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Hi Mike, did you review Harry-O somewhere before? Or maybe it was just an episode guide. But I thought you had it tucked away somewhere.
Season 1 is currently on YouTube. I watched a few episodes and was pleasantly surprised at what a good show it was. Cancelled way too soon while lesser shows stayed on the air far longer.
I bought the whole series of Harry O from Warner Archive many years ago, including the one pilot episode that was not included in the box sets. I watched the whole thing, but I didn't like it much. It is an example of how a network can totally fuck up a show by retooling it to death, and then cancelling it (see the Wikipedia article -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_O).
In his book Murder on the Air, Ric Meyers devotes a whole chapter to this show. (I reprinted Meyers' chapter on Five-O with permission, it's on my main page.) Like Ironside, I did reviews of a couple of the shows, which you can see here -- https://mjq.net/harryo/.
Mike, when you say you didn’t like it much do you mean the later “retooled” episodes (with Anthony Zerbe)? Or the show as a whole? The early episodes (with Henry Darrow) are really good! I haven’t really seen the later episodes yet. But I think this show was as good as any crime drama from the 70s. Not better than Five-O obviously ;)
I think "I watched the whole thing, but I didn't like it much" is pretty clear.
What about Harry-O didn’t appeal to you? Is it David Janssen or the stories?
I know I tried to check out a few episodes of The Fugitive a while ago and I couldn’t really get into it. I think Janssen was part of the reason. His really low key and sleepy persona didn’t appeal to me. I found him dull and boring. But here on Harry-O his world-weary persona works and I like his voice-overs and sort of philosophical musings about life. Plus the stories are top-notch too. Well written and acted.
I ordered both DVD sets of Harry O from Warner Archive about 9 years ago and binge-watched them shortly after. I don't remember specifically what "didn't appeal" to me. I think the fact that I didn't want to do a WWW site for the show is significant in some way. I really don't remember much about it. I sold off the sets soon after this.
I see, Mike. How about Rockford Files? Ever think about checking that one out? It’s a 70s classic and pretty much the best PI show ever made! Well written and well acted by everyone (but especially Garner) but don’t expect it to be anything like Five-O. It’s a totally different beast. Actually I think Harry-O is closer to Five-O in tone and the cases that he works on (especially being a former cop himself) so if you didn’t care for it I’m curious to see what you would think of Rockford. I already saw 3 episodes of Harry-O where the killer is a disturbed psycho (something you would normally see on Five-O) and definitely not something you’ll come across on Rockford. So it’s already different in that way.
Nope!Quote:
Originally Posted by ringfire211
Come on, give me a break.
I've been typing for at least 60 years and I have developed carpal tunnel-like symptoms. Watching 123 episodes of Rockford (which would take at least 2/3 of a year, watching and then writing up) I figured would require a LOT of typing.
As well, when watching shows, I now have a tendency to fall asleep in a way I'm not conscious of falling asleep and wake up realizing I missed something (sometimes not!).
It's like a big axe came down and cut out 15, 20 or 30 minutes of the show, it's creepy!
After a LOT of investigating, I finally found what I thought was the medical name of this condition (falling asleep), but when I told my doctor, he said, "No, it's not that." He didn't speculate on what could really be causing this, other than the standard response which is like "That's what happens when you are old."
There are plenty of shows that I have never seen a single episode of. Some people think I should drop everything I'm doing and watch seasons of these shows which go on for years, like NYPD Blues, Hill Street Blues, even M*A*S*H! (I don't think I have ever seen a single episode of any of them.)
One thing I used to consider if I was doing reviews of an entire show was whether someone else had already done this. I think there are plenty of discussion groups and WWW sites for Rockford already. There is no point for me doing reviews of a site which I have never seen and/or don't particularly like.
You should have asked me before 2010 if there was not going to be an H50 reboot which I wasted 10 years of my life doing, maybe I might have considered doing some other show(s) then! I did manage to do some shows during this time frame that I >was< interested in, i.e., Peter Gunn, The Invaders, Streets of San Francisco, Kojak and Mission Impossible (1988).
Mike, you misunderstood me. When I ask about you checking out a show I’m not asking you to do reviews of every single episode. LOL! You said you watched Harry-O before but have never seen a Rockford episode. So I asked if you considered checking it out. Since it’s a well known show from the 70s and you have quite the interest in detective shows from that decade. So watching something does not automatically mean writing a review for it. If I had to review everything I watched I would have quit watching TV a long time ago ;)
Ringfire, I don't think I said that "I have never seen a Rockford episode." Somewhere above I said words to the effect that "I haven't seen any Rockford episodes except for the one involving Elissa." And even then, I dunno if I watched the whole episode, or I only fast-forwarded it to the scenes she was in so I could make screen shots for her WWW page. I dealt with that a long time ago.
I cannot watch TV without my trusty clipboard handy to make notes, you should know this! Maybe there is some obscure connection to H50, after all.
If I had based my opinion of Rockford on the above mentioned episode, that would not be particularly fair, would it? After all, I didn't find it listed in any of the listings of "greatest Rockford episodes ever" that I looked up recently on one of those WWW pages that is already discussing this TV series in depth. One of my criteria for doing reviews (which you don't suggest I should necessarily do) is that no one else has done a review site or no one has done a site in depth. But I am not interested in Rockford, really! And don't go and tell me that such and such is a particular Rockford episode I should see. I don't care!
No worries, Mike. Check it out only if you’re interested. I don’t think there are any Five-O connections that I can think of. Other than guest stars who appeared in both shows. But that’s to be expected. It’s the 70s after all. So if you’re ever interested in checking out an episode here and there feel free to put your clipboard away :)