Favorite Guest Agent

[zimmerman]

I don't think this idea has been presented on either board, so I thought that I would give it a whirl on here .

Ross' heart attack in Season 4 caused Artie to be on assingment in Washington, and thus we had some wonderful people filling in Artie's big shoes for 7 of the 10 Artie-less episodes.

Jeremy Pike, played by Charles Aidman, was kind of like a low-key easy-going version of Artie, giving us the impression that he was the Perry Como of the 1870's ;D. His four episodes are really good, with Janus being my favorite. He had to deal with Dr. Loveless in TNOT Migulelitos Revenge, so that had to be quite a feather in his resume, that's for sure. ;D.

Ned Brown, played by Alan Hale, Jr, brought a whimsical, different fun edge to his one WWW appearance, TNOT Sabitani Death, and also showed us a different side of Mr. Hale's acting talents, though I love the tongue-in-cheek reference to his old series in the tag .

Frank Harper, played by the versitile William Schallart, brought a lot of class to the overall "Wild" WWW genre, and makes enduring watching the shows only two-parter, TNOT Winged Terror, a little more bearable, as he and James have to deal with the original "Conehead" in this particular episode ;D.

I am not sure what my take is on Bosley Cranston, played by "Smothers Brothers" veteran Pat Paulson is, let's just say he is....different, and it may take a few more viewings to really appreciate his appearance in total.

Summing them up, I think my favorite guest agent is Jeremy Pike, with Ned Brown being a close second. Tell me your favorites, and let us compare notes .

[zimmerman]

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

Hopefully there will be more for me to contribute and comment on.

Have a wonderful Friday, and God bless all of you.

[artiesniecewannabe]

And don't forget Richard Henry from Season 1's TNOT Freebooters!

My two favorites are Richard and Bosley. Easily. But then I love the humor of those two small but quirky roles.

[California gal]

Then there was Layton in Loveless Died who helped Artie with his bulletproof vest!

[rielle]

Frank Harper is my favorite, and has been for some time now. He was only there for 1 [or if you count 'em that way] 2 episodes and yet he brought a very different agent/character to interact with Jim West.

And in all honesty, Wm. Schallert as Frank is one of the reasons I still like a lot about 'Winged Terror'. He's down to earth and pragmatic, and in that way more like Jim than unlike him. He's funny at times and he goofs up at the end...

I don't doubt the episode would have been better with Ross as Artie, but for some reason I recalled Winged Terror for a long while after I first saw it, and remembered liking it. It has some flaws, sure, but Frank isn't one of them imo.

Charles Aidman as Jeremy is fine, but he only comes in second for me, because I think the show did him a dirty trick at least in some of his appearances as Jeremy Pike... Its painfully obvious, I think most of all in 'Janus' that 'Jeremy' was dropped into the script where 'Artie' had been originally. And it was a matter of time/budget restraints, I get that, truly. But it still did CA a real disservice. And he deserved better for being such a trouper. He was also a highly skilled and gifted actor.

That being said, as much as I miss Ross and Artie in these eps, I cringe when I think of Artie trying to deal with Bosley in 'Camera'
... all that ....stuff about Bosley's memory... Artie was already known to have a similarly fine tuned memory... at least I THINK that's canon, maybe it only comes up in fanfic, not sure now.
But then the whole ep 'Camera' ... is not what we're talking about here and I think maybe I'll reserve my opinions on it... or even keep shut about them.

Alan Hale, Jr, as Ned Brown was ... fine... but overplayed and over-written, and then there's definitely some vagueness at points about what Ned may do or whose side he may be on... And this guy is supposed to be Jim's partner for at least one assignment? hmmm...
No sale, really

[SpottedPony]

There's also the agent they had to rescue from Devil's Island in Bottomless Pit, John Reed, wasn't it.

Spotted Pony

[snish]

I nominate Miss Collingwood from TNot Diva! OK, she wasn't really an agent, but neither was Ned Brown. He worked in the chemistry lab or something. She was pressed into service to do what an agent would do. I think she was the only female who rose above the level of secretary on the good-guy side.

As for the other agents, oh, poor Jerry Pike. Even after all these years, I cannot like him. When I first saw the series, at age 13, I had no idea why Ross was missing from those episodes, and I turned my wrath on the guy I saw most often--Pike. I hated his guts. I've come a long way since then. I realize that Aidman was a fine actor who did the best he could with the crappy hand he was dealt, but I just can't warm up to the character. Fake Artie, bleah.

I have a soft spot for Ned Brown, mostly because he was the Skipper and a charming fellow, and maybe because he seems really different from Artie.

When I saw Winged Terror again for only the 2nd time in my life, I was all ready to like Bill Schallert because he was delightful in his other appearances on the show. But I didn't like him as Harper. I thought he seemed tired, had low energy, even seemed rather uninterested in the events. Very surprising. He just didn't do much for me.

[California gal]

Poor agent Markham was killed in Eccentrics. I've never been sure whether the Markham strangled in Running Death was an agent or an informant. All I know is that Markham was a bad luck name!

[LuckyLadybug]

I was thinking of starting a topic on Jeremy Pike and the general fan views on him (partially because I was wondering how to write him different from Arte). This topic seems to serve that purpose quite well!

Janus was the first Jeremy episode I saw, and I definitely got the "Fake Arte" vibe. I was not pleased. He also seemed too much like Arte in Camera, but unlike Janus, I quite enjoyed that venture. Pat Paulson was fun.

I think Jeremy shined best in Miguelito's Revenge, but I can't quite put my finger on how or why he seemed more different from Arte there. And then the other Jeremy episode I have yet to see.

I liked Ned Brown; I thought he was enjoyable and was his own person, rather than being an Arte clone. And he interacted with a kitty! I loved that. And the whole cemetery setting for some of the scenes. That was a really intense episode.

Frank Harper I have yet to see, but I'm looking forward to it.

Richard Henry is just adorable.

[Nydiva]

I haven't seen the Artie-less eps since their original airing. I remember sulking even then. The only thing I've done is fast forward through them, with an occasional peek at some of the scenes.

I don't think anyone did a bad job and no disrespect to the "replacements" (who were an absolute necessity); but except for Miguelito's Revenge (and only because I adore Michael Dunn), I prefer not to watch the Ross-less episodes.

I've never had such a visceral reaction to an actor without experiencing him/her live (sayeth the theatre geek). For me, there's no one else in MY experience whose "stage presence" comes through the screen like that. Oh the power of actors to touch lives in ways they'll never know!

[zimmerman]

I do agree about Richard Henry. He is one of my favorites as well.

[zimmerman]

Will return on Tuesday. Have a wonderful weekend.

[Dieter]

I don't know on this---only liked Janus with Pike, and besides that just Bleak Island and Sabatini Death. That's pretty much it, except for maybe 5 minutes of Tycoons I liked. Haha ;D

[Dieter]

I'll probably get blasted for this but Bosley and Richard Henry were total dorks!! That was just comedy sidetracks to the real story going on.

[snish]

Jul 14, 2012 17:30:01 GMT -8 Dieter said:

I'll probably get blasted for this but Bosley and Richard Henry were total dorks!! That was just comedy sidetracks to the real story going on.

Sure, they were comedy. But you have to admit Bosley was a clever dork.

[Dieter]

Yeah--that is true Snish-- What was amazing about Bosley was his photographic memory, karate which I never would have imagined, and getting the girls at the end. A total twist to what you would have expected from him. Happy ending for Bosley! ;D