Sixty Years Ago The Avengers Arrived in the United States

As my long-time readers know, my favourite TV show of all time is The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee as John Steed and his various partners over the years (Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale, Diana Rigg as Emma Peel, and so on). It was sixty years ago, on March 28, 1966, that The Avengers made its American debut on ABC. At the time I was a baby and even if I hadn't been, in 1966 the Columbia-Jefferson City market did not have a full-time ABC affiliate. I wouldn't see it until one rainy Sunday afternoon when one of the Kansas City stations was showing its reruns in syndication. I think the fist episode I was probably "The House That Jack Built", although it could have been "From Venus with Love". Either way I was hooked.

The Avengers had debuted in the United Kingdom on January 7, 1961. At that time, it starred Ian Hendry as Dr. David Keel, who became partners in fighting crime with a mysterious figure named John Steed (Patrick Macnee). When I an Hendry left the show, Patrick Macnee became its star and the show would centre on John Steed and his partner of the moment: Venus Smith (Julie Stevens), Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman), Emma Peel (Diana Rigg), and Tara King (Linda Thorson).

The show proved to be a smash hit in the United Kingdom, so much so that television networks in the United States even took notice. As early as December 15 1963, when Cathy Gale was John Steed's partner, The New York Times devoted an article to the show. NBC expressed some interest in The Avengers, but expressed its doubts that such an outré series, especially on so British, could succeed in the United States. The producers finally secured a deal with the American Broadcasting Company, consistently the third rated network, to begin showing The Avengers starting on March 28, 1966. The fourth series of The Avengers would be the first to air in the United States and the first to star Diana Rigg as John Steed's partner, Emma Peel.

Since American audiences were unfamiliar with the idea behind The Avengers, a prologue was added to the opening of the show with John Steed, Emma Peel, and a murder victim on a chessboard. The prologue explained precisely who John Steed ("top professional") and Emma Peel ("talented amateur") were and what they did: "Extraordinary crimes against the people and the state have to be avenged by agents extraordinary. Two such people are John Steed, top professional, and his partner, Emma Peel, talented amateur - otherwise known as The Avengers"

The Avengers was not necessarily a hit in the Nielsen ratings in the United States, but it received positive notices from American critics and developed a cult following. It received a good deal of coverage in the American press, with a Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and other publications all publishing articles on the show. The Avengers was also featured on the cover of TV Guide, and the magazine would devote articles to the series during its run. The Avengers was nominated for Emmy Awards during both the 1965-1966 and 1966-1967 seasons: the Emmy for Outstanding Dramatic Series and Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series for Diana Rigg as Emma Peel.

The fourth season of The Avengers was in black-and-white. Its fifth season would be in colour. It was one of the condition of ABC in the United States that The Avengers make the change from colour. While it would be a few years before British broadcasters would make the shift to colour, the change to colour was already well underway in the United States when The Avengers debuted here. Indeed, the 1966-1967 season would be the first in which ABC's entire primetime schedule would be in colour.

Unfortunately, the sixth series of The Avengers would be its last, and it was this largely the fault of ABC in the United States. For the 1968-1969 season ABC placed The Avengers in what was possibly the worst time slot of the 1968-1969 season. The Avengers aired opposite two top rated shows: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In on NBC (the no. 1 show for the season) and Gunsmoke on CBS (the no. 6 show for the season). As a result ratings for The Avengers plunged and ABC cancelled it in February 1969. Without the funding from ABC in the United States, Thames Television (the ITV franchise holder that produced The Avengers) simply could not afford to continue with it. The show then ended its original run in 1969.

Of course, it would go onto a fairly healthy run as a syndicated rerun in the United States, which is where I first saw it, and presumably many other younger Baby Boomers and older Gen Xers like me first saw it. Since then it aired on CBS Late Night in the Eighties and then on Encore Mystery in the Nineties. In the United States, The Avengers is currently on several streaming services, including Tubi, Pluto TV, Plex, Amazon Prime Video, and Fandango at Home. Every surviving episode has also been released on DVD.

The Avengers has remained my favourite TV show ever since that rainy Sunday afternoon when I was a child. I am currently re-watching it and I still love it as much as I did then. I really don't know the extent of its impact on me. In addition to growing up known I was English in descent and being a fan of The Beatles and other British Invasion bands since childhood, it is probably much of the reason I am an Anglophile and why I love British television so much. Without The Avengers, I might never have discovered Danger Man, The Saint, Adam Adamant Lives!, The Prisoner,, Red Dwarf, Midsomer Murders, and many of the other British shows I love. At any rate, I know I am not the only American who still loves The Avengers. It remains a very popular show sixty years since its arrival here.

The Changes to MeTV's Schedule

Many people don't like change. I have to confess that I am one of them. It then came as no surprise to me that some people have complained about the recent changes to MeTV's schedule, despite the fact that the network hasn't really made too many major changes to its schedule in years.

To wit, it was last October that MeTV added Everybody Loves Raymond to their prime time schedule. While some people were happy to see the show join the schedule, other were not, and they expressed their displeasure on such social media services as Facebook, Instagram and Reddit. Some thought the show was too new to be on MeTV, despite the fact that it debuted 30 years ago. Others complained that the show had already aired everywhere else, with many pointing out it is still on TV Land. Yet others just plain did not like the show.

More recently, The Golden Girls replaced Hogan's Heroes on weeknights at 10:00 Eastern/9:00 Central. While it seems to me that there was not nearly as much outcry over The Golden Girls as Everybody Loves Raymond, there were some people who did grouse about it. A good number of people simply did not like Hogan's Heroes being removed from MeTV's schedule. This rather surprised me as a common complaint I have seen on Facebook was that Hogan's Heroes had occupied the 10:00 PM Eastern/9:00 PM Central weekday time slot for literally years (don't quote me, but I think it had been there since 2017). Fortunately, for fans of Hogan's Heroes, the show has returned to the MeTV schedule. The show has been temporarily airing on Sunday night since this past Sunday, March 22 and starting Monday, March 30, 2026, it will air at 6:00 PM Eastern/5:00 PM Central weekdays. I am not sure if MeTV had planned this all along or if the outcry of Hogan's Heroes fans was so great that MeTV restored it to the schedule.

Of course, like Everybody Loves Raymond, many complained that The Golden Girls has already aired "everywhere." Indeed, The Golden Girls has had a healthy run in syndication. It has aired on such cable channels as Lifetime and We TV, It has long been a fixture on the Hallmark Channel, where it still airs. Now I am a huge fan of The Golden Girls, so I may be biased, but I don't buy the argument that it has aired "everywhere.' It only aired as a syndicated rerun on local stations from 1990 to 1996, after which it was exclusive to the cable channel Lifetime. After being on Lifetime, it would air on We TV, the Hallmark Channel (where it still airs), and Logo.  Right now it airs on CMT about twice a week and on some weekends on TV Land, as well as the Hallmark Channel.  And while it still airs on the Hallmark Channel, it is pre-empted for the many months during the year (it seems like they start in June these days....) that the Hallmark Channel shows non-stop Christmas movies. In the end, I don' think The Golden Girls is quite as ubiquitous as its critics seem to think it is. 

While I don't buy some MeTV viewers' complaint that The Golden Girls has aired "everywhere," I find the complaint that the show is too "new" truly ludicrous. The Golden Girls debuted on NBC in 1985. That makes the show nearly 41 years old. Indeed, it is older than Matlock, which has aired on MeTV weekday mornings for years, and older than In the Heat of the Night, which had aired on MeTV on weekday mornings for years until recently. I haven't heard people complaining about those shows being "too new." I also have to point out that Cheers aired on MeTV from 2010 to 2018. When Cheers first aired on MeTV, it was only 28 years old, making it younger than either Everybody Loves Raymond or The Golden Girls when they first started airing on the network.

Of course, the changes did not stop there. As I pointed out, Hogan's Heroes started airing on Sunday night. As a result, Ed Sullivan, Carol Burnett, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and The Honeymooners were booted from Sunday night. This upset many fans of The Dick Van Dyke Show, including myself, but fortunately it appears to be temporary. Both The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Honeymooners return to Sunday night on April 5, although Carol Burnett and Ed Sullivan will no longer air on that night. My only real complaint it that I preferred the old 10:00 Central Sunday night time slot of The Dick Van Dyke Show to the new 11:00 Central Sunday night time slot.

Except for that brief period before I found out that The Dick Van Dyke Show was not being permanently removed from MeTV's schedule, I can't say I am overly angry about many of these changes. While I would have preferred MeTV had picked up a less frequently seen show of late than Everybody Loves Raymond (I would love to see The Phil Silvers Show on weeknights), I ultimately don't mind the show airing on MeTV. As to The Golden Girls, I am actually happy about it. It is one of my favourite shows of all time and I am glad I won't have to worry about it being preempted for Christmas movies. While I think complaints about certain shows being available elsewhere hold some validity (Everybody Loves Raymond is not only on TV Land, but still on local channels as well), I don't consider any of the shows recently added to MeTV to be "too new." The simple fact is that many shows that some of us may consider "recent" are no longer that young. I think when a show is over 25 years old, it has been around long enough to air on MeTV. Regardless, I suspect that when the time comes when MeTV removes Everybody Loves Raymond from their schedule people will complain about it.

Happy 100th Birthday, Gene Shalit

Before Leonard Maltin, before Siskel and Ebert, Gene Shalit was the movie critic with whom I was most familiar. In fact, he was the first movie critic to whom I was ever exposed. Gene Shalit joined Today in 1969, where he occasionally did book reviews. It was in 1973 that he became the full-time movie critic on Today. His segment, called Critic's Corner, would remain a part of The Today Show until he retired from the show in November 2010. Today Gene Shalit turned 100 years old.

My family were loyal viewers of The Today Show for as long as I can remember, so I  encountered Gene Shalit when I was very young. His appearance would certainly appeal to a youngster. With his curly hair, handlebar moustache, glasses and bow ties, he looked more like a comic from the days of vaudeville or an absent-minded college professor than a movie critic. 

What is more, Gene Shalit's style as a critic was very approachable. He clearly loved movies, and was more concerned with letting Today's viewers know if they would enjoy a movie than any intellectual analysis of said movie. His reviews were often peppered with one-liners and often ridiculous puns. Gene Shalit was clearly having fun in reviewing movies. Indeed, in Critic's Corner on The Today Show, he seemed less like a movie critic than an affable uncle letting you know which movies to watch and which to avoid.

Of course, even as a kid, I didn't always agree with Gene Shalit's reviews. I disagreed with him on both The Shining (1980) and Flash Gordon (1980). That having been said, I agreed with him more often than not. Chances are that if Gene Shalit liked a movie, I probably would too. Regardless, even when Gene Shalit disliked a film I turned out to love, I could understand his reasons for disliking the movie. 

Beyond providing movie and book reviews on The Today Show, Gene Shalit also conducted interviews. As might be expected, he was a very good interviewer. He was both warm and curious, and was very good at putting his subjects at ease. An example at how comfortable he was interviewing celebrities is his famous interview with Carol Channing, Miss Channing told a hilarious story of Sir Benjamin and Lady Astor that left Gene Shalit unable to stop laughing.

Gene Shalit has always had an enthusiasm for movies which showed through his many reviews on The Today Show. I think it's quite possible that much of my love for the movies stem from the love he showed for the medium to which I was exposed as a kid. Gene Shalit isn't simply a movie critic. He is a movie fan.

The Late Great Valerie Perrine

Valerie Perrine, who appeared in such movies as Lenny (1974) and Superman II (1980), died on March 23, 2026 at the age of 82. She had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015.

Valerie Perrine was born on September 3, 1943, in Galveston, Texas. Her mother was a dancer who had appeared in The Earl Carroll Vanities on Broadway. Her father was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army,. Her father being a career military man, the family frequently moved and as a result young Valerie Perrine lived in Japan, Paris, and elsewhere when she was growing up.

For brief time, Valerie Perrine studied psychology at the University of Arizona. She left college to become a showgirl in Las Vegas. At the height of her career was a Vegas showgirl, she was making $800 a week as the lead dancer in a Lido de Paris show at the Stardust Hotel. After the accidental gun death of her fiancé, Bill Haarman, an importer and gun collector, Valerie Perrine left Las Vegas and travelled throughout Europe. She then moved to Los Angeles.

It was there that she met casting agent Robert Walker at a dinner party. This led to her being cast in the movie Slaughterhouse Five (1972), which marked her film debut. In the Seventies, Valerie Perrine appeared in such movies as The Last American Hero (1973), Lenny (1974), W,C, Fields and Me (1976), Mr. Billion (1977), Superman (1978), The Magician of Lublin (1979), The Electric Horseman (1980), Agency (1980), Can't Stop the Music (1980), and Superman II (1980). On television she appeared in several TV movies, including The Couple Takes a Wife, Lady Luck, Steambath (on which Valerie Perrine became the first woman to expose her breasts on television), and Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women. She guest starred on the TV shows Love Story.

In the Eighties, she starred in the short-lived show Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills. She guest starred on the shows Faerie Tale Theatre, George Burns Comedy Week, and CBS Summer Playhouse. She appeared in the TV movies Marian Rose White, Malibu, When Your Lover Leaves, and Sweet Bird of Youth. She appeared in the movies The Cannonball Run (1981), The Border (1982), Water (1985), Maid to Order (1987), and Bright Angel (1990).

In the Nineties, Valerie Perrine appeared in the movies Reflections in a Dark Sky (1991), Boiling Point (1993), The Break (1995), Girl in the Cadillac (1995), 54 (1998), Curtain Call (1998), Brown's Requiem (1998), A Place Called Truth (1998), Shame, Shame, Shame (1999), Picture This (1999), My Girlfriend's Boyfriend (1999), and What Women Want (2000). On television, she guest starred on Northern Exposure; Ghostwriter; Burke's Law; Homicide: Life on the Street;, ER; Nash Bridges, The Practice; Walker, Texas Ranger; and As the World Turns. She appeared in the mini-series The Secrets of Lake Success.

From the Naughts into the Teens, Valerie Perrine appeared in the movies The End of the Bar (2002), The Moguls (2005), The Californians (2005), Redirecting Eddie (2008), and Silver Skies (2016). She guest starred on the shows Just Shoot Me!, Family Law, The Beast, Grounded for Life, Third Watch, and Lights Out.

Valerie Perrine was an immensely talented actress. She won the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Oscar for Best actress for playing Honey Bruce, the wife of comic Lenny Bruce, in the movie Lenny (1974), and she deserved both. In both Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), she originated the role of Eve Tessmacher, Lex Luthor's personal assistant and love interest. Despite her relationship with Lex, Miss Tessmacher was tender-hearted and offended by Lex's cruelty. On ER she appeared in two episodes as Cookie Lewis, the self-centred, scatterbrained mother of Dr. Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) and her sister Chloe (Kathleen Wilhoite). In The Magician of Lublin (1979), she played one of the title character's girlfriends. Valerie Perinne could play a wide array of roles, and she was as good at comedy as she was drama. Such was her talent that she could deliver good performances regardless of a film's quality.

Thank You for a Successful Blogathon

I want to thank everyone who took part in the 12th Annual Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon and making it a success. This year we had post covering a number of genres, as well as decades. If the Fates allow, there will certainly be a 13th Annual Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon next year! 

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair"

(This blog post is part of the 12th Annual Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon, hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts)

There can be no doubt that the biggest fad in American television in the Sixties was Batman, but before it The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was a television phenomenon. And while its success was short-lived, just as the success of Batman was, it remains remembered to this day. Among its best episodes, if not the best, was "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair."

Despite its title, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. followed the adventures of two agents for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (the U.N.C.L.E. of the title): the suave, sophisticated Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and the quiet, intellectual Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum). As to U.N.C.L.E., it was an international law enforcement and counterespionage organization whose agents came from many different countries (for instance, Napoleon Solo was American and Illya Kuryakin was Russian). Its headquarters was in New York City and the entrance most commonly shown on the TV series was through Del Floria's Tailor Shop. While Agents Solo and Kuraykin faced a number of different opponents on the show, U.N.C.L.E.'s primary opponent was the criminal organisation Thrush, a group bent on world domination. Each episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. would feature an "innocent," an ordinary person who becomes involved in Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin's adventures. During the run of the show, innocents ranged from a suburban housewife (in "The Vulcan Affair") to a chemical engineer (in "The Project Strigas Affair").

"The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair" begins shortly before a conference of world leaders is set to take place at U.N.C.L.E. headquarters. Unfortunately, U.N.C.L.E finds itself facing two apparent threats. The first is a mysterious older man named Mr. Hemingway (Richard Haydn), who causes minor problems at U.N.C.L.E. headquarters, including a toy remote control plane directed at its roof and tampering with the building's electrical system. The second and more serious threat (and the one they only learn about later) comes from a mole Thrush has implanted in U.N.C.L.E., who are plotting to kill the world leaders at the conference.

"The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair" was written by Dick Nelson, who had earlier written episodes of such shows as Bonanza and Tales of Wells Fargo and later wrote episodes of such shows as Medical Center and  A Man Called Sloane. It was based on one of several two and three page plot synopses written  by Sam Rolfe when the show was in development. One of the things that set "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair" apart from other episodes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is that it is set almost entirely at U.N.C.L.E. headquarters. In other words, it is the only real bottle episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The term"bottle episode" was coined by Leslie Stevens, creator of The Outer Limits, and applies to a TV show episode that is filmed in one location and using a limited cast. Historically, bottle episodes have been used as a cost-saving measure, although this does not appear to be the case with "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair." Although set entirely in U.N.C.L.E. headquarters, "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair" was clearly not meant as a cost-cutting measure.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was well-known for its big-name guest stars, and "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair" is no different. The mysterious Mr. Hemingway, who wanders around U.N.C.L.E. headquarters causing chaos, is played by Richard Haydn. who had appeared in everything from classic movies such as Ball of Fire (1941) and Forever Amber (1947) to TV shows such as Playhouse 90 and The Dick Van Dyke Show.  In "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair,' the innocent was Kay Lorrison (Zohra Lampert), a shopgirl who is going to get married the next day. Mr. Hemingway "accidentally"smears mustard on her dress and then whisks her into Del Floria's Tailor Shop and then into U.N.C.L.E. headquarters. Naturally, once there Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin treat her with suspicion. 

A nearly unrecognizable Lee Meriwether appears briefly as Thrush agent Dr. Egret, to whom the mole within U.N.C.L.E. reports and who provides the mole with means to commit the assassinations of the world leaders at the conference there. Not many villains appeared more than once on The Man From U.N.C.L.E., but she was one of the few who did. Dr. Egret also appears in "The Girls of Nazarone Affair," where she is played by blonde Marian McCargo. As to how two very different looking actresses played Dr. Egret, it appears Dr. Egret was a master of disguise. In "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair," she is shown removing a mask. 

Taking place almost entirely in U.N.C.L.E. headquarters, "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair" required little in the way of sets and props. The laser beam defence atop U.N.C.L.E. headquarters was a recycled blaster rifle from the movie Forbidden Planet (1956). It was mounted upside down as U.N.C.L.E's laser beam defence. An exploding ashtray in the episode was done by fastening a piece of tinfoil with gunpowder onto the bottom of the ashtray and throwing it onto an electrically charged nail.

"The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair was filmed right before Christmas, from December 16 to 18, 1964, and then December 21 to 23, 1964. It aired on NBC on February 1, 1965, and was rerun that summer on June 21, 1965.

Despite being set almost entirely in U.N.C.L.E. headquarters, "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair"is a quintessential episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  The series was at its best when it combined high stakes action with tongue-in-cheek humour, which "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair" does quite well. On the one hand, there are the various ways in which Mr. Hemingway disrupts things at U.N.C.L.E. headquarters, from the aforementioned toy plane to putting guppies in the building's water supply. On the other hand, there is Thrush's plot to assassinate world leaders, not to mention a fountain pen that can destroy a person's brain when pressed against their head. The climactic fight scene between Napoleon Solo and the Thrush mole is among the best in the show's run.

Sadly, the balance between exciting action and tongue-in-cheek humour that made The Man From U.N.C.L.E.a success would not last. Perhaps because of the success of Batman, the third season of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. saw a shift towards over the top camp. Along with the decline in the spy craze that had given rise to The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and similar shows, this resulted in a dramatic decline in ratings. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was renewed for a fourth season, but it was cancelled midway through.

Regardless, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. would prove to be a success in syndication and remains popular to this day. In 2015 a movie inspired by the show directed by Guy Ritchie was released, and the original TV show is available for rent on several streaming services. If The Man From U.N.C.L.E. remains popular to this day, it is largely because of episodes like "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair."

The 12th Annual Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon Has Arrived

The 12th Annual Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon is here! As in past years, this year's blogathon features several entries on episodes from classic television shows.

For those of you who are participating in the blogathon, I ask that you link to this page. I will be updating this page with links to the various blog posts that are part of this blogathon throughout the weekend. If you want a graphic for your post, I have several on the announcement page here.

Without further ado, here are this year's posts.

Realweedgiemidget Reviews: "TV… The Return of the Saint (1979) 'Murder Cartel' Se1, Ep19"

Cinematic Scribblings: "Jeeves and Wooster: 'The Hunger Strike' and 'Brinkley Manor' (1990)"

John V's Eclectic Avenue: "Moonbase Alpha Encounters a 'Black Sun'"

The Wonderful World of Cinema: "A Security Lesson on Alfred Hitchcock Presents: 'Bang! You’re Dead' (1961)" 

The Midnite Drive-In: "The Boy Who Cried 'Wolfe'" 

Another Old Movie Blog: "Ward Cleaver's World War II heroism"

Smoke in the Library: "Burke's Law: 'Who Killed Mr. X?'"

Liberal England: "The last episode of Shoestring: 'The Dangerous Game'"

Dubsism: "Sports Analogies Hidden In Classic Movies – Volume 168: The Rockford Files – 'Beamer’s Last Case'

A Shroud of Thoughts: "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: 'The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair'"

Films From Beyond the Time Barrier: "Staying After Hours in The Twilight Zone"

Moon in Gemini: "My Favorite Thanksgiving Themed Sitcom Episodes"

The Spirochaete Trail: "West Country Tales '82: The Beast (aka An Affinity With Solitude)"

18 Cinema Lane: "Sally Watches…Murder, She Wrote ('Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder')!"

Hamlette's Soliloquy: "'One More for the Road' -- A Favorite Combat! Episode"

Silver Scenes: "I Love Lucy - 'Off to Florida!' (1956)" 

Whimsically Classic: "Favorite TV Show Episode Blogathon–“Dances with Dogs” King of the Hill"

Crítica Retrô: "Série Retrô: O Vigilante Rodoviário"