Vintage TV thread

[GuitarGeek]

I think one of the very few who likes Spock's Brain and ST: The Motion Picture.....

Spock's Brain contains one of my favorite exchanges:

McCoy: He's worse than dead!
Kirk: Well, what is it, Bones?! What's they mystery?
McCoy: His brain has been stolen!

DeForrest Kelley probably thought it was relief to not say "He's dead, Jim". There used to be a video on Youtube that cataloged on the instances of McCoy saying "He's dead" or "This man is dead" or whatever, ending with that particular exchange. Always thought it was hilarious.

As for ST:TMP, it's a good movie, it's just really long and moves really slowly.

[frinspar]

Check out the pilot episode of the Munsters.


The character of Mrs. Munster was very similar to Morticia Addams.

Wow. That was actually kind of cringey, plodding along so slowly. Was that the original music that would've played over it as well?
Glad they went with Yvonne De Carlo instead. She was great.

[GuitarGeek]

I always hated that show. I felt Lee Majors was simply a bad actor.

He kinda is. He wasn't really good at delivering dialog. And there's at least one episode where I think he got a couple words swapped around.

re: Get Smart

A classic show. A bit dated, but still funny as hell. RIP Buck Henry.

yeah, Get Smart was a lot of fun. You ever see the reunion movie they did circa 1980? I think it was originally called The Nude Bomb, but they changed the title for the TV release. I remember seeing it at the time, thought it was funny, but saw maybe withi the last 10 or 12 years, and it was pretty bad. About the only thing you can say for it is that it had Sylvia Kristal and Pamela Hensley in it. That's not saying very much.

[Proglodite]

Interesting tidbit about Joan Marshall (Phoebe Munster in the color pilot): "She married film director Hal Ashby and, over the first six months of their marriage, and at his insistence, she related personal experiences of her life. Ashby (and Robert Towne) turned Joan's life into the romantic comedy film Shampoo (1975)." Although I was a little disappointed in Shampoo, Harold & Maude and Being There are two bona-fide classics in my opinion. --Peter

[ronmac]

^^ Re: That Munsters intro, it is kinda off.

I always liked how Universal stuck with the classic B&W formula. It really works well. Gwynne really payed the role. Definitely a good cast. Which brings us to the big question:

Pat Priest or Beverley Owen?

[Jerjo]

I wouldn't have thrown either out of the bed for eating crackers, but I am on Team Beverly.

[GuitarGeek]

Interesting tidbit about Joan Marshall (Phoebe Munster in the color pilot): "She married film director Hal Ashby and, over the first six months of their marriage, and at his insistence, she related personal experiences of her life. Ashby (and Robert Towne) turned Joan's life into the romantic comedy film Shampoo (1975)." Although I was a little disappointed in Shampoo, Harold & Maude and Being There are two bona-fide classics in my opinion. --Peter

Ashby also directed Let's Spend The Night Together, the film of The Rolling Stones 1981 tour.

Gwynne really payed the role.

He was another one of those "real actors" who kinda got typecast by their success in comedies, in his case, both Car 54 and especially The Munsters. He was also a painter and a author and illustrator of children's books. He was also great in My Cousin Vinny. "What's a yoot?"

According to Wikipedia, his face was painted violet in his role as Herman, because it reflected light the best on black and white film.

Anyway, tonight I watched two episodes of Route 66. One had Pat Hingle, Audra Lindley (!), Louise Sorrel (!!), and Bill Shatner (!!!!!!!!!!!). Man, Shatner sure got around in his pre-Star Trek career, diong Route 66, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, etc.

Oh and if you don't know who Audra Lindley or Louise Sorrell are, Audra later Mrs Roeper on Three's Company, and Louise Sorrell had a long career as a professional guest star (including appearing in an original series Star Trek episode) before settling into her long role as Vivian on Days Of Our Lives.

The other episode of Route 66 I saw tonight had a Robert Loggia and a pre-Gilligan's Island Tina Louise in it.

That's one thing I love about watching some of these shows, all the people who turn up as guest stars. I'm a big fan of Flipper, and it was kinda funny realizing how many well known actors appeared on that show. Andy DeVine somewhat unfortunately played a recurring character during the first season, while Burt Reynolds, Daniel J Travanti and Martin Sheen all appeared on the show at various times.

[Dave (in MA)]

Wow. That was actually kind of cringey, plodding along so slowly. Was that the original music that would've played over it as well?

Acc. to the wikipedia article on the topic, that music was lifted off a Doris Day movie from a year earlier. Here's the 2nd pilot where everybody looks like they ended up except Eddie.

[Dave (in MA)]

[Halmyre]

Spock's Brain contains one of my favorite exchanges:

McCoy: He's worse than dead!
Kirk: Well, what is it, Bones?! What's they mystery?
McCoy: His brain has been stolen!

DeForrest Kelley probably thought it was relief to not say "He's dead, Jim". There used to be a video on Youtube that cataloged on the instances of McCoy saying "He's dead" or "This man is dead" or whatever, ending with that particular exchange. Always thought it was hilarious.

"Brain and brain! What is brain?!"

Kelly's facial expressions during surgery when he's losing his acquired knowledge are priceless.

^^ Re: That Munsters intro, it is kinda off.

I always liked how Universal stuck with the classic B&W formula. It really works well. Gwynne really payed the role. Definitely a good cast. Which brings us to the big question:

Pat Priest or Beverley Owen?

I'd need to do some comparative testing. Simultaneously if possible.

[Trane]

I found Wild Wild West on YouTube and hey, it held up better than I thought it would. Of course, I'll drop anything for old Star Trek episodes (except for the Spock's Brain episode). Comedies don't hold up too well, they got better in the 70s (WKRP, Barney Miller, Odd Couple, etc). I loved Rat Patrol when I was a kid. I came across an episode a few years ago and man, that show really sucked.

TBH, I think the salme goes for movies (music in general holds better in time).

Just like for music and pre-59, stuff i do have a problem getting really interested in pre-65 movies (a few French exceptions, but mostly due to the Jean Gabin and Michel Audiard connection; which strikes a real chord with me) and find myself taking a contextual step backwards to actually view them. Nothing to do with B&W either. But I can't possibly take a John Wayne movie seriously, for ex. Even most of those classic "New Hollywood" movies from the later 60's and 70's didn't age well in my eyes.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

The big change since then is, I think, pacing. It's a lot faster these days, to the point where the audience doesn't have time to digest one plot point before the next one distracts them. This is, of course, helpful for movies with huge holes in the plot, but that's not (to my mind) a benefit.

[Jerjo]

The pacing is indeed glacially slow and the plots in dramas are pretty predictable. Red herrings appear at the first quarter hour and half hour, villain or plot solution revealed at the three quarter mark. In Kung Fu, the first fight would always be at the half way point. Structure in dramas didn't change until the 80s with shows like Hill Street Blues.

[3LockBox]

I dunno, I thought Salvage 1 was pretty good.

what's Salvage 1 got to do with The Andy Griffith Show? The Salvage pilot was good, but they ran out of ideas fast. I liked Griffith in most everything else he did. Adams of Eagle Lake, where he played pretty much the same sheriff character, was a more adult themed show - it spun off a TV movie called Winter Kill which is actually a real good movie. Griffith's turn as bad guy in a few movies were very convincing. Then there's his first movie, the very prescient A Face In The Crowd.

[3LockBox]

I found Wild Wild West on YouTube and hey, it held up better than I thought it would.

you can always tell yourself you're watch the first ever steampunk themed TV show

[progmatist]

When he was starting out as a standup, Brad Garret's main shtick was Greg Brady and Herman Munster having a son.

[Dave (in MA)]

When he was starting out as a standup, Brad Garret's main shtick was Greg Brady and Herman Munster having a son.

I remember, from about 30 years ago. His Munster impression was hilarious; too bad that one sentence is the only clip that seems to be on the www.

[progmatist]

I always hated that show. I felt Lee Majors was simply a bad actor.

When I became an adult myself, I could see what the adults of my childhood found so humorous about the Bionic Man and Woman.

[Vic2012]

Never cared for 6Mil Man but Lee Majors was good in The Big Valley. That was my favorite TV Western.

[nosebone]

Lee majors was an extremely wooden actor.

[ronmac]

Lee majors was an extremely wooden actor.

Yeah, that's a good description.

[moecurlythanu]

^ He would have been outstanding if cast as a cigar store Indian, unfortunately the Kaw-Liga movie never came to fruition.

[proggy_jazzer]

The western that made an impression on me was The High Chaparral. I honestly can't remember much in the way of plot or story arc, but the character played by Henry Darrow sticks in my memory for some reason. And there were many other famous guest stars and character actors. I'd love to find it streaming somewhere to see if it really had the vibe I imagine in my head 50 years later.

[GuitarGeek]

Henry Darrow

He played the bad guy in my favorite Bionic Woman episode.

Jean Stapleton was on tonight's Route 66, speaking with a more subtle voice than she would later use as Edith.

[Joe F.]

He played the bad guy in my favorite Bionic Woman episode.

Jean Stapleton was on tonight's Route 66, speaking with a more subtle voice than she would later use as Edith.

So her regular speaking voice?