My friend Carol introduced me to this made for TV thriller. It's creepy and has a slow build, but a great pay-off. Joanna Redwine is hired by the dysfunctional Benedicts as a housekeeper. As she settles in to the home she begins to manipulate the family members, encouraging Liz's (Patty Duke) drinking, trying to seduce Jeff (William Shatner) and while daughter Tara (Quinn Cummings) initially loves her, she begins to hate her as she sees how Joanna is using them. All along, next door neighbor Dr. Lindquist (John Housman) is observing Joanna and starts investigating her past. What will he discover, and will it endanger him and the Benedicts?
Though not available on DVD, this HBO production was released on VHS and is still available on Amazon. It can also be seen on YouTube in its entirety. The whole film is above, uploaded by TVTERRORLAND.
Obscurity factor: 9 (on YouTube and VHS, not on DVD, largely forgotten)
Showing posts with label Quinn Cummings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quinn Cummings. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Patty Duke in Hail to the Chief (1985)
The 1984 presidential elections featured, for the first time, a female vice presidential candidate. This show, by the creators of the popular and long running Soap extrapolated on that circumstance. Julia Mansfield is the first female president of the United States after being elected to the office of vice president and having to take over for her predecessor. She has a philandering husband (Ted Bessel), three children (Quinn Cummings, Ricky Paull Goldin & Taliesen Jaffee) and friends and foes in the government and public life including Senator Sam Cotton (Murray Hamilton) and televangelist reverend Billy Joe Bickerstaff (Richard Paul). The plots were similar to those on Soap, with story lines carrying through from episode to episode and focused on both the affairs of state and family dynamics within the first family.
This especially intelligent and funny show ran for only 7 episodes. It's humor was particularly political and had an edge to it that was calculated to push buttons. Julia's secret service officer Randy (Joel Brooks) was gay and made no bones about it with lines like "I'm the most lethal pansy in the US of A, so watch it!" Her young son (Jaffee), in an attempt to get out of going to school claims to have an enlarged prostate. Look for very funny turns by Hershel Bernardi as her head of security and Dick Shawn as Soviet Premier Zolotov.
This series has never made it to DVD, though the pilot is on YouTube. Part one is above, uploaded by PattyDukeTheater.
Obscurity factor: 9 (not on DVD, available on YouTube in part, largely unknown)
This especially intelligent and funny show ran for only 7 episodes. It's humor was particularly political and had an edge to it that was calculated to push buttons. Julia's secret service officer Randy (Joel Brooks) was gay and made no bones about it with lines like "I'm the most lethal pansy in the US of A, so watch it!" Her young son (Jaffee), in an attempt to get out of going to school claims to have an enlarged prostate. Look for very funny turns by Hershel Bernardi as her head of security and Dick Shawn as Soviet Premier Zolotov.
This series has never made it to DVD, though the pilot is on YouTube. Part one is above, uploaded by PattyDukeTheater.
Obscurity factor: 9 (not on DVD, available on YouTube in part, largely unknown)
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