40th Anniversary Watch Party

[308GUY]

Can't say I'm keeping to the schedule....but with Universal's "Action TV" showing 6 episodes every morning.....I do watch at least a couple every day!

Doesn't seem to matter how many times I've seen all of them....never get tired of it and just can't seem to be able to get "enough".

[eagle]

Yeah, same here. I have gone through the entire series several times, and I do get bogged down in certain areas, but I always come back and I always love it, and it still transports me, as I said in thread on that subject.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I'm still watching. Is anyone else? Sitting down today to watch season 5 eps 1-3. Echoes of the Mind isn't one of my favorites, but it is fascinating.

Yep! Watched the 2-parter "Echoes of the Mind" which I thought was an excellent little psychological thriller. Sharon Stone really dove into that troubled role and really aced the split personality character of Diane/Deirdre. No doubt that was her biggest and most demanding role at that time in her career.

But then "Mac's Back" didn't do all that much for me. I was surprised to see that some consider it one of the very best of the series. It started out really well with a despondent Mag on the beach drowning his sorrows in beer (a great bit of continuity to what happened with Diane in the previous episode) but then all that is lost when we switch gears to the fake Mac. I was actually pretty curious to see where that might lead but this fake Mac just turns out to be some con man who gets Mag involved in some shady gambling and winning some money back for some service men or something. In other words nothing interesting. Sure, you could say it's poetic justice that now Mag is getting his dues by being conned by this new Mac after having conned the old Mac so many times. But as far as I'm concerned Mac is dead. And this new guy who walks around looking like him is simply not Mac, no matter what you call him. I'm sure I'll see more episodes with this guy so we'll see how it goes. But for now I'm not too impressed. Also I read that the end on the beach where the real Mac lights TM's cigar is one of the best moments of the series and I simply don't see it. I mean it's a fine moment but nothing more than that. We've seen the show flirting with the supernatural from time to time (the end of "The Woman on the Beach" comes to mind) so I don't think it's something extraordinary or groundbreaking. It's a nice little scene that adds some closure between TM and Mac but that's about it. There's certainly many more iconic moments in the series than that one.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Also watched "The Legacy of Garwood Huddle" and "Under World".

I enjoyed "Garwood Huddle" because I typically enjoy kidnap/ransom stories, plus anything with Pat Hingle in it always gets an extra bonus point. On top of that you get Cliffie from CHEERS who hangs out with his buddy Norm!! That was a great inside joke, as by this point almost everybody was familiar with Cliff and Norm (CHEERS was in its 3rd season by this point). Yes I did enjoy this episode more than "Mac's Back". Go figure... guess I'm in the minority.

"Under World" was even better! In fact I'm sure it'll end up being one of my top episodes from season 5 (and I only started). It's a great personal story for T.C. and his friends who jump in to help him. The twist with his "brother" I did not see coming! It's just a great mystery with lots of great underwater stuff. Much better than the "underwater" episode from season 2 - "Dead Man's Channel". That one just lacked a compelling story like this one has. Plus we finally get to see a compelling underwater struggle with a baddie who's more or less equal to TM (he's a dude!!) instead of seeing TM struggle with a female university professor underwater.

[eagle]

I finished Under World a couple nights ago and agree with you about it. I really like the episode.

Looks like I need to catch up on 3 episodes now. I'll see if I can watch this weekend.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

"Fragments" was another pretty good one. Probably the closest to a Halloween episode we ever got. It's similar in some ways to season 2's "The Woman on the Beach" - graveyard, ghostly visions, etc. and even Kenneth Mars was in both!! In "Fragments" he ended up being the baddie, which I kind of guessed he would be by about the middle of the episode - since he was the only other main guest, aside from the main guest Samantha Eggar. But I much more preferred Kenneth Mars in his comedic role of the cemetery caretaker Josef in "Woman on the Beach". He was a hoot in that one with that thick German accent of his!

"Blind Justice" was very good. I always gravitate towards the more serious episodes and this one was just what I needed. Almost as good as "Under World". Plus it was nicely offset by that great subplot of Magnum sputtering about in that classic old Jag. Loved how Mag ended up finagling his way out of the moral and ethical dilemma at the end in the courtroom, by pulling out that tape recorder and then basically letting the slimy attorney erase the rest (which would have exonerated the attorney's client). Sure, it's contrived - I don't think anyone would let him play any of that recording in a real courtroom as it would automatically be seized and not by the opposing lawyer either. But in a "perfect world" it sure was a clever thing that Mag came up with.

"Murder 101" was a fun one. Tom Shadyac as Danny was especially funny as the surfer stoner dude. But all the class members were good. Especially enjoyed Rick and TC being members of the class and ribbing Mag about how cases are "really" solved. Not sure about the title though. It's really not a murder case they're investigating. They're investigating a disappearance. Besides, the class is PI 101 - that's what the episode should have been called. Err... Private Investigation 101.