(to borrow a line from MST3K)
This isn't a bad episode, it's just... not a Stingray episode. You can kinda figure that everyone on the production crew knew that the writing was on the wall and the show was being cancelled. The episode is low-budget (let's film it in the CA vineyards!), and it follows the unfortunate season 2 trend of the show glomming onto something popular at the time (i.e., 'The Dukes of Hazzard') and cloning it.
So we have car chases, a car at one point that looks like the General Lee (watch for it as Ray pulls in to Potts Garage with his semi), good ole Southern boys (even though they're in... California? Who knows?), and two bad guys so dumb that at the end they literally drive off a cliff like Toonces the Cat.
The show concept of Ray doing favors is also pretty much lost at this point. Here it's a pretty standard "Old friend calls Ray in to help him" (on Jim Rockford's answering machine?) plot. Ray does call in a favor, but the whole thing is a shifting web of alliances of barely-named characters. Barbara (no last name given) is a mechanic. Then she's a DEA agent. Then she's sleeping with one of the drug lords. Maybe she likes having a Banjo on her knee?
There's no motivation for any of this. Banjo has an underling that Ray captures at one point and uses as a hostage? What's his name? Why does Ray think he makes a hostage so valuable that Banjo would hesitate to shoot? Who knows.
There are a few decent sequences. Ray launching his Stingray from the back of the semi. Mancuso or his stunt man opening a can of whupass on some bad guys. Barbara Williams (Mrs. Mancuso) is always easy on the eyes (she previously appeared in a season 1 episode), and she at least has a bit of a character arc as the daughter who hates her father, left home, and got lost in the bottom of a glass.
But hey, if your biggest guest star is Lonny Chapman (as pilot Chuck), you know the show has budget problems. If a show can't afford the "big star" budget of a Felton Perry, Robert Mandan, or Todd Sussman, you know the production team is having financial woes. Or just don't care.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
This isn't a bad episode, it's just... not a Stingray episode. You can kinda figure that everyone on the production crew knew that the writing was on the wall and the show was being cancelled. The episode is low-budget (let's film it in the CA vineyards!), and it follows the unfortunate season 2 trend of the show glomming onto something popular at the time (i.e., 'The Dukes of Hazzard') and cloning it.
So we have car chases, a car at one point that looks like the General Lee (watch for it as Ray pulls in to Potts Garage with his semi), good ole Southern boys (even though they're in... California? Who knows?), and two bad guys so dumb that at the end they literally drive off a cliff like Toonces the Cat.
The show concept of Ray doing favors is also pretty much lost at this point. Here it's a pretty standard "Old friend calls Ray in to help him" (on Jim Rockford's answering machine?) plot. Ray does call in a favor, but the whole thing is a shifting web of alliances of barely-named characters. Barbara (no last name given) is a mechanic. Then she's a DEA agent. Then she's sleeping with one of the drug lords. Maybe she likes having a Banjo on her knee?
There's no motivation for any of this. Banjo has an underling that Ray captures at one point and uses as a hostage? What's his name? Why does Ray think he makes a hostage so valuable that Banjo would hesitate to shoot? Who knows.
There are a few decent sequences. Ray launching his Stingray from the back of the semi. Mancuso or his stunt man opening a can of whupass on some bad guys. Barbara Williams (Mrs. Mancuso) is always easy on the eyes (she previously appeared in a season 1 episode), and she at least has a bit of a character arc as the daughter who hates her father, left home, and got lost in the bottom of a glass.
But hey, if your biggest guest star is Lonny Chapman (as pilot Chuck), you know the show has budget problems. If a show can't afford the "big star" budget of a Felton Perry, Robert Mandan, or Todd Sussman, you know the production team is having financial woes. Or just don't care.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?