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Post by topbilled on Mar 6, 2024 15:19:33 GMT
I've written on another thread that I have all the episodes of the original Hawaii Five O which ran from 1968 to 1980 on CBS. To be honest, I have always been more familiar with the later seasons, since i was born in 1971 and my earliest memories of watching the show are from the late 70s when I was old enough to understand what I was seeing on screen. For many, those last seasons are not as classic or iconic as the early seasons, but for me, they hold nostalgic value.
After deciding to go through all of the episodes, of course I started with the last three seasons and gradually I have been working my way backwards...I know this is probably not the typical way to binge watch something...since the actors become increasingly younger and the cars/fashions regress!
Anyway, to the point for creating this post. I am now finally looking at season 2, which aired from 1969 to 1970. It is increasingly obvious how much the writers (who are definitely anti-war) are influenced by Vietnam and government politics about Nam in scripting some of the stories. An episode I watched a few nights ago has stuck in my mind.
It's the one called 'Killer Bee' from January 21, 1970. Here's the plot description from wiki:
A Vietnam vet is revealed to be behind the kidnappings of several local children. But McGarrett suspects that another soldier is using the psychologically damaged kidnapper to commit these crimes.
As the mystery unspools we learn that the vet (Jeff Pomerantz) who is being gaslit by a fellow soldier (David Arkin) had suffered a breakdown because of an extremely violent incident in Vietnam. The other soldier disagreed with a military official's orders to raid a village, believing it would get them all killed. So he shot and murdered the official in cold blood, then turned his rifle on the other men in the unit who supported the official's decision...and murdered them all too.
It's a harrowing scene to watch. Somehow Pomerantz's character survived, was probably the only one to survive besides Arkin, and now he has all these emotional problems to sort through. It was clear to me watching the episode that writer Anthony Lawrence is playing up the violence and futility of war in Vietnam, and we are meant to see that postwar violence has increased in civilian life because these men who came back from an un-winnable war have been damaged almost beyond saving and cannot re-assimilate back into society in a functioning capacity.
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Post by NoShear on Mar 7, 2024 22:32:28 GMT
I've written on another thread that I have all the episodes of the original Hawaii Five O which ran from 1968 to 1980 on CBS. To be honest, I have always been more familiar with the later seasons, since i was born in 1971 and my earliest memories of watching the show are from the late 70s when I was old enough to understand what I was seeing on screen. For many, those last seasons are not as classic or iconic as the early seasons, but for me, they hold nostalgic value.After deciding to go through all of the episodes, of course I started with the last three seasons and gradually I have been working my way backwards...I know this is probably not the typical way to binge watch something...since the actors become increasingly younger and the cars/fashions regress!Anyway, to the point for creating this post. I am now finally looking at season 2, which aired from 1969 to 1970. It is increasingly obvious how much the writers (who are definitely anti-war) are influenced by Vietnam and government politics about Nam in scripting some of the stories. An episode I watched a few nights ago has stuck in my mind. It's the one called 'Killer Bee' from January 21, 1970. Here's the plot description from wiki:A Vietnam vet is revealed to be behind the kidnappings of several local children. But McGarrett suspects that another soldier is using the psychologically damaged kidnapper to commit these crimes.As the mystery unspools we learn that the vet (Jeff Pomerantz) who is being gaslit by a fellow soldier (David Arkin) had suffered a breakdown because of an extremely violent incident in Vietnam. The other soldier disagreed with a military official's orders to raid a village, believing it would get them all killed. So he shot and murdered the official in cold blood, then turned his rifle on the other men in the unit who supported the official's decision...and murdered them all too.
It's a harrowing scene to watch. Somehow Pomerantz's character survived, was probably the only one to survive besides Arkin, and now he has all these emotional problems to sort through. It was clear to me watching the episode that writer Anthony Lawrence is playing up the violence and futility of war in Vietnam, and we are meant to see that postwar violence has increased in civilian life because these men who came back from an un-winnable war have been damaged almost beyond saving and cannot re-assimilate back into society in a functioning capacity. Did T CM's screening of PLATOON on Tuesday night prompt the post here? Did you catch THE DEER HUNTER in-reference in the 1986 movie? I thought of the episode about the serial rapist suspect and wonder if he too, TopBilled, was ex 'Nam... |
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Post by topbilled on Mar 8, 2024 0:09:47 GMT
I did not catch those films on TCM recently.
The post/thread was inspired by the episode of Hawaii Five O I had watched and commented on, because I think you really do see the politics of the era in these TV show episodes. There is an anti-military sentiment that creeps in to the scripts. Another episode from season 2, which I watched after starting the thread, involves a cover-up with McGarrett giving a tongue lashing to an army official who is relectuant to share information with the police.
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Post by kims on Mar 8, 2024 23:03:28 GMT
By the 70's, my tv viewing diminished. Too many of the weekly series moved to political statements. At the same time a youth character was added and storylines began to include teenage angst. I prefer entertainment not moral tales. HAWAII FIVE-O lost me maybe because of loss of some characters, but also because most often the stories became about international crime rings instead of local crimes. I'm sure my local sheriff has assisted other law enforcement agencies in big crime ring cases, but not alone like Hawaii Five-O evolved.
I watch many of the old shows because while dated due to clothes, cars, etc., the stories do not have that political edge. I can watch FRAZIER, CHEERS, PERRY MASON, I LOVE LUCY repeatedly.
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Post by topbilled on Mar 9, 2024 1:52:39 GMT
By the 70's, my tv viewing diminished. Too many of the weekly series moved to political statements. At the same time a youth character was added and storylines began to include teenage angst. I prefer entertainment not moral tales. HAWAII FIVE-O lost me maybe because of loss of some characters, but also because most often the stories became about international crime rings instead of local crimes. I'm sure my local sheriff has assisted other law enforcement agencies in big crime ring cases, but not alone like Hawaii Five-O evolved. I watch many of the old shows because while dated due to clothes, cars, etc., the stories do not have that political edge. I can watch FRAZIER, CHEERS, PERRY MASON, I LOVE LUCY repeatedly.
The Norman Lear sitcoms of the 70s were overly political, but the political elements were their "calling card." |
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Post by gerald424 on Mar 10, 2024 20:12:02 GMT
Actually, there's probably not much influence at all. The more explicitly Vietnam films didn't happen until the 1980's. TV also. Remember, MASH was still going strong all through the 70s and that's about the Korean War. Most references on Sit Coms like All In the Family or Sanford and Son, were about WWII when the patriarch was a veteran.
During the 70s, Vietnam was still too sensitive a subject. There were still many Americans in favor of the Vietnam War. ( Little known fact, when Saigon finally fell in 1975, President Ford went to congress to ask for money to go back there and continue the fight. And when congress said no, that officially ended the war. So it could have gone on for more years. So there was still significant support even later in the decade).
And as Top Billed posted, the episode mentioned was about a soldier with PTSD, not directly about the war itself. Remember, Hawaii because of it's location has significant Asian influence. So what happens in Asia would affect that state more than others. So they almost had to address it somehow.
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Post by topbilled on Mar 10, 2024 21:32:32 GMT
Actually, there's probably not much influence at all. The more explicitly Vietnam films didn't happen until the 1980's. TV also. Remember, MASH was still going strong all through the 70s and that's about the Korean War. Most references on Sit Coms like All In the Family or Sanford and Son, were about WWII when the patriarch was a veteran.
During the 70s, Vietnam was still too sensitive a subject. There were still many Americans in favor of the Vietnam War. ( Little known fact, when Saigon finally fell in 1975, President Ford went to congress to ask for money to go back there and continue the fight. And when congress said no, that officially ended the war. So it could have gone on for more years. So there was still significant support even later in the decade).
And as Top Billed posted, the episode mentioned was about a soldier with PTSD, not directly about the war itself. Remember, Hawaii because of it's location has significant Asian influence. So what happens in Asia would affect that state more than others. So they almost had to address it somehow.
Incidentally, Norman Lear's favorite All in the Family episode did deal directly with Vietnam. It was broadcast during the seventh season on Christmas Day in 1976 and is entitled 'The Draft Dodger.' It is in the top five-rated episodes of the show on the IMDb:
www.imdb.com/title/tt0509930/?ref_=nm_flmg_eps_tt_2
In the story, a friend of Mike's was a draft dodger who fled to Canada. He has come back home for the holidays. The episode has Archie's pal Pinky Peterson (Eugene Roche) also invited over to the Bunker house for dinner. Pinky's son didn't evade the draft, went to Vietnam and was killed over there.
Archie feels very strongly that Mike's friend took the easy way out and should have gone to Vietnam to serve like Pinky's son did. Of course Mike has the opposite political/personal view...and Gloria and Edith get caught in the crossfire.
I believe the episode was produced in anticipation of president elect Jimmy Carter's promise to grant amnesty to draft evaders, which he did do shortly after he took office the third week of January 1977.
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