Tom Holmberg

“The Secret Island.” (Season 2, Episode 10.) Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, tale of a fateful trip, that started from a tropic port, aboard this tiny plane. The P.I. was a mighty detecting man, the robber suave and sure. Five passengers took off that day, for a three hour trip, a three hour trip. The weather started getting rough, the tiny plane was tossed. Even with the courage of the fearless crew, the plane would be lost, the plane would be lost. The plane crashed landed near the shore of an uncharted desert isle, with Stu Bailey, the robber too; the wayward husband and his wife; the other woman, and Tuesday Weld, here on nuclear isle. Stu is returning to the States with jewel robber, Pierre D’Albert (Jacques Bergerac, TV’s go-to sexy Frenchman, he played the Frenchman who’s marriage was broken up by Laura Petrie. He was married to Dorothy Malone and Ginger Rogers. And later became Paris head of Revlon), the plane they are in crashes into the sea with only Stu, Pierre, Dave Connell (Grant Sullivan), his wife Amanda (Catherine MacLeod, made a career in soap operas in the 60s), his girlfriend Carol Miller (Kathleen Crowley, again), and their daughter Barrie (sex kitten Tuesday Weld) surviving the crash. Exploring the island they find a U.S. Navy shanty with supplies and a weather station. Climbing to the top of the weather station tower, they discover the island has a great big target drawn on it, literally a great big target drawn on it. Stu recalls that there’s going to be an H-Bomb test on an island in the Pacific and guesses this is it. After a bunch of this and that-they’re going to get blown to atoms, everything else tends to fade to unimportance-they use the mirror in the weather station to signal the plane set to drop the bomb. The story is bookmarked with some Kookie and Roscoe antics to lighten the tone (and get Kookie in the episode). Actually not a bad episode, not really your typical 77SS material. No polar bears appear on the island.

Not yet!

"The Texas Doll." (Season 2, Episode 11) Jim Ferris (the unfortunately named Douglas Dick) hires Jeff to investigate sleazeball Romeo, Rick Allen (famous face Rhodes Reason), who's courting rich Texas widow Ann Benson (Marilyn Monroe wannabe Carol Ohmart, made six 77SS appearance). Ann's step-daughter heiress Christine Allen (Sherry Jackson, back for another 77SS appearance), hates her former bar girl step-mother and is also interested in Rick. Ferris sets Jeff up for a double date with the teenaged Chris, and Rick and Ann. Rick, who knows Jeff's a P.I. insists they go to Dino's, where they are entertained by the Frankie Ortega Trio. Rick contacts his mobster associates, who he owes $125,000 to, to get Jeff off his back. Rick needs to marry Ann ASAP to get his hands on her money to pay off his mob debts. After leaving Chris, Ann and Rick, three thugs waylay Jeff and beat the snot out of him. Chris, to spite her step-mother, makes a play for Rick, who figures Chris' money is as good as Ann's. Ferris gets Chris to drop into 77SS to talk to Jeff. She tells Jeff she doesn't care what kind of man Rick is and gives Kookie the cold shoulder. Visiting Max Lewin's Chez Paulette coffeeshop with Roscoe, Kookie has a run-in with Rick, who beats him and Roscoe to a pulp. All the beatnik girls rush to comfort Kookie, almost tripping over an unconscious Roscoe. At Kookie's hip pad, our first look at where Kookie lives, Chris shows up (the WB recording artists The Mary Kaye Trio are on the stereo), Chris shows up and Kookie invites her to the beach. Meanwhile, after Ann dumps Rick, Rick gets a phone call from the Mob dating service, EvilHarmony, who tells him to get married to Chris or he's going to sleep with the fishes. Rich uncle Clay Benson (Stephen Chase, “The Blob”) shows up with Ferris and gives Jeff a hard time. Rick gets Chris stinking drunk. Ann shows up to tell Rick to leave Chris alone. Jeff and Kookie show up at the Benson apartment to find Rick dead and Chris dead drunk. Gil arrests Chris as a material witness in the murder. Ann, hoping to save Chris from a murder rap, confusedly confesses to killing Rick. She's arrested too. Figuring that Ann's story doesn't hold up, Jeff questions Chris, who also confesses to the murder. Suspicious, with the number of suspects who haven't confessed dwindling (uncle Clay even suggests Kookie is the murderer), Jeff takes Ferris to Dino's, where he inadvertently gives Jeff the clue that cracks the case. Jeff convinces Gil to trick the real killer into confessing. A decent mystery that takes too long to get going. It's like old home week with Sherry Jackson, Carol Ohmart, Max Lewin and The Mary Kaye Trio showing up again so soon.

Or Jif might have a disclaimer, "May contain peanuts." (We always ate Skippy.)

Normal vision is 20/20, which means you can clearly see an object 20 feet away. If you’re legally blind, your vision is 20/200 or less, which means if an object is 200 feet away, you have to stand 20 feet from it in order to see it clearly. But a person with normal vision can stand 200 feet away and see that object clearly. A visual field of 180 degrees is considered normal

The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) defines legal blindness as follows: Reduced central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in your better eye with use of the best eyeglass lens to correct your eyesight; or... Limitation of your field of view such that the widest diameter of the visual field in your better eye subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees.

Maybe he's saying "You can hear the wails." And everybody misunderstands.

There's blind and then there's legally blind. Not that both aren't unpleasant.

That ad always reminds me of the opening of an 80s horror movie. I expect the Suburu to wind up at Camp Crystal Lake and the blind guy wielding a chain saw.

Chicago Magazine on Episode 5: http://www.chicagomag.com/arts-culture/September-2018/America-to-Me-Episode-5-Recap-Where-Are-the-White-Kids/ "...Caroline, a freshman who loves learning and says that school gives her a reason to wake up in the morning. Yeah. You’re 14. Going to school is literally the only thing you have to do." Really it's not necessary to make fun of this girl. She's not doing anything wrong (though I hope she learns to relax a little more). Local paper on Episode 4: http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/9-18-2018/Episode-4:-'There's-nothing-funny-about-race!'-/

My favorite is for Latisse, which used to be advertised frequently on the TV, it is an ointment you apply to your eyelashes/lids to have thicker lashes (is that a real problem?). Now there are lawsuits alleging users of the product experienced symptoms including bumps on the eyes, flaky patches on the lids, burning, swelling, crusting, and pain, among other things. I'm still surprised that it doesn't cause death. But at least the corpse will have thick full lashes. Perhaps they can make Toppik for the lashes.

And ketoacidosis, and death.

"Hello. We recently saw your commercial. Brains...."

It bugs me when people read to much into the fact that the white and black kids largely sit at different tables in the cafeteria. Yes, racism plays a role in that, but it's high school- the jocks sit at one table, the cheerleaders sit at one table, the band kids sit at one table, the druggies sit at one table, the theater kids sit at one table, etc. , etc. High school is incredibly clique-y.

That sort of "bundling", wearing hoods, wearing inappropriate (for the time of year), oversized, layered clothes, etc., is also often a sign of schizophrenia, but I'm not a doctor, I just play one on TV.

Maybe she attended Hamburger University (which is an actual thing, if you didn't know).

You have to realize, anyone who watches those old shows already has one foot in the grave (the other in a law court suing somebody), according to the advertisers.

"And thanks to Plexaderm I can't smile any longer."

Well... The white kids actually followed (as opposed to those who just got brief scenes) don't seem like "average" teenagers, one's a star athlete and the other is a highly (overly) motivated student, the third, the friend of Jada, seemed the most average, but she got the least time. It was interesting that the baseball coach of the white athlete sort of did the same thing to him that the wrestling coach did to Kendale. Jada doesn't get mad, she just looks and acts that way. Ke'Shawn's mother reveals that her story of her treatment at OPRF has more nuance than she first let on (though she was a kid at the time and adults need to have more sense than to treat a kid that way, no matter what). I wasn't sure if Ke'Shawn's grandmother was being evicted from her house or if Ke'Shawn, his mother and his siblings were the ones that had to leave. I know when I went to Proviso East there were a number of kids who lived outside of the district in the city, who were "illegally" attending PE to get out of the city. I'm sure they same thing happens at OPRF, but I guess being filmed would make hard for them to pull that off. Salon on "America to Me" https://www.salon.com/2018/09/23/white-adults-need-to-watch-america-to-me-the-most-important-show-about-teens-on-tv-now/

Yep, that's Aldi's. I'd go there, maybe, if I was starving. I think that would be a hit. She could be to G.I. Joe, what Ken is to Barbie.

"The Widow and the Web." (Season 2, Episode 9) "Single Indemnity." Pacific Orient Insurance, suspicious of its own claims investigators, hires Jeff as a test to investigate a couple of claims. Jeff is given the case of Jerry Shannon, who died in a workplace accident at Ferris Abrasives. Jeff questions Carl Dorr (John Beradino, Dr. Steve Hardy, “General Hospital”, ex-major league baseball player), the plant's personal director and safety manager, who gives him the lowdown on the accident and is eager to clear up the claim so Jerry's widow can get the insurance money. Jeff's next stop is at the apartment of Jerry's second wife, femme fatale Elaine Shannon (sexpot Suzanne Lloyd), where the helpful Carl is just leaving, having told Elaine that the claim is being investigated. Elaine seems less interested in Jeff investigation than in where's the insurance money. Elaine tries charming Jeff to hurry things along. Jeff stops by Elaine's landlady's, Mrs. Ryan (famous face Nancy Freeman, another in a long line of 77SS comic landladies who steal the episode) room for a beer and some potato chips. Leaving the apartment house Jeff finds a note on his car saying Jerry's death was no accident. Elaine phones Jeff, frightened because she got a similar note and she thought she was being followed. Back at Elaine's, Jeff's kissy-face session with Elaine is interrupted by an anonymous phone call. Leaving the building Jeff gets his mandatory bludgeoning. Still nursing a headache, Jeff questions the employees at Ferris Abrasives, including Johnny Liston (Mark Roberts), and determines that Eddie Fleet (Jim Oberlin) was the author of the anonymous notes. Jeff meets with Gloria Shannon (Patricia Michon), Jerry's movie plain-Jane sister, who dislikes Elaine and who wants to adopt Jerry's daughter (by his first wife) Jonquil. Jeff has Kookie tail Fleet, who ends up at a bar. By the time Jeff shows up to talk to Fleet, Jeff finds him dead in the men's room. Now that she figures she's close to getting her insurance payoff, Elaine decides she's leaving town and leaving Jonquil with Gloria. At Ferris Abrasives a large piece of industrial equipment almost clobbers Jeff, leading Jeff to conclude somebody there wants to kill him (you think?). Jeff returns to the Shannon apartment to clear up the case and deadeye Mr. Ryan, a gun in one hand and a beer in the other, saves the day. Average. Obviously Elaine throws herself at every man in the movie, so the conclusion is no big surprise. Based on a novel by Robert Martin, prolific pulp novelist.

"The Treehouse Caper." (Season 2, Episode 7) Shorty Adams (Tom Drake, "the boy next door" in “Meet Me in St. Louis”) breaks out of prison and into the offices of Bailey & Spencer at 77 Sunset Strip. Jeff had helped put Shorty away. But the severely wounded Shorty doesn't want revenge, his last request before he dies of his wounds is to make amends by getting Jeff to recover the $250,000 in gems and have Jeff split the $50,000 reward with his little daughter. Lennie Paris (Donald Barry, generally cast as a villain, but he also played “Red Ryder”), Shorty's partner in crime, also wants to get his hands on the gems. When drives out to the old chicken farm where Lennie buried the loot under his daughter's treehouse, he finds the house and trees burned down and Gil waiting to talk Jeff into using the loot as a lure to catch Lennie when he tries to get the buried treasure. Shorty's daughter, living with relatives in Chicago, is called to come to LA and help identify the location of the treehouse. To the horror of all the teenaged girls in America, Kookie wakes up bald. Jeff sends Kookie to the airport to pick up Vicky Travers (Bunny Cooper , in just about her only screen credit), Shorty's little girl, who of course turns out to be a beautiful dish. Gil explains the dangers that could befall them when Jeff and Vicky go dig up the plunder. Jeff gives Vicky a tour of LA taking her to Max Lewin's Chez Paulette (the third appearance of the famed LA coffeehouse) and later to Dino's, where Frankie Ortega entertains. The whole cast, Jeff and Vicky, Gil and the insurance adjuster, and Lennie, all drive out to the old chicken farm to spring the trap, but after a lot of digging (which Jeff doesn't dig), Vicky decides she doesn't know where the treehouse was located. Back at 77SS, Jeff tells Gil he'll have Kookie bury a box out at the old chicken farm that night to use as a decoy to catch Lennie. When Jeff picks up Vicky the next morning, she tells him Gil called and changed the plan and that they should go out to the old chicken farm early. Jeff digs up the phony box, Lennie shows up to grab it. Even more people show up. Kookie saves the day. Jeff gets the crooks. A good story with a good twist. Pretty much what every 77SS should be.

"Sing Something Simple." (Season 2, Episode 6) Roscoe and Stu are enjoying the opera when the Phantom of the Opera almost drops a sack of sand on the head of diva Zina Felice (Hollywood leading lady Linda Darnell, slumming on TV, in one of her last acting jobs). Producer Renardo (famous face Neil Hamilton, Batman's Commissioner Gordon) has hired Stu to discover who has been threatening his star performer. Kookie and Suzanne go undercover to guard Felice; Kookie as a spear-carrier in the production, and Suzanne as Felice's maid, while Stu pretends to be Felice's latest beau. The company is loaded with suspects, including John Barone (Richard Garland), Felice's wastrel ex-husband; Rosa Marcini, Felice's ambitious understudy; Paul Descartes (Nico Minardos), tenor and lover of both Felice and Rosa; and Papa Puccini (William Edmunds, another actor known for playing ethnic types, the doorkeeper with an expensive photography hobby. Searching Felice's dressing room Suzanne finds an old blackmail note, demanding cash to turn over compromising pictures. Descartes suspects Stu is a cop. Following a party at Felice's, with all the suspects present, Roscoe gets blown up starting Stu's car. Felice fires Stu, but Stu figures he has one last day to solve the mystery. Suzanne rifles through Descartes' drawers and finds a program with letters cut out matching the blackmail letters, while Felice goes to meet the blackmailer, with Kookie, Stu, Roscoe and Renaldo following. Meanwhile, back at the theater, Suzanne is being stalked by the blackmailer. Everyone shows up in time to save Suzanne and catch the criminal, with Kookie having another energetic, Errol Flynn fight scene. A decent story. The Kookie Kar gets a work out. The rest of the cast gets screen time, with a Suzanne in danger plot.

Actually, I find just going into Aldi's kind of disturbing.

I'll be watching. I wonder if they picked a white student to prove their point though, or did they the most articulate student (who was willing to talk on camera). The filmmakers said they couldn't find white students who could talk articulately about race, but Podolner demonstrates the situation they'd be putting themselves in. He's well-meaning, I suppose, but he comes across on camera as an ass. I would expect that. That reflects back to the first episode and the Black Lives Matter meeting that only the Black students could attend, and the complaints of the white adults and students.