A Televisual Feast

Alex, the time traveling cop of this series, might be the most annoying character on any television show I’ve ever watched. It’s an incredible waste of production value, plotting, and the great cast. As Alex, Keeley Hawes is okay and none of the problems are her fault. This episode also kicks off the opener, with […]

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Norman Lear takes over the writing duties again (at least the credited ones, I have no idea if “All in the Family” had a writer’s room) and pulls off a fantastic episode. It seems like talking about the show in terms of its acts is the best idea. First act is simple and nice, the […]

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Another messy episode. I paid attention this time and noticed no Lara Flynn Boyle in the opening credits, which means ABC just ran the first season leftovers during the second. It doesn’t really matter, except to show how little thought went into it (how many series did Kelley have on back then, four?). With four […]

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Here’s another decent episode–actually, it’s kind of cool, following Rockford on a case with a limited cast (his client, the people they talk to, and a foil), but it’s real problematic. First, the relationship between Jim and the female client has at least two, probably three, scenes where the client’s writing is almost no different […]

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Another so-so episode. This one takes too long introducing the story–Archie faking whiplash–and then fills the remainder of the episode with some unfunny guest spots. Three guest stars and not one of them really fits. They–three lawyers, two (at different times) for Archie, one against–all give fine performances, but they just change the tone of […]

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“Ashes to Ashes” is kind of like The People That Time Forgot, with new time traveler (coma traveler?) Keeley Hawes in the Patrick Wayne role. Allow me to explain the analogy. In The Land That Time Forgot, Doug McClure writes a letter telling the whole world about his adventures with dinosaurs and so on. Before […]

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“All in the Family” so far, has an act-based structure (two episodes in, it could very well change). One, two and three (commercial break to commercial break). This episode suffers greatly from it. The first act is fantastic. The second, featuring Archie writing the President (the first act covers Archie flipping out because Mike is […]

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Big surprise ending as they burn off first season episodes (look at Bobby’s changing hairstyle). Besides Bobby’s big surprise case, there’s lots of Bobby bonding with Judge Linda Hunt, which is fine enough, but it really doesn’t do much. His case is interesting, but it just seems a wee bit too much for the show. […]

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It’s amazing how much gets done in this first episode. Every major character gets established, every major character relationship gets established and even a supporting one (if Lionel counts as supporting, I can’t remember how big a character he is in the first season).
Besides the very smart setup for the episode–Archie and Edith’s wedding anniversary–Lear […]

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A nice episode. Jimmy gets a case–oh, and I didn’t mean nice in the above adequate sense, but in the sentimental and pleasant sense–a girl bitten by a doctor’s dog, Eugene has to get off another guilty client (to win two more bets) and Ellenor and Lindsay get involved in jury tampering (technically). The end […]

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