While the concept of The Andy Griffith Show: The Beauty Contest has its humorous elements, at the same time it’s a bit strange. The strangeness is not because of the contest happening, but the makeup of the contestants. There’s no guideline. Ellie Walker (Elinor Donahue) ends …

I love The Andy Griffith Show: Those Gossipin’ Men. It’s a story of revenge, lightheartedly delivered, and it’s a hoot to watch. It all begins when Sheriff Andy Taylor teases Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier), Clara Lindsey (Mary Treen), and the delightful Emma Brand (Cheerio Meredith) about all …

From January 1961, The Andy Griffith Show: The Horse Trader is another show where Sheriff Andy Taylor learns a lesson from his young son, Opie, who is brilliantly portrayed by Ronnie Howard, as he was known back then. It’s more or less a tale of backing up your …

The Andy Griffith Show: Mayberry Goes Hollywood is another enjoyable outing from this TV series, which has always been a high quality family program.
In this episode, a Hollywood producer comes to Mayberry and asks permission to shoot some of his movie there. He even wants to use some …

I do enjoy The Andy Griffith Show: Stranger in Town and I agree with what it’s trying to convey. At the same time, I see the flaws and that’s what keeps it from being a really great show. There’s just a huge dose of common sense that …

The Andy Griffith Show: Ellie for Council is another terrific program from this legendary family show. As the title indicates, it’s all about Ellie Walker (Elinor Donahue) running for City Council in Mayberry. That’s something the men folk aren’t thrilled about at first. Here are a few …

In small town Mayberry, Andy Taylor is both the sheriff and the justice of the peace, something the doors to the sheriff’s office decree, though we really only see it a couple of times in the entire series. The Andy Griffith Show: A Feud Is a Feud is …

The Ray Bradbury Theater: The Long Years is a very poignant episode in my book. Robert Culp is the primary guest star, playing John Hathaway. He and his family were part of a colony living on Mars, only when wars broke out on Earth, everyone had to …

From November 1990, The Ray Bradbury Theater: Exorcism is somewhat of a science fiction comedy that pits two women against each other in an election. It all relates to the Ladies Honeysuckle Harmony Lodge of which Clara Goodwater is president, thought Elmira Brown wants to be. The …

The Ray Bradbury Theater: The Toynbee Convector has a very interesting theme. It sounded quite fascinating. I actually have an idea in my head what the true story is, so as I go into watching this episode, I can’t wait to see if my theory is correct. …

The Ray Bradbury Theater: Touch of Petulance from October 1990 guest starred Eddie Albert as Jonathan Hughes. It also stars Jesse Collins as Jonathan Hughes. No, they aren’t father and son; they are one in the same. That’s because Albert’s Hughes goes back in time to try …

The Andy Griffith Show: Andy and Opie, Housekeepers is another comical outing that is highly entertaining. This is what television comedy should be. It’s suitable for the entire family and it’s full of genuine laughs.
–This is the first show that includes actress Hope Summers who becomes a …

Miss Rosemary lasted one episode, and I believe Hilda Mae was in two shows. Now, at last, we meet Barney’s true love, Thelma Lou. They’ve apparently been dating, but he’s having a time of it trying to talk with her about anything other than police business.
Here are …

The idea behind The Andy Griffith Show: Andy and the Gentleman Crook is that the Mayberry jail is going to hold a famous outlaw for a night. This is something that puts Deputy Barney Fife in a state of utter exhilaration. He is overjoyed that Gentleman Dan …

The Andy Griffith Show: Andy Saves Barney’s Morale is absolutely hysterical from start to finish, with a tad of poignancy thrown in. This 1961 first season outing as Deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts) acting as sheriff for the first time when Sheriff Andy Taylor goes out of town …

Mayberry loves the idea of show business. This is actually the third episode in the series’ premier season that has dealt with the entertainment industry in some way. In The Andy Griffith Show: Mayberry on Record from February 1961, a man named Maxwell arrives in town claiming …

Sea Hunt: Diving for the Moon aired on February 15, 1959, and I mention the year specifically because the show dealt with the training of four men who are in the astronaut program. The show actually opens with Mike Nelson (Lloyd Bridges) doing his narration about how …

Highway Patrol: Hot Rod, the seventh episode of season two, focused on two brothers, Tommy and Harry Burke, who commit a robbery and then make their getaway in a hot rod that they believe is faster than any police car out there. Naturally, the driver goes too fast …

From November 1961, Have Gun - Will Travel: The Hanging of Aaron Gibbs was a very strong episode. It surprised me in many ways. The show guest stars black folk singer, Odetta. Now the only reason I use the descriptor ‘black’ in this review is because …

The Andy Griffith Show: Bringing Up Opie is the final episode of the first season of this wonder family comedy, and the focus is on the Taylor family and specifically young Opie, played so beautifully by Ron Howard. In this show, Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) suddenly decides that …

Guitarist Jim Lindsey returns to Mayberry in this May 1961 outing, The Andy Griffith Show: The Guitar Player Returns. Just like the first show earlier in the year that centered on this character, I’m not a big fan of this episode. It’s okay, and it’s ten times …

From May 1961, The Andy Griffith Show: Quiet Sam shows once again what paranoia can do to people, especially a superstitious and easily spirited Deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts). In this show, he is focused on a farmer named Sam Becker who seems reclusive and isn’t very socialable. …

Karen Moncrieff has a brief but powerful roles as Dr. Claire Hartman in Diagnosis Murder: Murder in the Dark. Moncrieff gives a strong performance as a rather curt but good physician who is ticked off when a surgeon is brought in to take over her case. John …

From February 1996, Diagnosis Murder: Murder Murder gets its name because the story revolves around a set of twins. Actually the story begins at a party that Mark Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) attends at his friend’s house. The friend is played by Robert Vaughn who is thankfully …

Diagnosis Murder: 35 Millimeter Murder starts off interestingly enough with Mark Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) receiving the wrong set of photos that he’d just had developed. This is a great way to start a story. It’s very easy to identify with as I’ll bet it’s happened to …

Dick Van Dyke’s Dr. Mark Sloan has to fight the budget yet again in Diagnosis Murder: The Murder Trade, only this time he ends up being told that he won’t be renewed when his contract expires in 27 days. Before he knows what’s happening, Mark ends up implicated …

In my first review for season three of Diagnosis Murder, I included the good and the bad of the season three changes. There were a couple of things I didn’t mention then that I saved for now, as I review the season three ender, Left-Handed Murder.
First, there were …

This is one of the memorable ones. Vicki Lawrence guest stars in Diagnosis Murder: FMurder. She plays a TV hostess named Kitti Lynn Hastings. Her show is a housekeeping/cooking type of one and for the week, her guest host is Dr. Mark Sloan (Dick Van Dyke).
The …

From season two of Highway Patrol, Officer’s Wife focuses on the difficulty of being the wife of a California Highway Patrolman. It opens with Officer Jerry March dying in the line of the duty and Chief Dan Mathews delivering the news to the March’s widow, Patty (Carol Thurston). …

Diagnosis Murder: Murder by the Book revolved around a new book that was written in part by an old friend of the Sloans. To Mark’s shock, the book isn’t about recipes but sex stories. That results in some funny moments, but the real story is about the …

Diagnosis Murder: Mind Over Murder opens with a psychic television show that has one of them suddenly bursting out of her seat and landing in the hospital. Meanwhile at the hospital, Norman (Michael Tucci) is back, showing off pictures of his trip. The pictures aren’t the things …

From May 1985, The Ray Bradbury Theater: Marionettes, Inc. was an interesting piece of entertainment. Author Ray Bradbury does the opening introduction, but it’s not actually introductions like Rod Serling did with The Twilight Zone or Boris Karloff did with The Veil. Instead, his opening introduction is …

The Ray Bradbury Theater: Tyrannosaurus Rex is somewhat different in that we get to see a movie within a TV show. It’s nothing extensive, but I like this concept. Basically, we have an animator being constantly criticized and even bullied because he can’t create a dinosaur that …

The Ray Bradbury Theater: The Coffin is about two brothers who aren’t the best of friends. We see them together, disagreeing. At first, we wonder if the entire story is just going to be about their relationship. It is, but it’s broader that than. Also, interestingly, …

Consider The Ray Bradbury Theater: On the Orient, North, Bradbury’s version of Murder on the Orient Express, which is even referenced at the very beginning of the episode. It features Magali Noel as Minerva Halliday who offers to help someone described only as ‘the ghastly passenger’. Frankly, …

Okay, The Ray Bradbury Theater: Punishment Without Crime is another one of those weird stories that I need to watch three or four times to really get it, but I don’t want to. Once was plenty.
Ray Bradbury is certainly a talented and gifted science fiction author, but he’s …

Think Rosemary’s Baby and you have the idea that is center stage to this April 1988 production, The Ray Bradbury Theater: The Small Assassin. Alice Leiber (Susan Wooldridge) has just become a mother, only it was a very unusual delivery and from the get go, she claims the …

The Ray Bradbury Theater: The Man Upstairs, which aired in March 1988, takes place in Paris, France. It’s about a boy who is visiting his grandmother and the people who live there as boarders. The boy, Douglas (Adam Negley), becomes curious about a new boarder, a man …

The Ray Bradbury Theater: Gotcha! begins innocently enough with what seems to be a standard love story. Saul Rubinek stars as John Griffiths, who goes to a masquerade party dressed up like Oliver Hardy. He then meets Alicia Hart (Kate Lynch), who happens to be dressed as …

From February 1988, The Ray Bradbury Theater: The Emissary is a show about a boy and his faithful dog. As a dog lover, I only want to ensure that nothing bad happens to the dog. The boy is named Martin and is played by Keram Malick-Sanchez. …

In Have Gun - Will Travel: Alaska, Richard Boone’s Paladin travels to Alaska when his friend sends him a letter requesting his help. The fun part of it is that the two play a game of chess through the mail. I think Family Affair did the same …

Have Gun - Will Travel: The Chase opens with an Arizona wife venturing to San Francisco to hire Paladin (Richard Boone). She believes her husband is innocent of the crime he’s accused of. The situation is dire, though, because the sheriff and his posse are out for …

Have Gun - Will Travel: Death of a Gunfighter is an odd story. Paladin rides into a New Mexico town intending to take a job for John Sebrey. Sebrey is involved in a deadly feud with Juan Carlos Morrita, who had killed several men. However, Paladin …

Have Gun - Will Travel: A Snare for Murder starts out with the action right away, so there’s no San Francisco scene, which is disappointing. However, what happens is pretty good entertainment. Right from the start, Paladin (Richard Boone) ends up in a mess. He helps …

From February 1988, The Ray Bradbury Theater: Skeleton focuses on a hypochondriac named Bert Harris (Eugene Levy). This is really one of those weird, out there stories that I’m not even sure how to describe. This guy is so nuts about trying to get a doctor to …

From 1988, The Ray Bradbury Theater: The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl is one confusing show. It’s not terribly exciting; rather, it’s just plain weird. We are presented with a man named Acton (Michael Ironside) who kills another man named Huxley (Robert Vaughn). It’s …

The Ray Bradbury Theater: Banshee takes place in Ireland where the folklore is very strong. They have the legends of the banshee, and that’s what this half hour story tackles. The science fiction tale begins with American Douglas Rogers arriving at the Irish manor where he’ll be …

The Ray Bradbury Theater: The Screaming Woman opens for the second time with a introductory scene that is actually a bit of an adventure with Bradbury in the mountains holding a divining rod. Another man comes up to him, recognizing him as a sci fi writer. In …

For the first time, Ray Bradbury, from whose mind all of these episodes come from, does a unique introduction to his story. He talks more about how he gets ideas. I love these introductions. In the show’s first cable season, there were six episodes and only …

I’m not really sure what to say about The Ray Bradbury Theater: The Crowd. I’ve watched it a couple of times now trying to enjoy it or at least get through it feeling entertained, but I’ve been unsuccessful.
Maybe this story is just over my head because I just …