January 31, 2014

Ed Hookstratten, Joe Buck, The Fugitive and more!

In response to last week's TV Guide post mentioning the marriage (and eventual divorce) of actress Pat Crowley and attorney Ed Hookstratten, loyal readers Ken and Andrew each forwarded a link to a notice of Ed Hookstratten's obituary, which appeared on the same day as my post.*  Hookstratten led a remarkable life; in addition to his marriage to Crowley, he acted as attorney and/or agent to such widely varied figures as singers Peggy Lee and Elvis Presley, football coach George Allen, and newsmen Tom Snyder and Tom Brokaw.  His nickname was "The Hook," which has to be one of the great (if slightly unimaginative) nicknames in Hollywood.  Really, read the obit - quite a life.

*I certainly hope it was nothing I said.

You probably recall that The Fugitive was on my list of Top Ten TV series, which means I was naturally interested in a couple of Fugitive posts this week.  Rick at Classic Film and TV Cafe* tells us about seven things we ought to know about The Fugitive, which Rick likewise esteems highly.  On the other hand, TV When I Was Born points out that Kimble must have had a bad attorney to be convicted on such a flimsy case, especially when his alibi might well have checked out.  I don't quite agree with his harsh assessment of Lieutenant Gerard - I've always thought that Gerard was merely myopic in focusing on his job so much that he didn't consider whether or not Kimble was actually guilty.  No doubt though that Barry Morse played Gerard to the hilt, and made you want to see him as the bad guy.

*Given that interview with the stunning Elke Sommer (and that picture!), it's a wonder I was able to get to any of the other posts.

Another blog I've enjoyed a great deal lately is Cult TV Blog, and this week John takes on one of my favorite (or should I say favourite) episodes from The Prisoner, "Fall Out."  His analysis of the big questions from the series (Is Number Six really John Drake?  Who is really Number One?  What the hell was that last episode all about) is a lot of fun to read.  John, if you're reading this, I owe you some discussion on the Six/Drake issue - I agree that they're one and the same man, and I like your take on it.  My own literal interpretation has been that Danger Man simply continues into The Prisoner, picking up the story at a later time and date, but that the groundwork for Drake's* resignation had been laid in the last season of Danger Man.  By taking it a step further (and no, readers, I'm not going to tell you - read it for yourself) makes a lot of sense.  But now, here's the burning question - can Arsenal take first in the Premier League or is City too strong for them?  And what about United?

*If, in fact, that is his name.

Classic Sports TV and Media presents some archival audio from the television broadcast of the 1965 NFL Championship, back when it was merely a league title game and not a worldwide entertainment phenomenon.  I remember this game vaguely; it would have been the start of my rooting interest in the Packers, whom I especially wanted to win because the Browns had defeated the Colts (my second-favorite team) for the championship the year before.  Mostly I remember the mud - check out the pictures for yourself.

And finally, though this is not particularly about classic television, who could not like this terrific faux Super Bowl promotion starring Joe Buck.  I have to put myself down as one of those who prefer his father Jack, but I've quite liked some of the self-effacing commercials Joe has done in the past, and this spoof on the dislike so many fans have for him is not only that, it's laugh-out-loud funny.  A good way to lead into the weekend - see you tomorrow with another great issue of TV Guide.


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1 comment:

  1. LOVED this post.
    The Fugitive links were great, so were the NFL stuff.
    Richard Kimble rules.

    ReplyDelete

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