Wandering Through The Shelves actually picked a goody because, once my brain kicked into gear, I could think of many that fit this bill. I am choosing one I have talked about many times before but I just love the show plus 2 others most of you will probably not know, but that I liked. Here we go...
1.BEWITCHED-1964-1972
I love this show about a mixed marriage...a human and a witch. Of course, she tells him on their Honeymoon night which freaks him out but he loves her too much to leave. That being said, Old fashioned fart requests she stop using her powers as he does not want any help and wants to be the provider and expects her to be a good housewife. It is the 60s after all and this idea was still very prevalent but he always gets help from his beautiful wife despite the meddling mom in law who would love to turn him into a 180lb artichoke. Samantha can't help using her powers which is often seen by her nosy neighbour, Mrs. Kravitz. The later episodes with the new Darrin (Dick Sargeant since Dick York had to leave due to his health), just seemed to not capture the same romance as the earlier episodes. They also replaced Mrs. Kravitz with Sandra Gould when Alice Pierce died of cancer. Alice was perfect as this nosy neighbour because you still cared for her whereas Sandra Gould played her meaner and nastier I think. Anyway, I still love the show and would do anything to have those powers and my hubby wouldn't mind a bit!
2. THE FANTASTIC JOURNEY-1977
I fell in love with this show and the dreamie star, Jared Martin, when it came on as a mid season replacement but, alas, it didn't last long. It is about a small boat, in the Bermuda triangle who see some sort of greenish glow and, before anyone knows it, they end up on some island( no, Gilligan and the Skipper are not anywhere in sight). There they encounter Varian (Jared) who is from way in the future and who helps these stranded people understand where the F*&^ they are. As I remember, 2 of the people from the boat find their way back to their time but the brainiac kid (Ike Eisemann) and a doctor remain. Soon, a untrustworthy character, played by Roddy McDowell and a beautiful girl who is half alien and half gal from Atlantis(not related to Patrick Duffy) all team up. You see, they find different portals of time and can go back or forward in time. I think that premise is so cool where, in fact, I had a very vivid dream about this back in the 80s. My dream was trying to find the portal but I was with a bunch of dwarves from Time Bandits moving through time. The gateways emanated from Leonardo Da Vinci's studio. We could look at every window of his and see a different time. Anyway, back to TV...I would love to see these episodes again just to see if I think they are still great or really, really bad...you never know.
3. NORTHERN EXPOSURE-1990-1995
Now here is another show I would love to watch because it is such a quirky but endearing show. You have a nerdy doctor from the big city of New York City who must go to Alaska to be a doctor for 4 yrs as part of his student loan agreement. He must deal with snow, cold and a cast of weird characters who call their small town home. We have Maggie, a bush pilot who always argues with but falls for the nerdy dr. A very rich former astronaut who owns the radio station and newspaper and gets under people's skin. The owners of the local pub, a married couple with a 40 yr age difference, the "chill out dude" who is the DJ and offers his own comments about life in between songs, The older lady who runs the store and is one tough cookie. The Native American who works for the rich guy but dreams of becoming a film director and worships Orson Welles and the Dr's Native American receptionist who sits at her desk, rarely talks but when she does, offers some keen insight. This is a great show that made a moose famous as well as the small Washington town of Roslyn where the moose roams free during the opening credits.
Which 3 would you choose?
Hi, Birgit!
ReplyDeleteI am here sittin' with you, not in the balcony this time, but on the couch (as in potato) as together we watch the boob tube and remember series that featured fish outta water.
I was a regular viewer of Bewitched. Yessum, on the show, Liz Montgomery was married to a couple of Dicks. (BA-DUM-BUMP) I agree there was zero chemistry when Dick Sargeant was hired to replace the ailing Dick York, who was said to have smoked something like 4 packs of cigs per day leading to his death from lung cancer. I don't think a remake of Bewitched would work in the year 2021. I can picture Samantha's slacker hubby drinking beer and watching TV all day every day and ordering her to twitch her nose whenever he wanted something. "Hey, dollbaby, do that witchy thing you do and make a pepperoni pizza appear right next to me so I don't have to get up. And while you're at it, zap a cobalt blue Lamborghini into our driveway." I also agree the show didn't work as well after Mrs. Kravitz left the cast. The series overstayed its welcome and was simply going through the motions in its final seasons.
Thanks for choosing The Fantastic Journey and posting the trailer. It's my kinda thing, but I never saw it. I like Roddy McDowell in everything he did. I might have watched a couple episodes of Northern Exposure but I wasn't a regular viewer. However, I did fancy 80s/90s "it girl" Janine Turner.
I can think of a couple of Fish Outta Water TV series. One is Virgin River, a Netflix series somewhat similar to Northern Exposure. << Virgin River follows Melinda "Mel" Monroe, who answers an ad to work as a midwife and nurse practitioner in the remote Northern California town of Virgin River, thinking it will be the perfect place to start fresh and leave her painful memories behind. But she soon discovers that small-town living isn't quite as simple as she expected. >> Virgin River stars 2010s/20s "it girl" Alexandra Breckenridge - "Sophie" on This Is Us.
Perhaps the quintessential Fish Outta Water series is Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. starring Jim Nabors.
Enjoy the rest of your week, dear friend BB!
Funny, she was such good fr8ends with Sargeant but yeah, it didn’t relate well on screen. York suffered a bad back injury i. A film with Gary Cooper and by the 3rd yr of Bewitched he was I. Terrible pain which is why he got hooked on pain meds. I hope Fantastic Journey does hold up even if it is made in the 70s,,, you never know. I love Northern Exposure and would like to see your pick. I never heard of that tv show,
DeleteFirst thing that popped into my head was I Dream of Jeannie. Is that out of the water or out of the bottle?
ReplyDeleteYes, that works just as much as Bewitched.
DeleteI also LOVE Bewitched!! While it was mostly silly fun it did at times have a worthy message tucked in there. Of course it never would have worked without Elizabeth Montgomery carrying the show on her very capable shoulders but what a supporting cast! It's hard to choose outside of Endora of course but I'd have to say Aunt Clara was my favorite. Alice Pearce was sensational but I think Sandra Gould did well she just had a different energy. However the best Darrin will always be Dick York, he and Elizabeth Montgomery had a chemistry that the fussy Dick Sargent never matched.
ReplyDeleteI have a vague memory of that Roddy McDowell show but I don't think I watched it regularly.
We match!! Northern Exposure was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the theme. Loved that show and watched it every week. It was the definition of quirky. All the regulars were great but I LOVED when the wilderness couple, Adam & Eve would show up.
Other than our match I reached back to my childhood for my other two.
Northern Exposure (1990-1995)-Fresh from his residency at a big city hospital native New Yorker Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) discovers he is contractually obligated due to a student loan agreement to practice in Alaska for the next four years. Expecting to be on staff in Anchorage he is livid when he discovers that instead he is assigned to the remote village of Cicely. Once he arrives, he finds the residents a unique idiosyncratic lot totally foreign to Joel’s New York sensibilities.
My Favorite Martian (1963-1966)-During a ride around the universe a Martian’s (Ray Walston) spaceship nearly collides with a NASA rocket causing it to crash land in the hills near L.A. where he is discovered by young reporter Tim O’Hara (Bill Bixby). At first eager for a story Tim gives the Martian shelter while he works to repair his ship and passes him off as his Uncle Martin. They become buddies as Martin tries to both adapt to earthly norms and avoid the sweet but ditzy landlady Mrs. Lorelei Brown (Pamela Britton) from finding out the truth.
Green Acres (1965-1971)-Successful New York attorney Oliver Douglas (Eddie Albert) decides to chuck big city life and move to a broken-down farm in Hooterville along with his extremely glamorous but very reluctant Hungarian wife Lisa (Eva Gabor). Silly bit of ridiculousness (they lived in a penthouse apartment in New York but can’t afford to fix up the shack of a house in the country? He farms in a three-piece suit while she wanders around the dilapidated hovel in satin and feathers) is put over by the talent of its stars and a willful suspension of belief.
Green Acres is the place to be. Farm livin is the life for me. land spreading so far and wide...keep Manhattan just give me that Country side. I never get allergic smellin hay and always wondered how they could afford their nice clothing but can’t put new wallpaper up or clean the finger marks. Poor Oliver! I never got a chance to watch My Favourite Martian because they never played it here in reruns for some reason. I’m so glad we match with Northern Exposure which is such a great series. My favourite is the young man who dreams about being a film director.
DeleteI love Bewitched and just love Aunt Clara. Marion Lorne collected doorknobs for real and those are some of her own that we see. Dick York was so good in the role but was in so much pain from that horrible accident he suffered on the set of one of the movies he made in the late 50s starring Gary Cooper. He was a good man who would donate to the homeless even when he was destitute. Elizabeth Montgomery was so great in the role before she got bored with it but I still like all the shows.
I've only seen your first pick and always loved that show.
ReplyDeleteSome others that come to mind:
Beverly Hillbillies--loved how elite America was made fun of by the homespun wisdom of the Clampetts.
Quantum Leap--this is one of my all time favorite shows. Every week the main character found himself out of his element so to speak.
Time Tunnel--I love time travel though I know I've said that before on your blog. I think this fits well because people dropping in from the future must be an extreme fish out of water experience.
And one more hit me--The Fugitive--poor Dr. Richard Kimble on the lam like a criminal every week in a new guise with a new name always trying to find that one-armed man. I'm sure he'd rather be back on his job doing doctor things than running from the law.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
Beverly Hillbillies is perfect and my mom got into this show later in her life...she loved the grandmother. I love...love Quantum Leap!! It is such a great show which could really show what a great actor Scott Bakula is and a great singer. I love that episode where he sings The Impossible Dream. I also love when he ends up as women and has to act the part. His sidekick, played by the wonderful actor Dean Stockwell really added pizazz even if in just the outfits he wore. I love Time Tunnel which is like Fantastic Journey but, I think, better even if it last only a season. The Fugitive is another that fits because he is always in some new place trying not to get captured and trying to find the one-armed man.
DeleteI loved Bewitched, don't know the others though, keep well, Kate x
ReplyDeleteI never saw many episodes of Northern Exposure, but enjoyed what I did see.
ReplyDeleteHope your day is pain free and filled with fun.
Birgit,
ReplyDeleteIt's funny you should mention Northern Exposure. We didn't see it when it aired in the 90s and have been waiting to watch it but can't find it anywhere to stream. I did find a website that supposedly has the series but I haven't had a chance to check it out. Bewitched was a favorite when I was little. That was such a fun show. Thanks for putting a smile on my face with the clip of Mrs. Kravitz. :D
I loved Bewitched and Northern Exposure, but I never saw The Fantastic Journey. I would choose Quantum Leap, a show I loved. Sam is always jumping through time and into someone else's life. It was a great show that I would like to see again. And how about Mr. Spock on Star Trek? He's confused by the regular old humans he deals with all the time. My 3rd choice is My Favorite Martian. It was a sweet, endearing show and "Uncle Martin" was definitely a fish out of water.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Never heard of The Fantastic Journey, and now I want to search it out. I did love Bewitched. I wanted powers so bad as a kid. I was not a fan of Northern Exposure, but my mother loves it. (I might have gotten into it, but it was on when I was working retail, so that period of time I pretty much didn't watch prime time TV.) Just the other day there was a complaint on Twitter that you can't stream NE. Some streaming service needs to fix that, and soon.
ReplyDeleteBewitched sounds fun!
ReplyDeleteI have never seen any of these, but I have a friend whose brother-in-law was the accountant for Northern Exposure. Everyone told me I was missing out on a lot, but I had classes on the night it was on, so never saw it. The other two I had not heard of before.
ReplyDeleteWhat came to mind for me was Jerry O'Conner who played Quinn Mallory in Sliders. I DID watch that show!! BTW, he could eat crackers in my bed any day, as long as Rebecca Romijn didn't mind (grin).
Bewitched! That's a great pick!
ReplyDeleteOh Bewtiched! I've always wanted to see that show but somehow it never aired on German TV.
ReplyDeleteI love Northern Exposure!
ReplyDeleteMy choices:
Mary Tyler Moore Show (at least initially)
Cheers (Diane)
M*A*S*H (Weren't they all?)
Ha. Interesting. There are those who would make a strong argument for those being the three greatest sitcoms of all-time.
I might be one of them.