Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
10:00 Adventure Inc.
11:00 The Sentinel
12:00 WKRP In Cincinnati
12:30 We Got It Made
Adventure Inc. Episode 1. This show ran for 22 episodes as part of the 02/03 season and it features a team of explorers, whose cases are always dangerous and exciting and sometimes feature the supernatural. Like in this opening episode, which has our three heroes running around the jungle in search of a Mayan altar. With them is a young woman who has apparently been taken over by the spirit of a bride from 1,000 years ago who never made it to the altar. The show is typical adventure fare. It's got a great lead cast, some cool action sequences and this episode was very enjoyable.
The Sentinel. Season 3, Episode 6. This show ran four seasons and features a cop with superhuman senses. This episode (one of the very best) does a great job mixing two plots and keeping the viewer guessing. Jim cuts someone off in traffic and almost gets into a fist-fight. The guy turns into a psycho stalker determined to get revenge on the bad-tempered cop. Meanwhile, Jim goes undercover on the tail of a gang of jewel thieves, one of whom (a hilarious Holly Fields) takes a shine to him. The plots moves fast, Jim uses his powers a lot (in a few episodes he never uses his powers), the regulars are hilarious together and there is long chase at the end. It's brilliant TV.
WKRP In Cincinnati. Episode 57. WKRP is a great show because no matter how silly the comedy gets, the show has an honest heart and a great respect for the characters. In this hilarious episode, Herb arrives to work with his daughter's frog in two. He has accidently spray painted the frog and it is dying. There is a lot of great comedy to be had from Herb going round on everyone unveiling the frog and getting their opinions on saving it. But the frog dies. And the whole point of the episode is that Herb, a pretty sleazy guy most of the time, is heart-broken because he's just killed something that his daughter loves. The final scene is a long one, it's just Herb and his very young daughter and it's completely devoid of melodrama and cliché. Herb just rambles on and on about how sorry he is and the kid (who has very little dialogue but still steals the scene) forgives him without fuss. It's nothing like other times we've seen this scenario played out on TV, but it sure rings true and it's a pleasure to be entertained in this way. Classy, smart TV.
We Got It Made. Episode 16. A prime example of everything that could go wrong with TV sit-coms, We Got It Made was an 80s clone of Three's Company that ran for for two seasons. Two guys hire a maid and she's a blond bombshell. Plots tend to revolve around comic mis-understandings of one type or another. In most cases the plots have to make the regular characters appear to be very dumb to make the stories work, the jokes fail to raise a smile and it can be embarrasing to watch. In most cases, but not all. The early episodes are hilarious, but the show went down very fast. Even then, it had a pretty cool cast to carry it. Teri Copley, in particular, has great comic timing. This episode revolves around the brother of one of the guys showing up. He doesn't want to be a lawyer like his big brother, he wants to be an actor. After that it all plays out like average sit-com fare, until all comes well at the end and everyone learns a lesson. However, it's not one of the worst episodes. Copley gets to play different characters and she's very funny when doing it.
Best show of the night? The Sentinel.
Adventure Inc., The Sentinel, WKRP In Cincinnati, We Got It Made
