09:30 Columbo
11:00 The Mary Tyler Moore Show
11:30 WKRP In Cincinnati
12:00 Rising Damp
Columbo. Episode 8. "Short Fuse" is one of my least favourite episodes. Roddy McDowall is mis-cast as a killer. At least on this show. He's too likable. He's also much too over the top in his acting style to go head to head with Peter Falk the way all the other guest stars do. I also dislike the ending. Yes, it is clever. One of the cleverest that the show ever did, but Columbo is so out of character. The appeal of the character is that he is meek and annoying. And he quietly lures the killer's into his subtle traps. No so here. For some odd reason the writers have him running around shouting orders to get the bad guy into the trap. Which is frustrating because there was no need. There were many other (more suble ways) to get the characters into the same situation. Disappointing execution of a clever idea.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Episode 15. "Howard's Girl" is an average episode which ignores the regulars and devotes far too much time to the guest stars. It's a cute story, though. Mary is dating a guy called Paul. Eleven months earlier she had a date with his brother Howard and she finds out that the rest of the family still think of her as "Howard's Girl" and are somewhat surprised that she has no plans to marry Howard. Amusing, not hilarious. The episode does have one Lou Grant scene with which is very funny. It's always good when the writers put Mary alone with Lou in his office. He shouts, she gets nervous and says the wrong things. Always funny.
WKRP In Cincinnati. Episode 62. "I Am Woman" is not only very funny, it's really something special. The central character is Bailey (Jan Smithers: one of TV's all-time most-beautiful women) and she is leading a campaign to keep the building they work in from being torn down. The other characters help/hinder her for various reasons but this is Bailey's story. It's a very funny episode, it gives great insight into the character of Bailey (and many of the others) and it has a truly great speech from Bailey towards the end (about why she is fighting this cause). I truly loved this episode in a million different ways for a million different reasons.
Rising Damp. Episode 4. "A Night Out" The gang get dressed up and take Miss Jones out for her birthday. As always, while the laughs flow freely, the undercurrent of lonliness and poverty is never far from the surface. The dynamic between the characters is fully in place at that stage. The boys may tease Rigsby and he is superficially mean to them, but they all get on very well. It's obvious (by now) that Rigsby isn't a bad person, just a man who has experienced very little. My favourite part of this episode comes in the last scene, when Rigsby and Alan are kicked out and decide to head off themselves for a bag of chips.
Highlight? WKRP In Cincinnati
Sat, Jun 21st, 2008 - Columbo, Mary Tyler Moore, WKRP, Rising Damp
