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CarolTheDabbler's Replies
Note: I originally (a couple of months ago) put the following three posts in a new thread entitled "Episode Tidbits" (which I have now deleted), but since they involved only the pilot, I finally decided they're a better fit here.
I have now read <i>Lights Out</i>, and in some ways found it not as much like <i>Longstreet</i> as the movie is (mostly because some of the less-alike aspects are fleshed out more), but there's one detail that's surprisingly like the show. In the movie, Sgt. Nevin decides that once he's discharged from the Army, he'll become a lawyer -- whereas in the novel, he hopes to go into some as-yet-unspecified area of the <i>insurance</i> business.
I'm also about halfway through reading the first Duncan Maclain novel, <i>The Last Express</i>, and am finding it less unlike <i>Longstreet</i> than online comments had led me to expect. They mentioned his lavish penthouse apartment and his large staff. But come to think of it, isn't a penthouse roughly the New York equivalent of a big house in New Orleans' French Quarter? And Maclain's staff is only a bit larger than Mike's: Maclain's partner is his equivalent of Duke. His chauffeur (who has so far been merely mentioned) and his secretary combine to the equivalent of Nikki. And his as-yet-silent housekeeper equates, of course, to the much-more vocal Mrs. Kingston. Admittedly, Maclain has <i>two</i> dogs: a guide dog and a guard dog -- but then Pax sometimes forgets that he has *not* been trained to threaten or attack.
Hello again, thingmaker et al. I've been doing a little more reading, and have found another bump-on-the-head possibility: bilateral blindness (sometimes complete and permanent) can be caused if head trauma raises pressure inside the skull, squeezing the optic nerves:
<blockquote>Head injuries also have the potential to cause increased pressure within the skull. [....] This pressure can "choke" the optic nerves, cutting off blood circulation. [....] The resulting problems can cause vision loss severe enough to lead to complete blindness.</blockquote>
This link no longer works for me (if it does for you, please tell us):
<url>https://www.everydayhealth.com/vision-center/head-injuries.aspx</url>
Thus the damage would not be done directly to one or both optic nerves, but indirectly to both, due to overall increased pressure within the skull.
This could presumably happen without any obvious external injuries. I'm a bit dubious about doctors being able to say within just a few days whether this sort of damage was permanent, but we do need to allow for a bit of dramatic license.
And it's already on my computer -- the advantage of PDF downloads!
First off, this does appear to be a genuine script (rather than a transcript that someone wrote down while listening to the episode). For one thing, this physical copy apparently belonged to the late Lloyd Gough, who played Dr. Kenbrook(e) -- each bit of the Doctor's dialog has a hand-drawn square around it. Plus it's laid out and written like a script, with detailed directions for the actors, camera people, et al.
The file is a garden-variety PDF (simple images of the pages of the script, rather than the deluxe searchable kind). But it's nicely done, very readable, and if one wants a physical script, it's a simple matter to print it out. (Note: If you want to be "authentic," the TV scripts I've seen from this era were single-sided on punched paper, held together with brads in the holes, and the cover was heavier stock, usually colored paper.)
There are several puzzling "words" that I assume are typos -- this must have been a relatively common occurrence back in typewriter days. Even though each rev of a script would presumably correct errors from the previous rev, it was likely to introduce new ones, and there probably wasn't much time allowed for thorough proofreading.
There are bound to be differences between the script and the final cut of the episode -- introduced by the director and/or the film editor. I'm looking forward to comparing the two versions.
There's a site called Script City that's offering a PDF download of the revised final draft of "This Little Piggy Went to Marquette" for US$14.99. I'm intending to get it, and will let y'all know what I think.
Here's the link: <i>edited August 17 to say it's been changed to this:</i> <url>https://www.scriptcity.com/longstreet.html</url> (price hasn't changed, though)
While you're there, you might want to see what they have from your other favorite shows and movies. They don't seem to have much from JF's other TV series, just one episode of <i>Hunter</i> ("Yesterday Upon the Stair"). But I haven't checked for his movies (either theatrical or TV).
Thanks for that info, poto88 and kharabear97. It seems to be fairly common for certain things to be unavailable due to music having been used, and royalties paid only for the original broadcast -- because nobody anticipated home video. There's an episode of Dabney Coleman's <i>Buffalo Bill</i> where the DVD (though it claims to be "complete") is missing the best scene, a hilarious music video of "Hit the Road, Jack," for that reason. And I've heard that the reason why (so far) only the first season of <i>Mr. Novak</i> has been released on DVD may be that several of the second-season episodes used contemporary music.
I've checked our DVD set of MSW, and all six of the episodes that were missing on Netflix are included (though I don't know whether the music is intact). The set lists some of the episode numbers differently, though, with Jazz Beat being #12, Armed Response being #19, and Smooth Operators being #12.
Just in case anyone doesn't know by now, the entire series (which was, alas, cancelled after only one season) was released (as a Region 1 DVD set) in November of 2017, and is still available on Amazon US. It's just the show (pilot movie plus all 23 episodes), no extras, not even subtitles. The audio and video quality are typical of early 70's television, very watchable but not hi-def.
The price has dropped considerably over the past few months, and is <b>currently down to just $10</b>, so if you don't already have it, this is a good time to order.
All episodes (including the pilot) are currently also available on YouTube, but relying on their continued availability there is an iffy proposition, especially considering that the show is still under copyright.
Here's the DVD set on Amazon:
<url>https://www.amazon.com/Longstreet-Complete-Episodes-Plus-Movie/dp/B077PJ34W6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8</url>
There are currently four fan-written <i>Longstreet</i> stories on Archive of Our Own (alias AO3), namely two short stories (one written by me, for whatever that's worth) and two short-shorts.
Here's a link to that index page: <url>https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Longstreet%20(TV)/works</url>
Issue #153 of MAD magazine, cover-dated September 1972, contained a <i>Longstreet</i> satire entitled (of course) "Longshot." I was able to buy a used copy online.
The artwork is in MAD's usual parody style, so it's clear who the characters are. But the storyline (which contains some elements of "There Was a Crooked Man" AKA the one with the race horse) strikes me as more ridicule than their usual good-natured parody. Basically "Mack Longshot" is a walking disaster area because -- wait for it -- he can't see! Ain't that a hoot? Some of MAD's parodies were far better than others, but I don't recall any of them stooping to that level. And they spend nearly a full page on a car chase, even though <i>Longstreet</i> didn't feature those. All in all, I'd say it wasn't up to their usual standards.
To be fair, though, MAD's best parodies emphasized each character's actual quirks and flaws -- and since <i>Longstreet</i> doesn't rely on that sort of characterization, maybe they didn't have a whole lot to work with. But I'd say in that case, they'd have been better off just parodying a different show.
I just tried to watch <i>City on Fire</i>, a 1978 movie (available on YouTube), but gave up after 18 minutes. It appears to be (as you might guess) a fairly standard disaster movie, and therefore not my cuppa. Might have slogged through even so if JF had a more substantial role, but he's billed as "and James Franciscus as Jimbo," meaning that he's a big name in a small role (along with Ava Gardner and Henry Fonda), and his character seems to be pretty marginal.
If disaster movies happen to float your personal boat, you might enjoy this one. If you do watch it, and if JF's role turns out to have any substance to it, please let me know and I might psych myself up to finish the flick.
I can't help wondering whether these screenwriters had seen the <i>Longstreet</i> pilot:
One of the fifth-season <i>Murder, She Wrote</i> episodes with no Jessica Fletcher is called <i>Jack and Bill</i>, in which Bill is a private detective who inherits a medium-small French poodle named Jack from an unexpectedly-deceased friend. At first Bill is irked, but then finds that Jack can be helpful.
In one early scene, the (not yet deceased) friend is seen pretending to be blind by wearing dark glasses, and has little (white!) Jack on a guide-dog harness. And near the end, it turns out that the assassination they thought had already been averted is about to take place after all -- by means of a bomb hidden in a large champagne bottle, apparently set to go off when it's uncorked.
Sounds like it could be my kinda show. Fingers crossed!
Have you seen the episode of <i>Judd for the Defense</i> where JF plays a priest who teaches high school? (It's on YouTube.) That fellow was sincere and well-meaning, but incredibly naive -- with disastrous results (thus his need for Judd). One of those shows where I was yelling "You idiot!!!" at the screen. It was well acted, and I'm not saying it was a bad show, just not my cuppa. I suspect I'll like Novak a whole lot better!
Oh, darn, I hate those musical-licensing issues! Back in the day, no one ever considered home-video rights (because there was no home video yet). I had been wondering if perhaps they didn't release Season 2 because Season 1 hadn't sold well enough -- glad to hear it was something else, and hopeful that it will be resolved fairly soon.
Blatant digression: I bought "the complete series" of one sitcom because I like the whole thing, but especially for one hilarious scene that was basically a music video. Maybe there was a footnote on the Amazon page that I didn't notice (though I don't see one now either), and definitely I should have read all the reviews before buying -- but that particular scene was omitted due to licensing issues. What I don't understand is why they didn't simply omit the sound track -- perhaps suggesting that people sync it with a recording of the song involved.
P.S.: While checking the price on Amazon, I got a three-for-the-price-of-two offer (basically, the cheapest item is free) and ordered Novak as one of my items.
Will let you know what I think of it!
Thanks, Owlwise. Did you specify "first season" simply because that's all that's currently available on DVD? I've been thinking about getting it, but (since the DVD set is apparently no longer being produced) the price is pretty steep (especially for just the one season instead of both).
I'd like to see a few episodes first, so I'll know how much I want the DVD set, but all I've found so far is one few-minutes clip on YouTube. Do you know of anywhere I could see a bit more?
Another <i>Longstreet</i> page on Facebook is called Longstreet - TV Series, and it's focussed on the show itself, with tons of photos, mostly screencaps from early episodes.
<url>https://www.facebook.com/Longstreet-TV-Series-307450166120079/</url>
As some of you may be aware, John McIntire (who played Dr. Dan Stockton in the pilot) and Jeanette Nolan (who played Mike's mother, Alice Longstreet) were married in real life and often appeared together in movies and on television. One of their other joint appearances was in the comedy series <i>Night Court</i>, where they played the two title characters in the 1984 episode "Dan's Parents." (There are a couple of clips on YouTube.) Oddly enough, their tv-son, assistant DA Dan Fielding was (like John Larroquette, who played him) originally from New Orleans. Do you suppose that Dan is Mike Longstreet's half brother? Or, since we don't know who would have played Mike's late father, even his full brother?
There's a Formatting Help page located here:
<blockquote><url>https://moviechat.org/formatting</url></blockquote>
Even though that page does not document how to link, it does recommend that links be used -- and the standard HTML link command works here. If you'd like to post a link, the format is
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-- except omit the space following each left bracket above. (I have also created a deeper left margin for the URL at the beginning of this post by using the "blockquote" commands shown on the Formatting Help page.)
'Nother thing -- this time NOT a limitation!
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