And so the mid-season changeover kicks in without on-screeen explanation, as Tony is suddenly dating women*gasp* and they're not working undercover for the bad guys. Bill Bixby still doesn't come across as a lady's man, but at least he appears to be having fun doing magic for once. I kind of miss Tony doing magic to foil bad guys: instead we get set magical performance set pieces. But at least Bixby looks like he's doing actual magic for once, rather than just shuffling boxes on a Zig Zag illusion.
The Magic Castle, standing in as "The Castle" makes a decent backdrop and new producer Paul Playdon clearly told director Sutton Roley to shoot some footage in it. That's more than we ever got with Tony's jet back in the first half of the season.
The episode is help by the presence of two veteran actors, Lloyd Nolan and John Colicos. Colicos and Bixby don't even meet in part one. But watching Bixby and Nolan bounce off of each other helps gives Bixby some gravitas.
Joe Sirola as Dominick isn't bad. I miss Keene Curtis, but they never bothered explaining why Max and Tony were buddies. As least Dominick as the owner of the Castle has a reason for hanging around Tony.
Carol Lynley's Janet at least has some personality, unlike the female leads in the first half of the season. Bixby and Lynley have no chemistry, but Bixby is Bixby. And Lynley: I never got her 70s popularity. She always sounds like a wispy asthma victim to me. Even when she's "emoting" in her scenes with Nolan, Lynley seems on the verge of passing out from lack of oxygen. And I like the little touches, like Janet nagging at Tony as he tries to open her cell. And Tony's responses, which amount to "Yes, I know! Now let me rescue you!"
The plot seems a little self-defeating. We never have any indication that Charles was going to go to the police, or that they've believe him if they did. "Yep, an old Prohibition crime boss is ratting out some younger competition. Yeah, Grandpa, go eat some Jello!" So Gunther kidnapping Janet seems to just bring the wrath of Charles (and Tony) down on him. But oh well.
Also, the continuity doesn't make much sense. Janet knows the ins and outs of both Tony's routine and the Castle. She makes the assistant switch pretty smoothly, and knows where the secret elevators to Tony's apartment are. So did Tony live at the Castle before he moved to the Spirit, and that's when he and Janet almost got married a year (?) ago, or has at least a year gone by since the previous week's episode? Or what?
So the episode makes a change from the first half for the better, and even the title helps. Clearly Gunther plans to do something with a counterfeit, but what? There's no other mention of counterfeits in the episode (or the next one, come to that).
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
The Magic Castle, standing in as "The Castle" makes a decent backdrop and new producer Paul Playdon clearly told director Sutton Roley to shoot some footage in it. That's more than we ever got with Tony's jet back in the first half of the season.
The episode is help by the presence of two veteran actors, Lloyd Nolan and John Colicos. Colicos and Bixby don't even meet in part one. But watching Bixby and Nolan bounce off of each other helps gives Bixby some gravitas.
Joe Sirola as Dominick isn't bad. I miss Keene Curtis, but they never bothered explaining why Max and Tony were buddies. As least Dominick as the owner of the Castle has a reason for hanging around Tony.
Carol Lynley's Janet at least has some personality, unlike the female leads in the first half of the season. Bixby and Lynley have no chemistry, but Bixby is Bixby. And Lynley: I never got her 70s popularity. She always sounds like a wispy asthma victim to me. Even when she's "emoting" in her scenes with Nolan, Lynley seems on the verge of passing out from lack of oxygen. And I like the little touches, like Janet nagging at Tony as he tries to open her cell. And Tony's responses, which amount to "Yes, I know! Now let me rescue you!"
The plot seems a little self-defeating. We never have any indication that Charles was going to go to the police, or that they've believe him if they did. "Yep, an old Prohibition crime boss is ratting out some younger competition. Yeah, Grandpa, go eat some Jello!" So Gunther kidnapping Janet seems to just bring the wrath of Charles (and Tony) down on him. But oh well.
Also, the continuity doesn't make much sense. Janet knows the ins and outs of both Tony's routine and the Castle. She makes the assistant switch pretty smoothly, and knows where the secret elevators to Tony's apartment are. So did Tony live at the Castle before he moved to the Spirit, and that's when he and Janet almost got married a year (?) ago, or has at least a year gone by since the previous week's episode? Or what?
So the episode makes a change from the first half for the better, and even the title helps. Clearly Gunther plans to do something with a counterfeit, but what? There's no other mention of counterfeits in the episode (or the next one, come to that).
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?