Vintage TV thread

[Hal...]

When I was a kid, I thought the Six Million Dollar Man was the coolest show ever.

I was 10 when that show first aired. I watched the first season and part of the second before I lost interest.

A kid in my neighborhood said that he could run 600 mph. I told him it was 60. The kid said it showed on a readout that it was 600. I told him that the extra zero was after the decimal point. Then he started arguing with me. Amazingly, he graduated valedictorian.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Heh. When I was in 9th grade, I picked up a paperback book at a local store, called Cyborg, by Martin Caidin. About the time I finished it, the pilot film of Six Million Dollar Man aired and I was delighted 'cuz it was based on the book I'd just read...

[Halmyre]

I read Cyborg after seeing the TV series. It, and the sequels, are a lot harder than the TV series. Although the TV series gradually toned down the violence.

[Vic2012]

Watching a Vincent Price movie called.....Dr. Phibes Rises Again.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

^^^ Sequel to The Abominable Dr. Phibes, which is one of Price's true masterpieces.

[3LockBox]

^^^ Sequel to The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

And not as good. Played rather tongue-in-cheek me thinks.

[GuitarGeek]

Leonard Nimoy was on Highway Patrol the other day. Actually, I think I saw him in two different episodes (one the other day, the other a few weeks ago).

Also saw Lorraine Gary, who some of you may recall played Roy Scheider's wife in the first two Jaws movies, on an episode of Dragnet 1967.

The Jack Soo tribute episode of Barney Miller was on last night also.

And I missed it (because the DVR ran out of room) but the last original Perry Mason episode was on Sunday, with Jackie Coogan and Dick Clark guest starring. I've actually seen it a few times before. It's interesting, because a lot of shows, if they do an actual "final episode" (assuming that the production team knew in advance that the show was ending, and were given a chance to do it), it's a big "closure" thing, ya know, they're wrapping up the major running plots through the whole show, the main characters are getting ready for major changes in their life, etc. With the Perry Mason finale, the episode plays out like any other episode, until the epilogue, where Perry, Della Street, and Paul Drake prepping for their next case, which was something we usually didn't see. It was like "This is the end of the series, but not the end of Perry's career" or whatever, like they were leaving the door open for a revival, which eventually did happen in the 80's and 90's.

[Hal...]

I remember seeing some thing on TV, years ago, where they were talking about Perry Mason and how they had one episode where Perry lost the case. The network received so many letters and calls complaining about it they never did it again.

[ronmac]

^^ I remember a story about Raymond Burr representing himself in real life and losing the case. I'm guessing it was just one of those myths.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

I remember seeing some thing on TV, years ago, where they were talking about Perry Mason and how they had one episode where Perry lost the case. The network received so many letters and calls complaining about it they never did it again.

Interesting -- the version of this I heard was that they did it on Christmas Eve (or some similar holiday, or maybe against a big sports event; I don't recall the details) so almost nobody saw it and nobody believes it happened.


A bit of research digs up this on Wikipedia:

When asked by a fan why Perry Mason won every case, Burr told her, "But madam, you see only the cases I try on Saturday."[67]: 590 

Mason is known to have lost, in some form or manner, three cases—"The Case of the Terrified Typist," "The Case of the Witless Witness," and "The Case of the Deadly Verdict."

A bit more digging finds this on perrymasontvseries.com, in turn quoting something called The Perry Mason TV Show Book:

The Case of the Terrified Typist: The office of a South African diamond company located in the same building as Perry’s office is robbed and the suspect matches the description of a typist who spent some time working in Perry's office. This is just the beginning of a series of strange events that leads Perry into the courtroom defending Duane Jefferson for murder. When the jury brings in a verdict of guilty, Burger believes he finally has a victory over Mason. It looks that way until we realize that the defendant is an imposter.

The Case of the Witless Witness: The story starts with Perry actually losing a case. More accurately, he’s losing an appeal. Though the details are never discussed, the first scene sets up Perry’s relationship with the sitting appellate judge, a man named Daniel Redmond. Redmond is up for the nomination for lieutenant governor. But he learns that Martin Weston, a hopeless alcoholic, will testify that the judge was involved in a plot to defraud the government back in 1943.

The Case of the Deadly Verdict: In this 1963 episode, Perry Mason loses to District Attorney Hamilton Burger when his client, Janice Barton, is convicted of murdering her aunt and sentenced to death. However, Perry later exonerates his client and tries to find the real killer.

So the only one where he "really" loses a case for good is mostly offscreen at the beginning of "Witless Witness," as I see it.