Dragnet: The LSD Story
From Season 1, Episode 1
Original Airdate: 12 January 1967
Friday and Gannon investigate the case of an 18-year old dealing LSD to other teenagers.
This was the second incarnation of the show. The original series aired from 1951 to 1959. With the counter culture revolution in full swing, the studios thought audiences would find comfort in the very straight law and order icons of Sgt’s Friday and Gannon. So, depending on your point of view, the series was either funny or dramatic. Incidentally, the actor playing “Blue Boy,” Michael Burns had played “Barnaby West” on Wagon Train in the early 60’s. He later “dropped out” of acting to become a distinguished professor of American history.
Bewitched: I, Darrin, Take This Witch Samantha
From Season 1, Episode 1
Samantha and Darrin appear to be an ideally matched couple. Very much in love, they decide to marry. Darrin doesn’t know that Samantha, is, of all things, a witch. Adding to their trouble’s Darrin’s old flame, Sheila, has her claws out for Samantha.
Nancy Kovack plays Sheila. During the 60’s, Nancy had a long string of guest starring roles in over 25 different series including, “Hawaii Five-O,” “Get Smart,” “The F.B.I.,” “Star Trek,” “I Spy,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E,.” “Perry Mason,” “Batman,” . “I Dream of Jeannie,” “Burke’s Law.” In 1969 Kovack married conductor Zubin Mehta and soon thereafter gave up her film and television career.
The Outer Limits: The Sixth Finger
From Season 1, Episode 5
Original Airdate: October 14, 1963
A Welsh miner volunteers to be the first subject for an experiment to speed human evolution.
I remember this episode in reruns because I was a big fan of Man from U.N.C.L.E and David McCallum. It’s good to see him in another acronym show, NCIS. Jill Haworth, who plays Kathy, was in a number of Otto Preminger films and originated the role of Sally Bowles on Broadway, but was replace by Liza Minelli in the film version. Edward Mulhare ended up starring in another 60’s classic as the ghost in “The Ghost and Mrs Muir” and in the 80’s as Devon Miles in “Knight Rider.”
It Takes a Thief: It Takes One to Know One
From Season 1, Episode 2
Original Airdate: September 1968
Al Mundy becomes a member of a gang of thieves to prevent them from stealing the crown jewels of Montefiore.
What a way to start a series, with beautiful Susan Saint James guest starring opposite the handsome Robert Wagner. Ms James was at the beginning of her career with guest starring roles in “Ironside,” and the movies “Where Angels Go Trouble Follows” and “Jigsaw.” She would play the role of Charlene ‘Charlie’ Brown, a woman with her own special skills and Wagner’s romantic interest, in five different episodes.
Lost in Space: Blast Off Into Space
From Season 2, Episode 1
Original Airdate: September 14, 1966
Smith’s dealings with a prospector threaten to maroon the ship on a disintegrating planet.
As a character actor, Strother Martin had a penchant for playing western types. 1969 proved a memorable year for Stuther, with roles in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Wild Bunch” and “True Grit.” Season Two of “Lost in Space” marks the beginning of episodes filmed in color with everyone decked out in the color scheme of the 60’s
Gilligan’s Island: The Pilot
The Pilot Episode from 1964, but never aired.
The crew and passengers of the SS Minnow are stranded on a uninhabited island.
Interesting for the change of change of characters from the pilot to the original. The pilot features two secretaries instead of Mary Anne and Ginger and a different actor as The Professor, John Gabriel. John had a long career in television, guest starring in numerous television series and a long stint as Dr. Seneca Beaulac on “Ryan’s Hope” from 1975-1989. The Calypso style theme song was written by a young John Williams, composer of Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones and many others. Many of the scenes and gags from the pilot ended up being reused on subsequent episodes.
