"LA 2017" is an episode of the anthology series "The Name of the Game". Why I watched this particular episode is that it was directed by a very young Steven Spielberg. I've seen a few of his early TV directorial efforts...such as "Night Gallery" and "Duel" and I was curious to see what the rest of his early stuff was like. Well, in this case it was rough...though I think most of the blame for this is the budget and run time. If it were longer and higher budgeted, it might have been a terrific episode.
Glenn Howard (Gene Barry) is driving when he suddenly has an accident. When he awakens, he's taken by folks in hazmat suits to some underground lair. When he awakens, he learns that it's no longer 1971...but 2017 and no one knows how this happened. But what Glenn does know is that this future world really sucks! Most of the people on Earth have died as a result of an ecological disaster...and the remaining ones live underground and are ruled by a fascist corporation. He's not thrilled by these folks and soon gravitates to the underground...a movement pushing to change society.
While I like the general style of the story, I was annoyed by two things. First, instead of showing what happened in the future, the story spends a lot of time TALKING about what happened...a cheap way to make a shorter story. Second, the ending, while it did make sense, also was VERY disappointing...much like the end of "The Wizard of Oz". While it worked in the 1939 film, here the ending seemed like a cop-out...a way to try to wrap everything together neatly at the end...even if it isn't satisfying. I really think the story would have worked as a pilot for a series...and the story clearly needed series length.
Overall, the acting isn't bad and the story has some very interesting elements. But it's badly in need of a reworking...and could have been a lot better.
