To tell you the honest truth, "Distant Signals" doesn't necessarily contain a story that will send shivers or provide goosebumps. It doesn't disturb or bother. It has a little sci-fi to it. A bit of fantasy. A love for classic television seems evident throughout. But, most importantly, the episode has Darren McGavin. That is all it needs, really. Every time I see him in something like "Distant Signals" or a Kolchak episode, I lament his loss. What a wonderful presence he had. His death provided a void television or film will never fill. Anyway, his role here is of a once-promising actor now reduced to bartending and alcoholism. Someone passionate about an old show McGavin's Van Conway temporarily starred in during the 60s—that was short-lived and never finished, shelved and condemned—with a director who had forgotten about it (played by David Margulies, who provides a cynicism that obviously exists in many directors who become jaded in the industry, providing artless product just to survive), named Mr. Smith (played enigmatically enough by Lenny van Dohlen) wants the show, named Max Paradise, finished, willing to pay with gold in order to have the final episodes in his possession to present to a "particular audience." At first, Van Conway is unable to repeat his lines due to the shakes and pressure, with Smith stepping in to "remove" what ails him. With the show finishing a storyline that had ended abruptly, Smith is very pleased, and seeing Van Conway able to conclude the B&W series also is a bookend to a career that had been buried by failure. Margulies' Gil Hurn secretly cared for Max Paradise, but he's understanding of how the industry in the 80s works, unable to believe an American audience would ever accept a B&W show. That's when Van Conway has to explain to him what kind of audience would in fact be watching it. I don't think "Distant Signals" will be an episode that remains on the mind for any length of time but as I was watching it, a smile did remain just because it allows for McGavin to have a redemption story, the crumbled pieces of a career rejuvenated (even if just for this show) thanks to a "wanderer" from a different place altogether where "distant signals" provided quite the entertainment for his people. McGavin has a monologue at the end where he provides insight to Gil Hurn that really left me in a good place; he's the kind of actor I can always watch and enjoy. It was all set to jazz and felt very nostalgic about the past
who better to place behind this monologue and give it weight than McGavin?
Review of Distant Signals
