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Reviews
Kraft Suspense Theatre: Their Own Executioners (1964)
Odd story with even stranger casting
A widowed lawyer played by Herschel Bernardi is diagnosed with terminal cancer and is asked by a former lover from his youth to represent her son who kicked his wife to death. The son has confessed and wants to die. The lawyer tries to get him to say it wasn't premeditated so he can serve a short prison sentence. The plot takes a great leap of faith to suggest if the killer only says the murder wasn't planned that he will get off lightly. It is doubtful that defense was ever effective in real life.
The drama also suffers from poor casting. The lawyer is played by an actor who is five years younger than the actress playing his daughter, and his lover from his youth is played by an actress 27 years older than him and the age differences are noticeable. It seems like they figured that because Herschel Bernardi was bald no one would notice the inappropriate ages of the characters playing his daughter and former lover. If the lawyer was with this woman when he was 18 she would have been 45. That is theoretically possible but there is no way he could have a daughter five years younger than him.
Just a strange episode.
The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre (1964)
Disappointing
I was excited to find out about this movie which was made by and starred a lot of people associated with The Outer Limits series. Sadly it wasn't close to being as good as an average Outer Limits episode.
The plot is all over the place and the odd title of the movie is a clue as to how convoluted the episode is.
There are also too many details and scenes which are unnecessary. The husband receiving spooky phone calls is blind but his blindness doesn't really factor into the plot. The ghost hunter meets a sexy blonde on the beach and arranges to meet her later but that is the last we see of her. Why was she in the movie? It's as if they planned to use her later on but ran out of time. The architect's boss has a few scenes but he too adds nothing to the plot.
Also it is not scary. It's just a mess of a movie with a poor resolution. I can see why it wasn't picked up for a series. It's just a bad movie.
Adventures of Superman: The Talking Clue (1955)
Tape recorder episode
I love the Adventures of Superman series so much that out of respect I can't rate any episode less than 7/10 but this one is a bit too much of a stretch and confusing as well. I suppose home tape recorders were new technology at the time so they decided to incorporate its use in an episode but it's a complicated tale of inspector Henderson's son, his tape recorder, a safe, an alarm system at police headquarters and unsolved robberies. It confused me greatly as a kid and even now you have to think a bit to figure out how the crimes were supposedly committed.
The resolution involves solving a clue left by the son in the form of strips of tape that when spliced on a tape reel has the cast playing a version of charades to figure out what the son was trying to convey. First there is no way to know where a particular sound is in an inch or two of tape and if he had the time to locate exactly the right sounds for the game of charades why didn't he just write down the two words somewhere?
Finally another reviewer wrote that this was a funny episode and "Olsen had just spilled an entire pot of glue over his boss". This was a serious episode without laughs and there was no scene of Olson spilling a pot of glue on Mr. White. I don't know what that person was watching but the comment made me re-watch the Perry White scene again looking for the pot of glue scene. It wasn't there.
La Brea (2021)
Not slightly believable but not boring
I won't rehash the plot but none of it makes sense even if you accept the concept of time travel.
Some things just don't make sense in any way. Why are they all wearing overcoats in 10,000 BC? Is that to reduce the costume budget? Or are they filming in a cold location so they are wearing overcoats rather than finding a warmer location?
On a recent episode one of the characters in 1988 (where some of them went) is working on developing a computer virus and she put it on a USB flash drive. Do the writers think we don't know that flash drives weren't available on 1988 computers nor did they have USB ports?
Despite the flaws it's watchable because you don't have to think much because it doesn't make sense.
Woodstock: 3 Days That Changed Everything (2019)
Talkie history of Woodstock ruined by relating it to modern gun control
Good background and interviews of the people who organized the Woodstock Festival with interviews of Richie Havens & John Sebastian. Overall an interesting documentary until the last segment when host Mark Goodman somehow relates Woodstock to gun control protests after the Parkland school shooting. Not the right time and place to add modern gun control protests to a documentary about Woodstock.
The Goldbergs (2013)
So formulaic that it's comfort viewing
Every episode has three parts: a beginning setup that uses a 1980s theme, the middle where one or more characters throws a tantrum and yells and hurts another character, and the ending where the person who was hurt forgives the offender(s) and everyone learns a valuable lesson about family and life. However by the next episode that lesson is forgotten and it's wash, rinse and repeat with another cycle of hurting and forgiving. Since you know the formula, the show is an easy watch when you know everything will be cool by the end.
They do take some liberties with the timelines. For example Adam and his buddies graduated high school last season. This season he's back in high school selecting a college. The writers are running out of ideas of what to do with the characters so they put Adam back in high school.
The highlight of every episode is the choice of an '80s song played in the third act when everyone reconciles and grows closer (until the next episode). They often use a great and lesser known new wave song that you won't hear elsewhere. For that reason alone the show is worth watching.
The show is undoubtedly in its last season as they are running out of ideas, and two cast members have been in the news for off-screen issues. The actor who played Coach Mellor is off the show and now some people on the show have problems with the actor who plays Murray Goldberg.