Mythical Monkey comments that he has been watching some Peter Gunn and other classic TV lately. I hope he had better luck than us. We got cocky and ordered DVD for a few old series, and it didn't work out like I had hoped.
As a kid, I loved Wanted: Dead or Alive - it ran from 1958-1961, when I was 2-5 years old. It starred Steve McQueen (!) as an old West bounty hunter. I had no idea how cool he was. What I thought was cool was his lever action sawed-off 30-30 Winchester shotgun that he wore like a huge pistol in a hip holster. What a cool weapon! I had to show Mrs. Spenser, so we rented the first disc of the collection.
What a letdown - standard clunky western with a slightly hipper, more dangerous anti-hero. We only managed to watch one episode, and McQueen loses his gun more than he fires it. We did see a little of his glacial cool, but also heard some of the clunkiest line readings this side of Ed Wood.
And maybe it was Chuck Connors Rifleman rifle I liked as a kid...
I remembered watching The Mothers-in-Law, starring Kaye Ballard and Eve Arden, but not much else. But I worship Eve Arden, our Miss Brooks, and kind of like Kaye Ballard, so how bad could it be? Mrs. Spenser recalled an episode that featured garage rock heroes, the Seeds, so we made sure to get the disc with that one.
The Seeds were great - they sang their only hit "Pushing Too Hard". Lead singer Sky Saxon has a pleasantly dopey face and an hard-driving singing style. The rest of the show stunk.
It was the usual setup for a 60's sit-com: Old folks don't dig rock music. The in-laws wind up managing the Seeds, playing a band called the Warts. Consider - the joke is that these rock bands call themselves all kinds of disgusting things. But I can't think of one band (pre-punk) with a disgusting name. Maybe Beatles (insect). Lots of silly names, like Chocolate Watch Band or Jefferson Airplane. Classic names like Rolling Stones or Loving Spoonful. But never disgusting. The joke fails.
Over and over, they go for the obvious cliche, even when it doesn't work. The keyboard player looks like a girl, because he has a ponytail. Yeah, and sideburns all over his face.
The show was plainly desperate to ignore any hint about the contemporary youth and music scene. They did this at the expense of the humor, too.
We've had to watch about 10 episodes of The Addams Family to regain our faith in Classic TV.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Yeah, I have to say, actually buying the DVD ups the ante, although come to think of it, I've bought more of it than I would have thought -- Lost in Space, Star Trek, The Addams Family, Perry Mason, and the first season of Green Acres.
Lost in Space is strictly a nostalgia trip, and you can pretty much get the black-and-white episodes and skip the rest at that. The Addams Family was great all the way through, Star Trek had more clunker episodes than I remembered ("The Apple" anyone?), and Green Acres, I confess, I never got around to watching, which makes me a dope. As for Perry Mason, I love it and black-and-white television never looked better, but it's so formulaic, it runs together after a while.
Much better to catch all of these at 3 in the morning during a bout of insomnia ...
I loved Green Acres as a kid, and still quote some of there material*, but I doubt it stands the test of time. I wonder if Petticoat Junction was any good?
* Lisa tries to cook oatmeal.
He: "Didn't you follow the directions on the package?"
She: "Yes. It said Open here, so I opened there."
I agree with Mythical Monkey about the black and white episodes of Lost in Space. After that, Dr. Smith and the robot lost their mojo.
I've started having Mary Tyler Moore Show DVDs sent to the house because of a lifelong crush on Rhoda.
Post a Comment