Honestly, I've never seen a single episode of the current iteration of 'Hawaii Five-0' (there's only on McGarret), but this Friday's episode has to do with the internment camps in Hawaii. Could be interesting: http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2013/12/10/hawaii-five-0/#.UqdS_3TGVJ8.facebook

After seeing a number of episodes on ION TV, I've become hooked on the former TNT program Leverage.

Been watching the old David Carradine series "Kung Fu". It's kind of fun even though every episode is basically the same:

A) Caine arrives in town.

B) Caine tries to help local townspeople.

C) Caine runs afoul of town assholes.

D) Caine beats the shit out of town assholes.

E) Caine leaves town.

gaijinmark wrote:

Been watching the old David Carradine series "Kung Fu". It's kind of fun even though every episode is basically the same: A) Caine arrives in town. B) Caine tries to help local townspeople. C) Caine runs afoul of town assholes. D) Caine beats the shit out of town assholes. E) Caine leaves town.

LOL, I've been watching this on 2.2 as well... It caught me by surprise because I was watching The Man from U.N.C.L.E. the day before.

gaijinmark wrote:

Been watching the old David Carradine series "Kung Fu". It's kind of fun even though every episode is basically the same: A) Caine arrives in town. B) Caine tries to help local townspeople. C) Caine runs afoul of town assholes. D) Caine beats the shit out of town assholes. E) Caine leaves town.

This is the exact plot template for all the Katsu Shintaro Zatoichi movies and TV episodes. Except Zatoichi doesn't beat up the bad guys; he kills 'em.

shin2 wrote:

This is the exact plot template for all the Katsu Shintaro Zatoichi movies and TV episodes. Except Zatoichi doesn't beat up the bad guys; he kills 'em.

LOL, that's typical American TV show plotline... Less the killing.

Picked up the DVD boxed set of the Twilight Zone awhile back. (The original version from the '60s) Finally got around to watching them regularly, up to season 3 now.

One of my favorites is "A Game of Pool" with Jonathan Winters and Jack Klugman. Found out in the bonus features that the original ending called for Jack Klugman to lose the game. Jonathan Winters reads the script of the original ending. I think it would have been better with Klugman losing, I wonder why they changed it?

I'm waiting for Fear the Walking Dead. I hope the spinoff is as good as the original.

gaijinmark wrote:

The first season of Burke's Law is out on DVD. I've managed to limit myself to one episode every other day.

Started going thru some of these again. One episode is about a murder in Chinatown. However, the two main "Chinese" characters are played by Miyoshi Umeki and James Shigeta.

Also, there's a scene with a "Chinese" dancer who has one line. The credits said she was played by Tura Satana (Tura Yamaguchi). That one really surprised me. A few years later Tura would find fame (if not fortune) as the star of one of Russ Meyer's "classics", "Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!".

They were having an "Adventures of Superman" binge this weekend. The old show from the '50s. I'll be having "Great Caeser's Ghost!!" and "Jeepers, Mr. Kent!" running thru my head for most of the rest of this week now.

Watching the Chinese drama, Nirvana in Fire. This was highly recommended. The production quality, atmosphere, acting are all really good but the story is so slow and some scenes are so long. There is not much balance too, it's all plotting and political maneuvering ...

gaijinmark wrote:

The first season of Burke's Law is out on DVD. I've managed to limit myself to one episode every other day.

They had a marathon of that show a weekend or two ago on digital 2.2.

This weekend they're showing a binge of the 1960's show "Lost In Space". Pretty cheesy by today's standards. Probably pretty cheesy even back then. The two real stars are Jonathan Harris as Dr. Smith and the Robot.

Turns out the Robot was designed by a Nisei, Robert Kinoshita. He passed away back in 2014, but had a pretty interesting career in Hollywood:http://www.rafu.com/2015/01/kinoshita-100-designer-of-robots/

Now I'm going to find myself checking the credits on old TV shows for his name.

Before Jackie Chan, there was Jacqui Chan. Although she goes by Jacqueline Chan now: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0150926/

They were showing a re-run of the 1973 "Columbo" episode "Any Old Port In A Storm". It's a pretty good episode, but I've seen it so many times the only reason I watch it to see the scenes where the 1967 Ferrari 330 GTS is shown: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n2dnqTqr8EU/U6j2_tcC1VI/AAAAAAAOlSc/eL00Y0dzePE/s1600/Columbo-Any_Old_Port_in_a_Storm-1973-VCSS-1133.jpg

Just out of curiosity I checked to see what that car is worth today. In "fair" condition around $2.2 million. In "excellent" condition around $2.8 million. They probably didn't have that much budget in 1973 for every episode of "Columbo".

Speaking of re-runs, caught an episode of "Mannix" from about 1974 "Enter Tami Okada": https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0641591/

It was actually pretty good. "Funny" is not the first thing that comes to mind with Mako, but he was hilarious in this as the detective sent over from Tokyo to find a missing person. Some of it was shot at a place called "Japanese Village" that used to be down in Buena Park but went out of business a year or two later. The scenes that were allegedly in "Little Tokyo" looked an awful lot like the back lot at Paramount. I don't think they ever went down there. Another good thing about it is they used Japanese actors who actually spoke Japanese when talking with each other, not white actors faking it.

Up early (5 am) this fine Sunday morning. Discovered MeTV is showing the old series from the '60s "The Invaders":https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invaders

I don't think I ever saw any episodes at the time. Maybe something I liked better was airing against it. Anyway, looks like another one I'll be buying the whole series on DVD.

gaijinmark wrote:

I don't think I ever saw any episodes at the time. Maybe something I liked better was airing against it.

Or, your parents said, "Turn off that TV and go do your homework!!"
_________________

"They're real and they're spectacular"

ashley juggs wrote:

Or, your parents said, "Turn off that TV and go do your homework!!"

That is the other possibility.

Funny thing is, "The Invaders" was done by Quinn Martin. He was more known for crime, police shows like "The Fugitive", "The FBI" or "Cannon". Wonder why he went off into the science fiction genre.

Comettv is showing "The X-Files", two shows a day: https://comettv.com/show/the-x-files/

I never really got into all that much. Seemed like they were always in someplace dark or out at night and I'd end up saying, "What the hells going on now?!"

When it first aired, a couple guys I worked with were totally addicted to it. Whether they were addicted to the show itself or Gillian Anderson is open to debate.