And don’t forget the bionic dog!
Which, in a nice bit of not-typical-for-the-70s casting, they used a German Shepherd instead of some ambiguous breed fur ball like Tiger or Scraps or something,
Your adjective in no way agrees with your subject.
Not just my favorite show as a kid, but also my favorite toy…
Mine too. We must be twin brothers from another mother.
The slow pace and the wooden staging sure do stand out nowadays. I just happened to see the episode where Vincent Van Patten guest stars as the bionic kid and all the slow dialog and long times between camera cuts make the show feel like it’s dragging. Those outfits though.
I often catch an episode of a cop show from the 70s, and they really tax my patience:
Phone rings, rings again, close up of phone. reaction shot of cop. Cop picks up receiver. Conversation with filler chatting. Cop hangs up, stares off into space. Makes note on scratch pad. Zoom in on note… way too much time for audience to read “McGruff Warehouse, Dock 30, 6 pm”. Cop walks through station, knocks on boss’s door. Waits to be admitted, then for boss to finish up conversation. Tells boss about phone call. Hands him note, which camera zooms in on AGAIN. Back and forth about the safety of the warehouse trip, discussion about taking partner. Partner called in… OMIGOD, just cut to the cops arriving at the warehouse already!
The other day I shouted at the TV: “WHY wasn’t this a half hour show?”
That was exactly my reaction when watching a few episodes of Emergency! a couple of years ago. “This could be a 30-minute show, without losing anything.”
And, it wasn’t just TV shows – this scene from Bullitt still boggles me. It’s a full minute with no dialog, as the characters silently watch a telecopier (primitive fax machine) ever-so-slowly receive a document with information about a suspect.
Too much sugar nowadays makes people hyperactive and with short attention spans.
The Japanese soldier? Oh yeah, except he was a sailor in a midget submarine. I think he was played by Vito Scotti (heavily made up, of course).
That’s how you tell A STORY, not by jumping around every few seconds. I actually hate that on today’s shows. It’s like everyone’s on speed.
It was sort of like sonar narrowing in on a submarine. Not a ping-ping-ping, but more of a toc-toc-toc!
And the camera got closer to her with each toc!
So many shows do this these days! No one can follow a character through a scene any more. They have to have two seconds of scene A, then three seconds of scene B, two seconds of scene C, then four seconds back from scene A, then B…etc etc.
I agree about some shows in the 70s being slow, but I’ll argue Emergency! isn’t one of them.
I’ve been enjoying Col. Austins leisure wear. This one stood out.
I couldn’t find a pic of it but in the ep Im watching right now he’s sporting a sweet turtleneck with this nehru jacket thingie.
Pacing varied on these shows. The 90 minute and 2 hour Columbos et al were notorious for leisurely editing.
Cannon was pretty tight. They had time for conversations and stuff. Cannon was the best of the 70s private eye shows, I encourage anyone to check it out. Good variety of plots. Only one main character, William Conrad as Cannon. Though he weighed enough for two cast members at least.
“CHiPs” was another one with bad pacing, with the slow motion accidents.
Remember how kenobi_65 mentioned that anything appearing on In Search Of… was likely to turn up on The Six Million Dollar Man? That included the wardrobe! Leonard Nimoy sported a similar range of embarrassing outfits. Turtlenecks with sport jackets. Ascots. Denim suits. Wide collars. It wasn’t the best time for fashion, the 70s.
I bought the “Six Million Dollar Man - Bionic Transport and Repair Station” plus the doll for Mistermage 2 years ago for XMas. He set Steve up next to his Evel Kneviel doll (his mom finally started clearing out the “kids” stuff from the attic).
I’m quite happy that few photographs of me from the 70s have survived.
I found an episode on-line covering the Lost Dutchman Mine. When I saw the episode when it was new, Arizona was some strange place out west where the sun set. Since I now live about 10 miles for the Lost Dutchman mine (wherever it really is) I thougtht it would be good to check out.
Boy did they get it wrong! Like pretty much everything, every detail, every location. Star Trek’s OK Corral episode was more historically accurate.
But don’t be dissin’ Nimoy’s total fashion sense. I loved the white turtleneck sweater he wore on Mission Impossible so much I had my mom buy me one,
Leonard Nimoy also had a mustache for a time on In Search Of, and indeed Lee Majors grew one at the end of Six Million Dollar Man as well.
I love me a turtleneck, but that thing would swallow a kid up!!