Perry Movies and Fall News

MeTV is running Perry movies this week. This time, they are all ones that MeTV has shown before, so I guess that answers the question as to whether they will replay things. However, if anyone missed them on the first round, perhaps now there will be a chance to catch them again.

Last night was The Fatal Fashion. I have a review of it around somewhere here. I recorded it the first time it was on and have kept it, since Scott Baio is the prosecutor in it.

The rest of the week will be, in order:

The Glass Coffin

The Heartbroken Bride

The Killer Kiss

The Lady in the Lake

I find it pleasing that they will show the two movies I recorded long ago to watch, but still have not got around to. Also, I did miss the first ten minutes of The Glass Coffin, so now when I see it tonight, it will be the whole thing. And I am very excited to get the chance to record The Lady in the Lake. It was probably my favorite of the movies for the surprise twist near the end and I regretted not having recorded it for keeps at the time I was originally watching it.

Also, MeTV has made their first announcement about their Fall schedule. I was very surprised; I was just thinking about it and wondering what it would be and figuring there would not be any news for a while yet. The full schedule is not currently available on their site, so I only have the most preliminary information, as reported by the Sitcoms Online blog.

The schedule will affect Perry. The morning showing is being booted again, this time for Matlock. Hmm, that seems a little recent for MeTV. I would think it would have been more likely to have found a home on Cozi TV. But I suppose MeTV wanted it because of Andy Griffith starring.

The Mystery Movie will remain on the schedule, but be pushed way down until 1 A.M./2 A.M., depending on your time zone. The Twilight Zone will be back, this time after the late-night showing of Perry.

So far, the only news I'm really pleased about is that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. will now air twice a week. I am not, however, too pleased that it will move to 1 A.M. on the weekends. A lot of people will find it difficult to watch it then. It seems like a really ridiculous move to put it on that late when the movie is coming out and there will probably be a new influx of interest for the series.

I also like that Wagon Train will be back, as I wasn't finished recording episodes I wanted. I hope that they won't only show seasons 1 through most of 4 and 7 like before, however. There are some episodes from season 5 that I wanted, including one with Wesley Lau. I also want the Simon Oakland episode from season 6. And they stopped their season 4 episodes before they reached the one I'd been looking forward to with H.M. Wynant.

It kind of looks like The Mod Squad, Mission: Impossible, and The Saint will be leaving the schedule, but at this point I can't say. They might just be shifting to other times.

Their comedy block is going to be the same every night, with Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, and Hogan's Heroes. I liked when they aired something different every night.

It will be interesting to see the full Fall schedule when MeTV releases it. Overall, I'm not terribly impressed at this point and I wonder why they haven't been adding many shows this year. I worry a bit wondering if they're in financial trouble.

At least the late-night airing of Perry is staying, but I'm annoyed by the departure of the morning episode, since that's when a lot of people watch. Oh well, though, as we've seen from past experience, the morning episode never seems to be gone for long. People like it there and in the past, MeTV has listened to that.

The Uncut Vanishing Victim vs. The Fugitive Nurse

First, a quick note: Rose and I have started a new Simon Oakland project, a Tumblr. We have weekly photo sets and post other Simon-related things during the week. I put up a Frantic Flyer photo set on Saturday. We're hoping the project will eventually reach the attention of all classic film and television fans on Tumblr, in addition to all fans of specifically Simon. If anyone wants to have a look, the link is: http://simonoaklandtribute.tumblr.com

The other day I finally did something I’ve been meaning to do for months: watch the uncut version of The Vanishing Victim. It’s taken so long for me to get to it since it’s one of my least-liked episodes. It remains so after the uncut viewing.

I watch it so seldom I’m actually not sure which scenes are new to me, besides the infamous epilogue. I ranted a lot about the cut version in another post, so I don’t think I’ll go into all of that examination here. I’ll just say that my previous opinions on the episode as a whole still stand. It’s a very messy, confused conglomeration, and the constantly changing idea of who’s actually dead around here makes it very wearisome by the time they finally get around to letting us know that the real dead guy is an extremely minor character we only barely saw.

And I’ll make a couple of comparisons with the episode it claims to be patterned after: The Fugitive Nurse. That season 1 episode is one of my most favorites, both of season 1 in general and the series as a whole. Hamilton and Tragg really have a lot of chances to shine in it.

Hamilton and Steve get a lot of screentime in The Vanishing Victim, but aside from Hamilton’s final comment to the murderer (which was just awesome) and Steve’s adorable appearance in the epilogue, they don’t really have much chance to shine. They’re by and large depicted as the antagonists, behaving ridiculously and unfairly, calling the hearing before there’s enough evidence and then, after the judge throws the case out, planning to re-arrest the defendant on a trumped-up charge while they try to gather new evidence to prove the murder. They honestly don’t often tend to pull stunts like that, so Perry’s comment about Hamilton being predictable with the re-arrest plan is still irritating to me.

Also, the defendant in The Vanishing Victim honestly seems like a block of ice. I’m all for aloof characters, but I like to get to know them a little even if they remain a mystery to the other characters. I couldn’t figure that woman out at all. Usually we get to know the defendants enough so that we can dredge up some sympathy for them, but it didn’t really seem like we got to know this one at all. Perry mused on trying to discover whether she’s a grieving widow or a murderer, and she didn’t seem to be either one. Her husband didn’t seem like a nice guy, but when Lisa Gaye’s character commented on how miserable she had made life for her husband, there was no refuting of that statement. I have to wonder exactly what their marriage really was like.

Compare that with the defendant in The Fugitive Nurse. She realizes she’s being selfish to not let her husband have a divorce if he wants it so badly and thinks the nurse will make him happier. She wants to do the right thing. She opens up to Perry and the audience gets to know her and that she’s a good person who handled some things wrong. Maybe the bad marriage was partially her fault, and she’ll own up to that.

The restaurant owner who was so key in The Fugitive Nurse doesn’t play much of a role here. In this version, the friend isn’t dead and his wife didn’t try to kill him. Their marriage is on the rocks, and she’s serving him divorce papers, but she’s not the cold-hearted penny-pincher Jeanette Nolan expertly played in The Fugitive Nurse. This character has class, running a very swanky restaurant instead of just a cheap burger joint. Her only scene has her sitting down with Paul to discuss her husband.

And then the epilogue. I was always annoyed by what I’d heard of Perry supposedly paying Paul and then taking the check away from him. I was also annoyed when I watched the epilogue alone and didn’t see the whole episode.

This time, having watched the whole episode and seen the epilogue again, I’m not sure what to make of it. My opinion hinges on the key question: did Paul really have some expenses totaling $175.19, or was he totally trying to rip Perry off just so he’d have the money for his golf clubs?

I honestly can’t believe Paul would try to cheat Perry like that. Maybe he’d add a random 19 cents, but I can’t believe the $175 wasn’t a real expense.

If Paul really did try to cheat Perry with the whole amount, then Perry taking the money away from him and giving it to Steve is perfectly fine in my book. But if, as I originally thought, Paul had an actual expense and Perry was just refusing to pay up, then the epilogue still annoys me. I suppose the interpretation is up to each viewer to determine.

Overall, The Vanishing Victim never will be a favorite episode of mine. The war between Perry and Hamilton would work better in season 1 than season 9, but the confusion over the dead man’s identity would be exasperating and bewildering in any season. Pretty much the only things I like are still Perry’s speech to Lisa Gaye’s character, Hamilton’s final comment to the murderer, and Steve being adorable in the epilogue.

In Memoriam: Ray Collins

And so we come to another July 11^th, the anniversary of Ray Collins’ death. The problem of figuring out new things to say remains, but my respect and admiration of this highly talented and warmhearted man persists as well.

Every time we finish another run of Perry and switch to the early episodes, what I look forward to the most is seeing Tragg again. All the other characters seen at the beginning are still there at the end, albeit more mature and wise than they were to start with, but Tragg is very sadly absent. It’s always a joy to see him in the early episodes and hear those hilarious, snarky comments once again.

The first three-ish seasons have that special bond between the Core Five that was never duplicated in later seasons, even when they were together again after the real-life scandal that split the group up. By mid-season 4, when William Talman was finally restored to his rightful place in the cast, Ray Collins’ health was already deteriorating. The search for what to do began in season 4, not 5, as I have noted in another post.

Perhaps in some way, the real-life sorrows that plagued the actors had carried over to the characters at that point. There’s a certain innocence in those early seasons, as though the characters and the actors all think that everything is well and although there are problems to get through, they will all come out just fine in the end. That innocence was shattered for the actors when William Talman was suspended, and only grew worse when Ray’s health began to fail. Naturally, even after the actors and characters were all reunited, they could not fully be the same people they had been in the beginning. While Hamilton had not been suspended in the scripts, and Tragg was still healthy as far as we knew, the actors’ problems and sorrows were new, subtle elements to the characters. The innocence of the early seasons was gone; sometimes things didn’t turn out alright, or when they did, there were still scars left behind.

Tragg, of course, continued to be awesome right up through his final episode, season 7’s The Capering Camera. Always snarky even while he respects Perry, some of Tragg’s most amusing comments were among his last. I think of the scene in The Reluctant Model when Perry receives the call from “a client who no longer wants to be a client.” Tragg’s dry response is, “My heart bleeds for you.” Heh! And his final episode includes the classic scene where Andy comes to him for advice and Tragg suggests that Andy consider Perry his prime suspect and follow him around for a while, if he’s so uncertain that the apparent suicide is really suicide.

Yet even in these scenes, there’s still a definite sense that things are changing. Tragg seems somewhat worn-down in The Reluctant Model; in past seasons, he might have been perkier and cheerier, with some nice comment for Della in specific or some note of goodwill for both of them, despite his annoyance with whatever Perry might be holding back this time. And in The Capering Camera, during that scene where he advises Andy, he’s sitting down at his desk. It also definitely looks like the reins are being turned over to Andy, since he is the one in charge of the case and Tragg is not involved (although he becomes involved later).

Still, they wanted to show that Tragg is still a very active and important member of the police force. He’s very busy at his desk, with plenty to do, and in the majority of his other scenes in the episode, he’s standing up. He gets out in the field and does some investigating and picking up of suspects later on, and the final time we see him, he’s again standing, in the courtroom.

That’s a good memory to take with us of Tragg’s last episode. I still like to picture him carrying on through the remainder of the series, even though we don’t see him onscreen. Ray Collins brought to life such a wonderful, colorful character for us to enjoy and celebrate again and again, and I will continue to do just that.

 

Thank you, Ray, for all the happy memories and each episode that features Lieutenant Arthur Tragg. Ray played many amazing characters in films, but Tragg will always be the most iconic of all of his characters.

Birthday Tribute: Wesley Lau

So today is the great Wesley Lau’s birthday. I watched The Hateful Hero to celebrate, at least for openers, and I’ve been pondering on what sort of original topic I could bring to the post today. I went over all the entries tagged with his name, and to my surprise, I don’t even see any mention of his Virginian characters. He guest-starred on the show three times, twice playing very unusual law enforcement agents.

Wesley’s law enforcement characters are very often similar to Andy, at least on the surface. They are generally very smooth and businesslike in demeanor, but each one is unique in his own way, such as the visionary Captain Gottleib on The Magician.

On The Virginian, Wesley’s first law enforcement character is Sheriff Ben Morris in the season 5 episode Vengeance Trail. He comes across as a not entirely upright fellow, who sanctions and even participates in actions such as burning the surrounding grasslands to force people driving cattle to pass through his town and pay a toll for doing so. Apparently the town is in dire straits and badly needs the toll money.

I don’t remember too much about the episode beyond that, except that for some reason, he and his cohorts were not going to be reported for their actions and were going to keep their jobs. I do seem to recall that towards the end, he either did something upright or else refused to let his comrades take things what he deemed too far. When all is said and done, Morris is honestly trying to do what he feels is best for his town, even if in actuality it isn’t the best thing for either the town or his integrity. But he seems, in some way, to redeem himself by the end. It’s an interesting look at poor Old West towns and what they sometimes resorted to in order to survive.

I remember his character from the season 6 episode The Gentle Tamers far better. He starts out as a mysterious ranch hand who has recently joined the Shiloh crew, just in time to witness a very experimental procedure: three convicts are going to be tried out as ranch hands on the new probation program. If it works out, it could mean important long-term effects for prisoners everywhere.

Wesley’s character, Hoyt, doesn’t seem to like the convicts very much. He’s often mysterious and quiet, and when he does speak, it’s usually in an unfriendly tone of voice, such as seemingly mocking when he accidentally upsets a horse one of them is working with.

Throughout a good portion of the episode, his intentions are not clear. He shadows the convicts when they go into town and eventually ends up in trouble with one of them over a card game back at Shiloh Ranch.

Finally he reveals the full truth about himself: he’s a law enforcement agent undercover to see how the probation idea is coming along. He is deeply against the concept of probation in general, and in a bitterly hurt speech, he reveals why. He used to work at a prison and he saw all kinds of people come through. He never saw anyone that he felt might be worthy of a second chance, except one. But when he tried to give that one the chance, he was betrayed in return. Removing his shirt, he displays the horrific scars of a brutal attack.

Despite how very personal any probation-related case is to him because of that, he is still overall a fair and decent human being. During the climax, the cattle spook and stampede and the convicts have to help round them up. The nastiest one, who had planned to steal the cattle and run, is trampled and killed when he finally tries to do the right thing. The other two, also rounding up the cattle and trying to protect the people, make it through alive. Neither of them had wanted to participate in the other’s unseemly plan. At the end of the episode, Hoyt leaves to report to his superiors. Impressed by the men’s actions, he promises he’ll make a fair report.

Wesley had such an amazing talent throughout his life. He brought characters such as Andy, Sheriff Morris, and Hoyt to life beautifully and made them seem three-dimensional and real. Hoyt, with his gruff exterior, saddening backstory, and honestly good soul, reminds me of a lot of Simon Oakland’s characters. While very different from Andy in a lot of ways, Hoyt’s core fairness and goodness is the same.

Wesley was often asked to play law enforcement characters throughout his career, no doubt because they knew he could deliver. Always excellent, Wesley added a great deal to any show he was cast in, whether that was as a law enforcement agent, military, a common citizen, or a villain. I’m happy to use this day to remember him, although of course, I remember him on every day.

Happy Birthday, Wesley. You are still fondly remembered and loved.

Recurring Characters: Mr. Snell

So. I wasn’t expecting to discover another recurring character. Mr. Snell, Robert Colbert’s district attorney character in The Grinning Gorilla, also appears in The Hasty Honeymooner.

Of course, the end result of that is that Snell really doesn’t come off looking too competent, since he’s the one Perry lobs many legitimate complaints about prejudicial conduct about. And it’s hard to really think of the man otherwise, since this is our only glimpse of him in a courtroom setting. At least poor Hamilton, whose courtroom conduct is very badly written and almost a mirror of Mr. Snell’s in the following episode, The 12^th Wildcat, has many opportunities to show that he is competent and that the writing in The 12^th Wildcat is really a fluke.

When I previously remembered Mr. Snell only from The Grinning Gorilla, I liked him alright. He seemed competent enough, as did the police. I never really understood Perry screaming “Entrapment!”, since all they did was wait to see if their suspect would come retrieve the check she had previously hidden in the squad car. They didn’t induce her to commit a crime she was otherwise unlikely to commit, which is the definition of entrapment. I suppose it’s a bit of a gray area, but it seemed perfectly fine to me. But in any case, Mr. Snell mentioned having a word with the police about the incident.

It seems like Robert Colbert had a bit of an unlucky streak with his recurring characters. He was also the one unfortunately chosen by Warner Brothers to basically replace the Bret Maverick character after Roger Moore quit the series, citing low-quality scripts for his Beau Maverick character. (While Beau is actually my favorite Maverick, I do have to agree with Roger that the scripts were rather below par, for the most part.) Robert ended up playing a character called Brent Maverick, a third brother to Bret and Bart. In his dress, speech pattern, and mannerisms, as well as his similar name, he was clearly meant to be another Bret. He was aware of this, too, giving the famous quote that he would rather have to cross-dress than do what Warner Brothers wanted of him. The character went over about as well as expected, disappearing after two episodes.

I wonder if they were planning to use Mr. Snell for more than two episodes? I suppose it’s possible that if they had, they would have used the character more favorably, as they did in The Grinning Gorilla. It’s hard to say, since their track record with writing for the prosecutors was up and down. And in season 9, which often wanted to go back to being season 1, there were several very bad “down” ventures.

I would say that it’s interesting in any case to use a recurring character in two different seasons, and only two seasons (unlike more frequent visitors D.A. Hale and Sergeant Landro), but I’ve heard that seasons 8 and 9 were filmed as though they were one big season, a thought which the production numbers back up. Also, it isn’t the first time Perry brings back characters seemingly at random in different seasons. Deputy D.A. Alvin appeared twice in season 4, then disappeared until he very randomly showed up again in season 6. Likewise, Detective Toland of Robbery made appearances in two separate seasons, albeit unlike Alvin, those were consecutive (6 and 7, I believe). It’s kind of neat to see the cast and crew remember these characters sometime after their original appearances.

Double Birthday Post!

I wanted to post this on one of the in-between days so it would seem more evenly balanced, but it didn’t work out that way. Ah, work. So, Happy Birthday to Raymond Burr and Lee Miller!

I still find it fascinating and intriguing that they were born the same year, only three days apart: Lee on the 18^th, Raymond on the 21^st. They had such a lasting connection through the years, with Lee serving as Raymond’s stand-in for both Perry and Ironside and appearing on-screen in both series as well as in the first Perry movie. They must have had a very special friendship. That’s an angle I wish we knew more about.

Apparently they must have met even before Perry, since Lee appeared in Raymond’s film Please Murder Me. I wonder if that was their first meeting or if they knew each other before that as well?

I watched The Candy Queen several weeks ago and somehow mistakenly got it in my head that Sergeant Brice was the one who snapped at the apartment manager about getting towels. I was surprised to think of it being him, as he’s such a quiet sort. Watching the episode again tonight, I saw that it wasn’t him, but the uniformed officer bending over Wanda. That made more sense.

Of course, had it been Brice, he would have just been worried about Wanda’s condition, as the other officer was. But I think out of all the main police characters, Brice is the only one who actually never so much as snapped or lost his temper. He’s always easy-going and observant, the quiet one in the background.

Naturally, now I’ve talked myself into the idea of a story where Brice is pushed to losing his temper. That would be a very frightening and heartbreaking thing, as it would take something extremely serious to make Brice snap, perhaps one of the other policemen being hurt right in front of him by a heartless criminal. Everything would be alright in the end, but what a ride to get there.

I haven’t forgotten my idea of wanting to do a story to show more Brice and Della interaction, either. And I think it would be fun to also have more Brice and Perry interaction. I love the scenes they have together, which are more plentiful in the later seasons. Brice is open with information where he can be and would probably say more if not for his superiors’ objections.

It’s interesting, too, to see them standing next to each other. You can definitely see the similarities in build and how easy it must have been for Lee to serve as Raymond’s stand-in. I wonder what scenes he was in instead of Raymond? I suppose that information is down somewhere or some fan has spent time observing things closely enough to tell when it’s Lee.

I also wonder what prompted them to decide to let the police lieutenants have a steady partner instead of continually having different ones. It’s certainly more logical for there to be a steady one. And I wonder how Lee got chosen? Perhaps because he was already on the payroll and they didn’t feel they could hire someone else at that point, and then his portrayal was so great that they left it at that, even if they could have hired someone else later.

It’s always nice to see Sergeant Brice accompany the lieutenant, whichever one it is. Even as they change, Brice is always there, a bit of lasting familiarity.

And of course, Perry is the perfect leading man for the series. Another great decision by Erle Stanley Gardner was to cast Raymond as Perry, especially after Raymond had actually auditioned for Hamilton’s part! It’s almost impossible for me to imagine the roles reversed, but I would really love to see footage from those auditions. I wish they had included those screen tests on the anniversary set.

I’ve delivered a great deal of praise for Raymond’s portrayal of Perry in past posts, so it’s a bit difficult to think of something new. But the series certainly would have been something much different without Raymond at the helm. I wonder if it even would have been anywhere as successful. There are many brilliant actors who could have attempted to carry the show, but Raymond was just so ideal as Perry. And not only that, but he helped to make the set such a happy place, including everyone and considering them part of the Perry family. Not every actor would have done that.

One of the things Richard mentions in his book is a failed pilot for a series that he and Raymond would have both appeared in. It’s a pity the pilot didn’t get picked up, although on the other hand, I believe he said it was right around the time that CBS was putting together the Perry series. If the pilot had been picked up, I wonder where that would have left Perry? Interesting, how things turn out.

So here’s to Raymond and Lee, and to their special friendship. They both made the series so memorable in their own, unique ways.

Richard Anderson's book!

For the past afternoon, I have done something I have wanted to do ever since the rumors started circling a couple of years ago.

I have delightedly devoured Richard’s book.

It’s a fascinating treasure trove of anecdotes from throughout Richard’s amazing life, covering early experiences, the golden days of Hollywood, and of course, the television series that Richard has become so famous for. As near as I can tell, it’s transcribed directly from the interviews with Alan Doshna. I can hear Richard’s voice in my mind, narrating every page like it’s a cozy fireside visit with friends. He’s every bit the warm, friendly, and charming person I’ve pictured him to be.

While I wish the book was longer and that the sections on especially Perry were more detailed, it’s a wonderful read that every classic movie and television buff should pick up. And there are some great little anecdotes about working on Perry. He has nothing but lovely things to say about everyone.

I don’t want to detail any of the contents of the book, as I want everyone to go out and get one for themselves, but there are a couple of little tidbits I want to point out. (Get the book to read the details.)

- Erle Stanley Gardner liked Richard’s portrayal of Steve Drumm. While I don’t agree with many of Mr. Gardner’s decisions, this is certainly one I’m thrilled about.

- Richard indicated that perhaps he would have liked to play Steve in the reunion movie. He was very pleased with the part he got, but it definitely sounded like it wasn’t his decision to not play Steve in it.

It’s really a treasure to have something available from one of the only surviving members of the steady Perry cast, not to mention, someone who experienced so much of Hollywood during the classic days. It’s really intriguing and exciting to hear about all the people he met and the ones he struck up friendships with. To top it off, there are many beautiful pictures from Richard’s personal collection! I love seeing shots of Richard through the years in some of his assorted and very unique roles.

The book is available here: http://www.bearmanormedia.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=802 as well as on Amazon. I wonder if Richard will be doing any book-signings or promotions? I wish he’d come to my area!

The Summer of Me: Perry is safe, but schedule is underused

Well, MeTV’s summer information is in, and I must say, for drama fans who were hoping for something new on the schedule, this is probably the dullest Summer of Me they’ve had. They’re getting rid of a couple of their dramas to make way for some more comedies. The only real changes on the schedule are that Star Trek is leaving the weekday schedule to make way for a double dose of Emergency!, CHiPs is being booted in order for Gilligan’s Island and Hogan’s Heroes to move up on the schedule, and the evening comedy block is changing every weeknight. Most of the shows in the evening block are changing; most are comedies being switched out for other comedies, with the exception of The Twilight Zone, which they’re taking away again. 

Those are literally the only schedule changes I can see. Thankfully, nothing affects either showing of Perry. And interestingly, the Mystery Movie is staying. I wonder if they’ll possibly add some other detectives to the line-up, though.

I also wonder why they keep messing with The Twilight Zone. Not only is it a consistently popular series in general, but it’s made it to the final rounds of their Me Madness twice in a row now. Obviously people want it. So why on Earth not let them have it?

It would seem that MeTV doesn’t want to listen to their fanbase. It took them a year to get Star Trek on more than once a week, even though it won last year’s Me Madness. Now they’re already sending it packing to once a week again. Not to mention, they can’t even add one drama but instead have to let one of their existing shows get a two-hour block? And The Twilight Zone has bounced on and off their schedule so much in the last couple of years it’s dizzying.

The only other explanation I can think of for at least part of what they’re doing is that their Me Madness is not an accurate representation of the entire fanbase, which is what I’ve felt for a long time. If so, why even do it? Just as a gimmick, I suppose. I had thought maybe they were using it to figure out what the fans liked best. While they keep some of that in mind, it doesn’t seem like they keep all of it in mind.

I’m glad both Perry showings are staying right where they are. But I’m really disappointed that they’re not adding anything other than more comedies. Usually they try to have a mixture of genres represented. I look forward to their seasonal changes each time, hoping for returning favorites or new favorites. Usually there’s something I’m excited about. But I can’t find myself too chuffed about Laverne and Shirley, Happy Days, and even more of The Brady Bunch than they already show. Also, they’re doing their evening comedy block as a two-hour thing. That’s four episodes of one single show every weeknight. I thought at least they’d do two episodes of one and two of another.

Overall, this seems like a very uncreative and wasteful way to run a summer schedule.

This isn’t the 300^th blog post I expected to write, either. But we can certainly celebrate Perry’s continuing presence on MeTV. That’s an exciting and pleasing thing.

The Telltale Talk Show Host

I’m really glad The Telltale Talk Show Host didn’t involve a scandal sheet program and lots of obscene comments. That was what I initially thought and worried it was. But instead, the titular character was nasty in other ways. Putting everybody on at night? Ugh!

I was surprised they had to continue sticking to the nighttime schedule even after he was killed. I thought his replacement would surely put things back in a logical order.

It was interesting that we saw the infamous meeting of the five radio personalities and the unknown person, presumably for the purpose of arranging a murder. Hence, it wasn’t really a surprise when it was revealed that was pretty much what was going on, only one of the five got itchy when the private detective didn’t do anything and decided to hire an assassin instead. I was slightly surprised at the one it was, but then again, since it seemed all along it had to be one of those five, it wasn’t a huge surprise.

The Judith person made my blood curdle. She clearly didn’t like the defendant, although I don’t recall what she had against her. According to one of the others, the defendant wasn’t popular at the station. Obviously not, since she wasn’t invited to the meeting and was instead framed for the murder.

The two obnoxious guys were . . . well, obnoxious and annoying. Their first stunt was downright disgusting. The second was somewhat amusing, since I assume what they were giving away were all those balloons they were blowing up. The other radio personalities I didn’t have much of an opinion on.

It was interesting that the frame-up against the defendant included a tape recording from the dead man, which the police figured had been crafted by the defendant to give herself an alibi, making it look like she was talking to the deceased on the phone right before the gunshots came. That plot was used in The Midnight Howler episode, with the talk show host really being guilty instead of being framed.

The female police officer certainly was cocky. It didn’t seem like her experience with that horrible hitman/pimp tempered her attitude any. When she first appeared, I wasn’t even sure she was really a policewoman. She gave off a serious vibe of someone who thinks she’s cool but isn’t. It was a very cheesy scene, from the bad dialogue to the sunglasses. I was relieved when that didn’t persist, although her attitude certainly did. Nevertheless, I didn’t want her killed, and the movie certainly threw in a deliberate scare by breaking for commercial right when it looked like she was dead.

Poor Ken; I felt really bad for him, feeling like her disappearance was all his fault. I’m glad she was alive for Ken’s sake as well as her own. And of course, I found it nice that it didn’t end up romantic yet again. That gets so old when the character is only there for one movie; you can’t really take it seriously.

I wonder why Della was suddenly so obsessed with odd-tasting teas. It was a slightly amusing subplot, although my stomach turned at the thought of some of the flavors.

Of course, the shippers love the ending, and it is sweet, with Della bringing Perry cocoa instead of more tea and he says he hasn’t had that since he was a boy and he’s been waiting a long time. It would seem that he means that in a double way, as he leans in and kisses her. Certainly the most blatantly shippery moment in any of the movies, I imagine.

This movie also boasts one of the creepiest opening scenes, with someone breaking into the defendant’s house, whispering her name in an eerie way, and then leaving that disgusting mannequin with a grotesque mask long enough for her to see it hanging there in a noose.

Also, may I say I liked that she was wearing pajamas. Modern things so often look for any way possible to be suggestive and it’s much more usual to see women in seductive lingerie than pajamas. If they want to wear things like that, that’s their business, but it gets eye-rolling when you know it’s only being put in something to make it suggestive. Conservative pajamas seemed to fit that character’s personality better than revealing lingerie would.

Overall, I did enjoy the movie, although it isn’t one of my top favorites. I wonder if there are any left now other than the four they made without Perry. I also wonder if they plan to show those. I don’t really have an interest in them, although I would like to see Della and Ken in them. I’m still appalled those movies were made at all. Greedy, greedy, unbelievable people, thinking they could keep Perry movies going without Perry! I wonder what Barbara Hale thought about it.

It seems that MeTV should be getting ready to announce their summer lineup soon. I’ll honestly be surprised if they keep the Mystery Movie feature during the summer. It would be nice if they would, but I wonder how many things are left for them to show among the series they’ve been rotating.

I wish they’d show some old television movies, like maybe the two movies that introduced The Bold Ones: The Lawyers or police movies like Crosscurrent or fun disaster movies like Skyway to Death. I remember seeing the latter on television once; it’s a really good movie with quite a few MeTV veterans in it.

In any case, it’s been another fun week of Perry movies. It’s been enjoyable watching them all, and hopefully I can get around to seeing the ones I either missed or have around here but haven’t ever watched yet.

Also, the next post after this will be the 300^th post. I shall have to try to make it momentous!

The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal

The Skin-Deep Scandal is an interesting installment.

I’m not sure what Della’s doing fishing; she never liked it during the television series, as specifically mentioned in at least one episode (The Scarlet Scandal). She could have decided she liked it later on in life, or maybe she was bored and decided to give it a try and had beginner’s luck, but more likely, the writers didn’t know about her preferences and just thought they’d throw it in as a gag that she caught fish and the guys didn’t. It’s cliché, but admittedly amusing.

I see Ken got a haircut. I liked how pretty and long his hair was before. I’m a sucker for soft hair, and the more of it there is, the softer it is!

I’m glad that they didn’t extend the scene of Morgan Fairchild’s nasty character Alana hanging out with her lover. I wonder whether the scene really cut off there or if MeTV just made a cut there. It looked a little like an unnatural cut when it moved to the next scene. Either way, it was perfectly welcome.

It was immediately clear that Alana would be the murder victim as soon as she appeared and started being a jerk to everyone she came in contact with, but I was confused over who would be the defendant. Sometimes they make that just as clear, but this time it was murky until after she was dead and her poor husband was implicated.

I liked him; something about him reminded me of Joseph Campanella as he appears in the 1990s and 2000s. Poor guy, being married to such a nasty person and still loving her. He’s either really stupid or else he saw some decency in her. And he doesn’t seem stupid.

And for once we have a girl who does not become a girlfriend! P.I. Lauren Kent is one nasty cookie from the moment she meets Ken. It’s kind of fun to watch them try to work together, especially since there’s no romantic attraction. But she gets even nastier when she reveals to the audience that she’s not working alone, but for the murderer, and she’s willing to become an accessory by leading Ken out so he can be killed. She gets her just desserts when the murderer decides to kill her instead.

The murderer, by the way, is totally off his nut. It is very sad that he loved Alana so much and she just used him all over the place. But for him to decide she has to die, and still say he loves her in court, he can’t be a very sane man. He knows what love is? Um, yeah, I doubt it. I’d say in reality it’s the defendant who knows what love is.

I figured Alana’s age thing was just a fraud to get publicity, so I wasn’t too surprised when that was the case. But apparently, according to her chemist, the Ingenue formula really did work and just wasn’t ready. If they knew it worked, I have to wonder why they’d have to release a version that didn’t work. It seems more like the murderer just wasn’t making sense again.

Lieutenant Brock was fun in this movie. I like how congenial he’s become to Perry and Ken. To my remembrance, he did not start out that way when they first started using the character.

The ending of the movie just made me raise an eyebrow. Perry and Ken are so jealous of Della catching all the fish last time that they decide they’re going to tie her up and leave her like that all day long? To me that goes beyond a simple tease and is getting pretty nasty and mean. But then again, I’ve never liked teasing in general and I often think Perry’s (and Della’s) teases towards Paul in the series aren’t very nice. From Paul’s reactions, he seems to think so too.

Along those lines, I did finally see the missing epilogue to The Vanishing Victim episode, and it made me just as annoyed as I figured it would. Maybe Perry was trying to teach Paul to give some money to charity instead of spending it all on himself, but I really don’t think he had a right at all to just grab the check and give it to Steve when Paul just thought Perry was letting him have it. The only thing I liked about the scene was getting to see more Steve.

But anyway. This movie has some interesting scenes, and I liked that this time the token girl wasn’t a love interest, but overall I didn’t like it as much as I’ve liked some others.

The Case of the Desperate Deception

I really, really loved The Desperate Deception.

I’ve mentioned before how much I tend to enjoy the topical episodes of the series, even though some people think they shouldn’t exist or that they’re too dated. This particular movie, with its plot of escaped war criminals in Paris and the defendant undergoing a court-martial, reminds me of three favorite Perry episodes: The Misguided Missile, The Renegade Refugee, and A Place Called Midnight. The court-martial proceedings are The Misguided Missile parallel, the war criminal mystery is reminiscent of The Renegade Refugee, and Perry in Europe reminds me of A Place Called Midnight.

The plot was so intense all the way through. It was sickening when that poor woman was run down at the beginning, but I was relieved it was done very tastefully and didn’t actually show the impact.

I rather quite loved the cloak-and-dagger goings-on. That sort of thing is always fun for me to see, being a fan of spy-related things. I also really enjoyed the court-martial proceedings, since I actually like the military episodes of the series.

And yikes, the guy being shot in the spa while the defendant is there talking to him . . . definitely brazen and unexpected!

The scene where the defendant’s mother flashes back to the horror of what happened to her and her family as a child was heart-rending. I wasn’t expecting to see any of what happened and figured it would just be told without any flashbacks.

I sort of wondered if it would turn out that the guy thought to be the worst monster of the death camp would end up not being him. It was a very cleverly done twist.

I was surprised and displeased that Della was barely in the movie and didn’t even get to go to Paris with Perry and Ken. I’m sure she would have loved it there and I thought for sure she’d be there. I wondered for most of the movie if Barbara Hale had some reason why she wasn’t able to be in the movie more often. But by the end, things made sense. It had to be the way it was for the sake of the plot and the final solution to the mystery.

I’ll admit I suspected that guy, as I usually do tend to suspect the friends these days. But when the Nazi war criminal was revealed to be the head of the supposed Nazi hunting organization and still very much alive, I figured he was the Big Bad.

The friend’s confession on the stand, especially his membership in the pro-Nazi organization, was very chilling. Standing up and yelling in German, his true colors revealed, was a powerful scene. I really loved counter-posing that with the defendant reuniting with his mother as he’s exonerated. I also loved that the tribunal allowed him to help his mother out of the courtroom after her painful testimony, even though he hadn’t yet been exonerated at that point.

And we had another girlfriend of the movie. I was really hoping this movie would be free of that trope since the defendant’s girlfriend seemed to be the main female presence. But then the daughter of the murdered woman was brought in and of course she had to be Ken’s newest interest.

I am coming to really love how the television series showed Paul’s interest in the ladies without making it a significant plot point in nearly every single episode.

Admittedly, these two had some interesting interaction. But it really rather annoyed me when she flipped out on Ken and that’s what caused the picture to be stolen. I understand why she was angry, and can appreciate the why, but still, it seemed to me that she should have already realized and not have gotten that upset that he felt he had to address every possible angle of the case. It’s not like they even knew each other that well; under the circumstances, it was quite an extreme reaction to him asking if she could have killed the guy she believed had killed her mother. Characters that flip out on the love interest without letting them explain and (either deliberately or inadvertently) cause disaster to happen because of it tend to irritate me. It’s a good thing that Perry had the foresight to make copies. And at least she didn’t stay mad long. It was kind of cute when she was immediately worried about Ken after the attack.

I think what I found the most interesting about her was that after living in France for so many years, she considered it her home and herself French. There aren’t a lot of those types of characters in Perry media. I actually think it would be interesting to read little stories of her experiences in France and how and why she came to love it so much.

I really liked the investigating officer who was accompanying Perry and Ken and was gathering evidence for the prosecution. He was friendly and nice and reminded me a lot of Captain McVey in The Misguided Missile.

Even though Della didn’t have a lot of screentime, what she did have was priceless. Her telephone conversations with Perry were gold. “Bad, bad, bad.” I loved how Perry blossomed on the phone with her and then was back to serious mode when he hung up.

Despite my general annoyance with another girlfriend of the movie subplot, I was amused by the movie’s end. Ken getting in the cab just wanting a goodbye kiss and the driver suddenly pealing out of there before Perry can get in was unexpected and amusing. Hopefully Ken realized what was happening after a moment and got the driver to turn around and go back for Perry. And meanwhile, we did get to hear Perry sing at least a couple of lines of a song.

Overall, this is probably one of my most favorites of the movies. It hearkened back to a lot of things I enjoyed in the series and was very intense and powerful. Really a well-done entry.