Over the past year or so I've been watching The Six Million Dollar Man, starting with the original made-for-TV-movie, and progressing an episode at a time in order through the seasons. Yesterday I watched the 3rd season episode, "The Price of Liberty".
When I saw that the episode was written by Kenneth Johnson, I knew I was in for a treat. Johnson is responsible for some of the series' best episodes, as well as having created the character of Jamie Summers (the Bionic Woman), bringing The Incredible Hulk to television, creating the original "V" miniseries, and helming the TV version of Alien Nation.
Johnson excels in writing characters, and this episode is a prime example. The premise of the episode involves the heist of the Liberty Bell prior to its tour of the United States in celebration of the U.S. Bicentennial. Without giving away too much of the plot, Steve Austin must enlist the help of a convict (played, quite effectively, by Chuck Conners) in securing the bell.
Now, I love the 1970s. And I have a nostalgia for the U.S. Bicentennial, which I was too young to remember at the time. And, of course, I love classic television. So this episode appealed to me in many areas. The script is excellent, and Lee Majors and Richard Anderson are solid as Steve Austin and Oscar Goldman, respectively.
The episode does, however, have one comical shortcoming: even though it's supposed to take place in the Philadelphia area, it was obviously filmed in California. I'm very familiar with the Philadelphia area, and the the building they tried to pass off as Independence Hall looks nothing like the real thing, but much more amusing is their use of the dry, arid hills of California as a stand in for Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania isn't exactly known for dry areas of sand and brush -- its name means "Penn's Woods" after all. So I had to chuckle a few times during this episode when it came to the scenery. But hey, they couldn't exactly justify a location shoot on the opposite side of the country, could they?
A great episode, scenery shortcomings notwithstanding.
You can visit Kenneth Johnson's website here. At some point, I'm going to have to create the Classic TV World Hall of Fame, and Mr. Johnson will most likely be the first inductee.
No comments:
Post a Comment