It’s time for milk, fig newtons and beautiful sunsets as Season 5 (!) gets underway with this two-parter that aired on 27 September and 4 October, 1984. The season opener was penned by Bellisario himself, and sees both Thomas (Tom Selleck) and Higgins (John Hillerman) dealing with love in their own way. It also uses the New American…
Category: Bellisario & Cannell
The A-Team (1983) – A Small and Deadly War and Black Day at Bad Rock
The A-Team is ready for action in this week’s dual episodes! First up is A Small and Deadly War, which was written by Frank Lupo and aired 15 February, 1983. The team is approached by a police officer, Ed Maloney (Norman Alden) after he doesn’t know where to turn, and his family is under…
Magnum, p.i. (1984) – Dream a Little Dream and I Witness
And just like that we come to the end of season 4 and what a pair of episodes to end on… First up is Dream a Little Dream, written by Reuben Leder. With an airdate of 29 March, 1984, this one was directed by T.C. himself, Roger E. Mosley. The result is a poignant episode…
The A-Team (1983) – Children of Jamestown and Pros and Cons
Here’s where the series gets really underway, this week’s episodes see the A-Team falling right into the groove, or the jazz, that we know they’ll be following for the next couple of seasons (to the point where it will become predictable, perhaps even cliché). First up is Children of Jamestown, written by Cannell with…
Magnum, p.i. (1984) – Holmes Is Where the Heart Is and On Face Value
This week’s check-in with Thomas (Tom Selleck) and the gang, finds both episodes showing the friendship that exists between Magnum and Higgins (John Hillerman). Higgins carries the first episode, Holmes is Where the Heart Is, written by Judy Burns and Jay Huguely, with an original airdate of 8 March, 1984. Higgins is transcribing a…
The A-Team (1983) – Mexican Slayride
It’s time for another Stephen J. Cannell series, he and Frank Lupo paired up to create this series at the behest of the head of NBC… The A-Team ran for five seasons (and I’m sure there are a number of them that I haven’t seen, though when the plots became so formulaic it may…
Magnum, p.i. (1984) – The Return of Luther Gillis and Let the Punishment Fit the Crime
Luther Gillis (Eugene Roche) is back in Hawaii in The Return of Luther Gillis, written by Reuben Leder, with an original air date of 16 February, 1984. In the town of St. Louis, Luther Gillis earns his living as a hard-boiled detective, but when he gets an invite to go back to Hawaii to…
The Greatest American Hero (1983) – Desperado and Vanity, Says the Preacher
And just like that we’re on to the last two episodes of the series, this one went by quick. And you can very much tell that by the beginning of the third season, the creative team behind the show was being forced to meet the studios demands far too often, causing the stories t…
Magnum, p.i. (1984) – Rembrandt’s Girl and Paradise Blues
Comedy legend Carol Burnett shows up in Hawaii this week in the first of the two episodes up for review this week. Rembrandt’s Girl was written by Chris Abbott, and aired on 2 February, 1984. Higgins (John Hillerman), with Agatha (Gillian Dobb) helping out is planning a meditation retreat weekend at the estate, and…
The Greatest American Hero (1983) – Wizards and Warlocks and It’s Only Rock and Roll
I’m coming up on the end of my time with Ralph (William Katt), Bill (Robert Culp) and Pam (Connie Sellecca), but there’s another Cannell series I grew up with cresting the horizon. I’m entering unusual territory here, in that from what I can garner from IMDB, this pair of episodes and next week’s were…
The Mind Reels 