THE LONE GUNMEN - Episode One - "Pilot" (2001)

Now that Halloween is over, we can get back to more different stuff, and tonight's Saturday Night Special Feature is just that! Different!!

I don't know where I've been half my life, but I sure have missed out on a lot of cool TV shows over the years like "The Lone Gunmen!" Thank The Lord I have a friend in Germany to help  get me up to date on things like this!

"The Lone Gunmen" is the brainchild of the creators of "Breaking Bad," Vince Gilligan, and John Shiban, with the help of Chris Carter, and is a spinoff of "The X-Files," so you know it's got a good chance of being good. I think it was just way ahead of it's time! This is a show about three hackers trying to inform the world about the way things really are, just like the headline of their publication indicates!

As you can imagine, these stories are a bit tongue in cheek, and that's what makes them so good!

This show starts with a big computer corporation announcement of the new latest and greatest chip they've created!

One of  "The Lone Gunmen" is creating a diversion by being a heckler!

The guy with the ponytail is Dean Haglund as Richard 'Ringo' Langly." The other two Gunmen are Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers, and Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike who is exactly one day older than me! All three of them were the same characters on numerous
"X-Files" episodes!

The reason for the diversion is they have an elaborate plan to get their hands on that new chip!

There's the culprit!

Because this was an early show about computers, you get a lot of shots like this!

Ka-Fn-Blooie!

There's not a lot of violence, because this show is more story than action!

This is a great shot!

She's a pretty good shot herself!

 Zuleikha Robinson is Yves Adele Harlow! How's that for a mouthful?

And of course the guys drive a vintage VW bus!

They finally get to have a good headline!!

"The Lone Gunmen" is a pretty good show from what I've seen so far, and now I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the episodes! Too bad it was only on for one season!!

THE LONE GUNMEN - "Diagnosis: Jimmy" (2001)

I seriously thought that tonight's Wacky Wednesday presentation was a Christmas episode from "The Lone Gunmen," but it wasn't, and you get to hear about it anyway!

"The Lone Gunmen" was a TV show from 2001 that ran for one season only. It was created by Vince Gilligan of "Breaking Bad" fame and fortune, so you know the stories are going to be good and the characters are going to be offbeat!

Well, it might not be Christmas, but it sure looks like it! The funny thing is that this episode, which was number nine out of thirteen, actually aired in April of 2001.

After "The Lone Gunmen's" less than stellar run, Vince Gilligan went on to produce 127 episodes of "The X-Files," after that came "Breaking Bad," and the rest is history!

Last year, I told you about the pilot episode of "The Lone Gunmen," but I barely introduced this wild team of investigative reporters, so, here's Tom (Nightmare Cafe) Braidwood as Melvin Frohike.

On the left is Bruce (The Flash) Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers, and on the right is Dean (Dead And Deader) Haglund as looney toon Richard 'Ringo' Langly.

The fourth member is Stephen (Fancy Drinks) Snedden as Bond, Jimmy Bond!

The boys are trying to get some dirt on a known Grizzley Bear poacher, when Jimmy Bond has an unexpected encounter with a tree!

Jimmy has to be taken to the hospital!

Nurse Marilyn is quite smitten with Jimmy, and tries really hard to get his attention, but it's all to no avail. He's focused on trying to remember what happened so they can catch that poacher!

The really cute Nurse Marilyn is played by Shawn Batten who hasn't done any acting in the last thirteen years, but in the late 90's, she was Sara Cummings on 243 episodes of the TV show "Sunset Beach."

She was also married to Toto guitarist Steve Lukather for eight years.

The side story is that Jimmy Bond saw on "America's Most Wanted" that there was a fake Doctor who was poisoning patients, and Jimmy is convinced he works at the hospital that he's in!

Meanwhile, Larry, Moe, and Curly are spying on the poacher from their camouflaged van, when all of a sudden he starts shooting, and it scares the crap out of them!

It turns out that he was just doing some target practice!

The Mad Doctor also has a sweet tooth!

Disgustingly enough, the worst part is the poacher is killing the bears only for their gall bladders which are worth a lot of money in the Asian black market!

Richard (Starship Invasions, Duct Tape Forever) Fitzpatrick is the evil poacher! Richard has been a very busy man, and has almost 200 acting credits!

When I first quickly glanced at this show I saw this, which I thought was Rudolph!

Luckily, Yves Adele Harlow shows up at the hospital to save Jimmy a lot of embarrassment!

Yves is played by the always alluring Zuleikha (Once Upon A Time In Wonderland) Robinson.

Almost all of the characters also appeared on "The X-Files" at one time or another!

The boys tail the poacher and nail him and the people he's selling to before they get caught! 

Luckily, the Feds were on the case too, and save the day!