"My Master, the Chili King" was the final broadcast, guest starring veteran funny man Gabriel Dell as Major Nelson's con man cousin Arvel, who convinces Jeannie to invest in his recipe for Texas chili beans, to provide financial security for their autumn years. 'Cousin Tony's Texas Chili' features Tony's picture on the label, dressed in a spacesuit, despite the NASA edict that astronauts are not allowed to endorse products. Arvel is the deal maker, Jeannie blinking up boxes of the stuff, delighted at the prospect of seeing her husband's face in supermarkets across the country. When Mrs. Bellows buys a can her exasperated husband insists that it's just a joke, until they hear that it's being served in the NASA cafeteria. Not a bad idea, but hardly a good choice for the farewell broadcast, which took place May 26 1970, five days after the unexpected death of actor Vinton Hayworth, Barton MacLane's replacement, who played General Winfield Schaeffer over the last 40-plus episodes; had the series continued, yet another general would have needed to be found.
3 Reviews
The end came so quickly
PizzaHips27 May 2022
5 seasons came and went very fast. Major Nelson finally doesn't have to worry about getting into trouble anymore!
Larry Hagman had grown tired of the awful plots on many of the episodes and would have left even if this season wasn't the last. Watching the show over 139 episodes I don't blame him. Too bad he didn't come back for the movies, but then again those were not very good.
Chili King was another episode that made hardly any sense. I think the writers just started phoning it in.
7 stars is too high but it is the last episode sooooo.
Larry Hagman had grown tired of the awful plots on many of the episodes and would have left even if this season wasn't the last. Watching the show over 139 episodes I don't blame him. Too bad he didn't come back for the movies, but then again those were not very good.
Chili King was another episode that made hardly any sense. I think the writers just started phoning it in.
7 stars is too high but it is the last episode sooooo.
Final Show
DKosty1236 November 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Sadly, though this is the final episode, it was not planned to be. It is a post marriage episode where a distant relative who is part con man drops in and causes trouble when he meets Eden after he takes Roger Healy for a con.
I think a final show for this would have been to maybe isolate Eden and Hagman on another planet so he could have all the time to make love to her the way every man who ever watched this show wanted too. Instead we got Cousin Tony's face on the can trying to blow up his career.
Back when this series was done, they chose their targets and issues carefully. This show was a great promo for NASA. The only add they could have made here is to make the Chili into rocket fuel. With his face on the can, Nelson might have gotten us to Mars.
I think a final show for this would have been to maybe isolate Eden and Hagman on another planet so he could have all the time to make love to her the way every man who ever watched this show wanted too. Instead we got Cousin Tony's face on the can trying to blow up his career.
Back when this series was done, they chose their targets and issues carefully. This show was a great promo for NASA. The only add they could have made here is to make the Chili into rocket fuel. With his face on the can, Nelson might have gotten us to Mars.
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