You know what was a good show? Dallas. But I'm not really in the mood to watch Dallas so I'm going to watch two episodes of The A-Team instead. The only thing in doubt is not whether The A-Team will save the day, but how. So, on with the show.
Episode 1: West Coast Turnaround (Season 1, Episode 10)
In this episode, a farmer named Joe Penhall (played by Academy Award nominee Stuart Whitman) and his daughter are having a feud with a ruthless land developer named Chuck Easterman. Easterman won't let the farmers transport their crop of watermelons to market, and after Easterman and his men drive Joe off the road, it's time to call in the A-Team and their annoying reporter friend named Amy, who wouldn't be around too much after this episode. So Hannibal shows up in a disguise just because he can, and the A-Team gets to work. In this episode, Murdock has an invisible dog named Billy, which drives B.A. up the wall because that's just how it is. Their first step is to steal a couple of 18-wheelers from a fella named Bill Mather, who had screwed over Penhall after Easterman paid him not to transport his crops. After passing a roadblock set up by Easterman, who despite being a land developer seems to have nothing better to do than screw with these people, The A-Team arrives at the Penhall farm, and Easterman and his men follow to tell the A-Team to back off. This doesn't go as planned, as B.A. throws most of the gang in the back of a pickup truck and the rest eventually scurry away to fight another day.
Easterman is now more determined than ever to prevent that watermelon shipment from getting through, so the team comes up with a plan, putting a cow catcher on one of the trucks. But they still need a chase car, and the only one available is Amy's brand new Le Car. Wow, that is definitely an eighties vehicle. Amy complains about this turn of events for about a solid minute, which doesn't endear her to me in any way, before finally relenting. Hey, if you want to roll with the A-Team, you've got to expect that your vehicle will be used as some sort of battering ram and customized with bits of scrap metal welded to the frame. So Hannibal takes off in the truck with Face and Murdock following behind in the Le Car to go through the roadblock. Easterman has set up two roadblocks, but calls the team on the other roadblock in after spotting the cow-catcher 18 wheeler. Hannibal gets through, and thanks to a diversion of burning hay on the back of the car and some well placed nails, the team seems to get away, only for another Easterman team member to set off an explosion in the road and knocking everyone on track. Team Easterman now has Hannibal, Face, and Murdock at gunpoint and go to burn the contents of the back of the truck. BUTWAITAMINUTE! There's nothing in there, and B.A., Amy, and the farmer's daughter are heading south in the other truck with the load.
While the rest of the A-Team is driven to a horse farm, Easterman and a few others haul ass to try and catch the other truck. Things look bleak for the A-Team, but Murdock starts acting like a horse himself to cause a diversion and to get the horses riled up. This really doesn't work, but Hannibal notices that gas is leaking out of Le Car, so he steals a thug's cigarette out of his mouth and throws it on the gas, setting Le Car on Le fire. The A-Team takes advantage of this commotion to jack a helicopter, and Hannibal grabs a crate of watermelons for some ammo. Hey, you got to use what's available to you. Easterman and another pickup truck catches up to B.A., and B.A. is able to hold them off long enough with some evasive driving skills, even driving one truck off the road, before the helicopter comes to the rescue. After Face fails to land a solid shot with a watermelon, Hannibal takes over and lands two direct hits on Easterman's truck and causes him to do the patented A-Team villain flip and wreck. At the end, while the watermelon didn't quite sell as highly as usual, the farm was saved. That's more than what can be said for Amy's Le Car, and he chastises Face for convincing her to use it as a battle Le Car and demands that he pay for repairs. Although, at this point, it would probably cost less to by a new Le Car, because that other one is pretty messed up. This was your typical A-Team show, featuring evil land developers, some rigged up vehicle built for war and Murdock acting crazy while B.A. can't believe he's stuck with him. Still, good stuff here, even if I could have done without Amy's constant whining about her car. I'll give it a 7 out of 10.
Episode 2: Bounty (Season 3, Episode 22)
This episode starts with two mean looking cowboys asking to see Murdock at the psychiatric ward of the VA Hospital, which is Murdock's home. They come in, blow a hole through the door with a shotgun and take Murdock away. Meanwhile, Face is on the case posing as a doctor, but must leave once Col. Decker of the military police shows up because, as you may know, the A-Team is still being hunted down for transgressions during the Vietnam War that they were falsely charged with. Face manages to escape, and Murdock's abductors call up Hannibal asking for him and the rest of the team to come quitely or Murdock gets it. Murdock's abductors are a team of bounty hunters consisting of a father, two sons, and some Indian guy they found out in the woods or something. While the bounty hunters drive off to the designated meeting place, Murdock escapes in like 10 seconds and dives out the window. Even though the bounty hunters fire a ton of rounds, Murdock is able to disappear in the woods. For a group of top notch bounty hunters, you would think they would be able to shoot at a moving target, but not these guys. As it turns out, Murdock would have been better off staying put, as the A-Team arrive to find that Murdock has escaped. They soon scatter once Col. Decker and the MPs arrive, but oh no, one of the bullets fired knocked the antenna off in the van, making the A-Team's mobile phone useless.
Murdock makes a run for it and eventually sneaks into the back of a veternarian's van. The vet, a Kelly Stevens, is actually played by Wendy Fulton, who is married to Dwight Schulz (Murdock) in real life. In a big coincidence, the truck full of bounty hunters just happen to pick the very same van Murdock is in and forces Kelly to pull over. Once they open the back, all they see is an angry dog, so they close up and threaten her for whatever reason before driving off. That's some extreme bounty hunting. I don't think Dog the bounty hunter would randomly accost and search vehicles on the road, then threaten their lives. Kelly then pulls over after a couple of miles to look in the back of the van, and she finds Murdock. They start talking as Murdock tries to tune in to an A.M radio at Dr. Stevens' office, and Murdock is taken aback once he learns that Kelly is single. Meanwhile, the rest of team end up at a radio station, where Face slips a mickey in DJ Cowboy Billy Bob's drink and takes over the airwaves sending a message out to Murdock. Instead of staying put, B.A. and Hannibal decide to bring the fight to Decker by blowing up a Military Police car, then they pay tribute to the Dukes of Hazzard by making a nearly impossible jump over a broken bridge with their van. That does not put Decker in a good mood. Eventually, Face's transmission is picked up by Murdock, and he calls a concerned B.A. to relay his coordinates. Murdock gives Kelly a kiss before taking off to rejoin the A-Team, and stops at a phone booth to check back, but as it turns out, the evil bounty hunters have shown up and have Kelly at gunpoint. They give the A-Team one hour to show up, or else.
The A-Team prepare for their showdown by stopping in some guy's yard and building a contraption for their van before meeting up with the bounty hunters. They get out of the van with their hands up, but it's a trick, as Hannibal hits a button and two machine guns emerge from behind the grille, firing rapidly and sending the bounty hunters diving for cover. Yes, the A-Team managed to build two perfect functioning machine guns mounted to a van in less than an hour, so what of it? The two squads square off in fisticuffs, and it's a total squash for the A-Team as they vanquish their foes and get out of town just before Col. Decker and the police can arrive. At the end of the show, Kelly visits Murdock at the VA Hospital, and the two talk over a pizza. Man, this was a great episode, one of the best in A-Team history, even if the bounty hunters were not very good actors at all. A 9 out of 10.
Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading, and remember, if you any ideas for future posts, or thoughts about this post, than either leave a comment on the blog or send them to me at e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
Showing posts with label TV Show. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV Show. Show all posts
Friday, February 11, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
The Canon Review of Two Rockford Files
So the Golden Globes were on tonight. In honor of the ocassion, I have decided to watch former Golden Globe nominated actor James Garner in the 1970s detective series The Rockford Files. In The Rockford Files, Garner plays private eye Jim Rockford, a former Korean War vet and an ex-con, as he served five years for a crime he didn't commit. After that, Rockford moved to a trailer located on the beach around Los Angeles, California, and pays his bills by risking life and limb as a private investigator with the help of a few colorful friends. So, on with the show.
Episode 1: Tall Woman in Red Wagon (season 1, episode 6)
The episode starts with Jim Rockford ordering two cemetery workers to dig up a grave. That has to be illegal, and I guess it is because two men come after Rockford and after a struggle, one of them shoots Jim in the head. Luckily, Jim wakes up and starts repeating the name Charlotte to the doctors. Then we cut back to another scene where Rockford meets a local crime reporter named Sandra Terkel (Sian Barbara Allen), who hires Jim to look for her friend Charlotte Duskey (Susan Damante-Shaw), although she insists that she will be handling most of the investigating while Rockford will be more of an enforcer. At first, Jim turns down the job, but Sandra's persistence pays off and the two work the case. Since Sandra found out that she was headed to Elmira, California, they head there, and are told that Charlotte has died of a heart attack. Well, that explanation doesn't wash with the two, so they talk to the doctor that pronounced her dead and learn that her body has been shipped off on a train. From there, they go to a train station, and all the while a man is following Rockford. After getting some information about the casket's whereabouts, Jim has a run-in with the man following him, whom as it turns out is a U.S. Treasury Agent named Harry Stoner (George DiCenzo). The three have a conversation, and as it turns out Charlotte's not the person Sandra thinks she is, as she was once the ladyfriend of a mobster named Joe Barron, ans stole $1.2 million from his estate after his death, much to the displeasure of his son Joe Jr. Rockford calls up Joe Jr., and learns that Stoner is not a federal agent but rather a disgruntled ex-employee. Well then. The three meet up on a train to the town where Charlotte is buried, and eventually Stoner is disposed of. The morning after, Rockford and Terkel (wearing the same clothes as the day before) get the cemetary owner to open up the casket of Charlotte, only to discover that it's filled with bags of dirt.
Rockford is given an address, so he and Sandra fly off to Minneapolis to meet with Charlotte (once again wearing the exact same outfits they were at the beginning of the show), where they find Charlotte injured, but not dead. So off to the hospital, where Sandra tries to convince Charlotte to come back to Longview and there's a weird quasi-romantic scene between Rockford and Sandra that goes nowhere, as Rockford is not interested in marriage. Rockford then goes back to the gravesite to find the money, and so we come full circle as the scene at the beginning is repeated, and Rockford is shot in the head, as it turns out, it was two of Joe Barron Jr's men that were after Rockford. Two weeks later, Rockford is released, and Stoner is waiting for him. Rockford gives him some story about the cemetery owner running off with the money, and Stoner takes off. Back home, Sandra is waiting on Rockford and wants to hire him to find Charlotte again, but Rockford advises Sandra to drop it as Charlotte is nothing more than a fortune seeker, and informs her that it was Barron that has the money. At the end, nobody, not even Rockford, knows where the money went. I bet it was the man at the train station that took it. Well, this wasn't too bad, although some of the guest actors performances such as the actors that played Charlotte and Stoner weren't too convincing. I'd give this episode a 7.2 out of 10.
Episode 2: A Portrait of Elizabeth (Season 2: Episode 16)
This episode guest stars John Saxon from Mitchell. Also, Saxon was in Enter the Dragon, but I choose to remember him from Mitchell. Anyway, Saxon plays a lawyer turned corporate executive named Dave Delaroux who hires Rockford thanks to the recommendation of his gal pal lawyer Elizabeth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett). In this case, Rockford is supposed to investigate Delaroux's cousin Tom, head of the L.A. office of Delaroux's company, who is suspected of stealing cashiers checks'. So Rockford goes down and finds out that none of the cashiers checks have been stolen, much to the relief of Delaroux, who changes his previous plans of going to the opera with Beth to take care of business elsewhere. Meanwhile, it is Rockford that goes to the opera with Beth, and none too happily, as he's beginning to suspect Dave's true intention. Dave has dinner at a lady friend's house, and the woman's ex husband shows up and challenges Dave to a fight. However, the ex doesn't know that John Saxon knows karate, so he gets his clock cleaned and swears revenge. He and his bodyguard follow Dave, who for some reason goes to Rockwell's house and starts digging around for something. That something is a gun, which he uses to kill the unsuspecting ex in a plan hatched by Dave and the bodyguard. To show his thanks, Dave shoots the bodyguard as well.
Rockford returns from a tumultuous night at the opera with Beth to find two dead men in his ransacked home. Naturally, this raises the ire of the local police force, as they try to pin the murder on Rockford. The FBI then gets involved, and charge Rockford with murder and attempted fraud of the U.S. Government and bank fraud, among other things. To make matters worse, Beth, as Dave's attorney, can not incriminate Dave by law. John Saxon is one clever man, I tell you what. The feds ask Rockford about a bank in San Diego, and we later learn that a Rod Fitzpatrick set up a bank account there using 2 million dollars worth of stolen cashiers checks, and that Fitzpatrick is a known dining companion of one David Delaroux. Eventually, Rockford passes a lie detector test and is free to go. Meanwhile, the revelation of Delaroux as a world class scumbag does not please Beth, as she really liked Dave, so she pouts over how wrong she was. After consoling her, Beth discovers that Dave has taken her car to supposedly leave it at the airport. But Rockford is ahead of the game, and the duo eventually learn of Dave's apartment/painting studio in L.A., where they go to confront him. Rockford is also unaware of John Saxon's martial arts expertise, so Dave is able to escape and tries to take Beth with him. However, Rockford has already blocked the driveway with his car, and catches up to Dave and slows him down by throwing blue paint at the windshield. Eventually, Dave stops to get out, but Rockford literally slams the door on him and the cops come to arrest him. Afterward, Davenport expresses disappointment that Dave never painted a portrait of her, unlike all his other girlfriends, which gets Rockford to thinking, and sure enough, there was a portrait of Beth painted on a 2 million dollar Federal Bearer's Bond. While John Saxon is quite clever, at the end he's just not good enough to beat Jim Rockwell. Good episode, but not great, as Beth's whining came of became annoying. I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10.
Well, that's it for now. Hopefully, I'll have a few things done in the next few days, so keep on the lookout. In the meantime, if you have any thoughts about this or other posts, or ideas for future posts, than let me know them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at kthec2001@gmail.com.
Episode 1: Tall Woman in Red Wagon (season 1, episode 6)
The episode starts with Jim Rockford ordering two cemetery workers to dig up a grave. That has to be illegal, and I guess it is because two men come after Rockford and after a struggle, one of them shoots Jim in the head. Luckily, Jim wakes up and starts repeating the name Charlotte to the doctors. Then we cut back to another scene where Rockford meets a local crime reporter named Sandra Terkel (Sian Barbara Allen), who hires Jim to look for her friend Charlotte Duskey (Susan Damante-Shaw), although she insists that she will be handling most of the investigating while Rockford will be more of an enforcer. At first, Jim turns down the job, but Sandra's persistence pays off and the two work the case. Since Sandra found out that she was headed to Elmira, California, they head there, and are told that Charlotte has died of a heart attack. Well, that explanation doesn't wash with the two, so they talk to the doctor that pronounced her dead and learn that her body has been shipped off on a train. From there, they go to a train station, and all the while a man is following Rockford. After getting some information about the casket's whereabouts, Jim has a run-in with the man following him, whom as it turns out is a U.S. Treasury Agent named Harry Stoner (George DiCenzo). The three have a conversation, and as it turns out Charlotte's not the person Sandra thinks she is, as she was once the ladyfriend of a mobster named Joe Barron, ans stole $1.2 million from his estate after his death, much to the displeasure of his son Joe Jr. Rockford calls up Joe Jr., and learns that Stoner is not a federal agent but rather a disgruntled ex-employee. Well then. The three meet up on a train to the town where Charlotte is buried, and eventually Stoner is disposed of. The morning after, Rockford and Terkel (wearing the same clothes as the day before) get the cemetary owner to open up the casket of Charlotte, only to discover that it's filled with bags of dirt.
Rockford is given an address, so he and Sandra fly off to Minneapolis to meet with Charlotte (once again wearing the exact same outfits they were at the beginning of the show), where they find Charlotte injured, but not dead. So off to the hospital, where Sandra tries to convince Charlotte to come back to Longview and there's a weird quasi-romantic scene between Rockford and Sandra that goes nowhere, as Rockford is not interested in marriage. Rockford then goes back to the gravesite to find the money, and so we come full circle as the scene at the beginning is repeated, and Rockford is shot in the head, as it turns out, it was two of Joe Barron Jr's men that were after Rockford. Two weeks later, Rockford is released, and Stoner is waiting for him. Rockford gives him some story about the cemetery owner running off with the money, and Stoner takes off. Back home, Sandra is waiting on Rockford and wants to hire him to find Charlotte again, but Rockford advises Sandra to drop it as Charlotte is nothing more than a fortune seeker, and informs her that it was Barron that has the money. At the end, nobody, not even Rockford, knows where the money went. I bet it was the man at the train station that took it. Well, this wasn't too bad, although some of the guest actors performances such as the actors that played Charlotte and Stoner weren't too convincing. I'd give this episode a 7.2 out of 10.
Episode 2: A Portrait of Elizabeth (Season 2: Episode 16)
This episode guest stars John Saxon from Mitchell. Also, Saxon was in Enter the Dragon, but I choose to remember him from Mitchell. Anyway, Saxon plays a lawyer turned corporate executive named Dave Delaroux who hires Rockford thanks to the recommendation of his gal pal lawyer Elizabeth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett). In this case, Rockford is supposed to investigate Delaroux's cousin Tom, head of the L.A. office of Delaroux's company, who is suspected of stealing cashiers checks'. So Rockford goes down and finds out that none of the cashiers checks have been stolen, much to the relief of Delaroux, who changes his previous plans of going to the opera with Beth to take care of business elsewhere. Meanwhile, it is Rockford that goes to the opera with Beth, and none too happily, as he's beginning to suspect Dave's true intention. Dave has dinner at a lady friend's house, and the woman's ex husband shows up and challenges Dave to a fight. However, the ex doesn't know that John Saxon knows karate, so he gets his clock cleaned and swears revenge. He and his bodyguard follow Dave, who for some reason goes to Rockwell's house and starts digging around for something. That something is a gun, which he uses to kill the unsuspecting ex in a plan hatched by Dave and the bodyguard. To show his thanks, Dave shoots the bodyguard as well.
Rockford returns from a tumultuous night at the opera with Beth to find two dead men in his ransacked home. Naturally, this raises the ire of the local police force, as they try to pin the murder on Rockford. The FBI then gets involved, and charge Rockford with murder and attempted fraud of the U.S. Government and bank fraud, among other things. To make matters worse, Beth, as Dave's attorney, can not incriminate Dave by law. John Saxon is one clever man, I tell you what. The feds ask Rockford about a bank in San Diego, and we later learn that a Rod Fitzpatrick set up a bank account there using 2 million dollars worth of stolen cashiers checks, and that Fitzpatrick is a known dining companion of one David Delaroux. Eventually, Rockford passes a lie detector test and is free to go. Meanwhile, the revelation of Delaroux as a world class scumbag does not please Beth, as she really liked Dave, so she pouts over how wrong she was. After consoling her, Beth discovers that Dave has taken her car to supposedly leave it at the airport. But Rockford is ahead of the game, and the duo eventually learn of Dave's apartment/painting studio in L.A., where they go to confront him. Rockford is also unaware of John Saxon's martial arts expertise, so Dave is able to escape and tries to take Beth with him. However, Rockford has already blocked the driveway with his car, and catches up to Dave and slows him down by throwing blue paint at the windshield. Eventually, Dave stops to get out, but Rockford literally slams the door on him and the cops come to arrest him. Afterward, Davenport expresses disappointment that Dave never painted a portrait of her, unlike all his other girlfriends, which gets Rockford to thinking, and sure enough, there was a portrait of Beth painted on a 2 million dollar Federal Bearer's Bond. While John Saxon is quite clever, at the end he's just not good enough to beat Jim Rockwell. Good episode, but not great, as Beth's whining came of became annoying. I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10.
Well, that's it for now. Hopefully, I'll have a few things done in the next few days, so keep on the lookout. In the meantime, if you have any thoughts about this or other posts, or ideas for future posts, than let me know them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at kthec2001@gmail.com.
Monday, July 19, 2010
The Canon Review of Two Episodes of The A-Team
You know what I'm in the mood for? Some explosives being fired, some heavy artillery being used, and yet I don't want to see anyone worse for the wear. So I'm going to watch some A-Team episodes, where the bad guys can't hit the side of an aircraft carrier and B.A. Baracus complains about Murdock. Let's waste no more time and jump right in, fool!
Episode 1: Knights of the Road (Season 3: Episode 20)
We start in the town of Arriba, New Mexico. Incidentally, I don't think that the town actually exists, but whatever. Arriba is supposedly three miles away from the Mexican border. A tow truck form Corson Towing comes to pick up a wrecked car, but two other tow trucks from a rival company (Tyler Towing, who just happen to drive all black trucks because they're evil) show up, rough up the father and daughter some (mainly the father) and break their windows out with a wrench before taking their car. The two drive back to their junkyards, rueing about the father's lack of success in finding the A-Team, when they spot a black van parked in their garage. Lo and behold, it's the A-Team, Murdock and all. Face tries to saddle up to the daughter, but gets shot down, causing Murdock some concern for whatever reason. Meanwhile, Murdock falls in love with the idea of being a tow-truck driver, or a "Knight of the Road". Well, that's Murdock for you. One thing you notice is that Mr. T reads most of his lines with all the passion of a person buying fungus cream. Luckily, the producers also realize this and give him very few lines. Even though the show is remembered for featuring Mr. T, in actuality, he was really the character with the least lines, and most of the episodes focused on Hannibal and Murdock instead, who were played by more capable actors. Tangent over.
So the A-Team get to work, building a heavily protected tow-truck and when the Tyler company goes to intercept another job, the A-Team respond with force. This angers Tyler and his Mexican business partner, who wants to take over Corson because it will help his drug-trafficking business due to the fact that Corson is somehow granted diplomatic immunity to tow cars out of Mexico and Tyler the buffoon is not. Meanwhile, the A-Team keeps causing trouble for Tyler, even at one point taking a car off of their tow truck while two of their workers are eating lunch. After bugging their trucks, Hannibal learns of a secret pickup by Tyler Towing, so he has Murdock hide under the hood of the car somehow and the A-Team attempts to follow the car. But they run into a snag when the car crosses the Mexican border and the A-Team, due to their fugitive status, cannot go through the border checkpoint due to the likelihood that they would be arrested on the spot. Now Murdock's all alone in Mexico, and for some odd reason, the theme from 2001: A Space Oddysey plays when he exits the car and enters Tyler business partner's, who we learn is named Zuniga, mansion. Meanwhile, the rest of the A-Team catch up to Tyler and his men and stop them from delivering a package of cocaine into the states. To find out Murdock's whereabouts, the three trap them in their own car, have B.A. control the car crusher, and nearly crush the car into a cube with them inside before finally, Tyler gives them the information they wanted to hear. For some reason, Hannibal decides they need a bigger truck, so B.A gets to work and we get a montage of the team fixing up an old 12-ton tow truck. The three break into to Mexico like so many others break out of Mexico, by cutting down a fence with wire cutters and just driving through.
They drive up to Zuniga's house and everyobdy starts shooting their automatic rifles and a lot of bullets hit the ground. You know, for a team of highly trained soilders, the A-Team never seem to actually be able to shoot their enemies. However, the pure force of the A-Team's weaponry proves to be too much for the drug cartel's bodyguards, and Zuniga and Tyler and turned in to the police. But WAITAMINUTE! it turns out that Zuniga's the chief of police, and Face, Hannibal and B.A. are sent to jail. However, here comes Murdock with the 12-ton tow truck, and he uses the truck's hooks to break the prison walls down and free the A-Team. Well, that cheeses off Zuniga and Tyler, so they head to Corson's garage for a final showdown. The A-Team prepares by building up the 12-ton truck into some sort of Optimus Prime looking contraption that can drive through steel and gives the A-Team protection to fire their weapons at their enemies. When Tyler, Zuniga, and his army of armed goons arrive, the A-Team is ready, and we've got a whole bunch of shooting going on. Of course, this is the A-Team, so the worst thing that happens is that cars get flipped by grenades and everyone is knocked out temporarily, but ultimately survive. Afterwords, the criminals are sent to jail, Face gets the girl, and Murdock wants to keep an old grill of a car, so for some reason B.A. uses a giant magnet to pick Murdock up and leave him hanging because that's just what he does. Mindless fun, although the guest actors weren't too bad, the storyline seemed kind of weak, and their were some plot holes. I'll give it a 6.1 out of 10.
Episode 2: Purr-Dee Poison, Season 2, Episode 17
The show starts with a Reverend walking into a bar that sells moonshine. He takes out a shotgun and says "let us pray" before firing a shot into the bar's moonshine supply. That seemed a bit unnecessary. After all, there were a few people at the bar drinking, but they didn't seem too bad off, and all of a sudden this guy comes in and acts like he's some sort of holy avenger. A bit drastic, no? Naturally, this does not make the moonshine still proprietor very happy, so he and his goons pay the reverend a visit and rough him up a bit. Well, Rev. Taylor happened to know Face while both were serving in Vietnam, so he calls up the A-Team to help stop this moonshine, which has killed and blinded a good number of the reverend's parishioners. The A-Team calls in their assistant Tawnia, and they gain access to a speakeasy controlled by the moonshine empire led by a Charles Drew. They take over the place and stop the shipment of moonshine by blowing up one truck, than getting into the van and stopping the other truck with the help of some nitrous oxide Murdoch stole from a local dentist. Once they empty the truck of any people, Face shoots about 195 holes into the side of it, sending moonshine everywhere.
Back to the Reverend's community center, and B.A. seems to have a thing for the reverend's daughter. Unlike the suave Face, B.A. acts like a young kid around his first crush whenever the two are on screen together. Nice to see that in between yelling at Murdock and bashing doors down, that B.A. has a bit of a sensitive side. Anyway, Drew and his thugs pay a visit to the center, and words are exchanged between Hannibal and Drew. This allows Murdoch to install a camera on Drew's truck, which the team uses to scout out the location of the moonshine still. The team goes on the offensive, avoiding all the traps and cameras, and are unwittingly assisted by the two laziest security guards in the history of television, who refuse to leave their post despite hearing multiple noises and seeing the camera go out. The two constantly looked for excuses not to leave their room. Personally, I was impressed with their lack of motivation. Just as the A-Team is about to take control of the compound, the lead goon comes back with Tawnia and Reverend Taylor's daughter, putting the A-Team in a bit of a bind as they have to release their weapons in order to prevent harm on the two women.
Eventually, the A-Team and the others are locked in a barn, and the goons forget the most important rule when imprisoning the A-Team. Never, under any circumstances, no matter how secure the building, leave them unsupervised. With a bunch of fertilizer, an old tractor, and some pipes, the A-Team get the tractor working and build some homemade rocket launchers. They break out of the barn and unleash fury on their overmatched enemies, blowing up a lot of buildings and the moonshine still, and all the bad guys get sent off to jail. At the end, the reverend thanks Hannibal and the A-Team, while B.A. says his goodbyes to the reverend's daughter. Lots of crazy explosions in this episode, including an intense one at the end that completely obliterates a log cabin. It was awesome. The story wasn't too bad, although I find it hard to believe that the A-Team could build such contraptions in what couldn't have been more than an hour. I'll give it a 6.8 out of 10.
Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future reviews or thoughts about this review, than let me know about them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at kthec2001@gmail.com.
Episode 1: Knights of the Road (Season 3: Episode 20)
We start in the town of Arriba, New Mexico. Incidentally, I don't think that the town actually exists, but whatever. Arriba is supposedly three miles away from the Mexican border. A tow truck form Corson Towing comes to pick up a wrecked car, but two other tow trucks from a rival company (Tyler Towing, who just happen to drive all black trucks because they're evil) show up, rough up the father and daughter some (mainly the father) and break their windows out with a wrench before taking their car. The two drive back to their junkyards, rueing about the father's lack of success in finding the A-Team, when they spot a black van parked in their garage. Lo and behold, it's the A-Team, Murdock and all. Face tries to saddle up to the daughter, but gets shot down, causing Murdock some concern for whatever reason. Meanwhile, Murdock falls in love with the idea of being a tow-truck driver, or a "Knight of the Road". Well, that's Murdock for you. One thing you notice is that Mr. T reads most of his lines with all the passion of a person buying fungus cream. Luckily, the producers also realize this and give him very few lines. Even though the show is remembered for featuring Mr. T, in actuality, he was really the character with the least lines, and most of the episodes focused on Hannibal and Murdock instead, who were played by more capable actors. Tangent over.
So the A-Team get to work, building a heavily protected tow-truck and when the Tyler company goes to intercept another job, the A-Team respond with force. This angers Tyler and his Mexican business partner, who wants to take over Corson because it will help his drug-trafficking business due to the fact that Corson is somehow granted diplomatic immunity to tow cars out of Mexico and Tyler the buffoon is not. Meanwhile, the A-Team keeps causing trouble for Tyler, even at one point taking a car off of their tow truck while two of their workers are eating lunch. After bugging their trucks, Hannibal learns of a secret pickup by Tyler Towing, so he has Murdock hide under the hood of the car somehow and the A-Team attempts to follow the car. But they run into a snag when the car crosses the Mexican border and the A-Team, due to their fugitive status, cannot go through the border checkpoint due to the likelihood that they would be arrested on the spot. Now Murdock's all alone in Mexico, and for some odd reason, the theme from 2001: A Space Oddysey plays when he exits the car and enters Tyler business partner's, who we learn is named Zuniga, mansion. Meanwhile, the rest of the A-Team catch up to Tyler and his men and stop them from delivering a package of cocaine into the states. To find out Murdock's whereabouts, the three trap them in their own car, have B.A. control the car crusher, and nearly crush the car into a cube with them inside before finally, Tyler gives them the information they wanted to hear. For some reason, Hannibal decides they need a bigger truck, so B.A gets to work and we get a montage of the team fixing up an old 12-ton tow truck. The three break into to Mexico like so many others break out of Mexico, by cutting down a fence with wire cutters and just driving through.
They drive up to Zuniga's house and everyobdy starts shooting their automatic rifles and a lot of bullets hit the ground. You know, for a team of highly trained soilders, the A-Team never seem to actually be able to shoot their enemies. However, the pure force of the A-Team's weaponry proves to be too much for the drug cartel's bodyguards, and Zuniga and Tyler and turned in to the police. But WAITAMINUTE! it turns out that Zuniga's the chief of police, and Face, Hannibal and B.A. are sent to jail. However, here comes Murdock with the 12-ton tow truck, and he uses the truck's hooks to break the prison walls down and free the A-Team. Well, that cheeses off Zuniga and Tyler, so they head to Corson's garage for a final showdown. The A-Team prepares by building up the 12-ton truck into some sort of Optimus Prime looking contraption that can drive through steel and gives the A-Team protection to fire their weapons at their enemies. When Tyler, Zuniga, and his army of armed goons arrive, the A-Team is ready, and we've got a whole bunch of shooting going on. Of course, this is the A-Team, so the worst thing that happens is that cars get flipped by grenades and everyone is knocked out temporarily, but ultimately survive. Afterwords, the criminals are sent to jail, Face gets the girl, and Murdock wants to keep an old grill of a car, so for some reason B.A. uses a giant magnet to pick Murdock up and leave him hanging because that's just what he does. Mindless fun, although the guest actors weren't too bad, the storyline seemed kind of weak, and their were some plot holes. I'll give it a 6.1 out of 10.
Episode 2: Purr-Dee Poison, Season 2, Episode 17
The show starts with a Reverend walking into a bar that sells moonshine. He takes out a shotgun and says "let us pray" before firing a shot into the bar's moonshine supply. That seemed a bit unnecessary. After all, there were a few people at the bar drinking, but they didn't seem too bad off, and all of a sudden this guy comes in and acts like he's some sort of holy avenger. A bit drastic, no? Naturally, this does not make the moonshine still proprietor very happy, so he and his goons pay the reverend a visit and rough him up a bit. Well, Rev. Taylor happened to know Face while both were serving in Vietnam, so he calls up the A-Team to help stop this moonshine, which has killed and blinded a good number of the reverend's parishioners. The A-Team calls in their assistant Tawnia, and they gain access to a speakeasy controlled by the moonshine empire led by a Charles Drew. They take over the place and stop the shipment of moonshine by blowing up one truck, than getting into the van and stopping the other truck with the help of some nitrous oxide Murdoch stole from a local dentist. Once they empty the truck of any people, Face shoots about 195 holes into the side of it, sending moonshine everywhere.
Back to the Reverend's community center, and B.A. seems to have a thing for the reverend's daughter. Unlike the suave Face, B.A. acts like a young kid around his first crush whenever the two are on screen together. Nice to see that in between yelling at Murdock and bashing doors down, that B.A. has a bit of a sensitive side. Anyway, Drew and his thugs pay a visit to the center, and words are exchanged between Hannibal and Drew. This allows Murdoch to install a camera on Drew's truck, which the team uses to scout out the location of the moonshine still. The team goes on the offensive, avoiding all the traps and cameras, and are unwittingly assisted by the two laziest security guards in the history of television, who refuse to leave their post despite hearing multiple noises and seeing the camera go out. The two constantly looked for excuses not to leave their room. Personally, I was impressed with their lack of motivation. Just as the A-Team is about to take control of the compound, the lead goon comes back with Tawnia and Reverend Taylor's daughter, putting the A-Team in a bit of a bind as they have to release their weapons in order to prevent harm on the two women.
Eventually, the A-Team and the others are locked in a barn, and the goons forget the most important rule when imprisoning the A-Team. Never, under any circumstances, no matter how secure the building, leave them unsupervised. With a bunch of fertilizer, an old tractor, and some pipes, the A-Team get the tractor working and build some homemade rocket launchers. They break out of the barn and unleash fury on their overmatched enemies, blowing up a lot of buildings and the moonshine still, and all the bad guys get sent off to jail. At the end, the reverend thanks Hannibal and the A-Team, while B.A. says his goodbyes to the reverend's daughter. Lots of crazy explosions in this episode, including an intense one at the end that completely obliterates a log cabin. It was awesome. The story wasn't too bad, although I find it hard to believe that the A-Team could build such contraptions in what couldn't have been more than an hour. I'll give it a 6.8 out of 10.
Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future reviews or thoughts about this review, than let me know about them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at kthec2001@gmail.com.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The Canon Review of two CSI; Miami Episodes
Today at the Canon Review, we are going to take a look at two random episodes of the world famous Televison show, CSI: Miami. CSI Miami is a show that has become famous for a variety of reasons, and I myself have watched many an episode, and yet I still can't figure out exactly why it's so popular. The show is just so over the top and the acting is bad, especially that of David Caruso, whose one liners that start off each episode have been compiled into a hilarious YouTube clip right here:
Wow, wasn't that just great. On with the first episode.
Episode 1: Cyber-lebity (Season 6, Episode 2)
Wow, I don't know where to start here. A kid is murdered at a swim meet, old school style, with a crossbow. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Candide believes that it is connected to her newfound fame after someone posted a picture of her on the internet, and everybody went crazy over her. As it turns out, she's not wrong. The team investigate the case, meeting up with the athletic director who has a wall full of pictures of Candice in and out of the pool, which is rather creepy indeed. Since everybody on this show is supersmart, they figure out what crossbow was used after a montage of firing crossbows. Meanwhile, Wolfe, who normally is a part of the team but is on leave for reasons I don't remember, is assigned to be Candice's private security guard. More trouble ensues when the latest cyber-lebity becomes none other than good ol' Horatio Caine, and it is revealed to the public that he put away a mafia killer. Eventually, Caine's life in threatened, and his car is stolen too. The car was stolen by the mobster's son, who also set fire to a building but for some reason, is not charged with any crime after he was brought into custody. Ok then. Meanwhile, since everybody all of sudden knows about the physics of crossbows, we find out that it was a woman that took the shot. It turns out to be Candice's rival on the swim team, Miranda, who used her charms to get into the Athletic Director's office, grabbed a crossbow, calibrated it, and attempted a long distance shot that even the best trick shooter would have difficulty pulling off in order to kill Candice. I mean, in order to hit her target, she would have to miss the eight people in front of her and had about a quarter of a second, and even then it's unlikely to a killshot. The only problem was, Candice never got off the block, and Luke happened to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time. The shot Miranda was going for had a minute chance at best of hitting her target, so you got to wonder why she didn't try a more direct way to ice her rival.
Oh, but we're not finished, as Horatio gets one of his lab techs to post his location online to lure his stalker out. Turns out, it's the mobster's son, the same guy they let go two hours ago, and look, there happens to be a gun lying around. The son picks up the gun, Horatio tries to talk him out of it, but the kid fires four shots, and Horatio is, wait, he's still standing. Turns out Mr. Caine set the gun there himself and filled it with blanks, just to trick his nemesis. The kid gets arrested, and once again justice is served. Also, there's a stupid sub-plot involving Candice's father faking a kidnapping in order to scare his daughter, but we really don't need to get into that, now do we. This episode was so ridicoulous it almost made sense. I'll give it a 4 out of 10.
Episode 2: Mia/NYC Non Stop (season 2, episode 23)
We start off with a teenage girl at a party. She realizes that she is late, and better get home or her parents will 'kill' her. That turns out to be a poor choice of words, because she gets home to find that her parents were brutally murdered. Horatio and the coroner arrive at the scene, and Horatio promises justice in the way only he can. Eventually, they find out that, due to the killer hocking up fluid, he lives in New York, because they're just that smart. Horatio finds out that he's back in New York, and he decided to go there himself and leave the kids at home. Up there, he meets Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise), and the rest of the New York CSI crew, which oddly enough, would have a show of their known mere months after this episode. Yes, my friends, this is the episode which launches CSI's second spin-off. When we meet Mac, he is at the murder scene of an undercover cop, when Horatio walks in. What's great about this scene is that while everything else is dark and gray, Horatio seems to have a bright aura around him, almost as if he's been superimposed in the shot. I'm sure it was a lighting trick, but still, The New York crew isn't as bombastic as their coharts from Miami, which is a bit of a relief.
Anyway, they nearly catch the killer, but he escapes, and then all of a sudden, they learn that he killed the wrong people in Miami, and has gone to New York to finish the job. So, he kills a millionaire and his wife, and their son suffered stab wounds but does live. It's discovered that the man had a little female company on the night of his murder, while his wife was passed out from a cocktail of pills. They interview the girl, she says she was there but didn't kill him. It's discovered that the woman also had an 'erotic encounter' with the son that night, which turns the investigation's attention towards him, since his knife wounds were different than the ones his parents suffered. But that turns out to be a red herring, as we finally discover that it was the doorman that hired the thug to kill them, in order to collect on some inheritance money the millionaire left him in his will after the doorman saved his life. The case wrapped up, Horatio waves goodbye to Mac, Mac turns around to say something to him, but Horatio makes like Houdini and disappears. Not a bad episode, and certainly not as silly as the previous one, but with all the different characters, it felt a little cluttered. I'll give it a 6.2 out of 10.
Overall, CSI: Miami is a silly little show that anybody can pick up on the storyline in about 25 seconds, so a lot of people watch it due to its mixture of simplicity and excitement. Nothing wrong with that, but there are times where things are so over the top that the show just becomes downright silly. Also, the acting ranges from decent to ridiculous, so it's no surprise that nobody's been nominated for an Emmy. There are worse shows than this on the air, but there are much better shows as well. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for blog posts or reviews, let me know about them either by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com or some other way.
Wow, wasn't that just great. On with the first episode.
Episode 1: Cyber-lebity (Season 6, Episode 2)
Wow, I don't know where to start here. A kid is murdered at a swim meet, old school style, with a crossbow. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Candide believes that it is connected to her newfound fame after someone posted a picture of her on the internet, and everybody went crazy over her. As it turns out, she's not wrong. The team investigate the case, meeting up with the athletic director who has a wall full of pictures of Candice in and out of the pool, which is rather creepy indeed. Since everybody on this show is supersmart, they figure out what crossbow was used after a montage of firing crossbows. Meanwhile, Wolfe, who normally is a part of the team but is on leave for reasons I don't remember, is assigned to be Candice's private security guard. More trouble ensues when the latest cyber-lebity becomes none other than good ol' Horatio Caine, and it is revealed to the public that he put away a mafia killer. Eventually, Caine's life in threatened, and his car is stolen too. The car was stolen by the mobster's son, who also set fire to a building but for some reason, is not charged with any crime after he was brought into custody. Ok then. Meanwhile, since everybody all of sudden knows about the physics of crossbows, we find out that it was a woman that took the shot. It turns out to be Candice's rival on the swim team, Miranda, who used her charms to get into the Athletic Director's office, grabbed a crossbow, calibrated it, and attempted a long distance shot that even the best trick shooter would have difficulty pulling off in order to kill Candice. I mean, in order to hit her target, she would have to miss the eight people in front of her and had about a quarter of a second, and even then it's unlikely to a killshot. The only problem was, Candice never got off the block, and Luke happened to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time. The shot Miranda was going for had a minute chance at best of hitting her target, so you got to wonder why she didn't try a more direct way to ice her rival.
Oh, but we're not finished, as Horatio gets one of his lab techs to post his location online to lure his stalker out. Turns out, it's the mobster's son, the same guy they let go two hours ago, and look, there happens to be a gun lying around. The son picks up the gun, Horatio tries to talk him out of it, but the kid fires four shots, and Horatio is, wait, he's still standing. Turns out Mr. Caine set the gun there himself and filled it with blanks, just to trick his nemesis. The kid gets arrested, and once again justice is served. Also, there's a stupid sub-plot involving Candice's father faking a kidnapping in order to scare his daughter, but we really don't need to get into that, now do we. This episode was so ridicoulous it almost made sense. I'll give it a 4 out of 10.
Episode 2: Mia/NYC Non Stop (season 2, episode 23)
We start off with a teenage girl at a party. She realizes that she is late, and better get home or her parents will 'kill' her. That turns out to be a poor choice of words, because she gets home to find that her parents were brutally murdered. Horatio and the coroner arrive at the scene, and Horatio promises justice in the way only he can. Eventually, they find out that, due to the killer hocking up fluid, he lives in New York, because they're just that smart. Horatio finds out that he's back in New York, and he decided to go there himself and leave the kids at home. Up there, he meets Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise), and the rest of the New York CSI crew, which oddly enough, would have a show of their known mere months after this episode. Yes, my friends, this is the episode which launches CSI's second spin-off. When we meet Mac, he is at the murder scene of an undercover cop, when Horatio walks in. What's great about this scene is that while everything else is dark and gray, Horatio seems to have a bright aura around him, almost as if he's been superimposed in the shot. I'm sure it was a lighting trick, but still, The New York crew isn't as bombastic as their coharts from Miami, which is a bit of a relief.
Anyway, they nearly catch the killer, but he escapes, and then all of a sudden, they learn that he killed the wrong people in Miami, and has gone to New York to finish the job. So, he kills a millionaire and his wife, and their son suffered stab wounds but does live. It's discovered that the man had a little female company on the night of his murder, while his wife was passed out from a cocktail of pills. They interview the girl, she says she was there but didn't kill him. It's discovered that the woman also had an 'erotic encounter' with the son that night, which turns the investigation's attention towards him, since his knife wounds were different than the ones his parents suffered. But that turns out to be a red herring, as we finally discover that it was the doorman that hired the thug to kill them, in order to collect on some inheritance money the millionaire left him in his will after the doorman saved his life. The case wrapped up, Horatio waves goodbye to Mac, Mac turns around to say something to him, but Horatio makes like Houdini and disappears. Not a bad episode, and certainly not as silly as the previous one, but with all the different characters, it felt a little cluttered. I'll give it a 6.2 out of 10.
Overall, CSI: Miami is a silly little show that anybody can pick up on the storyline in about 25 seconds, so a lot of people watch it due to its mixture of simplicity and excitement. Nothing wrong with that, but there are times where things are so over the top that the show just becomes downright silly. Also, the acting ranges from decent to ridiculous, so it's no surprise that nobody's been nominated for an Emmy. There are worse shows than this on the air, but there are much better shows as well. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for blog posts or reviews, let me know about them either by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com or some other way.
Friday, May 14, 2010
The Canon Review of two Matlock Episodes
So yesterday at work, I had the theme to Matlock stuck in my head for some reason, which I found very odd because I haven't watched that show in at least 10 years, and I never was a regular viewer of that show in the first place. Heck, I'm surprised I even remember it. But it did give me an idea for a review, so here we are. I'm going to watch two episodes of Matlock and review them. For those of you that don't know or don't care, Matlock was a TV series that was on the air from 1986-1995, starring Andy Griffith as the titular character, Ben Matlock. Matlock is an Atlanta, Georgia attorney known for his folksy ways. Also, the show starred Clarance Gilyard Jr. (a.k.a. Chuck Norris's partner in Walker Texas Ranger) as Matlock's investigator. Well, on with the show.
Episode 1: The Con Man
This episode was originally aired in 1989, and starts with a woman jogging, and goes downhill from there. The woman fakes being abducted in order to lure in the guy jogging behind her, Brain Davis (played by James Eckhouse, who would later play Jim Walsh on Beverly Hills, 90210). Davis rescues the woman, and as a thank you of sorts, she sets him up insider trading secrets from her ex-boyfriend. After making a profit, Davis decides to invest $25,000 in a new takeover, but is shocked to find that the ex, Jason Edmonds, is dead. Davis and the woman (Madeline Medford) dump the money filled briefcase in a trash can. But Davis eventually learns that it was a con and that Jason faked his death, and he's out $25,000. To get revenge, Brian intercepts another briefcase filled with cash, but Madeline catches him and to make matters worse, this time Jason is actually dead and Brian is being charged with the murder. Luckily, he has Ben Matlock on his side. The rest of the episode focuses mainly on the man that took the first briefcase, Jack McCarthy, a conman that's a real charmer. He even goes out on a date with Matlock's assistant attorney. Eventually, the real murderer is revealed, but I'm not telling who it is.
The acting is all over the place in this episode. One minute Madeline has a southern accent, and the next minute she's talking with a French accent. The guy playing Jack McCarthy seems to have no business playing a con man, as he's not very convincing. Plus, there's a couple of sub-plots that really go nowhere, and there's little explanation to how Matlock was able to crack the case open. I mean, one minute he's confused, and when we get back from commercial, he suddenly knows all the answers. I'm usually a fan of crime dramas like these, but this episode was kind of boring and dumb. I'll give it a 3 out of 10 and hope that the next one is better.
Episode 2: The Marriage Counselor
This episode was originally shown in 1991. In this episode, an annoying insurance salesman named Alan, who had just sold Matlock some insurance, finds out that his wife Laura has been cheating on him with his marriage counselor, Harding Fletcher (played by Bryan Cranston, who also played Hal in Malcolm in the Middle and recently won an Emmy for his work in Breaking Bad as Walter White). Alan confronts the marriage counselor, and is somehow convinced to see him again later in the week to talk about this. When Alan gets there, Fletcher is dead. Alan is thought to be the prime suspect and hires Matlock to defend him. Matlock and his investigator Conrad investigate the case, and find that Laura was not the only patient that was having an affair with Dr. Fletcher. Eventually, the murder is solved and Alan goes back to being his annoying self again.
This was a slightly better episode than the last one, although still the guest actors could have done a better job, particularly the other ladies found out to have an affair with Dr. Fletcher. I will say that Cranston was quite convincing as a scummy marriage counselor, and that it was good to see Conrad in this episode for longer than 30 seconds. Plus, the show did a much better job of explaining how Matlock was able to crack the case. One thing I will say is that it doesn't speak well of the Atlanta Police Department if a defense attorney is solving all of their cases during the trail of a suspect. Maybe Matlock should have been a detective instead. Just an observation, nothing more. Overall, I'll give this episode a 5.4 out of 10.
Well, thanks for reading about two episodes of Matlock. Hopefully, I'll have two posts in the next 24 hours, but we shall see. Remember, if you have any ideas for future posts at the Canon Review, than send them to me either by leaving a comment, by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com, or by telling me if you happen to find yourself talking to me. As a bonus, here's Matlock's theme song.
Episode 1: The Con Man
This episode was originally aired in 1989, and starts with a woman jogging, and goes downhill from there. The woman fakes being abducted in order to lure in the guy jogging behind her, Brain Davis (played by James Eckhouse, who would later play Jim Walsh on Beverly Hills, 90210). Davis rescues the woman, and as a thank you of sorts, she sets him up insider trading secrets from her ex-boyfriend. After making a profit, Davis decides to invest $25,000 in a new takeover, but is shocked to find that the ex, Jason Edmonds, is dead. Davis and the woman (Madeline Medford) dump the money filled briefcase in a trash can. But Davis eventually learns that it was a con and that Jason faked his death, and he's out $25,000. To get revenge, Brian intercepts another briefcase filled with cash, but Madeline catches him and to make matters worse, this time Jason is actually dead and Brian is being charged with the murder. Luckily, he has Ben Matlock on his side. The rest of the episode focuses mainly on the man that took the first briefcase, Jack McCarthy, a conman that's a real charmer. He even goes out on a date with Matlock's assistant attorney. Eventually, the real murderer is revealed, but I'm not telling who it is.
The acting is all over the place in this episode. One minute Madeline has a southern accent, and the next minute she's talking with a French accent. The guy playing Jack McCarthy seems to have no business playing a con man, as he's not very convincing. Plus, there's a couple of sub-plots that really go nowhere, and there's little explanation to how Matlock was able to crack the case open. I mean, one minute he's confused, and when we get back from commercial, he suddenly knows all the answers. I'm usually a fan of crime dramas like these, but this episode was kind of boring and dumb. I'll give it a 3 out of 10 and hope that the next one is better.
Episode 2: The Marriage Counselor
This episode was originally shown in 1991. In this episode, an annoying insurance salesman named Alan, who had just sold Matlock some insurance, finds out that his wife Laura has been cheating on him with his marriage counselor, Harding Fletcher (played by Bryan Cranston, who also played Hal in Malcolm in the Middle and recently won an Emmy for his work in Breaking Bad as Walter White). Alan confronts the marriage counselor, and is somehow convinced to see him again later in the week to talk about this. When Alan gets there, Fletcher is dead. Alan is thought to be the prime suspect and hires Matlock to defend him. Matlock and his investigator Conrad investigate the case, and find that Laura was not the only patient that was having an affair with Dr. Fletcher. Eventually, the murder is solved and Alan goes back to being his annoying self again.
This was a slightly better episode than the last one, although still the guest actors could have done a better job, particularly the other ladies found out to have an affair with Dr. Fletcher. I will say that Cranston was quite convincing as a scummy marriage counselor, and that it was good to see Conrad in this episode for longer than 30 seconds. Plus, the show did a much better job of explaining how Matlock was able to crack the case. One thing I will say is that it doesn't speak well of the Atlanta Police Department if a defense attorney is solving all of their cases during the trail of a suspect. Maybe Matlock should have been a detective instead. Just an observation, nothing more. Overall, I'll give this episode a 5.4 out of 10.
Well, thanks for reading about two episodes of Matlock. Hopefully, I'll have two posts in the next 24 hours, but we shall see. Remember, if you have any ideas for future posts at the Canon Review, than send them to me either by leaving a comment, by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com, or by telling me if you happen to find yourself talking to me. As a bonus, here's Matlock's theme song.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Canon Review of two The Bradys episodes
So last week, I watched the SciFi original movie Mega Piranha. I would recommend that you do all that you can to not watch this movie, as it is bad. The premise of this movie is that some scientists, including one played by former teen idol Tiffany, have accidentally populated a Venezuelan lake with giant piranhas, who have both male and female organs, can reproduce quicker than a hiccup, and eventually grow into the size of Cadillacs with impenetrable skin. Eventually, the Piranhas grow and grow and number, taking out everything in sight, including battle ships and nuclear subs, and it's up to Tiffany, her scientist friend, and some wannabe Jean-Claude Van Damme to save the earth. If you want, you can see the trailer right here:
So, what does this crapfest have to do with the short-lived 1990 series The Bradys? Simple, they both star Barry Williams, aka Greg Brady. In Mega Piranha, Williams plays some sort of government agency whose main contribution is to tell his operative to get away from the Mega Piranha. The guy spent most of the movie talking into his walkie talkie and was frankly quite useless. But at least Mr. Williams got paid, and was probably the best actor in the film, which doesn't speak well of any of his co-stars acting skills. Meanwhile, in The Brady, Williams plays Greg Brady. How about that?
Before we begin, I must share a little background on the series. As you've probably figured out, "The Bradys" is based off of the "Brady Bunch" sitcom from the 1970s. After CBS produced a TV Movie called "A Very Brady Christmas", the network, pleased with the movie's high ratings, decided to make a TV series chronicling the Brady's, now all grown up with problems of their own. Unlike the original light-hearted affair where everybody shared a laugh and learned a lesson, "The Bradys" was an hour-long drama which featured very serious situations. For example, in the first episode, Bobby Brady became a paraplegic after a wreck in an auto race. The show lasted six episodes, mainly due to low ratings, which Barry Williams would later blame on its poor timeslot. I will now attempt to watch 2 of these episodes right now, and more than likely complain about it.
Episode 1: A Moving Experience
There's trouble at the Brady House, as a new freeway is being built, and the zoning commission has given Mike and Carol six months to find a new place. Mike organizes a meeting with the city councilman to present an alternative route for the freeway, but the councilman says it's not going to happen, but good luck. However, Mike's speech interests some politicians, who are looking for a candidate for city council, and think Mike can do it. Mike turns them down at first, but at the end of the episode he changes his mind. Meanwhile, the Brady's inspired by an idea from Marsha's kids Jessica and Mickey, decide that instead of moving to another house, they will move their house to a new location. Brilliant! Meanwhile, Cindy, a radio station DJ is dating her boss, a widower, and meets his kids, who are not happy about this idea at all. Peter is having trouble finding a woman while managing his new job at People for a Better Planet, and Greg and his family are also moving, as Greg recently received a promotion. While the Brady's wait for the construction of their house to be completed, Mike, Carol, Marsha and her husband Wally and their two kids move into a smaller apartment for one month. Unfortunately, the place is in a flight path, and many airplanes fly right overhead. Also, it's Mike's birthday, and the whole gang show up at the smaller house to celebrate, including the Korean girl Jan and her husband adopted, who made some seaweed soup. Sounds yummy. A few more notes.
- Greg has decided to grow a mustache, and the result is that he looks a lot like Jason Lee from My Name is Earl, only dorkier.
- The Brady clan have some awfully annoying kids, Greg's son Kevin acted like a bit of a brat, and tried to push the house on the truck while it was being moved. But Kevin's nothing compared to Marsha's son Mickey. Normally, I don't wish for harm to come to children, but in Mickey's case I made an exception. The worst part was when he was jumping on the bed while Mike and Mickey's dad Wally was trying to sleep, and the kid had the nerve to say that he wasn't going to stop no matter what Wally or Mike did. If I were them, I would have forcefully voiced my desire to have him stop jumping on the bed and go to sleep, but instead a pillow fight broke out, at first between the three men, and then somehow the ladies got involved. Anyway, everything Mickey said and did made me loathe him more and more.
- Interesting note, well, maybe only to me, but still. The part of Bobby's wife was played by former MTV VJ Martha Quinn. I found that curious, but I'm sure most people probably couldn't care less. Anyway, Bobby and Martha Quinn moved into a new house that just happened to be owned by a paraplegic, just like Bobby is now. I guess Bobby gets all the breaks.
-All of the original Bradys returned for this show, except for Maureen McCormick, who played Marsha. McCormick was pregnant at the time and did not want to devote all of her time to a TV series and be away from her family, so the part of Marcia was played by somebody named Leah Ayers, who was the journalist that hounded Jean-Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport.
Episode 2: Party Girls
This was less excruciating than the last episode, but still nothing I would recommend. In this episode, Marsha, Greg's wife and Martha Quinn decide to start a catering buisness. They get help from Marcia's husband Wally, who suddenly is interested in public relations work, and Alice's husband Sam the Butcher sells his old shop to them so the "Party Girls" (their business name) have a place to cook. Meanwhile, Greg and Peter get into a dispute after Greg has to cancel previous plans to go to a PTA meeting, and Peter totally overreacts and flips out, making for a very awkward situation. They try to reconcile, but further misunderstandings take place and both men promise to never speak to each other again. Meanwhile, Mickey continues to annoy. Everything comes to a head at an Austrian themed party hosted by the Party Girls. Greg and Peter have to be waiters due to the size of the party, and when Peter chokes on some food, Greg comes over and saves his life with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The two make up, and Mike introduces the Australian dignitary to the Austian themed party, which was due to the fact that Mickey messed up taking the phone message. Nevertheless, the Australian is quite surprised at this turn of events, and is relieved that he won't have a bunch of ignorant Americans saying "g'day mate" and referencing Crocodile Dundee. The episode ends with the Party Girls moving out of the butcher shop, and Sam moving back in because he's bored with retirement. A few notes.
- Sam's never seen in any of the episodes, as the producers must have decided not to bring his character back in an on-air role. They could have, as the actor that played him, Allan Melvin, was still an active actor at the time this show was filmed, but for reasons unknown, they did not.
- I didn't recognize it until this episode, but the role of Greg's son Kevin was played by none other than Johnathan Taylor Thomas, who as most of you probably know, went on to star as Randy Taylor on the show Home Improvement. Meaning that he is the only person to play the son of Tim Taylor and Greg Brady. What a career.
- Even though this is supposed to be a drama, the producers of this show added a laugh track whenever a humorous moment occurred (there was not a laugh track in the first episode I saw). This made for a rather weird dynamic, as one moment Peter and Greg are fighting, and not a few seconds later somebody makes a quip and off goes the laugh track.
- This ended up being the last episode of "The Bradys", as the show went on hiatus for retooling, and ultimately CBS decided just to cancel the show altogether. Sadly, it would also be one of Robert Reed's (Mike Brady) last appearances, as he died in May of 1992, some 18 months or so after the airing of this episode.
Overall, I can definitely see why this show lasted only six episodes. For one, I wasn't really sure whether this was supposed to be a drama or a comedy. If it was a comedy, it wasn't very funny, and I have a hard time believing that the audience would want to see the Brady's in serious, tragic situations. I'm not really sure what they were going for here, and I'm not sure if the producers knew either. For both shows, I'll give a score of 1.69 out of 10, as quite frankly, it was hard to watch, and I'm sure that this post will be hard to read through because of that. But if you make it this far, than thanks for reading, and if you have future ideas for future reviews, than you know where to reach me. I leave you with the opening credits for "The Bradys" series righchere:
So, what does this crapfest have to do with the short-lived 1990 series The Bradys? Simple, they both star Barry Williams, aka Greg Brady. In Mega Piranha, Williams plays some sort of government agency whose main contribution is to tell his operative to get away from the Mega Piranha. The guy spent most of the movie talking into his walkie talkie and was frankly quite useless. But at least Mr. Williams got paid, and was probably the best actor in the film, which doesn't speak well of any of his co-stars acting skills. Meanwhile, in The Brady, Williams plays Greg Brady. How about that?
Before we begin, I must share a little background on the series. As you've probably figured out, "The Bradys" is based off of the "Brady Bunch" sitcom from the 1970s. After CBS produced a TV Movie called "A Very Brady Christmas", the network, pleased with the movie's high ratings, decided to make a TV series chronicling the Brady's, now all grown up with problems of their own. Unlike the original light-hearted affair where everybody shared a laugh and learned a lesson, "The Bradys" was an hour-long drama which featured very serious situations. For example, in the first episode, Bobby Brady became a paraplegic after a wreck in an auto race. The show lasted six episodes, mainly due to low ratings, which Barry Williams would later blame on its poor timeslot. I will now attempt to watch 2 of these episodes right now, and more than likely complain about it.
Episode 1: A Moving Experience
There's trouble at the Brady House, as a new freeway is being built, and the zoning commission has given Mike and Carol six months to find a new place. Mike organizes a meeting with the city councilman to present an alternative route for the freeway, but the councilman says it's not going to happen, but good luck. However, Mike's speech interests some politicians, who are looking for a candidate for city council, and think Mike can do it. Mike turns them down at first, but at the end of the episode he changes his mind. Meanwhile, the Brady's inspired by an idea from Marsha's kids Jessica and Mickey, decide that instead of moving to another house, they will move their house to a new location. Brilliant! Meanwhile, Cindy, a radio station DJ is dating her boss, a widower, and meets his kids, who are not happy about this idea at all. Peter is having trouble finding a woman while managing his new job at People for a Better Planet, and Greg and his family are also moving, as Greg recently received a promotion. While the Brady's wait for the construction of their house to be completed, Mike, Carol, Marsha and her husband Wally and their two kids move into a smaller apartment for one month. Unfortunately, the place is in a flight path, and many airplanes fly right overhead. Also, it's Mike's birthday, and the whole gang show up at the smaller house to celebrate, including the Korean girl Jan and her husband adopted, who made some seaweed soup. Sounds yummy. A few more notes.
- Greg has decided to grow a mustache, and the result is that he looks a lot like Jason Lee from My Name is Earl, only dorkier.
- The Brady clan have some awfully annoying kids, Greg's son Kevin acted like a bit of a brat, and tried to push the house on the truck while it was being moved. But Kevin's nothing compared to Marsha's son Mickey. Normally, I don't wish for harm to come to children, but in Mickey's case I made an exception. The worst part was when he was jumping on the bed while Mike and Mickey's dad Wally was trying to sleep, and the kid had the nerve to say that he wasn't going to stop no matter what Wally or Mike did. If I were them, I would have forcefully voiced my desire to have him stop jumping on the bed and go to sleep, but instead a pillow fight broke out, at first between the three men, and then somehow the ladies got involved. Anyway, everything Mickey said and did made me loathe him more and more.
- Interesting note, well, maybe only to me, but still. The part of Bobby's wife was played by former MTV VJ Martha Quinn. I found that curious, but I'm sure most people probably couldn't care less. Anyway, Bobby and Martha Quinn moved into a new house that just happened to be owned by a paraplegic, just like Bobby is now. I guess Bobby gets all the breaks.
-All of the original Bradys returned for this show, except for Maureen McCormick, who played Marsha. McCormick was pregnant at the time and did not want to devote all of her time to a TV series and be away from her family, so the part of Marcia was played by somebody named Leah Ayers, who was the journalist that hounded Jean-Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport.
Episode 2: Party Girls
This was less excruciating than the last episode, but still nothing I would recommend. In this episode, Marsha, Greg's wife and Martha Quinn decide to start a catering buisness. They get help from Marcia's husband Wally, who suddenly is interested in public relations work, and Alice's husband Sam the Butcher sells his old shop to them so the "Party Girls" (their business name) have a place to cook. Meanwhile, Greg and Peter get into a dispute after Greg has to cancel previous plans to go to a PTA meeting, and Peter totally overreacts and flips out, making for a very awkward situation. They try to reconcile, but further misunderstandings take place and both men promise to never speak to each other again. Meanwhile, Mickey continues to annoy. Everything comes to a head at an Austrian themed party hosted by the Party Girls. Greg and Peter have to be waiters due to the size of the party, and when Peter chokes on some food, Greg comes over and saves his life with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The two make up, and Mike introduces the Australian dignitary to the Austian themed party, which was due to the fact that Mickey messed up taking the phone message. Nevertheless, the Australian is quite surprised at this turn of events, and is relieved that he won't have a bunch of ignorant Americans saying "g'day mate" and referencing Crocodile Dundee. The episode ends with the Party Girls moving out of the butcher shop, and Sam moving back in because he's bored with retirement. A few notes.
- Sam's never seen in any of the episodes, as the producers must have decided not to bring his character back in an on-air role. They could have, as the actor that played him, Allan Melvin, was still an active actor at the time this show was filmed, but for reasons unknown, they did not.
- I didn't recognize it until this episode, but the role of Greg's son Kevin was played by none other than Johnathan Taylor Thomas, who as most of you probably know, went on to star as Randy Taylor on the show Home Improvement. Meaning that he is the only person to play the son of Tim Taylor and Greg Brady. What a career.
- Even though this is supposed to be a drama, the producers of this show added a laugh track whenever a humorous moment occurred (there was not a laugh track in the first episode I saw). This made for a rather weird dynamic, as one moment Peter and Greg are fighting, and not a few seconds later somebody makes a quip and off goes the laugh track.
- This ended up being the last episode of "The Bradys", as the show went on hiatus for retooling, and ultimately CBS decided just to cancel the show altogether. Sadly, it would also be one of Robert Reed's (Mike Brady) last appearances, as he died in May of 1992, some 18 months or so after the airing of this episode.
Overall, I can definitely see why this show lasted only six episodes. For one, I wasn't really sure whether this was supposed to be a drama or a comedy. If it was a comedy, it wasn't very funny, and I have a hard time believing that the audience would want to see the Brady's in serious, tragic situations. I'm not really sure what they were going for here, and I'm not sure if the producers knew either. For both shows, I'll give a score of 1.69 out of 10, as quite frankly, it was hard to watch, and I'm sure that this post will be hard to read through because of that. But if you make it this far, than thanks for reading, and if you have future ideas for future reviews, than you know where to reach me. I leave you with the opening credits for "The Bradys" series righchere:
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Canon Review of some Parker Lewis Can't Lose episodes
In 1990, Fox debuted a show called Parker Lewis Can't Lose. The main character was a high school student named, interestingly enough, Parker Lewis. Also, he had the ability to always win, because he could never lose. I remember watching the show in my youth, but I don't remember whether I liked it or not, or anything about the show really. I think I just watched it because it was on the same night as In Living Color or something. Anyway, I stumbled upon a few episodes of this show on YouTube, and I decided, what the hey, I think I'll watch some of them. So let the insanity begin.
1st Episode: Parker Lewis Must Lose
Before we start, let me mention one thing, the opening credits lasts at least eight minutes. Once you think they end, there's somebody else's name popping up on the screen. To make things worse, the type takes up half the damn screen. Anyway, Parker is running for class president in order to make the principal angry or something. The principal, a woman named Grace Musso, loathes Parker and his carefree ways. Parker, having the gift of never losing, is assured a win, but after his friends set up a camera in his oppenent's war room, Parker finds out that the election means a lot more to her than it does to Parker. Because of this and also because Parker is developing a crush on the girl, Parker sets out to do the impossible, lose. Hyjinx ensues. There were a couple of funny moments, I suppose, but a lot of it was flat. I would give it a 4 out of 10.
2nd Episode: Musso & Frank
I must say that this episode was better than the first one. In this episode, Musso is trying to set up her niece with her assistant principal, a weirdo named Frank Lemar whose primary function in life is to carry out every wish Musso may have. Lemer is not comfortable with this, so he goes to Parker Lewis for help, asking Parker to set him up with another girl. More hyjinx ensues when Lewis inadvertently sets up Lemar with Musso's niece, Denise. The rest of the episode involves Lewis scheming to break the two up, as Lemar is worried about Musso's influence in his life, even naming the first kid Frank and Denise have. First of all, it's kind of creepy that a high school student is dating the assistant principal, don't you think? Second of all, Parker's friend Jerry, who I guess is the smart one of the group, is very annoying. But I digress. This was a stronger episode than the first one, and even featured a guest appearence by Bud Bundy, who was assigned detention despite going to a different high school. That in itself makes this a good episode, so I'll give it a 6.9 out of 10.
Episode 3: Radio Free Flamingo
This episode was kind of in between the first two, as far as quality is concerned. In this episode, after the big football player Kubiak stuffs the gang in a locker, they stumble upon an old underground radio station. Naturally, Parker decides to restart the station, and naturally Musso has a huge problem with it. Musso stops at nothing to put an end to the station, and even threatens the students with Fs unless they find the location of the radio station. Meanwhile, Parker's trying to get together with this girl, but because of his newfound radio duties, he has trouble finding the time to see her. More hyjinx ensue, and eventually Parker and his buds frame Lemer for the whole thing, causing him to receive a big beatdown led by Kubiak. This episode has its moments, including Parker's new girl saying she doesn't "know Lincoln from a hole in my head". Ouch. Anyway, like I said, this episode is in between the first two, so I'll give it a 5.45 out of 10.
Overall, this show is heavily inspired by Ferries Bueller's Day Off. Like Ferris, Parker's the coolest kid in school, uses all sorts of fancy gadgets, is hated by his principal, and even has a sister that hates his guts. Although I must say Parker's kid sister is a little more tolerable than Ferris's sister was. Plus, unlike Ferris, who pushes his friend Cameron around, Parker's friends are more than happy to help with whatever he needs. Overall, Parker's at least more likable than Ferris, and best of all, Parker's not played by Matthew Broderick. But I digress. On its own, this show is perfectly average, it has its high points, and other times the show either gets too ridiculous or the jokes just aren't funny. There probably were better shows out during its time period, but trust me, there also was a lot worse. From the few episodes I saw, I'll give Parker Lewis Can't Lose a 5.80 out of 10.
Well, thanks for reading. If you have any ideas for future reviews, or if you want to submit a review on your own, than e-mail me the details at KtheC2001@gmail.com or at KtheC2001@yahoo.com. I leave you with a video promoting the second season of Parker Lewis Can't Lose, done 90210 style:
1st Episode: Parker Lewis Must Lose
Before we start, let me mention one thing, the opening credits lasts at least eight minutes. Once you think they end, there's somebody else's name popping up on the screen. To make things worse, the type takes up half the damn screen. Anyway, Parker is running for class president in order to make the principal angry or something. The principal, a woman named Grace Musso, loathes Parker and his carefree ways. Parker, having the gift of never losing, is assured a win, but after his friends set up a camera in his oppenent's war room, Parker finds out that the election means a lot more to her than it does to Parker. Because of this and also because Parker is developing a crush on the girl, Parker sets out to do the impossible, lose. Hyjinx ensues. There were a couple of funny moments, I suppose, but a lot of it was flat. I would give it a 4 out of 10.
2nd Episode: Musso & Frank
I must say that this episode was better than the first one. In this episode, Musso is trying to set up her niece with her assistant principal, a weirdo named Frank Lemar whose primary function in life is to carry out every wish Musso may have. Lemer is not comfortable with this, so he goes to Parker Lewis for help, asking Parker to set him up with another girl. More hyjinx ensues when Lewis inadvertently sets up Lemar with Musso's niece, Denise. The rest of the episode involves Lewis scheming to break the two up, as Lemar is worried about Musso's influence in his life, even naming the first kid Frank and Denise have. First of all, it's kind of creepy that a high school student is dating the assistant principal, don't you think? Second of all, Parker's friend Jerry, who I guess is the smart one of the group, is very annoying. But I digress. This was a stronger episode than the first one, and even featured a guest appearence by Bud Bundy, who was assigned detention despite going to a different high school. That in itself makes this a good episode, so I'll give it a 6.9 out of 10.
Episode 3: Radio Free Flamingo
This episode was kind of in between the first two, as far as quality is concerned. In this episode, after the big football player Kubiak stuffs the gang in a locker, they stumble upon an old underground radio station. Naturally, Parker decides to restart the station, and naturally Musso has a huge problem with it. Musso stops at nothing to put an end to the station, and even threatens the students with Fs unless they find the location of the radio station. Meanwhile, Parker's trying to get together with this girl, but because of his newfound radio duties, he has trouble finding the time to see her. More hyjinx ensue, and eventually Parker and his buds frame Lemer for the whole thing, causing him to receive a big beatdown led by Kubiak. This episode has its moments, including Parker's new girl saying she doesn't "know Lincoln from a hole in my head". Ouch. Anyway, like I said, this episode is in between the first two, so I'll give it a 5.45 out of 10.
Overall, this show is heavily inspired by Ferries Bueller's Day Off. Like Ferris, Parker's the coolest kid in school, uses all sorts of fancy gadgets, is hated by his principal, and even has a sister that hates his guts. Although I must say Parker's kid sister is a little more tolerable than Ferris's sister was. Plus, unlike Ferris, who pushes his friend Cameron around, Parker's friends are more than happy to help with whatever he needs. Overall, Parker's at least more likable than Ferris, and best of all, Parker's not played by Matthew Broderick. But I digress. On its own, this show is perfectly average, it has its high points, and other times the show either gets too ridiculous or the jokes just aren't funny. There probably were better shows out during its time period, but trust me, there also was a lot worse. From the few episodes I saw, I'll give Parker Lewis Can't Lose a 5.80 out of 10.
Well, thanks for reading. If you have any ideas for future reviews, or if you want to submit a review on your own, than e-mail me the details at KtheC2001@gmail.com or at KtheC2001@yahoo.com. I leave you with a video promoting the second season of Parker Lewis Can't Lose, done 90210 style:
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