Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) is given bodyguard duty when he’s assigned to protect an Arabian Prince (Walker Edmiston). He and 99 (Barbara Feldon), who goes undercover in the harem, pair up with Agent 498 (Alan Oppenheimer), from the YENTA agency (a little jab at the Man From UNCLE, which aired on a competing network.) Of…
Tag: racism
The Trees (2021) – Percival Everett
With two books, Percival Everett has become one of my favorite authors. I loved his take on Jim from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in James. And when I read the blurb on The Trees I knew I had to take a look. I didn’t know that I would be blown away by it. Everett…
Superman: Dawnbreaker (2019) – Matt de la Pena
I’m going to restart Smallville this week. I never finished it when it was airing and writing about them guarantees that I have to watch them all and explore the whole series. And since Superman has always been a hero of mine, I’ve also been scouring for a good Superman novel. Dawnbreaker is that. Giving…
James (2024) – Percival Everett
Percival Everett offers a fresh perspective on Mark Twain’s adventure of Huck and Jim. Filled with humor, heartbreak, horror, and irony, Everett’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel is captivating, powerful and entertaining. Jim, as one will remember, is a runaway slave, and is later thought to have murdered Huck. The pair travel down the Mississippi tumbling…
Stargate: Atlantis (2005) – Instinct, and Conversion
Instinct, written by Treena Hancock and Melissa R. Byer, opens with a bit of a nod to An American Werewolf in London. McKay (David Hewlett), Ronon (Jason Momoa), Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) and Teyla (Rachel Luttrell) enter a pub house on a distant world. They are unwelcome and urged to leave, but one of them warns…
Family Ties (1989) – Simon Says, and All in the Neighborhood Part 1, and Part 2
Jennifer (Tina Yothers) and a friend, Simon (Jason Naylor) have a school project to work on together about teens in the workplace and have gotten a job at a fast food restaurant, Chicken Heaven. Unfortunately, Simon is completely smitten with Jennifer and can’t concentrate on the job at hand. Written by Katie Ford the episode…
A Case of Need (1968) – Micheal Crichton
Micheal Crichton’s writing, one time, as Jeffrey Hudson, delivers his first medical thriller filled with a number of themes that are still sadly too relevant today. Dr. John Berry is a pathologist working at Boston Memorial who finds himself trying to help out a friend and fellow doctor, Dr. Lee, when he is arrested for…
Mississippi Burning (1988) – Alan Parker
Mississippi Burning was relevant when it was made in the late 80s (it was relevant when I watched it nine years ago and wrote about it then), and sadly, here in 2024, it’s still relevant, because racism still seems to be way too rampant. The Oscar-winning film (Cinematography) has a stellar cast and is based…
Hill Street Blues (1986) – I Come on My Knees, and Say Uncle
I Come on My Knees first aired on 6 November, 1986 and was written by David Milch. There’s a lot going on in this episode, and once again the silly melodrama has been pushed aside. Sure there are fun character moments, but as a whole the series seems to be determined to finish incredibly strong….
Hill Street Blues (1986) – The Best Defense, and Bald Ambition
With the public defenders going on strike, the precinct has to exercise caution in pursuing arrests, as the courts are going to be jammed until the strike is over, and the holding cells will be full. The Best Defense was written by Steve Bello and Robert Ward from a story by Bello, Ward and Jonathan…
The Mind Reels 