Still More Two-Part Episode Hits and Misses

I haven’t done one of these for a while, so let’s take another look at a grab bag of Comfort TV-era two-part episodes and separate the hits from the misses.

As I previously wrote, two-parters should be utilized only for major series milestones or when a writer comes up with an idea that is so good, it deserves a little extra breathing room to be fully explored.

But that doesn’t always happen.

Since we all have more time at home these days, it seems like an ideal opportunity to find some great shows that will help kill an evening – as well as some to avoid.

Good: That Girl: “It’s a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod World”

Ann meets the famed British fashion photographer Noel Prince, who brings her to Los Angeles as part of a pictorial on the mod, modern woman. Of course he falls for her, much to Donald’s jealous dismay:

Noel: “I once knew a soccer player named Hollinger.”

Donald: “I once knew a dog named Prince.”

The photo shoot scenes are just the sort Mike Myers sent up as Austin Powers, but

Gary Marshal is really good in this as Noel Prince.

It's a shame he had such a short career – his last IMDB credit was in 1971. And while the ‘60s vibe is fun, I was surprised the first time I saw the opening scene, which took place in an automat. I hadn’t seen one of those on TV outside of Agent Carter, which was set in the 1940s. I didn’t know they still had them in New York 20 years later.

Bad: Bewitched: “George Washington Zapped Here”

This was a lightly rewritten version of an earlier (and much better) Bewitched two-parter, in which Aunt Clara zaps up Benjamin Franklin. Here we get George Washington (convincingly played by Will Geer) instead of Franklin, and the drippy Esmerelda instead of Aunt Clara. It’s still sad to me that such a great series ended with a such a dreadful final season.

Good: Dynasty: “Royal Wedding”/ “The Aftermath”

Better known among fans as the Moldavian Massacre, the first half of this two-parter ended with a scene that apparently wiped out the show’s entire cast. 

Measured by ratings and water-cooler buzz, this was a cliffhanger to rival J.R. getting shot and Picard becoming Locutus. Of course, when the next season began we found that the terrorists who sprayed that hail of bullets were about as good at hitting their targets as the bad guys on The A-Team.

Bad: Dallas: “Return to Camelot”

Dallas opened its tenth season by explaining how Bobby Ewing could appear in Pam’s shower after being killed at the end of season eight. Say it with me: Bobby’s not dead – it was all a dream! 

“I thought they had written themselves into a corner,” Charlene Tilton told me when I interviewed her on the occasion of the series’ 25^th anniversary. “Everyone criticized the shower scene, but I never heard anyone come up with a better idea.” She’s got a point.

“Return to Camelot” felt entitled to the special status of a two-parter, but that was hard to maintain with its undercurrent of “nothing to see here, move along,” so no one would linger over such an audacious reboot.

Good: Harry O: “Forty Reasons to Kill”

In addition to featuring two actresses I’m always happy to watch in anything, Joanna Pettet and Hillary Thompson, this is one of those stories that definitely merits the added time.

You’ve seen variations on this plot before: Harry’s case takes him to a small rural town run by corrupt power brokers that have the local law enforcement under their thumb. Of course, hard-luck Harry is going to run afoul of those folks and will take a few beatings and spend some time in jail before he finds what he needs to bring them down.

Bad: Family: “Taking Chances”

I don’t know if there really are any bad episodes of Family. At least until Quinn Cummings shows up. But this show is on such a high pedestal with me that I’m disappointed when it indulges in a drama trope that’s right out of a soap opera. In “Taking Chances,” family patriarch Doug (James Broderick, excellent as always) is hit by a car and loses his sight. It might be restored with surgery, but the operation is risky and could also kill him.

The performances are always perfect, so I can’t not like this show. But the whole conceit of a tragic life-changing event that is conveniently erased in the last scene feels beneath the standards of this Emmy-winning series.

Good: The Bionic Woman: “Jaime’s Shield”

You know how a good whodunit is set up so that the last person you’d suspect is the guilty party? “Jaime’s Shield” got me with its reveal. And all the other business along the way is fun as well, with Jaime going to the police academy and hiding her special abilities from an obnoxious instructor – until that moment she decides to put him in his place. 

Bad: The Wild Wild West: “The Night of the Winged Terror”

This was a barely serviceable single show that got stretched into a mess. Hypnotism stories rarely work for me, except for that Dick Van Dyke Show episode in which Rob acts drunk every time a bell rings.

This one further suffers from the absence of Ross Martin as Artemus Gordon, who was sidelined with health issues for several shows in the series’ final season. Only the genuninely hypnotic close-ups of the divine Michele Carey made this tolerable. 

Good: The Secrets of Isis: “Now You See It…And Now You Don’t”

Every so often I have to throw a bouquet at my favorite Saturday morning series, so I hope you’ll indulge me.

These were the show’s final two episodes, and they were used in an attempt to launch a spinoff series called “The Super-Sleuths.” After teacher Rick Mason is arrested for stealing government secrets, four of his friends and students set out to prove his innocence: series regular Rennie Carol (Ronalda Douglas), Asian kung-fu expert C.J. (Evan Kim), street-smart Feather (Craig Wasson!) and an magician of Indian descent named (and billed as) Ranji. 

Throw in a guest spot from Captain Marvel (John Davey) and some wonderful scenes set in the dearly-missed Busch Gardens theme park, and you’ve got a great way to send off a beloved series.

Bad: The Facts of Life: “Out of Peekskill”

It’s hard to find anything to celebrate about a story that removes a beloved character from a series canvas, and replaces that character with one that never really clicked. Sure, this show had already passed its sell-by date at the start of its eighth season. But it was still sad to lose Charlotte Rae and the familial connection she had to the kids in her care. 

Cloris Leachman’s ditzy den mother didn’t get a great introduction, and it was the beginning of the end for Facts of Life.

Five Classic Shows That Deserved One More Season

If you could have one more season of any TV show, which show would you choose?

That was a question posted recently in a Facebook classic TV group. The responses ranged from Grizzly Adams to Family Ties to Knots Landing (really? 14 seasons were not enough?), along with more recent shows like Bates Motel and Longmire.

As fans of the Comfort TV era one would think we’d want more episodes of all the shows from that time. But let’s be honest – most of the classics said just about everything they had to say before leaving the air. In fact, one could argue that some should have quit earlier than they did.

Consider how often the final season of a series was its weakest: Bewitched served up barely-rewritten versions of previous (and better) episodes. Marriage and/or kids removed some of the magic from Get Smart and I Dream of Jeannie. 

Multiple cast changes weakened The Waltons and Laugh-In and Happy Days and Designing Women. Budget cuts and the departures of several talented writers hastened Star Trek’s cancellation. Dallas and Moonlighting were out of good ideas even before their final seasons.

Other classics maintained a high standard of quality right to the end: I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, That Girl, The Bob Newhart Show, The Fugitive, Room 222, The Defenders, The Rockford Files. But I’m not sure I’d want to gamble with their reputations by adding one more season that might fail to measure up to its predecessors.

It’s tempting to just look at shows with comparatively short runs, but that alone should not be sufficient criteria for consideration. Much as I liked them all, I’m fine with The Monkees quitting after two seasons, The Patty Duke Show having just three seasons, and The Partridge Family parking the bus after season four. 

All that said, there certainly have been some shows that left us too soon. After much contemplation, here is my list of five series that deserved (at least) one more year.

The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1969)

Three Seasons, 73 Episodes

Of the selected shows on my list this one lasted longest, but it still was not enough for me. A fourth season would have had Brandon Cruz’s Eddie approaching his teen years, which would have inspired rich story material to explore between Eddie and Bill Bixby, whose Tom Corbett should be on every TV fan’s list of the medium’s best dads. 

Granted, the show’s final season suffered a bit by playing more to James Komack’s bohemian photographer Norman Tinker. But this would have been an easy correction (“James, thanks for creating the show, but you’re not the reason people are tuning in.”). I’d have welcomed more stories about Mrs. Livingston when she wasn’t cooking and cleaning for the Corbetts – and perhaps a return visit from Suzanne Pleshette as Valerie Bessinger, whose courtship with Eddie’s father was the show’s most memorable.

Gidget (1965)

One Season, 32 Episodes

Gidget had the misfortune of becoming a hit after it was canceled. Scheduled against The Virginian and The Beverly Hillbillies, the series was a flop the first time around, but the ratings soared in summer reruns. By then it was too late to bring it back, so ABC did the next best thing by casting Sally Field in a new series - The Flying Nun.

Gidget was and remains the better show, and Sally Field could not have been more adorable as the sassy, surf-loving beach bunny. 

Don Porter’s casting was equally perfect as Gidget’s understanding father. At least we can be grateful that back in 1965, a single TV season could produce 32 episodes. But 32 more would not just give us more Sally to treasure, it also would have kept her out of the nun’s habit she hated for three years.

Harry O (1973)

Two Seasons, 45 Episodes

As a huge David Janssen fan I would gladly watch more cases be solved by downtrodden beachcomber detective Harry Orwell. 

The prickly friendship between Orwell and Anthony Zerbe as police lieutenant Trench was still a delight to watch, as they both buried their mutual respect between layers of open hostility. There were also memorable supporting turns from Les Lannom as geeky sleuth Lester Hodges, and Farrah Fawcett as Harry’s neighbor with benefits. But like The Fugitive this is Janssen’s show all the way, and he carries every scene with a magnetism that only the best TV stars attain.

Ellery Queen (1975)

One Season, 22 Episodes

After creating one of TV’s greatest detectives in Columbo, Richard Levinson and William Link introduced Ellery Queen to television, in the genial presence of star Jim Hutton. Set in the 1940s, the series revolved around Queen assisting his police detective father (David Wayne) on baffling murder mysteries. The high point of each episode had Hutton turning to the camera and addressing the audience at home, just before he cracked the case. “Have you figured it out?” he’d ask, before reminding us of the suspects and the most important clues. Rarely has it been more fun to match wits with the characters on screen. 

In addition to Hutton, who had a likable Jimmy Stewart quality, and the irascible David Wayne, the series had a great supporting cast: John Hillerman as Simon Brimmer, a supercilious radio personality and amateur sleuth who always guessed wrong, and Ken Swofford as bulldog journalist Frank Flannigan. I wish I could have spent more time in their company.

The Green Hornet (1966)

One Season, 26 Episodes

This Batman spin-off was played with similar visual style but less camp, and is best remembered now for Bruce Lee, who appeared opposite Van Williams as the Green Hornet’s high-kicking chauffeur, Kato. It was the first time many Americans had seen martial arts performed by a master, and the charismatic Lee insisted on authenticity in the fight choreography. 

The Green Hornet was a cult series from day one, and as such was not likely to have a very long shelf life. But one more year would have put the number of episodes over 50, which sounds about right. Given the shortness of his subsequent film career, it would be wonderful to have more Bruce Lee action scenes to enjoy. 

Runners Up:

My World and Welcome To It (1969)

James Thurber whimsy channeled through William Windom. It won Emmys but not  viewers. Perhaps, like Cheers and The Dick Van Dyke Show, it might have found an audience after a slow start had the network stuck with it. 

Apple’s Way (1974)

Writer Earl Hamner Jr.’s second attempt to create a hit series was not as successful as The Waltons, though its premise is one that might work better now: a family gets fed up living in gridlocked Los Angeles and moves to a small rural town in Iowa.  

The Secrets of Isis (1975)

Just 22 episodes? Oh, mighty letdown! 

'O' for Overlooked - Harry O

Charlie’s Angels was pitched to ABC as “Harry’s Angels.” The network requested a name change to avoid confusion with another ABC series, Harry O. Forty years later everyone still knows Charlie’s Angels, but Harry O has been largely forgotten outside of classic TV circles.

That’s unfortunate because the show holds up, even if it didn’t invest enough trust in its original premise. Given the series’ strengths, starting with David Janssen as the title character, that flaw is not fatal but it is disappointing.

After starring in one of television’s most iconic shows, Janssen seemed unfazed by the challenge of headlining another series. Four years after Dr. Richard Kimble was exonerated in The Fugitive, Janssen was back on TV in the Jack Webb-produced O’Hara, U.S. Treasury. There is an inherent stiffness to Webb shows that can be effective, but not with an expressive actor like Janssen. It was canceled after one season.

Harry O (1973-1976), launched the following year, was a better fit for its star and a better show all around, though it lasted just one more season than its predecessor. 

As originally conceived, it’s about Harry Orwell, a private investigator in San Diego formerly with the police department. He took a bullet in the line of duty that lodged in his spine, which forced his retirement and left him in constant pain.

As anyone who watched The Fugitive can attest, Janssen does “constant pain” really well.

Orwell lives on the beach, works on his dilapidated boat, and takes the bus to get around the city when he has a case. For help he turns to old friends on the force, especially Lt. Manny Quinlan (Henry Darrow). 

Perhaps the world-weariness of someone that beaten down by life was a little too close to Kimble, so in the latter half of its first season, the series switched things up. The setting changed from San Diego to Los Angeles. That meant goodbye to reliable TV character actor Henry Darrow, and hello to another reliable TV character actor in Anthony Zerbe, playing Lt. Trench. 

Harry's beater of a car also became (slightly) more reliable, so no more bus rides. And his nagging injury must have miraculously healed because it was never mentioned again.

All of these changes did not make the show better. The early episodes are more atmospheric, as Harry takes on cases that delve into the dark side of life in idyllic southern California. “The Admiral’s Daughter” has the always down-and-out looking detective sifting through suspects at an opulent yacht club. Guest-star Diana Ewing will break your heart in “Shadows at Noon” as a woman committed to a mental institution by the family that wants her inheritance.

The series’ tone and setting also helped to separate it from the glut of detective shows in the 1970s, especially as there are only so many plots to go around in the genre.

That said, Harry O survived the reboot better than most shows might have, and even gained one memorable asset in Harry’s L.A. neighbor, played by Farrah Fawcett. A lighter side of the character emerges, though Harry remains a cynic at heart. 

The scenes at the police station pick up as well, as Harry is much more of a smartass to Trench, whose exasperated exclamations of “Or-well!” are reminiscent of how Jerry Seinfeld addressed Newman. But the show never gets too quippy, and two episodes launched with startling murders of supporting characters are very serious business.

There’s an added appeal for Fugitive fans, of course, not just in seeing Janssen back on TV but also in watching for all of the guest stars from that classic series that appear on Harry O. Kurt Russell, who as a teenager had played Lt. Philip Gerard’s son, appears ten years later in “Double Jeopardy” as a witness to a murder who becomes a target of the same killer. Joanna Pettet, who had a doomed romance with Dr. Kimble in “Shadow of the Swan,” has an equally doomed romance with Harry in “40 Reasons to Kill.”

Harry O was not a hit in either incarnation, hence its cancellation after 44 episodes. But it’s also proof that yesterday’s also-rans are more appealing than many of today’s most successful shows. Both seasons are available on DVD and highly recommended.