The Elmo Ziller Story (2.21)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the second season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
0
No votes
9.5 (One of the Best)
17
15%
9.0 (Excellent)
13
12%
8.5 (Very Good)
31
28%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
27
24%
7.5 (Decent)
10
9%
7.0 (Average at Best)
7
6%
6.5 (Not So Good)
2
2%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
2
2%
5.0 (Just Awful)
2
2%
 
Total votes: 111

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KENJI
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#41 Post by KENJI »

Too funny Agatha!
I was thinking of Tanaka the tennis turtle.
Great work R.C., Great work!!!!!!!!!!!!
After all these years it is funny how we still can find interesting bits of info dotted around or even hanging on a fence!
I do find it strange that they didn't take them down for filming.
My guess is that Mrs. Anderson wanted them left up. I could see if it was overlooked once, but not that many times.
I wonder what else we will discover.............
Thanks again R.C!!

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J.J. Walters
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#42 Post by J.J. Walters »

rubber chicken wrote:I conducted important research and found that the turtle is seen in at least ten episodes. Sometimes a second turtle can be seen on the opposite fence on the right side of the tennis court (it's clear now it's on the fence and not the wall). That one may have been up as long as the one on the left, but the right side is rarely seen. I didn't check prior to 2.11 or after 2.22 (which would be the next season). I just totally burnt out on looking for turtles. :?

Here's the list with one turtle appearance time for each episode:
2.11 (46:46)
2.12 (11:15)
2.14 (6:31)
2.15 (30:04)
2.16 (19:53)
2.18 (19:19)
2.19 (12:31)
2.20 (18:25)
2.21 posted above
2.22 (28:27)

It's already foggy in my mind since I did this a few days ago, but I think 2.13 and 2.17 didn't show the fence where the turtle(s) would be. I think we can assume they were there though.

2.18 (19:20) - additional turtle on the right side:
Image

2.22 (25:13)
Image

And the last one enlarged. Unfortunately the deerstalker is gone now, and the pipe seems to have turned into a... bill?
Image

Higgins must have had Rick and T.C. put the turtles up for when elementary school field trips would come to the estate. That was never documented in an episode, sadly. ;)
It looks like a praying dragon with bandages on its feet and forehead! LOL!

Great investigative work RC! I must say, I never noticed it in any of those episodes! Pretty darn funny! :)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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Agatha
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#43 Post by Agatha »

I didn't notice them either, James! I guess I'll have to watch the whole series again...

Sigh!

:lol:
Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset? So soft....so peaceful...so romantic!

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Doc Fred
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#44 Post by Doc Fred »

Great episode... Robin Dearden is terrific. Loved the dialogue, especially Lexi's comment about what's her face .. "the meanest woman to draw breath in Nevada!"

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mandolabar
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#45 Post by mandolabar »

I'm a Higgins fan and I loved this episode. The idea of a Texan playing an Englishman who plays a Texan was just too funny.

I'm a fifth-generation south Texas native, and my family owns some land out Highway 90 near Sabinal--and we drive through Hondo to get there. Someone must have really liked the name "Hondo," because it's mentioned again in Season 3...I can't remember the episode, it's the one with the pilot from Waco. Hondo is not at all a big city--it isn't now, and 30 years ago was probably less so...maybe it just *sounds* so Texan.

My daughter and I were watching it and it opens in the Hill Country and both of us, at the same time, said "No, it's not"--way too green, way too much ground cover. Their "Waco" in season 3 was too lush, as well--but they tried. :)

On accents, though. In south Texas--where Hondo is--the only accent you're likely to have is a Mexican one. Anglo speakers don't tend to have accents (I've been told many times that I can't be from Texas, because I don't have an accent)--I think it's due to the many military bases in San Antonio and the fairly diverse and changing population there.

West Texans (Midland/Odessa) have an accent, but the strongest accent in Texas is NORTH Texas--Dallas and environs. They aren't the same. (did I mention Texas is a big place?).

John Hillerman is from Denison, north of Dallas, and his native accent would have been North Texas. And when he's being Elmo, what he actually sounds like is a south Texan (no real accent, just some word usages that give it away), trying to affect a west Texas accent. All are authentic--but evidently (from the commentary) not all sound like what people expect from a "Texas" accent. :shock:

~Amanda

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Styles Bitchley
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#46 Post by Styles Bitchley »

Wow. I now know more about Texan accents than I ever have before.

Thanks Amanda!
"How fiendishly deceptive of you Magnum. I could have sworn I was hearing the emasculation of a large rodent."

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mandolabar
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#47 Post by mandolabar »

Well, all regional accents are declining a bit--the influence of our global culture--but in general (at least in my area of the state), a Texas accent is more word use than pronunciation. There's a few pronunciation markers, but what really gives us away are things like "y'all" (plural form of "you"); the double modal ("might oughta"; "maybe should"); and regionalisms like "fix" in the sense of getting ready to, or of making (I'm fixin to go down to the store; I'm fixing dinner).

I commented on the Season 4 Letter to a Duchess thread--I'm not sure if Brits use "fix" to mean "make"--because Higgins said "I fixed pheasant"; and I was curious if it was his Texan roots showing. It's really really hard to get away from those usages...

LOL, no wonder I like Higgins! Magnum would have walked off by now.... :lol:

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#48 Post by Seaver41 »

Aside from the banter surrounding whether it was Elmo or Higgins himself, the plot, villains, and conclusion were flat out bad. It played out more like a Dukes of Hazzard episode with the idiocy. I could do without this one.

what exactly did Elmo and his daughter mean when they discussed if they bought it and that the plan was still on......what was that about? Simply getting Magnum to help? Writing was weak in this one.

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Visiting Stewardess
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#49 Post by Visiting Stewardess »

I also expected more from the text on the sleeve. It does have funny moments (quite a few actually) but the story is weak.

On the accent thing: Yes, the British are also using "to fix" sometimes as "to make", "fixing dinner" is a common expression. But not in "I'm fixin to go down to the store (or shop as it would be in Britain)"

Hillerman says [de-'tails] (with the emphasis on the second syllable, the British emphasize the first syllable ['dee-tails]) a few times throughout the series, I have noticed (unfortunately I haven't made note of it, but I may do so in future, if I notice it again).

For me it was funny to find two actors from Starsky & Hutch in this episode. The blond "brighter" baddie played a Texan in "Texas Longhorn" of series 1 and the lady who played Marcella played the female side kick of a comedian in "Shootout", also series 1.

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#50 Post by Louise »

mandolabar wrote:Well, all regional accents are declining a bit--the influence of our global culture--but in general (at least in my area of the state), a Texas accent is more word use than pronunciation. There's a few pronunciation markers, but what really gives us away are things like "y'all" (plural form of "you"); the double modal ("might oughta"; "maybe should"); and regionalisms like "fix" in the sense of getting ready to, or of making (I'm fixin to go down to the store; I'm fixing dinner).

I commented on the Season 4 Letter to a Duchess thread--I'm not sure if Brits use "fix" to mean "make"--because Higgins said "I fixed pheasant"; and I was curious if it was his Texan roots showing. It's really really hard to get away from those usages...

LOL, no wonder I like Higgins! Magnum would have walked off by now.... :lol:
We are more likely to say "I cooked pheasant" or "I made pheasant". There's also a generational difference in language - the younger generation are using expressions/words from your side of the pond much more than us older people! :)

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Re: The Elmo Ziller Story (2.21)

#51 Post by marlboro »

"What the hell are you trying to pull?"

Hillerman was great in this. Not quite as "bloody marvelous" as in Tropical madness, but still very good.

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Re: The Elmo Ziller Story (2.21)

#52 Post by Stelth »

Barbara Rhoades, who played Marcella Ziller in The Elmo Ziller Story was a guest star on two episodes of Sanford and Son in 1976, which took place in Hawaii, (The Hawaiian Connection: Part 1& Part 2) She played a gangster's girlfriend.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0694149/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0694150/?ref_=tt_ep_nx

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#53 Post by charybdis1966 »

Visiting Stewardess wrote:I also expected more from the text on the sleeve...... Britain

Hillerman says [de-'tails] (with the emphasis on the second syllable, the British emphasize the first syllable ['dee-tails]) a few times throughout the series, I have noticed (unfortunately I haven't made note of it, but I may do so in future, if I notice it again).

.....t", also series 1.
I noticed that also VS, as I posted back in Feb 2010, and it's one of the few occasions where John Hillerman doesn't quite get his english accent quite right.

While I'm being unreasonably picky did anyone else notice that he blatantly can't play "gee-tar" as his left hand fretting in the opening scenes in TM's place was just fumbling?

I'd assume a director would shoot over Elmo's shoulder so you couldn't see the guitar neck - I mean Tom Selleck can play the saxophone so it's fine to show him playing that, but JH is no axe man, that's for sure.

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#54 Post by Hawaii Winds »

Carol the Dabbler wrote:One might think that Magnum -- who was already nearly certain that "Elmo" was actually Higgins -- would have been absolutely positive the whole thing was a hoax when he saw Agatha Chumley pretending to be Sylvia the front-desk clerk! :wink:
Was this Agatha's first appearence in MPI?

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Re: The Elmo Ziller Story (2.21)

#55 Post by Hawaii Winds »

Stelth wrote:Barbara Rhoades, who played Marcella Ziller in The Elmo Ziller Story was a guest star on two episodes of Sanford and Son in 1976, which took place in Hawaii, (The Hawaiian Connection: Part 1& Part 2) She played a gangster's girlfriend.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0694149/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0694150/?ref_=tt_ep_nx
Now that rings a bell!

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