What Was the Last Television Episode You Watched?

[BAYLOR]

So, I have been watching two, count 'em, 2 LIS episodes every week.

#68 (s3, 9), Collision of Planets One of the silliest of the series. Contains the line:
"Zachery Smith, the strongest man in the universe"

So, the J2 crew are preparing for lift-off, when suddenly [dramatic music] nothing happened. No, actually space hippies come to town to destroy the planet, which is on a collision course with another planet, etc., whose residents much prefer to avoid such collision. Finding the space hippies nonproductive citizens, they insist that the hippies destroy it fast.

Having parachuted the explosives to the surface, Will, Smith, & the robot find one of the containers. Smith, as usual, seeks a way to profit from the find, and in attempting to open it, is blasted in the face with a gas. He is knocked out, and even seem dead. Then, he rises, having chest and arms, greatly expanded, he now is a Samson-like man, knowing his great strength, & acting like it.


#69 (s3 #10) Space Creature. A malevolent cloud of gas enters the J2, while in outer space, & influences certain crew members. If you thought the previous episode was stupid, this one makes the flying saucer into a 3 story building. It was not enough that the series took the single deck of the pilot film's Jupiter II, and added a lower deck below it, without changing the external appearance of the vessel; now they added a storage area, and engine room below it. All those cartons of food in there, while just a few weeks ago, they were on the verge of starvation. Seems to me that TTZ's Death Ship did a similar thing to the C57.

Oh, I already forgot much of the episode, but compared to this, I cannot be very interesting!

Danieil J Travanti of Hill Street Blues fame planed the lead lead hippy in Collision of Planets

 

[KGeo777]

MANNIX : Death In A Minor Key - Yaphet Kotto is spotted in an LA night club by Anthony Zerbe, chief of police in a small southern town visiting for a police convention. The former is wanted for escaping prison and Mannix flies south (in other words they disguise the back lot a little) to unravel the mysteries around whether he was guilty of the crime he was convicted for. The stereotype of the southern law officer is highlighted by Zerbe himself, and Mannix is unsure whether he is trustworthy or not.

KOJAK: Cross My Heart and Hope To Die-- a mentally fragile woman witnesses a murder, and blocks out the culprit--her creepy Norman Bates-like next door neighbor. After Kojak gets a Frank Sinatra record to jog the memory of the witness, Stavros doesn't see it when he leans on a desk, prompting Kojak to say, "Fatso-you are sitting on ol blue eyes."
Premiered 50 years ago today.

 

[pogopossum]

Life on the Street Season 2 episode 1.
Husband, played excellently by Robin Williams, who has lost his wife. Acting, drama, character usage, is up to the standard of the best crime series ever broadcast,
Grit and some character treatment of the detectives could put a viewer off. However,
(if you don't live in Baltimore) it is perhaps part of the best police drama ever roadcast. As I repeat.)

Left out the word "HOMICIDE" in my comment. Which probably made it a little - uh - obscure?

 

[pogopossum]

I am on a Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London) kick. I noted that he wrote two Doctor Who series, back in the Sylvester McCoy days, Remembrance of the Daleks & Battleground. Watched them. I always liked McCoy and Sophie Aldred (Ace). The running around and melodramatic plots of old Who occasioned pleasurable memories.

 

[Jeffbert]

Danieil J Travanti of Hill Street Blues fame planed the lead lead hippy in Collision of Planets

The book even says so; but this is not the thread about the LIS book.

I have watched very few TV shows made since I grew up. Hill Street Blues is one of those I have not watched.

 

[BAYLOR]

The book even says so; but this is not the thread about the LIS book.

I have watched very few TV shows made since I grew up. Hill Street Blues is one of those I have not watched.

It was groundbreaking police drama nd terrific show , quite different from previous tv series cop dramas . It ran from 1981 to 1987 .

 

[Jeffbert]

LIS #70, s3 #11, Deadliest of the Species. Robot B9 (the robot) falls in love with an evil female robot. The Space Authorities had disassembled her, and cast her adrift in space, A severe penalty has been put on anyone who rebuilds her, etc. Though she was in pieces, our robot was attracted by her voice, & before he had realized what he had done, he had reassembled and reactivated her.

one of the pathetic episodes.


LIS #71, s3, #12, A Day at the Zoo. An intergalactic zoologist captures Penny, Will, & Dr. Smith. intending to put them on display. Eventually Don & the robot find the way in, & attempt to rescue the others.

Another poor episode.

The book, Irwin Allen's Lost in Space, The Authorized Biography of a Classic Sci-Fi Series, vol 3, compares this to a certain TTZ episode, in which Roddy McDowall utters the line "People are alike all over". I think there was also a comparison to a Star Trek episode, but not sure, need to recheck.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

Watched a couple episodes of Interior Chinatown. It's fine so far, not really sure what is actually going on in the show.

Also started watching Dr. Who on Disney+.

 

[Jeffbert]

LIS #72 (s3 #13) Two Weeks in Space. Space fugitives on the run from the law hijack Mr. Zumdish's (Fritz Feld; mouth popping guy) vessel, & hypnotize him to believe that they are merely two couples seeking a vacation resort. All this while only Will, Dr. Smith & the robot are at the J2, while others are away in the Chariot. Smith, sensing money to be made, turns the Jupiter II into a hotel, and welcomes the fugitives who have assumed human form during the daylight hours, but revert to their minimal monster make-up during the night. Smith lazes about, pretending his role as hotel manger is so much more burdensome than Will's as Bellboy, & B9's as a similar job.


#73 (s3 #14) Castles in Space. Chavo, a Mexican Bandito arrives seeking the Ice Princess, whom he intends to hold for ransom. In this case, Will, Smith, & the robot are out as are others working at various sites. No castles either.

Why do I like this show?

 

[Jeffbert]

It was groundbreaking police drama nd terrific show , quite different from previous tv series cop dramas . It ran from 1981 to 1987 .

I became rather bored with TV cop shows. They seemed to cycle through plots every season, including the mandatory bad cop ones. Just my impression, mind you; might not apply to this series.

Anyway, most of my viewing is on TCM; commercial free is my preference. Even fast forwarding through commercials is annoying.

 

[HareBrain]

A few episodes of The Mighty Boosh (almost all from season 1). It could stand a bit of tightening in places, but the funniest and most imaginative bits really hit the mark for me.

 

[Danny McG]

I've today watched a couple of episodes of an Oz TV series called Spirited.

A female dentist moves into an apartment block that used to be a hotel, years earlier a punk musician died in that same hotel and now his ghost haunts it.
Only the dentist (and her cat!) can see/hear this punk and various shenanigans occur.

So far the soundtrack has been absolutely f***ing awesome!

 

[JunkMonkey]

Last night I realised I had the first two seasons of Arrow on BluRay sat on my shelves unwatched.

I watched the pilot.

Today I have the first two seasons of Arrow on BluRay for sale on eBay.

I don't think I have thought 'are you are ****ing kidding me'? and 'Oh for f*ck's sake!' quite so often in 40 minutes since I watched the first episode of DCs Batwoman with Ruby Rose.

 

[Matteo]

Have re-watched Queen's Gambit over the last week or so. It was just as good as I remembered it.

 

[KGeo777]

MANNIX - - End Game --- How many units in Korea did Joe Mannix belong to? Here he has to fight a war buddy turned psycho--and a couple of seasons later he has to fight Darren McGavin who was another war buddy turned psycho and yet he isn't visible in the platoon picture shown here. Here he has to survive a booby-trapped building where just about anything could be rigged with a bomb.

CONDOR - 1986 - Pilot for a tv series that wasn't meant to be. In 1999, cities have robots as police officers, and a grouchy old-fashioned agent (Ray Wise) for an Interpol kind organization is forced to take an android as a partner. He doesn't like androids, even ones that look like an attractive woman. Wise is amusing at times, his partner is ok but they don't really explore the concept very well. It's a bit like Mannix crossed with My Living Doll and Knight Rider. Much of the cast is anonymous also. There are some decent miniature fx and we learn things about 1999 that I didn't know, like everyone has laser guns, the computer graphics displays still look like the 80s, and an antique PC (Wise doesn't use it much) looks like it came from the 1970s. Also fastfood chains use porn actress-type robots as takeout window servers. But they did get a headstart on drone techology and cars with three wheels. This was madeby Orion tv--makes me wonder if they were testing the waters while Robocop was in production. Wise would end up working for Clarence Boddicker.

KOLCHAK - THE NIGHT STALKER -- The Spanish Moss Murders--- My favorite show of the series. It felt the closest to the movies in approach, with a cinematic look thanks to horror director Gordon Hessler I would assume. The idea is pretty nifty too--a sleep subject in a university experiment dreams up a monster from Cajun folklore to kill his enemies. The supporting cast of Keenan Wynn and Severn (the poor man's Orson Welles?) Darden have some good moments. Materialized 50 years ago tonight.

 

[Vladd67]

MANNIX - - End Game --- How many units in Korea did Joe Mannix belong to? Here he has to fight a war buddy turned psycho--and a couple of seasons later he has to fight Darren McGavin who was another war buddy turned psycho and yet he isn't visible in the platoon picture shown here. Here he has to survive a booby-trapped building where just about anything could be rigged with a bomb.

CONDOR - 1986 - Pilot for a tv series that wasn't meant to be. In 1999, cities have robots as police officers, and a grouchy old-fashioned agent (Ray Wise) for an Interpol kind organization is forced to take an android as a partner. He doesn't like androids, even ones that look like an attractive woman. Wise is amusing at times, his partner is ok but they don't really explore the concept very well. It's a bit like Mannix crossed with My Living Doll and Knight Rider. Much of the cast is anonymous also. There are some decent miniature fx and we learn things about 1999 that I didn't know, like everyone has laser guns, the computer graphics displays still look like the 80s, and an antique PC (Wise doesn't use it much) looks like it came from the 1970s. Also fastfood chains use porn actress-type robots as takeout window servers. But they did get a headstart on drone techology and cars with three wheels. This was madeby Orion tv--makes me wonder if they were testing the waters while Robocop was in production. Wise would end up working for Clarence Boddicker.

KOLCHAK - THE NIGHT STALKER -- The Spanish Moss Murders--- My favorite show of the series. It felt the closest to the movies in approach, with a cinematic look thanks to horror director Gordon Hessler I would assume. The idea is pretty nifty too--a sleep subject in a university experiment dreams up a monster from Cajun folklore to kill his enemies. The supporting cast of Keenan Wynn and Severn (the poor man's Orson Welles?) Darden have some good moments. Materialized 50 years ago tonight.

That was a great Kolchak, it was a shame how much vegetation the actor playing the monster had lost by the end, he looked almost human.

 

[KGeo777]

That was a great Kolchak, it was a shame how much vegetation the actor playing the monster had lost by the end, he looked almost human.

Yeah that's the weakest scene. The costume is not impressive when wet and the location was maybe too bright.
I liked that Kolchak got spooked and tried to climb out though.

 

[hitmouse]

Too wet and windy to go out, so watched the first 4 episodes of Black Doves on Netflix. An incrementally twisty turney espionage thriller set in London, starring Keira Nightley and Ben Wishaw as rather complicated spy/hitman respectively.
Pretty good.

 

[KGeo777]

IRONSIDE - Reprise- Eve is critically wounded in a robbery and as her team mates await word on her status, they each remember their early encounter with her as the story cuts between the past and present. Effective way of generating sentimentality since it also serves as an origin story for Eve and we also see the Chief walking around in the flashbacks. Some trivia of note--Ironside critiques Ed for a .357 Magnum firearm much like another cop of San Francisco named Callahan.

McMILLAN & WIFE - Guilt By Association - Mildred is on the jury of a murder trial where a football player is accused of killing someone out of anger over his wife having an affair and then one of them is shot dead in his bed even though there are two cops outside and no way to get into the locked room. Lots of humor as usual and a tense scene where Enright and the Comish are on a window-washing platform and it starts malfunctioning. John Randolph has a few scenes with his Seconds' other self.
As usual, the pregnancy of Sally is so ridiculously presented--she looks 9 months along and yet she is running around, climbing stairs fast etc.

Bernie Kopell appears as a drunk who tries to pick her up at a bar and they have a lengthy exchange

Kopell: "Would you like to see my suit?"

Sally: "Well I can see your suit. It's very nice."

Kopell: "Oh not this suit. My suit of rooms on the sixth floor."

Sally: "That's suite!"

Kopell: "Thank you! You're sweet too."


Premiered 50 years ago tonight.

 

[HareBrain]

Doctor Who: City of Death. Tom Baker adventure, I believe the only classic Who story to have an overseas location-filming budget. A bit too much running around Paris and some plot illogicalities, but some surprisingly good dialogue and a decent story.