10/10
Barnard Hughes. Wonderful standalone tale that is basically a short story with no real connection to Molly Dodd and her world. In it, she finally meets her mysterious neighbour (I didn’t expect that the series would ever show us who was behind the door, tbh) and we hear his life story. Partially told in flashback with Blair Brown as his one true love. Hughes is great fun to watch and it really works. 9/10
Mixed bag. All the stuff about Molly’s family and Fred is fine, but hardly great. Molly’s scenes with Moss (and his Ingrid Bergman story) are superb, however. The Moss/Molly dynamic is edgy. They are cute together, but - given the usual melancholy tone of the show - there’s a sense of danger in having them become a couple. What will happen? 8/10
Frederick Coffin . Very satisfying episode.
A variety of scenes and situations unified by a single, simple (but powerful) idea: Molly repeatedly being called a ‘bitch’ by strangers. And we watch how that affects her.
The scene with her sister and her sister’s new lover, in the restaurant, is easily the best scene in the episode and the best single scene that character has had since the series began.
Peter Donat . There’s one truly great scene (where Moss kisses Molly) but the rest is rather disjointed, all these characters from other episodes makes it feel almost like a clip-show. More of the stuff between Moss and Molly would have been welcome. 8/10
John Glover is hilarious steals the episode from everybody, the voice-over at the end is unbearably sad but the rest is as you’d expect from a ‘funeral episode’ on a show of this calibre. I think I prefer the stories that are uniquely Molly and less generic. Ironically, the more obscure her problem is the more universal it is, and the audience can relate more. 8/10
Even before we get to the reveal at the end, which is both shocking and sad, this is an episode with several great scenes.
Victor Garber. The first half is a bit lackluster, to be honest, but the second half is surprising and wonderful and sad. Frankly, once it got going, I never wanted it to end. 9/10
Christine Healy. Less unified than the previous outing. More a collection of sketches than an episode. Alternately amusing/melancholy. 8/10
Everything you could ever want to know about Molly is shown in this amusing and melancholy half-hour. Remarkable. 10/10
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
05.00 Damages
06.00 Damages
07.00 Damages
03.00 The Days And Nights Of Molly Dodd
03.30 The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Damages. Season 3, Episode 10. "Tell Me I'm Not Racist"
An episode about family.
Ellen starts off trying to help a member of her family, but comes to realise she may not even be a part of that family. And, in a very cool scene, tells her lying sister where to take a jump.
Leonard Winstone must deal with an unwelcome visit from a member of his real family, while trying to protect his bond with his created family.
Tom is weighed down by commitments to his family.
Tessa and Joe acknowledge that they are family. Then, thanks to Tom, Tessa comes to realise that this new family of hers had a part in the death of her one true family member: her mother.
Damages. Season 3, Episode 11. "All That Crap About Your Family"
This episode ended with an incredibly cold-blooded murder. Amazing. To think: when this season started I thought of the Tobin family as somehow 'softer' than the bad guys of previous seasons. And here they are ordering hits on innocent young girls.
Also when the season started, I couldn't understand what tension could split Tom and Patti but I see it now.
Damages. Season 3, Episode 12. "You Were His Little Monkey"
I'm suspicious, because they let me down last season, but this season appears to be shaping up for a great finish.
Molly Dodd. Episode 5. "Here's Why It's Not Good to Stare at People in Restaurants"
A change-of-pace episode. Very episodic, and very different to the first four. Molly's relationship with her ex-husband dominated the first story arc. This episode is about her relationship with her father.
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Thursday, April 8th, 2010
07.00 30 Rock
11.30 The Incredible Hulk
02.00 Stingray
03.45 The Days And Nights Of Molly Dodd
30 Rock. Season 4, Episode 15. "Don Geiss, America and Hope" Tracy's scandal; Liz's future husband, part two
Lots to love here. The show has three very funny, and very clever, storylines for Liz, Jack and Tracy. Each one is inventive and packed with great lines/ideas. And, at the end of it all, they are able to make all three collide off one another in a way that gives all of the craziness a deeper meaning. Of sorts.
Michael Sheen returns for his second episode and will - he says - be back for 'sweeps' in May. Whatever that means...
The Incredible Hulk. Season 2, Episode 8. "Killer Instinct" Football
A solid episode, which finds David working for a football team. Among the things worthy of praise:
1. A great performance from Denny Miller, as a player dealing with severe aggression issues. Two scenes in particular (when the character is under hypnosis) are superb, but the whole performance is enjoyable and displays a wide range, as the character goes from a friendly buddy persona to a man displaying out of control rage.
2. There's no bad guy. Once again, clever writing and strong characters are able to create sufficient conflict to drive the drama without the need to resort to cliché bad guys of the type you'd expect to find on a 'superhero show'. A doctor character, more short-sighted than evil, is the focus for most of the conflict and it's a type of character that would be at home on shows like Quincy or Lou Grant.
3. With little more than three very strong performances and good location filming the episode is successful at creating the reality necessary to make the story work. We need to believe that we are witnessing behind-the-scenes events at a big league football team, we need to believe in the friendship between David and the player and we need to believe that the doctor is an expert who, while well-meaning, is missing out on important point. Together with Miller, Bill Bixby and Rudy Solari are flawless in creating the world of the episode.
4. It's a fascinating tale. The last half is mostly concerned with stopping the player from harming someone on the field, but the first half has some great discussion scenes between David and the doctor character. Conversations that - I must confess - completely pulled me in and had me absorbed. I also liked these scene because they gave David a valid reason to be working at this particular job. We can see that our hero isn't just taking random jobs, he is - time and time again - tracking down various ways to deal with his unique problem.
On the downside, there are a couple of things that I didn't like:
1. The reason for the Hulk Out in the middle of the episode is weak. Firstly the story didn't need a Hulk Out at this point (so it ranks as one of the episodes that really only needed one Hulk sequence) and secondly it's a bit silly how it happens: two players flick towels at Banner (causing him to yelp in pain) before they lock him in a steam room. The actual Hulk Out when it happens looks fantastic, but it can't quite disguise the fact that the build up is silly.
2. Barbara Leigh doesn't quite have the range to convince me that she's worried about her husband, or that she has some kind of deep bond with David that allows her to confide her fears about her marriage. And that's a problem. In order for many Hulk episodes to work you need to believe that these people will trust and open up to a complete stranger. In most cases, Bixby and the guest star can sell it. In this episode, for instance, it requires no leap of faith to believe in the friendship between our hero and the football player. But whenever David is talking to the wife, everything falls flat. Bixby is so good he completely blows her off screen.
Flawed, yes, but this is still a very solid and hugely enjoyable episode of TIH.
Stingray. Season 2, Episode 9. "The Second Finest Man Who Ever Lived" Docks
Standard crime tale. Helped by heart, the show's considerable style and nice location filming.
The story opens with a dock worker finding out that he's been complacent in a smuggling operation. A discovery that costs him his life and leaves his grown, but mentally-challenged, son alone in the world. Except that 'Ray shows up and starts to investigate the death...
The conversations between 'Ray and the son are about the big topics of life and Dennis Christopher and Nick Mancuso have no problem making the material work. The son fulfils the same 'outsider' role that characters like Spock and Data occupy on Star Trek and through him Burt Pearl is able to write a script that asks innocent questions in a meaningful way. And 'Ray is a great character to answer those questions. "There are two types of people in the world," he says. "Those that need help. And those that help." At the end of the story, when the son has a chance to kill the man who murdered his father we know that he won't (so there's no real sense of drama) but the journey that the character is on still makes the story worthwhile. Still makes the ending satisfying.
Stingray has a great visual style and this episode has two striking examples of this. At the midpoint of the story, our hero sneaks aboard a docked ship to find out what's going on and the sequence is full of the quick cuts and random drum beats on the soundtrack that I love so much on this show. It looks/sounds cool. Same goes for the climax, when 'Ray sends a truck zooming down the runaway as the bad guy's plane tries to take off.
Finally, there's the location shooting. Most of the episode takes place at night, on docks which appear to be wet and windy in every shot. Even when the action moves out into the country, everything looks wet and cold. And somehow all the more real.
The Days And Nights Of Molly Dodd. Episode 4. "Here's Why You Should Never Wear High Heels to the Bank"
This episode really captures the sense of Playing With Fire. Molly is working closely with her ex-husband, and it's been established from the get-go that she still has strong feelings for him. Scene after scene shows us how close they are becoming, shows us the spark between them, shows us all the ways that Molly is falling under his spell and - sadly - shows us all the ways that he is wrong for her.
Late in the episode they argue, and the episode pulls away and leaves them in the distance so we can't hear the words. But we can still see them, there's sumptuous music on the soundtrack and I think all of us watching can relate to what's happening, can see ourselves on the screen having that argument, being on one side or the other.
I wish all fiction did this. Touched you, made you relate and gave you perspective.
Wonderful stuff.
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Sunday, April 4th, 2010
06.00 The Big Bang Theory
08.30 The Rockford Files
11.00 The Mary Tyler Moore Show
01.00 The Days And Nights Of Molly Dodd
The Big Bang Theory. Season 3, Episode 18. "The Pants Alternative" Sheldon's speech
The only thing missing here is an ending. Up until the closing moments this is a fairly typical episode of BBT. Sheldon is nervous about making a speech and the gang close ranks to help him out. Solidifying one of the main appeals of the show: oddballs with a strong support group.
The first three quarters of the episode are full of great jokes. One by one, each character steps up and tries to help Sheldon overcome his fear. In each case (due to the well-crafted nature of the characters) their attempts fall flat, usually by falling back on themselves.
In the end, Sheldon gets drunk and makes a fool of himself. An ending which wasn't foreshadowed and doesn't really fit with anything that went before. But, at least, it does bring the episode to an ending.
So, while it does have some very funny scenes, I can't imagine this one making it onto anyone's List of Best Episodes.
The Rockford Files. Episode 17. "Counter Gambit" Stolen Pearls & Angel.
Angel is such an integral part of the show that it's crazy to think that (apart from a scene in the pilot) he doesn't appear in the first 16 episodes. Even this, his first episode, doesn't feature him until the final third. But when he appears he dominates the episode and makes it something special.
Even without Angel this is a great story. Jim is working for a violent ex-con. The two have history, and Jim doesn't trust the guy. But he needs the money (of course) and so takes on the case of tracking the guys missing girlfriend. Our hero soon deduces that there's more going on, and the ex-con is really more interested in something the girl has (a stolen pearl necklace). Even then the scripts pulls of a great twist at the mid-way point. And - just to show off - there's another nifty twist before the ending. So, all things considered, this is a fine entry in the Rockford Files canon.
Adding Angel to the mix lifts it to a whole new level. Stuart Margolin is a delightful performer and his chemistry with James Garner is sparkling. It's no exaggeration to say that their every scene together here had me in peals of laughter. Surely, Angel is television's greatest ever sidekick?
Eddie Fontaine makes a great foe in this one, and the guest cast is filled with some of my all-time favourites: Mary Frann, Garry Walberg, M. Emmet Walsh, Ford Rainey and Burr DeBenning.
An episode to savour.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Season 2, Episode 1. "The Birds... and... um... Bees" Sex
Strong start to the second season finds Mary tasked with telling Phyllis' daughter all about the facts of life (because she's recently produced a documentary about sex).
Most of the conversations in the episode are about sex, and most of them are between women. Something I'd imagine was rare/unusual/risque in 1971. Yet, none of it appears dated or gives the impression of trying to appear shocking or daring in the slightest. In fact, more than anything else, it comes across as a story completely rooted in the characters. In this case the character of Phyllis drives the story. She is a very extreme character, however in this episode and many others she comes across a very real person and reminds me of a type of person I've met many times over the years. The short scene where she makes a big deal of what is about happen is a wonderful insight into the nature of her character (and it's a good scene for Cloris Leachman, as Phyllis tries to cry at one stage).
Funniest scene? The two biggest laughs in the episode come from Edward Asner as Lou Grant. First there's a scene where Mary takes a break in his office, much to his shock, and - later - there's a wonderful showdown between Ted and Lou that reminds us how well all of these characters go together.
The Days And Nights Of Molly Dodd. Episode 3. "Here's Why You Should Stay Out of Coffee Shops If You Don't Drink Coffee" Fred's new job
This show is like freeform poetry. It accomplishes everything a good show should (it makes you think, it makes you feel, it makes you ache) but it is not in any way bound by the conventional or traditional limitations and restrictions of television storytelling. It simply makes it's own way along, ambling from scene to scene, each episode looking like one small chapter in a complex whole. This episode is a good example. It starts off with Molly looking for a job, pauses in the middle to tell us that her mom is having a health scare and spends most of the last half reminding us that Molly has very complex, and very conflicting, feelings for her ex-husband. And as we watch Molly wrestle with these feelings (culminating in a heartbreaking song performed by Blair Brown) we ache. Completely and utterly. In this little half-hour of television, filming over a few afternoons in 1986, you can feel your heart break a tiny bit as you watch the story play out.
At one stage there's a long montage of the city streets at night, as Molly takes a taxi ride and gazes out at the night people flying by. The soundtrack is dotted with dialogue we've heard earlier in the episode, and the effect is thoughtful and supremely melancholy. I felt the urge to pinch myself. Because I'm not entirely sure there should exist a television series this good in this particular way. And, yet, somehow: it does exist.
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Sunday, January 10th, 2010
06.00 I Dream Of Jeannie
06.30 Mission: Impossible
01.00 The Days And Nights Of Molly Dodd
02.00 Superboy
I Dream Of Jeannie. Episode 6. "The Yacht Murder Case"
Mission: Impossible. Episode 84. "Commandante"
The Days And Nights Of Molly Dodd. Episode 1. "Here's Why Cosmetics Should Come in Unbreakable Bottles"
Superboy. Season 2, Episode 8. "Mr. and Mrs. Superboy"
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A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago
