I've recently been renting all the discs of the Superman DVD sets and so I have seen all of the first two seasons, which were just as scary and chilling as I remembered from childhood. they are impressing me to no end; I am amazed by the quality. But now, in season three and four, we have a whole different approach - it's a mishmash of nonsense scripts and it's just a comedy. I am sad to see what happened to this show after the first two excellent seasons. So far the first three colour episodes I watched are just embarrassingly poor, though of course they are of historical interest and they do have our favourite actors and characters in them and a few cute lines. The thing is, I was so shaken by the excellent early episodes that I remembered some of them - even though I was only 6 when I saw them. This includes The Clown that Cried, and A Ghost for Scotland Yard. They remained spellbinding when I saw them 52 years later! But I have no memory of these colour episodes. For one thing, they were never shown in colour back in 1955. No one had colour TV until the mid 60s. But it's not just the colour, it's the silly scripts and poor directing and transitions.
The first two seasons were so dramatic and dignified and serious, though with much deliberate humour and irony. They were carefully crafted. Now in season 3 and 4 it's all ruined and yet I will watch them all. I'm sad for what happened to this wonderful show but at least we have the greatest episodes to watch and admire, again and again.
As for the problems with this particular episode. We have Chuck Connors, later famous as the Rifleman, playing a stereotyped hick character named Sylvester Superman. No one questions that ludicrous last name or asks his first name. The whole premise of the thugs' bet about the pies, the woman wanting Superman to fly her lemon meringue pie to her fiancé in Alaska, the weird behaviour of the fiancé who is knitting an over-long scarf in a tiny cabin (obviously has cabin fever), and all the events when people visit him, it's more like a cheap sitcom than the Adventures of Superman. I shudder to think that more episodes this dumb are in the rest of the final 4 seasons. If they are, I could begin to believe George Reeves was depressed and that may be why he self medicated with alcohol. I still don't think he committed suicide though. But I am so sorry that his stature as an actor was so trampled on in episodes like this one. It very much reminds me of the trashy movies Elvis's managers made him do, after the first 4 or 5 which were good.
Thankfully we can return to the finer episodes to cleanse the palate from trash like this one...even the one about the monkey had an intricate and mysterious plot, despite the undertone of comedy there was a very compelling story which was tragic. Sorry but you need a good story, and some trace of believability. Even the premise of Superman glowing from radioactivity, or stopping an asteroid, did not offend the sensibilities even though they were scientifically impossible. There's just something about the 3rd and 4th seasons that is a mockery of what Superman started out to be, like they were just going through the motions....
The first two seasons were so dramatic and dignified and serious, though with much deliberate humour and irony. They were carefully crafted. Now in season 3 and 4 it's all ruined and yet I will watch them all. I'm sad for what happened to this wonderful show but at least we have the greatest episodes to watch and admire, again and again.
As for the problems with this particular episode. We have Chuck Connors, later famous as the Rifleman, playing a stereotyped hick character named Sylvester Superman. No one questions that ludicrous last name or asks his first name. The whole premise of the thugs' bet about the pies, the woman wanting Superman to fly her lemon meringue pie to her fiancé in Alaska, the weird behaviour of the fiancé who is knitting an over-long scarf in a tiny cabin (obviously has cabin fever), and all the events when people visit him, it's more like a cheap sitcom than the Adventures of Superman. I shudder to think that more episodes this dumb are in the rest of the final 4 seasons. If they are, I could begin to believe George Reeves was depressed and that may be why he self medicated with alcohol. I still don't think he committed suicide though. But I am so sorry that his stature as an actor was so trampled on in episodes like this one. It very much reminds me of the trashy movies Elvis's managers made him do, after the first 4 or 5 which were good.
Thankfully we can return to the finer episodes to cleanse the palate from trash like this one...even the one about the monkey had an intricate and mysterious plot, despite the undertone of comedy there was a very compelling story which was tragic. Sorry but you need a good story, and some trace of believability. Even the premise of Superman glowing from radioactivity, or stopping an asteroid, did not offend the sensibilities even though they were scientifically impossible. There's just something about the 3rd and 4th seasons that is a mockery of what Superman started out to be, like they were just going through the motions....