Reviews

Firstly, I know about the subject matter. It is based on a true story and many of the main characters are real people (this is a docudrama) and some have different names. The characters resemble the actual people but look nothing like the real people involved and some of the facts are altered or left out. I'm not sure if this is because of potential liability or threatened legal action or the producers only used the actual events as a jumping-off point and didn't think they were doing a documentary, so accuracy was not tantamount. Also, the time line was cleaned up and made easier to understand because there were other issues that were not included (Nancy's father planned on taking care of Robert's kids and then her brother wanted to care for them, etc.) so if you're watching this thinking this is all the way it was or were not familiar with the actual events, please understand there is a lot more information that was not included or was altered, so the movie is not accurate. The producers and the writer work around this by calling the movie a docudrama, which means as long as it has some truth to it, then that's okay but some details were basically mis-represented in any event.

Why make another version of this movie? I just finished watching the 1957 version and I admit it seems like a play (and probably was developed originally as a play since it basically takes place in one room) and it was also broadcast live during the heyday of the golden years of television. We'll never see the talent of the actors in the room who have since passed-away. In fact, only Jack Klugman (at age 85) is still with us. Other movies seem tailor-made for plays, such as Glengarry Glen Ross. I'm not sure if the casting was simply dead-on or the actors happened to nail the roles they had or a combination, but each person seems very well-suited to his role and it's hard not to get wrapped up in the dialog and the general pace of the movie (as though you were peering into the jury room through a peephole). In fact, as I watched each actor, I identified with people I knew who had the same characteristics, such as Jack Warden's wise-ass, or Ed Begley, Sr.'s angry racist or Lee J. Cobb's uptight, high-strung yelling man or any of the other people. I do think that Jack Klugman's role may have been miscast. I didn't necessarily identify with him as a product of the slums. They could have cast a minority for his role but I guess in 1957 all-white, male juries were what was the norm.

Why make another version of this movie? I just finished watching the 1957 version and I admit it seems like a play (and probably was developed originally as a play since it basically takes place in one room) and it was also broadcast live during the heyday of the golden years of television. We'll never see the talent of the actors in the room who have since passed-away. In fact, only Jack Klugman (at age 85) is still with us. Other movies seem tailor-made for plays, such as Glengarry Glen Ross. I'm not sure if the casting was simply dead-on or the actors happened to nail the roles they had or a combination, but each person seems very well-suited to his role and it's hard not to get wrapped up in the dialogue and the general pace of the movie (as though you were peering into the jury room through a peephole). In fact, as I watched each actor, I identified with people I knew who had the same characteristics, such as Jack Warden's wise-ass, or Ed Begley, Sr.'s angry racist or Lee J. Cobb's uptight, high-strung yelling man or any of the other people. I do think that Jack Klugman's role may have been miscast. I didn't necessarily identify with him as a product of the slums. They could have cast a minority for his role but I guess in 1957 all-white, male juries were what was the norm.

I have an episode of this I taped because it had Bob & Ray in the cast. The series bears a striking resemblance to the BBC series "Waiting for God" where the residents of the retirement community are continually battling with the manager of the place, who is a young, smarmy, disrespectful man. I taped this but never watched it, but it was pretty good. Not sure where they put this show but if it was a lead-in or lead-out to one of their well-known, popular shows it might have had a chance. The cast was impressive: Glynis Johns, Phyllis Newman, Paul Dooley, Alan Young and others. It was written and produced by Emily Marshall, who may be a relative of Garry Marshall. There are people who tape at least one of every new show just for posterity and time and hindsight is kind to some programs after they are cancelled. The Associates was one - a show about lawyers starring Martin Short to name one. In the old days the minimum series order was always at least 13 weeks but nowadays the networks may order only a few or if they order more than a few and the show is cancelled, they'll "Burn them off" during the summer when no one will see them or they'll never see the light of day, then the network will reduce its costs and the public will never know anyway. Just think how many more shows would have survived if they had been laced adjacent to a popular show or given more time to accumulate a decent-sized audience (St. Elsewhere; Seinfeld, etc.)

Dead Like Me can be seen on another network, HDNet, if you have HD. It is run without commercials, so you can see the entire 40-45 minute program without interruption. I did not have Showtime in 2003-2004 so I did not see it, but the show is great and Mandy Patinkin is his usual superlative, as always. I remember Mandy Patinkin from the program Chicago Hope as well as some of the musical appearances he has made. Mandy Patinkin is from Chicago and he makes several references to Chicago in Dead Like Me. The entire cast is great, but I think Mandy's range as an actor with all his experience, stands out. Also, I couldn't remember where I saw Cynthia Stevens, but he played Cody Banks' mother in the movie of the same name, which the kids have watched numerous times (too many to count).

I have a DVD of four episodes of this series and it's quite entertaining. Bernie Kopell plays Buddy Overstreet's brother Albert. He appeared in Get Smart as well playing the head of KAOS. Leonard Stern also produced Get Smart. More similarities: David Ketchum, who appeared in Get Smart, also appeared in Run, Buddy Run. The very first episode was executive-produced by David Susskind but other episodes I have did not list him. The pill-taking Superhero was either Captain Nice or Mr. Terrific. These shows also include the network id (CBS) but did not include the original commercials. My copies were done from 16mm film. According to some information I have, Jack Sheldon is a musician and got his start in show-business as a musician and his son also is a musician now. When watching this, it reminded me of the naiveté of Will Ferrell's character in "Elf" and Jack Sheldon looked a little like Will Ferrell in that movie. Buddy Overstreet appears to be a simpleton.

Time may have blurred my memory of this, but I got up early on weekend mornings to watch this with my younger brother. Several things appealed to me: the fact that it was live and unpredictable and spontaneous and also that they marched kids past the camera and asked "the posse" to pick out which of the kids were featured on wanted posters. We seldom guessed it correctly. In 1964 or 1965, Boomtown made a personal visit as they often did to the amusement park Pleasure Island. Rex had this car that could drive through water because it was sealed up underneath and also had a propeller in the rear of the car. Growing up in Massachusetts, this was one of my favorite shows, along with Uncle Gus, Major Mudd, Clubhouse 4 and Bob Glover (who replaced Bunker Hill). There was a lot to watch because none of the stations were owned by the networks and we had two or three independent UHF stations and WMUR-TV 9 from Manchester, along with PBS, which was known as NET, National Educational Television back then. I think TV was more interesting then because it was unscripted.

Here's another goof...when Pee-Wee is about to go to Mario's Magic Shoppe, he pulls a giant chain out of his bike's basket alongside the rear wheel, but I am sure you aren't supposed-to see the chain being fed up through the bottom of the bike basket (the illusion is that the giant chain is contained entirely in the basket). This a great movie; the kids and I have seen this about 15 times altogether. Big Top Pee Wee is interesting because it's so different and not as good as this one. I also bought the entire set of Pee Wee's Playhouse on VHS 4-5 years ago and we thoroughly enjoyed that and I remember seeing him on Saturday morning.