Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Books that never had episode counterparts


MeTV has released some teaser trailers for their Fall schedule. I am absolutely ecstatic over some of them; among other things, we’re getting CHiPs, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Baa Baa Black Sheep! Oh my goodness. So much wonderful Simon Oakland! Plus, Mission: Impossible is returning at long last. It totally belongs on MeTV; I wish they had never tried removing it.

As of right now, I have no knowledge of how the new schedule will affect Perry, if at all. My guess is that the morning episode will not be returned, but I don’t know. I also guess that Ironside will not yet be returning. I really wish they’d bring Ironside back, especially because I’m nuts about Joseph Campanella and really want to see and record his four guest appearances.

And speaking of actors, I was definitely stunned and saddened by James Garner’s passing this past weekend. I can’t think of any connections he had with the main Perry actors, albeit he did have repeated interaction with some of the marvelous Perry guest-stars. He certainly had a talent for humor and making people laugh. I’ve heard he was also an excellent dramatic actor, but I don’t think I’ve seen any of his more serious roles recently enough to really assess them. (Unless Marlowe counts, but his interpretation of that character was a lot like Jim Rockford.) It would have been interesting to have pitted one of his characters against the Perry or even the Ironside cast. The closest we can ever come to that is the fact that I feature Steve Drumm and Sergeant Brice in my Rockford Files fanfiction story and Jim Rockford has some level of interaction with them. James Garner was definitely one of the remaining greats from a bygone era of movies and television. He will be missed.

Also, out of sheer curiosity, I decided to look through a list of the Perry books and make a tally of how many were not made into episodes, using Storrer’s fabulous site. Out of 82 books (two published posthumously), 16 were not made into episodes. The first of those sixteen, The Golddigger’s Purse, didn’t even appear until the third set of ten, published in the 1940s. The second, The Crying Swallow (hmm, intriguing title) is from the fourth set of ten, and the third, The Irate Witness, from the fifth set. Then there isn’t another episode-less book until the seventh set, with The Stepdaughter’s Secret. All of the subsequent twelve books were never made into episodes. For the record, their titles are as follows:

The Amorous Aunt
The Daring Divorcee
The Phantom Fortune
The Horrified Heirs
The Troubled Trustee
The Beautiful Beggar
The Worried Waitress
The Queenly Contestant
The Careless Cupid
The Fabulous Fake
The Fenced-In Woman 
The Postponed Murder

Some sound intriguing, while others downright amuse me. Careless Cupid?

I wonder why several of the older books were left untouched by the series and all of the later ones? The eighth set of ten were written partially while the series was still ongoing; did they not want to adapt novels written that recently? When the series first started, they were okay with adapting some of the ones written right around that time, including The Daring Decoy, The Screaming Woman, and The Long-Legged Models, all first season episodes based on books published within months of the episodes’ release dates.

Perhaps later on, they were coming up with so many ideas of their own that they weren’t as keen on adapting many more of the original novels. In 1963, they were finishing up season 6 and going on to season 7, two seasons that definitely didn’t have many book-based episodes. Season 8 continued the practice by only having minimal book involvement, and then by season 9 they decided the thing to do was to remake some of the book-based episodes they had already done, instead of adapting some of the remaining books that hadn’t been used. I can’t fully complain, as I definitely adore at least one of those remakes (The Sausalito Sunrise from The Moth-Eaten Mink), but I do wonder why they were so interested in remakes when there was still fresh source material they could have used!

8 comments:

  1. I love Joseph Campanella also.I enjoy seeing him in anything.He could do serious as well as comedy.One of the reasons I watched One Day at a Time was because of his role of the father.My favorite Ironside with him was Happy Dreams of Hollow Men.He's still alive at 89 wow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't care for soap operas in general, but I want to see all the episodes of every soap opera he was in!

      I didn't like Joseph's character in that Ironside episode (I just couldn't fully get over being disgusted when he threatened to kill Ironside), but I certainly loved his performance! He made the character so believable.

      Do you happen to remember what happened to Joseph's character in The Return of Eleanor Rogers? I'm trying and trying to think whether he survived that adventure and I can't remember.

      I don't think I've seen him in any outright comedies, although I want to look into the Doris Day and Mary Tyler Moore episodes he did. The closest I've come to seeing him in comedy would probably be some of the hilarious reactions and expressions he gets when talking to Joe Mannix.

      Delete
  2. I don't care for soap operas either.One Day at a Time was a half hour sit-com.It ran for 9 years 1975 -1984.I can see why you thought it was a soap though with it's name.
    I liked the Hollow Men episode because of the acting of both.Only the two of them but it held your interest.Campanella was not only a frequent Ironside co-star but also went on to the Bold Ones which was also a Harbour Production the company owned by Burr.So he and Raymond seem to have had a good working relationship.
    I'm sorry to say I didn't get to see the Eleanor Rogers episode.I've only seen about 7 of the season 8 shows.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, oops! I know he's been in several soaps. I had no idea he had a steady role in a sitcom.

      Yes, that episode was definitely intense! Both actors were amazing.

      Oooh, I hadn't realized Harbour Productions put out The Bold Ones. Awesome. I'm waiting impatiently for Cozi to go back to showing The Lawyers version. I can't remember how quick the turnover is between it and The New Doctors; they've switched off a couple of times since we got Cozi.

      Ahh.

      Delete
  3. Have you had the chance to see The Ironside/Bold Ones crossover ?It was quite good I thought'
    In regards to the books and episodes>Did Gardner decide which ones would become episodes?
    I've never heard of Cozi.Is it a TV channel?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw the first half, but unfortunately not the second half. Ugh. I hate when that happens. But what I did see was very intense and good!

      That's a good question. I'm actually not sure.

      Yeah, it's a channel like Me.

      Delete
  4. "but I do wonder why they were so interested in remakes when there was still fresh source material they could have used!"

    I wonder about that too. Sounds as if the writers thought it easier to re-write old plots than new teleplays.

    re: Joseph Campanella

    I always liked him as well, very much. Like all good actors, he could play a good guy or a villain.

    Re: Harbour Productions

    I think that they produced many (probably most) of the "The Young Doctors" segments of "The Bold Ones," but not "The Lawyers" or the two other subcategories of "The Bold Ones." (The first two mentioned were the most successful.)

    Campanella was a regular in "The Lawyers," the one Harbour did not produce, but yes, I am sure he worked with Burr many times over their years in Hollywood.

    --Anon 2

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, apparently they must have.

      Indeed. Joseph is awesome that way. He makes all his characters so believable.

      Oh, interesting. Curious if the same production company didn't handle all the segments.

      Delete