TV Recaps

Trying to save elephants trapped in an erupting volcano? Sure. My solution worked for my input but not that of other people’s, so let’s try something a little different.

I think I missed a few weeks on my TV recaps. Well, tonight’s is a good one – Mod Squad’s first episode. Set in 1968 (though the novel on which it is based was set in the 50s), Mod Squad follows a mod, a cool cat and a hippie chick as they narc on their friends for Johnny Law. Richard Pryor and a very young Harrison Ford have cameos. ...

I never saw this show on television. But I heard about it. All over – because of its theme. The first time I remember hearing the theme was when I saw “The Blues Brothers” movie for the first time. Duhduh duhduh duhduh DUHduh duhduh duhduh duhduhDUHduh – then the piano comes in, and then the lazy, brassy saxophones. During the end credits, “The Theme from Peter Gunn” was the only title I didn’t recognize. ...

Aside from the famous theme song which tells the story, the American television audience of 1964 never saw the events that drove the ill-fated crew and passengers away from civilization and onto an uncharted densely jungled desert isle. The pilot episode, “Marooned”, tells the whole story, but that’s been lost to the desert sands of time… until now, that is. The WB has the whole thing – the entire run, the 98 regular shows and the unaired pilot. So for the very first time perhaps in forty years… a recap of the very first episode of Gilligan’s Island. ...

Hulu’s most enduring legacy may well turn out to be the treasure trove of classic American television from the 50s, 60s and 70s that tell tales of a world far different than ours. I loved Irwin Allen’s kid-friendly science fiction shows; Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and the effervescent Land of the Giants. I hadn’t seen Land of the Giants since I was a kid. Hulu has the complete run. I’m happy to present after only 42 years, a recap of the pilot episode, “The Crash”. ...