Saturday, October 30, 2021

Weekend Post

It’s always hard to write Halloween episodes. Especially in sitcoms. How many costume party mishaps and botched attempts at scaring people can we write? Dramas at least can do spooky episodes if they fit within the genre. I’m sure you will want to keep the lights on the night the CRIMINAL MINDS Halloween episode airs.

But there’s always the danger that the Halloween show will get just a little too weird and go off the rails. Such was the case with my favorite idiotic Halloween episode (although I don’t know if it were designed specifically for Halloween) – THE MAN FROM UNCLE – “The Deadly Games Affair.” It aired in late October, 1964 so I’m guessing that’s why it was slotted there.

First some background for the (overwhelming majority) of readers unfamiliar with THE MAN FROM UNCLE. In the early ‘60s James Bond movies were first introduced and were a huge sensation. So naturally television wanted their version. Thus, THE MAN FROM UNCLE starring Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo on NBC. In fairness, the first year was pretty good. It was still in black-and-white and attempted to be gritty and suspenseful (for the most part). In later years it went to color and became more camp and was less James Bond and more Austin Powers.

However, “The Deadly Games Affair” was a first season episode. It was an early episode so I give them the benefit of the doubt that they were still trying to nail down the tone of the series.

But…

This was the plot. Some Nazis in suburban New York had Hitler’s body in suspended animation. To reanimate him they needed someone with the same blood type. Namely Napoleon Solo.

Now this Nazi mad scientist, like I said, lived in a New York suburb and somehow has a secret laboratory underneath his house. Imagine Rob Petrie kept Adolph Hitler in his basement.

This Frankenstein plot is so absurd on every level that it’s my favorite Halloween show and no other has come close.  And no, I won't tell you how it ended up.   It would keep you up nights for weeks!

Happy Halloween and as you trick-or-treat (I'm going to trick-or-treat with my granddaughter) be careful of houses that have secret underground labs.

 

37 comments :

Darwin's Ghost said...

"Imagine Rob Petrie kept Adolph Hitler in his basement."

After the last 12 months, I can imagine most Republicans doing that.

Leighton said...

My favorite "Halloween" episode, which isn't one (it aired in March 2004)..."Frasier" and "Boo!" I'll be watching it tomorrow.

Paul Gottlieb said...

Instead of some deranged Nazis in the suburbs, we now have the entire Republican party tying to reanimate Hitler's corpse. Makes that episode of "The Man from UNCLE" look prophetic

Pat Reeder said...

The Halloween TV trend that bugged me was all the ABC sitcoms in which the families went so unrealistically overboard on Halloween costumes, parties, decorations and pranks. This was especially baffling on "Roseanne," where the Conners didn't have enough money for basic medical care or name brand lunch meat, but they had more expensive, elaborate Halloween decorations than the prop department at Universal Studios. And apparently, a warehouse in which to store them.

Pumphouse said...

The episode is two bucks on Amazon Prime video.

Joseph Scarbrough said...

What kind of legalities are involved when characters on a TV show dress up as other copyrighted characters in Halloween episodes? Do they have to get permission from the copyright holders and/or pay some kind of fee? Or is this one of those things where Fair Use comes into play? I'm sincerely curious about this.

James Van Hise said...

Always liked the Roseanne Halloween episodes because they were so wild. This year The Connors did a Halloween episode which was about people in anguish over their miserable lives in a house with Halloween decorations. The Halloween episode of "Ghosts" was much funnier: "Our house was just egged by the cast of Stranger Things!"

Buttermilk Sky said...

The "Treehouse of Horror" episodes of THE SIMPSONS were among the most creative and funny, maybe because they didn't need to construct much of a plot. I enjoyed the parody of THE SHINING more than the movie.

Fed by the muse said...

As far as Halloween-themed sitcom episodes go, always loved the "Frasier" "Halloween" show with everyone in the regular cast having a chance to shine. A standout in a particularly strong season of "Frasier" shows.

Though a TV special, I find "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" still extremely watchable (and smart), even after fifty-five years. Sally's final diatribe is priceless (and highly quotable) as are the "I got a rock" and Snoopy's imaginary dogfight sequences. No wonder it's attained classics status.

Mike Schryver said...

I also loved the "Halloween" episode of FRASIER, but my favorite might be "Room Full of Heroes", also a Halloween episode, mostly for the wonderful payoff at the end of the show.

Mike Doran said...

As you might have noted in your intro, this is a verbatim reposting of yours from October 25 of 2018.
I remember it well; in fact, if you go back and check, you can all find a comment I put in at the time (one of my better ones, I think ...).
I'm not objecting, of course; if you want to do Greatest Hits now and then, it's your privilege - but just say so up front, OK?

Anyhoo, as long as I'm here, may I mention my all-time favorite Halloween episode?

Perry Mason: "The Case Of The Dodging Domino", from October 25, 1962.
The murder takes place on Halloween night, while a bunch of neighborhood kids are trick-or-treating; this figures in the solution of the mystery.
Terrific cast: David Hedison, Herb Rudley, Jeff Morrow, Robert H. Harris, Maureen Arthur, Lloyd Corrigan, and a sassy ingenue named Ellen McRae (before she married Mr. Burstyn), among many others.
I think maybe I'll get the DVD off the shelf and look at it again ...

Bob S. said...

MeTV played that Perry Mason episode yesterday.

Lauren said...

Factoid: Ian Fleming invented the original character and came up with the premise.
So of course it has a James Bond connection!
WIKIPEDIA: According to the book The James Bond Films Fleming proposed two characters, Napoleon Solo and April Dancer (later appearing on the spin-off series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.). The original name for the show was Ian Fleming's Solo.

Tom Reeder said...

For those who are unfamiliar with The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (and for the majority of people who ARE familiar with it, but can't remember), U.N.C.L.E. was an acronym for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.

YEKIMI said...

I think one of the funniest Halloween episodes I've ever seen was an episode of AMAZING STORIES called "Mummy Daddy". The teleplay was done by Earl Pomerantz. Synopsis: A dedicated actor in a realistic mummy costume that he can't take off is shooting a movie in a swamp. When he hears his wife is in labor, he runs towards the town but the local rednecks think he's the real deal and form a posse. I believe part of the problem was that he couldn't talk either, just grunt and moan, due to the way the costume was constructed. I stumbled across a DVD of the show about two or three years ago before Earl passed away and it made me laugh out loud.

Tommy Raiko said...

As far as sitcom Halloween episodes go, I'll put in a word for the Halloween episode of NewsRadio, both for the episode itself in part because I really love that show in general, and it seems sometimes unfairly forgotten, so I'll take advantage of any reason to mention it

DBenson said...

Many years ago caught some UNCLE episodes; shocked that the production values were on a par with Get Smart's (where the cheapness at least played into the mocking of big-budget spy movies). More recently got the DVDs of the UNCLE movies, created for foreign release: two-parters stitched together and juiced up with "hot stuff" that wouldn't even rate a PG now. While from the consciously campy years, the goofiness often seems to go beyond what was intended.

If we're looking to the past, maybe it's time to revisit hall of infamy Notes from suits, stars, and others. Used to have a book titled "A Martian Wouldn't Say That", now sadly misplaced.

Brian said...

Loved the Simpsons Halloween specials too.

Gary said...

As I recall THE MAN FROM UNCLE got progressively sillier as time went by, due in no small part to the producers trying to mimic the campy, op-art aspects of BATMAN, which had become a massive (though short-lived) fad nationwide.

When UNCLE was finally cancelled, it was replaced by none other than ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN. So, on to the next massive nationwide fad.

Betty said...

I remember THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. fondly - because all us girls were in love with Illya Kuryakin!

Smilodon said...

Route 66 has probably the best Halloween episode ever, how could it not with Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and Peter Lorre as guest stars, Karloff in full Frankenstein Monster make up for the very last time.

Spike de Beauvoir said...

The NewsRadio "Halloween" episode is available free on the Roku Channel, along with a lot of episodes from all the seasons. I watch on my phone, it's a little tricky to access: search for the series on Roku and when you enter the site choose to watch as a guest. I love that show, such great chemistry and oddball stories. Stephen Root is a "hoot" throughout the series. Some of my favorite Phil Hartmann episodes are "Smoking," "The Cane," and "Bill Writes His Autobiography." I've never managed to get through season 5 after Hartmann died.

Some more great Halloween sitcom episodes: 30 Rock's "Stone Mountain," Superstore's "Costume Competition," and Ugly Betty's "The Lyin', the Watch, and the Wardrobe."

Roku also offers both seasons of Car 54, Where Are You? with pre-Munsters Fred Gwynne. That's a very well-written show and the opening jingle is so catchy. Loved the episode with Molly Picon.

Mike Barer said...

I remember the Girl From Uncle with Stephanie Power playing April Dancer and Rex Harrison's son, Noel Harrison playing Mark Slade.
That was too camp and earned a quick cancellation.

Spike de Beauvoir said...

Just noticed Car 54 is also on PlutoTV, better quality image than Roku. Hawaii Five-O (original series) also recently available on PlutoTV. Plus someone there seems to be a big fan of Jerry Lewis, there's usually an abundant selection of his movies. And The Fortune Cookie (dir. Billy Wilder with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau) popped up in the classics list. With all that plus The French Chef live channel 24/7 I like PlutoTV (though I know I'll never make a Charlotte Mataloff in this life it's nice to know how).

Spike de Beauvoir said...

Oops that's Charlotte Malakoff...

Lemuel said...

@ Buttermilk Sky: "Chili sounds good."

Janet said...

The original STAR TREK series produced a Halloween episode, "Catspaw," back in October 1967.

D, McEwan said...

One of the greatest episodes of anything is The Girl From UNCLE's "The Mother Muffin Affair," in which Boris Karloff plays "Mother
Muffin" in drag. Robert Vaughn guest stars in the episode, replacing Noel Harrison," and Mother Muffin has the hots for Napoleon Solo, being so distressed that she must reluctantly kill him. Karloff flirts outrageously with Vaughn, and snarls jealously at Stephanie Powers, throughout the episode, and it may be the funniest thing ever broadcast.

ScarletNumber said...

I think The Office always did a good job with its Halloween episodes, as did Modern Family. Of course with Modern Family they had to use the contrivance that Claire was really into Halloween, while on The Office it seemed much more organic.

Darwin's Ghost said...

Ken, did you know Jerry Remy?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/jerry-remy-dead-boston-red-sox-player-broadcaster-1235039898/

powers said...

My friends and I were nuts about The Man From UNCLE when it first aired when we were all in grade school. Coolest TV show bar none we thought.

Watched some episodes recently on one of those channels that caters to showing old television shows. Whoo boy, the show has not aged well like a fine wine. The pace is glacial, production values modest, and the stories rather corny.

I guess we had to be kids back in the day to think the show was so sensational.

powers said...

Funniest Halloween themed episode for a sitcom has to be "A Ghost of a Chanz" from The Dick Van Dyke Show

By Ken Levine said...

I did know Jerry Remy. A lovely fun guy. And one of the best analysts in the game. He was sometime uncanny in predicting what was going to happen.

Greg Ehrbar said...

We watched two beautifully-written television programs on Halloween night. "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and "Alvin Brickrock Presents" on The Flintstones.

My brother always says that a sitcom is running out of ideas the moment the cast starts wearing costumes.

@ Joseph Scarborough - I doubt that wearing a copyrighted character costume constitutes fair use. Characters have to be protected against precedent, so if they are not used without permission, they may be used in less appropriate ways. As time goes by, these issues become even more complicated beyond what one might expect. For example, a rerun of a show that has artwork on the wall of a set has to compensate the artist if it is recognized. Things in the frame might even be digitized to avoid legal issues.

Remulak said...

The idea of Hitler being kept in a suburban basement like Rob Petrie's was central to The Man from UNCLE's basic conceit: that there was a whole level of reality that most people were unaware of, where the good forces of UNCLE battled the evil forces of THRUSH, and anyone at all could be a THRUSH agent - the nice guy next door who always lent you his rake, your kid's homeroom teacher, anyone at all! And however affable they might seem, they'd kill you in a split second if it served their purposes.

Robert Ryder said...

Halloween episodes worked well on Bewitched since the supernatural was a huge part of the show. My favorite is from the second season, the episode in which Endora turns Darrin into a werewolf.

Rocketman said...

Being in Australia, the halloween episodes will air some time in April and we barely even celebrate Halloween, although it is becoming increasingly popular. My favorite halloween episode is Everybody Loves Raymond. Peter Boyle in his Frankenstein outfit, giving out condoms to children is a masterpiece of comedy.