Hart to Hart (TV Series) A Question of Innocence (1980) User Reviews

A bit rushed

[aramis-112-804880 · 6/10 · 29 January 2023]

Back when they did this episode it's too bad they didn't have shows that were more fluid. One story at a time, wrapped up in under fifty minutes. It really needed the elbow room of two or more episodes to finish this one off.

Jonathan comes to the aid of a woman at a news stand who is being blackmailed (Jeannette Nolan). It takes J&J to a college campus which I found interesting as I was just starting college myself at the time and not watching "dumb" TV shows like this. I watched my first "Hart to Hart" in my 60s.

Curiously, I felt no nostalgia at the college scenes, which should have had more girls with "Farrah" hair. Especially sorority girls, who liked to be stylish, would sport "Farrah" hair in 1980. I know. I was there. Farrah was long gone but her hair remained.

Good detection from the Harts, though a bit fast. A nasty young college boy who needed being cut off at the knees. And a weepy girl with at least one secret. But cramming everything in during the time allotted makes it feel too busy, along with time wasted between the old lady and Max, who seem to have a bickering history. Nice comedy, but it adding nothing to the story apart from giving the guest star more to do than cry a lot.

BTW, what is that game the sorority girls played? I may have been there but I never saw it before. Something the sponsors were trying to plug? And I suppose the sorority girls were welcoming to the handsome head of Hart industries (if you're a busybody being a millionaire must open doors). Back then kids wanted nothing more than to earn MBAs and get rich so the handsome head of Hart industries would have been a poster boy. Poor, stupid me, I was interested in drama, journalism and history, none of them lucrative fields to plow and plant. I wager if they checked up on those college characters today they'd all be well off. Thrice divorced but rich-rich-rich.

Max made you a souffle': eat your Hart souffle'...out!

[imdb-25288 · 7/10 · 20 June 2023]

So this starts at 2AM on GET TV. Sadly, at the same time is Mannix on MeTV. Which one to watch? IDK, I dislike this show with a passion and I don't get Mannix, it's boring as is! This is uncomplicated a show, but Mannix has pretty imagery all the time. I decide to watch both, sadly, they don't take synced commercial breaks that would allow me to watch both and not miss a licking.

When the old lady at the newstand pops up, she's such a sweet character that I decide to give this priority, until cuts. But who do I find at the Mannix episode but... Jeannette Nolan?! That's right. 2 completely unrelated channels, 2 different decades, 2 dissimilar shows and yet, once again, I find the same actress. (Last time this happened, it wasn't same actor but the exact same storyline!)

There's the blond guy from Simon & Simon, a show that was even stupider and even more boring than Hart to Hart, if you can believe that! At least here, I get to watch Stephanie in a man made blizzard and her Farrah do doesn't budge a hair. (Well, that was a few episodes ago!)

Man oh man! The exotic mask on the wall looked like a 4 year old made it out of papier mache' and paint. Later, we learn it's expensive art. (Really?! Prop department, I'm looking at you!) I missed some of the story, but in the end, it doesn't look like I missed much. The old Nolan lady elevated the show with her great acting.

Highlights of the show:

1) the brown with vertical color stripes, perhaps Peruvian inspired alpaca (I'm guessing) sweater Rose was wearing in her first scenes, coupled with her interesting beads. She looked age appropriate (yet not "old ladyish") and elegant in an eclectic way. If you're an old lady, sixty plus, buy yourself one of these, and get the same style beads. Thank me later! (Props to Nolan Miller go here!)

2) Max's souffle'. How I suffered over this. Max busted his buns cooking you a delicate potato souffle'. The least the Harts could do is EAT IT, you fools! But nope. Max takes it out of the oven, and out the door they go, even after Max pleaded to Jonathan: "my souffle' can't wait, needs eating right away!" That's right! Old lady in the hospital ain't going anywhere, sit your buns down and chow down, you entitled rich millionaire!

And what can be said of their house? These people are multimillionaires who live in a shoe box sized house, the likes you find in a side street in Woodland Hills. House is right off the street. You'd think these loaded peeps could have splurged for something in Beverly Hills or Bell Canyon... but nope!

I did not like that, when Jonathan wrote the old lady (Rose) a $5,000.00 check, Jennifer took her shares "as collateral". That was not nice! And WHO is the person writing erroneous stuff about her fingernails, at every episode?! They need to be stopped! In the end, watch this episode, don't watch it: it's all the same to me; it's a silly show with unlikable characters (an arrogant millionaire and his spoiled and conceited wife) that should have never been made. Shame to all of you who watch this silly fluff, and that includes me. 7/10, for the old lady and for Max and his uneaten souffle'. I hope Max ate it himself and shared with Freeway, who was nowhere to be found this time (unless he appeared when I glanced at "Mister" Mannix!) They ought to have made a spinoff with everything that Max did during every episode, after the Harts left the home! (I bet he sang and danced in his underwear to that Ole Rock n Roll music!)

Winner, Winner, WINNER.

[HilaryElizabeth9 · 10/10 · 17 July 2016]

This. Was. AWESOME. I didn't remember it, it was brand new to me, I smiled the moment the thing began, and did not stop until the very last credit rolled. The episode gets right down to business establishing a relationship with Jonathan's long-time business tenant, a magazine vendor on the busy Hart Industries property. And OMG, veteran actress Jeannette Nolan is so good. She's soooo good from the word go. Written poorly this would have been a Mary Sue story. But she's not an interloper, she's a valid person in their lives that they clearly care about. That we haven't seen her before takes nothing away from that because of the superb marriage of writing, directing, and acting. The plot surrounding her is written as a vehicle for Jonathan's altruistic nature, not as a one for the guest character, so you bond to this woman immediately because you feel the utter affinity that Jonathan has for her. RJ positively soars here. His affection for and amusement in her – his emotional investment into her well-being – are subtly played by him to the point where you just can't help but feel a fierce protectiveness over her, literally, right away. Shortly thereafter, Jameson Parker brings his cutie patootie mug to the bad guy role, hating him is easy, and a plot is born.

The office scenes were light, H2H goodness, because a) any episode with Deanne AND Stanley is a win, and b) Jennifer's hair was extra poofy, which was right on trend for this second episode of the brand new decade. We learn quickly that the vendor, Rose, is being blackmailed, and our hackles go right up for her. I loved the abject willingness Jonathan has to help her, but so refreshing was Rose as a very unique kind of woman. She's terrified, but she's no slouch and takes no handouts. Jeannette plays her so convincingly that the layers are there without needing a bit of exposition. I also had big love for how seriously they took the props. This stock certificate for Hart Industries is gorgeous. I'm sure they didn't create it from scratch and is just a blank stock cert mocked up for the show, they could have gotten lazy but didn't; the detail shows so much respect for the audience and the material. For those like me who have kittens over this stuff, Hart Industries' incorporation is established as March 30th, 1969. When I was a fetus. I was in hog heaven and we're not even ten minutes in.

Pairing Rose and Max as equal parts old married couple and siblings that got on each other's very last nerve was like a treat you didn't know your grandma was going to be bringing you. From the second Max learns she's going to have to be in the house with him it's a string of crazy good verbosity. The Rosie, Bozo, and Bimbo banter was brilliance on a stick. Every bit of screen time between these two was GREAT. Effortless. I'll bet real money that these two were in other shows together, because their timing was second to none. I never wanted this to end.

The guest stars were all stellar. The fencing coach was utterly authentic, the real estate agent is like who's on first, and the sorority girls crushing on Jonathan nearly put me into hysterics. Cindy Grover as the key to it all wasn't so great, but that Mork from Ork and Simon more than made up for it.

RJ's confrontation in the gym with patootie was subtle until it wasn't, and it was gorgeous. The house they go snooping in is a set that would be used time and again on this show, but that's no problem, because the whole undercover thing was adorable. Admittedly, the sound editing kind of sucked when they went back to the house, but oh well.

Very impressive blocking in the final showdown. Not with the swords, which were a lot of clack, clack, clack, clack, with RJ's free arm in the completely wrong spot and no real fencing skill, typical TV fencing. I mean with the kicking away of the gun. It was like the most perfect kick, nice job Jameson.

Jeannette's mid-show soliloquy was truly a masters class in the craft. And the real estate agent bit was funny stuff.

BLOOPER ALERT --> Minor, but on his way out of the room when he discovers the gun missing from the drawer, Lionel walks into the door jamb on the right.

This one was all wrapped up in a nice little bow at the end, which I'm usually not a fan of, but in this case, it was perfect. A total ten.

Watching Errol Flynn on the late show came in useful for Jonathan!

[coltras35 · 9/10 · 20 September 2023]

The lady (Jeanette Nolan) who runs the newsstand in Jonathan's building is being blackmailed for a murder she may not have committed---that of her dead grandson's academic mentor who was a drug supplier, and was the cause of her son's overdose.

This is a great episode, mainly due to Jeanette Nolan's performance- one minute she's a fast talking streetwise lady and the next minutes she is a wreck, brought on by the blackmailing phone calls. She's very convincing when telling the Harts of the trouble she is in and how her son had overdosed and died- it came across heartfelt. And the Harts respond with the only way they know -sympathy.

The mystery is really good and it just sucks you in. It's quite a compelling viewing, and the fencing scenes are great. Jameson Parker is suitably nasty as the blackmailer and drug peddler.