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Reviews
The Rockford Files: The Hawaiian Headache (1979)
Last filmed episode of the series
The Hawaiian Headache was the final episode of the season to be filmed although that was not the intent. James Garner had requested less strenuous scripts while he recovered from surgeries due to injuries from his stunt work on the show. After this episode was shot, Mr Garner requested a few months so he could fully recuperate from his injuries. The show would find itself being cancelled instead including about ten episodes which were to be filmed. We never did get our final goodbye episode with Rocky.
That was unfortunate as this episode is not a very good one. As other reviewers state, Jim is quite mean and nasty to Rocky in this one. This puts a real sour tone as actor Noah Beery Jr would not appear in the later television movies.
The episode itself seems to be lazily written as well. Rocky has been to Hawaii before as he was forced back stateside cutting his trip short.
The entire sixth season falls short of the usual quality fans expected. The first episode was cute, but the others fall flat. The final episode that aired was a back door pilot to possibly replace this series. Like most back door pilots, Jim is left in the background while they focused on characters no one cared about.
James Garner would go on to sue the producers and Universal for profits and would eventually settle. He would return in eight made for TV movies which are not as good as the series. Some fans do enjoy them, but I didn't much care for them.
I do have the first five seasons on DVD and watch those every so often. They remind me of how good The Rockford Files was as a television show. As for the sixth season and this episode? Thanks, but I pass.
Kitchen Nightmares: Seascape (2007)
Answer to the review
This is a response/review as I recently watched this episode. Peter did fire both the head chef and the sous which impressed his mother Irene. They cleaned the place up and redid the interior as usual. They were successful in their relaunch and things looked good for the future.
We do get an update as Peter would sell the Seascape a few months after Gordon Ramsey's visit. Considering the location, I am surprised nobody made an offer when the place was failing as they could have made a very lowball offer to take it off Irene and Peter's hands.
I Googled Seascape Inn Islip New York to find it is closed. I'm not sure when it closed as there are no dates given.
Update: I found a blog about the future of many of the restaurants showcased on Kitchen Nightmares and it states Peter went back to his old ways just before selling the place. Seascape would eventually become a steak house with a different name.
Kitchen Nightmares: Dillons (2007)
Back on
I read the other reviews on this episode of the US version of Kitchen Nightmares and learned it was missing from some of the streamers. The reason may be the use of a certain song when Gordon Ramsey gets his team together to debug the place. They have since replaced the music with a more generic sounding theme song of a certain movie. This is when Mr Ramsey is getting his team ready to debug the kitchen. It was probably easier for them to just pull the episode rather than pay for the editing of the generic version. I guess they decided to spend a few extra shekels to take care of the problem. If an episode is pulled from a streaming service, nine times out of ten it has to do with music rights.
As for the episode itself, I find myself in agreement with the reviewer who has watched the original version in the UK. I know this is a reality show and they have to keep the audience interested so they add all that fake drama. I am more interested in the restaurant and how to fix the problems to get it back on track.
Some of the episodes in this series do just that but they are few and far between the usual crap. Still, I do enjoy this as a guilty pleasure.
McCloud (1970)
MCCLOUD!!!
I remember watching McCloud with my older brother when it first aired as one of the NBC Mystery Movie series. We both loved Dennis Weaver as the cowboy in Manhattan. Sometimes memories can fool us as I have watched television shows from my past only to find out they are quite bad. Does McCloud stand the test of time?
I bought the DVD box set recently and began to watch the series from the beginning. It started off as an hourly series which was rotated with some other shows so it only consists of six episodes. NBC decided to turn McCloud into one of the mystery shows for its new mystery wheel show. McCloud was now a two hour show (there are a few 90 minute shows with the final season being 90 minutes each) along with Columbo and McMillan and Wife.
The box set has both the hourly episodes as well as the edited into movie versions. The single episodes make more sense but aren't that good. The second season is where McCloud takes shape. It also isn't the best season but it does have a few good moments here and there. The show began to shine once Glen Larson took over the reins.
As for the show itself, I did like many of the later episodes but found others to be routine and almost a bit tedious. Diana Muldaur starts off as McCloud's girlfriend but then goes MIA for a while. When she does appear, it seems as if she was always McCloud's girlfriend from the start. I know Diana Muldaur had a very busy schedule so she was probably not available for most of the episodes. They should have either kept McCloud single or had him explain Chris away whenever they needed to do so.
There were three episodes which were filmed on location in Hawaii, Mexico and Australia. While the Hawaii locations were used to potential, the other shoots were not. Most other locations were dress ups of the studio backlots. Speaking of locations, there are some location shoots in the Big Apple which were interchanged with shots from LA. It is fun to figure out which is which as well as seeing old infrastructure now long gone.
As for the characters, Dennis Weaver, J D Cannon and Terry Carter are great in their roles as McCloud, Chief Clifford and Sgt Joe Broadhurst. Terry Carter was an off and on character for the beginning until he was made McCloud's partner for the later seasons. Terri Garr, Della Reese and others shine in their roles as well.
The main problem is the plots of the episodes. Most were scripts that would fit for an hour but are stretched out to fit the time slot. The plots are also routine at best for the most part. Some do stand out as they are better written than others. The Alamo episodes and are the right fit for the two hour run time (ads included).
The seventh and final season was 90 minutes with the storylines being a bit choppy. Jack Cassidy appears in London Bridges which aired shortly after his untimely death. He is one of the better character actors of the era as he took all of his roles quite seriously. The final episode is a Halloween themed one about John Carradine who thinks he's a vampire. It could have been so much better but it gets bogged down by an add on plot about a sniper on the loose. I can see why everyone wanted to go their separate ways after this season.
Does McCloud stand the test of time? While it is nowhere near as good as Columbo was, it does go down easy for the most part. There are some cringeworthy scenes and Chief Clifford still doesn't believe McCloud toward the end of the run when he should realize by then McCloud knows what's going on.
I give the show a six out of ten as it is fun to watch but not as good as what I remembered as a kid. The DVD set is worth it if one wants to see all the episodes unedited and ad free.
The TV movie The Return of Sam McCloud is included in the box set. I will probably review that one later on its own IMDB site. Spoiler alert: It's not very good.
Saturday Night Live: Live from Mardi Gras (1977)
Mardi Gras and Saturday Night: Not a good mix
The idea of having the cast go to Mardi Gras every year was a great idea on paper. However, the execution of the show would prove to be quite troublesome. Technical problems abound and the obnoxious drunk crowds didn't help.
There are several guests including Randy Newman who sings several songs. Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams and Henry Winkler also appear in a few skits.
The skits themselves don't work well out on the street. Most of the lines are hardly audible because of the background crowd noise. The stars have to deal with outside benches as their stage as well.
Nothing seems to work and Lorne Michaels decided to pull the plug on this idea for future shows.
I do give this show a five as they did try something different. It isn't a total loss as there are a few entertaining parts such as Belushi yelling 'Stella' at an apartment building.
Garrett Morris is from New Orleans and the episode might have worked a bit better with him being a sort of host to the cast and other guests.
This episode was rarely shown after the first airing. It is part of the second season DVD set as part of the extras.
Saturday Night Live: Candice Bergen/Frank Zappa (1976)
Candice, Frank and Killer Christmas Trees!
I watched this episode when it first aired and loved the Killer Christmas Tree skit. My mother also loved it as well which makes it even more of a cherished memory. The episode still holds up as I watch the box set of the first five seasons.
Frank sings I'm the Slime with help from Don Pardo and also appears in the Killer Tree skit as well. He would go on to host a show in the fourth season with mixed results. He does fit in with this show quite well.
There also is a tasteless Christmas song parody about the upcoming execution of Gary Gilmore which is quite funny.
The shows go over so much better when the host is enjoying themselves like Candice does when she hosts. It spreads into the cast and audience as well.
The show had also lost Chevy Chase who was leaving to make Hollywood movies at the time. Most wondered if the show would be as funny without him. Not only is this episode proof it would, but it also signaled the show would get better with a new kid on the block.
Saturday Night Live: Louise Lasser/Preservation Hall Jazz Band (1976)
How not to host the show
I loved Louise Lasser in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. I also saw the original airing of this episode. I thought like so many others Ms Hartman locking herself in her dressing room was a gag. Unfortunately, it was no gag. It seems Ms Lasser got stage fright and was refusing to do the show at the last minute. They did get her out to do the monologue and she did do one skit with Chevy Chase.
Ms Lasser doesn't appear with any other cast member for the rest of the show. She does a skit with her dog in which you can hear the dog is overheating because of the lights. The skit went on for too long and the poor dog is panting quite heavy. I'm surprised they allowed it to go on for as long as it did.
At the end of the show, Ms Lasser thanks the cast and tells the audience how wonderful they are. She smiles as they join her on stage. I would have loved to have been there after the cameras were turned off. The tension is thick on this one.
The reason I give it a 6 is the rest of the cast worked hard to fill in for Ms Lasser and do skits they were probably not prepared for. This also is a great example of how live television doesn't always work so well. If it were taped in advance, they would have aired a rerun instead.
Saturday Night Live: Candice Bergen/Martha Reeves/The Stylistics (1975)
Candice Bergen is a Not Ready for Prime Time Player
Ms Bergen became the first host to be asked back for the Christmas show. She is truly enjoying herself which is why this episode is so enjoyable to watch. We will find out what happens when a host does not want to do the show later on.
This is also the first Christmas themed show and these were also some of my favorites as they helped me get into a jolly mood. I also recently came out as an Elf myself so I especially hold this one dear to me.
There will be many other Christmas themed shows with some great sketches in them. However, the entire cast singing Winter Wonderland makes this one truly special and enjoyable.
So make up a nice hot cup of eggnog and wrap yourself in a blanket and enjoy the Yuletide season with Ms Bergen.
Saturday Night Live: Lily Tomlin (1975)
Lily shines
Lily Tomlin has always been a favorite of mine so this review may be a bit biased. She hosted the show for the first time and it was still going through growing pains.
Lily sings a few songs and also does a few stand up routines as various characters including Earnestine and Edith Ann. My favorite skit is the Patty Hearst skit where she starts singing while writing a letter to her sister. Patty Hearst is one of the many pop culture references which unfortunately date so many of the early episodes. (I have had to explain the Claudine Longet skit to many people.)
The cast members are all coming to their own although they are not indivicually mentioned at the beginning of the show.
This episode is one of my favorites from the first season. It still stands up to the test of time.