 episodes of THE NIGHT STALKER also had this done to them.

This is why I decided this time to just skip the 1st season entirely (and also skip the pilot, since it's the one really bad episode in the entire run of the show-- how did something that bad get sold as a seriers?).

I taped all of mine off THE CBS LATE MOVIE in the early 80's.  Most are okay, but a few near the end of their run (which was run totally out of sequence) were also butchered.  They used to let the movies run as long as they needed to, but at some point, some months before they stopped running them at all, they put some kind of news show on at 2 AM, which meant every movie had to fit into an 80-min. slot (incljuding commercials).  Cutting a 90 to 80 is bad enough-- but those 2-hour jobs (120) had to fit as well.  You wonder how some of these things made any sense that way.

[josemas]

Well The Night Stalker DVD collection had everything restored correctly so I'm hoping that they did this set right.  No reason not to have original versions on DVDs as they aren't trying to make these an attractive (consistent running times) package for syndication. 

That said, I also wouldn't be surprised if some studio bonehead pulled the syndicated versions for the DVD set either.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Joe

[profh0011]

As far as I know, THE NIGHT STALKER episodes weren't edited on CBS... except for every one of them missing the opening credits.  THE CBS LATE MOVIE started with running THE NBC MYSTERY MOVIES, and they would leave out the "MYSTERY MOVIE" intro.  But when they expanded to other shows, they started cutting those opening credits, too.

The most annoying for me was THE NEW AVENGERS. The first time the ran those, they cut all the opening credits-- even though the theme song appeared several minutes into each episode! So they'd have the "teaser", the "freeze frame", then blink to the story title, still in freeze-frame.  2 years later they restored the theme song.  Lucky for me, that was the year I decided to tape it.  But they did other things... like starting the 1st episode about 10 minutes EARLY (I'd turned the TV on about 5 minutes early, just in time to notice the story was already running.)  Or skipping an episode when they switched from Friday nights at 11:30 to Monday nights at 12:40.  Or interrupting one episode with a news break, but leaving the episode running during the newsbreak.

4 years later, when they ran the series a 3rd time, they did a DOUBLE butcher job on it.  They began to cut scenes, and, what they ran was running FAST.  "Time compression" they call it-- as if nobody would notice, or mind.  If I were a sponsor, I'd refuse to have them air my commercials unless they guaranteed me they'd run the shows uncut. 

[moondood]

re: Lost Horizon

I clearly remember the supper club discussion scene, but it seemed they were talking about how he jumped ship en route to England.

Makes me wonder if there aren't alternate takes to some scenes, and different takes were edited into different versions of the film.>>>

=============

I misspoke.  You're correct....they were discussing his jumping ship.  I guess when I said he got back to England, I meant he got to civilization.  I thought it odd that we didn't see him jump ship, tho--that it was told with the supper club scene.

I was surprised by the various Metropolis prints...those do actually have alternate takes on the same scenes--depending on the country where the prints are found, I think.

I've never heard of that before--except maybe a TV version vs. a theatrical version of modern movies.

Kurt Hathaway
khathawayart@gmail.com

[profh0011]

The first time I heard about "alternate" takes was regarding the film THE ROBE.  Now here's something that totally blew my mind when I read about it recently.  It seems they put together 2 COMPLETE versions of THE ROBE-- one for CINEMASCOPE and one for "regular".  The way they did it, the director deliberately composed the shots different for each of the 2 formats. 

When the film turned up on TV in the late 60's, they ran the "regular" version.  As a result, every scene looked "right".  Nothing appeared to be cut off.  However, the version that turned up on TCM-- widescreen-- is NOT the same movie.  EVERY SINGLE SHOT is different!  It would be interesting to compare them side-by-side, and see if the performances of the actors differed much between the two.

This kinda reminds me of the "Spanish" versions of some films done in the early 30's, when sound just came in.  Except in the case of THE ROBE, you had the same actors in the same language.  But still, 2 completely different (if very similar) films.

[profh0011]

Moondood:
"I misspoke.  You're correct....they were discussing his jumping ship.  I guess when I said he got back to England, I meant he got to civilization.  I thought it odd that we didn't see him jump ship, tho--that it was told with the supper club scene.

I was surprised by the various Metropolis prints...those do actually have alternate takes on the same scenes--depending on the country where the prints are found, I think.

I've never heard of that before--except maybe a TV version vs. a theatrical version of modern movies."


It keeps sticking in my mind that I saw a scene of Ronald Colman back in England, but depressed and deeply wanting to go back to Shangri-La.  But again, it COULD be a completely different movie I'm thinking of.  If so, I can't for the life of me think what it might be.

The 1st time I saw METROPOLIS it was the 1984 Georgio Moroder restoration.  I LOVED it!  There was that one hilarious bit caused by missing footage.  The card reads, "Maria escapes."  And we see her running down the street!  HOW did she get away???  Much later, I saw the mid-90's (?) restoration, which had so much additional footage added back in.  The whole scene where she's fighting with Rotwang was there, and we see her escape.  I laughed when I finally saw that. "So THAT's how she did it!" I said.

I have both versions on tape, and have been meaning for ages to watch them back-to-back to compare.  As much as the longer version is such a wonderful film, the truth is, I got used to the rock score.  It's like Chaney's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.  TCM has been running a SLIGHTLY better print than the one I currently have.  But the orchestral score tends to bore me now, since I've been in love with the Rick Wakeman score for 20 years now.

I can't recall examples, but I have heard of instances where directors have shot 2 different versins of some scenes-- opne with cursing, one without,m for theatre or TV.  Oh, I just remembered, John Carpenter did 2 versions of some shots in HALLOWEEN.  In the TV version, P.J. Sole's breasts are covered up!  (You couldn't really "edit" that properly without it losing too much of the story, or being ver noticable.  Though I have seen at least one film where someone "blurred" out conspicuous nudity for a TV broadcast.  You could tell something was wrong with the picture, it got very annoying.)

[profh0011]

I just remembered another one I read about not long ago.  It was the Chaney PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!  When sound came in, some films were reissued with some scenes redone.  PHANTOM was one of those.  It turns out, the print that has been in circulation for decades now is the reissue, not the original.  Some shots of The Phantom from the original have never been seen since the 20's.  Isn't that nuts?

One standout, the opening sequence of the film used to make me shake my head in dismay.  There's this long shot of the underground, with someone walking thru the picture... very slow.  NOTHING happens.  And it goes on forever.  Turns out, this scene was NOT in the original version of the film.  It was added, and in the reissue, there was a voice-over that set up the story.  I have 2 videotapes of PHANTOM.  The first was a "Video Yesteryear" version which claims to have been "restored to its proper speed".  But if you ever watch that THING, it's awful.  Everything is slowed down to an unnatural pace.  A 90 min. film becomes 2 hours!  (I'm not kidding!)  This makes that opening shot even worse.

However, on the Rick Wakeman version, they got Christopher Lee to film an intro desribing the history of the Opera House, the novel, and the Chaney film.  And here's the wild part-- he continues talking after the film begins-- right over that opening scene I described above.  At first, I thought, "What nerve!"  But all these years later, I found out that scene was supposed to have a voice-over with it!  So Lee was, in effect, restoring the original intent of the sequence.

[narfstar]

interesting

[paw broon]

Last night we had the first episodes of Elementary and Arrow.  Managed about 10 or 15 minutes of Elementary before I turned off but Arrow was very entertaining and even Linda thought it wasn't "too bad" - high praise indeed.
Monday night's New Tricks was seriously good - dark, worrying, convoluted and saw the re-appearance of Tim McInnerney's shadowy character. Manipulative and disturbing.  Try to see the episodes in this series in transmission order.

[narfstar]

Second episode of Arrow was really good and adding interesting elements and subplots. Reminds me of Revenge. I look forward to tonights

[paw broon]

So, his sister's nickname is Speedy and Laurel's name is Dinah Lance.  I suppose there's no chance of her suiting up and finding a sonic scream?

[narfstar]

I am sure they have some things in the works if the series is successful.

[profh0011]

McCLOUD:  SOMEBODY'S OUT TO GET JENNIE
McCloud and The Sensitive Girl     ******

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Another very unusual episode begins with a man barely escaping (by accident) a helicopter explosion meant to kill him. Months later, bored with more tedious assignments in "big city law enforcement", McCloud finds himself doing "follow-up" on an insurance investigation of a business exec who was killed in a "helicopter crash". As with most COLUMBOs, the audience spends most of this story knowing more than the hero, as he slowly winds his way into the case.

Robert Devlin (Cameron Mitchell in an unusually sympathetic role for him) ran a company that had big contracts with the military, and his sudden death had the F.B.I. investigating for months. His accountant is also believed to have made off with a pile of money. As McCloud questions insurance man Ira Mastin (Gabriell Dell), who seems overly proud of his old days as a nightclub entertainer, and retired General Ralph Touhy (Barry Sullivan), they both become concerned that under his laid-back country demeanor, that he's gotten more from reading the extensive F.B.I. reports than they'd like.

The one wild card turns out to be Devlin's secretary, Jennie, who may have been in love with Devlin, and who seems to believe he might still be alive. A gentle, sensitive soul with her head often in the clouds, Jennie spent months in a psychiatric ward after Devlin's demise, and in the time since, has changed her name hoping to put her past behind her. But in his most gentlemanly way, Sam slowly begins to get to the truth, and unfortunately this has bad consequences as the guilty parties decide it would be best if they could find a way to drive her BACK into the hospital, for good.

Jennie is played by Julie Sommars, and I'm pretty sure this was my first exposure to her. She returned a couple seasons later playing a very different character, but probably made her biggest dent on TV as a regular on 94 episodes MATLOCK (like this story, produced by Dean Hargrove). But it was in this story she made the biggest impression on me. How could I not fall in love with her character? Also in the cast are Priscilla Pointer as "Shirley", the flirtatious manager of an art gallery who McCloud uses to check the identity of a supposed deceased painter; I thought I recognized her, around 20 years later she played Barry Allen's mother on THE FLASH! Also, among the girls at the General's estate is Anne Randall, Playboy Playmate of the Month May 1967.

Missing in action this time is Joe Broadhurst. If not for J.D. Cannon as Captain Clifford, Sam would almost be on his own this time out.

I saw this when it was first-run, but had almost forgotten it by the time I taped it off THE CBS LATE MOVIE. They used a very memorable (and creepy) scene in their promos, that of a figure appearing to step right out of a painting. It's the sort of thing one might have expected on Rod Serling's NIGHT GALLERY, which had its 2nd season at the time this story aired.

A major sub-plot, involving Sam going to a small town in Mexico trying to track down a man everyone else believes is dead-- based on a painting he did-- could well have been lifted from the film "THE FALCON IN MEXICO" with Tom Conway. There was also a similar plot in an early episode of DANGER MAN, "View From The Villa". Clifford has his best line in the story when he tells Sam, "You've got TWO days. If you can't find him by then... keep riding south." (Don't come back now, hear?)

McCLOUD was my FAVORITE show at the time this aired, and stayed that way right to the end of the run. The 2nd year may not be my favorite, standing out as so "different" from the other 6 seasons, but I feel they're all worth seeing. On top of anything else, they bring back powerful memories for me of a very different time in my life.

[macsnafu]

MeTV is apparently a syndicated network showing on a local UHF channel in my area.  They show a lot of old TV shows, like Perry Mason, Daniel Boone, Mary Tyler Moore, Columbo, Get Smart, Batman, Wild Wild West, Dick Van Dyke, Remington Steele, and others.  So I've been re-watching a lot of old favorites and catching up on shows I never really saw when I was younger, such as the Daniel Boone show.

My girlfriend is upset because we can't seem to get the ION channel any more.  They were showing more recent programming like Leverage and some other crime dramas (whose names I can't recall at the moment).

I really don't feel like paying extra for cable, but my gf may insist on it if she can't watch her favorite shows.

[profh0011]

McCLOUD:  THE DISPOSAL MAN
Who Hired the Hit-man?     ******

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Sam's evening with Chris Caughlin is interrupted when a low-level crook assaults him in a bar, then informs him of a "hit" planned against a prominent businessman. He later denies it, but following McCloud's instincts, Clifford assigns him to act as bodyguard. Sam soon finds himself in a viper's nest, as it seems Arthur Yerby (Patrick O'Neal) has a way of offending everyone whose path he crosses, including, it seems, every member of his family. He's like the murder victim in an Agatha Christie story, except here, McCloud is trying to prevent the murder before it happens, as well as find out who's behind it.

Along the way Sam manages to interview a retired hit-man (Arthur O'Connell), who gives him tips on how someone in that peculiar business operates.

After the last 3 episodes, this is a real step back toward the "traditional" McCLOUD of the the 1st and all later seasons. His occasional girlfriend Chris (Diana Muldaur) is around, writing stories about him that anger his boss, and hob-nobbing with the rich and famous. Clifford gets to be angry & irate in some scenes, while clever enough to "play along" with McCloud's schemes in others. And Sam gets help from-- no, wait, that isn't Joe Broadhurst, it's Richard Thatcher! I don't know what happened to Terry Carter, but James McEachin fills in nicely. His Thatcher, while filling the slot of "helpful black detective" (I don't know what else to call it) is quite different from Broadhurst, if anything he's got a lot more "personality". 2 years later, McEachin would get his own short-lived TV series as part of the NBC MYSTERY MOVIE cycle. If "McCLOUD" was based on "COOGAN'S BLUFF", then "TENAFLY" surely was inspired by "THEY CALL ME MISTER TIBBS!" 15 years later, he could be seen semi-regularly as "Lt. Ed Brock" on the revived PERRY MASON movie series (like this episode, produced by Dean Hargrove).

Also in the cast are comedian Jack Carter as "Frank Gordon", the crook who tips Sam to the contract; Nita Talbot as "Rosalie Hudgins", the hooker who fails to take Sam's advice (I always remember her as the Russian spy on HOGAN'S HEROES); Arlene Martel as "Linda Farley", the strange, long-winded girlfriend of Frank Gordon (she's probably best remembered as "T'Pring" from the STAR TREK episode "Amok Time"); Randolph Mantooth (EMERGENCY) as "Phillip Yerby", perpetually put down by his father; Pat Morita (HAPPY DAYS) as "Felix", the bartender at the beginning of the story; Murray Matheson (BANACEK) as "George Lincoln", Yerby's business manager; and James Olsen as "Thomas Dane", the hired killer of the story title. Olsen's had a long career playing mostly psychos and killers, this episode being a prime example, but I often remember him as the lead scientist (and hero of the film) in "THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN".

[profh0011]

McCLOUD:  A LITTLE PLOT IN TRANQUIL VALLEY
"The Loved One" -- Part 2     ******

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Some people are just plain greedy. Marvin Sloan run a nation-wide chain of expensive, exclusive funeral parlors and cemeteries called "Tranquil Valley", where, for "surprisingly reasonable rates", you can be buried like a millionaire. You'd think that would be satisfy some people. So why is he ALSO in the business of hijacking medical supplies, watering them down and then shipping them to South America to sell on the black market?

Marvin's also got a problem. His wife Lucy has been nagging him for months to let her half-wit brother Ralphie (the one with the mind of a 5-year-old) join the operation, because he wants to get out of TV repair. And against all his best instincts, he agrees. You just know things are going to go bad when, with childlike glee, Ralphie, on getting a gun (gift-wrapped!) excitedly asks, "Where's the bullets? Where's the bullets?" Sure enough, during a routine hijacking at a warehouse, Ralphie, nervous and over-anxious, accidentally drops his gun in front of a security guard-- who he then proceeds to SHOOT, before being wounded himself. Now, while he's in a hospital under police guard, his sister Lucy is nagging her husband because HE let her brother get shot and beaten and arrested and what's he going to do to get him out of it? You can bet Marvin is wishing he'd gotten a divorce years ago.

So Marvin does two things. His 2 henchmen KIDNAP McCloud (the arresting officer) and demand a trade of prisoners. Meanwhile, Marvin's lawyer goes to visit Ralphie, at first mistaking him for a whiplash case. "I'm here on a MURDER charge!" "I'm sorry, I had the wrong file." After questioning his client (the guard never pulled his gun, Ralphie shot him in front of 7 witnesses, he gave the police the murder weapon), the lawyer makes an unusual proposal. "I'd like to suggest that you might consider saving yourself a lot of hassle by taking your own life." "WHAT? What kind of a lawyer ARE you? GET OUT OF HERE!!!"

If you haven't figured out by now, this episode is more of a comedy than usual. I found myself laughing so hard at that last scene.

As usual, producer Dean Hargrove has lined up an impressive cast for this low-key loony-show. Joyce Van Patten (THE GOOD GUYS, UNHAPPILY EVER AFTER) is "Lucy", the pushy, bossy, complaining wife and overly-loyal and loving older sister. Moses Gunn (SHAFT, SHAFT'S BIG SCORE, BATES MOTEL) is "Morgan", the Shakespeare-quoting hired thug. Vic Morrow (THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, COMBAT, THE TWILIGHT ZONE movie) is "Richard", the brutal, hypochondriac sidekick. Alfred Ryder (STAR TREK: "The Man Trap") is Dudley, the chemist who branches out into a little murder on the side. Arlene Martel (STAR TREK: "Amok Time") makes her 2nd appearance in a row on the show, this time as the blonde-haired "Tour Guide" whose long-winded spiels about Tranquil Valley pepper the entire length of the episode. Bruce Kirby (COLUMBO and countless other shows) is the "PR Man" who takes photos of Marvin. Burgess Meredith (BATMAN, ROCKY, CLASH OF THE TITANS) is "Marvin", who probably brings the best performance as the story's main villain. But the kicker is Allen Garfield (THE FRONT PAGE, MOTHER JUGS & SPEED, CONTINENTAL DIVIDE) as "Ralphie", the idiot's idiot who should have stayed in TV repair.

No sign of Joe Broadhurst or Richard Thatcher in this one. I seem to vaguely remember Chris Caughlin, but it must have been a brief cameo. At least Peter B. Clifford got to make an impact, when he solemnly stands on the steps of the Criminal Courts Building and silently shakes his head "NO", knowing that by doing so he's probably sealing McCloud's death sentence.

This is just one really WEIRD story, but considering most of the NBC MYSTERY MOVIES tended to have humor alongside the drama, crime & mystery, and given that I LIKE humor with my dramas, I got a real kick out of it.

[moondood]

I think it's WHTV that's running the Lone Ranger every day.  I've loved that show since 1976 when I was 16 [re-runs, of course].  I can't quite put my finger on why I love it so much.  I'm a superhero fan--and a cowboy fan, so the blend is irresistible, but still it goes beyond that.  Been listening to the old radio show, too--fun, but not the same at the TV show--and it's gotta be Clayton Moore behind the mask for me.  His presence and his voice grabs me.  As a filmmaker, I can see the cheese in the process, but the sum of the parts still holds up. Wish I coulda met him when he was alive.  Was at his Hollywood sidewalk star a couple weeks ago by accident--so that's the closest I'll get, I guess.

Give it a look if you can find it on your TV dial.

On a related note, I was out teaching my son to drive last week and realized we were near the Lone Ranger rock [the stacked rock seen in the show's opening]--so I directed him to the nearest street and told him to stop and look over there.  I'd been there before so I knew where it was, but he was somehow less impressed than I.  He has his own heroes, I get it.

Kurt Hathaway
khathawayart@gmail.com

[profh0011]

I haven't seen THE LONE RANGER in ages, but I remember loving it back in the late 60's when I watched the reruns. Yep, there's something special about Clayton Moore. My Dad described him as having a voice of "cold steel". The only other actor to touch it was Brace Beemer (on the radio), whose voice may have been even tougher.

I can picture very clearly in my head the "stacked rocks" of the opening credits. It's not the same thing, but as a kid, I remember loving to climb on some similar (if less impressive) rocks behind the Philadelphia Museum Of Art (before a fear of heights somehow took me by surprise as I started growing taller-- isn't that bizarre?).

The oddest "Lone Ranger" has to be the movie serial, which veered drastically from the standard format, and whose plot involved a number of lawmen, all of whom were suspected as being the secret identity of the hero. Which is really odd, considering after the massacre of the Texas Rangers, John Reid became The Lone Ranger and never went out in public as "himself" anymore, since Reid (like Denny Colt in THE SPIRIT) was supposed to be dead!

[profh0011]

McCLOUD:  FIFTH MAN IN A STRING QUARTET
Classical Music, Mystery & Murder     ******

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A concert conductor is stabbed in an alley. A student of his, who had a crush on his daughter, just happens by and is accused of the killing. As McCloud investigates, he finds wildly divergent descriptions of the suspect in custody. His landlord calls him a weirdo, the lawyer helping raise funds for a music conservatory says he was potentially dangerous, but all his friends say he was utterly focused on his music and incapable of hurting a fly.

But as his investigation continues, McCloud finds something far more twisted was going on behind the scenes, involving a (supposedly) reformed mobster who's up for the job of harbor commissioner; his lawyer who (coincidentally?) is the one helping to keep the music conservatory open with "anonymous" donations, and who happens to be dating the murdered man's daughter; and how the murder was really meant to bring the conductor's brother, who's been on the run from the mob since he witnessed a hit years ago, out of hiding. (It somewhat blew my mind when this dawned on me, about a third of the way into the story.) McCloud gets somewhat reluctant help from the suspect's friends, the other 3 members of his string quartet, who all work at a deli.

As usual for this show, the cast includes an interesting assemblage of known actors and future familiar faces. This time around there's Rick Weaver (Dennis' son) is "Louis Brocco", the shy, sensitive violin player conned into being in the wrong place at the wrong time, just so he could catch a glimpse of the girl he admires. Gary Collins (THE SIXTH SENSE) is "Kevin Mallory", the "helpful" lawyer whose boss pushes him to commit murder. Neville Brand (THE UNTOUCHABLES' own Al Capone) is "Fred Schultke", the crook-turned-politico who no doubt sees the job as harbor commissioner as an open door to controlling all the narcotics coming into the city for his own profit. Alex Henteloff (the sleaze-ball attorney "Arnold Ripner" in 8 episodes of BARNEY MILLER), Richard Haydn (AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, THE SOUND OF MUSIC) and Avery Schreiber (MY MOTHER THE CAR) are the 3 musicians who wind up helping Sam clear their friend of the murder charge. Shelly Fabares (THE PRACTICE, ONE DAY AT A TIME, COACH) is "Natalie Rudell", daughter of the murdered man. Timothy Carey (HEAD, THE NEW MIKE HAMMER) is the "Apartment Manager" who paints a bad image of the murder suspect, then surprisingly seems to make a pass at McCloud (who departs rather nervously). Lilia Skala (LILIES OF THE FIELD, GREEN ACRES) is "Eugenia Rudell", the conductor's wife, who proves the be the most outspoken defender of Louis Brocco, McCloud's staunch ally and perhaps the most interesting character in the story. Dick Miller (THE PREMATURE BURIAL, ROCK & ROLL HIGH SCHOOL) is the hit-man in the "green hat". Finally, Joseph Wiseman (DR. NO, CRIME STORY) is "Paul Rudell", who is shocked and cannot believe his brother could have been killed for the reason McCloud suggests (until he finds out that's exactly the truth).

This story continues to steer slowly back toward the style of the 1st season, with more action to balance out the long stretches of mystery and character scenes.  Joe Broadhurst has a brief but important scene in the story, providiing the crucial link in McCloud's investigation between the lawyer & the ex-mobster.

[josemas]

I see that three of the new shows that I have been following- Arrow, Revolution and Elementary have been doing well enough in the ratings that each has had a full season of shows ordered.

On another positive note my satellite company settled its feud with AMC just in time for me to watch episode one of The Walking Dead on the internet, episode two on its weekly rerun on AMC and then join in for the regular first run broadcast of episode three.
I see that The Walking Dead has been doing very well in the ratings this season too often beating out such network blockbusters as CSI in key demographic groups.

Best

Joe

[MarkWarner]

I gave up on the Walking Dead ... started off great and slowly got soppier and soppier ... Zombie films should not be about love triangles and kids. There should be attacks at least every 10 minutes and lots of strange looking mutants. Last one I saw I don't think there was a zombie in sight.

[profh0011]

Alternately, there should be lots of VOODOO involved...