Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Me-TV made the bold prediction:
So, I took them up on their challenge. They said the following about my age.
The truth of the matter is I’m 59, so close enough. I’m pretty sure my enjoyment of Tom & Jerry and Roadrunner gave my time on this planet.
I surprised myself with how well I did on MeTV’s Can You Guess the Cartoon from 1967? Quiz. For the record, I missed question 7.
MetaBallStudios has created an interesting short video comparing the size of various movie monsters. I wish that a few more had been included (Creature from the Black Lagoon and Ants from Them! to name two.)
MeTV has an article that presented 11 Forgotten TV Detectives and Crime Solvers of the 1970s. Although the post is no longer available, here are three of my favorites (and some comments)…
1. Dan August (1970–71)
Dan August was Burt Reynolds second series after he left Gunsmoke. In his first effort, Hawk, Reynolds played a detective. The series ran just one season of 17 episodes. Reynolds second television outing as the lead was in Dan August. Reynolds played a homicide detective. Dan August lasted just one season of 26 episodes. It gained new life after cancellation because Burt Reynolds star was on the rise in feature films. I was a big Dan August fan.
2. Longstreet (1971–72)
Longstreet was a blind insurance investigator played by James Franciscus. Little known fact: Bruce Lee appeared in some episodes of the show! Lee played a martial artist who trained the newly blind Longstreet! Bruce Lee was what brought me to watch.
5. Toma (1973–74)
Toma was based on a real-life detective named David Toma. Toma was played by Tony Musante. Surprisingly Musante decided to quit after the first season. ABC decided to recast the role with Robert Blake. ABC then opted to dump Toma and create a new show with different characters. The new show was Baretta. I vaguely remember Toma, but I never missed Baretta!
MeTV presents 7 Darn Tootin’ True Facts about The Beverly Hillbillies. Here are three of my favorites..
1. The Critics Loathed It
If there was ever evidence of the divide between critics and the public, this is it. Few seismic hits have ever received such a drubbing in the press. According to the book Blockbuster TV: Must-See Sitcoms in the Network Era, upon the Hillbillies premiere, The New York Times deemed the show “strained and unfunny.” Variety said it was “painful to sit through.” Time decried that “the pone is the lowest form of humor.” The elitist uproar hardly seemed to matter.2. It was a Ratings Behemoth
The number are truly staggering — like being punched by a kangaroo. A mere six weeks after its debut, The Beverly Hillbillies was the most watched program on television. Between the years 1962 and 1964, the show averaged 57 million viewers. The episodes that aired January 8 and 15 in 1964 rank as the second and fourth most watched television episodes of the entire decade, respectively. The former of those, “The Giant Jackrabbit,” remains one of the most watched half-hours of all time. It ran the same day at LBJ’s first State of the Union address. Bear in mind, this show was luring around 60 million viewers at a time when the U.S. population was approximately 190 million. At some points in its run, 44-percent of all American televisions were tuned to the show.5. Sharon Tate Appeared in the Biggest Episode
Wearing a brunette wig, blonde bombshell Sharon Tate actually appeared in fifteen episodes as Janet Trego, including “The Giant Jackrabbit.” Her character was a secretary at the bank. Tate, who was close with “Jethro” portrayer Max Baer, Jr., would end up as a tragic victim of the Manson family killings. In Stephen Cox’s book The Beverly Hillbillies, director Joe Depew is quoted as saying, “When we first got her, she couldn’t even walk through the door convincingly.”
I’ll bet most of us have played or allowed our kids to play the arcade game Clyclone. It’s the one that has a light speeding around a dome. You press a button to stop the light and if it stops directly in front of you, you win.
As it turns out, the game is rigged. There’s no skill involved and it is designed to make you think you’re close to winning so you’ll keep playing. Check out the video below for full details.
Don Kaye and SyfyWire posted Firsts: Gene Roddenberry’s Original Pitch for Star Trek that will be of interest to fans. Here are just a few things I found interesting…
The first captain of what became known as the U.S.S. Enterprise was not Christopher Pike or James Kirk, but Robert April.
Spock was originally conceived as “probably half Martian,” with a reddish complexion, semi-pointed ears, and a “Satanic” look.
Dr. Phillip “Bones” Boyce was the doctor not Leonard McCoy.
A shuttlecraft was used to take folks from the ship to other planet surfaces. There was no transporters… no “Beam me up, Scotty.”
There were no phasers for the crew. They were originally going to carry rifles and pistols that fired either bullets, tranquilizer pellets, or explosive projectiles.
Thanks to Miguel Lopez for the heads-up.
MeTV has posted a fairly easy classic tv quiz. As you can see, I scored 11 out of 12. I’m sad to say, I missed the first question because I didn’t go with my first thought. I’m sure you can do better.
Me-TV presented 10 Reasons Jack Lord was Truly the Most Interesting Man on Television. I say, “presented” since the article is no longer available. Still, here are three of my favorites…
4. He was an accomplished painter.
In his youth, Lord also studied at NYU — where he had a football scholarship, no less — and earned a degree in Fine Arts. Yes, he was an artistic athlete. He had at one time hoped to be an art instructor. At the age of 20, he had two of his works accepted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You can spot his paintings through Hawaii Five-O, hanging on the walls, in episodes like “Invitation to Murder,” “How to Steal a Masterpiece,” and “‘V’ for Vashon.”6. He was offered the role of Captain Kirk before Shatner.
In some alternate universe, Star Trek reruns are airing with Jack Lord and Martin Landau in the roles of Kirk and Spock. (Now that sounds like a Star Trek plot.) After the captain of the original pilot episode, Jeffrey Hunter, was given the boot on the show, Gene Roddenberry offered the new lead role of James Kirk to Lord. However, Lord had rather high salary demands. He reportedly wanted 50% ownership of the series. Shatner was simply cheaper.7. He holds a notable place in James Bond history.
While he never made it aboard the Enterprise, Lord did take part in another iconic series. In the first James Bond film, Dr. No, Lord portrayed Felix Leiter, the familiar C.I.A. ally of 007. He was the first actor to play the role in the film series. He might have appeared in more — but money was again the issue. For Goldfinger, Lord wanted more screen time and higher billing. Alas, these are Bond movies, not Leiter movies.
Mike Cotton asks…
Based on this graphic—& assuming Kristoff was pistol-whipped to death—is Theo the only person who gets arrested for the attack on Nakatomi Towers?
Our last public service announcement was Your Parachute Just Failed — Here’s What to Do!
Today we want to prepare our loyal readers in How to Escape a Sinking Car. Just click on the chart above and you are good to go, er, get out should you ever find yourself in a sinking car.
Source: Bits & Pieces.
Josh Starling and InspireMore present Randy Olson’s Map Of The Most Perfect US Road Trip, According To Science.
Olson used a genetic algorithm that found the best routes…
This route takes you across the continental US and lets you stop at all the famous landmarks in each and every state.
If you actually plan to execute the trip, you should budget 13,699 miles of driving — or about 224 hours. Attempting to do the trip in one go would take about 9.33 days, although it would actually take 2–3 months to finish in reality.
I love road trips. Every year I take a few, but never any of this length. Who has?
I did notice the Florida Keys weren’t included. That’s a place I’ve never been and is definitely planned for a future road trip. I’d also like to see the area of Custer’s Last Stand and that didn’t make the list. You can click over and see the 50 locations that did and then start planning your next outing.
In 2017, Me-TV posted 12 FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT ‘BRIAN’S SONG’. Although the article is no longer available here are three of my favorites…
JAMES CAAN WAS THE FASTER RUNNER IN REAL LIFE.
It seems James Caan grew up playing high school football and could run circles around Billy Dee Williams, so when they had to film their racing scene, Caan had to make himself go real slow to convince viewers that Williams’ was the speedier of the two.
BILLY DEE WILLIAMS WAS NOT THE ORIGINAL ACTOR CAST AS GALE SAYERS.
Louis Gossett Jr. was originally cast as Gale Sayers, not Billy Dee Williams. Just before shooting started, Gossett managed to tear his Achilles’ tendon. That’s when Williams stepped in and took over the role, shattering Gossett’s spirit worse than the pain of his injury. As the story goes, producer David L. Womper made a big promise to cast Gossett in the next beefy part he could place him in to cheer the actor up. That promise took six years to fulfill, but it was worth the wait when Gossett’s 1977 performance as Fiddler in Roots won him an Emmy and made him a star.\
‘BRIAN’S SONG’ WON MORE AWARDS THAN ANY OTHER ABC MOVIE OF THE WEEK
For airing Brian’s Song, ABC took home four Emmys and a Peabody Award. They also received commendations from both the NAACP and the American Cancer Society. In total, the movie was nominated for eight Emmy Awards. The only other ABC Movie of the Week films to get that kind of attention was The Immortal in 1969 (1 Emmy nomination) and That Certain Summer in 1972 (7 Emmy nominations, 1 win).
Me-TV presents THESE ‘GOMER PYLE, U.S.M.C.’ FACTS WILL MAKE YOU SAY ”SHAZAM!’ Here are three of my favorites…
IT WAS A SPIN-OFF OF A SPIN-OFF, OF SORTS.
The characters from The Andy Griffith Show were first introduced to American audiences in a 1960 episode of The Danny Thomas Show (Make Room for Daddy), “Danny Meets Andy Griffith.” It was more of a marketing maneuver, but technically that makes Andy Griffith a spin-off. The pilot episode of Gomer Pyle arrived as the season four finale of Andy Griffith in 1964.
IT WAS INCREDIBLY POPULAR, RIGHT UP UNTIL THE END.
The show finished outside the top three only once in its five-year run, when it slipped to No. 10 in the Nielsen ratings in 1967. Yet it bounced back strong, gaining some of its best ratings in its final season. In fact, Gomer Pyle was the second most watched show in television when it shut down.
FRANK SUTTON WAS A BLACK BELT IN JUDO AND SERVED IN THE ARMY.
As Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter, Sutton set the mold for the hard-as-nails, shouting drill sergeant so common to military narratives. Ironically, in real life, the actor failed a Marine physical and instead served in the Army during WWII, where he proved himself in taking part in over a dozen assault landings around the Philippines. He also had a black belt. That’s some man. Sadly, Sutton passed away too soon at 50 from a heart attack.
46. Rocky (1976) Did you know? There’s a scene when Rocky Balboa points out a mistake in the poster at the match venue, and it was in fact entirely unscripted. Sylvester Stallone was forced to add the line because the art department made a genuine mistake when producing the prop, making the Italian Stallion’s boxing trunks completely the wrong colour. Although, it does work to signify how Rocky isn’t treated with much respect as an underdog.
41. Alien (1979) Did you know? When the Nostromo crew explore the Derelict ship they discover a gigantic chamber full of xenomorph eggs. It’s a dark, sinister room that required a certain type of lighting to create the right feeling. Ridley Scott found a practical solution to lighting it by borrowing blue laser lighting from The Who, who were rehearsing their stage show in the soundstage next door.
31. American Psycho (1998) Did you know? After catching an episode of The Late Show with David Letterman, on which Tom Cruise guest-starred, Christian Bale decided to base his portrayal of Patrick Bateman on the actor. According to director Mary Harron, Bale said it was Cruise’s “very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes” that he thought would be perfect for Bateman.
