Review of The Millionaire

TV was a brand new medium then and they experimented. Take this show. Each week an unctuous character named Michael Anthony, who looked and acted like he had applied for the lead in the Mr. Clean commercial -- and did not get it -- would show up at a stranger's door. Assuming he wasn't shot on sight for bothering people -- this was the 50s and people took their privacy more seriously then -- he would unctuously announce that his employer J. Beresford Tipton (you can win bar bets with that name, I promise) had decided to give the occupant one million dollars, with the taxes prepaid. (The tax part was important, you could tell the network had the IRS sign off on that). FYI, you could buy a car for less than two thousand dollars then, so, to appreciate how much that really was, do the math in your head. Half the time the recipient(s) did not believe him but in almost every case (lots and lots of plot twists, this series was never predictable) they took the cash and it changed their lives. No regular characters. No plot arcs beyond one week. Just human nature at its horrible best. God, I miss this show.