Superstar/Salem (25 Mar. 1978)

A working stiff wants to become a baseball star; and a couple fed up with the loose ways of today's young people want to go back to a time when people were "better behaved".

Director:

Earl Bellamy

Writers:

Michael Fisher, Ron Friedman (teleplay),

Stars:

Ricardo Montalban, Hervé Villechaize, Gary Burghoff

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Ricardo Montalban	...	Mr. Roarke
Hervé Villechaize	...	Tattoo
Gary Burghoff	...	Richard C. Delaney
Darleen Carr	...	Dora Delaney
Vera Miles	...	Martha Tate
Leslie Nielsen	...	Doctor Whitfield
Stuart Whitman	...	Walter Tate
Tommy Lasorda	...	Himself (as Tommy Lasorda of the Los Angeles Dodgers)
Steve Garvey	...	Himself (as Steve Garvey of the Los Angeles Dodgers)
Fred Lynn	...	Himself (as Fred Lynn of the Boston Red Sox)
George Brett	...	Himself (as George Brett of the Kansas City Royals)
Ken Brett	...	Himself (as Ken Brett of the California Angels)
Ellis Valentine	...	Himself (as Ellis Valentine of the Montreal Expos)
Jewel Blanch	...	Charity
Walker Edmiston	...	Mr. Maxwell

Storyline

A working stiff wants to become a baseball star; and a couple fed up with the loose ways of today's young people want to go back to a time when people were "better behaved".

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 March 1978 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 17, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Spelling-Goldberg Productions, Columbia Pictures Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Charity stated that she had married at age 13 only because she had held out not to marry at 11. This is a gross error for 1690's Massachusetts. Women seldom married before they were 19-20 or older. The majority of marriages at younger ages were due to pregnancy. Source information is from the published vital records of the towns of early Massachusetts from 1600-1850. The legal age of majority for both men and women at the time was 21.

User Reviews

Baseball and witchcraft

This episode follows the usual good episode/evil episode subject matter as the preceding ones, and there are several familiar faces you should easily recognize. The first segment stars Gary Burghoff(MASH), and his fantasy is to pitch against major league baseball players, and being an old sports fan, I was interested. You don't see too many pro baseball players starring in a television program, other than games, so it was quite refreshing. The Dodgers were very good back in 1978, as Tommy Lasorda and Steve Garvey make a few cameos, along with other players including George and Ken Brett, Ellis Valentine, and Fred Lynn. In a rather silly sequence of events, Richard(Burghoff)strikes out 3 players, with some silly sound effects following each pitch, and that kind of tainted the scene. A little while later in an interesting twist, Richard's boss is also on the island preparing for an important meeting, although I thought it was a weird coincidence for this to happen. The problem is that this meeting, which will also include Richard, will prevent him from attending another pitching sequence the next day; as his boss informs him of the meeting, the usually mousy Richard tells him basically to go fly a kite, and it's easily assumed he'll get fired. The next day, he loses his ability to pitch like before, ans a young girl is hitting his pitches pretty good, as the other kids laugh at him; soon after, he worries that he also lost his job. As he and his wife are sitting at a table, the boss comes up to Richard and praises him for standing up to him in order to improve the company, and he has a bright future as well. Richards mentions this to Mr. Roarke, and he was told that the good news from the boss wasn't a fantasy at all, but was Richard's own doing, as this segment ends on a good note. I was impressed with Burghoff's performance, as he portrayed being happy, depressed, and angry convincingly.

Regarding the second and somewhat darker segment, Stuart Whitman(Walter)and Vera Miles(Martha)have an odd fantasy of going back to a time when folks were decent to one another, and times were more simpler. Leslie Nielsen(Whitfield)steals this episode as the stubborn "ruler" of these simple folk, and also happens to be a doctor. The couple meet up with a young girl, as they become friendly with her and her young son; her husband died a year earlier because of a fever, as she also informs them she was only 13 when she was married, but she could've been married when she was 11(huh?), but waited the extra 2 years to make sure she was of sound mind. Who has a sound mind when they're only 13? Anyhow, I believe Whitfield wishes to marry this girl, and the couple stands up for her, which has the doctor suspicious, but he lets it go this time. One night, Martha, who was once a nurse, is seen through a window administering medicine to the girl's feverish son, and naturally, the couple is soon accused of being evil and therefore punished to be burned at the stake. As their stuck in chains the night before their execution, they get help to escape, and as their running towards the woods, the angry mob chases them. While hiding near a tree in the darkness, a cool Mr. Roarke comes to save the day and mentions that not everything you wish for comes true, as their bad people and circumstances through all ages.