Wu's TV Corner #55: The Phoenix

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-phoenix.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0674629/

1982 ABC. "In Search of Mira." Very short-lived (five episodes) Judson Scott, Richard Lynch science fiction show. With E.G. Marshall and guest stars Britt Leach, John Vernon, Jennifer Parsons, Marc Alaimo, Bert Remsen, Sandy Ward. Ancient alien in Peru, Bennu of the Golden Light (Judson Scott), wakes up in the 80s and is being chased by the relentless government agent Richard Lynch. Explaining this premise coherently is way beyond my limited skills as a TV reviewer so I will cheat with a Wiki copy/paste job:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phoenix_%281982_TV_series%29

• Bennu of the Golden Light (played by Judson Scott), the protagonist, is an alien who possesses special abilities including physical levitation, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, astral projection and telekinesis. Some of these are made possible or amplified by his Phoenix Amulet, which draws power from the Sun. Bennu's home planet was originally called Aurica, but this was changed to Eldebran for broadcast.
• Yago is another being from the planet Eldebran. He is evil and Bennu's primary opponent. Yago is connected to the Moon, as Bennu is to the Sun. The series bible explicitly compares Yago to Lucifer and Dracula. He wears a bracelet called "The Bells of Thon" around his right wrist, which has the power to deafen. He also carries a musical instrument called "The Black Moonball", which can alter his appearance or teleport him to another location. In the series bible Yago was named Aiwaz, presumably after the alleged being who dictated The Book of the Law to Aleister Crowley.
• Mira (played by Sheila Frazier) is another being from the planet Eldebran. 40,000 years ago she was placed on Earth as Bennu's companion, and when the series begins he is searching for her.
• Justin Preminger (played by Richard Lynch) is the recurring human antagonist of the story, a tough, cynical and relentless former P.O.W. in Vietnam turned government agent. He is obsessed with capturing Bennu, who, despite what his superiors say, he believes to be nothing more than some sort of New Age con man. He is generally only one step behind his alien quarry.
• Dr. Ward Frazier (played by E. G. Marshall) is a scientist sympathetic to Bennu and his goals.

This is the second episode, following the TV movie premiere, and was written by Leigh Vance. John Vernon is the government agency boss who sends out Richard Lynch on a secret mission to find Bennu. Bennu is just kind of wandering the streets, hitchhiking, and depending on the kindness of strangers, when he witnesses a clandestine deal go wrong and someone is shot dead. The bad guys chase Bennu but he is able to get away by using some of his alien powers to disable the gun. Bert Remsen is hauling cement and picks up Bennu and brings him home for dinner, but the bad guys are still out looking for him.

All five episodes are available on Youtube in a couple of places and I had watched the TV movie before. The Phoenix is a decent and staid show if you are into the mystical alien thing, but also leisurely paced. Not action packed but certainly watchable for SF fans and the IMDb reviews are generally positive.

Wu's TV Corner #54: Otherworld

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/09/otherworld.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0667373/

1985 CBS. "Village of the Motorpigs." Directed by Paul Michael Glaser. Series created by Roderick Taylor. Gretchen Corbett, Sam Groom, Jonna Lee, Tony O'Dell. Bad guy is Jonathan Banks. While on vacation at the pyramids, a family is transported to an alternate universe, Otherworld. Otherworld has different zones in it and every week the family would be in another zone with a different story. Jonathan Banks is Kroll, one of the Zone Troopers, who encounters the family when they arrive and has his vehicle, weapon, and equipment stolen. This week is the bikers, but they don't have a zone, they're rebels. Guest stars are Vincent Schiavelli, Jeff East, Marjoe Gortner, Charles Lane, Donald Gibb, Peter Bromilow.

While traveling through the Forbidden Zone in Charles Lane's bus, the family is caught by a Zone Trooper checkpoint, but a biker gang happens along and spirits them away. The biker gang is led by Marjoe Gortner, who keeps his people in line by feeding them drugs. Jeff East and Vincent Schiavelli are two of the bikers who are resisting Gortner's control.

Otherworld re-aired on the Sci-Fi Channel so all eight episodes are available several places on Youtube. I watched most of them a couple of years ago. Pretty good show. 

Wu's TV Corner #53: Broken Badges

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/11/broken-badges.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0532544/

1990 CBS. "Chucky." Stephen J. Cannell misfit cop show. Miguel Ferrer as the New Orleans/Cajun cop, complete with weird accent. Ernie Hudson is the klepto. Jay Johnson the violent ventriloquist. Eileen Davidson is addicted to danger. With Charlotte Lewis, Don S. Davis as the Chief, and Garry Chalk. Guest stars are Diedrich Bader as Chucky, Lyle Alzado, Clint Carmichael.

Lyle Alzado is mob boss Tommy Moran and Chucky is his sensitive and socially challenged son. Ernie Hudson (Toby) squares up with Moran in a police station confrontation; Moran started out as a crooked cop, and that bad blood is still hot. When someone takes out Tommy, Chucky is left in the lurch, and the prime suspect is Toby himself.

All seven episodes of Broken Badges are on Youtube in parts. Good show. Normally the hodge-podge Louisiana accent would be a deal killer for me. Only Miguel Ferrer could pull that character off and make it work. Part Yat, part Cajun. "Where you at, Captain?"

Wu's TV Corner #52: Partners in Crime

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/12/partners-in-crime.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0670091/

1984 NBC. "Murder in the Museum." Lynda Carter and Loni Anderson private detective show. With Walter Olkewicz, Leo Rossi, Eileen Heckart. Two women married to the same man, who is a private investigator, inherit his detective agency when he is killed. Guest stars are Leigh McCloskey, Sandy Kronemeyer, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. 

Carole's (Lynda Carter) friend, a museum curator, is killed, and the person accused of the crime might be innocent. Carole is the socialite and photographer, and Sydney (Loni Anderson) was raised by a con man and also plays upright bass.

When I first started watching old TV shows on Youtube I focused on private detective shows. I have covered just about every 70s and 80s detective show on the blog so I tried to watch as many of those as I could. This one is not very good. The hair is big. And there are multiple episodes available in decent quality. Thirteen were made.

Wu's TV Corner #51: Hawaiian Heat

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/06/hawaiian-heat.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0598406/

1984 ABC. "Yankees vs. the Cubs." Two Chicago cops move to Hawaii to escape the grind and cold. Robert Ginty and Jeff McCracken. With Mako, Tracy Scoggins, Branscombe Richmond. Now they are working as Hawaii cops and in this episode they get teamed up undercover with two female cops from New York. Brianne Leary and Lorna Patterson. Second City jokes and everything; they're mismatched teams of buddy cops, complete with pranks and yelling.

The four of them are posing undercover as newlyweds and watching another couple at a resort hotel. There is a nice, long exchange about baseball between the Yankee and Cubs fans, hence the title of this episode. Very reminiscent of Carla on Cheers, who was unbeatable at baseball trivia. 

I watched several episodes of Hawaiian Heat a couple of years ago. Good show. I read that the source for some of the VHS copies of episodes was actor Robert Ginty himself, who gave them to a fan when he found out he was dying from cancer. I recently saw Ginty playing a medical examiner for several episodes the year before this on Simon & Simon. 

Wu's TV Corner #50: Matt Helm

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2021/08/matt-helm.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0644127/

1975 ABC. "Double Jeopardy." Spy Matt Helm gets into the private detective game on TV. With Anthony Franciosa, Gene Evans, Laraine Stephens, Jeff Donnell. Guest stars in this ep. are Pippa Scott, Clifford David, Sherry Jackson, Don Gordon, Eddie Barth. Has a pretty sweet 70s intro. Link below.

Helm is checking out the alibi of murder suspect Ed Glenn (Clifford David), who at first looks innocent, but after marrying the victim's sister, he starts to have some questions. Helm's suspicions deepen after someone tries to kill Ed and he finds out he has also lost a bundle to bookie Eddie Barth. 

I watched a couple of episodes of Matt Helm last year on Youtube that got deleted. Solid show. The production values and action scenes are all first class but they only made thirteen episodes. 

Wu's TV Corner #49: Legmen

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/12/legmen.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0630519/

1984 NBC. "The Return of Apple Dan Bonny." By my good luck this random episode pick has Bernie Kopell as con artist Apple Dan Bonny. Bruce Greenwood and John Terlesky are young legmen working for bail bondsman Don Calfa, who plays Oscar. Guest stars are Logan Clarke, Bruce M. Fischer, and Alexa Hamilton, but the IMDb cast list is incomplete. Creators were Richard Chapman, Bill Dial, and Andrew Mirisch. 

The guys are tasked to carry a briefcase full of money, but are given the ole switcheroo by Apple Dan. When opened the briefcase contains newspaper. There is a good car chase between the boys in a VW Rabbit and the bad guys in a Dodge Charger. Apple Dan is in a robbing Peter to pay Paul jam with all of his cons, and that gets his daughter in a jam (Alexa Hamilton), who is building what could be a very valuable prototype fuel efficient automobile. Eddie Barth and Hamilton Camp appear in this episode but are not listed.

I only include this one because it is sort of a detective show. The couple of episodes on Youtube are in parts and the quality is unwatchable. Very bad. The show is pretty good. I watched the pilot before. Eight episodes aired and I don't think this show has been seen much since.

Wu's TV Corner #48: Private Eye

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2021/01/private-eye.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862295/

1987 NBC. "Nickey the Rose." Michael Woods, Josh Brolin period detective show. Anthony Yerkovich created. Bill Sadler, Lisa Jane Persky. Guest stars: Al Molinaro as Nickey, Susan Blakely, David Kagen, James Lashly, Jonna Lee, Michael Pataki. Ex-cop turned private eye in 50s L.A. Josh Brolin is the rock star wannabe sidekick. Lisa Jane Persky is the secretary and Bill Sadler is the cynical cop.

Jack Cleary is hired by a movie star (Susan Blakely) to follow her gangster boyfriend Nickey. Nickey is about to take over the movie studio unions for the mob, but is attracting unwanted attention with his associations and lifestyle. This is very much like the Lana Turner/Johnny Stompanato case with Jonna Lee as the daughter. 

The music and noir photography add a lot to the atmosphere of this series. I had watched the pilot before on Youtube. This is a good show. Thirteen episodes were made. I think they are all online.

Wu's TV Corner #47: Beverly Hills Buntz

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2021/08/beverly-hills-buntz.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1534933/

1987 NBC. "Sid and Randy." Hill Street Blues private detective sitcom spinoff with Dennis Franz. David Milch was a writer and creator. Hal Ashby directed one of the pilots. Peter Jurasik as Sid. Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Guy Boyd. Guest stars are Cindy Morgan, Brian George, Ralph Manza, Joseph Chapman, Erica Yohn. Norman Buntz from Hill Street Blues quits the cops and becomes a Beverly Hills private investigator. Sid, a former crook and snitch, is now his partner. The scheduling was unusual. From Wiki:

In a programming experiment, NBC president Brandon Tartikoff announced that this show would be a "designated hitter" and was originally given prize time slots once a month following Cheers and Night Court. The other two "designated hitters" that season were the Bruce Weitz and Nancy Walker sitcom, Mama's Boy, and the second season of the Edward Asner drama The Bronx Zoo.

A political campaign hires the Buntz agency to get dirt on a rival. After staking out a hotel and trying to get pictures, Norman is nearly run down by a different target (Ralph Manza), and Sid loses his pics to the feminine whiles of Cindy Morgan, who had an assignation with the candidate. When Norman finds out, Sid is on the outs. 

Not the usual kind of material for a 30 minute show. It's pretty good but it isn't sitcom funny. Would have worked better as an hour-long dramedy. It's hard to judge a 30 minute show based on one episode and there are several more Buntz eps. on Youtube. Nine aired. This was my first time seeing it and I would watch more of them.

Wu's TV Corner #46: Holmes & Yoyo

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/02/holmes-yoyo.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0603341/

1976 ABC. "The Dental Dynamiter." John Schuck and Richard B. Shull robot cop sitcom. Android. Bruce Kirby, Andrea Howard. Guest stars Dick Yarmy, James T. Callahan, Lew Horn. John Astin and Jack Arnold directed several episodes. One I watched before had Jay Leno in it. Other android cops were seen on Future Cop and Mann & Machine. 

Dental offices are being bombed by a serial bomber. Holmes and Yoyo have to pound the pavement and try to track down leads and find some connection between all the dentists. Yoyo has a Polaroid camera built in that takes a picture when you press his nose and prints out the pic from his shirt pocket. Very handy here when a college tie-in is found. 

Holmes & Yoyo is not nearly as bad as its reputation suggests. It is pretty silly. A watchable 70s cop sitcom. Eleven episodes aired and there are three or four eps. on Youtube right now. I've watched two or three.

Wu's TV Corner #45: Nashville 99

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/05/nashville-99.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0932040/

1977 CBS. "The Fallen Idol." Claude Akins, Jerry Reed Nashville cop show. In one episode I watched before he was digging a bream fishing pond, because he lives on a big spread. There are two episodes available now on Youtube, this one and the pilot. With Lucille Benson and Charley Pride. Only four aired. Guest stars Chet Atkins, Johnny Paycheck, Dawn Gable, Lonny Chapman.

Lt. Stoney Huff investigates a veteran cop's (Lonny Chapman) possible involvement with a crime ring. "The department won't put up with hot dogs and that's what you've become." He shoots a couple of people in the line of duty but is it really? There is also that half of a $1000 dollar bill he gets in an envelope.

I've now watched two of the four episodes of Nashville 99. This is a fun show. Full of country stars and local talent. Very 70s. Fun to see Jerry Reed doing cop TV.

All episodes have not been seen since their initial run. Episode prints of the show do belong in some private collections. YouTube has one of the episodes available.

Wu's TV Corner #44: Nakia

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/05/nakia.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0656962/

1974 ABC. "No Place to Hide." Robert Forster New Mexico desert cop show. Nicholas Colasanto directed this episode. Arthur Kennedy, Gloria DeHaven, Taylor Lacher. Guest stars are Gabe Dell, Ray Danton, Marc Singer, Arthur Hunnicut, George Loros.

Archie (Gabe Dell) is a mob accountant thinking about relocating to the peaceful desert surroundings. He's bringing trouble, however, from his mob associates, who think he knows too much and put out a contract on his life. Nakia takes it upon himself to try to keep Archie alive. Marc Singer is one of the hit men sent to take him out.

I had not watched this show before. One episode is available on Youtube. It's good. Pretty violent and good action scenes. 

Wu's TV Corner #43: Toma

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/05/toma.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0726129/

1974 ABC. "50% of Normal." Tony Musante cop show. Concept became Baretta. Simon Oakland, Susan Strasberg, Philip Michael Thomas (did five.) Guest stars Steven Keats, Louise Troy, Barbara Rhoades, Richard Eastham. Toma goes undercover as a priest after a man wearing a ski mask is attacking women. Musante did not want to do a second season so this was retooled for Robert Blake as Baretta.

Steven Keats is Musante's Vietnam vet friend, Freddy, who is in trouble with the law after coming home with problems. Barbara Rhoades plays one of the women who is assaulted with powder in a bizarre scene. Susan Strasberg is Patty Toma. Wife and mother. Freddy comes to the house for dinner and steals a look at the case file while Patty is cooking. He may not be what he seems.

There are a few episodes of Toma on Youtube in parts that look like they came from USA Network showings but Wiki says the show hasn't been seen much on TV. It's pretty good. Also pretty violent and disturbing, which brought some criticism. 

Despite having contributed to the development of the popular Baretta, reruns of Toma were never syndicated to local stations, and repeats of the show on national television post-cancellation have been rare. Repeats of Toma aired in the late-1970s during ABC Late Night, and later on USA Network's Crimebusters in 1984-1985. One episode aired on TV Land in 2001.

Wu's TV Corner #42: FM

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2019/09/fm.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1478006/

1990 NBC. "Sex, Lies, & 35mm Slides." Robert Hays, Patricia Richardson, DeLane Matthews, Leo Geter, Lynne Thigpen, John Kassir, James Avery, Fred Applegate, Rainbow Harvest, Nicole Huntington. Some of the same cast from creator Allan Burns' previous show, Eisenhower & Lutz. Robert Hays works for a public radio station and his ex-wife is Patricia Richardson. She is now back in his life working at the same station and they have a teenaged daughter.

Ted catches Lee-Ann's new man Jonathan (Jack Bannon) in a compromising position with another woman and doesn't know if he should keep his mouth shut or come clean. The B story is Daryl (Rainbow Harvest) had some sexy pictures taken by a photographer but she can't decide which slide to have blown up. "This looks pretty good." "My eyes are crossed in that one." "Eyes?"

I give FM a B minus. Shut it. Good cast. Fair to middling sitcom. This show began as a summer series in 1989 and then came back in 1990 as a midseason replacement. That is not an ideal situation and it only lasted thirteen episodes.

Wu's TV Corner #41: Eisenhower & Lutz

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/09/eisenhower-lutz.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1108196/

1988 CBS. "The Hernia Chronicles." Scott Bakula, Patricia Richardson, Henderson Forsythe, DeLane Matthews, Rose Portillo, Leo Geter. I saw Rebecca Schull from Wings when I was going to pick an episode of this at random. She was in two eps. but not this one I am going to review today. She is still with us at 93. Guest star this week is Castulo Guerra as Dr. Alvarez. Creator Allan Burns had some of the same cast in another sitcom after this on NBC called FM.

Premise here is Scott Bakula is shyster Palm Springs lawyer Bud Lutz Jr. and Henderson Forsythe is his father Big Bud. Patricia Richardson is Bud's ex and a successful attorney in a big firm while Bud is struggling to get clients. This week Big Bud is going under the knife for hernia surgery after rupturing himself trying to move the new Eisenhower & Lutz sign. There is no Eisenhower, Big Bud just added that name to the sign to class up the place. Bud Jr's storefront law office is something like Saul Goodman would use during his rough days on Better Call Saul. Bud Jr. is worried about his father being in the hospital and trying not to show it.

I watched the first two episodes of Eisenhower & Lutz a couple of years ago on Youtube and this was episode number three. Thirteen episodes aired. It is a serviceable B grade sitcom. Nothing great, nothing terrible. I used to make fun of Entertainment Weekly for giving everything a B minus. Turns out most of these old shows I've watched are B minus. That's not a bad thing. Could be worse.

Wu's TV Corner #40: Gemini Man

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/07/gemini-man.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0586006/

1976 NBC. "Minotaur." Ben Murphy secret agent series based on The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. A radiation explosion has made Sam Casey invisible, but a special watch keeps him visible until he presses a button, and he only gets fifteen minutes of invisibility a day or he will be invisible forever. Only five episodes aired but all eleven plus the pilot are on Youtube. With Katherine Crawford and William Sylvester. Guest stars in this episode are Ross Martin and William Boyett.

Ross Martin is a disgruntled employee of Intersect, the agency Sam works for, and he has created a killer robot called the Minotaur that can level buildings with its ray gun, and he wants half a billion in cash or he will raze a random skyscraper. Sam has to try to infiltrate the secret lab but Minotaur can see him even when he is invisible because it has infrared capabilities. 

I have watched a few episodes of Gemini Man before on Youtube, and it is a pretty good 70s science fiction show, but I found the beeping watch to be annoying. Always with the beeping.

Wu's TV Corner #39: Hot Pursuit

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2019/09/hot-pursuit.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1356615/

1984 NBC. "Steel Trap." Kerrie Keane and Eric Pierpoint are Kate and Jim Wyler, on the run after Kate was falsely accused of murdering her boss by Dina Merrill, who was the wife of the victim. Now they are trying to find evidence that will clear their name while trying to stay ahead of the killer (Michael Preston) sent after them to keep them quiet. Geoffrey Lewis is a guest star in this episode playing the sheriff. 

Jim Wyler is a vet and he helps out the injured dog of a young boy while they are camped out beside a river. Later they are pulled over by small town sheriff Geoffrey Lewis, and Kate gets away in the car, but Jim ends up in jail. The boy and his dog are living alone without supervision and Kate ends up hiding out with them after ditching the car.

I watched the pilot movie of Hot Pursuit a couple of years ago on Youtube, which was pretty good, and I just found a few more recent uploads of regular episodes. Ten aired originally. Decent show.

Wu's TV Corner #38: Hardball

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/10/hardball.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0596909/

1989 NBC. "The Cleveland Indian." John Ashton and and Richard Tyson mismatched buddy cop show. There was another show called Hardball on Fox about baseball. David Hemmings directed this episode. With Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman, Leon Rippy, Don Stark, Jeremy Roberts. Charlie "C.B." Battles (John Ashton) is the veteran cop about to be assigned to a desk job, and Joe "Kaz" Kaczierowski (Richard Tyson) is his new young partner who plays by his own rules.

A Native American elder is looking for his long lost great-grandson in L.A. and Kaz and Charlie decide to help him out. They soon find out the younger Rainbird had been doing time in Folsom for bank robbery and the money was never recovered. Leon Rippy plays Rainbird's corrupt parole officer who is also looking for him and the money.

Hardball is not a bad show and has some enthusiastic fans in the IMDb user reviews. There are several episodes available in parts on Youtube and I had watched the pilot movie previously. It doesn't appear that it has been seen much since it aired and eighteen episodes were produced.

Wu's TV Corner #37: Crazy Like a Fox

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/06/crazy-like-fox.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0550223/

1985 CBS. "Fox Hunt." Jack Warden and John Rubinstein are father and son. Harry Fox Sr. is a freewheeling private detective and Harrison Fox Jr. is an uptight attorney. Together they solve mysteries. Penny Peyser is Harrison's wife, Cindy. Ralph Manza is a guest star in this ep. Episodes of Crazy Like a Fox come and go all the time on Youtube and I have watched several before. There are a few available now and I just picked one at random.

Harry is in the hospital after crashing his car during a car chase. Della Reese plays the tough attending nurse who won't let Harry smoke his cigar. Something happens to the man in the next bed in Harry's hospital room while he is in a drug haze but nobody believes him when he tells the story. The only clue is the intruder walked with a shambling gait and now it is up to the Fox boys to solve the case.

Crazy Like a Fox was a pretty popular hit when it aired on Sunday night with Murder, She Wrote but a change in the schedule for the second season doomed it. It is a solid detective show. Jack Warden and John Rubinstein are very good together. The promo below is for this episode.

Wu's TV Corner #36: Blacke's Magic

 

https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/12/blackes-magic.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0526727/

1986 NBC. "Address Unknown." From creators Richard Levinson and William Link, who were responsible for some fine TV crime shows like Ellery Queen, Mannix, and Columbo. Hal Linden is magician Alexander Blacke, and Harry Morgan his con man father, Leonard Blacke. They solve mysteries together. Mark Shera from S.W.A.T. and Barnaby Jones is part of the recurring cast, as is Claudia Christian and R.J. Adams. Guest stars in this ep. are J.D. Cannon, John David Carson, Lynda Day George, Stephen Elliott, John McCook, Ken Swofford, Marianne Muellerleile (a whopping 233 credits on IMDb), Victor Mohica, and Vince Howard.

A corporate whistleblower is being harassed and his wife is Alex's former assistant, so she enlists his help in getting the goods on the defense industry corruption. When a nighttime meet with the contact who has the corruption info goes down, the contact is killed, and by the time the police are alerted not only the contact but the whole street has disappeared. It is now up to Alex and his father to figure out how such a thing could have happened. Leonard Blacke's initial reaction after being told what occurred is to say, "It's a scam, son." If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a con job.

There are two episodes of Blacke's Magic on Youtube, both of which I watched before during my initial TV research. This is a good show, and what you would expect once you see the pedigree of those involved. TV is a fickle business and good does not necessarily translate into good ratings. Fourteen episodes were produced in total.