Wed 5 Jun 2019
MY TV DIARY February 1981: Part Eight.
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV Diary , TV mysteries[10] Comments
Thursday, February 12.
THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES. NBC, 13 episode mini-series. Episode 1. “An American Story.” Michael Nouri (Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano), Joe Penny (Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel), Brian Benben, Kathleen Lloyd, Madeleine Stowe, Chad Redding, Markie Post. Director: Richard C. Sarafian.
Ten minutes after turning this on I found myself asking “Why am I watching this?” I couldn’t come up with any kind of answer, so I turned it off.
MAGNUM, P.I. CBS. “Lest We Forget.” Season One, Episode Ten. Tom Selleck, John Hillerman, Roger E. Mosley, Larry Manetti. Guest Cast: June Lockhart, Anne Lockhart, Miguel Ferrer, Scatman Crothers, José Ferrer. Writers: Donald P. Bellisario & Glen A. Larson. Director: Lawrence Doheny.
Tonight’s show was both enhanced and handicapped by flashbacks to Pearl Harbor Day. (I assume you know that the show takes place in Hawaii.) Magnum’s client ts a judge who’s been nominated to the US Supreme Court, but he was once married to a Honolulu hooker, and he’s afraid of blackmail. He hires Magnum to find her.
Working as a plus was the use of June and Anne Lockhart (mother and daughter) to play the lady, and José and Miguel Ferrer (father and son) to play the judge. But one does tire of stories taking place in Hawaii just before you-know-what happens. (You do, don’t you?)
And without the advantages of instant replay, I still don’t know how Magnum spotted the killer — the only person to know that both parties in their ill-fated romance were still alive. How’d he know. (Either one of them.)
The regular characters are solidly done. I especially like John Hillerman as Higgins, whose self-appointed job it is to keep Magnum in line. (Hillerma it also was, of course, who played the irrepressible Simon Brimmer in TV’s most recent version of Ellery Queen.)
This is getting too long. I just wanted to add that I had a crush on June Lockhart, back 25 years ago when she played Jon Provost’s mommy on Lassie. My, but aren’t men fickle. Ah, Miss Lockhart, but don’t you have a lovely daughter!
June 6th, 2019 at 6:53 am
This first episode of THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES was one of my favorite shows of the era. Haven’t seen any of this series since 1981 – so who knows what I would think of it today.
Julie Weiss’ 1920’s costumes were flamboyant and impressive.
And Joe Penny was outstanding. He went on to RIPTIDE and many other shows.
Gangster films are always problematic. After all, one is rooting for the bad guys – not an especially tenable position. Still this one was fun escapism.
June 6th, 2019 at 10:07 am
Here is episode one of the GANGSTER CHRONICLES. The entire series is on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og5ouphBS3k
June 6th, 2019 at 10:40 am
Thank you, Michael. I had the same reaction this time. Not for me.
June 6th, 2019 at 12:04 pm
The actors accents make me laugh.
June 6th, 2019 at 5:50 pm
Nouri was the only reason to watch THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES, and that wasn’t near enough.
MAGNUM, even when it didn’t make a lot of sense, always got by on Selleck, Hillerman, and scenery.
June 6th, 2019 at 6:17 pm
I may be wrong about this, but I think the guest stars on MAGNUM, while not always the in top top echelon, were at least well-known actors. Shooting on location in Hawaii was a big attraction, I’m sure.
June 6th, 2019 at 9:53 pm
Thank you for the link.
Just saw the first 40 minutes, for the first time since 1981.
Am enjoying it all over again.
June 6th, 2019 at 10:34 pm
If memory serves, most discussion of MAGNUM’s appeal centered on some combination of “Tom Selleck is sexy” and “wish fulfillment of Magnum’s glamorous lifestyle in a Hawaii mansion”. Plus a bit of “the supporting cast is talented”.
By contrast, one recalls few people actually claiming to like watching specific episodes of the show. Many of the episodes seemed thinly scripted IMHO. Although there were 162 episodes over eight years, nobody seemed to suggest they were actually, you know, good. Or even enjoyable to watch.
This is the opposite of say, MAVERICK, a show chock full of specific episodes that many people consider classic. ( I agree!)
I could be wrong. And am interested in alternative opinions!
June 7th, 2019 at 9:58 am
Another action adventure series with continuing characters for which individual episodes are remembered is of course STAR TREK, but both it and MAVERICK are exceptions. Many omedy shows such as SEINFELD and BIG BANG THEORY also have individual episodes that stand out afterward.
But crime and detective shows such as MAGNUM, ROCKFORD FILES and so on do not. It’s the settings and the characters that one remembers, not so much individual stories.
June 7th, 2019 at 3:52 pm
I’ve kept a list since 1971, of which TV episodes were good:
http://mikegrost.com/c70.htm
This is updated every week.
For what its worth, I tend to have strong positive or negative feelings about each episode I see. Apparently, many people (or most people) don’t. They like a whole series or not.