by Greg McCambley | Oct 24, 2015 | #Bond_age_TV, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Hello again, everyone. In February of 2014, I was given the opportunity to livetweet TV spy programming on a regular basis by @007hertzrumble under the #Bond_age_TV banner. In March of 2014, I started programming episodes of The Man From UNCLE. I sometimes have commitment issues to ideas, so I wasn’t sure exactly how long I would continue it. The audience started small, but they were very loyal. I’d started planning episode by episode; eventually, I began planning the livetweets season by season. That planning has finally led us to this, the final #UNCLEtweet ever. We may do the movies from time to time, but as a regularly scheduled event, The Man From UNCLE has reached the end. Naturally, for the final livetweet event, we will be riffing the two-part series finale, The Seven Wonders of the World Affair. In the final episodes, Napoleon and Illya find themselves facing off against both THRUSH and a rogue UNCLE agent who is determined to end Mankind’s hostility permanently by pacifying the entire world with an army of geniuses and a docility gas. Guest stars this episode include: Barry Sullivan (TV’s The Man Called X and The Tall Man); Leslie Nielsen (Airplane!, The Naked Gun); Eleanor Parker (The Sound of Music, The Man with the Golden Arm); and Mark Richman (Agent for H.A.R.M.). Please put on your snazziest loafers and join us this coming Wednesday at 9pm EST to give The Man from UNCLE a fitting sendoff.
by Greg McCambley | Sep 25, 2015 | Licence to List, Misc.
#Bond_age_ Licence to List: Bond Theme Rankings
As an introduction to the next series of Bond posts leading up to the release of SPECTRE, the #Bond_age_ powers have come together with a cumulative rank of their favorite Bond theme songs. And yes we’re piggybacking on the release today of Sam Smith’s “Writing’s on the Wall.” This list includes vocal tracks only. So while Matt Munro’s “From Russia With Love” did not open From Russia With Love, it was still the title track. Meanwhile, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” does not count (because it is an instrumental) and likewise for Louis Armstrong’s “We Have All the Time in the World” because it is not the On Her Majesty’s Secret Service theme. That leaves 21 vocal theme tracks. We will not dare to rank the new Sam Smith track until we’ve heard it the context of the film. We don’t want to jump to any conclusions (Jay, excepted perhaps. He’s planning pickets and gathering pitchforks).
For our next list, you, the reader/Twatterer/#Bond_age_ junkie can suggest a topic and submit your own list. You will then choose your opponent (either Jay, Krissy or Greg) to a List Off, Iron Chef style (Iron #Bond_age_, eh?). Everyone else will choose a winner, mock our choices or cause general havoc down there in the comments of the page. With all that logistical nonsense out of the way (where’s Moneypenny?), here’s our ranking of the 21 Bond themes, highest ranked to lowest because we don’t believe in that delayed gratification anyway. Hand out the big awards first and then hang around for the snark about Sheryl Crow.
Ready? Let’s take a sonic journey through 50 years of Bond. (more…)
by Greg McCambley | Sep 20, 2015 | #Bond_age_TV, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Hello again, everyone.
It’s #Bond_age_TV time again, and we’re back with the second to last #UNCLEtweet session ever. With the final season of UNCLE being as short as it was, selecting individual episodes to watch was a difficult task. There were only 12 standalone episodes in season 4, and I was certainly not going to be able to cover all of them. There were really only two I knew were going to be part of my plans. The first was The Master’s Touch Affair, which I had intended to be the last episode of season 4 I used (naturally, it ended up as the first). The second was The Deadly Quest Affair, which features good old #Kolchak himself, Darren McGavin, as the villain. Anyone who reads this probably knows that I do a livetweet of Kolchak every Friday night, so livetweeting McGavin’s only UNCLE appearance was a must for me, so it becomes the first episode coming this Wednesday. Illya is kidnapped, and Napoleon finds himself being hunted by a man they both thought dead. Can Napoleon survive in the urban wasteland Viktor Karmak (McGavin) has chosen as his hunting ground?
Our second episode for this Wednesday started out as just a random selection from the remaining episodes: The Gurnius Affair. A Nazi Scientist is freed from a German prison in a plot masterminded by THRUSH, and it’s up to Illya and Napoleon to stop whatever they have planned. However, as I refreshed my knowledge about the episode, the more fitting it seems that it becomes the last standalone episode to be shown. It features Will Kuluva who, longtime #UNCLEtweet livetweeters will know, played Solo’s boss in the original UNCLE pilot, when it was known as SOLO. Gurnius Affair also echoes the season 1 story The Double Affair, as Illya gets an evil twin, just as Napoleon did back in season 1. Finally, this episode also features Judy Carne, the Laugh-In star who unfortunately passed away earlier this month.
I hope, then, that you’ll join me for this coming Wednesday’s livetweet session, as we celebrate both some great performers, and a great TV show. It starts at 9pm EST.
by Greg McCambley | Aug 22, 2015 | Uncategorized
Hello again, everyone.
#Bond_age_TV continues its final run of Man From UNCLE this week with a look at two more episodes from season 4. First up this week is the 4th season opener The Summit-Five Affair. Napoleon and Illya have to investigate a security breach at UNCLE’s Berlin HQ just before an important meeting of the heads of UNCLE. Guest stars this episode include TV veteran Lloyd Bochner and Dr. Cyclops himself Albert Dekker. Our second episode this week is The THRUSH Roulette Affair. At a casino in the Caribbean run by THRUSH, Napoleon and Illya have to stop a brainwashing scheme. This episode’s guest stars include Michael Rennie (The Day The Earth Stood Still). The fun begins at 9pm EST. Use the hashtag #UNCLEtweet. Join us!
by Greg McCambley | Jul 27, 2015 | #Bond_age_TV, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Hello again, everyone!
It’s been a while, but #Bond_age_TV is finally entering into its final run of Man from UNCLE as we take a glance at its Fourth, and last, season. The high camp that UNCLE had introduced in season 3 in order to ape Batman’s success was gone, as a new producer was determined to make the series more serious in tone. This week’s #UNCLEtweet features the first two-parter of the season, The Prince of Darkness Affair parts 1 & 2. UNCLE seeks to steal a potential superweapon from evil genius Dr. Parvis Kharmusi (John Dehner). To do the job, UNCLE takes a page out of the IMF’s playbook and hires international most-wanted thief Luther Sebastian (Bradford Dillman) to steal the device. However, things don’t go exactly as planned. The guest cast this week includes performers like Carol Lynley (The Poseidon Adventure), Lola Albright (Peter Gunn, The Monolith Monsters), and John Carradine (Stagecoach, Nocturna). The livetweet starts at 9pm EST this Wednesday, and the hashtag will be #UNCLEtweet. Please join us!
