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Thursday, April 9, 2015

H is for the series cancelled to make room for CHARLIE'S ANGELS




Harry O re-runs flit in and out of my consciousness.

I cannot remember any whole episode --

only an impression of a sad-eyed loner and two scenes.

One:

A lovely lady is laying beside him in bed and asks, "If I leave you, would it crush you?"

He says in his gravel voice, "It would hurt, and I would survive."

"Damn you!" she snaps, hitting him with a pillow. "You would, wouldn't you?"


Two:

Harry has solved the murder of his best friend, Manny.

He is sitting at the bar they often frequented. He asks for a bottle of their best whiskey.

He tears a page from his notebook, writes MANNY on it,

and tapes it on the bottle, handing it back to the bartender.

"When somebody walks in here, looking like he's been beat by life, give him a shot of this -- but only one."

The bartender asks, "And when it runs out?"

Harry sighs, "It runs out ... just like life."

He gets up, walks from the bar, opens the door, and walks into the night.

***
Ratings for the series were initially fair and got a boost after the series was retooled in January 1975.

Harry O was picked up for a second season and continued to gain viewership and critical acclaim;

however, then-ABC president Fred Silverman

decided to take the network in a different direction and canceled the series in favor of Charlie's Angels.

David Janssen vowed never to do another series.

***

Samuel McCord owes a debt to another H TV show:

HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL
A haunted, educated gunfighter, looking at life with a unique perspective sparked Samuel McCord into being.

The first season's Christmas episode, "The Hanging Cross," is unique.

Instead of drawing the revolver, Paladin unbuckles the belt and removes the whole rig,

 holding it out to the camera as he talks.

The camera tilts upward,

revealing Richard Boone speaking to the camera, then hanging his belt, holster, and pistol on a wall peg

and walking away as the theme begins and the title graphics appear.

11 comments:

  1. I saw a little of one episode of Charlie's Angels. And was never tempted to revisit.

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  2. At the age I was, I probably appreciated Charlie's Angels a lot more--I was a tween--curious about being a grown up but still young enough for pretend play, so I had a couple friends and we used to play Charlie's Angels using those 70's big combs everyone carried as our guns... oh that brief in-between... Harry O sounds like a better show though.

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  3. Charlie's Angels and ummm' errr puberty, yes that is all I am saying...lol

    Jeremy [Retro]
    AtoZ Challenge Co-Host [2015]

    There's no earthly way of knowing.
    Which direction we are going!

    HOLLYWOOD NUTS!
    Come Visit: You know you want to know if me or Hollywood... is Nuts?

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  4. David Janssen was one of my "childhood" favorite actors, but I can't remember seeing this show.

    Charlie's Angels did excel EVEN though they kept changing angels. It had nothing to do with their acting and more about their pretty faces. :)

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  5. I don't remember Harry O, but I did watch Have Gun Will Travel.

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  6. My father liked westerns and I remember his talking about Have Gun Will Travel.

    Of course I remember Charlie's Angels. I was around 10 when that show came on and was utterly fascinated by three beautiful ladies solving crime with the help from the speaker box (Charlie).

    I think Harry O was just a bit too early for me. What I mean by that is too adult for my younger than 10 self to relate to it in any sort of way. I don't know why ABC didn't move it's time slot to 9:00 or 10:00 (since it seemed geared to more mature audiences) to pave the way for Charlie's Angels.

    Ironically, it was far easier for a show to survive ONE SEASON then than now. I've seen 'em get cancelled just a few shows in. They give the audience just over zero minutes to decide they love it. Which is why so much of TV right now looks exactly the same (one police serial after another). The execs are sticking with the familiar that is proven. If it's different in any way (aka good), don't expect it to last in this era. It takes people time to adapt to new and there isn't much new on these days. And the execs give NO time. And there it is.

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  7. Elephant's Child:
    It was pretty eye-candy, fine for those who just wanted to see pretty girls. A detective Baywatch.

    Hart:
    Some shows catch us at just the right time in our lives. CHARLIE'S ANGELS was bright, breezy with no chance of a depressing storyline. Great to dream along with.

    Jeremy:
    Hormones will win over substance every time! :-)

    Teresa:
    It were David Jansen's sad, seen it all eyes that caught me. The Harry O scripts always made you reflect on who you were and who you could be (both bad and good versions!)

    Alex:
    A thinking gunman who wore black and took money for shooting -- quite a different take on the cowboy hero, right?

    Robin:
    Yes, TV gives less and less time for a series to prove itself these days! Three shows in and BAM! Cancelled. Hardly enough time, right? I think you are right about Harry O being shown in the wrong time slot. But there are only just so many late slots available to networks. :-(

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  8. Paladin in Have Gun Will Travel was cut differently than many other tv series about 'gun-slingers'. I liked that show too. Haven't seen the other series with Janssen. I had no use for the Charlie's Angels fluff - that was just a way of giving starlets tv work, and bringing in the male audience.

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  9. I don't remember Harry O but I was young and dumb and hence watched Charlie's Angels, although the show struck even me as being silly, contrived and so artificial.

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  10. I remember watching Harry O; I didn't realize it got bumped off for Charlie's Angels. I liked Harry O because some of it was filmed in San Diego, we were in the San Diego area at the time so it was fun to see landmarks we were associated with.

    betty

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  11. D.G.:
    The irony to Harry O was that Farrah Fawcett often played his girl friend/next door neighbor! I always liked Paladin. Hence Samuel. :-)

    Helena:
    I should talk about silly when I used to like Scooby-Doo! Ruh Roh!

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