Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-03-09 (Saturday)

On 3/10/2024 10:29 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:

On 3/10/2024 9:49 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

The Twilight Zone S3E27 'Person or Persons Unknown' - DVR
David Gurney wakes up with a hangover, but that's the least of his problems.  (Comcast)
Paying homage to It's a Wonderful Life (1946), David Gurney wakes up to another ordinary day. Except today, nobody knows who he is including his own wife Wilma.  (IMDb)
Trivia: One of the first instances on television to show a couple sharing a single bed, sleeping next to each other. Around this time, TV shows could only portray couples sleeping in separate beds due to television's strict standards & practices. In season five's Stopover in a Quiet Town (1964), a very similar situation occurs. In both cases, the man is sleeping on top of the covers, is still fully dressed (even wearing his shoes), and they are hung over from a bout of heavy drinking.
The two phone numbers Richard Long calls are Klondike 5-2131 and Klondike 5-3472 and may be the first 555 numbers used in television history.
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 I don't really remember this one.  But I think 80s Twilight Zone had one or two episodes with a similar plot.
 

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The Twilight Zone S3E28 'The Little People' - DVR
A space traveler finds an Earth-like civilization the size of ants. (Comcast)
On a desolate planet, two astronauts discover an entire society populated by incredibly small beings. One of the astronauts decides to rule the society as a god.
Trivia: The rocket launch depicted was in reality a test flight of a Mercury-Atlas booster. This was quite timely; this episode aired about a month after NASA's John Glenn became the first astronaut to attain Earth orbit upon such a rocket.
The weapons and giants' uniforms were reused from Forbidden Planet (1956).
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 One of the more memorable episodes.
 

The Twilight Zone S3E29 'Four O'Clock' - DVR
An obsessed Oliver Crangle (Theodore Bikel) tells an FBI agent that a drastic transformation will take place on all the evil people in the world.  (Comcast)
A very obsessed man wants to expose evil in the world, investigating people he sees as murderers, subversives, perverts and communists, then attempting to ruin their lives.  (IMDb)
Credit:  Parrot     ...     Parrot (uncredited)    with a link to https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10455435/ giving four credits in 'The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), Adam-12 (1972), Gilligan's Island (four episodes, 1964-1966) with this TZ episode as its first credit.
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 This wasn't a good one.
 

The Twilight Zone S3E30 'Hocus Pocus & Frisby' - DVR
Mr. Frisby impresses quite a few people with his vivid imagination. (Comcast)
A rural gas station attendant given to telling tall tales about himself is kidnapped by aliens who believe him to be one of Earth's leading intellects.  (IMDb)

  I'm trying to remember the twist on this one, or was being captured by aliens the twist?
 

Frisby's "playing" the harmonica is deadly to the aliens and is key to his escape.

Trivia: Having been born on October 16, 1879, Clem Bevans (Pete) was the earliest-born actor to appear on the series. This was also his final credited role.
Another episode where the Twilight zone benefited from MGM's large amount of stock props. The domed device on the alien craft is the 'astrogator' from Forbidden Planet (1956). The cruiser C-57-D's steps are also used in the ship.
At 21:20 the console seen on the alien spacecraft is the same one used at times in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964)'s headquarters as Mr. Waverly's overseas relay communicator console.
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What Did You Watch?
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  I watched:
  Elsbeth (CBS) New murder mystery about a quirky detective (I mean lawyer) named Monk, I mean Mrs. Columbo, I mean Elsbeth, who notices things other people don't notice and helps police solve crimes whether they want the help or not.  First up she solves the murder of a young actress by noticing she used two spaces instead of one when she typed her suicide note, and noting only old people use two spaces.  Wait, a minute, *I* use two spaces when I type!  And I'm *not* old!  I had *no* idea when I watched but according to Wiki this is a spin off of "The Good Wife" and "The Good Fight" two shows I never watched before.  Now I'm wishing I didn't know it was a spin-off because I'm going to assume there's a lot of background stuff going on that I'm missing.
  Ghosts - "Halloween 3: The Guest Who Wouldn't Leave" - The character of "Flower" was written out this season.  I don't know if was a mutual decision or what, but they have been talking about her nonstop all season.  This episode had a lot of subplots but the main plot was probably an attempt to contact flower via seance which can only be done on Halloween.  In the other plot Pete's annoying widow Carol shows up for a party and dies on the property so now her ghosts is there too. But at first no one knows she's dead not even Carol who doesn't realize she died and sense Sam can see dead people...wackiness ensues.
  Family Guy - "Cabin Pressure" - This new episode aired on Wednesday.  I guess they changed their air date.  Anyway Peter takes his entire neighborhood with him on vacation.  What cold go wrong?
  Rustin (Netflix) biopic about 60s civil rights leader Baynard Rustin. Colman Domingo got an Oscar nomination so I had to watch.  It was OK. Only one movie left to watch before the show and I will have watched every major nominated movie/performance.
  

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I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky dirty old man.