Around the dial

Doctor Who has been in the news a bit lately with the excitement from the recent discovery of two episodes from the William Hartnell era of the series. I haven't made a secret of my disgust with the current version of Who and its emphasis on woke politics, and at The Spectator, Gareth Roberts offers an article on the surprising conservatism of the original series. It's well-worth a read, for Whovians and non-Whovians alike.

Coming off from the Easter week, Herbie J Pilato takes a look back at one of the groundbreaking miniseries of the 1970s, Jesus of Nazareth. Somehow, this is seldom mentioned in the pantheon of great miniseries of the era, yet it's made a profound impact over the years.

We'll transition to angels of the non-heavenly kind (depending on your definition), with David looking back on Charlie's Angels at 50 over at Comfort TV, and an awkward anniversary "celebration" at the Paley Center that didn't really do the series justice.

At Cult TV Blog, John turns to "The Assistant," an episode of the comedy series Hancock from 1963, and written by Terry Nation, who just happened to create the Daleks for the aforementioned Doctor Who. 

I do remember Gentle Ben, although I can't imagine why I would have seen it; probably because it came on after the late Sunday football game. But I've always liked bears, and I also like Paul's fond recollection of the series' second and final season, at Drunk TV.

Character actor James Tolkan died at the end of last month, aged 94, and at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence has a fond appreciation of the actor's long and varied career, including the show for which I most remember him, Nero Wolfe, where he was a part of the rep company.

I always enjoy stopping at Television Obscurities when there's an anniversary notice regarding some of our favorite obscure series, and this week Robert takes a look at series celebrating anniversaries in April. How many of them do you remember?

Finally, at The View from the Junkyard, Roger's latest A-Team review is of the episode "Breakout!" (complete with exclamation point), in which our heroes fight through plot holes galore to escape a southern penal colony where the team is being unjustly held. Because, of course. TV

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Around the dial

All right, we start this week at bare•bones e-zine, where Jack's Hitchcock Project continues apace with "Final Escape," a ninth-season episode with a horror ending and a fascinating "rest of the story." 

Speaking of horror, or at least something creepy, at Cult TV Blog John looks at the 1974 anthology series Dial M for Murder (clever name, what?) and the episode "If You Knew Susie," starring the great Elaine Stritch; it's an episode well-worth checking out.

It's TV time again at RealWeegieMidget, and this time Gill's focus is on three TV series having to do with aliens: Project UFO, a Polish series; Orson Welles' Great Mysteries, with the great man himself; and Weird or What, hosted by that greatest of all actors, William Shatner.

Comfort TV takes us on a journey into The Twilight Zone this week, as David looks at three hits and three misses from the series' storied second season. I agree with his assessments completely, which is appropriate since, as David points out, I included one of these episodes in my new book!

Remember "picture stories"? They were kind of like comics, except they used photos taken from TV episodes, using captions to describe the action. At Captain Video, the story in question is "Operation Tycoon," from Ben Casey, and it makes me want to find the episode and watch the whole thing.

Gentle Ben! Certainly I recall that series, perhaps because it was on Sunday nights and came on after football (and Lassie). Also, that was a really cool boat flying through the Everglades. Anyway, Paul reviews the first season at Drunk TV. (Maybe drunk bears would have solved a few problems.)

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence has tributes to the two most recent classic TV stars to join the list of the dearly departed: teen idol Bobby Sherman, who died earlier this week at 81; and Waltons and Sanford and Son veteran Lynn Hamilton, who died last week at age 95. You can also read about Bobby Sherman at Television Obscurities.

I think Roger makes a very good point at The View from the Junkyard in talking about this week's A-Team episode, "West Coast Turnaround": what happens to the people the Team helps after they leave, given they don't kill the bad guys, only humiliate them. It can come back to bite you! TV