Topic: THE PASSOVER PLOTZ (Read 46838 times)

bk · « **on:** April 05, 2004, 12:01:40 AM »

Well, you've read the notes, you've plotzed over the notes, you've asked four questions and now you're ready to post until the briskets come home.

bk · « **Reply #1 on:** April 05, 2004, 12:03:41 AM »

Someone beat me to the punch and now I have to post this to get this to the top of the discussion page. The next person who beats me to the punch is getting a bitch-slapping.

S. Woody White · « **Reply #2 on:** April 05, 2004, 12:07:21 AM »

But BK, we mices just squeeked by on yesterday's posts! We've been running this treadmill as fast as our little feet can run!

S. Woody White · « **Reply #3 on:** April 05, 2004, 12:09:28 AM »

As for beating you to the punch, there's plenty of punch for all! (Raspberry and Lime Sherbet, in Seven-Up, yum! Just like at the dances in Junior High! Or at least the ones I went to.)

S. Woody White · « **Reply #4 on:** April 05, 2004, 12:12:37 AM »

TOD:

Columbo was always at the top of my list. True, they told you whodunnit at the start, but the premise still worked.

Ellery Queen was also a favorite of mine, because it played as a true whodunnit, and played fair.

I'm not fond of the current crop of shows. The characters have no personality. Bleh.

I'm sure der Brucer will have a much longer list than I.

bk · « **Reply #5 on:** April 05, 2004, 12:27:33 AM »

Here's a Passover Plotz: Thirteen GUESTS at 12:30! Welcome thirteen GUESTS. Somethin' wrong witcha bumpa?

Dave in the valley · « **Reply #6 on:** April 05, 2004, 03:02:59 AM »

I loved the "The Night Stalker" TV series starring Darren McGavin (the father in "A Christmas Story" as Carl Kolchak, which is more of a mystery than a cop show. McGavin plays a reporter who investigates strange occurences that lead to say vampires or werewolves or zombies, but in the end he couldn't ever convince his editor that the stories weren't made up. My favorite episode involved the discovery of a second and older version of Chicago buried deep below the current Chicago. Spooky!

Dave in the Valley

the imdb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067490/

Robin · « **Reply #7 on:** April 05, 2004, 03:46:50 AM »

My favorite cop show was (and is!) T. J. Hooker, starring William Shatner.

I also really liked Kojak and (even though it's a sitcom, it still has cops in it!) Barney Miller.

I was going to say Cop Rock, but that would've been an outrageous lie. No one even liked Cop Rock, much less loved it.

Michael · « **Reply #8 on:** April 05, 2004, 04:17:30 AM »

I have been partial to private eye series with Richard Denning as "Michael Shayne"

elmore3003 · « **Reply #9 on:** April 05, 2004, 05:50:39 AM »

Good morning, all! I'm still dragging from this daylight time change, but I had a great time at chat last night. Dear friend BK was our charming host, and I think it's time we got him a game show.

When I was a kid, I had no standards but I knew a pretty face when I saw it, so my favorite detective shows were the Warner Bros. "Surfside Six," "77 Sunset Strip." and "The Roaring Twenties" because I loved Dorothy Provine and all the 1920s band charts from the Warner Bros. music catalog. I vaguely recall Phyllis Kirk in a Thin Man-like series as well; was that "Mr & Mrs North"?

My current favorite is "Without A Trace."

Dan (the Man) · « **Reply #10 on:** April 05, 2004, 05:54:45 AM »

Cop shows, cop shows...

I guess the earliest shows I recall watching every week were Adam-12 and Dragnet . I then remember watching shows like Cannon, Hawai 5-O, and Barnaby Jones, but mostly because my dad had control of the TV and watched them. The shows that I really became a fan of were Kojack, The Streets of San Francisco and everything that was part of the roster of the NBC Mystery Movie (Columbo, MacMillian and Wife, McCloud, The Snoop Sisters--heck, even Hec Ramsey!)

I can't remember any cop show from the 80s, aside from Hill Street Blues. I never got into Miami Vice because I was never home on Friday nights to watch it.

I guess the last cop show that I got involved with was NYPD Blues and I stopped watching that after the third season. Every now and then I'll watch an episode of one of the Law and Order series. CSI bores me because of its basic premise of "no one gets away with anything because of science." Where's the drama in that?

Okay, who can finish the rest of these lyrics:
"There's a hold-up in the Bronx,
Brooklyn's broken out in fights,
There's a traffic jam in Harlem
That's backed up to Jackson Heights..."

Ben · « **Reply #11 on:** April 05, 2004, 06:06:15 AM »

Ah, Car 54. I remember Toody and Muldoon very well.

There's a Scout troop short a child,
Khrushchev's due at Idlewyld,
CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU?

And the question becomes What is Idlewyld called now?

elmore3003 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 05, 2004, 06:13:08 AM »

Quote from: Ben on April 05, 2004, 06:06:15 AM

And the question becomes What is Idlewyld called now?

A MESS!

William E. Lurie · « **Reply #13 on:** April 05, 2004, 06:18:40 AM »

Idlewyld is now Kennedy Airport... one of the many name changes to Kennedy in the mid 60s.

I'm not a fan of cop shows, but I do like the early black-and-white DRAGNETs... especially the Christmas episode where a statue of the Baby Jesus is taken. It turns out that a little boy had been praying for a wagon for Christmas and promised the Baby Jesus the first ride if he got one. This episode was previously done on radio and subsequently on the revised color DRAGNET in the late 60s (with Barry Williams as an alter boy).

Ben · « **Reply #14 on:** April 05, 2004, 06:33:39 AM »

You people are too good. But then, it's not too difficult a question.

Jennifer · « **Reply #15 on:** April 05, 2004, 06:45:03 AM »

Good morning all!

Re: DR Jane's comment from last night that I haven't been cleaning for Passover. Oh but I HAVE! I was just not familiar with the expression DR Dan used about the feather.

Trust me, I have been cleaning. And I even have to do a good share of the cooking (I will be making the chicken, turnip, roasted potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower). My mom will be making the matzoh ball soup and my aunt will be making the brisket (which is my most favorite dish in the entire world!.

Lulu · « **Reply #16 on:** April 05, 2004, 06:48:47 AM »

So many great choices already, you guys! I concur with so many:

Columbo (the gold standard, imo)

Kolchak: The Night Stalker (Dave in the Valley: The one you remember is the TV movie sequel to the first TV movie, "The Night Stalker," called "The Night Strangler," and it took place in Seattle (Chicago was the setting for the TV series, which came a little later). Yeah, the underground city thingy was neat.

McMillan and Wife (not nearly as well made as Columbo, but not without charm)

The Rockford Files (c'mon, admit it...just reading the title made that great theme start playing in your head, now didn't it?)

Hart to Hart (totally cheesy in a very '80s way...embarrassing, but enjoyable)

Dragnet (gotta love those late '60s episodes...I've rhapsodized before about this show, so I won't do it again!)

Car 54 and Barney Miller are great, too. Cops and families of cops still say Barney Miller was THE most authentic cop show ever, Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue be damned. They consider the '70s sitcom to have been a much more accurate reflection of day-in-the-life police work than either of those two "gritty" Emmy-anointed programs. Go figure. And I'm sorry...was anybody NOT teary-eyed when they did the tribute show to the recently departed Jack Soo? I'm SO sure.

Lulu · « **Reply #17 on:** April 05, 2004, 06:49:58 AM »

Geez...I just listed this as a guilty pleasure, then forgot it was a detective show:

Matt Houston

Ben · « **Reply #18 on:** April 05, 2004, 06:51:55 AM »

Mmm, I love roasted turnips. I had turnips for the first time at Christmas in London 20 years ago, not this recent trip, when we spent Christmas day with a dear friend and her family.

MBarnum · « **Reply #19 on:** April 05, 2004, 06:59:23 AM »

PERRY MASON

SURFSIDE 6

DRAGNET (color and black and white)

ADAM-12

Panni · « **Reply #20 on:** April 05, 2004, 07:39:02 AM »

The Rockford Files, Murder She Wrote (it was fun!), Dragnet, Barney Miller, 77 Sunset Strip, Columbo, Perry Mason, Seeing Things. Today - (sometimes) Law and Order - it's always on in some form, somewhere.

Matt H. · « **Reply #21 on:** April 05, 2004, 08:13:04 AM »

So much to talk about, so I'll use a couple of posts to up the number.

According to every source I've ever been able to research, that's George Sanders doing his own singing in CALL ME MADAM. Vera-Ellen was dubbed, of course, this time by Carol Richards who was usually Cyd Charisse's voice double (in BRIGADOON and SILK STOCKINGS).

I have to respectfully disagree with you DR Dan(the Man). THough forensic science is the premise of CSI and through it many cases are solved, not every episode is a slam dunk for the investigators. In some episodes, they know a person is guilty, but their evidence is not conclusive enough to win the day. In others, the guilty parties outwit them and escape. Part of the fun in shows like this is seeing if the science will win out or not. Just as on LAW & ORDER when the Sam Waterston character doesn't win every case, but you don't know if he will or won't, so too are the criminalists of CSI sometimes thwarted by the bad guys.

Matt H. · « **Reply #22 on:** April 05, 2004, 08:18:56 AM »

I think ELLERY QUEEN (with Jim Hutton) is by far the best whodunit ever to appear on TV. Done by the same producers as COLUMBO and MURDER, SHE WROTE, the mysteries were complex for a TV hour and yet absolutely fair with the clues (unlike PERRY MASON where vital information was withheld until Mason revealed it in his climactic revelations in the courtroom). At the end, before Ellery tied it all together, he offered hints to viewers before the final set of commercials and then afterwards provided the denouement. Brilliant work for a TV mystery.

It was devastating to me that it only ran one season (it was done in the late 1940s period, so I'm sure it was more expensive for Universal to produce than some other shows), but the producers eased up a little on the complexity, gave us a motherly sleuth instead of an eccentric detective, and set it in the present, and got a 12 year run out of MURDER SHE WROTE.

Emily · « **Reply #23 on:** April 05, 2004, 09:14:15 AM »

Happy Passover to all who are celebrating it!

It's times like these that I am glad I am not a Jew. Brisket? Matzoh balls? Ewwwwwwww....

I was in chat last night for a few minutes but hardly anyone was there! Only Laura and Dan in the T-dot. Oh well...

You know, thinking about today's topic, I never really watched any detective tv shows. I'll occasionally look at Law and Order but that's pretty much it. I'd much rather read detective/mystery novels than watch the television serieses. How on earth do you pluralize series? Something to ponder.

I'm currently working on the last (huzzah) term paper for this term which is due tomorrow. It's for sociolinguistics and about the way Central Canadians either chose to naturalize or not naturalize foreign (a) sounds like the (a) in plaza, pajamas and Iraq. It is rather interesting...

Unfortunately though, it is involving quite a bit of statistical analysis (albeit of the basic kind... yippee no chi squared tests!) for which the class is using Excel. I am so glad I taught myself the ins and outs of excel a while ago. A lot of people have no background with the program and are ripping their hair out in frustration. Yea for foresight!

This morning I woke up (and I imagine Jennifer did too) to about 5cm of snow. My question to all DRs: if April showers bring May flowers... what the heckeroo does April snow bring?

Oh well... back to cross-tabulatin' grindstone

Emily · « **Reply #24 on:** April 05, 2004, 09:15:51 AM »

Tidbit to scare you all: In 1962, Montreal experienced a late blizzard which brought over 6inches of snow to the city.

The date was May 12th!!!

TCB · « **Reply #25 on:** April 05, 2004, 09:28:18 AM »

Hmmm, cop shows……… not to be confused with private detectives, or other murder mysteries that do not include the police........... I really enjoy the original Law & Order which has been ruined by the constant reruns of the show, twenty-four hours a day. I also like L & O SVU, mainly because of the extremely handsome Christopher Melloni (Happy B Day, Chris). However, please spare me the scenery-chewing of Vincent D’Onofrio in L & O Criminal Intent.

I loved the original Dragnet. I remember the first time my family went to Disneyland for vacation, I was so excited because we were staying with friends only a few blocks from Ben Alexander’s Used Cars. The fact that I never actually saw him at the dealership, did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm.

McMillan & Wife was one of my all-time favorite shows, as was Burke’s Law. I could never get into Columbo, because I always hated to know who did it from the very start of the show.

Also, I loved Cagney and Lacey, enjoyed (but never loved) Hill Street Blues, and occasionally wathed Adam - 12.

Matt H. · « **Reply #26 on:** April 05, 2004, 09:30:35 AM »

I bought all of the videotapes in the KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER TV series from Columbia House several years ago. There are two shows per tape, and ten tapes, so they take up a good deal of room (in their "deluxe packaging"), but I loved this show. I also got the book on the making of the series called STALKING that is a fascinating read for those who are fans of the series.

Sadly, the two made-for-TV movies (the original for a time being the most watched original TV movie in history) are on DVD but not the series. I wish Universal would remaster them and put out a boxed set on DVD. Even with my tapes, I'd be the first in line to purchase.

bk · « **Reply #27 on:** April 05, 2004, 09:31:59 AM »

elmoore: The Phyllis Kirk series WAS The Thin Man, with Peter Lawford. I loved it, and I loved Mr. and Mrs. North with Richard Denning and Barbara Britton. When I was VERY young I loved Boston Blackie, Highway Patrol, Racket Squad, Mr. District Attorney, and Mike Hammer (with Darren McGavin). I was very fond of all the Universal things like McMillan and Wife, Banacek, McCloud.

Matt H. · « **Reply #28 on:** April 05, 2004, 09:33:51 AM »

BURKE'S LAW was also one of my all-time favorite shows, and they were also good mysteries that made good use of their all-star casts. I'm sure you remember, TCB, that when ratings started to drop, they changed the show to AMOS BURKE, SECRET AGENT, and the show promptly died.

TCB · « **Reply #29 on:** April 05, 2004, 09:56:04 AM »

Quote from: Matt H. on April 05, 2004, 09:33:51 AM

BURKE'S LAW was also one of my all-time favorite shows, and they were also good mysteries that made good use of their all-star casts. I'm sure you remember, TCB, that when ratings started to drop, they changed the show to AMOS BURKE, SECRET AGENT, and the show promptly died.

Indeed I do, MattH. I almost mentioned Amos Burke, Secret Agent as a non-favorite, but I thought the less said about that show, the better. I did watch the remake of Burke's Law a few seasons ago, but sadly it was not the same quality as the original.

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Author Topic: THE PASSOVER PLOTZ (Read 46838 times)

Ben

Ben

Ben

MBarnum