THE RAY BRADBURY THEATER - "Usher II" (1990)

 

Some Saturday Night's are more Special than others, and tonight's feature is one of those!

This show was another recommendation my by friend, DJ, and all-around good guy, Lord Litter in Berlin! 

If you want to hear some very cool music that rocks all the way from The East Side Kids to The Mutant Beatniks, then you really need to check out some of his radio shows!

 

Episode 5 from Season 4 of "The Ray Bradbury Theater aired in 1990, and was titled "Usher II."

It's pretty hard to go wrong when you combine the talents of Ray Bradbury, Patrick Macnee, and Edgar Allen Poe!

 

The future is now, books are bad, and Patrick Macnee's character, a Mr. Stendahl is breaking a lot of laws, and the authorities don't like it, so they send out Stuart Devenie as Garrett to take care of business.

Also known as Stewart Devinie, and however you want to spell it, he's made a career out of playing characters and doing voices with names like Kernunnos, Fake Skourous, Governor Croque, Imperius, Sanganoon, Cormac, and Renfield.

Mr. Stendahl is a big fan of the work of Edgar Allan Poe.

It can be fairly difficult to mix genres like Science Fiction and Gothic Fiction, but leave it to Ray Bradbury to figure it all out, and get it right!

Mr. Stendahl's home is dedicated to the writings of Poe and is filled with weird robotic creatures.

 

Garrett reports back to his superiors that there is nothing out of the ordinary going on in the Usher house.

They decide to investigate for themselves which turns out to be a real bad idea.

One by one they are methodically murdered.

Mr. Stendahl enjoys the proceedings immensely! 

Some of Poe's finest works like "The Pit And The Pendulum," and "Premature Burial"..............

............Are acted out in full detail right to the end!

If only Garrett had read the books he burned, he would have been able to see what was coming, but alas........

 

"Ignorance is Fatal."

LOONEY TUNES / "Porky Pig's Feat" - 1943

Here's a wild one from director Tish-Tash that they played a lot on TV back in the day. Porky and Daffy team up for some hilarious gags just for us.

What a great name for a hotel!

So, Porky is looking at their hotel bill, he's waiting for Daffy to come back with the money to pay it off, the hotel manager is there waiting on him too.

Daffy has just lost all the money in a crap game where he rolled snake eyes. He drags himself to the door and overhears Porky and the manager talking.

Porky saying that he'll be there in a minute with the money, the manager says... I hope so!

So, Daffy goes on offense, he runs into the room and gets in the manager's face, telling him that how dare he question his integrity!

The manager says... You have insult me! He takes his glove off  and raises over his head.

And Daffy gets a brutal slap in the face!

Daffy repays him with with a return slap, but of course our little pal puts a horseshoe in his glove before swinging away!

Daffy does his famous shuffle and grabs Porky and their luggage and runs toward the elevator, only to encounter the manager waiting for them there.

Porky and Daffy run back to their room and lock the door. So, the manager breaks off some railing for the stairs and charges at the door...

But Daffy pulls the rug out from under the manager and he goes tumbling down the mile high stairwell, ooching and ouching all the way down.

When the manager returns to try again, Daffy pulls the rug and they hear the manager apparently tumbling down the stairs, but it was all a ruse because he was just standing outside their door the whole time! The boys run back into their room.

Their next attempt is to tie bed sheets together to make their escape.

Porky goes first, followed by Daffy. As Daffy is is descending down to the ground, he has to stop and do a wolf whistle!

It could have been a woman in a towel after a bath, but, it's a pin up of a gorgeous gal talking on the telephone in a phone book.

Porky gets down first and tells Daffy to hurry up! But Porky gets an epic hot foot, he shoots up like a rocket causing him and Daffy to end up back in their room.

Then they try and swing across to another building but the manager is there waiting for them and they swing back into their room where the manager boards the window up.

Months later while trying to figure out how to escape, Porky and Daffy come up with a plan, call Bugs Bunny, our hero, he'll know what to do!

Daffy calls Bugs to ask for his advice. Bugs says, did you try the elevator? Daffy replies, yes. Bugs says, did you throw him down the stairs? Daffy says, yes. Bugs says, did you swing across on a rope? Daffy says, yes. Bugs then says... Don't work, do they? Bugs was in the next room  the whole time, trapped there too!!

MANNIX - "Death Is The Fifth Gear" (1972)

 

Here's a true WTF!? Wednesday feature for you, the 24th episode from Season 5 of the amazing TV show "Mannix." 

Mike (Voodoo Woman) Connors is Joe Mannix.

 

"Mannix" was on for 194 episodes from 1967 to 1975. This insane episode was titled "Death Is The Fifth Gear."

Mannix is driving a race car!

Then he starts seeing these fireballs coming at him!

He's hallucinating like crazy and ends up crashing the car.

This is the way that he's seeing things!

Mannix is usually 100% on top of his game so to see him this messed up and vulnerable is unsettling!

Even his assistant Peggy Fair thinks so!

 Gail Fisher won an Emmy award for her role as Peggy, and was the first black actress to do so.

Mannix wants out of the hospital badly!

I keep thinking about what Grandma and Grandpa must have thought when they sat down to watch this episode!

Mannix can no longer distinguish the hallucinations from reality!

Seeking help wherever he can find it, Mannix makes his way into this strange room with Elsa (The Bride Of Frankenstein) Lanchester as Edna Barrington in it.

Even as he's pursued by the attendants Mannix continues to have the hallucinations!

Mannix dies and the show is over prematurely. Well, at least he thinks he does!

Mariette (Marnie) Hartley as Nurse Cara Guild tries to help Mike out, or is she part of the problem?

Very early in her career, Mariette was in "The Twilight Zone" episode known as "The Long Morrow."

Despite all the treatment in the world, the hallucinations just keep on happening!

Mike is so paranoid, he doesn't even trust Gail any more!

Is it still considered paranoia when it's true that somebody is really after you?

When nothing else works, how about a little carbon monoxide?

Finally after some days time, or almost an hour of drooling onscreen time, Mannix is his old self again.