Re: [TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
K.M. Richards richard...@gmail.com wrote: The Ellery Queen series with Jim Hutton ran in the 1975-76 season and was the lead-in to Mystery Movie during its last nine months (Ellery 8:00-9:00, Mystery Movie 9:00-11:00). As MM had gone to two-hour episodes beginning with the previous season, perhaps NBC and Universal felt trying to do Ellery in that length would have been excessive? As Jim Hutton would be dead from liver cancer in June 1979 (2 days after his 45th birthday!), is it possible that he was simply unable to continue the series? -- Ed Dravecky III http://www.fencon.org/ -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
On Tuesday, July 5, 2011 4:34:45 AM UTC-4, Ed Dravecky III wrote: As Jim Hutton would be dead from liver cancer in June 1979 (2 days after his 45th birthday!), is it possible that he was simply unable to continue the series? -- I've never heard that Hutton's illness was diagnosed that early. The series was cancelled in 1976, and Hutton continued to work regularly for the last three years of his life, including a four-episode stint on One Day at a Time. His last job was on Butterflies, a series pilot (based on the British sitcom) that NBC aired on August 1, 1979 - two months after his death. My guess is that it was probably taped in the spring of '79. So if he and his bosses thought that his health was still good enough to warrant a series pilot so late in his life, I doubt that his health would have affected Ellery Queen. He was born just a month after my father. And my dad is 77 now. Jim Hutton was gone way too soon. -Tim -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
[TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
Nice Ellery Queen/Jim Hutton reference on Leverage this week. Tim Hutton's character went to a murder mystery costume party as Ellery Queen, using an exact match for a costume his Dad wore in the role. It doesn't take a lot of makeup work to make Tim look a whole lot like Jim. On Jun 29, 11:40 am, K.M. Richards richard...@gmail.com wrote: On Jun 28, 5:33 am, Diner bwayst...@gmail.com wrote: The original two-hour pilot for Ellery Queen aired as a special episode of the Sunday Mystery Movie in the spring of 1975. On the Ellery Queen DVD set, the version of the pilot used is a syndication copy, retitled Too Many Suspects, in which the series' regular theme song (by Elmer Bernstein) is replaced by the soundtrack of the standard Mystery Movie opening credits: the Mystery Movie theme (by Henry Mancini), complete with Hank Sims announcing tonight, a special Mystery Movie presentation... -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
[TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
On Monday, July 4, 2011 1:36:08 PM UTC-4, paul7e wrote: Nice Ellery Queen/Jim Hutton reference on Leverage this week. Tim Hutton's character went to a murder mystery costume party as Ellery Queen, using an exact match for a costume his Dad wore in the role. It doesn't take a lot of makeup work to make Tim look a whole lot like Jim. Oh, that is VERY cool! Gotta see that one. -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
[TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
I could believe David Wayne as Jim Hutton's father. I could not have believed Morgan as Lawford's father. (Though it would have been nice to see Morgan as his, what?, 11th series lead?) If they didn't want to do two-hour Ellerys, I'd have happily settled for an hour of him and an hour of The Casebook of Simon Brimmer. --Dave Sikula On Jun 28, 5:33 am, Diner bwayst...@gmail.com wrote: The failed 1971 pilot movie, Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You, starring Peter Lawford and Harry Morgan, was intended as a pilot for the original lineup of the Mystery Movie. According to a poster on the IMDB, NBC almost picked Ellery Queen over McMillan and Wife for the third spoke of the wheel. -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
[TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
On Wednesday, June 29, 2011 4:34:47 AM UTC-4, Dave Sikula wrote: I could believe David Wayne as Jim Hutton's father. I could not have believed Morgan as Lawford's father. (Though it would have been nice to see Morgan as his, what?, 11th series lead?) Lawford was only eight years younger than Morgan - and Lawford's gray hair and English accent didn't help make the relationship more convincing. So Inspector Queen was turned into Ellery's uncle - the half-brother of Ellery's father. No, I didn't buy it either. -Tim -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
[TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
On Jun 28, 5:33 am, Diner bwayst...@gmail.com wrote: The original two-hour pilot for Ellery Queen aired as a special episode of the Sunday Mystery Movie in the spring of 1975. On the Ellery Queen DVD set, the version of the pilot used is a syndication copy, retitled Too Many Suspects, in which the series' regular theme song (by Elmer Bernstein) is replaced by the soundtrack of the standard Mystery Movie opening credits: the Mystery Movie theme (by Henry Mancini), complete with Hank Sims announcing tonight, a special Mystery Movie presentation... I have the DVD set and I've seen that pilot episode. It seemed (to me) to move much too slowly compared to the hour-long episodes that followed it. Which is pretty much my point in saying that perhaps the two-hour format would have been detrimental to the series, and NBC may have realized that and ordered it as a standalone hour rather than a MM spoke. I can't picture Lawford and Morgan doing the Hutton and Wayne parts, either. -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
[TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
On Monday, June 27, 2011 8:56:03 PM UTC-4, K.M. Richards wrote: The Ellery Queen series with Jim Hutton ran in the 1975-76 season and was the lead-in to Mystery Movie during its last nine months (Ellery 8:00-9:00, Mystery Movie 9:00-11:00). As MM had gone to two-hour episodes beginning with the previous season, perhaps NBC and Universal felt trying to do Ellery in that length would have been excessive? The original two-hour pilot for Ellery Queen aired as a special episode of the Sunday Mystery Movie in the spring of 1975. On the Ellery Queen DVD set, the version of the pilot used is a syndication copy, retitled Too Many Suspects, in which the series' regular theme song (by Elmer Bernstein) is replaced by the soundtrack of the standard Mystery Movie opening credits: the Mystery Movie theme (by Henry Mancini), complete with Hank Sims announcing tonight, a special Mystery Movie presentation... The failed 1971 pilot movie, Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You, starring Peter Lawford and Harry Morgan, was intended as a pilot for the original lineup of the Mystery Movie. According to a poster on the IMDB, NBC almost picked Ellery Queen over McMillan and Wife for the third spoke of the wheel. In his interview segment on the DVD set, William Link says that the 1971 pilot failed because it was filmed while he and Richard Levinson were in Europe, and creative control was taken away from them. (I remember seeing part of the 1971 pilot on TV in the eighties... I really wish it had been included on the DVD for comparison.) -Tim -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
[TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
Quincy was part of the mystery wheel? I remember only the other three. Too bad they couldn't have worked Ellery Queen in there; might have prolonged the series. Great TV, regardless. --Dave Sikula On Jun 26, 8:57 pm, stannc sta...@gmail.com wrote: Everyone whistle along. From the days when there were cool opening credits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDK7uXLZsj4 -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 10:37 AM, Dave Sikula dsik...@yahoo.com wrote: Quincy was part of the mystery wheel? I remember only the other three. Too bad they couldn't have worked Ellery Queen in there; might have prolonged the series. Great TV, regardless. Quincy joined the wheel very late in its run (after Sally left Mac), and only for a little while, as it was more popular than any of the other three (including Columbo) and was made a weekly show on its own. -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
[TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
According to the Brooks Marsh book, here are the rotating series from Mystery Movie's run on NBC, season-by-season: 1971-72: Columbo, McCloud, McMillan Wife (McCloud having debuted the previous season as part of Four-In-One) 1972-73: Columbo, McCloud, McMillan, Hec Ramsey (Sunday); Banacek, Cool Million, Madigan (Wednesday) 1973-74: same as 1972-73 season Sundays; Banacek, Faraday Company, Tenafly, The Snoop Sisters (Wednesday until January, then Tuesdays); 1974-75: Columbo, McCloud, McMillan, Amy Prentiss 1975-76: Columbo, McCloud, McMillan, McCoy 1976-77: Columbo, McCloud, McMillan, Quincy M.E. (Quincy moved to its own timeslot with hour-long episodes in January, and was replaced on Sunday with Lanigan's Rabbi; that was indeed due to it getting higher ratings than the other rotating series, although IIRC it wasn't that far ahead of Columbo, and the latter was never going to be a weekly series because Peter Falk refused to do more of them than he already was) The Ellery Queen series with Jim Hutton ran in the 1975-76 season and was the lead-in to Mystery Movie during its last nine months (Ellery 8:00-9:00, Mystery Movie 9:00-11:00). As MM had gone to two-hour episodes beginning with the previous season, perhaps NBC and Universal felt trying to do Ellery in that length would have been excessive? Trivial addition to thread ... the number of episodes produced for each Mystery Movie series (pilot episodes not included): Columbo: 43 McCloud: 39 (not including the 1970-71 Four-In-Ones) McMillan (with and without Wife): 39 Banacek: 16 Hec Ramsey: 10 Madigan: 6 McCoy: 5 Cool Million: 4 Faraday and Company: 4 Lanigan's Rabbi: 4 Quincy M.E.: 4 (then 144 more after being spun off) The Snoop Sisters: 4 Amy Prentiss: 3 There were 22 episodes of Ellery Queen produced, for comparison purposes. On Jun 27, 10:37 am, Dave Sikula dsik...@yahoo.com wrote: Quincy was part of the mystery wheel? I remember only the other three. Too bad they couldn't have worked Ellery Queen in there; might have prolonged the series. -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 5:56 PM, K.M. Richards richard...@gmail.com wrote: Trivial addition to thread ... the number of episodes produced for each Mystery Movie series (pilot episodes not included): Columbo: 43 McCloud: 39 (not including the 1970-71 Four-In-Ones) McMillan (with and without Wife): 39 Banacek: 16 Hec Ramsey: 10 Madigan: 6 McCoy: 5 Cool Million: 4 Faraday and Company: 4 Lanigan's Rabbi: 4 Quincy M.E.: 4 (then 144 more after being spun off) The Snoop Sisters: 4 Amy Prentiss: 3 There were 22 episodes of Ellery Queen produced, for comparison purposes. Even more triviallyFor some time I had been nostalgic for Bancek, and bitter that it was not streaming on the Netflix. I finally broke down and ordered them on the disks, allocated some quality time to sit down and savor them andwow, did they not hold up well. -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 6:10 PM, PGage pga...@gmail.com wrote: Even more triviallyFor some time I had been nostalgic for Bancek, and bitter that it was not streaming on the Netflix. I finally broke down and ordered them on the disks, allocated some quality time to sit down and savor them andwow, did they not hold up well. I mildly disagree. I think they hold up well as period pieces, and the mysteries are not without their degree of fun. I concur that Peter Falk's series was better at storytelling and character development, but I can still sit down and enjoy George Peppard as a post Tiffanys and pre A-Team hipster. And the short skirts worn by many of the female guest star and extras... well, they hold up well. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 6:14 PM, Kevin M. drunkbastar...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 6:10 PM, PGage pga...@gmail.com wrote: Even more triviallyFor some time I had been nostalgic for Bancek, and bitter that it was not streaming on the Netflix. I finally broke down and ordered them on the disks, allocated some quality time to sit down and savor them andwow, did they not hold up well. I mildly disagree. I think they hold up well as period pieces, and the mysteries are not without their degree of fun. I concur that Peter Falk's series was better at storytelling and character development, but I can still sit down and enjoy George Peppard as a post Tiffanys and pre A-Team hipster. And the short skirts worn by many of the female guest star and extras... well, they hold up well. I will give you the short skirts, but the hair and make-up were a joke, and the dialogue was even worse. It is not so much a period piece as a gross caricature of what out of touch middle aged white guys must have thought was hip and groovy 10 years before. The mysteries were often fun, but turned on implausible plot points and clues so subtle as to be indistinguishable from background noise and writing and acting imperfections. You might be able to guess who the bad guy was using some rule of tv formula (second most obvious, or second least obvious, suspect), but no chance figuring out the specifics of the how or the why until Banacek's great reveal. I still did get a bit of a kick out of Peppard hamming it up, but that was not nearly enough to sustain the thin gruel of the stories. Columbo on the other hand I can (and do) watch over and over again, and enjoy the writing and the acting and the characters and the plot as much today as 35 years ago. -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 6:31 PM, PGage pga...@gmail.com wrote: I will give you the short skirts, but the hair and make-up were a joke, and the dialogue was even worse. It is not so much a period piece as a gross caricature of what out of touch middle aged white guys must have thought was hip and groovy 10 years before. The mysteries were often fun, but turned on implausible plot points and clues so subtle as to be indistinguishable from background noise and writing and acting imperfections. You might be able to guess who the bad guy was using some rule of tv formula (second most obvious, or second least obvious, suspect), but no chance figuring out the specifics of the how or the why until Banacek's great reveal. I still did get a bit of a kick out of Peppard hamming it up, but that was not nearly enough to sustain the thin gruel of the stories. Columbo on the other hand I can (and do) watch over and over again, and enjoy the writing and the acting and the characters and the plot as much today as 35 years ago. As I said, all fair points, but I can still get some enjoyment from the kitsch factor of the series. Onto another tangent that drags us farther off topic: I recently picked up two vinyl albums by Doc Severinsen, for which I paid less than $4.00 for the pair (though this was a low cost purchase, it is monumentally bad -- financially speaking -- that I work across the street from Amoeba Records on Sunset Blvd.). He recorded them both in the mid 1960s, and while they are both good, there is a vibe to the music that unmistakably shouts, I am to be played at a party attended by Jeannie and Majors Healy and Nelson! Though many songs on the albums are jazz standards, the arrangements are alarmingly indicative of that era. There was that brief period in big band jazz when they tried to adapt and compete directly with the pop and rock genres -- the modern equivalent would be me trying to pass in the world of urban hip hop. Severinsen's music is well produced and well performed, but man oh man is it dated. Fun to groove to, but entirely dated. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
RE: [TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
My first concert at Wolf Trap (http://www.wolftrap.org/) -- long before it burned down and was rebuilt -- was to hear Doc play in person. The finest trumpet player. Ever. -Original Message- From: tvornottv@googlegroups.com [mailto:tvornottv@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Kevin M. Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 9:44 PM To: tvornottv@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo Onto another tangent that drags us farther off topic: I recently picked up two vinyl albums by Doc Severinsen, for which I paid less than $4.00 for the pair (though this was a low cost purchase, it is monumentally bad -- financially speaking -- that I work across the street from Amoeba Records on Sunset Blvd.). He recorded them both in the mid 1960s, and while they are both good, there is a vibe to the music that unmistakably shouts, I am to be played at a party attended by Jeannie and Majors Healy and Nelson! Though many songs on the albums are jazz standards, the arrangements are alarmingly indicative of that era. There was that brief period in big band jazz when they tried to adapt and compete directly with the pop and rock genres -- the modern equivalent would be me trying to pass in the world of urban hip hop. Severinsen's music is well produced and well performed, but man oh man is it dated. Fun to groove to, but entirely dated. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 7:15 PM, Melissa P takingupspace...@gmail.com wrote: My first concert at Wolf Trap (http://www.wolftrap.org/) -- long before it burned down and was rebuilt -- was to hear Doc play in person. The finest trumpet player. Ever. I -- um -- accidentally posted this link last year. It was the performance Doc and several of his Tonight Show band members played on Letterman after Johnny passed. The raw emotion of this piece is intense. You can really feel the sadness in Doc's horn. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2416505/here%20comes%20that%20rainy%20day.mp3 -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
RE: [TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo
Thanks. I listened to it the first time. And, again just a minute ago. -Original Message- From: tvornottv@googlegroups.com [mailto:tvornottv@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Kevin M. Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 10:25 PM To: tvornottv@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [TV orNotTV] Re: The Death of Lt Columbo On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 7:15 PM, Melissa P takingupspace...@gmail.com wrote: My first concert at Wolf Trap (http://www.wolftrap.org/) -- long before it burned down and was rebuilt -- was to hear Doc play in person. The finest trumpet player. Ever. I -- um -- accidentally posted this link last year. It was the performance Doc and several of his Tonight Show band members played on Letterman after Johnny passed. The raw emotion of this piece is intense. You can really feel the sadness in Doc's horn. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2416505/here%20comes%20that%20rainy%20day.mp3 -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
