The latest MeTV Perry news

Happy Halloween!

I was a bit surprised when I turned on the television and discovered not The Envious Editor, but The Glamorous Ghost. But it only took me a minute to realize that it was not MeTV screwing up; it was their attempt at a Halloween celebration.

To my pleasure, The Envious Editor will show on Friday. I would be very irritated indeed if we were not getting our full showing of Deputy D.A. Sampson goodness on this round.

Actually, aside from the title and that eerie opening scene with the girl in white, torn clothes in the park, The Glamorous Ghost has little to nothing to do with anything related to Halloween or spooky subjects. I think a better choice would have been The Fatal Fetish, The Fatal Fortune, or The Wrathful Wraith!

MeTV is going to be celebrating Halloween all day and night and it’s going to be awesome. For Perry fans on October 31st, The Meddling Medium will air in the morning and The Dodging Domino at night. (One of these days I am so going to write a Perry story about a masquerade party. That title always makes me think that episode should have been about one.) Also, there will be a nice, creepy Ironside episode about a weird house.

Speaking of Ironside, Barbara Hale’s guest appearance will broadcast on Monday, November 4^th! That will definitely be something delightful for Perry fans to tune in for. I haven’t seen that episode before and am greatly looking forward to it. There should also be another episode with Richard Anderson coming up pretty soon, but I haven’t located it on the schedule yet. Actually, I’m a bit worried that they’re going to skip it, especially since they seem to have already skipped one early season 5 episode.

And MeTV’s movies have been all over the place lately. Following the second Columbo movie, they skipped around to show a Diagnosis Murder movie and then the pilot for Vega$. (I find it both clever and ridiculous at the same time that they use the dollar sign for the S.) November will continue in the same vein, with movies for The Mod Squad and The Andy Griffith Show on the first two Fridays.

However, we’re going to get another Perry movie on the third Friday in November! The Glass Coffin will broadcast on the 15th. Hmm, even though it’s about magicians, it’s such a creepy title and object that perhaps they should have scheduled it for this Friday instead!

You know, when it comes to the Perry Halloween episodes, one oddity I was recently thinking about is that James Forrest plays the murder victim in both The Meddling Medium and The Dodging Domino. And it gets weirder. Both characters are named Philip/Phil and both are rather obnoxious. But while Philip Paisley seems to have no particular redeeming qualities, Phil Schuyler does at least get a kick out of Halloween and wants to have things fun for the kids. And he’s a bit more amusing instead of just outright obnoxious (although some of his lines are cheesy as heck). I always feel kind of sad that he gets killed.

Both characters are also murdered in unusually brutal and cruel ways: Philip Paisley in the falling elevator and Phil Schuyler with an electric heater in the bathtub. Yikes.

And regarding actors from The Dodging Domino, I should do a spotlight on Robert H. Harris sometime. He pops up all over the place too, including in several Perry episodes. I’ve been running across him a lot lately.