The Elmo Ziller Story (2.21)

[robspace54]

I had totally forgotten the details. Higgins pretending to be Elmo, pretending... oh never mind. It's like time travel - too confusing.

In the trailer scene, I guessed, wrongly, that Higgins was standing in for (well lying in for) Elmo to protect him. But all was revealed.

Must have been a fun episode to shoot and I can only imagine the fun the crew had with it. Did Elmo ever show up in Mexico and did that little cowgirl come back next summer? Probably a story out there somewhere.

Rob

[timm525]

My question was how can two babies born from different mothers end up being identical twins?

I've never heard of that one before?

I liked this ep. as it was sort of a fun one to watch.

I did wonder how Higgins could run from the guest house back to the estate and change that quickly and then come down the stairs and not at least be breathing hard?

I liked the line "round up breakfast". I was laughing almost as hard as TC when I first heard that one.

I think Higgins' father would have been in serious trouble today! How many times can a guy get "taken advantage of" by multiple women and still make it believable?

"No honest honey..."

[Coops]

Sort of like 2 friends of mine that are brothers that I grew up with, same mother and father, yet they look NOTHING alike, I mean no similar features at all; one had straight honey blonde hair and fair eyes and tall. The other is short, wavy brown hair and freckles.

John really did act his rear-end off in this one.

[Milo Minderbinder]

I've finally been able to watch some more episodes - such fun!

I live in Austin, which is the very eastern edge of the Texas Hill Country. No one in town dresses or talks like that, but I'm sure that many of those stereotypes were a bit more closer to home back when this was filmed, especially out in the rural areas. There are still lots of ranches out there. The land out here generally has lots of trees, so my guess is that the producers tried to find a spot in Hawaii that looked like what they thought the hill country might look like.

My favorite line was in the beginning when Higgins is rushing off to the cab and says something about how being around Elmo is "intellectually life threatening" - loved that line!

A minor flub was in the first scene when the two bad guys ride up on horses to the crashed truck. One of them gets off his horse behind the truck and goes to the passenger side to light the tank on fire. When he's done and goes to get on his horse, it's over by the driver side door along with the other horse...

All in all, a fun episode. From the very beginning, I thought it was really Elmo and never suspected it was really Higgins.

[JT]

I found a flub. In the beginning of the episode Magnum is running on the beach, when he get's to the guest house his shirt is sweaty, when he enters the guest house the sweat is gone!
I really liked this episode, man is John hillerman an outstanding actor!

[miltontheripper]

Good episode, Rick and TC as Rodeo clowns is hilarious.

[MaiTaiMan]

As I stated in my post/rating for the episode "Billy Joe Bob"...I do not really like cowboy/western type episodes or movies! They're just too "hick/hillbilly" for my taste. I know usually they're supposed to be for humor purposes...but they're not funny--just stupid!

"The Elmo Ziller Story" was no different...it was so ridiculous and dumb that I usually end up thinking about something else while it's on. I think John Hillerman is an awesome actor and can play different roles very well. Ironically he also is in reality from Texas--so maybe that's why he wanted to play the dual role in this episode. But, I would hope he was not as ridiculously "hick" as he was in this!

Ironically this season started with a "hick" episode...and almost ended with one too. What saved season 2 is all the other awesome episodes in between.

[jimhalinda]

I just watched this for the first time, and while I did enjoy it and take it as a sillier episode, there is one thing that bothered me.

I agree that Hillerman is a great actor, and Higgins is my favourite character in the show (Magnum is my second-favourite). However, in the first half of this episode, when playing Higgins, I felt he was almost trying too hard to be Higgins (maybe to further separate his Higgins role from his Elmo impresonation?). He just seemed a little flat and more sarcastic than usual. Now I suppose it could just mean that Higgins was trying not to reveal anything and the hostility was meant to cover that up? It just seems a little out of place this late in season two, as by now Higgins has been starting to show some respect for Magnum.

Having said that, it gets better as the show progresses, and I loved the ending, when Magnum thanks Higgins for believing in Magnum's professional skills, and Higgins brushes it off by attributing Magnum's successes to dumb luck. They may be starting to respect each other, but both are too proud to admit it, and that keeps me chuckling as I feel they both play that so well.

Regards,

Jim

[MaiTaiMan]

Yeah, the respect that Magnum and Higgins started to develop for each other was interesting and sometimes humorous to watch. I suppose that was one aspect to this episode that could be watchable.

But, I agree that sometimes other things seemed "forced" and "faky". The whole Elmo Ziller character seemed too hicky and over-the-top. It was a little to ridiculous for me.

[KENJI]

The scene with Higgins leaving the estate for some RR shows the tennis court in the background with what looks to be some sort of mural/logo.... on the practice wall. I haven't seen a close up of it, so I'm thinking it is something Eve Anderson wanted left up/untouched etc. Can anyone make it out?

[rubber chicken]

That's interesting. Could it be a turtle walking upright? If so, it would be appropriate because of the turtle pond. Perhaps school groups were visiting and the Andersons put it up for that purpose?

And it's hard to tell, but it could be on either the block wall or the chain link fence.


(at 9:29 in the episode)

[Agatha]

Or could it be some kind of a bag (full of tennis balls?) hanging on the fence? I don't know...you guys are too sharp-eyed for me!!

[rubber chicken]

That's what I thought when I first saw it Agatha. But it seems like an odd shape for a bag. To me it really does look like a turtle walking upright. There's his dark rounded shell, dark head, light underbelly, his arm, and his wee feet and hand. (Plus he's obviously headed in the direction of the turtle pond. )

Here's the same screen capture, but three times larger than the one above.



The second one has the contrast turned up, and I might be crazy, but I get the impression he's wearing a deerstalker and smoking a pipe...

[Agatha]

You're right, rubber chicken...when you blow it up like that, it looks a lot less like a bag of tennis balls. And I can even see your turtle...with his deerstalker hat and his pipe!

I'm thinking maybe I won't finish this glass of wine, after all...

[Styles Bitchley]

To me it really does look like a turtle walking upright.

Think you're right on this one RC. the only other thing I can think of is a baby dragon type of thing with a crest and its tongue sticking out. But the turtle thing seems more plausable with the turtle pond connection. Something to do with kids, no doubt.