Random Notes on Recent Viewings

I’m now up to the last disc in Volume 5 of THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARRIET. Only a few appearances by neighbor Thorny (Don Defore) in this, his last season; the show is opening up to new friends like Lloyd Corrigan’s Wally Dipple, Lyle Talbot’s devilish Joe Randolph and Mary Jane Croft as the funny-voiced Clara, not to mention the fledgling musical performances of son Ricky Nelson. I’ve not said anything about these releases since the first two, where I found a number of episodes tampered with musically; it appears to have been done either to recover copyright of the restored elements or to cover periods of silence. However, this unnecessary revisionism stopped with the third volume and the restoration work has generally been sublime ever since. One of the real treats of having the entire series presented in original broadcast order is seeing, for the first time, a surprising number of episodes that disappeared from active rotation in syndication. The funny thing about these rarely seen episodes is that there is usually some content in them that may have later judged as distateful - for example, Hal Smith’s pre-Otis drunk character routines, Ozzie and Harriet trading cute kitchen banter about someday getting a divorce, some sexy appearances in several episodes by Joi Lansing, or Ricky making an off-hand reference to how Coke tastes even better with a little rum in it. (“How do you know that?” Ozzie inquires. “I, uh, read it in a book somewhere,” ad-libs the 16 year-old). Which just goes to show that the “wholesome” image that led to the show’s rejection by the counterculture in the 1960s was really only engineered in selective syndication.

Around the time of Season 4, the sponsors must have noted an absence of displays of affection between the family members; suddenly, Ozzie and the boys kiss Harriet whenever they leave the house or say good morning or good night. And in Season 5 there is a noticeable new emphasis on the family's musical heritage, with Ozzie and Harriet singing some sweet duets, the entire family banding together as a sort of barber shop quartet, and of course Ricky's coltish first attempts at rock 'n' roll. There are some real surprises too - like an episode I saw last night in which Harriet’s women’s club takes up sculpting. Ozzie assumes they’ve all shown up at the Nelson house to sculpt him, so he dresses up as a suitable model in classical Roman garb, only to return downstairs to the living room and find the women sculpting another live model - none other than a pre-Hercules Steve Reeves! Funny thing: when Reeves finally speaks, he’s dubbed (by the series’ frequent supporting player and radio announcer Jack Wagner)! I believe it's during Ricky's first singing performance of "I'm Walking'" that I spotted another bodybuilder in the audience: Brad Harris! Another episode, “The Duenna,” features the original Lina Romay, who was fun to see in this context. Halfway through the series, older son David’s maturing personality seems a little withdrawn, helped along by Ricky’s blooming talent and personality, while Ozzie has developed into a remarkable physical comedian and a pleasingly complex character: a sentimentalist but also a profoundly competitive and insecure man whose pride and boastfulness inadvertently set many plots in motion. This was also the season with show writer Jay Sommers (later the creator of GREEN ACRES) really stepped up to bat with many scripts according him top billing. Especially notable, I think, is “The Reading Room” in which Ozzie’s paternal editorializing about how today’s young people should spend more time reading the old classics leads to the family surprising him with a new reading room in the attic, which leads to fears that he may have outgrown his usefulness to the family - hilarious, but also a little existential and frightening, as Ozzie is once again hoisted on his own petard. Just great television.

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When I learned the Criterion Channel was showing a new 4K restoration of Lou Reed and John Cale's SONGS FOR DRELLA performance, I watched it immediately. Originally shot in 16mm, it looks much better now than it used to, and it still sounds great. For me, the most powerful songs are up front ("Open House" always kills me), but the silent artistic connection and tension between Cale and Reed hold the viewer for the duration. What I wasn't prepared for is how young they both look. This was 1990, which doesn't feel that long ago; but Lou's been gone now for almost ten years. A stinging reminder that 30 years is nothing, and that's why I agree with Andy when he says "the most important thing is work."

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We’ve spent the last several nights watching the Showtime limited series THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH. Some months back I saw a trailer for it and wasn’t attracted, but needing another series after SUCCESSION, we chose this one. Though allegedly based on the Walter Tevis novel, it’s actually a sequel to the Nicolas Roeg film with an (excellent) mostly black cast including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Naomi Harris and Clarke Peters, with Bill Nighy appearing irregularly as the elusive Thomas Jerome Newton, the character played in the film by David Bowie. Each episode takes its title from a different Bowie song, a structure which plays out surprisingly well. (Little winks to the Bowie mythos also turn up now and then.) There are little annoyances I could pick on, but most of these become surprisingly relevant to points raised by the story and illustrate the differences between basic alien and earthly temperaments. The important thing to say is that this show is a rarity among science fiction dramas of our time: a serious work of actual science fiction, not just a space opera, one that tackles the most pressing problems of our time; it’s also a worthy sequel though it does clear away some of the mystery that so nicely adhered to the obliqueness of Roeg’s storytelling. The show concludes in such a way that it could have a follow-up season if demanded, while also managing a satisfying closure on its own. Recommended.

(c) 2022 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.

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