Reviews

Deja vu all over again. There's Bobby sitting on Clayton's barstool at the Oil Baron's Club drowning his sorrows after a spat with his beloved. It was Bobby who saw Clayton sitting in that same spot just a few shows ago. Bobby was a lot more encouraging of Clayton than Cliff was of Bobby, that's for sure. And to think I was feeling halfway sorry for Cliff after JR persuaded Marilee to ghost on the guy after bidding on those off-shore drilling tracts.

"True Confessions" left me feeling like literally everyone's a scoundrel. Katherine was center stage this time, if not always on camera, then pulling the strings behind the scenes to force Jenna's hand on Charlie's paternity. Not to condone Katherine's self-serving manipulations, but Jenna's hand needed forcing. Jenna's weaponized ambiguity on Charlie's paternity has been unfair to both Charlie and Bobby.

So is this the episode where Katherine fully embraces the dark side and becomes the distaff JR? She's dreamed and schemed and played dirty tricks before, but here she sunk to a new low. I mean, when a man as morally bankrupt as Naldo calls you a "viper," it's time to pump the brakes and self-reflect. Instead, Katherine seemed to relish Naldo's calling out her cancerous character. The one difference between them was Naldo being a stoic realist and recognizing and accepting that Jenna is lost to him forever. Katherine is still on her quixotic quest to conquer Bobby's heart, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far. JR and now Naldo have told Katherine to give up on winning Bobby, but she persists against all odds.

Sound like Peter? Now there's a guy whose infatuation is obsessive and scary. I keep thinking of Roger, the psycho shutterbug who abducted Lucy back in the fifth season. A shoutout to Sue Ellen for finally and decisively slamming shut the door on this illicit and ill-conceived affair. I think it would have stayed shut too if not for Lucy inadvertently opening the door with this proposal for Peter to play male model with her in a Southfork photoshoot. As Ronald Reagan used to say, there you go again...

What was with the protracted scene of Peter furiously working out? What audience was Lorimar targeting with all that sweaty beefcake? Maybe it was a Title IX clause demanding fair play after all those past scenes of Pam in a French-cut one-piece splashing in the Southfork pool. Lucy's cracking wise about Peter's running on a postage stamp was funny, though judging by the oversized t-shirt she was sporting at the pool party in "Offshore Crude," Lucy should consider jogging a few laps on that postage stamp, especially if she's trying to resuscitate her moribund modeling career.

Go away, Dora Mae. Yes, I know there was pressure to increase the presence of minorities on the series, but elevating the roles of the restaurant hostess and Teresa the maid was a bad way to go about it. All their scenes feel tacked on and shoehorned in. The pressure will only intensify in a few weeks when rival series DYNASTY adds a black character to the main cast, Dominique Deveraux, played by Diahann Carroll.

I'm watching through these two prime-time soaps concurrently and chronologically and the parallels are proving very interesting. Miscarriages and major characters wandering into the paths of oncoming cars occurred on both shows within weeks of each other. May-December romances are featured this season on both series, with both flipping the script and having younger men enthralled by older women. JR has Harry McSween and Alexis has Morgan Hess doing their dirty detective work. DYNASTY cast Helmut Berger as international playboy Peter DeVilbis and now DALLAS introduces Daniel Pilon as Italian Count Renaldo Marchetta. Coincidence or collusion? I suspect the two shows had their own Slys passing scripts in seedy bars like Sly does geological reports.

Hey, is this DALLAS or HART TO HART? What's with Ray and Donna going all Jonathan and Jennifer in their investigation of Edgar Randolph's past? They know JR is blackmailing him, but how is this behind-his-back investigation supposed to help? In their own way, Ray and Donna are in the muck retracing Harry McSween's soiled steps--and ouch!--stepping on toes. And all to what end? How do they go back to Edgar under the pretense of helping and say we snooped around and now know all about what you did in that room with little Barbara?

Barbara isn't so little now, and oh, don't forget she's a doctor (but if you do, she'll be quick to remind you). Worse, Dr. Mudhoney grabbed the wheel and crashed the show through the guardrail into the "very special episode" TV wasteland. Release the Kraken of psychobabble! Wait, didn't DIFF'RENT STROKES already address the issue of pedophilia with the bicycle man? I wondered what lurked behind this bizarre plot twist. Was the Edgar's-got-a-dirty-secret subplot designed solely to get us to this public service announcement data dump?

Meanwhile, back at the Oil Baron's Club, Edgar is spilling secrets and clinging by his fingernails to his last shred of self-respect by refusing even to drink with JR. My question is, if JR wants to know the amounts bid by Westar, Four States, and Barnes-Wentworth, and only then he will submit his presumably higher bid, how will that hurt Cliff Barnes? He plots with Marilee to leave Cliff holding the bag without his secret partner, but if Cliff is outbid by Ewing Oil he shouldn't lose anything but whatever filing fees were required (and the $10,000 he paid Sly for the geologicals).

Marilee is quite the "viper" too, so quick to stab Cliff in the back and even to twist the knife on JR's malicious urging. Okay, JR led her to believe Cliff was kissin' n' tellin', which of course aroused her ire. JR may have overplayed his hand here. If Cliff learns from Marilee that JR knows everything, and Cliff knows he hasn't uttered a word (not even to Pam), he may figure out his phone is tapped.

Blink and you'll miss veteran character actor Bill Quinn as Percival. It's Quinn's sole series appearance and only galvanized his reputation of having been in an episode of everything. His list of credits is staggering. Too bad he was squandered here, engaged in a few minutes of pointless conversation with Donna and Ray. Oh, his mistaking Sam Culver as Donna's father provided a nice complement to Sue Ellen being mistaken for Peter's mother.

So... do you believe Charlie is Naldo's daughter? I just can't, even after Jenna's poolside confession, which struck me as scripted, rehearsed, and wholly lacking the ring of truth. Jenna is still weaponizing ambiguity and leading on trusting, gullible, and starry-eyed Bobby. Couple that with the actress Shalane McCall looking so much like the best of Bobby and Jenna, wholly lacking the swarthy and sculpted features of her presumptive father. Maybe only a paternity test--like the one on Kristin's son Christopher--will decisively settle the issue. Until then, I'm still Team Bobby!

Ugh, what an awful episode! It started off promising as an homage to classic Westerns with Scott, Rand, and Annie riding into a hostile frontier town, then degenerated into a Western spoof with the sheriff tossing our ragtag rebels into the hoosegow like Thurston Howell did to the Brady Bunch. A couple geezers then rustle their Cyclones. The addled sheriff then inexplicably releases Scott, Rand, and Annie who ride away in hot pursuit on horseback. And all this before the commercial break!

The premise begged a lot of questions. Why would a once-modern society revert back to the Old West, including adopting its dress, horses, and cowpoke lingo? Scott said these cities were built in the craters created during the war with the Robotech Masters, which wasn't all that long ago in the series timeline. Rick Hunter is still alive, for example, as are an odd assortment of Macross-era soldiers. The city is decrepit, however, like a dilapidated old ghost town of the title. But if it was built in the wake of the Robotech Masters War, it should be bright, shiny, and gleaming with modernity.

Another nagging question--pun intended--when did Scott learn to ride a horse? Just two episodes ago in "Metamorphosis" he told Rand he couldn't swim because he spent his life in space. Am I nitpicking? Yes, and I know that Rick Hunter and the Robotech Masters played no roles in the original GENESIS CLIMBER MOSPEADA series. Carl Macek, in stitching together this patchwork quilt of three disparate series with a staff of ten writers, conflicts and continuity errors were bound to abound.

Some writers call Annie "Mint," and others don't. Some writers make Scott a halfway likeable human being who can kick back in a lounge chair and good naturedly splash in the surf, and others cast him as a jayvee George S. Patton, as he was presented in this episode. Full disclosure: I'm no fan of Scott. He's my second most-loathed character after Lynn Minmei. Yeah, he's the star of the New Generation, but let's be honest, Rand is the breakout character who brings life to this party.

What a revoltin' development. What began as a tribute to Westerns degenerated into a flag-waving, martial-drum-beating propaganda piece. UN Spacey's recruitment detail should play this episode in retirement homes and swell their ranks with grizzled warhorses and old soldiers eager to die with their boots on.

Can even the most ardent fan of Scott Bernard like him in this episode? First, he barks at Rand and Annie when they suggest he stop playing soldier and loosen up. "I'm not here for pleasure. There's no time for a vacation as long as the Invid are still on earth." He's a man singularly obsessed. Okay, fine, but don't drag others down into your maelstrom of madness. Then Scott tried to pull rank on the cowtown sheriff, haughtily declaring, "I just happen to be an officer from Mars Base!" This expectation of awe and respect--if not a snap salute--for the uniform revealed Scott's myopic militaristic mindset.

But Scott lost my last lick of loyalty and respect when he punched the veteran soldier square in the face and sneered, "You cowardly scum! I hate to even dirty my fists on you!" Wow, what about respect for one's elders? You just don't punch an old man in the face! Worse, the old duffer didn't even see it coming. The droopy-mustached vet informs Scott that they aren't soldiers anymore and aren't under anyone's command. Lancer adds that they fought bravely against the Robotech Masters and that the fight has gone out of them. The vets appear to be in their 70s and know Rick Hunter so presumably also waged war against the Zentraedi. Does Scott respect those decades of dedicated service? No, "you're all traitors!" he shouts, yanking a skinny codger by his shirt front. Scott may be an officer, but he's no gentleman.

An outlier among the veteran ranks is a younger, shell-shocked soldier dubbed "Gabby" since he's mute. He often goes to the receiver and watches messages we learn come from his son. Watch for Scott aggressively elbowing this poor, broken man to the side so he can frantically yell into a radio he was already told is no longer operational. Scott is so rude with a reckless disregard for people and their feelings. Only the mission matters. Scott displays megalomania here, believing he's on a mission from God--or Admiral Rick Hunter, whom he's elevated to deity-- and only he can accomplish it. People are just disposable tools to be used, abused, and discarded, means necessary to achieving his ends and winning his glory.

Good leaders can become obsessed. Two examples from STAR TREK: Captain Kirk in "Obsession" and Matt Decker in "The Doomsday Machine." In the latter, Decker blithely risked the lives of an entire starship in his mad quest to settle his personal grudge.

That tragically is similar to what happens in "Ghost Town" as this over-the-hill gang is bullied into undertaking a suicide mission to do what? Take out an Invid antenna? Is that a hill to die on? No, and neither was the "Anthill" in PATHS OF GLORY, a powerful movie that sprang to mind watching these futile events unfold.

In the end, Decker put skin in the game. Scott doesn't, hanging back and letting the vets to do the heavy lifting. Yeah, Scott made pleas for the vets to use the escape pods, but it was too late. He had already sufficiently shamed them into paying the ultimate price. We never learned Shorty's real name nor why Rick Hunter was never to be discussed among them.

I groaned after Marlene somberly informs Annie, "they were... heroes." That line brought to mind the underappreciated antiwar song "Billy, Don't Be a Hero." After the lives of Shorty and friends were snuffed out by the push of a button and a blinding flash, Scott pompously pronounces, "They'll be awarded medals of honor." First, what good will medals do them? They're dead--vaporized! And secondly, medals to be awarded by whom? There is no military structure in place to conduct such ceremonial niceties. If there were, Scott would have military backup instead of his ragtag band of misfit toys.

I'll end this review with the apt closing stanza of the song, which stands in stark contrast to the jingoistic theme of "Ghost Town": "I heard his fiancée got a letter / That told how Billy died that day / The letter said that he was a hero / She should be proud, he died that way / I heard she threw the letter away."

A packed show tonight with all the plots flying high and a couple descending for landings.

One just taking off is the Tracy Kendall subplot of planting a scandalous story with her bed buddy Jeremy, an editor at a fictional knockoff of the National Enquirer. This unclad, clandestine meeting raised among other things a question about the timeline. How many days and weeks transpired between Tracy's bedroom meeting with Jeremy and the actual story being written, published, and distributed to newsstands? Two interesting takeaways. Kendall came close to overplaying her hand here when Krystle zigged instead of zagged as planned. But I agreed with Tracy that Krystle too blithely dismissed the hit piece and its possible ramifications. The second takeaway was surprise that DYNASTY would take a swipe at the grocery store tabloids, which I vividly recall being big promoters of the prime-time soaps. My mother always bought "The Star" and while I wasn't interested as a teenager, I recall Joan Collins and Linda Evans being among the celebs regularly featured (albeit not always flatteringly, which perhaps provoked this show's slap down).

The scene with Tracy and Jeremy was filmed so carefully to reveal as much without revealing anything. I laughed at the shameless attempt at titillation when Tracy got up to mix a drink and the spoilsport director placed so many obstructions in our view. Come to think of it, Jerome Courtland's direction was just really weird all throughout this episode. What was with the shot of a woman exiting a store and walking to her car while we hear a voiceover of Jeff? Huh, what's going on? It was disorienting until the camera finally zoomed in on Jeff's passing car, cutting to him inside playing Mannix yakking on his car phone. Then came that shot in La Mirage that started on a gaggle of guests then panned to the fireplace and then zoomed through the fireplace to Claudia and Alexis talking. Talk about taking the scenic route through the set. If that was an ambitious attempt at avant garde, its reach exceeded its grasp!

Then twice Courtland filmed meetings in Blake's office from what appeared to be the uppermost reaches of the ceiling corner. First Dex and later Adam appeared, each man standing what looked like fifty yards away from Blake. With Adam I was suddenly reminded of "The Obsolete Man" episode of the TWILIGHT ZONE with Adam standing in for Burgess Meredith awaiting judgement to fall from an imperious Blake. What was Courtland going for with those yawning chasms between Blake and Dex and Adam? Visually demonstrating the unbridgeable distance between Blake and these men? C'mon, guys, as we learned in the commercial break, "now don't be shy / you can get a little closer / with Arrid Extra Dry!"

On the subject of Blake, I noticed in the last show and again in this one that John Forsythe's head just isn't in the game. Last week in "A Little Girl" when Gordon Thomson was giving a heartrending performance in the hospital chapel, Forsythe appeared tuned out and disengaged. And that sleepwalking performance carried over into tonight's show. When he was having heartfelt talks with Krystle and later Alexis, I kept thinking how obvious it was that Forsythe was merely acting. That oomph that lends emotional impact to a scene was missing... and was sorely missed. Even the closing "Oh, my God" was spoken so flat, as if he were reading the line off a cue card. Midseason doldrums? I hope he snaps out of it.

I see the writers successfully drawing parallels between the show's starry-eyed star-crossed lovers. Sam Dexter via Blake tries in vain to warn Dex about Alexis, and a virtual Greek chorus is warning Fallon about Peter. I was going to write that all such warnings fell on deaf ears, but in that stirring scene right after Fallon learned the truth all those warnings raced back and rang in her ears. I thought of an old favorite Frank Sinatra song that warns against falling in love with love that I'm asking Casey to send to Fallon as a long-distance dedication: "I fell in love with love one night when the moon was full / I was unwise with eyes unable to see / I fell in love with love, with love everlasting / But love fell out with me!"

While one romance sputters, another sparks. Or is it more akin to lighting a wet firecracker? What provoked Dex to propose to Alexis? The fact his father and Blake are opposed to this unholy union? Dex's revealing that his father Sam once slept with Alexis brought to mind the biblical account of King David's ambitious son Absalom who slept with his father's concubines to both shame and usurp power from his father. That didn't end well, and I see this revenge romance "riding high in April, shot down in May," as in May-December romances are often just "falling for make believe," as the aforementioned song well stated.

Speaking of King David... I am confident when recent episodes were being written there was a Bible opened to 2 Samuel as the story of Adam and Kirby boasts so many striking parallels to the sordid story of David and Bathsheba. Adam as David was attracted to and took by force another man's wife: Kirby as Bathsheba. Jeff played the hapless husband Uriah whom David consigned to death just as Adam attempted to do to Jeff. Even though David and Adam expressed remorse afterwards, a price had to be paid: the life of the child conceived in sin. Drawing a plot from such an iconic story certainly lent it tremendous heft.

A few random notes: Did you notice the new music cue for La Mirage? Kinda somber. I already miss the old bouncy one, but perhaps it was changed to reflect the fact there's no joy in Mudville or at La Mirage these days between Claudia's simmering crackup and Fallon's abrupt breakup. If one is watching HOTEL back-to-back with DYNASTY (as they aired in '84), Claudia is fast becoming this series' answer to Connie Sellecca's Christine Francis. Embittered ex-congressman Neil McVane is mentioned but not seen (perhaps busily plotting off camera?).

And finally, with the episode titled "The Accident," it was just a matter of waiting to see upon whom it befell. Once that drunk guy stumbled out insisting on getting his own car, I knew it was a'coming. Yeesh, just as Kirby was recovering, we start all over again with endless scenes of a character languishing in bed, hovering between life and death. Not to be flip, but c'mon, we've been there done that so many times on this series. I'm guessing Aaron Spelling took a long lease on that hospital set and is determined to get his uttermost farthing's worth.

Not to go all W. C. Fields and hate on the kids but c'mon, enough is enough with these brats overrunning the show. We saw way too much of John Ross, Charlie, and even Christopher. John Ross has regally assumed the role of spoiled rich kid and earned my ire. His incessant bellowing of "Mommy! Mommy!" as Sue Ellen spoke to Peter was maddening. Sue Ellen should have said, "John Ross, just run your train off the rails like Mommy is doing with her life, okay?"

And if you're old like me, Lucy and Peter still count as kids (I mean, didn't Peter pass a love note like a high schooler?). Lucy's only in puppy love with a handsome hunk of a man and who can blame her? Sue Ellen, however, is a married and mature woman who must be held accountable for encouraging Peter's obsessive-bordering-on-scary infatuation with her. Yeah, I can imagine it's flattering to be the object of desire to a younger man, but... at what cost? Sue Ellen rehearsing her breakup lines while he was out of earshot shaving his peach fuzz was a textbook example of the spirit being willing but the flesh so weak. I'm just dreading the inevitable day when I have to wince and watch the heartbroken expressions on John Ross' and Lucy's faces. As for J. R., his reaction will likely be one of smug satisfaction that he was right all along and now has a fresh and fertile supply of humiliating dirt with which to smear Sue Ellen.

On the subject of humiliation, could you believe Cliff threw into Afton's face--during his reconciliation plea, no less!--the fact she slept with Gil Thurman? That was a forehead-smacking line to be sure. Why Afton only feebly countered with the fact she did it for him was disappointing, though I guess she was as stunned as we were. I simply couldn't believe Cliff's unmitigated gall, ingratitude, and insensitivity in that infamous moment.

And then after patching things up with Afton, what the heck? He's off meeting Marilee in some dive bar! You know, I try valiantly to like Cliff, the perpetual underdog perpetually kicked by J. R., but Cliff sure makes being his cheerleader a challenge. What is Marilee's interest in Cliff, anyway? I was embarrassed at her making googly eyes at him and sliding over a seat. I mean, he's self-centered, shallow, not exceptionally handsome, and overdue for a haircut. Surely Marilee knows Cliff's a lifelong loser and a louse?

And the hits just keep on comin'. Now into the office slips Sly on a Saturday night to sabotage Cliff with J. R.'s bad intel on the off-shore drilling tracts. J. R. Is making good his vow to take Cliff down hard. I just question Sly's role. How can she be so merciless as to repeatedly plunge the knife into the back of the man who unequivocally trusts her? Yeah, Cliff played her for a fool suggesting he could help get her no-good brother a parole, but does that warrant a hundredfold payback?

The pool party was revealing in more ways than one. Did you catch the death glare Peter shot J. R.? Yikes. If looks could kill, right? Poolside, only Priscilla Presley dared to bare her bikini bod. Sue Ellen appeared self-conscious in her one piece, pulling her wrap around her legs. Lucy and Donna declined to don swimsuits. To his credit, Patrick Duffy looked just as fit albeit furrier-chested than he did on THE MAN FROM ATLANTIS. Highlight of the scene was the ad lib by Ray prompting John Ross on his "get set" line. I'm glad they left in that cute flub.

Suspicious minds want to know... why didn't Clayton and Miss Ellie share any scenes with the cast? Missing the family dinner on two evenings was shocking enough, but most surprising was Miss Ellie going MIA for John Ross' party, especially after having been away so long recovering from her nervous breakdown. Was dancing to Tommy Dorsey at the Bandstand with Clayton a more compelling draw? Maybe the brats running amok at Southfork proved too much for her frayed nerves? (I assumed off-screen conflicts with the notoriously combustible and cantankerous Bel Geddes kept her at bay that day).

Miss Ellie's asking about Clayton's sister indicated this English nobleman's widow is being positioned to play an interesting role in the weeks ahead. Also foreshadowed is a return to front-burner status for Ewing Oil's neglected and nigh-forgotten nemesis Westar. When JR dropped the name (just before dropping the boom on Edgar), I suspected a comeback was brewing.

Harry McSween appears to have diverted his vacation plans from digging up dirt on Clayton to uncovering the ugly secrets of Edgar Randolph. And he struck paydirt because the unflappable Edgar sure flip-flopped when learning what leverage J. R. had on him. Wow, must be serious stuff since Edgar broke with protocol and skipped right past the pretense of outraged denial. Funny what goes through one's mind. In that scene my first thought was how Donna will react to J. R. putting her old friend in the vice and cranking it.

We're only halfway through this 30-episode seventh season and the pot is reaching a rolling boil. And as Mom taught us, kids need to back away from the stove and let the grownups handle it.

Strong Friday episode with a cliffhanger sure to bring back the audience on Monday. Tremendous credit is due Kathryn Leigh Scott, who's acting talents have come out from under the bushel and been allowed to shine brightly since falling sway to Barnabas.

The same shoutout to David Ford as frantic father Sam Evans, who demonstrates an incredible range in this episode alone. I really believed he was Maggie's father and not just an actor playing his role. Ford immersed himself in the part and delivered his lines as if from the heart. There was no obvious reading cold off cue cards as is too often the case with an unnamed Collins matriarch.

Acting aside and considering characters, I'm feeling the tension and the push-pull with Maggie. I've gone from sympathy to anger to finally she'll get what she deserves. In today's show she was especially manipulative in coercing with melodramatic play-acting the nurse to open the window. I intensely disliked her character in the second half of the show.

As an aside, for the open-window fiasco I blame Dr. Woodard, suffering from an acute and chronic case of the God-complex, which is an occupational hazard of doctors. He gives orders to the nurse, such as keep the window closed and locked, and acts affronted when she dares ask why. Had he given her a reason, she likely would not have opened it. I'm sure, considering Maggie's hammy choking and gasping for fresh air, she assumed Woodard's dictate was just an arbitrary decree from which no real harm could come from ignoring. Oops.

The question we must pose to Maggie is what did you know and when did you know it? She appears in her right mind but stubbornly refuses to reveal what happened to her, and more importantly by whom. I grew impatient with her and admit my sympathy for the character is fast ebbing after tonight's manipulations. I suspect her amnesia is feigned, and she deflects questioning by flailing around like a flounder on the dock. She refuses to name Barnabas out of fear, like the cowed into submission Willie Loomis.

Here's the question I keep asking when Dr. Woodard, Sam, Joe, Burke, and Vicky are continually mind boggled and baffled by the two punctures on Maggie's neck: Hey, hasn't even one of you caught a Dracula flick on the late, late show? C'mon!

Where's Billy Mumy to wish the whole Peter and Sue Ellen storyline into a cornfield? This is just so ill-conceived a plotline, and the producers are doubling down on it, even awarding it this episode's title. It's ironic, however, since "The Peter Principle" book and business term describes people rising to a level of incompetence, which arguably explains the demented decision to make this tawdry May-December romance the seventh season spotlighted subplot.

I mean, it's distressing to see a desperate Lucy pining for this loser with whom she had what, two dates? The Oil Baron's Brawl and that schlocky movie. Lucy is just a pawn anyway, allowing Peter access to Sue Ellen poolside and at the big barbecue Another innocent pawn in Peter's scheming is John Ross, who expresses his heartfelt concern for his missing counselor and "friend" (using the term loosely). How can Sue Ellen live with herself knowing her illicit involvement with Peter is hovering threateningly over the lives of those she loves?

I groaned as Sue Ellen played a cut-rate Mrs. Columbo tracking down clues from a mullet-headed dorm rat who may or may not suspect this cougar's on the prowl for her prey. I suspect he did, as he tossed her a bone in spilling Peter's new address. And what's this about her talking to Peter's professor about what a promising student he was? Having walked and worked in those halls of ivy, FERPA since 1974 strictly forbids such discussions, even with family, let alone panting paramours! At what point do we call Sue Ellen a stalker? Anyway, when Sue Ellen stepped through Peter's apartment door, didn't you already know this scene was going to end in adultery? C'mon!

Coincidentally or otherwise, at this same time a similar storyline was playing out Wednesday nights on DYNASTY, where a younger man--Dex--is aggressively pursuing the considerably older Alexis. Alexis is unmarried, however, and Dex a full-grown adult, not a starry-eyed manchild like Peter.

Or maybe a better parallel is the new wrinkle introduced this episode with Marilee Stone suddenly (and inexplicably) attracted to Cliff? Talk about strange-not-yet-but-woulda-been bedfellows! Cliff denied to Pam that he's having an affair with Marilee--and he was right! But would he be in the throes of one had Afton not shown up unexpectedly early? Yeah, I think so. Cliff, didn't you ever see THE APARTMENT on the late show? You don't have your assignations at home. As for Cliff being faithful to the masochistic Afton, I contend from circumstantial evidence that Cliff already ceded that high ground by sleeping with Sly a few episodes back.

Good history provided by JR over coffee with Mama about Sue Ellen's past unfaithfulness, living on Clayton's Southern Cross ranch during her dalliance with Dusty back in the fifth season. Miss Ellie should have responded, "Oh, yeah, back when you duped your own mother into being a pawn in your plot to kidnap your son?"

Thinking back to those helicopter-heavy episodes, Clayton referred to his son as "Steven" in this episode, and I had to stop and remember that is Dusty's given name. Later I smiled and shared JR's frustration when he was conferring with Harry McSween, "Dusty or Steven or whatever the hell that rodeo rider calls himself nowadays."

I'm a JR fan and marvel watching just how low he can go. It's refreshing that digging up dirt on Clayton is proving a dry well. Of course, the fact JR just can't believe any man can be that clean says more about JR than humanity. Tonight's tantalizing tidbit about Clayton having a presumably estranged sister in England may prove interesting. Why didn't Clayton ever mention her? Does Miss Ellie know? Why didn't Clayton tell Miss Ellie over lunch that JR is actively investigating him? Are there indeed skeletons rattling behind closed doors and in the San Angelo police files?

That lunch reminds me, what is with this relatively new restaurant set that has been turning up in virtually every episode? The one with the illuminated bar that almost invariably fills the background. I wondered, how long have Clayton and Ellie been back in Dallas where they are already regulars known by name and ordering the usual. And they know the hostess, Dora Mae, by name. Poor suffering Dora Mae, by the way, having to take both JR's and Ray's cowboy hats. Surely they breezed past the hat check on the way in. What a couple of uncouth rustics under that veneer of wealth and taste. (Note that Clayton dutifully checked his.)

Anyone feeling deja vu all over again? Kinda like Cliff's reheated chow mein. Here are Miss Ellie and Donna working out in the gym (cue "Let's Get Physical"), which brought to mind the days when virtually every episode shoehorned in a scene of Pam aerobicizing (and soft selling Victoria Principal's real-life books and videos). Underscoring that flashback was seeing Jenna decorating her eponymous boutique. Whatever happened to Pam's aerobics studio? Flushed down the memory hole along with Lucy's modeling career? I was going to add Afton's lounge singing, but that one reared its head again tonight after a lengthy absence.

Patrick Duffy directed this episode and did some curious things with the camera. Like when Mark is bawling out Pam for seeing Bobby. I seriously thought John Beck was going to jut that chin of his right through my TV screen! Duffy is always ready for his close up, like when Sue Ellen and Peter lip lock. Yeesh, their quivering, tentative, and expectant faces filled my screen to bursting, and I could see every pore like craters on the moon. I tried to push myself back right through my chair. Talk about invading someone's personal space, and in such an unseemly moment to boot.

In closing, I especially enjoyed the in-joke of Clayton taking Miss Ellie to CAMELOT knowing Howard Keel himself is a song-and-dance man with an impressive voice that elevated many a musical. I wondered what Priscilla Presley thought in that scene (I knew a man who could really sing too). Here's an idea I'll send back to Lorimar via Tardis: Howzbout next year's charity event at Billy Bob's be a karaoke night/amateur hour where the cast can spotlight their singing and sketch comedy talents, you know, like they used to do on I LOVE LUCY and THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW? Bad idea? Hey, no worse than this protracted Peter and Sue Ellen train wreck. Instead of star-crossed lovers, give us shining stars Keel and Bel Geddes belting out duets of show tunes. "If ever I would leave youuuu...!"

Remember back in March 1995 when singer Selena was murdered by the president of her fan club? That tragedy came to mind watching "Stardust" when George Sullivan's biggest fan unwittingly murdered him by blowing his cover as a Global Military Police operative and then shanghaiing him to accompany her on an extremely dangerous mission. Okay, maybe "murdered" isn't the right word, but the fact is Dana's impetuous actions, playing George as her ace in the hole, inadvertently and unintentionally led to his death. That and the fact hovertanks apparently lack seatbelts!

I never noticed until this episode how the squadron soldiers are wholly unprotected in their hovertanks. No harnesses, no bulletproof bubbletop like presidential limos employ since JFK was assassinated. Those who don't learn from history....

ROBOTECH is rightly revered for being a realistic show with the threat of heartbreak and loss ever present. This episode was a textbook example, as all of George's efforts in locating a weak spot in the flagship combined with Dana's skilled shooting landing a direct hit... all came to naught. And most tragic of all was George's death, and just when we were warming up to this lounge lizard superspy.

On that musical note... George's singing. Oy vey, where were Jaye P. Morgan and Jamie Farr with the gong when we needed them, right? And that Milli Vanilli lip-synch malfunction made the old Godzilla movies look good. I get no kick from champagne, but Dana sure did, getting tipsy and tripping the light fantastic with her "dreamboat" in a trippy daydream. Bowie plays piano for free, passes on imbibing "the best" booze in the house, and still gets stuck with the fifty-credit tab! Gotta love that gold-diggin' Dana.

Gotta love that Piano Bar too. What an eclectic clientele. Freeze frame on the audience. You got a double-chinned middle-aged man in a suit, an Annie Hall wannabe who looks about 12 years old, and a bespectacled woman in a pink dress and bow tie looking like a school marm straight off the set of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE. I did love that nightclub scene with the bonus of Bowie tickling the ivories. It was a refreshing pause in this saga's unrelenting action that has been coming at us like a firehose on full blast.

That said, I did suffer some cognitive dissonance, admittedly still trying to process the preceding episode's data dump along with Dana's inexplicable flip-flop on killing the enemy. Why? Because they're living creatures and not androids? As Angelo pointedly pointed out, the enemy has no reservations about killing us. I feared Dana was going all Lynn Kyle and was going to start pushing daisies into Bioroid laser cannons. And I still harbor that fear after Dana's outburst led to her getting forcibly ejected from Commander Leonard's meeting and now strongarmed by Col. Fredericks coupled with a warning from Gen. Emerson about insubordination. This chick is brig bait, I'm tellin' ya! Put Satori on speed dial, somebody!

Commander Leonard, who I dubbed Commander Kingpin before learning his rather banal name, actually became a semi-sympathetic character in this episode. He's a man under authority too, and we see him catching hell from his superior. I felt bad for the guy getting reamed and hung up on because we know he's desperately trying to get results, (mis)using men and machines as cannon fodder, ignoring Emerson's warnings to pump the brakes. There's a brief scene of Leonard in the turbo-lift that really underscores how lonely it is at the top. And is the fact the lift is rapidly descending a metaphor and/or foreshadowing?

Two interesting scenes worth mentioning. First was the mind probe of the abducted man revealing his romance and how he and his wife now have a child. My heart went out to him and I hoped he will be safely returned. The second noteworthy scene was George's flashback to his sister's untimely death and his recruitment by the Global Military Police. I was frustrated they gave such a meaningful motivation to a character that was blithely discarded by episode's end.

My closing point goes back to the cognitive dissonance I'm suffering. This show can be confusing! Last episode one of the elders said they had no intention of hurting the "Micronians," then they go and rain down destruction on Monument City and abduct a couple hundred people. Why is a Robotech Master using Zentraedi lingo, anyway? Why was Dana's obsession in "Metal Fire" with not shooting into the cockpits and killing Bioroids all but forgotten this episode? Did George's story flip her back to the harsh realities of war? Shoot the hovercraft, aim for the knees, she ordered her squadron last time, and this time she's trying to blow to kingdom come both the flagship and the rescue craft!

I suspect the problem lies in the kitchen, as in too many cooks therein. I counted ten staff writers in the closing credits, plus Carl Macek playing Stan Lee and trying to corral his creators and maintain a semblance of continuity. I fear consistency went tumbling through the cracks as different writers put their spin on characters and events. Couple that with the unenviable and herculean task of trying to adapt three standalone series and somehow stitch them together. Thus far the best they can muster is dropping random references to the SDF-1, the Zentraedi, and Max and Miriya, none of which or whom played any role in the original Southern Cross saga. Is Protoculture just a Macek-invented MacGuffin?

I'm enjoying ROBOTECH for the first time, coming late to the party as a man in his fifties, and one stabbing the dark and feeling his way through the fog of war.

As I watched Jerry Van Dyke hamming it up, literally banging his head on the wall, I kept thinking this must have been a backdoor pilot for a sitcom revolving around Roy Herzog and his dysfunctional travel agency (note the staircase in the back; were they trying to give it a CHEERS vibe?). If it was, I don't think it would have gone the distance for Jerry like COACH would six years later (and instead would've been another MY MOTHER THE CAR on his checkered resume).

Joanna's taking offense at Dick calling her a "homebody" and impulsively striking out into the working world was just a set up for Jerry Van Dyke's guest star turn. I suspect this was series creator and executive producer Barry Kemp trying to mend fences after the George Utley role that was initially written for Van Dyke ultimately went to Tom Poston. Jerry is very funny as the very unprofessional boss, from his white socks to his cluttered desk and shambles of an office. I can see why Roy's longsuffering wife packs him lunches he hates in a chipped container.

(Barry may have had fences to mend at home as well, since his wife Maggie was cast in her first credited acting role as travel agent Betty Houser. Shades of "Put me in the show, Ricky!")

Joanna proved the perfect foil for Roy, keeping poised and professional as he ranted and rampaged, demonstrating his flair for physical comedy. But as scatterbrained as Roy was, he was right--taking this job was only a whim for Joanna. She just hadn't admitted it to herself... yet. When she realized she made a mistake, she fulfilled Roy's prophecy of quitting, and two weeks shy of the two weeks he optimistically predicted. Oh, well, Joanna learned a lesson, and Frank made ten bucks.

Speaking of Frank, my biggest laugh of the episode came when he poked his head in asking the bus fare to Dayton just as Roy was regaling Joanna on the travel agent's role in dispatching vacationers to faraway places with strange sounding names.

Meanwhile, back at the inn the laughs were few and strained. NEWHART can be a mean-edged show. Yeah, you expect it from Kirk, but Dick is often an insensitive boor and warming up to him is proving a challenge even after twenty shows. George ain't the sharpest tool in his shed, but he knows enough to keep his mouth shut. The oft-celebrated gravy scene was less funny and more a revenge-fueled but thoroughly deserved comeuppance.

Joanna proved that in addition to being childish in that gravy scene, she can be impulsive, flighty, and self-centered. She's miffed that Kirk, Leslie, and George ignored her big announcement, but c'mon, they were fully immersed in a Monopoly game. Same for Dick, whose work she diminished when barging in and blithely yanking his paper out of the typewriter because she had an announcement that couldn't wait. That wasn't funny; that was aggressively narcissistic.

Alas, poor Jennifer Holmes as Leslie, stuck in a thankless role that stubbornly defies humor. (Well, that outfit she was wearing was pretty funny. I mean, what's with the woolen knee socks?) Anyway, she's studying "Renaissance Theology" yet never gives evidence of religious faith. Her Olympic aspirations were a plot point in one show when she was accidentally injured (okay, when Dick fell on her, to name names). Outside of being the obscure object of Kirk's desire (ie, lust), Leslie was written into a tight corner and while I feel awful Holmes was pink slipped at season's end, I understand why the decision was made.

Y'know, thinking back now on that episode, "Sprained Dreams," Dick demonstrated what an insufferable narcissist he can be too. Hey, I finished my book, so Leslie should immediately abandon her studies and drop all her plans so she can accommodate my whim to go skiing. And if she puts up even mild resistance, I'll pile on the emotional blackmail. (Remember when Kirk called Dick out for thinking he's the center of the universe?) Hmm, it's no wonder Dick and Joanna hit it off so well at the New York ad agency where they met and fell in love. Once the rings were on, Dick quit to write full-time, leaving Joanna to bear the burden of breadwinner. He's accustomed to other people ensuring he gets his way.

The newspaper interview that sparked this tempest in a teapot was mildly funny, minus Leslie's reciting of her resume. Joanna lavishly flattered Dick and of course expected Dick to reciprocate. Obtuse as he is shallow, Dick could only come up with "homebody" as the quality he treasures most about Joanna, and then he proceeds to define it down as free from all responsibility and divorced from the real world. Wow, now that I think back on it, impulsively childish or not, Joanna should have dumped that cold gravy over Dick's head instead of his plate!

The Robotech Masters/Southern Cross saga is off to a rollicking start. It's a plot-driven story that thus far has been action all the way with none of the puppy love triangles and turgid romances that weighed down the preceding Macross saga.

The spotlight is squarely on Lt. Dana Sterling, and even if it weren't, she'd elbow her way into it! What a vainglorious kook, proven last episode at her second promotion in rank over the span of just three shows. Here's Dana, driving her hovertank down the main aisle of the ceremony, standing and beckoning applause with outstretched arms like some banana republic dictator. That said, she's a loveable kook and very endearing. The bunny ears and "rabbit technology" line left me smiling.

The whole Carl Macek-created fiction of Dana being the daughter of Max and Miriya will hopefully recede into the background now that the plot device served its purpose of forging a (weak) link between the Macross and Masters sagas.

Not gonna lie, I felt lost in the fog of war as "Volunteers" unfolded. The Earth Defense needs to reestablish communication with the Liberty satellite, a communication link the Robotech Masters have shut down. Earth sends up two space shuttles to the Masters' flagship, not the Liberty outpost. Everything hinged on a tiny antenna that popped up out of Lt. Crystal's shuttle (with an "on the air" screen straight out of the golden age of radio). After a girls-with-guns repelling of the Bioroids attack, the shuttle returns home. But was communication permanently reestablished? Or was this mission's objective simply to alert Liberty that earth is under attack from alien aggressors? I suspected something was lost in translation--literally--between the plot of the Japanese original Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross and our Robotech adaptation.

If Lt. Crystal's shuttle alone was able to accomplish the mission, why were two shuttles dispatched? Lt. Borgnine's doomed squadron lent this story a sobering edge. Death came not from the enemy but from computer and/or mechanical malfunction. The shocking tragedy allowed a stark contrast to be drawn between the stoic Lt. Crystal and the emotional Lt. Sterling. After Crystal's face slap and berating of Dana, the narrator should quit calling Crystal a "friendly rival." That was an optimistic misnomer from the outset. "Fresh Start" established that by-the-book Crystal had no fondness for flaky brig-bait Dana.

Speaking of misnomers, "Volunteers" wasn't really the right title for this episode--"Voluntolds" was more like it, at least for Angelo and Bowie. Crystal was the first to volunteer for this dangerous assignment, and to one up her nemesis, Dana volunteers her entire squadron! Wow, just to look good to the brass, this gloryhound puts her comrades' lives at stake? And why pick Bowie? "Dana's Story" established that he would rather spin vinyl records than fight.

Judging by his role in that opening episode and by the preview for "Half Moon," Bowie is poised to be a major player. He appears to be a southern Indian, and I wish they had cast the voice actor who played Exidore to provide Bowie's voice to underscore his heritage. Funny scene when Bowie blows up at Dana and she snaps him to attention. Credit or blame the military for successfully inculcating that Pavlovian response into this reluctant soldier.

Puzzling too was Dana, Bowie, and Angelo being placed in pivotal positions aboard the shuttle when this is their maiden voyage into space. Yikes, shouldn't they be trained and have some hours of experience logged before embarking on a vital mission where even top brass admit good luck is going to be needed?

"Lt. Borgnine" had to have been an homage to actor Ernest Borgnine. That was a nice albeit brief touch. One would expect the celebration at ground control to be subdued considering the tragic deaths of Borgnine and crew, but nope. The cheering was deafening. And for what? Final victory over the Robotech Masters? No, just that that they got word through to Liberty that earth is under attack. Well, maybe that means Moonbase Alpha--oops, wrong show--Luna will be notified and possibly deploy a defensive force.

A promising first four episodes with much to keep us Dana devotees tuned in.

A welcome pause from the soapy space opera of the last couple episodes (e.g., Lisa pining for her lost love on Mars, the ongoing saga of star-crossed Rick and Minmei). The 70,000 inhabitants of the SDF-1 needed a morale booster and so did the audience. "Miss Macross" delivers exactly that and delivered it with enjoyable and entrancing aplomb.

The SDF-1 is holding a beauty pageant to crown Miss Macross and it is a major cultural event. I found it funny how the Zentraedi pick up the Macross Broadcast System's television signal and wonder what this big event is all about and so dispatch a reconnaissance ship to gather intel. And it was hilarious to see these Zentraedi warriors watching the bathing suit contest and speculating on whether the women were wearing a very ineffective armor, formal uniforms, or whether these weren't even real women but a new secret weapon. It was obvious these hardened warriors had never before beheld a bikini-clad beauty. In fact, the Zentraedi were shocked and scandalized by seeing a man and a woman speaking together. That provided valuable insight into Zentraedi culture. With total war and conquest its default setting, coupled with a sharp division of the sexes, I'm beginning to suspect the Zentraedi are loosely inspired by Islam (which religion Frank Herbert also drew upon when creating Dune).

Another insightful takeaway concerns Lisa "Sourpuss" Hayes. When Claudia suggests Rick is late returning from his patrol because he's checking out the beauty contest, Lisa grunts a smug "I don't think so." Why would she say that? Does she think Rick is too young or just isn't interested in girls? And why does she despise Rick so much? Is it because she's inadvertently responsible for his becoming a military pilot and for his promotion to lieutenant and group leader? Couple that with the humiliation of Rick saving her life in "Bye-Bye, Mars." I have from the opening episode found her to be a very unsympathetic character. Our first impression is her resenting Claudia's partying the night before. Even considering and appreciating her tragic loss and broken heart, she's such a bitter and frigid person, all work and barely any play (lingering in lingerie shops an exception! Though we have to ask, for whom and to what end?)

In addition to the prurient appeal provided by the bevy of bikini girls (oh, and Minmei in a chaste one-piece), there was profundity to be found. The three Zentraedi soldiers endeared themselves with their humanity (if that's the right word for this alien race). I enjoyed seeing them glued to the beauty pageant struggling to figure out the earthlings and their kooky culture, no doubt wondering what fools these Micronians be! These men were the Zentraedi equivalents of Rick, Ben, and Max, friends, comrades, and apparently good guys at heart. The danger of humanizing the enemy (instead of demonizing him) is the audience wants the best for them, and there I was rooting for them to get safely away in that escape pod before Rick showed up.

On that note, would Rick have shot all three men in cold blood? I commend Rick for not being able to kill the terrified Zentraedi a few episodes ago. I'm glad he wasn't put in that same dilemma this time, especially as his head wasn't in the game. I laughed at his tuning out Lisa to tune back in the pageant, and how he became so mesmerized by Minmei's big moment he almost crashed smack into the Zentraedi scout ship!

Speaking of that vainglorious vixen, we learn Minmei is five-foot-two and her favorite color is blue. Hmm, maybe she was sending a winking message to Max Sterling that she digs his crazy blue locks! Max better watch out, by the way. He tells Ben that Minmei "sure doesn't look sixteen to me!" Oh, how many guys have said exactly that as the police put on the cuffs!

Random observations: Macross science developed an artificial blue sky along with sunrises and sunsets, simulating the days and nights of earth. I had not considered how such things would boost physical and mental wellbeing. In contrast, one whose mental wellbeing is suffering is Jan Morris, a Hollywood actress caught in the hyperspace jump and is now far from the glamor and glitz of Tinseltown. Adding insult to injury, she loses the pageant to Yokohama's hometown girl Minmei. Jan's story made me reflect a moment on all the shanghaied passengers aboard the SDF-1 whose lives have been upended.

"Miss Macross" gave us a welcome respite from the angst, sturm und drang that define the series, but this episode was not a frothy throwaway as it boasted important insights that served to deepen the characters and also add nuance to the greater conflict. While it didn't do anything for Lisa's likeability, the story successfully made it increasingly difficult to outright loathe the Zentraedi and root for their total destruction.

In the end, my heart went out to Rick, still hopelessly crushing on Minmei, who crowned and coronated as Queen of Macross promises to be ten times the spoiled brat she already is.

A step down from its near-perfect predecessor "Top of the World, Ma," but still a solid show with a stellar cast. A highlight was watching the opening credits and thinking, wow, what a TV Western round-up this episode will be: Dennis Weaver, Chester on GUNSMOKE; Barry Sullivan, Pat Garrett on THE TALL MAN; and Cameron Mitchell, fresh off four seasons playing Buck Cannon on THE HIGH CHAPARRAL. But that highlight also proved the show's greatest disappointment as Sullivan and Mitchell each received only about ten minutes of screen time. Talk about a bait n' switch.

The spotlighted guest stars turned out to be Julie Sommars and Gabriel Dell. I was surprised Sommars' character was named Jenny since she was best known at the time for playing Jennifer Jo Drinkwater on THE GOVERNOR AND J. J. As another reviewer rightly noted, Sommars had "a knack for playing mentally ill women." She played Jenny with kooky charm and appeal, at least until the hysterical shrieking started after Dell stepped out of the painting. A few years later Sommars played a similar role as the eccentric title character in "Gertrude," the opening episode of HARRY O.

Erstwhile East End Kid Gabriel Dell was granted generous screentime to shine as master of disguise Ira Maston, gaslighting with glee the increasingly unhinged Jenny. I loved how he played the elevator operator and within moments had switched to the rheumy-eyed cad with a sword cane! It was a shame Maston had to push Jennie over the edge because their matching decor and shared love for old movies could have led to romantic nights slurping his bad soup and watching Carole Lombard on the late, late show.

Old movies and TV oftentimes provide snapshots of history in the making. When McCloud and Jennie stroll through 1971 New York City, did you catch in the background the Twin Towers under construction? It was on another such stroll that the director stretched audience credulity by having Maston perched in the perfect place peeking out from behind a newspaper as McCloud and Jennie passed by. Okay, that reveal was eerily effective, I admit, but even a child would not have believed it was really raining in that Mexican village on the Universal backlot, bathed in bright SoCal sunshine glinting off the bus and casting distinct shadows. You would think director Jack Smight would have abandoned the pretense as the rain served no narrative purpose and ended up being more of a distraction.

Oh, on that note, award for most welcome distraction goes to Anne Randall in that red bikini.

Her harem-keeping boss Gen. Touhy was ahead of his time in warring against the cubicles and beehives of offices, preferring to work from home. He could have been a champion of the post-pandemic back-to-office resisters if he wasn't such an irredeemably unwoke sexist, referring to his eye-candy secretary as "the scenery."

Barry Sullivan was practically typecast playing decadent powerbrokers in this era. In the span of a few years he played virtually the same corrupt character on THE IMMORTAL, LONGSTREET, HAWAII FIVE-O, THE MAGICIAN, and KUNG FU to name but a few that spring to mind. Cameron Mitchell developed a reputation for playing bad guys, but I always think of him as the loveable, loyal, and looking for a drink and a fight Buck Cannon on HIGH CHAPARRAL, just as Sullivan will always be the uncompromising and upstanding Sheriff Pat Garrett of the early sixties Western THE TALL MAN.

Speaking of uncompromising and upstanding, it was a delightful surprise to see Priscilla Pointer as Shirley, the smitten-with-Sam-McCloud art gallery curator. So attractive and flirty, enticingly offering to circle her wagons for McCloud to attack. I best know her as Pam and Cliff's stodgy millionaire mother on DALLAS, so her brief appearance here was a welcome revelation.

If you enjoyed the plot of a man believed dead disappearing to live a Bohemian painter's life, you can catch another well-done variation in "The Big Ripoff" episode of THE ROCKFORD FILES.

In closing, as ol' Chester quipped to Pat Garrett in what was certainly a nod to their cowboy pasts, "happy trails."

The series officially begins, riding the wave of its lead-in, DYNASTY's fourth season premiere. Compared to the grandeur, glamor, and scope of the pilot movie, this opening episode was a letdown. I had to adjust expectations for the week-to-week series. The three headline guest stars are the dapper and distinguished Hollywood veteran Stewart Granger; Richard Hatch, a few years out from BATTLESTAR: GALACTICA, and Tracy Nelson, a few years shy of FATHER DOWLING (her future costar Tom Bosley was this very season winding down his decade of playing Mr. C. on HAPPY DAYS).

The winning formula is presenting three standalone stories all set in the St. Gregory Hotel. This week's serious even harrowing story concerns Christine's secret admirer escalating into a psychopathic stalker. The heartwarming story targeting a younger demographic features pregnant runaway bride Tracy Nelson. And the third story carries on the tradition established by Pernell Roberts and Shirley Jones in the pilot of older folks finding love; in this case, Anne Baxter reuniting with an old flame, Stewart Granger.

I didn't like the stalker story primarily because it required Connie Sellecca to shudder and shriek, to cower and cry, and overall to be an odious and off-putting character. It was simply too great a leap from the fawning assistant aspirant of the pilot to this (understandably) stressed woman barking at colleagues and screaming at Peter. Perhaps this story would have worked better had it come later in the season after the character of Christine was more firmly established. For viewers who missed the pilot, this was not an awesome introduction to the character.

Another failing of the story was the early and suspense-puncturing reveal of the stalker's identity. That first phone call where we see his mouth and hear his voice was a dead giveaway. The scene of the stalker slipping a note in Christine's pocket elicited an eyeroll because (a) that's a difficult stunt to pull off unless one is a skilled pickpocket, and (b) couldn't Christine have recollected who was in the elevator with her and narrowed the field of suspects? And I'm overlooking the forced coincidence of her writing a note and stuffing it in her pocket just before the stalker slips another one in, allowing Christine to find it within moments.

The trick with the stereo was effective, but it brought to mind a similar scene in a much better variation on this theme of a stalker employing psychological warfare tactics against a victim: a 1973 episode of HAWAII FIVE-O called "The Listener."

The Tracy Nelson story was lightweight. Even the immortal Dickens couldn't have engineered the coincidences driving this plot, from Dave and Megan recognizing her as someone's kid sister (Hey, San Francisco is just a big small town, right?) to a canceled hotel room bought, paid for, and freely available for a couple days. Okay, it was a cute story with a happy ending, but haven't we all seen this scenario played out many times before?

Adding considerable heft and heart to the show was the second-time-around love story of Victoria and Tony. Well written and well played, it was my favorite of the storylines. I had high hopes that Stewart Granger would accept Victoria's offer and join the cast. Alas, such was not to be, but a happy memory was created to be cherished by both parties for years to come. The story was also silver lined with WWII history, such as Tony being a veteran of the RAF and a POW camp survivor. (And am I the only one who found the story prescient of the 1993 Anthony Hopkins film REMAINS OF THE DAY?)

This story also served to introduce the audience to Victoria Cabot, and she wholly won me over. I mean, Bette Davis who? Mrs. Trent received dutiful acknowledgment with a passing reference and quick cut to a framed photo, but by the closing scene with Victoria and Peter on the staircase the series was securely Anne Baxter's. In fact, I'd argue it was Baxter's from the moment she winsomely brushed off bellboy Dave's crashing into her with the mildest of reproofs.

The casting director must like cartoons because two prolific voice actors appear: Michael Bell and Alan Oppenheimer. Bell's role as a red herring is miniscule but he makes the most of it. Oppenheimer played Dr. Seigler and enjoyed small roles in both the Sellecca and the Nelson storylines. His chrome-domed Dr. Seigler character will make two more appearances this season, which season is off n' running and getting shakily steady on its feet.

PS: The title is a misnomer because the "blackout" was confined to only three floors and was incidental to the bigger story.

Another PS, this one laced with snark: Peter tells Victoria he conducted an unsolicited investigation on her old flame (upon whom he's apparently eager to pour cold water). Hmm, maybe Peter should have dedicated such dogged detective work to vetting his own staff?