Tom Holmberg

"The Long Shot Caper" (Season 4, Episode 27) Kookie recently having gotten his own episode, now Roscoe gets a shot at his own stand-alone turn. Having apparently moved into new digs (managed by Hope Summers, Mayberry's own Clara Edwards), Roscoe discovers his spinster school teacher neighbor (Christine Nelson, last seen making time with Roscoe as Indian princess Moonbeam) not only plays the horses, but uses a “slipstick” (slide rule) and "algorithms" to pick long-shot winners). While trying, largely unsuccessfully, to have an uninterrupted date with his new paramour (one "date" is interrupted by a bomb thrown through Roscoe's window), Roscoe inadvertently gets involved in a mob gang war. Mob hitman Babe Mackie (James Best, of “The Dukes of Hazzard”), hilariously using the alias "George Jefferson," sets his sights on Roscoe. Jeff gets involved only at the end. I like when the show gives the secondary characters a chance to shine, though I wouldn't want Roscoe to become a partner like Kookie. I only wish they'd have an episode highlighting the Frankie Ortega Trio solving a caper! I miss Roscoe's phone on the wall-mounted "accordion" device next to the bed. Were the rest of the headliners on vacation? Even Gil was missing.

The most interesting aspect was that they had the same actor (Fabrizio Mioni) play both of the de Marivaux brothers, even though they weren't twins. Maybe they were just trying to save money. :)

“Baker Street Caper” (Season 4, Episode 26) Stu and Roscoe assist Scotland Yard and British PI Eric Sommers (Andrew Duggan getting another showy role playing the PI plus disguised as the “Napoleon of Crime” behind the string of robberies) in solving a series of big-time heists of art, furs and jewels. Stu easily discovers Sommers’ secret with the help of Roscoe, who gets to channel Sherlock Holmes (who makes a cameo appearance) throughout the episode, and foils Sommers latest robbery. Famous faces include Tudor Owen, a bushy-eyebrowed Brit, and Walter Burke, who looked like a leprechaun and usually played unsavory characters.

“Twice Dead” (Season 4, Episode 24) Paroled wife-killer Tom Lansing (Karl Swenson, “Little House on the Prairie” Lars Hanson) hires Stu Bailey to find his daughter Jean (Sharon Hugueny, wife of actor and later Paramount president Robert Evans). Meanwhile Lansing’s supposedly murdered wife Connie (Margaret Hayes) shows up alive and well-lubricated to blackmail Lansing’s former partner and Jean’s guardian, Robert Vincent (Kent Smith). When Connie is murdered again the police suspect Jean, while Lansing confesses to the crime (since he was already punished for Connie’s first murder, he claims double jeopardy). Stu has to untangle the crime and find the murderer, while Suzanne tries on hats. Another straight forward mystery that is not obvious who the real killer is.

Where I work, we have people complain every year about the Halloween display because it's teaching their children about "Satan worship" (it's usually black cats, Indian corn, a full moon and maybe a witch or a ghostly white sheet)!

“The Parallel Caper” (Season 4, Episode 23) When two damsels in distress turn up at Bailey & Spencer, Jeff and Kookie are launched on interlocking cases. Socialite Marianne Winston (Allison Hayes) wants Jeff to investigate the suspicious doings of her wastrel yachting brother, Dennis. Young Nina Ziretti (Danielle De Metz) wants Kookie to investigate the death of her fisherman father on the piers of San Pedro. Unbeknownst to our two intrepid transom peepers the two cases are intertwined as South American revolutionaries are trying to smuggle guns from the US. The episode ends with Jeff and Kookie in a shootout with each other! The “parallel” gimmick works as a plot device. A lot of stereotypical “nautical” types as extras (I have to wonder if dockworkers in the Sixties actually looked the same as dockworkers from 1930s gangster pictures). J.R. finally gets to really assist on a case, taking on the role Kookie used to have in earlier seasons.

“Brass Ring Caper” (Season 4, Episode 21) Newly-minted PI Kookie gets his own case. Down on his luck hitchhiker Danny Belmont (Robert Ivers) gets picked up by Beverly Hills businessman Walter Glascoe. Dropped at a roadside drive-in, Danny hitches a ride with Kookie (driving Ford Falcon, the kind of car driven by 1960s suburban housewives, picking up the groceries. How the mighty have fallen! He needs to get his hotrod back from J.R.) to 77 Sunset Strip. Danny does Kookie a good turn and when, later that night, Danny breaks into Glascoe’s house to rob it and Glascoe’s wife (played by famous face, Marjorie Bennett) is shot, Danny makes a break and shows up at 77 Sunset Strip again to call in his favor. Kookie, at odds with Gil and the LAPD, decides to prove Danny innocent. Kookie is aided by cute carhop Tina (Zeme North). Sexy Joan Tabor (Broderick Crawford’s wife. Lucky dog!) is also involved. A decent, straight forward plot and Edd Byrnes does a good job as a detective, even doing his own stunts including the fight scene. Suzanne and Frankie Ortega show up, as does a rather tame stripper at a strip club Kookie visits.

“Penthouse on Skid Row” (Season 4, Episode 18) Jeff goes undercover as a washed-up Shakespearean actor (!) in a Skid Row boarding house. The residents, a punch-drunk boxer, former jockey, ex-stripper, a dime-a-dance girl, a newsstand operator, a Salvation Army member, etc., are being harassed by real estate moguls who want to gentrify the neighborhood. Jeff takes the case pro bono to save the group, despite only knowing Juliet’s speech from “Romeo & Juliet” (he was Juliet in his high school production). Kookie and Roscoe assist. The residents are all good character actors, including , Mae Questel (the voice of “Betty Boop” and “Olive Oyl”) as the aging stripper, David Winters (last seen as Speed Minton) and Biff Elliot (last seen as Big Boy Blue). Not a great episode, but a lot of fun. The highlight of the episode is a full-blown dance number with Kookie and Grace Lee Whitney (Star Trek’s own Yeoman Rand) and a cast of tens doing a choreographed Twist-off (this was during the 1960s’ Twist fad.)

“The Down Under Caper” (Season 4, Episode 16) 77SS does for Australia what it previously has done for Mexico. :) Warner Bros. stock footage department works overtime to make the WB backlot look like Australia. Roger Smith (who wrote the episode and cast his then wife, Victoria Shaw, in the lead) delivers some expensive pearls to Australia before literally running into sheep rancher Margaret Hughes (Shaw) in the airport. Hughes dumps him at his hotel where he’s punched out by Hughes supposed boyfriend, played by bad guy actor Michael Pate (technically, the first actor to portray James Bond's CIA sidekick, Felix Leiter), who’s working with British character actor Ronald Long to buy Hughes’ land by hook or by crook. Much mentions of billabongs, boomerangs, koala bears, etc. I did learn that Aussie can't hit the side of a barn with a rifle and never heard of a "rare" steak. Kind of embarrassing, but I suppose the Aussies have forgiven us by now. A funny bit is Hughes’ foreman reeling off a string Australian slang and Jeff telling him he needs to have a conversation with Kookie.

“The Chrome Coffin” (Season 4, Episode 15) (A.K.A., “Hot Rods to Heck”) Stu is hired to protect Drake Evans, young millionaire heir with an obsession with drag racing and a morbid streak. Hotrodders Kookie, J.R. and Roscoe assist. Max Baer Jr. (“Jethro”) plays a rival hotrodder, doing a Marlon Brando/”Wild One” impersonation. Vaughn Taylor is Drake’s uncle, who hires Stu. Paul Carr (“Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” and tons of other shows) is Drake’s mechanic. I would have liked more car racing, but a nice episode reflecting the rise of California car culture of the time. I was disappointed that the famous “Kookie Car”, a T-bucket, roadster/pickup with a souped-up 1952 Cadillac Engine, didn’t appear in the episode. The car was so popular you could even buy a model kit of it. https://auto.howstuffworks.com/grabowski-t-hot-rod.htm https://www.popsike.com/ED-KOOKIE-BYRNES-KOOKIES-HOT-ROD-MODEL-CAR-MINT/180225260035.html TV detective car kits http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/triv305.html

“Reserved for Mr. Bailey” (Season 4, Episode 12) A counterpart to season 2’s “The Silent Caper” starring Jeff, this oddball episode has only Stu in the cast (the voices are uncredited. In fact there are no acting credits at the end of the show). Receiving a 3 am call to go to the office, Stu is coshed and wakes up in the desert outside a deserted western ghost town. As he explores to town, a voice tells him he’s going to be killed (presumably hung in the town square?). Stu has to find the mysterious voice and escape the town before disaster falls. A great, change of pace episode. Interestingly, for whatever reason, the episode was never included in the syndication package, despite being so memorable. ME-TV got the episode in their package. (Apparently more than 40 episodes weren’t shown in original syndication, for “legal reasons”. There needs to be a book about this show!) The author of the teleplay and director of the episode, Montgomery Pittman, also wrote and directed some “Twilight Zone” episode, which shows as Stu speculates perhaps a mad scientist sent him back in time to the Old West. The original story was written by Charles Sinclair, who wrote some B-grade horror movies and Bill Finger, who among his other credits include helping Bob Kane develop “Batman” and co-creating “Green Lantern”. Also the first episode I can remember to show Efrem Zimbalist Jr. playing the piano (Efrem Zimbalist Sr. was a famous violinist, composer and conductor).

Thanks. Fortunately I can record them, otherwise I'd have to get up a 3 am! I wish they'd eventually shift the shows around and maybe 77SS would be on at a decent hour. :) Decades did a weekend marathon of the show about a year and a half ago, maybe they'll do it again.

“The Turning Point” (Season 4, Episode 10) 77 Sunset Strip meets West Side Story. An old army buddy needs Stu’s assistance in helping to reform JD Speed Minton (played by David Winters, who played “Baby John” in the original Broadway cast of “West Side Story” and “A-rab” in the movie version). Stu enlists the whole crew, as well as Speed’s straight-laced sister (played by Kathie Browne, Adam Cartwright's prospective bride), in trying to help the confused young punk. The parole of Speed’s 3-time loser brother complicates manners. Also in the cast is Munchkin Billy Curtis, star of the all-little people Western “The Terror of Tiny Town.” The episode is something of a return to the more relaxed episodes of 77SS after a string of heavier episodes. The Frankie Ortega Trio show up and Roscoe’s greyhound, Genevieve, even makes an appearance.

George Will is one of those commentators who look like they should be smart and people mistake that for actually being smart.

"Big Boy Blue" (Season 4, Episode 7) An all-serious episode, with none of the usual 77SS comedy relief. Jerry Paris (Dick Van Dyke's Dr. Jerry Helper) plays a Hollywood talent manager who discovers ace trumpet player Buddy Blue (played by Biff Elliot, the first actor to portray Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer) in jail in Mexico. Bailing him out, Paris brings Buddy to L.A. to make a star out of him. Paris hires Jeff to find out if Buddy has any skeleton's in his closet. He also gets his girlfriend Lorna to make a play for Buddy to keep him on the straight and narrow. Meanwhile, New Orleans gangster Lee Santly, who Buddy left in the lurch during a robbery that resulted in Santly going to prison, is looking for revenge. Written by script doctor Dean Riesner, the episode is almost noirish (at least for 77SS). Riesner should be remembered for writing the immortal: "Do you feel lucky? Well, do you punk?"

"The Unremembered" (Season 4, Episode 6) Douglas Fairbanks-like former star Roland Dumont (played by John Dehner, one of my favorite character actors of the era) is trying to self-finance a come-back by robbing his former associates of jewelry. The cape-clad, horror-masked Dumont uses his skills as a action star, who did his own stunts, to shine as a cat-burglar. Stu is hired to bring the second-story man to justice. There's no mystery about who's guilty, but Stu has to out-smart Dumont to get the evidence to convict him. As usual Dehner stands out. Suzanne gets to look beautiful. The whole thing where Dumont becomes Stu's butler is really goofy. Also in the episode is Tristram Coffin, best known as the "King of the Rocket Men", precursor to Commando Cody.

I didn't care for the final season, but I can see how if that was your introduction, the lighter tone of the previous seasons would be a shock.

ME-TV will start showing "WKRP in Cincinnati" again in April, apparently replacing "Mama's Family" (a show I never cared for, even when it was the Carol Burnett Show skits). https://www.metv.com/stories/wkrp-in-cincinnati-joins-the-metv-weeknight-schedule-beginning-april-2 I would wish they will include the original music, but I'm sure they won't.

I never thought J. R. was as interesting character as Kookie (and I don't think the public did either. There weren't any songs about "J. R., J. R., lend me your abbreviations"). Nor did I think it was believable that Kookie was suddenly a forensic scientist. But Kookie remained an "associate" not a partner and the show generally featured Jeff or Stu, with Kookie largely in a secondary role. So far this season has pretty good stories. Ratings might have been hurt by all the copy-cat shows on the air at the time.

“The Inverness Cape Caper” (Season 4, Episode 4) Big changes in 77SS land! Kookie is now an associate in Bailey & Spencer, and J. R. Hale is the new parking lot attendant (fully recovered from getting blown up in the last episode). Kookie is running the B&S crime lab? Where did he learn that? Mild-mannered Jay Novello, in a double role, is back as another accountant, as well as a drunken Shakespearean actor (having fun overacting). Dawn Wells is back as Novello’s niece. Elisha Cook Jr. is an ex-jockey hitman. Character actor Ted de Corsia is an ex-Chicago gangster (the usual role for de Corsia) running a racing farm. Elisha Cook had supposedly killed Novello 15 years earlier on de Corsia’s orders. But when de Corsia spots Novello on the street he orders a hit. Stu is tricked into locating Novello so Cook can kill him. In order to get the evidence on de Corsia and Cook and find the kidnapped Wells, they hire actor Novello to impersonate accountant Novello. Phew! A complicated, but entertaining plot, with a good cast. The title of the episode? Novello, the accountant, always wears an Inverness cape, a clue that helps Stu find him.

"Man in the Crowd" (Season 4, Episode 3) R. E. Venge is trying to kill Jeff. Who he is, and what's his motive, are unknown. Robert Colbert (of "Time Tunnel" fame) plays Venge. J. R. (Robert Logan) has his first appearance as a service station attendant (strangely credited as "Bob", even though he's clearly called "J. R." in the episode), only to get blown up (he recovers by the end of the episode with only a broken leg). Jeff gets a rip-roaring fight scene that includes mud wrestling. Another "face" in the episode is character actor Olan Soule, who usually was cast as clerks, judges, bank tellers, etc., but actually played Batman (well, Batman's voice) in the "Super Friends" cartoons.

“The Desert Spa Caper” (Season 4, Episode 2) Hollywood star Claire Dickens turns to alcohol after the death of her Errol Flynn-like co-star and love interest, Randy Reilly. In order to dry her out, the studio sends Claire to El Rancho Aphrodite, an all-female health resort for rehab. Jeff is hired to protect her and enlists Suzanne to go undercover at the resort as a client while our singing detective provides entertainment and attraction for the ladies. Based on the clientele the spa should be called El Rancho Mean Girls, with everyone a suspect, including a gossip columnist, the spa’s nutritionist, the spa’s owner, the spa’s cowboy riding instructor, etc. In fact, I was wondering if the might not pull an Agatha Christie and have everyone at the spa trying wreak revenge on Claire. Suzanne is the star of this episode, getting most of the screen time. The only recognizable face in the episode is probably Jason Evers from “The Brain that Wouldn’t Die.” Finally Suzanne gets to shine in an episode- riding horses, sword fencing, wearing big hats and solving crimes.

“The Rival Eye Caper” (Season 4, Episode 1) A new season starts with a strong episode. A string of jewelry robberies that Bailey & Spencer can’t solve are being quickly solved by a new agency in town, Surety Detective Agency. When an insurance agency hires Bailey to find out who stole $70,000 in jewels from washed-up movie star Nola Chase (played by frequent “Dragnet” character actress, Virginia Gregg), the agency has to find the jewels and discover the secret of Surety’s success. Hodad Kookie goes undercover on the beach to investigate Chase’s son, mommy’s boy Tony Chase (Chad Everett), a prize-winning surfer, and beach bunny Nixie (Dawn “Mary Ann” Wells). Tom Gilson plays Tony’s surf bum accomplice, Duneboy (was Moondog already taken?). (Gilson was shot and killed by his Playboy model wife the following year.) Character actor Bert Remsen plays the slimy head of the rival detective agency (Remsen was almost killed in 1964 by a falling crane on a TV set, but he continued to work into the 1990s). Nola's relationship with her son Tony had a lot of not very subtle Freudian undertones (or maybe overtones!).

"Have Gun, Will Travel" holds up well and "The Rifleman" is watchable, if awfully improbable. The hour-long westerns are hard to watch (not to mention the hour and a half episodes of "Wagon Train"), even "Bonanza" which I liked at the time. The half-hour "Gunsmoke" episodes are easier to watch that the hour-long. Actually, I wish they'd bring back the half-hour drama. The tighter writing improves the shows (e.g., the half-hour "Twilight Zone" and "Alfred Hitchcock" episodes, compared to the hour-long).

“Caper in E Flat” (Season 3, Episode 36) A totally comic episode despite the murder theme. John Dehner gives an over-the-top performance as the Colonel Tom Parker-esque Deacon Morton P. Franklin, who hires Rex to discover who’s trying to kill his “sub-teen”, not-very-Elvis-like, pop idol client Billy Boy Baines (played by Evan McCord, later Joseph Gallison, who gets billing during the opening-which is unusual-despite being someone I never heard of. Obviously WB was trying to make him into a star. His best known role was a long run on “Days of Our Lives” under his real name). Cloris Leachman plays Deacon’s over-sexed, drunken wife, putting on a Southern belle accent and showing all the men her juleps. Future Dino’s parking lot attendant J.R. Hale, Robert Logan, is a former teen idol client of Deacon’s and suspect. There’s a lot of singing in this episode, with all the regular cast-minus Stu-singing a closing number. The scene with Dehner trying to zip up Leachman’s tight, leopard-print pants was both funny and sort of disturbing. Dehner first appears driving what looks like a Nudie Cohn customized western-themed (cowboy) car. http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/26/autos/nudie-cohn-cadillac/index.html