Fantasy Friday: Horror in The Heights (Kolchak: The Night Stalker, 1974)

 Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) investigates a bizarre series of murders involving a shape-changing demon. Phil Silvers and Naomi Stevens are among the guest stars.

Family Fridays returns next week. Fantasy Fridays returns in October.

Notes from around town

 Very quietly, the El Dorado Restaurant & Bar on 4th Street, between Congress & State, reopened on Wednesday. All that's missing now is the familiar logo on the window. Said logo needs to be repainted after it was damaged following a fire last summer.

The timing, of course, is perfect, with St. Patrick's Day coming on Tuesday.

An era is ending in the 518.

Four years after reopening as part of a merger with St. Ambrose School in Latham, Catholic Central School is downsizing.

Per the Albany County Diocese, Catholic Central will now only have classes for grades K-8, beginning in September.

Photo courtesy Spectrum News 1.

Spectrum News 1 is reporting that the school has only 22 students between grades 8-11, meaning there are no seniors this season. The school paused its men's basketball & bowling programs, the latter for the 2nd consecutive season, and, beginning in September, high school courses will merge with Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons in Schenectady.

Until the merger, Catholic Central High was one of Troy's big 4 high schools, along with Troy, Lansingburgh, & Lasalle.

More on this over at Tri-City SportsBeat tomorrow.

After opening its first 518 restaurant at Albany International Airport, Chick-Fil-A is opening a location at Latham Farms, aiming to open sometime later this year.

Known for its cheeky, often cheesy, advertising campaigns ironically using cows as their mascots to encourage diners to eat chicken, Chick-Fil-A is looking to challenge KFC & Popeye's for supremacy among chicken-centric restaurants.

What Might've Been: Hollywood Teasers (1993)

 In 1993, Merrill Heatter tweaked the concept of his 1985 entry for ABC, All-Star Blitz, and tried selling Hollywood Teasers, which, with the six celebrity grid, also was a reboot of Battlestars, a twice cancelled series for NBC in the 80's. Robb Weller (Entertainment Tonight) was the host.

In the pilot, the panel includes Pamela Anderson (Baywatch), Mayim Bialik (Blossom), Don Rickles, Rita Rudner, Mark Curry (Hangin' With Mr. Cooper), and Ed O'Neill (Married....With Children). Heatter struck a deal with MCA to package the show.

Assuming this was aimed for syndication, it was destined to fail, since Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy! dominated the ratings.

Rating: B.

YouTube Theatre: The Daughters of Joshua Cabe Return (1975)

 Three years had passed since "The Daughters of Joshua Cabe" had brought high ratings for ABC. In the interim, Buddy Ebsen had moved on to Barnaby Jones, so the leads, not just Joshua himself, had to be recast in "The Daughters of Joshua Cabe Return".

Ronne Troup (ex-My Three Sons, Brooke Adams, & Christina Hart step in for Sandra Dee, Lesley Ann Warren, & Karen Valentine, with Dan Dailey (ex-The Governor & JJ, Faraday & Company) as Joshua. Jack Elam didn't return, either, with Western vet Dub Taylor as Cabe's new sidekick.

Fresh off paying off the mortgage on his home for the next year, Cabe runs into a new crisis when the father of one of the girls shows up, and abducts her for ransom. Carl Betz (ex-Judd For The Defense, The Donna Reed Show), Kathleen Freeman, and Randall Carver, three years before Taxi, co-star.

Mind the video quality.

Wild West Wednesdays returns in 2 weeks with Tim Conway as Rango.

MLB 2026 preview, part 1: The Mets

 In two weeks, it all begins for reals.

Now, it really isn't fair to take a look at any baseball forecasts with a week remaining in the World Baseball Classic, but it is time to begin looking ahead, and we'll start with the Mets.

After a 2nd half fade-out in 2025, GM David Stearns began overhauling the team. Popular utilityman Jeff McNeil was shipped off to Sacramento, and Brandon Nimmo was reunited with Jacob deGrom in Texas. Scott Boras Badenov leveraged Pete Alonso out of town, and the "Polar Bear" is sure to haunt the Mets when they meet Baltimore this season. Closer Edwin Diaz chased the money, and went back west to the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, who just weren't satisfied that Roki Sasaki, as a temporary closer, was a key component to their World Series win over Toronto. They'd prefer Sasaki to be a starter, hence the need for someone like Diaz. Thus, "Narco", Diaz's theme song, will no longer play at Citi Field.

The Mets got bad news to start the pre-season when shortstop Francisco Lindor went down with a broken hand. However, it appears he is on track to return for the opener vs. Pittsburgh in 2 weeks. The Nimmo trade netted the Mets veteran infielder Marcus Semien, and Vidal Brujan, who finished last season in Atlanta, was brought in for infield insurance. The plan seems to be to find someone to play first until Ryan Clifford is major league ready, and while Mark Vientos has experience at the position, he's also rumored to be trade bait. The Mets signed Jorge Polanco (Seattle), and he's learning how to play first base, as he, like Vientos, is mostly a third baseman. Bo Bichette (Toronto) is being groomed at third, while Brett Baty will continue to shuttle between second & third.

In the outfield, the Mets picked up MJ Melendez (Kansas City) and Luis Robert, Jr. (Chicago White Sox). Robert will be the regular center fielder, with Juan Soto moving to left, where he'd played in Washington & San Diego, and Tyrone Taylor is likely platooning with Melendez in right. Behind the plate, the Mets are 4 deep at the moment, though non-roster invite Austin Barnes (Dodgers) makes it five deep, with returnees Francisco Alvarez, Luis Torrens, and Hayden Senger now joined by ex-Yankee Ben Rortvedt (Dodgers), who's been passed around waiver wires like a collection plate at church. Depending on how many catchers Carlos Mendoza wants to bring with him to Pittsburgh in 2 weeks, either Rortvedt or Barnes, or both, could be gone-ski, and Senger could start the season in Syracuse.

And, then, there's the pitching.

Clay Holmes & Nolan McLean are pitching for Team USA at the World Baseball Classic. McLean was roughed up by Italy on Tuesday, after Holmes pitched three solid innings on Sunday. Stearns brought in a couple of old friends from Milwaukee in Freddy Peralta, who will be the opening day starter vs. the Pirates, and Tobias Myers, who will help the revamped bullpen. The Mets heisted two more pitchers from the Yankees in closer Devin Williams and Luke Weaver. 

The rotation figures to be Peralta, followed by any combination of Holmes, David Peterson, Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga, & McLean, provided McLean doesn't get sent to Syracuse. Christian Scott didn't pitch last year due to Tommy John surgery, and could wind up in the rotation.

After a lot of criticism, Eric Chavez was sacked as batting coach, so the Mets brought in Troy Snitker (Houston), son of former Atlanta manager Brian Snitker, with Jeff Albert as his assistant. How much of a difference that makes will remain to be seen in the long term.

While some of the bigger stars (i.e. Soto) are in the WBC, the minor leaguers are doing their part to help during Grapefruit League play. What that says is that the Mets will have plenty of depth to work with in case of injury. What I'm more concerned with is the mix & match infield. Will that work? I have my doubts.

Prediction: 2nd place again.

Wartime Mondays: The Captain's Mission (McHale's Navy, 1962)

 Time to scope the lighter side of war, with this season 1 episode of McHale's Navy:

Series star Ernest Borgnine is reduced to a cameo, as the focus is on Captain Binghamton (Joe Flynn, ex-The Joey Bishop Show), who takes over the PT73 for a mission while McHale is on leave. Via flashbacks, Ensign Parker (Tim Conway) explains to McHale exactly what happened. Seems Binghamton was bored being at his desk.......

Down the line, we'll feature Combat!, and other war-centric programs.

You are supposed to remove your hat at a funeral. Guess who thinks he doesn't have to.........

 This pretty much speaks for itself......

A "dignified transfer" of six slain soldiers turns into a debacle just because President Huckster just had to wear a USA cap he's selling online for $55 a pop. Remember, this is a shallow, insecure old man who once disrespected dead soldiers as "suckers & losers", and mocked the late Senator John McCain, who was a prisoner of war at one time, by stating, "I like people who weren't captured.".

Donald Trump is about one thing, and one thing only, and that is, of course, himself, and how much he can profit off his tenure as president. While Trump and VP JD Vance saluted the soldiers, First Lady Melania Trump held her hand over her heart

Melania gets it. Donald doesn't. Gee, what a surprise. Equally unsurprising is that Donald gets another Dunce Cap.