tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post3038215439033605314..comments2024-03-16T11:23:44.620-07:00Comments on A Thriller a Day...: The Specialists: Season 2 Episode 30John Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15830334036783163702noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-61152859980331389282019-01-18T14:40:54.861-08:002019-01-18T14:40:54.861-08:00No. Robert Shaw was actually eaten by the shark in...No. Robert Shaw was actually eaten by the shark in the tank at Universal Studios but survived to film Airport 1979 later that year. It was during the filming of that classic that he died, when the bomb went off and he was sucked out of the cockpit.Peter Enfantinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04317575598411394944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-41492293262224446072019-01-18T00:57:56.166-08:002019-01-18T00:57:56.166-08:00Okay I was wrong.Robert Shaw died suddenly of a he...Okay I was wrong.Robert Shaw died suddenly of a heart attack in 1978.Roy Scheider died of multiple myeloma in 1978 right here in my city of Little Rock in 2008.Jetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11724490893691260147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-73459987470356100422019-01-18T00:53:47.468-08:002019-01-18T00:53:47.468-08:00No.Robert Shaw was not actually eaten by a shark d...No.Robert Shaw was not actually eaten by a shark during the making of Jaws but Richard Dreyfuss' character was supposed to be eaten lime in the book but they had trouble with the cage,the stuntman and keeping the real shark so they had to use the footage they had and they let Dreyfuss'character live.Robert Shaw died of ,I think,an alcohol related illness a few years later.Jetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11724490893691260147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-7063794771276794802018-11-16T05:34:53.091-08:002018-11-16T05:34:53.091-08:00Just watched the whole series. Really excellent, j...Just watched the whole series. Really excellent, just my one peeve is that the UK police weren't allowed to wiretap until 1985.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-39580902406564618882018-02-05T08:10:41.981-08:002018-02-05T08:10:41.981-08:00Yes great work guys! You have enriched MY "Th...Yes great work guys! You have enriched MY "Thriller" experience as well. Can't wait to log on each day after I've watched a new one (late at night of course!) and see how much we agree or disagree! This has been super fun. Generally I find a little something to like in ALMOST all the episodes. <br /><br />There's one good moment in "The Specialists" — at the end when the girl looks around and the streets are totally silent (they've been blocked off) and she realizes it. Her blood runs cold. Very cool and creepy.<br /><br />And OMG, is the Maguffin here that goddamn Brady Bunch horse statue? Can't tell for sure. Looks like it but smaller here. It's also in Jimmy Stewart's office in "Bell, Book & Candle." That damn prop GOT AROUND, lemme tell ya! <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16614592992671674934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-45166386959052021512016-04-02T20:14:40.921-07:002016-04-02T20:14:40.921-07:00Very cool to find this comment, and learn that my ...Very cool to find this comment, and learn that my comment about David Frankham's hat actually gave him a good laugh.<br /><br />Thanks for posting. Larry Rapchaknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-89683657312258242342015-09-16T20:36:52.651-07:002015-09-16T20:36:52.651-07:00Coming in even later here! It seemed like everythi...Coming in even later here! It seemed like everything had been said(there's a lot of complaining for a supposedly beloved show here) but even I,the biggest Thriller lover you could ever find,cannot figure the existence of "The Specialists." Pilot? Maybe. It seems to come from somewhere else,especially given the flow of the rest of the season. Even the so called weaker shows feel part of the Thriller mood. Not this one. A throwback to the Fletcher Markle period? Even worse. Anyone notice there's no producer credit on the episode? Even the Hubbell Robinson logo is missing? It's as if another crew showed up and borrowed the hour.Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17050780812342957714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-24445804125374602392015-09-16T20:36:10.686-07:002015-09-16T20:36:10.686-07:00Coming in even later here! It seemed like everythi...Coming in even later here! It seemed like everything had been said(there's a lot of complaining for a supposedly beloved show here) but even I,the biggest Thriller lover you could ever find,cannot figure the existence of "The Specialists." Pilot? Maybe. It seems to come from somewhere else,especially given the flow of the rest of the season. Even the so called weaker shows feel part of the Thriller mood. Not this one. A throwback to the Fletcher Markle period? Even worse. Anyone notice there's no producer credit on the episode? Even the Hubbell Robinson logo is missing? It's as if another crew showed up and borrowed the hour.Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17050780812342957714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-92149040048445174762015-02-25T17:23:22.607-08:002015-02-25T17:23:22.607-08:00Once again, ME TV does the Thriller thing at the u...Once again, ME TV does the Thriller thing at the ungodly hour of 3:00 am central time-for old fart insomniacs!<br /><br />Better than nothing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-65793858533197540602015-01-14T19:29:26.683-08:002015-01-14T19:29:26.683-08:00It's gratifying to get such a positive respons...It's gratifying to get such a positive response over four years after we finished the last episode. I've still got great memories of doing this blog and, of the four shows we ended up covering, this was my favorite. Never say never but I believe this TV-show-a-day blogger is retired for good.<br />Thanks for the kind words!Peter Enfantinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04317575598411394944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-15654248242417676532015-01-14T18:55:35.401-08:002015-01-14T18:55:35.401-08:00Well, I just finished making my way through all of...Well, I just finished making my way through all of the episodes, commentaries, and scores. I just want to tell you guys, if you still read the comments, that reading your blog after every episode really enhanced the experience of the show for me a lot. So thank you very much for doing these great blogs; I stumbled onto your stuff a couple of years ago when I was going through all of Kolchak for the first time since I was a teen-ager watching the first-run. So when I bought the Thriller set I made sure to make this blog part of the whole experience.<br /><br />As for Thriller itself, I really liked the show. My favorite episode was "The Incredible Doktor Markesan", which I had seen as kid. My second favorite was "The Storm", which I had never heard of. I loved a lot of the other episodes, but I'll give third place to "The Hollow Watcher"; I thought the cheery expression on the scarecrow's face was just perfect. Other than Boris's wonderful turn as Dr. Markesan, the standout performances from actors for me were from Robert Middleton in "Guillotine" (particularly because I had thought he was great in such a different role in "Fingers of Fear" and John Fiedler in "A Wig for Ms. Devore". For the actresses, my favorite was Virginia Gregg in "Mister George"; she ekes out the win over Natalie Schaefer in "The Grim Reaper" and Rosemary Murphy in "The Lethal Ladies". I also thought Henry Jones deserved a lot of credit for playing two monstrous wife-strangling jerks very differently and very well, and that Jeannette Nolan matched him by playing two EC-style witches who looked alike but had nothing in common with one another except for evil hearts.<br /><br />The Image set had the best commentaries I've heard in a long time. The Larry Blamire ones were standouts for me because I really like his movies, and Lucy Chase Williams, with whose work I am completely unfamiliar, did two of the most original commentary performances I can remember. Other than Tim Lucas, I don't think I've ever heard a commentator that planned out commentaries as well as she did on this set.<br /><br />The big surprise for me was that, unlike you folks, Alan Warren, and I guess everyone else, I really enjoyed almost all of the second season crime episodes. The show's cinematography and art direction were so consistently good, and Boris's introductions were so delightful, by the time they got to the second season, that I found charm in virtually every episode from that year other than charmless (and gormless) "The Specialists".<br /><br />The single scene from television that has haunted me since childhood is the last scene from "The Incredible DoKtor Markesan"; watching it this time, I was stunned to see that the poor disgruntled-looking zombie wife was Carolyn Kearney; I have had a lifelong crush on Carolyn Kearney as a result of her role as the dowser in "The Thing that Wouldn't Die"; I guess I was older when I saw that movie than I was when I saw Thriller, because she made a different kind of impression on me in the very bad movie than she had in the very good television show. I was pleased to see that the end of "The Incredible DoKtor . . . " held up so well after all these years.<br /><br />Thanks again for doing your blogs, and good luck in your future endeavors.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-55049837737788577382014-06-17T12:46:55.321-07:002014-06-17T12:46:55.321-07:00Hi, all ... I'm coming at this a bit late, but...Hi, all ... I'm coming at this a bit late, but ... I'm a friend of David Frankham, and so have some inside information on this episode to offer. In fact, I watched it with him last night, as he hadn't seen it in years. YES ... this wretched episode was intended as a pilot. He says he was told that right from the beginning: "David, if this episode goes, it will be a series!" (And then he looked at the script and saw he died halfway through.)<br /><br />"I was relieved when David Frankham's hat finally came off his head (when he croaked); I thought it might have been permanently affixed."<br /><br />I had to read this comment to David, and he laughed because he's complained about that hat for as long as I've known him! He says he kept asking Ted Post if he could remove it, but Post kept saying, "No! Leave the hat!" He doesn't know why, because everyone else got to take theirs' off. Finally, David himself, without permission, contrived to have the hat slide off when he died.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-58390524484342645452013-11-28T15:15:07.777-08:002013-11-28T15:15:07.777-08:00Soon...Soon...John Scolerihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15830334036783163702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-85855153260051812082013-11-24T20:54:50.354-08:002013-11-24T20:54:50.354-08:00Hey John & Peter! Viewers of our website(who a...Hey John & Peter! Viewers of our website(who also love your projects) keep asking if you have any plans to blog on all the "Night Gallery" episodes. What say you? bobbrakemanmovies.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-81895059394842794632013-11-21T17:31:38.695-08:002013-11-21T17:31:38.695-08:00I think Rockfish is on to something (his comment i...I think Rockfish is on to something (his comment is way, way up there). I'm sure this was shot as a pilot for Ronald Howard. The son of Leslie, one of the biggest film stars of early talkies, I find him attractive in a Brit Daddy sort of way. Across the pond THE AVENGERS was a big hit, and American TV producers must have been aware of it. In a season or two after GOLDFINGER hit big, TV was full of agents (including THE AVENGERS). A dull curiosity.tjonasgreennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-46183197578710531512012-06-13T11:30:24.194-07:002012-06-13T11:30:24.194-07:00Congratulations?! That's it? Where's my co...Congratulations?! That's it? Where's my commemorative tee shirt?<br /><br />Seriously, I'm glad to finally finish this series and even though I knew that the quality was going to ramp down, I'm still disappointed with to view it myself. I'll look back at the episodes and post my wrap up thoughts in the respective threads.Hynekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08641908347705520084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-47200361807899846272012-06-11T19:05:27.867-07:002012-06-11T19:05:27.867-07:00Hynek-
Congratulations and thank you for taking t...Hynek-<br /><br />Congratulations and thank you for taking the time to leave all your well-thought out comments (even when your views didn't see eye to eye with ours)!Peter Enfantinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04317575598411394944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-22252786446172394052012-06-11T18:51:05.334-07:002012-06-11T18:51:05.334-07:00My pace was much slower than our ATAD hosts, but a...My pace was much slower than our ATAD hosts, but after a year I made it to the final episode. The Specialists is a quiet and non eventful end to a series that took a while to get going, finally seemed to find it's style at the end of season one and then inexplicably detoured back into banality. <br /><br />The Specialists starts off as a rote crime drama and stays there. There was nothing special about The Specialists. The acting, plot, direction and music were all stock B crime show. It was nice that the events were transported to England and we got to see the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car. The only good scene in this episode was the fingertappin' showcase. The fight scenes were the worst in the whole series. While watching this episode I got the feeling that the Thriller folks were in a hurry to wrap the whole show up and move on to their next network assignments. <br /><br />I wish that I could serve up four delicious Karloff heads like I did at the end of season one, but sadly The Specialists only deserves one Karloff.Hynekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08641908347705520084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-13234668155767958612012-03-07T12:39:37.313-08:002012-03-07T12:39:37.313-08:00I thought it was funny on the commentary for Papa ...I thought it was funny on the commentary for Papa Benjamin,<br />after Ted Post crapped all over that episode, he said something like "Later I did the Specialist- that was a much better show", Steve Mitchell was like "uh yeah."Cmacnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-40809654442716681972012-03-01T04:21:09.546-08:002012-03-01T04:21:09.546-08:00"I couldn't figure out why we weren't..."I couldn't figure out why we weren't always given a clear view of Mr. Swinburne." Mr. Swiburne: older man with pencil-thin mustache. Peter Duncan's boss: older man with a pencil-thin mustache. The bad guys always seem one step ahead of the good guys? Must have inside information. Duncan's boss must be the chief bad guy! Or so that's what they had me thinking until it was obvious the Specialists had seen Swinburne's face. I've saved Markesan to watch as the Thriller swan song.Rodneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16246240288605771860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-26308186253836015732011-12-14T20:30:26.091-08:002011-12-14T20:30:26.091-08:00Heartbreaking. I was 12 when I saw this awful epis...Heartbreaking. I was 12 when I saw this awful episode. I think my impression at that age was that it was too much like all the other garbage on television when Thriller could be sporadically a unique and special show. I wasn't really surprised because I'd been with the show from the beginning with its disappointments, schizophrenic on again/off again quality and series of dismal crime episodes. It was "Here we go again. Hail, and farewell." From dust it came, and to dust it returned after a few brief shining moments. The above graphic for "The Crime Haters" is perfect! Count me in as one of them! -Thriller fans who hate dull crime episodes and crave supernatural horror!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-84267907096587081702010-11-11T18:05:13.160-08:002010-11-11T18:05:13.160-08:00Sam, no! I hate 'Spock's Brain' but if...Sam, no! I hate 'Spock's Brain' but if I guzzled enough whisky I imagine I could have a good time knocking and teasing it and 'The Invisible Enemy'.<br /><br />Larry, if you told a Dr in England that you'd watched 'The Specialists' 4 times, you could get a disability allowance from the state.<br /><br />This has been probably the finest release of all the anthologies, just for the sheer commentary value, the passion and respect for the series. If only they would do the same when they release the 'Blu-Ray' version of 'The Outer Limits'.<br /><br />David, a quick question for you.<br /><br />I hated the gad-awful new 'Outer Limits' and could go on watching it after the a half a dozen episodes and that woeful bland opening. It felt as if had been made by a particularly inept porn production company whose personnel never went to school, picked a book or watched a movie.<br /><br />Did I miss out in any of the 100plus episodes they churned out?bobby J.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-53731449244354457852010-11-11T16:16:10.747-08:002010-11-11T16:16:10.747-08:00Dave,
Good to hear from you; figured you were ext...Dave,<br /><br />Good to hear from you; figured you were extremely busy.<br /><br />In the meantime, I'm sitting in front of the TV, watching "The Specialists" for the 4th time in a row, praying, hoping, PLEADING...that David Frankham will turn into a skeleton again, just for old time's sake....<br /><br />LRLarry Rapchaknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-43711845169543559342010-11-11T14:08:18.547-08:002010-11-11T14:08:18.547-08:00It's Nice to Be Missed ...
The THRILLER carou...It's Nice to Be Missed ...<br /><br />The THRILLER carousel began to spin my skull, go faster, and outpace me — and the relentless TAD schedule looped ahead of my viewing the final batch of episodes, but I (1) had to formulate and interview for JS & PE, (2) get a novel out the door (it was hanging on like one of those guests who never quite manage to LEAVE), (3) deal with TAD-like comments-in-essay-form for two books — Mark Morris' CINEMA FUTURA (where I rhapsodize on THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN) and Michael Doyle's book on the 1982 THE THING (where I rhapsodize on ... well, guess). Stir in unceasing daily angst, season lightly with movie meetings, and you get a dish that serves, well, nobody, not to mention leaving no time for things like eating food or sleeping.<br /><br />But nonetheless, TAD has become my first internet stop 'o the day, and now that JS & PE are threatening to similarly tackle my favorite TV show of all time (again — guess), I am thrust into the peculiar position of commenting on that which I have already expounded reams of no doubt tedious text, examining. So at first, expect a lot of reiteration, and even reprints of essential data (such as my VIDEO WATCHDOG piece on how the OUTER LIMITS disc transfers suck, suck, and suck, in all three dips so far). I'm still listening, even if I took a break from speaking.<br /><br />I should also mention at this point that ON THE VERY DAY of the THRILLER release, August 31st, I hosted a THRILLER meeting of minds at my home that included Steve Mitchell, Gary Gerani, Larry Rapchak (who flew in for it) and others here. We attempted to Skype Larry Blamire but failed miserably. Now JS & PE are proposing ANOTHER one, a post-mortem of sorts, which promises to be an interesting party indeed. The first THRILLER "convention," if you will. Gasp.DJSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413477571485423494.post-83391162898884103762010-11-11T13:50:37.115-08:002010-11-11T13:50:37.115-08:00THRILLER's equivalent of SPOCK'S BRAIN, or...THRILLER's equivalent of SPOCK'S BRAIN, or OUTER LIMITS' THE INVISIBLE ENEMY.Sam Julianonoreply@blogger.com