In contrast to Batman, William Dozier presented The Green Hornet as a straight-up crime drama, the second such freshman series from 20th Century Fox in 1966. The other, The Felony Squad, outlasted Hornet, as it ran for three seasons to Hornet's one.
That said, this episode, "Hornet, Save Thyself", offers a whodunit that flips the script, if ya will. Britt Reid (Van Williams) is framed for murder at his own birthday party, thanks to an envious business rival (Michael Strong).
I was able to catch up with the series via weekday repeats on FX in its early years, and this, despite the absence of a producer credit for Richard Bluel, was one of the better episodes of the series.
Rating: A-.
2 comments:
FYI:
This episode came up just at the point that Richard Bluel left as the Green Hornet's producer.
Bluel bought the script; Stan Shpetner took over the production and supervised the filming.
Because of union rules for apportioning credit, no producer credit was assigned for this episode.
This being the next-to-last new Hornet show, nobody made a fuss.
It happens that way sometimes (at least it did in 1967).
The last episode being a 2 parter pitting the Hornet and Kato vs. fake aliens. Have those union rules changed since then?
Bluel would work with Van Williams again, though, as he co-created the 1975 Saturday morning series, Westwind, with William D'Angelo.
Post a Comment