Print

[JVJ]

That's when Hutton took over. I never really liked anything he did before that, but Archie Goodwin seemed a role he was born to play.  One of the best decisions they could have made was to make Archie the main character (which he did not appear to be in the 1981 series).

This has ALWAYS been the attraction of the "Nero Wolfe" series, prof. The stories are ALL told in the first person by Archie Goodwin. The TV show was just being faithful to the premise that, IMHO, is what made the books and stories work in the first place. Often Archie could be as surprised as the reader by the denouement.

Never saw the shows, but credit where it's due: Rex Stout.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[profh0011]

I know that. The thing is, the '81 series DIDN'T. Maybe that's why it ended after only 13 episodes? I don't think Archie narrated the '77 movie, either... With Timothy Hutton, they finally got it RIGHT.

[JVJ]

I figured as much, prof,
but wasn't certain that all of the people reading the post were aware of it.

Have you ever noticed how timeless most of Stout's Wolfe stories are? When I re-read Fer de Lance a while back, I was amazed that a book written in 1934 could seem so modern. There are very few (less than a dozen by my count) anachronisms. I found that to be true in many other of the Wolfe canon also.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[narfstar]

I think I have several of the OTR. It is not a series that I have had time to sample yet. I think I will give it a try. Most series like that are pretty close to the book. OTR story quality was pretty good on high profile series.

[josemas]

I too was a fan of the Hutton/Chaykin version of Nero Wolfe.  The series wisely did faithful adaptations of Stout's stories (one episode for the short stories and two episodes for the novels).  While the books, written between the mid 1930s and mid 1970s, were always set in whatever time period the books were written (although, as Jim has noted, there were usually only a few bits in each book that would give the time period away) the series compromised and set the show in the 1950s (right in the middle of Stout's run) which worked out pretty well overall.

I've always wanted to see the short lived 1930s Wolfe movie series which began only a few years after Stout began writing the books.  I know some people who have seen them who like them and others who say they aren't much good.  Stout reportedly didn't care for them and thereafter refused to let any more  movie adaptations of Wolfe be done. 

I always though that Sydney Greenstreet (Kasper Gutman-the fat man in The Maltese Falcon-1941) would have been the perfect person to play Wolfe on screen.  While he never got that chance he did get to play Wolfe on radio in the 1940s.

Best

Joe

[paw broon]

"But long before I got to see that, for me there was a "jump" from "Day Of The Daleks" to "Robot" (the 1st Tom Baker story). I recall seeing a photo of Baker, and wondering, could this GOOFY-looking guy be The Doctor? But I got to LIKE him by the end of his very 1st episode! (Ditto for Sylvester McCoy.)" profh0011.
Nice to find someone giving Sylvester a bit of appreciation.  2 Scottish actors have now played The Doctor - Yeah for the wee guys! National pride apart, I also enjoyed Sylvester in the role even though some of his stories were pretty poor.  Particularly enjoy Ghost Light and Curse of Fenric.
Never been a big Tom Baker fan but some of his stories are among the best Doctor tales - Pyramids of Mars; Fang Rock; Weng-Chiang; Image of the Fendahl. Said it before and love to repeat it, my favourite Doctor, incl. the new ones is Patrick Troughton.  But then, I was lucky enough to watch them on BBC as they went out.

[paw broon]

josemas, Phantom Light is quite a favourite of ours.  Seen it so often I could act it. There is another "lighthouse" comedy thriller, Back Room Boy, with Arthur Askey  You probably know of this one but, if not, it's well worth a look.  How about Ask a Policeman with Will Hay?  The point of this one is that there isn't a lighthouse - only a headless horseman, smugglers and marvellous antics from Hay and co.

[narfstar]

I think I would have liked Patrick Troughton if I had not started with Baker. I think your favorite Doc is like your favorite Bond. The one you get started with. I need to give Patrick Troughton another try now that I am older and well past Baker. I have enjoyed all the recent Docs.

[profh0011]

Not just another "submarine" movie"


Tonight's quote:


"Have you recently sold any pre-atomic war surplus submarines, and if so, to
who?"


: )


Henry

[profh0011]

I think I would have liked Patrick Troughton if I had not started with Baker. I think your favorite Doc is like your favorite Bond. The one you get started with. I need to give Patrick Troughton another try now that I am older and well past Baker. I have enjoyed all the recent Docs.

Where does that leave me?  My first was Peter Cushing!  Then Jon Pertwee, then Tom Baker, then Peter Davison, THEN I got to see Patrick Troughton (via "The Five Doctors").  

And then it wasn't until Colin Baker came along they ran William Hartnell's available stories, along with Patrick Troughton's.


I recall a lot of Americans HATED Colin Baker, and for that matter, couldn't stand William Hartnell. I think this is because he was so unlikeable in his first 3 stories. But by the time you get to the end of the 13th episode (the point where they weren't sure if the show was going to be cancelled or renewed for the rest of the season), he mellowed out a lot, and finally got to be friends with both Barbara & Ian.  (Ian, of course, was the REAL hero of the early stories.)


Although my best friend maintains Peter Davison is HIS favorite Doctor, I still think he tended to be bland, and his stories needed much better writing.  I liked Colin Baker much more... but HIS stories needed even BETTER writing. It wasn't until Sylvester McCoy came along I felt they really had a "great" Doctor again. I LOVED him from the first. He actually became my FAVORITE Doctor! But about half of his stories made me shake my head and wonder, "WHAT are they DOING??"

My tastes never seem to be typical of the average fans. MY favorite McCoy stories are...

PARADISE TOWERS
DELTA AND THE BANNERMEN
REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS
THE GREATEST SHOW IN THE GALAXY
THE HAPPINESS PATROL
BATTLEFIELD
SURVIVAL

[narfstar]

I need to watch some of the first three doctors episodes. I did like the Cushing movies.

[paw broon]

It's saddo time again. So, my favourite Doctors in order are:-
Troughton, Davison, Smith, Hartnell (apart from anything else, this was the very beginnings of the show and the sense of wonder, to me, was so exciting. He's the Doctor who first faces the Daleks and Cybermen - when they still looked frightening). Can't stand McGann, in anything and I've never liked Eccleston.

[josemas]

josemas, Phantom Light is quite a favourite of ours.  Seen it so often I could act it. There is another "lighthouse" comedy thriller, Back Room Boy, with Arthur Askey  You probably know of this one but, if not, it's well worth a look.  How about Ask a Policeman with Will Hay?  The point of this one is that there isn't a lighthouse - only a headless horseman, smugglers and marvellous antics from Hay and co.

Paw,  Am very familiar with Ask a Policeman which is a favorite Hay film of many of the Movie Night regulars.  While we know of Askey and have seen a few of his films we have not gotten around to Back room Boy yet but I'll give 'em all your info and I'm sure we'll turn it up one of these nights.

Best

Joe

[profh0011]

"Can't stand McGann, in anything and I've never liked Eccleston."

I remember when that movie first aired... thinking McGann was the best thing in there by a wide margin.  Recently, I re-watched my entire collection. When I got to the McGann movie... oh man. It was MUCH WORSE than I remembered it! And-- he was AWFUL in it. The script, so obsessed with continuity, didn't help.


I've only seen Eccleston in 2 things, the other one where he played a bad guy. Going in with NO advance knowledge at all (it's been very difficult avoiding info until i get to see the thing), I got to like his Doctor immediately. Funny thing that didn't occur to me until about a year or two after he left... he reminds me of what the 1st Doctor might have been like, when HE was a lot younger. (shape of the face, long black coat) It still freaks me out that they went in, knowing, in advance, that the guy was only gonna do ONE season. Doesn't that strike anyone as NUTS?

I used to think, why didn't they just bring McGann back for the one season? But having watched his film again, I'm glad they didn't.



David Tennant, on the other hand, from the beginning made me think, "Peter Davison DONE RIGHT".

[narfstar]

Speaking of Golden Age does anyone else love Hot in Cleveland. LMAO every episode

[boox909]

Speaking of Golden Age does anyone else love Hot in Cleveland. LMAO every episode

I like looking at  Valerie Bertinelli  in the commercials, but I rarely watch sitcoms anymore.

B.

[narfstar]

I like to laugh. I am a big fan of sitcoms. And VB is still HOT

[bowers]

Haven't seen "Hot in Cleveland" yet, but it looks like a dynamite cast. I'll have to give it a try. Found an episode of "Hustle" I hadn't seen yet on AMC-on Demand. Sure hope they'll be showing more of these. Cheers, Bowers

[profh0011]

Ah, the tragedy of "unsold pilots"-- TV shows that never were.


Today:


THE ADVENTURES OF NICK CARTER  (1972)


Decades before Now Comics gave GREEN HORNET a "generational" slant (which DC then ripped off endlessly with their own books), NICK CARTER existed as a series of pulp novels spread over no less than 3 completely different, seemingly-unrelated eras.  He began life as an 1890's Private Eye (possibly even pre-dating Sherlock Holmes!).  He was much later revived as a 1940's hardboiled P.I. (in the style of Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade & Mike Hammer).  In the 60's, he became a SPY.


But this tv-movie appears to be set in the ROARING 20's. How about that?


It amazes me how tv series of the 60's have their own look, feel & style.  Ditto for the early 70's.  Ditto for the late 70's, except the late 70's didn't have much style at all.


Anyway, THIS thing seems to have aged well, in my eyes at least.  Everything about it screams that it could have easily become an addition to the NBC MYSTERY MOVIE line-up, the way HEC RAMSEY with Richard Boone did.  (That was a detective-western hybrid set about the turn of the Century.)


I suppose one could say this was an early-70's "private eye" follow-up, thematically, to THE WILD WILD WEST's 60's spy thing. Especially as it stars ROBERT CONRAD.


Best scene so far: he calls Dean Stockwell a lier.  Stockwell yells for the band to stop playing, then demands, "WHAT did you call me?" Carter (Conrad) replies, "I said, you're a..." And as he finishes his sentence, he's ALREADY throwing one punch, THEN, takes out TWO OTHER guys. The Adam West BATMAN should have had fights THIS GOOD. What I said about the late 70's? NOBODY in the late 70's had fights THIS good. The censors saw to that.


Also in the cast are Neville Brand (Robert Stack's "Al Capone") as a crooked police Captain, and Shelly Winters (Adam West's "Ma Parker") as a MADAME. Also, Arlene Martel (Mr. Spock's fiancee "T'Pring") as a HOOKER. It's funny, that's the 2nd thing I saw her in in the last month or so.


It makes you wonder, what fates decided on which pilots get sold, and which don't. There's a lot of JUNK on TV, and you can't help but feel there's a lot more TERRIFIC stuff that somehow, just never made it.


Henry

[narfstar]

Phantom had a TV pilot. Power Pack had a TV pilot. Aquaman had a pretty good TV pilot that never got aired due to the merging of UPN and WB

[profh0011]

Watched THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951) again last night. I've completely lost track of how many times I've seen it now. And it seems to keep getting better.

Weird but true: what inspired me to watch it this time was, my current watching of the 1966 BATMAN.  Just got to the beginning of the 2nd season.  In the "Archer" story (with Art Carney), one of the henchmen is crooked accountant "Alan A. Dale"-- incredibly annoying SNOBBISH guy, played by... Robert Cornwaithe. It blew my mind, the number of times I've seen this, and THE THING, that I never realized "Alan A. Dale" was the same guy who played "Professor Carrington"!



"I'm your friend! You're smarter than us, wiser than us, USE that wisdom! We can communicate-- we can HELP each other!"
"SLAM!!"

(well, he had it coming)

[boox909]

Weird but true: what inspired me to watch it this time was, my current watching of the 1966 BATMAN.  Just got to the beginning of the 2nd season.  In the "Archer" story (with Art Carney), one of the henchmen is crooked accountant "Alan A. Dale"-- incredibly annoying SNOBBISH guy, played by... Robert Cornwaithe. It blew my mind, the number of times I've seen this, and THE THING, that I never realized "Alan A. Dale" was the same guy who played "Professor Carrington"!

I really am tardy in watching Batman on the Hub channel. Thing is, as a youth I watched the heck out of that show. Did you see the recent Green Hornet marathon on Syfy? I enjoyed it very much!   

B.

[josemas]

Ah, the tragedy of "unsold pilots"-- TV shows that never were.

THE ADVENTURES OF NICK CARTER  (1972)

I remember watching this movie a couple of times back in the 1970s.  It was fun much in the way that Conrad's Wild Wild West was fun to watch.

Best

Joe

[josemas]

Phantom had a TV pilot. Power Pack had a TV pilot. Aquaman had a pretty good TV pilot that never got aired due to the merging of UPN and WB

I saw the Phantom pilot on SyFy last year.  So-so.  Really didn't care for the new costume at all. 

I caught the Aquaman pilot somewhere too.  I think it was an extra on some DVD collection or something.

Never heard about the Power Pack pilot but did like the initial run of the comic.  Do you remember where the pilot ran?

Best

Joe

[josemas]

I really am tardy in watching Batman on the Hub channel. Thing is, as a youth I watched the heck out of that show. Did you see the recent Green Hornet marathon on Syfy? I enjoyed it very much!   
B.

Ah heck.  I missed it!  Maybe they'll run them again.  Except for a few episodes seen on video back in the 1990s it's been many years since I've seen the 1960's TV Hornet.

Didn't know about Batman/Hub channel either.  Thanks for the heads up!

Best

Joe