Nanny's aunts "drop in" via hot air balloon, creating havoc for the British consulate and the local constabulary as they join Mrs. Fowler from next door in a women's protest sit in. The Professor, who normally is gracious to the oddballs who visit Nanny, has enough with the disruption to his backyard with the protesting women, but Nanny manages to get a grip on everyone and her aunts confound the judge when they are charged with disturbing the peace. The wind rises again and the aunts fly of to Albuquerque (thank you, Bugs Bunny). Silly episode but with Ida Lupino and Marjorie Bennett as the aunts, I had to love it.
Reviews
221 Reviews
Pretty Dull - pilot for a spinoff anthology series?
15 February 2024
Even the music was not 77SS music. The setting was New York and a high rise office building that got a lot of play, the story looked like a one-off that would not continue with the characters of this story and maybe would work out with other characters from the same building. Man with a wife who keeps leaving, partner who wants to get the company involved in something shady. Richard Long and Diane McBain as husband and wife, two actors who in the early 60s were in demand and carried the story, such as it was, even if the wife's actions in the story made no sense at all. Stu Bailey, an old friend visiting from 77SS, was just an in and out referee with very little to do.
Maybe as an anthology with different characters in each story it might have worked, but the stories would have to have been more interesting than this one.
Maybe as an anthology with different characters in each story it might have worked, but the stories would have to have been more interesting than this one.
Buck and Manolito don't get the best of Blue
23 January 2024
I don't know what the previous reviewer in 2018 thought they were reviewing but it wasn't this episode. This spisode is terrific Buck and Manolito creating disaster for Blue, or at least trying to.
Buck, Manolito and Blue ride into Tubac for a good time but the sheriff there needs a deputy and Buck and Mano volunteer Blue for the job. When the local Wells Fargo is robbed, the marshal has to take off after the robbers and leave Blue in charge, which is when Blue gets to arrest his uncles for a bar fight. Then Manolito discovers the cell door doesn't lock properly and Blue doesn't know it. Buck and Mano seek to create chaos for Blue without him knowing they are getting out of jail, but everything goes haywire when the robbers of the Wells Fargo are revealed.
Buck, Manolito and Blue ride into Tubac for a good time but the sheriff there needs a deputy and Buck and Mano volunteer Blue for the job. When the local Wells Fargo is robbed, the marshal has to take off after the robbers and leave Blue in charge, which is when Blue gets to arrest his uncles for a bar fight. Then Manolito discovers the cell door doesn't lock properly and Blue doesn't know it. Buck and Mano seek to create chaos for Blue without him knowing they are getting out of jail, but everything goes haywire when the robbers of the Wells Fargo are revealed.
A family more dysfunctional than your own
16 December 2023
What a Christmas horror story. The Villiers family's reunion at the "family home," nine years after the elder son has killed himself there. The haunted mansion is now in the hands of the older daughter - the bossiest, most bitter shrew you can imagine. Her sister and surviving brother want to sell the house but older daughter hangs onto it for Mummy and Daddy, who are long dead. Aunt Lydia lives with her. The next generation - the older daughters son and the son and daughter of the younger daughter - all convene as well.
Into this mix come a middle-aged bridge partner of the aunt and the new girlfriend (Emily) of the older daughter's son. How many times did I plead with Emily - "Run, Emily! Run! Your boyfriend is as nuts as his mother! Runs!"
Someone starts bumping off members of the family, and we discover two of the victims are keeping a very big secret, and someone else is taking revenge over it.
And you thought your family was intolerable at the holidays.....
Into this mix come a middle-aged bridge partner of the aunt and the new girlfriend (Emily) of the older daughter's son. How many times did I plead with Emily - "Run, Emily! Run! Your boyfriend is as nuts as his mother! Runs!"
Someone starts bumping off members of the family, and we discover two of the victims are keeping a very big secret, and someone else is taking revenge over it.
And you thought your family was intolerable at the holidays.....
The writing and directing made for a dull episode
12 June 2023
There was virtually no character development here, more like a police procedural. It seemed the director intentionally had the actors play it wooden and stiff, even Bailey and Spencer (and Kookie delivering the "gotcha" line as Bugs Bunny just seemed stupid to me). A long scene between the husband (Richard Long) who thinks he's been cheated on by his wealthy wife (Julie Adams) and the hitman he is hiring has Long delivering a monologue and the hitman saying nothing. I guess it was supposed to make things more sinister, but it just didn't work.
Others have likened the plot to Dial M for Murder, but I haven't seen that film. I hope it wasn't as stiff as this episode was.
Others have likened the plot to Dial M for Murder, but I haven't seen that film. I hope it wasn't as stiff as this episode was.
Scary as scary can get
1 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
E G Marshall (Paul Steppe) is convinced his wife Nancy Kelly (Fran Steppe) is having an affair with handsome young Richard Long (Dave) while he is away at work as a clockmaker. Marshall decides to build a time bomb and put it in his basement to blow Kelly and Long to kingdom come. He knows they will be there at four o'clock, so he places the bomb, sets the timer, and is already to leave - when two burglars show up, tie him up good and tight and gagged so he can't move or yell, and leave him in the basement, near the bomb that they do not know is there, but Marshall does.
Kelly and Long come in and are upstairs talking. Marshall can hear the truth - Long is not Kelly's lover but her brother just out of prison that she hasn't told Marshall about. But Marshall is stuck next to a ticking time bomb and can't do a thing about stopping it.
The story is about Marshall disintegrating, knowing he was wrong about everything and unable to stop the disaster he created. Scared the living daylights out of me, all the way through, including the ending.
Kelly and Long come in and are upstairs talking. Marshall can hear the truth - Long is not Kelly's lover but her brother just out of prison that she hasn't told Marshall about. But Marshall is stuck next to a ticking time bomb and can't do a thing about stopping it.
The story is about Marshall disintegrating, knowing he was wrong about everything and unable to stop the disaster he created. Scared the living daylights out of me, all the way through, including the ending.
Defusing a bomb in 1960
30 April 2023
An interesting watch for a few reasons. First, there is a segment devoted to defusing the bomb - the 1960 technology for doin that is interesting to watch, as Rex (who apparently defused bombs during the Korean War) helps find and defuse a bomb in the church.
Second - Richard Long in formal wear - looks like he was born in it. He was a good looking man in general, but in formal wear for the wedding he was a wow.
Third - the finale in a house filled to the attic and then some with old newspapers. They must have spend a fortune just for all those newspapers.
In the end it's a story about mixing up twins - one the good guy, one the bad guy who wants to blow things up - and our hero Rex and insurance adjuster both trapped with the bad guy in the house about to be obliterated.
Second - Richard Long in formal wear - looks like he was born in it. He was a good looking man in general, but in formal wear for the wedding he was a wow.
Third - the finale in a house filled to the attic and then some with old newspapers. They must have spend a fortune just for all those newspapers.
In the end it's a story about mixing up twins - one the good guy, one the bad guy who wants to blow things up - and our hero Rex and insurance adjuster both trapped with the bad guy in the house about to be obliterated.
A bit of a muddled plot
28 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Brewster finds a woman (Faith Domergue) being abducted by an Indian and gets her free, but she is traumatized by something and can't tell him much about why she is out wandering alone in Apache country. He takes her to an army fort where he finds the fort has been attacked and. Bodies are everywhere, but one Captain (Richard Long) is alive because he is locked up for desertion and none of the attackers found him in the cell. The Captain recognizes the woman as the wife of the Colonel (Alan Marshall) in charge of the fort, but the Colonel is nowhere to be found, dead or alive. The Captain has a relationship with the woman - she is apparently a distant cousin - but it goes deeper than that.
Gradually we learn that the Captain was in love with his cousin long ago, but they both lost everything in the war, and he went away to the Union Cavalry, only to end up assigned to the same fort with the Colonel and the woman. The Captain is a gentleman with a gentleman's code. He is a soldier and nothing but, but the Colonel knows the truth. To get his wife out of the way of the attack he knows is coming, the Colonel sends her off alone to get to another army camp.
Here things get a little muddy. It looks like the Captain found out his old love is out there on her own and goes to try to get her through the Apaches, but he is arrested by the army as he is trying to get back after getting her to safety. But he won't admit to that, and the Colonel after admitting he sent her off alone backtracks and says he accompanied her himself. The Colonel is planning to shoot the Captain as a deserter, but an incoming general overrules him and a court martial is called. Brewster wants to serve as the Captain's lawyer.
The Captain apparently tells Brewster the whole story (leaving out the part where the Colonel has sent him on several suicide missions during his term but Brewster finds that out from an enlisted man). It seems the Colonel's aware of the Captain's past with his wife even though the Captain, with his gentleman's code and being a good soldier hasn't let it out to anyone before. At dinner, the general has the Captain brought in when Brewster starts letting out what the Captain told him, including that the Captain still loved the woman but never even told her until he had gotten her past the Apaches.
It all stays pretty muddled at the end. The woman is escorted to another army camp. The Colonel and the Captain remain at the fort, which apparently has gained more soldiers because the last we see is the Captain riding off leading his troops to what may be yet another suicide mission. But the Captain is spit and polish army. He does as he is ordered.
The guest actors are very good but the plot feels very, very restricted by a "gentleman's code" and a soldier's duty. The woman is gone, the Captain is left reporting to the Colonel, and the only happy ending is that the Captain is not shot as a deserter. It almost seemed that the writer's couldn't figure out what to do with the story once it was clear that the Captain was still in love with the woman.
Gradually we learn that the Captain was in love with his cousin long ago, but they both lost everything in the war, and he went away to the Union Cavalry, only to end up assigned to the same fort with the Colonel and the woman. The Captain is a gentleman with a gentleman's code. He is a soldier and nothing but, but the Colonel knows the truth. To get his wife out of the way of the attack he knows is coming, the Colonel sends her off alone to get to another army camp.
Here things get a little muddy. It looks like the Captain found out his old love is out there on her own and goes to try to get her through the Apaches, but he is arrested by the army as he is trying to get back after getting her to safety. But he won't admit to that, and the Colonel after admitting he sent her off alone backtracks and says he accompanied her himself. The Colonel is planning to shoot the Captain as a deserter, but an incoming general overrules him and a court martial is called. Brewster wants to serve as the Captain's lawyer.
The Captain apparently tells Brewster the whole story (leaving out the part where the Colonel has sent him on several suicide missions during his term but Brewster finds that out from an enlisted man). It seems the Colonel's aware of the Captain's past with his wife even though the Captain, with his gentleman's code and being a good soldier hasn't let it out to anyone before. At dinner, the general has the Captain brought in when Brewster starts letting out what the Captain told him, including that the Captain still loved the woman but never even told her until he had gotten her past the Apaches.
It all stays pretty muddled at the end. The woman is escorted to another army camp. The Colonel and the Captain remain at the fort, which apparently has gained more soldiers because the last we see is the Captain riding off leading his troops to what may be yet another suicide mission. But the Captain is spit and polish army. He does as he is ordered.
The guest actors are very good but the plot feels very, very restricted by a "gentleman's code" and a soldier's duty. The woman is gone, the Captain is left reporting to the Colonel, and the only happy ending is that the Captain is not shot as a deserter. It almost seemed that the writer's couldn't figure out what to do with the story once it was clear that the Captain was still in love with the woman.
They kill people
3 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The Farrington Family gleefully kill people. The two younger members marry their victims first so they can collect insurance money and inheritances (victim number one happily drowned in a boating "accident" and victim number two backed off a cliff while her picture is taken.) The Farmingtons manage to party through life together for years, each time finding a new victim whenever the money runs out. Finally, however, the proposed next victim with the aid of an elderly friend catch them at it in an old haunted house (the one from Psycho). Tongue in cheek episode that introduces the actors one by one as they sit in electric chairs. Not to be taken seriously (believe it or not).
77 Sunset Strip
(1958–1964)
Seasons 1-5 hip and cool, Season 6 silly and sort of noir
25 January 2023
During its first 5 seasons, 77SS found its niche as hip, cool, sometimes slightly comical private eye show that really worked for Warner Bros. Spinoffs weren't so successful - Bourbon Street Beat was initially a better series but leaned toward the noir and the New Orleans ambiance that included black people (who disappeared halfway through the series only season). Richard Long took his Rex Randolph character from BSB to 77SS (the first tv character to go from one series to another existing series), Warner tried again with a couple private eye agencies at the beach Surfside 6 (Miami Beach) and Hawaiian Eye (Honolulu) but they didn't catch on either.
77SS moved on along with Edd Byrnes catching on as a pop culture icon as Kookie. It went along swimmingly but with some bad luck as far as cast was concerned. Richard Long had a heart attack at age 33 during the third season and had to bow out - he died at age 47 in 1974 after a lot more TV work and series like The Big Valley. Roger Smith had a stroke during the fourth season and then developed myasthenia graves that ended his acting career. Luckily Smith had already developed as a good writer and off screen producer for his wife Ann-Maragret, and he lived until age 84. By season 6, the entire cast except for Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Was gone and the series was turned into something Jack Webb-ish. It folded after season 6.
But it was great for what it was, best demonstrated by the script Smith wrote for "Once Upon a Caper," where each PI explained to Rex Randolph how he was the one who made the firm and the others were just nincompoops at the start - a great show making great fun of itself.
77SS moved on along with Edd Byrnes catching on as a pop culture icon as Kookie. It went along swimmingly but with some bad luck as far as cast was concerned. Richard Long had a heart attack at age 33 during the third season and had to bow out - he died at age 47 in 1974 after a lot more TV work and series like The Big Valley. Roger Smith had a stroke during the fourth season and then developed myasthenia graves that ended his acting career. Luckily Smith had already developed as a good writer and off screen producer for his wife Ann-Maragret, and he lived until age 84. By season 6, the entire cast except for Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Was gone and the series was turned into something Jack Webb-ish. It folded after season 6.
But it was great for what it was, best demonstrated by the script Smith wrote for "Once Upon a Caper," where each PI explained to Rex Randolph how he was the one who made the firm and the others were just nincompoops at the start - a great show making great fun of itself.
A little unbelievable, but good
3 December 2022
My main hangup with this episode is that I have trouble believing a man who is supposed to have come to the Barkleys in 1876 at the age of 24 would have been old enough during the Civil War to have been put in a confederate prison. This is a plot line recycled from other westerns (Laramie comes to mind first) but it's not a bad story, even with the basic flaw.
Heath can't accept that the new manager of one of the Barkley logging camps is the former commandant of the prison camp he was in during the war, so he is assigned to help the guy out in hopes the experience will bring him around.. It's a journey of self-discovery for Heath, a side-journey from the one he thought he was on, but one he needed to have.
Also interesting in this episode is that it's Jarrod who gets into the all-out punch-em-out and knock the bar over saloon fight in this episode, minus his brothers. It's a whopper of a fight and for once, the fighting Barkley actually ends up looking like he's had a battle. But he's a Barkley, and even if he is generally even tempered, he cuts loose in this one, aided by a couple of lumberjacks who turn out not to be quite who they act like at first.
Heath can't accept that the new manager of one of the Barkley logging camps is the former commandant of the prison camp he was in during the war, so he is assigned to help the guy out in hopes the experience will bring him around.. It's a journey of self-discovery for Heath, a side-journey from the one he thought he was on, but one he needed to have.
Also interesting in this episode is that it's Jarrod who gets into the all-out punch-em-out and knock the bar over saloon fight in this episode, minus his brothers. It's a whopper of a fight and for once, the fighting Barkley actually ends up looking like he's had a battle. But he's a Barkley, and even if he is generally even tempered, he cuts loose in this one, aided by a couple of lumberjacks who turn out not to be quite who they act like at first.
Good episode for Peter Breck
3 December 2022
And we get a young Ron Howard in here too, in what was probably Peter Breck's best story as Nick Barkley. But Nick should stay away from wild animals (he gets attacked by another one later on in the series). I don't know how I feel about Nick up and leaving the family when he is bitten by a wolf believed to be rabid, but it turns out to be a journey of self-discovery for him, and either the wolf wasn't really rabid or Nick had really good recuperative powers. Whichever - Peter Breck was excellent, and Nick learned a lot in this episode. He was not just the shoot-em-up ill tempered Barkley. He was someone who really could look inside himself and learn.
Interesting undercurrents
3 December 2022
I can't say this was one of my favorite episodes, but I did like the undercurrent of Nick's friendship with Mariano Montoya, dating back from when they were boys. Mariano's mother worked for the Barkleys but always admonished Mariano that he was not to play with "Señor Nick." It didn't sit well with Nick that a boy his own age wasn't allowed to play with him and had to call him "Señor." To Nick, two kids should have been allowed to be two kids. How they were treated as children affects Nick's actions and feelings toward Mariano as adults, but he needs the assistance of baby brother Eugene to help out in this episode - the only time Eugene got to shine very much because Charles Briles got his draft notice and left the show.
I'm a bit conflicted about this episode
3 December 2022
It had its good points and bad points. Stanwyck got to shine in this one, trying to get herself, an obstinate alcoholic Charles Bronson, and a pregnant Indian girl out of the basement of a church when they are trapped together after an earthquake. The rest of the Barkleys are terrified because they can't get to her, so they dig and fight and try to find some other way in, while Stanwyck is trying to find some other way out with Bronson and the pregnant girl in tow. Complication - the father of the girl's baby is a white man who is doing what he can to keep her (and therefore Stanwyck and Bronson) from being rescued.
The plot isn't the best, but it's a good vehicle for Victoria Barkley to show her muscle. A curiosity - Lee Majors as Heath has a big part in this episode but is missing from the last scene. Word is he had a disagreement with Stanwyck and walked off the set, so did not appear. Also apparently got fired from the show for his behavior, but his agent got him back in again, Stanwyck had a talk with him about how he needs to get his act together, and he was rehired. Saved his career.
The plot isn't the best, but it's a good vehicle for Victoria Barkley to show her muscle. A curiosity - Lee Majors as Heath has a big part in this episode but is missing from the last scene. Word is he had a disagreement with Stanwyck and walked off the set, so did not appear. Also apparently got fired from the show for his behavior, but his agent got him back in again, Stanwyck had a talk with him about how he needs to get his act together, and he was rehired. Saved his career.
Murder, She Wrote
(1984–1996)
Formulaic but fun to watch Angela Lansbury
12 November 2022
You can predict how every single episode is going to go and how - conveniently - the murderer always confesses at the end when J B Fletcher confronts him/her with rock solid assuredness she has it right. The formula does get old pretty quickly, but Mrs. Fletcher is a fun character and Angela Lansbury clearly had a good time with this show. In addition, a lot of older actors got work they might not have otherwise gotten, even though many of them were good actors and at least once were very A list. A fun way to spend an hour now and then but it would never have lasted as long as it did if it hadn't had Angela Lansbury.
A snooze
16 October 2022
I think I found this one boring because the "leader" of the cult, played by Paul Hilton, was so nothing. Nothing charismatic at all, just sort of there, and I couldn't see any reason anyone would follow him anywhere. I don't know if that was because of the way he was written or the way the actor played him or both, but I watched the episode several times and just never thought anything at all about the character who was supposed to be a cult leader. It never made any sense.
The other characters had some presence at least, even Lucy who was scarcely there at all had more substance than Dominic, the cult leader.
The other characters had some presence at least, even Lucy who was scarcely there at all had more substance than Dominic, the cult leader.
Not my favorite way to end Season 1
2 September 2022
A long train ride to the fair in Sacremento finds the Barkley siblings without their mother for a day, and Audra gets appendicitis. Of course, the only doctor on board is on the run from a family out for revenge because he did not save the mother in that family, so Audra getting needed surgery right away is complicated.
Lots of angst for Audra, lots of anger against the doctor from the men chasing him, lots of insecurity by the doctor - in short, nothing that isn't the usual fare in this kind of story.
Good acting by all, but the plot is just kind of - eh. Very predictable, no surprises at all, just a lot of worrying for the little girl among them while the menfolk deal with each other's problems.
Lots of angst for Audra, lots of anger against the doctor from the men chasing him, lots of insecurity by the doctor - in short, nothing that isn't the usual fare in this kind of story.
Good acting by all, but the plot is just kind of - eh. Very predictable, no surprises at all, just a lot of worrying for the little girl among them while the menfolk deal with each other's problems.
The Stunt Man
(1980)
Hadn't seen it in years
22 August 2022
I just watched it again for the first time since it came out, and I still remembered a lot of it. O'Toole was terrific. Railsback was very convincing, and even though I've never been a Barbara Hershey fan, I thought she was darned good in this. Yes, I could believe O'Toole's director character was flat out crazy and not just crazy like a fox, and I could believe Railsback really didn't have any idea what was really going on most of the time. I believed what I was supposed to believe, which wasn't necessarily what really was. Great film.
Delightful Jack Albertson appearance
10 August 2022
The kids are frightened by an empty house where Prudence's kite lands on the roof. There is a raven inside, as well as a piano that plays by itself. The ever realistic and logical professor gets a professor who specializes in the paranormal to explain to them that every time he gets a report of the paranormal, it turns out there is a logical explanation, but the specialist wants to see the house.
Nanny takes the kids back to the house, and they meet a old man (Jack Albertson), a former actor, who is house sitting and rigged things so he is not disturbed. He is a very nice man, the kids love him, and they decide to leave him alone. They report to the professor and the paranormal specialist that there isn't a ghost anywhere in the house so the old man won't be disturbed. But.....maybe that isn't the end of the story.....
Nanny takes the kids back to the house, and they meet a old man (Jack Albertson), a former actor, who is house sitting and rigged things so he is not disturbed. He is a very nice man, the kids love him, and they decide to leave him alone. They report to the professor and the paranormal specialist that there isn't a ghost anywhere in the house so the old man won't be disturbed. But.....maybe that isn't the end of the story.....
The Big Chill
(1983)
Reminds of a party I went to in 1970
29 June 2022
And I was the only one who wasn't high. The weed went around but I passed it up (I wasn't into putting smoke of any kind in my lungs), and in an hour or so 15 people were in a circle with their arms around each other, rocking back and forth with 70s music in the background. They went on like that without saying a thing for so long I ended up leaving. When you're not high in a room full of people who are, you just get bored.
That's how I felt with this picture. They were high and I was bored.
That's how I felt with this picture. They were high and I was bored.
Sorry black characters upset you "woke" phobics
16 June 2022
No, MM is not as good as it used to be but some reviewers here are deriding its multicultural turn to call it "woke." Funny how being awake is so upsetting to some people. The inclusion of people of color is a lot more understandable than keeping the lily white, blue-eyed cast of the early days. If you are going to criticize something, criticize the writing or the acting, not the color of the cast.
As for the cast, I'm not a Neil Dudgeon fan and don't like John Barnaby as a character. A lack of pep there, as if even Dudgeon (and maybe the writers) are getting tired of John B. If MM is to continue, it needs a revival, cast and stories.
As for the cast, I'm not a Neil Dudgeon fan and don't like John Barnaby as a character. A lack of pep there, as if even Dudgeon (and maybe the writers) are getting tired of John B. If MM is to continue, it needs a revival, cast and stories.
Finally Suzanne has something to handle
6 June 2022
It's her own gullibility for believing a con man who ends up murdered. She's conned into believing she will receive a big inheritance for being a descendant of Napoleon, but she doesn't recognize the con and doesn't tell her employers about it even after she catches onto the con. Instead, she goes to confront the con man, finds him murdered, and ends up being accused of the deed herself. Rex to the rescue, as Jeff and Stu are out of town.
Jacqueline Beer finally has a decent part and does it well. Stunned and frightened not only that she was conned and faces prosecution for the murder, but also afraid that her bosses will desert her, she falls apart. Rex and Kookie get her back together and track down the real murderer.
Early appearance by Dawn Wells, later of Gilligan's Island (and whom we lost to COVID recently), another victim of the conman and momentarily a suspect.
Jacqueline Beer finally has a decent part and does it well. Stunned and frightened not only that she was conned and faces prosecution for the murder, but also afraid that her bosses will desert her, she falls apart. Rex and Kookie get her back together and track down the real murderer.
Early appearance by Dawn Wells, later of Gilligan's Island (and whom we lost to COVID recently), another victim of the conman and momentarily a suspect.
Pretty boring
6 June 2022
Jeff and Rex are sent to Central America to rescue the daughter of an exiled president. Lots of bad guys who have the government, "good guys" who want to oust it, with Jeff and Rex in the middle trying to save the girl and get out. But it's really dull going. When the most memorable part is a donkey who won't move unless Jeff (not Rex or anyone else, just Jeff) whistles "Yankee Doodle," it's not a great episode.
Aside: Richard Long as Rex Randolph was moved to 77SS when Bourbon Street Beat was canceled, but Rex got an unfortunate makeover. In New Orleans, Rex was a sharp but often fist-fighting PI in a noir atmosphere who had a bit of a quirky personality too (only amateur chef Rex from BSB would invent a recipe that included pig bristles then have to eat it alone when his friends ran out on it - but then also break the fourth wall, look at the camera, and wink at all of us out there in the real world as he dug in). When he got to 77SS, he was hip (could speak to Kookie in his own language) but his cooking equipment was literally put on the shelf of his office, he hardly ever worked anybody over, and he became a lot more bland a character. Long was working off a contract obligation and apparently was not intended to last longer than one season, which he didn't because he had a heart attack at the end of the season and got sidelined because of that. I liked 77SS Rex, but not as much as I liked BSB Rex.
Aside: Richard Long as Rex Randolph was moved to 77SS when Bourbon Street Beat was canceled, but Rex got an unfortunate makeover. In New Orleans, Rex was a sharp but often fist-fighting PI in a noir atmosphere who had a bit of a quirky personality too (only amateur chef Rex from BSB would invent a recipe that included pig bristles then have to eat it alone when his friends ran out on it - but then also break the fourth wall, look at the camera, and wink at all of us out there in the real world as he dug in). When he got to 77SS, he was hip (could speak to Kookie in his own language) but his cooking equipment was literally put on the shelf of his office, he hardly ever worked anybody over, and he became a lot more bland a character. Long was working off a contract obligation and apparently was not intended to last longer than one season, which he didn't because he had a heart attack at the end of the season and got sidelined because of that. I liked 77SS Rex, but not as much as I liked BSB Rex.
Cute modern visit to the "old west" for Rex
5 June 2022
Rex is hired by the big wig of a "frontier town" that is having its "Frontier Days." As soon as he arrives he is arrested for not having a beard, but it's a power play by the big wig who soon informs him his job is to go fetch and then baby sit Notch McConnell, an old gunman from the old west who is due to have a "shootout" with the big wig as the finale of the celebration. Notch is a hoot and a half, played by veteran character actor William Fawcett, an old boy whose main concern is that his dress boots and his stock certificates in an old played out mine don't get stolen. Notch has plans for that mine, those certificates and his boots. Notch also discovers the delights of room service and long distance phone calls, all of which the big wig is paying for. Rex is just trying to keep the old boy alive, especially when one of the big wig's boys who is part owner of the mine is murdered. It's up to Rex to track down the murderer and keep him from killing Notch during the finale shootout.
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