Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) has a plan backfire on him by episode’s end as he and the precinct attempt to stem the upswing in gang violence by warning all gang members that should violence erupt, the gang leaders will be held responsible arrested and tried with the promise that they’ll make it stick. But it…
Tag: hostage
Hill Street Blues (1983) – A Hill of Beans, and Here’s Adventure, Here’s Romance
The final episode of Hill Street Blues’ third season, as usual, has a lot going on. Written by Anthony Yerkovich, David Milch, and Mark Frost from a story by Steven Bochco, Jeffrey Lewis and Milch, season three came to a close on 12 May, 1983. While Fay (Barbara Bosson) reveals she’s going to have a…
The Equalizer (1986) – Breakpoint, and No Conscience
McCall (Edward Woodward) was looking forward to an enjoyable evening at a wedding reception, but things go badly when the entire party is taken hostage by terrorists who were in the building for an assassination. Breakpoint was written by Scott Shepherd and Don Carlos Dunaway from a story by Shepherd. It first went out over…
Hill Street Blues (1981) – Choice Cut, and Up in Arms
Seven episodes in writer Lee David Zlotoff brings us full circle with Choice Cut. First airing on 14 February, 1981, the episode sees Frank Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) dealing with a hostage situation in a supermarket, not entirely dissimilar from what happened in the first episode. In fact, it’s the same hostage takers! They went…
Hill Street Blues (1981) – Hill Street Station, and Presidential Fever
When I was a teen every time I came across Hill Street Blues I would find myself stopping to watch it, and would even set the VCR to record it (when I remembered to). I always found it interesting in the way that it worked to show the police officers of the Hill Street precinct…
Fringe (2009) – Earthling, and Of Human Action
The case that cost Broyles (Lance Reddick) his marriage resurfaces in Earthling. Written by J.H. Wyman and Jeff Vlaming, this episode first debuted on 5 November, 2009. When a strange, crumbling body draws the attention of Fringe Division, Olivia (Anna Torv), Peter (Joshua Jackson), and Walter (John Noble), Broyce has information to share about a…
The X-Files (2001) – Deadalive, and Three Words
Series creator Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz pen the first episode back for The X-Files after its month away, and it starts with a gut punch. Mulder (David Duchovny) us dead, and he’s buried. Deadalive first aired on 1 April, 2001, and it plunges us right back into the mythology of the series, as three…
M*A*S*H (1978) – Tea and Empathy, Your Hit Parade, and What’s Up, Doc?
Bill Idelson pens Tea and Empathy, which first aired on 17 January, 1978. It’s another of those episodes that has a lots going on. Hawkeye (Alan Alda) deals with a British Major, Ross (Bernard Fox), who demands that Hawkeye release his still injured soldiers so that they may return to action. B.J. (Mike Farrell) deals…
Battlestar Galactica 9: Experiment in Terra (1984) – Ron Goulart and Glen A. Larson
This week, I dive into another Galactica adaptation. Not coming out until 1984, years after the show was cancelled, this novel adapts a pair of episodes, Baltar’s Escape and Experiment in Terra (which on retrospect feels like a trial run for the Bellasario created Quantum Leap). This time out there are no Adama’s Journals or…
TIFF 2021: Attica dir. Stanley Nelson
Taking a look at the five day rebellion, and hostage taking in September of 1971 at Attica prison, Nelson’s documentary is a stark, unflinching look at the prison system, the industry of it, the culture and race clash that is inherent in it, and the larger world as a whole. Filled with interviews from those…
The Mind Reels 