Sun 19 Feb 2023
A TV Episode Review: SCARECROW AND MRS. KING “The First Time†(1983).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[2] Comments
SCARECROW AND MRS. KING “The First Time.” CBS, 03 October 1983 (Season 1, Episode 1). Kate Jackson (Mrs. Amanda King), Bruce Boxleitner (Lee Stetson, aka “Scarecrowâ€), Beverly Garland, Mel Stewart, Martha Smith. Creators & co-screenwriters: Eugenie Ross-Leming & Brad Buckner. Directed by Burt Brinckerhoff & Rod Holcomb.
When a young divorced housewife and the mother or two boys drops off her semi-boy friend at a train station, she has no idea how soon her world is going to be turned upside down. A federal agent, code name “Scarecrow,†is on the run from a man with a gun, and in desperation, he hands off a small package to Mrs. King so as to keep it from the hands of a gang of thugs, terrorists and thieves.
Well, sure enough, things do not go smoothly. Dire straits? Not particularly. On the contrary, this is precisely where the fun begins. And so the viewers agreed. The series lasted for four years, with Amanda King (the eternally cute and perky Kate Jackson) becoming more and more involved with the agency and (ahem) romantically with Bruce Boxleitner’s character.
Most of the time, Amanda’s secret had to be kept from her mother, played by Beverly Garland, who mostly stayed home and took care of the two boys while their mother was off playing spy games. I don’t think any of the stories that ensued had any more depth than in this, the first episode. Light and frothy, but the viewers loved it.
February 20th, 2023 at 8:56 pm
Light and frothy was all the series ever needed. Attractive cast, entertaining if thin stories, the inevitable tease.
I’m not sure I would watch it again, but at the time it was a more than pleasant time killer.
February 20th, 2023 at 9:43 pm
The full series is available on Amazon Prime Video, but you have to purchase it, either one season or one episode at a time. I opted for the latter, which cost me something like $2.99 (maybe $1.99), and I got my money’s worth, but spend money for more? I have good memories of the show, but I’ve decided not.