Thriller (TV Series) A Third for Pinochle (1961) User Reviews

"Now that you have the seed, somebody might give you the bird."

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 23 February 2012]

I wonder if it was just coincidental or actually planned that way, but Maynard Thispin (Edward Andrews) called his wife (Ann Shoemaker) 'my dear' a total of thirteen times. Not a lucky number as it turns out, for a guy with two nosy neighbors right across the street. Andrews goes 0 for 2 in this, his second appearance in a Thriller episode. He's undone as a result of unintended consequences in a first season story titled 'A Good Imagination', something that would have served him well here if Melba (Doro Merande) and Dierdre (June Walker) didn't need a third hand for an endless round of pinochle. To think he could have gotten away with it had the two old gals been capable of minding their own business. Maynard did get away with one thing though. In an era when husband and wife were never shown sharing the same bed on TV, he managed to slip that line about 'giving the bird' right past the censors.

He Overplayed His Hand

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 1 December 2016]

Another episode which banks on humor. Edward Andrews as Mr. Thispin is bossed around by his wife. She is as shrewish as one can be. So he sets out to kill her. Because all she does is talk on the phone, he has trouble finding a way to attack her without being noticed. Meanwhile, there are two crazy women across the street who have high powered binoculars and watch everything that goes on. They are also a couple of murderers, luring men into there house where one of them supplies the coup de gras with a meat cleaver. Mr. Thispin finally bashes in his wife's head and then creates a complex cover-up. The problem with the whole thing is that he can't keep his mouth shut. He has to keep up this braggadocio when the cop comes to see him. I would guess that a little bit of subtle acting and a decent alibi would have stood him in better stead than the way he acts here. The plot is remindful of a book by Evelyn Waugh called "A Handful of Dust." Hell isn't always fire and brimstone.

Card Players

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 1 November 2014]

Edward Andrews stars as henpecked husband Maynard Thispin, who has a wealthy but older wife(played by Ann Shoemaker) he is desperate to be free of so that he can inherit her money, then run off with younger mistress(played by Barbara Perry) He has a seemingly foolproof plan to kill her, but doesn't count on the interference of his two elderly(and murderous) neighbors, two old women(played by Doro Merande & June Walker) who only want him for a third hand at pinochle... Amusing dark comedy/crime drama has Andrews cast again in a most familiar role for him, though this is clearly inspired(at least in part) on "Arsenic & Old Lace".

I think a saint might have even contemplated killing Maynard's wife!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 26 October 2018]

Maynard (Edward Andrews) is a miserable hen-pecked husband. His rich wife is controlling and seems to talk non-stop...and he appears to just take it. However, you soon learn that this milquetoast is more than he appears. He has a mistress and plans on killing his awful wife. There is a monkey wrench thrown into this mix...the nice little old ladies across the street are murderers...much like the ladies in "Arsenic and Old Lace". So what happens next? See the show!

I think this comedy episode works well because you really dislike Maynard's wife. ANY person married to her might plan on killing her! And, as he showed in another funny episode of "Thriller", Andrews was magnificent in these dark comedic roles (in "A Good Imagination"). Plus, he DOES end up paying for his crime...in a very funny manner.

Not cribbage but pinochle

[monastery-83917 · 8/10 · 20 November 2018]

As a very ardent player of Cribbage, I understandably found myself drawn to this episode, as soon as I saw the title "Pinochle." Not as fun as cribbage but similar form of recreational activity. So I can easily identify with those two ladies because my long-time cribbage partner had passed away, so I have the same problem that they had. Well, at least I have the advantage of playing cribbage on-line so it keeps my head above water--an advantage that those two ladies did not have. That's why when I watched the episode, my attention was fully on the pinochle rather than on Maynard. I don't mind at all if the two Elderly-ladies had kept me a prisoner. To me, it would have been Heaven! I wish I could meet such an Elderly-lady in Real life.

Second outing for comic villain Edward Andrews

[kevinolzak · 5/10 · 20 May 2009]

After Robert Bloch's "A Good Imagination," Edward Andrews returns as another comic villain, Maynard Thispin, plotting to rid himself of his nagging wife (Ann Shoemaker), so that he can enjoy her money with a younger mistress (Barbara Perry). Unfortunately, he fails to account for the spying Pennaroyd sisters across the street, a nutty twosome who need 'a third for pinochle' after knocking off their brother, frightening the daylights out of an unsuspecting door-to-door salesman (Vito Scotti). Also back from the Bloch episode is Ken Lynch as the investigating lieutenant, plus Burt Mustin, a ubiquitous presence on television since the age of 70, turning up as the railway Redcap (he died in 1977 at the age of 93). This was a rare instance which saw host Boris Karloff appear at the end of the show to assure the audience about the guilty party, ala Alfred Hitchcock's series. Edward Andrews is pure gold but this was his weakest outing, soon to do a third, "Cousin Tundifer."