80s Larson TV Week: Manimal

Welcome back folk to another slathering heap of Larson 80’s TV Week.  Now we have covered two very successful creations providing entertainment and probably more topless man chest than I ever needed to see.   Now I thought we would take a gander at one of the bombs of the 80s that held promise but not enough interest.  Bear in mind this is also these are the audiences that needed Friday the 13^th sequels left and right so this could be part of the problem.  A professor of criminology (thank you Jay for looking that up) who prowls the night in search of criminals and show them the error of their wicked ways all the while being a vigilante?  This is Manimal.

Thought we were gonna watch the game, not Spring clean!

Dr. Jonathan Chase…wealthy, young, handsome.   A man with the brightest of spoilers.  A man with the darkest of pasts.

Dr Chase (Simon MacCorkindale of Hammer House of Horror, Macbeth, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Falcon Crest, Counterstrike, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Casualty and Night Wolf) apparently glob trotted from Cambridge England, to Africa to the far reaches of Tibet…stuff happened??   Okay the skinny is thus, Chase found through an accidental transmogrification he could shape shift into multiple animals.  Why wouldn’t he want to use that new found ability to FIGHT CRIME??!!!   Of course he would.  That is perfectly logical from all the angles I have examined it at.  

Frosted Flakes won't save you, criminal scum.

Other than the audience only two other people knew his secret.  One being a lovely lady cop Detective Brook McKenzie (Melody Anderson of Flash Gordon, Dead & Buried, St. Elsewhere, Policewoman Centerfold, Phillip Marlowe, Private Eye and Firewalker) and his buddy Ty Earl (Michael D. Roberts of Heartbreaker, The Ice Pirates, Earthlings, Double Trouble, Manhunter, Rain Man and Sleepstalker) in the atypical buddy cop/crime fighter story arcs of the day, this series lasted all of 8 episodes due to poor Neilsen ratings.   The audience did not get to delve into Chase’s back story at all and were in fact robbed at a potentially clever series.

I had a few comments about the show now.   The creature transformations were brought to us by Stan Winston’s Creature Shop and while they were amazing manifestations from man to panther.  Most of us had issues with his clothes somehow never tearing or morphing with his flesh into these various creatures.  I guess Simon MacCorkindale in his tighty whiteys might have been a problem but personally as well built as the guy was you would thought it would improve the ratings overall.  For crying out loud, Magnum didn’t have a shirt on half of the time and I heard no complaints from straight women and gay men so who can guess.

Due to the costs of Stan Winston’s SFX team, co-coordinators and various animal wranglers the executives felt the cost was too great for the low ratings and ultimately pulled the plug on a superhero vigilante that could have really gone places.  Located in New York you already got the vibe of the Avengers, Fantastic Four or Spiderman but even great locale, special effects and decent writing cannot always survive the first year as this was rated one of the worst of the 50 TV shows of all time in 2002 by TV Guide.   Somehow nonsense like Jackass and The Jersey Shore got more love.

Special guest star: Michael Corvin of Underworld!

Larson 80s TV Week: Magnum P.I.

Hiya kiddies and welcome back for another helping of Larson 80’s TV Week.   Boy I make the weeks longer and more confusing than Mapquest directions.  This time around I thought we would find us another tough guy with even better hair, better build and rocking a solid mustache.  He hails from Hawaii though sounds like he is from Chicago.  This is Magnum P.I.

Yeah a delicious shake and a two hour workout.

Mac: Time has little do with spoiler and jelly donuts.

Based in Honolulu Hawaii our shameless shamus stays at the palatial Robin’s Nest Estate owned by world acclaimed novelist Robin Masters…who is never ever at this amazing crib.  Seriously, I have never seen this cat appear in any episode.   It was eluded in the pilot episode that our flatfoot Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck of Daughters of Satan, 3 Men and a Baby, An Innocent Man, The Closer, Friends, Jesse Stone: Stone Cold and Blue Bloods) had done Masters a serious favor…guess he hid all the dead hookers that one time in Vegas…anyway apparently since Masters is nowhere on the premises he allows Magnum the run of the roost if you will including being about to roll up in a GORGEOUS Ferrari 308 GTS and probably raids the wine cellar for the good stuff.  

Whadda mean I ain't rocking the Bogart?? Jerks.

Between his cases he has to contend with Masters’ groundskeeper, butler and all around handyman John Higgins (John Hillerman of Blazing Saddles, Chinatown. At Long Last Love, Ellery Queen and Valerie) a former British Army Sergeant Major who was the model of a major general who has information, vegetable, animal and mineral…oh wait, no sorry that’s The Pirates of Penzance.   Higgins patrols the grounds with two horrible abominations before the eyes of the Lord, Doberman Pinschers named Zeus and Apollo.   I guess one is faster than lightning and sleeps with anything that moves and the other is very sunny. 

Aside from his daily grind with Higgins, Magnum’s…associates…cohorts???  Ah screw it, his sidekicks.    One is T.C.  Calvin (Roger E. Mosley of Hit Man, Cruise Into Terror, The Jericho Mile, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, Letters from a Killer and FCU: Fact Checkers Unit), former Marine recon now tourist helicopter pilot for the island and their buddy Rick Right (Larry Manetti of Sudden Death, Black Sheep Squadron, Battlestar Galactica, Swamp Thing and Hawaii Five-0) also former Marine recon that now owns Rick’s Place a nice homage to Casablanca and hey, who doesn’t love Bogart?    To give the show a nice throwback to the 30’s dimestore detective Magnum does a lot of narrative in each case giving it humorous content in the midst of even the most dire of situations.

I had just a few points about the show now.   It has been established that Magnum and his buddies are from the same Vietnam outfit but we never saw any of them using Marine takedowns, martial arts or handle their firearms in that level of training.  However, this show was the first portrayal of Vietnam vets in a positive light and that has to count for something there alone.  It was hinted at that the producers wanted Orson Welles to appear as the enigmatic Robin Masters but sadly he passed away shortly after voice acting in Transformers: The Movie as the planet devouring Unicron.    

With the series lasting 9 years, a bevy of female and male clients and a memorable TV intro theme, Selleck was proud to be a part of TV history but only after the writers laxed his character a bit instead of making him too smooth and lady killer but more of a down to Earth jock type.

What's wrong with my shirt?

Larson 80's TV Week: Knight Rider

Hello all and welcome to Larson 80’s TV Week and I thought I would start us off with a series many of us know of and enjoyed.  Some of us scoffed at its creation while many hold it up to the echelons of Television.  What do you get when you cross a Charlie’s Angels philanthropist with a Lone Ranger theme?   Why, you get a former cop operating as a field agent and a car with a few optional extras such as: being bulletproof and fireproof, a turbo boost, oil slick and an artificial intelligence.   So buckle up, sport a leather jacket and get ready to jet across the road.  This is Knight Rider.

What do you mean turtlenecks don't go with a leather jacket, Tim Gunn?

Michael: I need ya spoiler!

KITT: Right away Michael.

Brought to us by creator/producer Glen A. Larson (B.J. and the Bear, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rodgers in the 25^th Century, Terror at Alcatraz, Trauma Center and Automan) tells the story of a cop wounded to near death in the line of duty.  Having no personal attachments like friends and family, Michael Long is nursed back to health by an anonymous millionaire benefactor of Knight Industries.  With plastic surgery he has a new face and name: Michael Knight.

By your command...

Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff of Shaka Zulu, Fire and Rain, The Final Alliance, The Bulkin Trail, Avalanche, Nick Fury: Agent of Shield, Baywatch and Layover) was recruited by Knight Industries and his only connection has been through an associate Miles Devon (Edward Mulhare of Signpost to Murder, Our Man Flint, Eye of the Devil, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir and Murder, She Wrote).  Devon explains his part in this organization is to equip and support Michael in his new ventures and assignments. 

The identity Michael Knight is allowing him to operate as a federal agent linked to the justice organization, the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG) and Michael needs reliable wheels and behold the Knight Industries Two Thousand or KITT if you will.  A armored 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with an artificial intelligence, with smoke screen, oil slick and even a NOS injected turbo boost to be used sparingly (once per episode).  Coupled with the lovely engineer  and personal assistant Bonnie Barstow (Patricia McPherson of Prime Risk, Knight Rider, Starman, MacGyver, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Warehouse 13) an a decent right cross, Michael and KITT go head to head against organized crime, drug dealers and even terrorist cells.

I had just a few observations of the show at this time.   While this is considered somewhat hokey today the advancements of technology is not that farfetched but the expenses of KITT would be obscene.   KITT loved by many was deemed worthy an adversary named KARR (Knight Automated Roving Robot) KITT predecessor that had only been programmed for self-preservation and had no qualms about human safety.    The auto cruise option actually moved Hasselhoff in the passenger seat while a stunt driver sat in a black outfit.  Several of the kit KITT cars were done with scale models at 1/8^th scale Monogram kits model trains for jumps and KITT Pontiac cars.  The life sized scale vehicles were fiberglass units for crashing in the water, and the jumping car was completely hollow to launch off a ramp hidden well away from the cameras but occasionally got caught in frame not unlike the boom mike.

Punch it, KITT!  We gotta get out of Burbank!

Larson 80s TV Week

Howdy kiddies and this week I thought we would tackle shows of yesteryear again.  The 1970s to 1990s series with the development of multiple titles and pilots by Glen A. Larson (writer and producer of It Takes a Thief, Alias Smith and Jones, McCloud, Battlestar Galactica, Switch and Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century) in order to bring quality shows…of course he did try to subject us to Automan (an AI creation that created constructs i.e. vehicles and physical presence to fight crime with) and Manimal (a professor able to transform into any kind of animal in order to fight crime alongside a cop and his Vietnam war buddy) so I cannot guarantee you will love every series Larson produced and written but dammit we will take a peek!  

Enjoy the beefcake, ladies.

From such memorial TV shows such as: Magnum P.I. to more obscure shows you may have forgotten like Cover Up and The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo. 

Ranging series from Westerns, Action and Science Fiction to offer a stimulus to the imagination to what was marketable for children and adults.  

22 TV movies had Larson at the helm producing it with what funds were allotted or what he brought to the table.  He has amazed us as equally baffled us so let us take time to review a smattering of series this week via the 1980s collection. 

I hope as always it informs and entertains.