rudyardk
Joined Apr 1999
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After SCTV was (as it turns out, temporarily) cancelled in 1979, a different set of producers hired several SCTV cast members along with Bob & Ray to work in a new sketch comedy pilot.
Whoah! Bob and Ray and SCTV? This sounds like a dream team match-up!
It is -- but the show's concept, such as it is, kind of lets the performers down. (The concept is "let's throw some sketches together, and hope that filming it in Cleveland works as a link.") Bob & Ray's material is also very obviously filmed totally separately from the rest of the show; they never interact with the SCTV cast.
As well, some of the sketch work is deadeningly slow, and none of it ever catches fire. For SCTV fans, a toned-down Edith Prickley -- NOT in leopard skin -- makes an appearance, as does Dave Thomas's Bob Hope; both are mildly amusing. In fact, everyone in the SCTV cast has at least a couple of worthwhile sequences, and it's always fun to see Bob and Ray at work. (They don't act as such, they simply do their radio schtick on camera in a radio studio.)
So, sure, if you're a fan of any of the cast, go and check this show out on YouTube. But be warned -- right from the tortuously inert (and eminently skippable) cold opening, which drags on for two full minutes, there's almost no momentum to any of the show. While there are a few bits here and there that work, unfortunately, nothing really gels as a whole. It's very easy to understand why this pilot was passed on, and why SCTV was resurrected .... SCTV was much funnier, faster and sharper.
Whoah! Bob and Ray and SCTV? This sounds like a dream team match-up!
It is -- but the show's concept, such as it is, kind of lets the performers down. (The concept is "let's throw some sketches together, and hope that filming it in Cleveland works as a link.") Bob & Ray's material is also very obviously filmed totally separately from the rest of the show; they never interact with the SCTV cast.
As well, some of the sketch work is deadeningly slow, and none of it ever catches fire. For SCTV fans, a toned-down Edith Prickley -- NOT in leopard skin -- makes an appearance, as does Dave Thomas's Bob Hope; both are mildly amusing. In fact, everyone in the SCTV cast has at least a couple of worthwhile sequences, and it's always fun to see Bob and Ray at work. (They don't act as such, they simply do their radio schtick on camera in a radio studio.)
So, sure, if you're a fan of any of the cast, go and check this show out on YouTube. But be warned -- right from the tortuously inert (and eminently skippable) cold opening, which drags on for two full minutes, there's almost no momentum to any of the show. While there are a few bits here and there that work, unfortunately, nothing really gels as a whole. It's very easy to understand why this pilot was passed on, and why SCTV was resurrected .... SCTV was much funnier, faster and sharper.
The actual story itself is not especially innovative -- the devil tries to corrupt a goody-goody straight-arrow architect. You've seen it before in numerous variations. But the touches of light humour make "Mr. Lucifer" an agreeable viewing experience.
In particular, Fred Astaire has a fine time playing Mr. Lucifer and his earthly alter egos: a klutzy train passenger, a bellowing Texas oil investor, a comic Italian plumber, a suave bartender, and an eccentric French yacht enthusiast. He's delightful in all his incarnations. Elizabeth Montgomery as impish moon goddess Hecate is equally delightful in her various guises, including a sultry secretary, a brainy Radcliffe grad, and a bikini-clad French sexpot -- all out to seduce our hero.
Debits: the two lead performances (and some fine work by Joyce Bulifant, George Petrie and Hal Smith in smaller supporting roles) overwhelm Frank Aletter, who barely registers in the central role of the architect whose soul is being battled for. And the 'twist' ending is a bit of a prosaic letdown. But it's really Lucifer's story anyway, so these are comparatively minor flaws.
Bottom line? If you're a fan of Astaire and/or Montgomery, "Mr. Lucifer" is a fun fifty-minute romp that's worth checking out. It isn't -- and wasn't intended to be -- their definitive work, but it DOES give both actors a chance to show some good comic range and an awful lot of charm. Approach it in that spirit, and enjoy!
In particular, Fred Astaire has a fine time playing Mr. Lucifer and his earthly alter egos: a klutzy train passenger, a bellowing Texas oil investor, a comic Italian plumber, a suave bartender, and an eccentric French yacht enthusiast. He's delightful in all his incarnations. Elizabeth Montgomery as impish moon goddess Hecate is equally delightful in her various guises, including a sultry secretary, a brainy Radcliffe grad, and a bikini-clad French sexpot -- all out to seduce our hero.
Debits: the two lead performances (and some fine work by Joyce Bulifant, George Petrie and Hal Smith in smaller supporting roles) overwhelm Frank Aletter, who barely registers in the central role of the architect whose soul is being battled for. And the 'twist' ending is a bit of a prosaic letdown. But it's really Lucifer's story anyway, so these are comparatively minor flaws.
Bottom line? If you're a fan of Astaire and/or Montgomery, "Mr. Lucifer" is a fun fifty-minute romp that's worth checking out. It isn't -- and wasn't intended to be -- their definitive work, but it DOES give both actors a chance to show some good comic range and an awful lot of charm. Approach it in that spirit, and enjoy!
"South By Southeast" is definitely a below-average Rockford, bearing all the hallmarks of an episode churned out in an exhausted frenzy as the production season neared its end.
For the second episode in a row, Jim is mistaken for someone else, thereby launching him into a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, the reason behind the mistaken identity is particularly contrived this time around. Even worse, everything that happens to get Jim over the border (in order to get the story running) is clearly the work of a desperate scriptwriter hoping that by keeping things moving, the gargantuan plot holes don't become too obvious. Surprisingly, this is a Juanita Bartlett episode, which makes it particularly shocking -- she's usually pretty solid at plot mechanics.
Of course, Juanita's also good at character and dialogue, and there are some absorbing moments in the episode when Jim deals with a spoiled-but-sympathetic heiress. However, the rest of the cast barely registers, and everyone in this story behaves pretty stupidly pretty much all of the time. In particular, the villain of the piece has an especially dumb and transparent criminal plan he's trying to execute.
Is the end result of all this terrible? No. But "South By Southeast" only gets as far as it does on the appeal of James Garner, and a fairly good performance from Dorrie Kavanaugh. For a lesser P.I. series -- Simon & Simon, say -- this would merely be a mediocre episode. But for The Rockford Files? It's quite frankly a disappointment.
For the second episode in a row, Jim is mistaken for someone else, thereby launching him into a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, the reason behind the mistaken identity is particularly contrived this time around. Even worse, everything that happens to get Jim over the border (in order to get the story running) is clearly the work of a desperate scriptwriter hoping that by keeping things moving, the gargantuan plot holes don't become too obvious. Surprisingly, this is a Juanita Bartlett episode, which makes it particularly shocking -- she's usually pretty solid at plot mechanics.
Of course, Juanita's also good at character and dialogue, and there are some absorbing moments in the episode when Jim deals with a spoiled-but-sympathetic heiress. However, the rest of the cast barely registers, and everyone in this story behaves pretty stupidly pretty much all of the time. In particular, the villain of the piece has an especially dumb and transparent criminal plan he's trying to execute.
Is the end result of all this terrible? No. But "South By Southeast" only gets as far as it does on the appeal of James Garner, and a fairly good performance from Dorrie Kavanaugh. For a lesser P.I. series -- Simon & Simon, say -- this would merely be a mediocre episode. But for The Rockford Files? It's quite frankly a disappointment.