THE MOST SUPER HERO EVER ON US TELEVISION!!!

Photo for this entry was supplied by "SUPERFAN" Steve Chung, and is (C) COPYRIGHT DC COMICS!!!


I'm talking about the late, great GEORGE REEVES, who played SUPERMAN and CLARK KENT on television for six seasons, from 1953 through 1957 (following the theatrical feature SUPERMAN & THE MOLE MEN in 1951) , and would have played the characters for another season if he was not the victim of an apparent murder plot that ended the actor/director's career in 1959.
Reevs portrayed THE MAN OF STEEL and his be-spectacled alter ego with a great spark of humanity, good-natured humor, and dramatic grit that is absent in the portrayals of most of today's film heroes, even those going as far back as the early 1960's.
The episodes of this series that are the best are often the earliest ones, made in black & white, and these are imbued with dark, mysterious "film noir" type detective plots. This crop of episodes, made by producers Bob Maxwell and Bernard Luber, were thought to be "too violent" by the show's sponsor, Kellogg's Cereals, so Maxwell and Luber were replaced by the well-intentioned Whitney Ellsworth, who had edoted the SUPERMAN family of comic books for some time prior to his entrance into the television industry.
The later episodes of the series still have some wonderful stories, but these, some of which were made in color, were definitely "dumbed down", not showing the show's intended, younger, audience, the respect they deserved.
I love all the shows in the series nonetheless, with the tough as nails Phyllis Coates playing Lois Lane in the first batch, then Coates is replaced by Noel Neill in the subsequent seasons as Coates left to star in a pilot for her own show, which, sadly failed to become a series. The great character actor, John Hamilton, who was seen in many old Warner Bros. films, was wonderful as Perry White, and young Jack Larson made a believable Jimmy Olsen. The character of Police Inspector William J. Henderson was a joy, as played by Robert Shayne, and numerous familiar faces from many years of television programs and movies, including Hugh Beaumont (LEAVE IT TO BEAVER), John Banner (HOGAN'S HEROES) , Chuck Connors (THE RIFLEMAN, BRANDED) and Dabbs Greer (THE GREEN MILE and LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE) were among the guest stars, with Greer playing a different character in five episodes.
To get back to George Reeves, his SUPERMAN and CLARK KENT were not all that different from each other, both full of nerve and drive to get to the goal of bringing the unjust to justice.
and always with a "wink to the audience" at the close of the show.
Sadly, Reeves was having difficulty late in his life, due to his being "typecast" as SUPERMAN, and, despite his show of promise as a director, after performing that task for THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, he was still unable to get other work.
Reeves had played one of The Tarleton Twins in GONE WITH THE WIND, and had acted with the great Claudette Colbert in SO PROUDLY WE HAIL, but had lost any kind of following after his service in World War II.
It is a tragedy that the greatest hero the world has ever known lost that "never ending battle" and is not still with us today.
I Miss You, George.

LOST SHOCKERS ABOUND!!!

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Well, I don't know about you, but I am stunned, that our islanders may all be dead!!!
What a way to keep a "vidiot in suspense"!!!
The scenes about Sun and her father and father-in-law and mother-in-law are startling enough, but those about Sun and Juliet, and then that Juliet is still working for Ben, apparently being held hostage with a promise to do with Juliet's sister and her child, WOW!!!
Now that Sun knows how to get into the hatch where Juliet examined her I hope this means Doctor Jack will be going down there also.
I'm still waiting to see the fate of Locke, I missed the first ten minutes of the April 25th show, so I hope I did not miss something about John.
Going to ABC.com now to check!!!

HEROES Returns!!!

I love NBC's series HEROES, created by Tim Kring, who had similar chores on CROSSING JORDAN.
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Last night's episode was a real nail-biter, despite the obviousness that Claire was going to bring Peter Petrelli back from the dead.
Someone in TV GUIDE wrote to say that Claire's relationship with her "father" was one of the best on television, but her so-called father is a really bad guy (remember that there are kids reading this), and her birth father may not be any better, but I do give him the benefit of the doubt.
Unfortunately, I dozed off a bit before 9:00, while watching my BOSTON RED SOX, so I missed about the first ten minutes of the program, but it's not as hard to follow as LOST, another big favorite of mine, if you miss a little.
That villain on HEROES, Syler, is another "really bad guy".
I really love the characters on HEROES, but, wow, I am distressed over the kidnapping of Micah, I am on the edge of my chair waiting to see what happens to him.
Another character to dislike is Linderman, played so charmingly rotten by Donald Sutherland.
After his stint on COMMANDER IN CHIEF, a series that got treated unfairly by ABC, I am glad to see Sutherland in another series.
My favorite characters, on the food guys' side, are Peter Petrelli, Hiro and Ando, boy, I hope I got his name correctly, Claire, and the fun-to-watch Greg Grunberg, I don't know why I can't recall his character's name, but HEROES was away too long for my tired old brain to recall all the names.
Anyway, I do still love the show, I can't wait for next Monday!!!

TRAGEDY IN VIRGINIA

I apologize if this is hurting anyone's feelings, but I believe that NBC should be making the tapes sent to them by this murderer available, in full, to the public.
Perhaps they should wait for a bit, until some of the "dust has settled", but I believe that these tapes would serve cautionary measures and enable people to know when a proper course of action must be taken to prevent similar tragedies from occuring.
I do believe that Cho must have believed that he was "martyring" himself, which is most certainly a misguided idea, and that there is no way anything he did should be celebrated, or have attention called to, but I think people should see what made this individual tick, and I think it is the responsibility of the _journalists_ at NBC and elsewhere to show materials of this kind, as they really may help forestall other potentially dark days in human history.

DO _YOU_ HAVE A DVR (Digital Video Recorder)???

As I mention in my JACKIE ROBINSON entry, I really want one of these, and, though our budget is pretty tight currently, paying $7.00 a month and being able to dispense with the need for most videotape blanks, as well as buying a new VCR, seems more practical to me.
Also, with a DVR, we would not keep piling up the programs we record, saving space in our small home is a must!!!
Comments are welcome here, please take a moment to do so!!!
I want to show them to my better half!!!
:o)

JACKIE ROBINSON DAY

I usually watch baseball on television _only_ to see my beloved BOSTON RED SOX, but I had to watch the game Sunday night, when the contest was between THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS and THE SAN DIEGO PADRES, as there was a wonderful ceremony to honor the great Jackie Robinson, and how he was the first African-American individual to "break the color barrier" in (American) MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL.
Rachel Robinson, Jackie's widow, the great ballplayers Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson, and baseball commissioner were the speakers, and all the players of THE L.A. DODGERS wore Robinson's number 42 on their uniforms.
It was really a touching piece of both baseball and television history!!!
Our VCR needs to be replaced, so I could not record it, I really have to talk Susan into letting me get a DVR from our cable vendor, as much as I dislike adding to that bill, it would be more practical than buying a new VCR at this point.

GET SMART, forthcoming theatrical feature!!!

http://www.wouldyoubelieve.com/movie.html

This is from the website of an internet associate of mine, spoilers are there, so, beware!!!