04:00 My Boys
04:30 My Boys
05:00 My Boys
05:30 My Boys
08:00 The Greatest American Hero
01:00 Stingray
My Boys. Season 2, Episode 1. "The Transitioning" On second viewing, I find that this isn't as good as I remember. The weakest of the first four episodes. Too much time spent on the emotions of the situation and not enough on the comedy. Makes for less fun the second time around.
My Boys. Season 2, Episode 2. "Dinner Party" is a classic. I found it to be even funnier on second viewing, if that is possible. If I had to pick out one thing in particular as being utterly brilliant I would go for everything between Kenny and Mike. The Office might be a better show (more inventive, more dramatic, etc.) and Flight Of The Conchords might be cooler (more inventive, more rewatchable) but My Boys packs more laughs into it's episodes. It's the funniest show on TV.
My Boys. Season 2, Episode 3. "The Shirt Contest" It's fun to go back and watch these episodes again and notice how all the ongoing storylines progress from week to week. The Mike/Kenny stuff, Stephanie's book, Andy's friend Joe, Brendan's job, and - of course - Bobby's romance with Elsa.
My Boys. Season 2, Episode 4. "Spit Take" Second time around the ending to this is still heartbreaking. Kyle Howard (a favourite of mine since his days on Grosse point) is wonderful to watch as he convey's Bobby's simple love for Elsa. Jordana Spiro has never been better as PJ, wearing her heart on her sleeve yet hiding it from Bobby and wishing him well in his impending marriage.
The single funniest line of the episode goes to Kellee Stewart's Stephanie: "I can't believe I watched a twenty-minute sketch about it!" One wonderful one-liner in a show full of them.
The Greatest American Hero. Episode 7. "Fire Man" For the second time in the season one of Ralph's student's has trouble and it is up to him to sort it out. Once again the story is told over the course of a few hours, so there is a lot of running around and a lot of excitement generated by the fact that everything is happening fast. This manages to give these early episode of GAH the air of being something "special".
Tony (Michael Paré) is suspected of being an arsonist-for-hire and is currently on the run and hiding out at Ralph's house. Ralph enlists Pam's help. She's great in this episode. But Bill wants to turn Tony over to the cops so, in a wonderful scene, Ralph and Pam blackmail into helping them. But, apart from that, there are no great scenes of the team together. Most of the episode is taken up with the story and the ending is more action-packed than the show usually delivers.
With more reliance on stunts and story and less cast-chemistry than normal this is an average episode. It doesn't help that I don't like Ralph's class, with the phony street-talk. Plus they are all too old for their roles. Michael Paré is 23, Faye Grant is 24, etc. The show works best when it is Ralph and Bill, or Ralph and Pam and Bill. The "kids" don't interest me.
Interesting piece of trivia (well, interesting to a TV Nerd like me!): "Fire Man" is also the title of a first season Hunter episode, and is used as a title for a book in an episode of another Stephen J. Cannell production: Stingray. Obviously, it's a title that Cannell likes!
Stingray. Season 2, Episode 7. "Autumn" I had the pleasure this evening of putting a question to Stephen J. Cannell while he was appearing on a talk show. As a fan of most of his forty TV shows, I could have asked about any of them. But I chose Stingray because I always wanted to hear his views on it, and why is failed to catch on when it is - quite simply - one of the best TV shows ever to appear.
This episode is one of the most memorable. I'd not seen it for twenty years yet I could remember basically every scene set-up and every word of dialogue. Almost. The first quarter shows us what happens when 'Ray is hired by a beautiful woman to find her missing father and gets caught up in a web of mystery and dead bodies. All of these early scenes are narrated (by a woman) in the style of a old-style private eye book.
As we enter the second quarter of the story, our perspective switches. We learn that every thing 'Ray is going through is fake. A scenario set up by a successful (and elderly) mystery writer who is looking for a fresh idea. She has hired actors and lured 'Ray into the middle of a made-up mystery to see how he will react. Then she will have something to write about.
The third quarter takes the story in yet another direction. 'Ray has figured out that everything he is going through is fake and he sets about getting to the bottom of what is going on. This sequence is almost surreal, as our hero confronts all the 'players' at the same time, all standing around in a park waiting on their paychecks.
Finally, 'Ray confronts the writer, discovers that she, herself, has been targetted for murder, and sets-up another scenario to lure out the killer.
It's completely daft, yes, but you have to go with it and get sucked into the story of bluff and double bluff and triple bluff. In essence three stories are being told, in parallel. The whole thing has a distinct look: lots of rain and thunder, the sun is always low in the sky, the leaves are red and falling and the editing get's 'jumpy' when the action gets going. Nick Mancuso is at his best in this episode: showing 'Ray's fear and confusion at every turn. He also gets to go undercover as a means of lying to get information. The scenes is wonderful, but so is the look of compassion Mancuso gives the woman after she believes his lies. 'Stingray' (whoever he was) might have been the coolest hero on TV, but he was also - in many ways - the most human.
Highlight? My Boys: "Spit Take"
Fri, Jul 11, 08 - My Boys, Greatest American Hero, Stingray
