A casino owner (Dean Martin) wonders what happened to a dancer killed in a traffic accident.
It's a slim premise to kick off Angels season three (as opposed to season two's kidnapping of Charlie).
What happened to Dino? After successfully ridding himself of Jerry he was quite a good actor. Notoriously hating rehearsal, he famously got through his various (successful) TV shows on cue cards. Some of his guest stars were distressed by his never being around until late in the process. His "drunk" act was clever cover for his subsequent mistakes and the people loved him all the more for it. Perhaps that's why his performance here was so poor.
Martin's was still a name to conjure with at the time this was shot; he'd conquered recording, movies and TV and his star hadn't faded. But perhaps his devotion to golf and downright laziness for too many years took the edge off his performance. He's just awful. If he'd shown even a ghost of his old self this show might've worked.
Vic Morrow was in his comeback, which would end so tragically a few years later.
Scatman is Scatman, but he wanders around with a pet cat we're afraid will come to harm. Someone was needed in these old shows to teach them how to carry cats properly.
Dick Sargeant is his usually slimey self. He gets a bad rap for replacing Dick York on "Bewitched" (York's health failed and someone would have to step in) but even when he appeared on "The Love Boat" as a sincere preacher I wouldn't buy a used car from him.
Herb Edelman is annoying.
Though he has a rather thankless part as a man using a "computer" to win at tables (try that today!) it's always good to see James Hong in anything. Catch him in the movie "The In-Laws." He doesn't have a lot to do here but pretend he understands the numbers he's crunching, but an underutilized James Hong is better than none.
The Angels aren't seen to their best effect. Sabrina falls for Martin's character, which was more believable when he was a celebrity; you know how it is with women and the rich and famous. Kelly, who went to the police academy to be a cop and now is a PI is suddenly a good enough dancer to be a Vegas showgirl (a clean Vegas show; this was a long time ago). Kris falls for a lounge singer. How low can she go? Kris was always my favorite angel but this shows lousy taste.
These "vacation" specials were nearly all poorly written. This is no exception. Especially with slipshod celebrities coasting on their names.
I'd love to give this episode a good review and I was a Martin fan. I feel like a teacher writing on a paper "could do better." Too bad.
It's a slim premise to kick off Angels season three (as opposed to season two's kidnapping of Charlie).
What happened to Dino? After successfully ridding himself of Jerry he was quite a good actor. Notoriously hating rehearsal, he famously got through his various (successful) TV shows on cue cards. Some of his guest stars were distressed by his never being around until late in the process. His "drunk" act was clever cover for his subsequent mistakes and the people loved him all the more for it. Perhaps that's why his performance here was so poor.
Martin's was still a name to conjure with at the time this was shot; he'd conquered recording, movies and TV and his star hadn't faded. But perhaps his devotion to golf and downright laziness for too many years took the edge off his performance. He's just awful. If he'd shown even a ghost of his old self this show might've worked.
Vic Morrow was in his comeback, which would end so tragically a few years later.
Scatman is Scatman, but he wanders around with a pet cat we're afraid will come to harm. Someone was needed in these old shows to teach them how to carry cats properly.
Dick Sargeant is his usually slimey self. He gets a bad rap for replacing Dick York on "Bewitched" (York's health failed and someone would have to step in) but even when he appeared on "The Love Boat" as a sincere preacher I wouldn't buy a used car from him.
Herb Edelman is annoying.
Though he has a rather thankless part as a man using a "computer" to win at tables (try that today!) it's always good to see James Hong in anything. Catch him in the movie "The In-Laws." He doesn't have a lot to do here but pretend he understands the numbers he's crunching, but an underutilized James Hong is better than none.
The Angels aren't seen to their best effect. Sabrina falls for Martin's character, which was more believable when he was a celebrity; you know how it is with women and the rich and famous. Kelly, who went to the police academy to be a cop and now is a PI is suddenly a good enough dancer to be a Vegas showgirl (a clean Vegas show; this was a long time ago). Kris falls for a lounge singer. How low can she go? Kris was always my favorite angel but this shows lousy taste.
These "vacation" specials were nearly all poorly written. This is no exception. Especially with slipshod celebrities coasting on their names.
I'd love to give this episode a good review and I was a Martin fan. I feel like a teacher writing on a paper "could do better." Too bad.