WCHB Part Two--Season Four

[w3mom]

" I was interested in your question about Ned Brown. I didn't find him confusing--but he is different from the typical agent. He's not a field agent at all, but a lab guy put on special assignment for some reason I don't recall. (Mostly because they were thrilled to be able to get Alan Hale to stand in for Ross, I think.) And I like him a lot. (I just can't help it--after all, he's the Skipper!) "


You're right Snish. I also love Alan Hale - he does very well doing both good guys and bad guys. Although after years as the Skipper, it is hard to imagine him as a bad guy.


"I'm surprised that someone cast him as a bad guy in a fanfic, but then in fanfic anything goes. Do you recall specifically why you thought he might be bad?[/quote]"

I don't recall exactly what set me off (I guess it is another excuse to go back and watch it!) It was just a feeling I had. It may have been his first interaction with the sheriff. I know that had me questioning him. But his interactions with the blind girl showed that he was a good guy. But I still had my doubts.




PS- I don't know if I did the quote/reply right. So, I'm sorry if I messed up the formatting. Hope you all get what I was getting at.

[dunn]

Yeah W3mom, I was glad to see Alan Hale in an episode but you're right, it's hard to get past the Skipper thing. I really like Alan Hale and he can play both bad guy and good guy parts very well.

[SpottedPony]

w3mom, could it be the story you are thinking about, Jim and Artie met up with an impostor of Ned Brown who tried to kill Jim? I think it was one of CG's great stories.

Just checked, it was THE NIGHT OF THE DIABOLICAL DOPPELGANGERS by CG.

Spotted Pony

[snish]

I admit, I haven't watched Sabatini Death in quite a while, so my memories are rather dim, but it seems like there was a moment near the end when Ned enters the room and it's time for him to save the day, but you're unsure for a moment who he's going to help. Of course he does the right thing and saves Jim, but if that moment (or something like it) sticks with you, I can see why you would have doubts about the character.

[w3mom]

Jun 24, 2012 4:47:44 GMT -8 SpottedPony said:

w3mom, could it be the story you are thinking about, Jim and Artie met up with an impostor of Ned Brown who tried to kill Jim? I think it was one of CG's great stories.

Just checked, it was THE NIGHT OF THE DIABOLICAL DOPPELGANGERS by CG.

Spotted Pony

I think there was one that happened on Bleak Island as well. I don't remember off-hand right now. But as I recall the story, he wasn't a doppleganger. He was an agent-gone-bad. I'll have to look it up after I get back from the camp-drop-off.

[zimmerman]

To my fellow WWW Board members,
Last week, I presented a challenge to you on this thread--an interesting challenge, yes, but one that I thought would merit an interesting discussion from all of you.

As mentioned earlier, we all know that Season 4 was the weakest of the four seasons of "Our Favorite Programme", and I thought it would be fun to have your opinions as to how you would have wanted Season 4 to turn out instead of what was being presented.

I am still interested in finding out your opinions as to how Season 4 would have been different had Ross not had his heart attack, and I would love to know how you would have changed and adjusted some of the weaker-written episodes had you been on the production and writing staff at the time. Because I noticed some favorable responses when I last visited here on Saturday afternoon, I will even accept your opinions as to which guest agents you would have liked to have seen more of, and which of your fan fiction stories would have made for a better episode, than, oh, lets say, TNOT Plague, for example ;D.

What was supposed to be a fun and interesting round-table discusssion from all of you concerning Season 4 was turned into something awful beyond my control. When I returned to this forum on Thursday evening and clicked on this particular thread after a long, busy evening of volunteer work at the library, I was shocked and stunned at what had transpired, yet I did not have the time to clarify and rectify the situation. Well, I have the time today, so please read what I am about to say very carefully:

This thread is meant to be a fun, role-playing exercise wherein we can use our imagination and create the 'Perfect' final season of WWW, at least in our own minds eye . I went into this discussion knowing full well that we could not change the past, but if, and this was a big IF, we had the opportunity to turn back time and fix the weakest season of WWW ever made, what would you have done ?

Please note that it was not my desire to hurt or offend anyone with what I had originally written.

Now that I have clarified some points, feel free to post your thoughts and opinions. If this thread continues in the direction it has been going in the last few days, I will kindly ask Pet or Sordo to properly remove it.

Please note that all offending participants will be dealt with by me in private in a respectful, dignified manner .

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and please have a blessed God day.

[zimmerman]

Jun 22, 2012 9:53:39 GMT -8 Artiespet said:

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE??? This board was made so EVERYONE can have their say. If you come across a post you disagree with either talk about the points you don’t agree with CIVILIY or WALK away from that post. This board is everyone’s opinions NOT just those opinions we all agree with. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. And everyone and I mean EVERYONE is neither right nor wrong! If there is a part of someone’s post you feel you really disagree with take it up with them in a PM if you feel you really can’t be nice on the board.

Hello, fellow Artie Fan
I consider it a feather in my cap that you agreed to comment on one of my threads. I just wish it was under different circumstances .

Hope you get better soon, and get back to posting and joining us here on the board. I will keep you in my prayers daily. Please have a blessed God day, and thanks for all that you do to keep our board a nice, civil, polite place to chat and play.

Again, take care, and God bless.

[rielle]

thanks, zimmerman, I still think this is and can be an interesting, thought provoking and friendly thread. I'm going to give my answers and simply agree to disagree ahead of time with whoever feels differently. Its our mutual perogative, imo. And that's ALL I'm gonna say on that matter.

in one way the answer to what could have been better about season 4 of our favourite programme is easy, almost obvious, in fact:

1)
Robert would not have fallen from that chandelier in filming the Fugitives, cracked his skull and been out of work for, was it about 9 weeks? Maybe more.
All by itself, this would have potentially put some eps on air during the third season, instead of waiting to re film parts of them or at least the tags, and air them the following year.

2)
Ross would have not had his major heart attack, and been laid up for months. There would therefore be NO eps of W3 without Artemus Gordon. And while I love Jeremy and Frank, and I can deal with Ned. Bosley just never made it for me... sorry, Bos-fans.
I liked the idea of more agents working with Jim and Artie, and in fact eventually incorporated that into my fanfics. But there was never going to be enough time while the show was in production to develop the friendships between Jim, Jeremy, Frank or Ned, while there was not even a pretense that he'd previously known Bosley. So the real problem with those eps was two sided:
No Ross, a huge deficit to anyone who'd been watching the show to that point or who watches it now. for that matter.

And
No solid connection and not a lot of rapport between the other agents. There was no time and no backstory, and in some of the eps with Jeremy obviously no real attempt made to develop the character, he was just dropped into the script where Artie had been. Sigh.
With Frank and Ned you maybe had less of that feeling, but still, the whole deal was unfair to Charles, to Bill, to Alan and to Robert as actors.

They simply had no choice and no time to make solid changes or characterizations. They had no time to do anything but film the scripts that were already in pre-production. It would have been prohibitively expensive not to go with those episodes, and they'd already lost time = money while Robert and Ross were recuperating.

All that being said, I went a lonnnngg time claiming Winged Terror as a favorite episode, for large part because it stuck with me for years after it first aired. And there are elements of that two parter I still like a lot, including the scene where Jim essentially talks 'Mayor Sneed/Frank' into shooting the mirror... Tense as hell and very well played on all parts. The episode itself had a strong impact, and so I think they did a pretty darn good job with it. Could I have done without Michelle Carey's mile long eyelashes and breathless delivery, [sorry, Dieter] yes, absolutely. But they cast her and I can live with her... kinda sorta

Would it have been much better with Ross on the job as Artie? of course it would, because by then our co-stars had most of three years working together on film... or tape... whichever.

and I"m not gonna go into Camera or Tycoons... both just kinda embarrass me somewhat... shoulda gone back to the drawing board... a whole lot there.

Now, here's my question: are we going to talk about the season 4 eps where we did have Artie and still the writing or the props or the production as a whole fell flatter than a flitter, or is that a fritter?

Juggernaut? yeah, the big ugly tank thing was a bad idea altogether imo. I love Artie's loud mouthed Texan but the rest of the ep... nawt so much
Circus of Death? Hey wait a second, no problem with Akbhar, he's a cutie, but the rest of the ep... didn't they do that in first season already? yeah... and honestly that's not a favorite of mine, either. LOL
Cossacks? Yeah, not much needs to be said here. Artie's wonderful as the old Orthodox priest, but the whole feeling is tired... and they probably were by that time.

But, just to be true to my contrarian nature, I still like 'Plague'... I still love watching Ross as Artie take on Shakespeare. I still love the banter between our guys,
and I STILL nearly fall off my sofa laughing when Artie appears and scolds Jim: "I can't leave you alone for even an hour without [your] getting into trouble!"
[its an hour long show... ]

Okay, enough, if not too much from yours truly. I return you all to your regularly scheduled thread

[Dieter]

Very good points with all you said there, rielle. Yeah Season 4 just had alot of bad luck with RC and Ross's unfortunate health issues after all that happened with them. With RC it was actually season 3 which is why they cut the season 4 episodes short---and then again with Ross in Season 4. Don't forget he broke his leg too before his heart attack. What a mess it all turned into for them!!

[dunn]

Jun 26, 2012 21:24:12 GMT -8 Dieter said:

Very good points with all you said there, rielle. Yeah Season 4 just had alot of bad luck with RC and Ross's unfortunate health issues after all that happened with them. With RC it was actually season 3 which is why they cut the season 4 episodes short---and then again with Ross in Season 4. Don't forget he broke his leg too before his heart attack. What a mess it all turned into for them!!

Yeah Dieter, it was a mess for them, and it would have been nice if they could have pumped out another 4 seasons, I think they could have accomplished it if they didn't have all those set backs, which was very unfortunate and sad.
But I still think season 4 is season 4, I wouldn't change anything. I'll respect it as it is in it's final product.
Well except for the accidents, health issues, and the mess, that is what I would change!!

[zimmerman]

I have modified my clarifying explanation so that it does not come across that I have singled out anyone, plus I am in constant communication between Pet and the Doctor in private.

I will NEVER single another poster out again, and promise to respectfully respond to every opinion in a gracious, dignified manner.

I will return here at 1:00 ProBoards time (4:00 Central Time) on Saturday afternoon.

Take care, God bless, and please stay cool!!