I started watching the recent doc series on the Yogurt Shop Murders, a still-unsolved and disturbing crime. The organization seems a bit chaotic, but I think (I'm only one ep in) they may be trying to get away from the usual tropes of true crime series, which either organize things into an overly-simple narrative or (I'm looking at you, The Keepers) string you along with a bunch of interesting but dubious leads that only muddy the waters while ignoring less interesting, but more plausible, directions.
Amusing detail: the lead detective was a burly bald guy named.... John Jones.
We're also seeing the Pee-Wee Herman doc. I hadn't known much about Paul Reubens's history and artistic involvements prior to becoming Pee-Wee Herman. In the early 70s, he belonged to a comedy troupe that included Laraine Newman, her sister Tracy (a significant writer/producer), and Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson. He also did something that would be impossible in the era of social media. He was out of the closet and living as an openly gay man in the early 70s-- and then he returned to the closet for years in order to keep the stigma from affecting his career.
THE RESIDENCE: Finished Wednesday S2, moved on to The Residence, one of Tracy's picks. I hadn't heard of it, but I'd describe the "high concept" as a mash-up between West Wing and Only Murders in the Building. I'd reccommend it to fans of either one of those shows, and especially to those who like both.
Jeff of Earth-J > Jeff of Earth-JSeptember 14, 2025 at 11:45am
Finished watching this last night. Wow. Reallygoodshow! Because this is a comedy, I felt a little funny about describing it as "a mash-up between West Wing and Only Murders in the Building, but I'm prepared to double down on that. I do have one caveat, not a "spoiler" really (at least not for this show): it casually gives away the end of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express in the same way Charles Schulz used to casually give away the ending of Citizen Kane. So, if you don't know the ending of Murder on the Orient Express (and care about it), then you should read the book or watch either of the movie versions first. I can't say any more without giving something away. Just watch the TRAILER.
I ran across the pilot episode of I Dream of Jeannie, "The Lady in the Bottle." This was when producers allowed themselves to be more creative with pilot episode titles; the average pilot episode today is given the boring descriptive name "Pilot."
In the I Dream of Jeannie pilot, U.S. Air Force Captain Tony Nelson is sent into space orbit but his rocket malfunctions and crash lands on a deserted island near the "bottle" of Jeannie. He uses rocks and debris to spell out "S.O.S." Upon finding the bottle, he opens it and Jeannie, the genie, emerges in a puff of pink smoke.
Oh, yeah -- although the first season of the show was filmed in black and white, the one I watched just now was colorized. When I watched these when I was a kid, my family was cursed with having a black-and-white TV, so it wouldn't have made a difference to me anyway.
There's a language barrier between Tony and the fully formed Jeannie because she emerges speaking Persian. When Tony wishes she could speak English, then she can. He then wishes for a helicopter, and after some awkward pantomime, one from NASA comes by and he is rescued. Unfortunately, they don't explore the island; maybe they might have found the seven castaways from the S.S. Minnow. (But I digress.)
Tony releases Jeannie from any obligation to him and tells he she can't come along, but this declaration makes Jeannie resolve that she must be his servant. She stows the bottle away in his gear and emerges later at his home in Cocoa Beach, Florida, there to cause him any number of wacky troubles over the next five seasons.
I Dream of Jeannie was NBC's answer to ABC's Bewitched. In Bewitched (pilot episode title: "I, Darrin, Take This Witch, Samantha"), it begins with paying scant attention to the courthship of Darrin and Samantha and jumps right into their married life. Only after they are wed does Samantha reveal to Darrin she is a witch (shades of Barry Allen not telling Iris he was The Flash after they were married). Thus, it was never really clear to me why Samantha even wanted to be with Darrin, because he was such a stick-in-the-mud, married to a hot blonde but insisting that she be a dowdy housewife.
Now, on I Dream of Jeannie, Tony had a hot blonde who was constantly throwing herself at him. When Jeannie was at Tony's home, she takes a shower while his fiancée -- a general's daughter, no less -- comes to visit. When Jeannie emerges from the bedroom clad only in one of Tony's shirts -- hotcha! She made the fiancée look like Miss Hathaway from The Beverly Hillbillies.
I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched are two fantasy sitcoms that absolutely could not be made today. But it was nice to crawl into the W.A.B.A.C. Machine for a moment and relive it.
(We give I Dream of Jeannie a thorough going-over in the ever-popular thread "Military Sitcoms," Part Four, starting on page 10.)
Richard Willis > ClarkKent_DCSeptember 14, 2025 at 10:01pm
Going through the "Military Sitcoms" thread, the only thing I saw that wasn't covered was the fact that CPT/MAJ Nelson lived in a house. If he was married, the service would see that he and his wife had a stateside home, on or off the base. As a bachelor, he would probably be assigned to the Bachelor Officers Quarters (B.O.Q.), unless being an astronaut gave him special privileges.
JD DeLuzio > Richard WillisSeptember 14, 2025 at 10:23pm
Being in a 60s sitcom gave him special privileges. Sort of like how marines from Camp Henderson never had to go to Vietnam. I'm not certain any of them had even heard of Vietnam.
Replies
I started watching the recent doc series on the Yogurt Shop Murders, a still-unsolved and disturbing crime. The organization seems a bit chaotic, but I think (I'm only one ep in) they may be trying to get away from the usual tropes of true crime series, which either organize things into an overly-simple narrative or (I'm looking at you, The Keepers) string you along with a bunch of interesting but dubious leads that only muddy the waters while ignoring less interesting, but more plausible, directions.
Amusing detail: the lead detective was a burly bald guy named.... John Jones.
We're also seeing the Pee-Wee Herman doc. I hadn't known much about Paul Reubens's history and artistic involvements prior to becoming Pee-Wee Herman. In the early 70s, he belonged to a comedy troupe that included Laraine Newman, her sister Tracy (a significant writer/producer), and Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson. He also did something that would be impossible in the era of social media. He was out of the closet and living as an openly gay man in the early 70s-- and then he returned to the closet for years in order to keep the stigma from affecting his career.
HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU returns tonight.
College Football: Kansas vs Mizzou
THE RESIDENCE: Finished Wednesday S2, moved on to The Residence, one of Tracy's picks. I hadn't heard of it, but I'd describe the "high concept" as a mash-up between West Wing and Only Murders in the Building. I'd reccommend it to fans of either one of those shows, and especially to those who like both.
Finished watching this last night. Wow. Really good show! Because this is a comedy, I felt a little funny about describing it as "a mash-up between West Wing and Only Murders in the Building, but I'm prepared to double down on that. I do have one caveat, not a "spoiler" really (at least not for this show): it casually gives away the end of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express in the same way Charles Schulz used to casually give away the ending of Citizen Kane. So, if you don't know the ending of Murder on the Orient Express (and care about it), then you should read the book or watch either of the movie versions first. I can't say any more without giving something away. Just watch the TRAILER.
THE WALKING DEAD ("The One with Darryl") returns tonight.
I ran across the pilot episode of I Dream of Jeannie, "The Lady in the Bottle." This was when producers allowed themselves to be more creative with pilot episode titles; the average pilot episode today is given the boring descriptive name "Pilot."
In the I Dream of Jeannie pilot, U.S. Air Force Captain Tony Nelson is sent into space orbit but his rocket malfunctions and crash lands on a deserted island near the "bottle" of Jeannie. He uses rocks and debris to spell out "S.O.S." Upon finding the bottle, he opens it and Jeannie, the genie, emerges in a puff of pink smoke.
Oh, yeah -- although the first season of the show was filmed in black and white, the one I watched just now was colorized. When I watched these when I was a kid, my family was cursed with having a black-and-white TV, so it wouldn't have made a difference to me anyway.
There's a language barrier between Tony and the fully formed Jeannie because she emerges speaking Persian. When Tony wishes she could speak English, then she can. He then wishes for a helicopter, and after some awkward pantomime, one from NASA comes by and he is rescued. Unfortunately, they don't explore the island; maybe they might have found the seven castaways from the S.S. Minnow. (But I digress.)
Tony releases Jeannie from any obligation to him and tells he she can't come along, but this declaration makes Jeannie resolve that she must be his servant. She stows the bottle away in his gear and emerges later at his home in Cocoa Beach, Florida, there to cause him any number of wacky troubles over the next five seasons.
I Dream of Jeannie was NBC's answer to ABC's Bewitched. In Bewitched (pilot episode title: "I, Darrin, Take This Witch, Samantha"), it begins with paying scant attention to the courthship of Darrin and Samantha and jumps right into their married life. Only after they are wed does Samantha reveal to Darrin she is a witch (shades of Barry Allen not telling Iris he was The Flash after they were married). Thus, it was never really clear to me why Samantha even wanted to be with Darrin, because he was such a stick-in-the-mud, married to a hot blonde but insisting that she be a dowdy housewife.
Now, on I Dream of Jeannie, Tony had a hot blonde who was constantly throwing herself at him. When Jeannie was at Tony's home, she takes a shower while his fiancée -- a general's daughter, no less -- comes to visit. When Jeannie emerges from the bedroom clad only in one of Tony's shirts -- hotcha! She made the fiancée look like Miss Hathaway from The Beverly Hillbillies.
I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched are two fantasy sitcoms that absolutely could not be made today. But it was nice to crawl into the W.A.B.A.C. Machine for a moment and relive it.
(We give I Dream of Jeannie a thorough going-over in the ever-popular thread "Military Sitcoms," Part Four, starting on page 10.)
Going through the "Military Sitcoms" thread, the only thing I saw that wasn't covered was the fact that CPT/MAJ Nelson lived in a house. If he was married, the service would see that he and his wife had a stateside home, on or off the base. As a bachelor, he would probably be assigned to the Bachelor Officers Quarters (B.O.Q.), unless being an astronaut gave him special privileges.
Being in a 60s sitcom gave him special privileges. Sort of like how marines from Camp Henderson never had to go to Vietnam. I'm not certain any of them had even heard of Vietnam.
...or the soldiers at Camp Swampy.
-
135
-
136
-
137
-
138
-
139
of 139 Next