vrkalak
Sophomore
@vrkalak
Posts: 556
Likes: 465
 
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Post by vrkalak on Jun 20, 2022 22:16:54 GMT
Started Dark Shadows with E210 ( When Barnabas entered), I'm in the 900s now. The Original Outer Limits Saturday Night Live, just finished S1, not sure how far I'll go, but at least as far as Aykroid and Belushi. Love Dark Shadows, bloopers and all.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jun 23, 2022 14:32:42 GMT
Rewatched two episodes of Agatha Christie’s Poirot last night. I’ve written some comments on the show before, so I won’t say too much (ha, famous last words, Salzmark!).   The episodes were “The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb” (S5:E1) and “The Mystery of the Blue Train” (S10:E1). I remembered liking both a lot; on rewatch they’re all right—but not, I’m sorry to say, great. “Egyptian Tomb” was a particular disappointment because I love anything Egyptological—mummies, tombs, archaeology, all of it. And I want a great Egypt-themed mystery movie, but I don’t think I’ve seen one. ( Death on the Nile is Egypt-set, and it’s my favorite Agatha Christie book and episode of this series, but the setting doesn’t play that much role in the story.) The writer and director never establish much atmosphere—this story should be packed with atmospherics—and the mystery plot is not only minimal but also unfair. That said, David Suchet’s, Hugh Fraser’s, and Pauline Moran’s performances are so strong that they go toward mitigating a lot of the show’s weak points. “Blue Train” is better: For me, the show’s best period was in the middle of its run, around 2004-06. Hastings and Miss Lemon were gone, unfortunately, but already-strong production values seemed to get even better and the writers started leaning more into characterization. “Death on the Nile” in particular manages to present Christie’s mystery plot with aplomb while playing up the tragic elements (unlike the Peter Ustinov adaptation, which is just as good but plays up comedy, or the Kenneth Branagh adaptation, which is unadulterated crap). Poirot’s character also changes, as in the books, from an eccentric figure of fun into an avuncular, gently melancholy human being (“Papa Poirot”). That is my favorite depiction of the character, and Suchet is wonderful with that characterization. “Blue Train” has a few funny lines, most said by a kooky Lindsay Duncan. But it weakens Christie’s mystery plot and loses some steam once it’s off the titular blue train (pun intended, of course). And, as usual, Elliott Gould is awful. How does he keep getting roles?! That said, I thought Georgina Rylance was so cute and likable as the heroine:  |
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 18, 2022 14:24:54 GMT
I’ve (much to my own surprise) come off as negative on Agatha Christie’s Poirot in this thread, so I wanted to note that last night I rewatched the adaptation of Five Little Pigs and thought it was great.  It manages the book’s sense of tragedy without coming off as camp or melodrama. The script—by Kevin Elyot, who also wrote Poirot’s superb adaptation of Death on the Nile and many of the better Agatha Christie’s Marple episodes—is first-rate. The book is mostly Poirot’s conversations with suspects—not prime material for visual adaptation—but Elyot deftly handles the flashbacks so that we want to return to the story in the past. That means deemphasizing Poirot’s role, which most writers might have been afraid of doing but which works for this story. The direction—by Paul Unwin, who unfortunately doesn’t appear to have done any other Poirots—is also noticeably good, with some clever transitions between frame story and flashbacks. My only problem with the episode is casting. Aiden Gillen’s Amyas Crale just never convinces as an eccentric artist type. And as unchivalrous as this comment is, I never was convinced that Crale would consider abandoning his wife and child for Julie Cox’s Elsa Greer. It may be the makeup’s fault, but the actress looks quite pallid and wan for much of the episode. Those are nitpicks, though. This is one of Poirot’s best, fitting because the book is one of the best things Christie ever wrote. |
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Post by Nalkarj on Aug 3, 2022 3:13:53 GMT
More Agatha Christie! This time it’s Agatha Christie’s Marple’s adaptation of 4.50 from Paddington.
As I think I’ve written here before, the late Geraldine McEwan, who played Miss Marple in the first three seasons of this show, is by far my favorite Marple—in fact, I may even like her portrayal more than Christie’s character! She’s witty and impish and broadminded and always fun. And on that I seem to part ways with most Christie fans, who prefer Joan Hickson’s Marple, whom I’ve always found a humorless bluenose.
I don’t even mind that the adapters for the McEwan series weren’t always faithful to Christie’s books, though—at least in the first season—they were more faithful than many people say. (The only one that really changes anything is “The Body in the Library,” and even that change doesn’t alter Christie’s mystery puzzle at all.)
“4.50 from Paddington” in some ways suffers from being too faithful to the book, which is weak Christie—no clues, for one thing. It keeps the odd device of having Miss M’s friend see the murder; the writer could easily have changed the witness to Miss M herself.
The 1961 film adaptation, Murder, She Said (with Margaret Rutherford as Marple; most Christie fans don’t like Rutherford either because she’s nothing like the book character, but I love her gruff Marple), makes that change, and the plot actually works better.
The adapter, Stephen Churchett (who also wrote the series’s superb adaptation of The Murder at the Vicarage), also kept Christie’s decision to have a young heroine investigate while Miss M serves as an armchair detective.
Luckily, the actress playing the heroine is super-cute—no, I do not watch these Agatha Christie adaptations only because they keep casting attractive women, but, um, I’d be lying if I said that aspect didn’t appeal to me—and is entertaining throughout. (Why the character ends up with the brother from The Mummy, though, is beyond me.) Churchett does give Miss M more to do than in the book, smartly, but as lovely as the heroine is I’m not sure the character is needed from a screenwriting perspective.
McEwan is as great as ever. I have to seek out what else she was in; I would have loved to have seen her as Lady Macbeth. (I wonder if she ever played the role; Wikipedia mentions Ophelia and Beatrice, among others, but not Lady Mac.) Her line readings are constantly surprising and constantly entertaining.
Anyway, despite my adaptation nitpicks, “4.50 from Paddington” is loads of fun (even if it, like the book it’s based on, isn’t much of a mystery). Definitely recommended.
My rankings of the McEwan Marples I’ve seen, by the way, would go like this:
1. “The Murder at the Vicarage” (S1:E2)
2. “A Murder Is Announced” (S1:E4)
3. “The Body in the Library” (S1:E1)
4. “Towards Zero” (S3:E3)
5. “4.50 from Paddington” (S1:E3)
6. “By the Picking of My Thumbs” (S2:E3)
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Post by Nalkarj on Aug 9, 2022 3:14:18 GMT
Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Ghost Island.  So. I’m watching this for the obvious reason: I watched the original Are You Afraid of the Dark? when I was a kid. And I watched a few episodes of the last season of this reboot/remake series and found them surprisingly decent. Ghost Island isn’t great. But it also isn’t bad, which is something of an accomplishment. For one thing, it’s scarier than some big-budget kids’ horror movies I’ve seen (the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark adaptation was a particular disappointment). Nothing really disturbing (though who knows what disturbs kids? I was always spooked by the scary stories I used to read—yet kept reading them!), but it’s got a bit of the toughness of the original Are You Afraid of the Dark?. Related: It’s better directed than a Nickelodeon remake of a ’90s kids’ show has any right to be. The budget must be relatively small (though much larger than the original show), not many locations, but the director (Dean Israelite, whose background is movies rather than TV) keeps shooting from interesting angles and moving the camera to show off the sets. And the one adult actor, Julian Curtis, is actually giving a good performance—or at least an entertaining performance: He acts like he’s trying for all the world to imitate Tim Curry in Home Alone 2. (I keep expecting him to ask the kids if they want a PIZ-za.) Again, though, not great. It’s not half as good as the original show. (And that’s not just nostalgia talking: I recently rewatched some Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and it holds up in ways that Goosebumps—which I also loved—mostly doesn’t.) The plot is generic kids’ horror fare. Episode 2 is a particular disappointment because it turns into one of those overdone collect-the-magical-objects fantasies. The first episode, which depends more on atmosphere and spookiness (the scene where the heroine tries to summon her dead sister is genuinely creepy), is better. But still—better than it has any right to be.
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Post by Nalkarj on Aug 10, 2022 17:58:16 GMT
I feel like I’m monopolizing the thread… This’ll be quick. Watched Psych’s spoof of Friday the 13th, “Tuesday the 17th” (S3:E15), based on a recommendation from this blog.  I’m not a Psych fan, at all, almost entirely because I find James Roday’s main character (being attacked by Baghead Jason clone above) extremely annoying, one of the most annoying characters I’ve seen in anything ever. But—“Tuesday the 17th” isn’t bad at all. It works as both a slasher and a parody of a slasher. Dare I say I like it more than Friday the 13th? It’s got more atmosphere and better uses the summer camp setting (early on we get a good idea of where each building is, which makes the climax more effective), believe it or not. Roday also cowrote and directed, and—I’ve got to give it to him, his direction is good. He films the suspense scenes seriously and well. And the episode lacks Friday the 13th’s worst element, interminable scenes of tree branches rustling. Roday’s acting is still annoying, but he gives himself a few OK jokes, and he gives everyone else quite a few good jokes. And the episode actually has a little hidden whodunit plot with a few clues (it reminded me of Anthony Horowitz’s Agatha Christie spoof “I Know What You Did Last Wednesday”). I’m impressed. |
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Post by Nalkarj on Aug 17, 2022 20:46:45 GMT
Watched another Danger Man last night, “The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove” (S2:E18).
This is splendid. I usually see “Colony Three” (S2:E3) cited as an inspiration for Danger Man star Patrick McGoohan’s later The Prisoner, but “Mr. Lovegrove” is even closer—it basically is a Prisoner, at least in mood and atmosphere.
Even in plot, come to think of it: Not that John Drake is in the Village, of course, but Mr. Lovegrove and Mr. Alexander both act like different Number Twos, and Drake keeps going to see them as Number Six would be invited to Number Two’s’s green dome. (I’m one of those people, by the way, who think John Drake is Six, no matter what McGoohan said. The similarities are just too close.)
The twist is obvious, but I think it’s meant to be obvious, especially as the ending doesn’t quite dispel the demons, leaving almost as many unanswered questions as, well, a Prisoner. Lots of ’60s pop surreality, which I love. But even on a more mundane level, just watching Drake get conned into this plot is fun.
Excellent McGoohan performance, probably needless to say. (I have not seen a bad McGoohan performance; he gave his all even when doing a Murder, She Wrote. His line readings, as I said above about Geraldine McEwan’s, are constantly surprising and constantly entertaining.) Neat to see James Bond’s Q, Desmond Llewelyn, pop up. Eric Barker’s affable blandness somehow becomes frightening over the course of the episode.
I was surprised that McGoohan didn’t write this one himself; the writer was David Stone, who apparently wrote a bunch of Danger Mans but died young. Stone’s dialogue is good, too: Drake says he’s a travel agent. Mr. Alexander (Francis De Wolff, doing a Sydney Greenstreet impression) responds, “No, Mr. Drake. Shall we say… ‘an agent who travels’?”
The director was Don Chaffey, who appropriately helmed four Prisoners, including the pilot.
Definitely recommended.
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Post by Nalkarj on Dec 5, 2022 4:39:56 GMT
I recently rewatched two TV mystery episodes, one Christmassy and one not. The Christmassy one was Midsomer Murders’s “Ghosts of Christmas Past” (2004), which I remembered as one of the show’s episodes. Unfortunately, it didn’t exactly live up to memory. It’s not bad at all, and it’s got more atmosphere and memorable images than many other Midsomers (the show, while entertaining enough at times, is basically the archetype of the “cozy mystery”), but it putters out to an anticlimax. Barnaby tells us who the—not particularly surprising or interesting—killer is even before his summation, so the summation comes off as unnecessary. Equally unnecessary are the scenes with Barnaby’s family, which just pad the running time. That’s Midsomer’s other problem, unjustified length. __________________________________________________________________________________________ The non-Christmassy one— Murder, She Wrote’s “The Grand Old Lady”—was better.  Similarly, I remembered this as one of Murder, She Wrote’s best episodes—despite the lack of the late, wonderful Angela Lansbury (to be precise, Mrs. Fletcher pops up to introduce and close out the story, and that’s it). In this case memory was right. “The Grand Old Lady” is no great shakes as a mystery, alas, but it’s good television—well paced, well acted, well directed (one tracking shot is particularly impressive). And it’s set in the ’40s aboard the Queen Mary. A mystery, in the ’40s, on an ocean liner—was this tailor-made for me?  This ep was one of a few MSWs originally meant for Ellery Queen’s canned second season. (Two others, I suspect but can’t be sure, are “We’re Off to Kill the Wizard,” which has a locked-room mystery, and the hyper-complex “Trial by Error.”) But “The Grand Old Lady” makes the EQ connection obvious: Not only is it set in the ’40s, but also it has an Ellery Queen clone for a sleuth and doubles for Insp. Queen and Simon Brimmer. In fact, Robert Vaughn turns in an excellent performance as Brimmer, here called “Edwin Chancellor.” I don’t know if Vaughn is better John Hillerman in EQ, but he’s certainly Hillerman’s equal. The mystery, again, is a bit disappointing; I remembered it as more complex than it is, and I think it seems that way because we have three sleuths! three solutions! a dying clue! and so on. But the real solution is random, and as an online commenter pointed out, writer Peter S. Fischer forgot to explain major plot points. Why, for one thing, was the victim screaming “Kapitän”? The characters puzzle over for the whole episode, but Fischer doesn’t mention it in the solution. But mostly I just like the ’40s atmosphere of this episode. And I also genuinely like the subplot of the love story (though that’s largely because I find the redheaded heroine cute). Just good fun. |
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Post by Prime etc. on Dec 12, 2022 0:29:47 GMT
I have been watching several different shows in rotation.
Some I have seen like Have Gun, Will Travel, Maverick, SWAT, BARETTA (well-written show, I watched the one with John Marley as a drug dealer --almost could have been a stage play), CANNON (I love that show), Time Tunnel, Rockford Files, others I have never seen like WAY OUT (the live tv format is jarring compared to TZ) and MY LIVING DOLL.
SARGE with George $#%#@! Kennedy. I watched the Ironside episode before the pilot and then caught up with the series.
Been Watching MANNIX, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, BRONK, HARRY O, The Invaders--never seen that before, Petrocelli-there was one episode where Harrison Ford and his fellow bladerunner hold William Shatner against a wall.
Oh one interesting footnote--I watched a Vincent Price show and Kenneth Johnson mentioned his website so visited it--and sent him an email about CLIFFHANGERS! The tv series from 1979--I said that it took me 36 years to see the last episode. And he wrote back and said i was one of the few who had seen it and I asked him if he had planned for a second season--and he mentioned they did have planned to do new shows--one idea was a female Zorro.
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Post by Nalkarj on Dec 13, 2022 22:26:58 GMT
Another Marple. The Sittaford Mystery is one of Agatha Christie’s best little-known books—ghostly, atmospheric, and tricky, with a clever alibi. Because it’s little-known, though, the writer of this adaptation (Stephen Churchett, unfortunately as he wrote a wonderful Murder at the Vicarage adaptation and a very good 4.50 from Paddington one) must have thought he could change it up with impunity. He couldn’t. I was astounded by how bad this one is. A snowbound Devon, séances, a convict on the loose, Geraldine McEwan, Timothy Dalton! But the script just makes no sense. At all. As in, I truly had no idea what was happening onscreen, it all just seemed like a senseless jumble of events with no relation to each other (what with the snow, it actually kinda reminded me of the far-from-auric Eureka). Churchett changes Christie’s murderer, which results in the solution making no sense either. It doesn’t follow from the clues (poorly) presented, for one thing. Also, the director—Paul Unwin, notably in his first and last work on the show—appears to have been drunk while shooting this. That’s the most charitable explanation I can think of, based both on visual “style” (an attempt to imitate Battlefield Earth?) and actors’ performances. Christie’s book—all spooky and snowy, as close to a Christmas ghost story as a mystery can get—deserves a better adaptation. |
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Post by mikef6 on Dec 14, 2022 2:38:01 GMT
I have been watching episodes from the last two seasons, numbers 6 & 7, of Mission: Impossible on MeTV. Unfortunately, the writers had run out of ideas by the end of Season 5. The last two are mainly made up of reworkings of the basic premises of earlier stories or just tuning the group into just another action oriented not-so-thrilling spy thriller. Also, something has to go wrong with each mission causing the team to improvise. Leonard Nimoy had departed at the end of Season 5, leaving the IMF without a man-of-all-faces regular. That gave strong man Peter Lupus (dubbed in the early seasons as “the man who never talked”) the opportunity of larger roles meaning he was frequently captured and had to be rescued along with accomplishing the mission. Happily, the series never dropped the self-destructing tape scene. The regular cast includes three who have been there from at least season 2: Peter Graves (begin Season 2) as the leader, Greg Morris (from the Beginning) as the tech wizard, and Lupus (also from the start). Lynda Day George rounds out the regular cast as Casey, the female member of the Force. Most episodes are filled with familiar supporting faces from film and TV.
“Bag Woman” Season 6, Episode 19 (January 29, 1972). Georg Stanford Brown guest stars.
“Double Dead” Season 6, Episode 20 (February 12, 1972).
“Casino” Season 6, Episode 21 (February 19, 1972). Jack Cassidy is the casino owner who must be turned against his Syndicate bosses. One of few new original schemes is used to pull a casino heist. The 2017 caper film “Logan Lucky” borrowed (stole?) M:I’s robbery method.
“Break!” Season 7, Episode 1 (September 16, 1972). Carl Betz, Robert Conrad. Barbara Anderson (“Ironside”) subs for Lynda Day George.
“Two Thousand” Season 7, Episode 2 (September 23, 1972). Vic Morrow is convinced that he has survived a nuclear holocaust and the time is years in the future: the year 2000.
“The Deal” Season 7, Episode 3 (September 30, 1972). Barbara Anderson, Robert Webber, Van Williams, Lana Wood, Lloyd Bochner. Too bad, but Bochner doesn’t say, “It’s a cookbook.”
“Leona” Season 7, Episode 4 (October 7, 1972), Robert Goulet, Dewey Martin, Pippa Scott.
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vrkalak
Sophomore
@vrkalak
Posts: 556
Likes: 465
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Post by vrkalak on Dec 14, 2022 15:36:02 GMT
First 4 seasons are the best by far: MI
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Dec 16, 2022 19:55:10 GMT
McHale's Navy
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Post by Nalkarj on Dec 17, 2022 20:01:22 GMT
Rewatch: “Who Killed the Guy on the Ski Lift?,” from The Good Cop.  This Netflix show with Tony Danza and Josh Grobin lasted only one season (in 2018), and it’s not that hard to tell why. I wanted to like it because it’s by the people who made Monk, which I love. And the premise (street-smart dad with strait-laced son, both cops) is fun, half- Frasier and half-Ellery Queen. Unfortunately, the show is not that great, with—in its first half of episodes, nearly all written by Andy Breckman—some weak comedy writing and even weaker mystery writing. It does improve in its second half, and two episodes—this one and “Why Kill a Busboy?”—show that it could have gotten even better, even a lot better. “Guy on the Ski Lift” actually has a funny, well-written, well-paced script—the only one that Hy Conrad, one of the best Monk writers, did for this show—and if the mystery isn’t surprising, at least it’s nicely clued. It looks good, too, with the director showing off a lot of the ski-lodge setting (I love stories set at ski lodges, for some reason). One particularly fun thing Conrad does is have Grobin come up with a bunch of false solutions to the mystery, which both work as red herrings and keep the viewer interested, before he figures out the real one. More mystery shows should do that. |
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Post by Prime etc. on Dec 17, 2022 20:06:46 GMT
MANNIX - A Catalogue of Sins -- Someone has stolen the records of a psychiatrist to blackmail the patients. One of them is a mobster. Made me think of the Sopranos.
THE ROCKFORD FILES - Exit Prentiss Carr - He goes to check up on the husband of a friend and finds him dead and then suspects she might be the culprit.
Funny thing to compare RF to Kojak-I never find Kojak runs out of time--the episodes always seem to have everything they need to wind up the story.
But RF feels a little rushed--they wrap up the conclusion fast.
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Post by Prime etc. on Dec 18, 2022 7:59:28 GMT
IRONSIDE s3 Alias Mr Braithwaite - Joseph Campanella and Phillip Pine (and Pat Priest later in the story) are ripping off people with scams and Ironside sends his team to a resort to bust them. Pretty good.
I rewatched TERROR TIMES TWO, a McMillan & Wife episode (came out 50 years ago this week), which is spoofing SECONDS in some ways since Rock Hudson (as a criminal) gets a new identity.
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Post by theravenking on Dec 19, 2022 14:45:38 GMT
 Jonathan Creek - Black Canary A 1998 Christmas special with Jonathan and Maddie investigating the impossible shooting of a retired female illusionist years after her twin sister tragically died in an accident. Jonathan meets an old flame, Adam is planning to get married to his pretty new assistant, while Maddie is still her repulsive old self. There is also a delightful turn by Rick Mayall as a quirky police inspector. This seems to be a popular episode, but I must say, I found it a bit underwhelming. I did solve the main part of the impossibility relatively early and thought that the killer's motives were a bit contrived, the rather simple story also seemed to have a lot of padding. Overall not one of my favourite episodes. |
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Post by Nalkarj on Dec 19, 2022 15:19:50 GMT
Jonathan Creek - Black Canary A 1998 Christmas special with Jonathan and Maddie investigating the impossible shooting of a retired female illusionist years after her twin sister tragically died in an accident. Jonathan meets an old flame, Adam is planning to get married to his pretty new assistant, while Maddie is still her repulsive old self. There is also a delightful turn by Rick Mayall as a quirky police inspector. This seems to be a popular episode, but I must say, I found it a bit underwhelming. I did solve the main part of the impossibility relatively early and thought that the killer's motives were rather contrived, the rather simple story also seemed to have a lot of padding. Overall not one of my favourite episodes. Oh no! This is one of my very favorite episodes! Congrats on solving the impossibility—it totally baffled me. We agree on Maddie’s being repulsive, though. I have no idea what many JC fans find appealing about the character. |
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Post by theravenking on Dec 19, 2022 15:26:18 GMT
Jonathan Creek - Black Canary A 1998 Christmas special with Jonathan and Maddie investigating the impossible shooting of a retired female illusionist years after her twin sister tragically died in an accident. Jonathan meets an old flame, Adam is planning to get married to his pretty new assistant, while Maddie is still her repulsive old self. There is also a delightful turn by Rick Mayall as a quirky police inspector. This seems to be a popular episode, but I must say, I found it a bit underwhelming. I did solve the main part of the impossibility relatively early and thought that the killer's motives were rather contrived, the rather simple story also seemed to have a lot of padding. Overall not one of my favourite episodes. Oh no! This is one of my very favorite episodes! Congrats on solving the impossibility—it totally baffled me. We agree on Maddie’s being repulsive, though. I have no idea what many JC fans find appealing about the character. I'm usually entirely baffled by the impossible crimes on Jonathan Creek myself. There were only two episodes where I managed to solve the impossibility early on, this and Danse Macabre. |
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Post by Nalkarj on Dec 19, 2022 15:29:58 GMT
Oh no! This is one of my very favorite episodes! Congrats on solving the impossibility—it totally baffled me. We agree on Maddie’s being repulsive, though. I have no idea what many JC fans find appealing about the character. I'm usually entirely baffled by the impossible crimes on Jonathan Creek myself. There were only two episodes where I managed to solve the impossibility early on, this and Danse Macabre. Yeah, I figured out “Danse Macabre” early on as well, but I still think it’s a good episode and a good mystery (neat cluing—the paint cans). Oh, and re: Mayall—he’s such a good character, I wish he were the sleuth instead of Jonathan! |
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