What Might've Been: Serpico (1976)

 "Those who fail to remember history are condemned to repeat it."---George Santayana.

Hollywood wanted to take advantage of a period in NYPD history in the 70's. The feature film, "The Super Cops", was one thing. Fictionalizing the exploits of real life cops was another.

After ABC & Universal had flopped with Toma, NBC & Paramount decided they wanted a piece of the NYPD action. After Paramount had scored with a biography of Frank Serpico, with Al Pacino in the title role, the studio sold NBC a series, with David Birney (ex-Bridget Loves Bernie) as Serpico.

Unfortunately, viewers weren't interested. Serpico was at the bottom of a powerful Friday lineup, but lost viewers from The Rockford Files. Quincy was spun from the Sunday Mystery Movie wheel in January to take over the slot.

The series hasn't been seen since a late 90's run on TV Land. Following is the episode, "Prime Evil":

Insight Sundays: Dangerous Airs of Amy Clark (1970)

 In 1970, the year 1986 was still far into the future. In "Dangerous Airs of Amy Clark", it's speculated that Earth will be overcome with pollution by 1986. It didn't really happen, of course.

Our cast includes Jane Wyatt (ex-Father Knows Best), Ivor Francis (who would recur on Room 222), William Windom (fresh from My World...And Welcome To It), Hayden Rorke (fresh from I Dream of Jeannie), Chris Connolly (ex-Peyton Place), Heather Young (fresh from Land Of The Giants), and Nicholas Georgiade and Paul Picerni (ex-The Untouchables).

Fantasy Fridays: Masquerade (Thriller, 1961)

 A family of cannibals lures in a couple lost on the road, but there are some unexpected twists and surprises in this season 2 entry from Thriller, hosted, of course, by Boris Karloff. Elizabeth Montgomery, three years before Bewitched, and Tom Poston, long associated with Steve Allen before becoming a panelist on To Tell The Truth, are the "endangered" couple. John Carradine co-stars.

I think there was a similar plot on radio in one of those Magic Castle specials 20 years later that I'm trying to find.

Sports this 'n' that

 44 years.

That's how long it's been since the Milwaukee Brewers were last in the World Series. At the time, the Brewers were in the American League, and fell to current NL Central rival St. Louis in the 1982 Series.

Thursday, the waiting came to an end.

As they had done throughout the NLCS, the Brewers came back to defeat the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers, completing a 4 game sweep to advance to the 2026 Series, where they await either Cleveland or Tampa Bay.

Some faces of defeat.

Shohei Ohtani's bat finally came to life, slamming a 3 run homer to give the Dodgers an early 4-0 lead. However, that lead vanished. The Brewers, younger, hungrier in every way, aside from veteran DH Christian Yelich, had outplayed Los Angeles throughout the series. In hindsight, critics will say, Ohtani came too late to save the bid for a 3-peat.

The Dodgers spent a lot of money to upgrade their roster (i.e. Edwin Diaz, Kyle Tucker), and critics will say karma came calling. The only ones who will regret that will be the folks at Fox, who will have the World Series, and will have no large market teams in the Series.

Wrestler-rapper Max Caster resurfaced with TNA at Sunday's Bound For Glory show. He ended up losing to Moose, but it was Caster's pre-match freestyle rap that got him in trouble.

Caster referenced recent attacks in Saudi Arabia, not realizing TNA still has a business arrangement with WWE. On Monday, Caster was dropped from the TNA roster, just days after signing.

Maybe he should've been paying attention to those lame Allstate commercials......

For the 2nd straight week, there was talk that president Trump would attend a football game. 

Last week, Trump backed out of the Georgia-Alabama game due to weather. This week, there were reports he would attend the game between the winless Tennessee Titans and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Nope, that ain't happening, either.

He's better served watching the game at the White House. Keep him away from the ketchup.

The execution will not be televised........

 10 days ago, Secretary of No Defense Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon would livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan on December 3, more than 17 years after the attack.

For once, president Trump decided, no, that ain't happening.

Trump also admitted that he was not aware that Hasan was paralyzed from the waist down as a result of his gun battle in 2009 that led to his arrest. The logic, then, you would figure, is that the firing squad won't have a standing target.

So why not switch to a lethal injection?

Hegseth is a clout chasing moron, that's why. He's got it in his tiny brain that the US needed to send a message to discourage any more mass shooters. Hasan had served in the military himself, and the execution would be the first of a US soldier, active or not, since World War II, and the first execution via firing squad in 65 years.

Trump is taking this stand, less than three weeks from the midterm elections, in an effort to help the GOP retain control of Congress, if at all possible, since the livestream of the execution reportedly is not a popular choice.

That said, we'll see if he changes his tune come November 4, after the midterms.

Weird Wednesdays: The Standells visit the Munsters (1965)

 From season 1 of The Munsters: 

The Standells, famous for "Dirty Water", do indeed pay a visit, as Herman (Fred Gwynne) is persuaded to lease the house to the band........

Unfortunately, the Standells were a 1-hit wonder......

I think we know how Dumb Donald picks his press secretaries.........

 After Karoline Leavitt resigned as White House press secretary, and subsequently went on maternity leave, Dumb Donald needed a new shill. Unfortunately, he should've had her rehearse before her first live briefing.

Katie Zacharia made her debut with a 14 minute press briefing Tuesday, and, unfortunately, not only was she caught unprepared, but she was so much more of a deer in the headlights than even Leavitt or Kayleigh McEnany (now with Fox No News). Zacharia is another former Fox No News talent, just like Pete Hegseth & Jeanine Pirro. Trump wants a female press secretary who is telegenic and attractive. It's that simple.

The panel on The View weigh in:

Already, as Whoopi Goldberg suggested, there are rumors that Zacharia may not be long for her new role. The common sense thing to do would've been to have someone coach Zacharia on how to present herself before Tuesday, but did Dumb Donald think of that? Hmmmmmmmm, wellllllllll, of course not. Trump is allergic to common sense.

Hope you survive the experience, Katie, that's all we can say.