I didn't remember the name of this show, which I watched as a child, until I came across it recently on a site for 70's live action Saturday-morning shows. I remember "Muggsy" to be a generally decent show with likable characters. But it had one traumatic scene I remember very vividly, that IMO wasn't appropriate for Saturday morning.
As a previous user noted, this was a 'serious' Saturday morning show for somewhat older viewers. But some of us under 10 were watching. There was an episode where someone's mother--maybe Clytemnestra's mother? (Obviously not Nick and Muggsy's mom) gets hit and killed by a car. The mother had red or brown hair, pulled in a bun like the headmistress on "The Facts of Life."
They actually portrayed the death. They showed the woman crossing the street carrying bags of groceries and a car hits her in the crosswalk. There was a very convincing out-the-windshield view of the woman screaming as she's hit, the bags of groceries flying. Then they show her laying dead on the pavement, with groceries scattered all over.
That scene traumatized me terribly. For months I lived in cold fear that my mom would die whenever she left the house. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying shows shouldn't deal with hard realities of life. And again, Muggsy and Nick were likable, sympathetic characters, and the show was decent. I think estimating 5 out of 10 stars is fair based upon that much memory. But the death of a character was kind of a rough thing to be actually *showing* in live-action on Saturday morning.
At some point later in the episode, the daughter of the dead woman wants to see the body, but the morgue won't let her in until Nick comes and offers to accompany her. Presumably the idea was that a child deserves to have closure to such a tragedy like anyone else, and shouldn't be denied it. Nick helps her just like he and Muggsy help each other. Which are good points that go with the show's storyline of showing young people dealing with tough aspects of life.
As a previous user noted, this was a 'serious' Saturday morning show for somewhat older viewers. But some of us under 10 were watching. There was an episode where someone's mother--maybe Clytemnestra's mother? (Obviously not Nick and Muggsy's mom) gets hit and killed by a car. The mother had red or brown hair, pulled in a bun like the headmistress on "The Facts of Life."
They actually portrayed the death. They showed the woman crossing the street carrying bags of groceries and a car hits her in the crosswalk. There was a very convincing out-the-windshield view of the woman screaming as she's hit, the bags of groceries flying. Then they show her laying dead on the pavement, with groceries scattered all over.
That scene traumatized me terribly. For months I lived in cold fear that my mom would die whenever she left the house. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying shows shouldn't deal with hard realities of life. And again, Muggsy and Nick were likable, sympathetic characters, and the show was decent. I think estimating 5 out of 10 stars is fair based upon that much memory. But the death of a character was kind of a rough thing to be actually *showing* in live-action on Saturday morning.
At some point later in the episode, the daughter of the dead woman wants to see the body, but the morgue won't let her in until Nick comes and offers to accompany her. Presumably the idea was that a child deserves to have closure to such a tragedy like anyone else, and shouldn't be denied it. Nick helps her just like he and Muggsy help each other. Which are good points that go with the show's storyline of showing young people dealing with tough aspects of life.