I seriously find things I'm curious about on YouTube all the time. Such as a TV appearance by Director Henry Jaglom, who started out as an actor. I read about this and it's like one of those shockers.
So some of these old TV shows get pointed out as "Worst of all time," etc. Certainly 'The Flying Nun' has popped up on 10 worst lists from time to time, but I'd say you'd have to have missed a lot of bad shows to think that. Sally Field originally refused, but told them she'd changed her mind AFTER production of the pilot had started with the Daughter of Bobby Troup, ('I get my kicks on Route 66') probably assuming she'd waited until it was too late but at least pretending to be more cooperative about offerings. Ronnie Troup was instantly pitched out of the role and Field was trapped.
With the success of the singing career of Sister Soirre, The Singing Nun, those pesky nuns became a popular subject for films, such as 'The Trouble with Angels,' 'A Sister's Story,' and of course the fictional version of 'The Singing Nun.' So occasional author Tere Rios got the idea of taking a nun she'd seen struggling with her habit in strong winds and having her swept off the ground and into formation with a flock of pelicans who scatter when they fly over a military base that takes potshots at them. Sister Bertrille discovers she has no ability to maneuver as the pelicans do, and is shot down. . . .
Shortly after the novel she'd dedicated to her son and to the children of Asia was released, her son, two years a prisoner of the Viet Cong, was executed. With the popularity of nuns at the time, Field found herself stuck with the TV role for 3 years. In the middle of such shots as opening with the dog causing her to be airborne by towing her along, directors would call cut and discuss the effort as she hung in the air. Sometimes they'd grab her and drag her along into the position they wanted. She spoke of members of the management and the crew who would call her a "Pig" when she got pregnant, lazy, selfish, of course also tell her that she was a lousy actress. This to someone who would become one of the most honored actresses in history, with multiple Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globe Awards, etc. Mercifully, the show was cancelled and she got on with her more serious career, beginning with 'Maybe I'll come Home in the spring.' (A really different but interesting low budget effort.)
So mentioning that Harlan Ellison had a writing credit from 'The Flying Nun' the other night reminded me of reading about the surprise Emmy nomination of the episode of the show that had features Jaglom. What would it mean if Field, Ellison and Jaglom had all come together for the lone outstanding episode of the show. No such luck. But finding the name of the episode on IMDB.com led to me being able to find it on YouTube. When I see old TV from that era, I'm struck by just how BAD the writing was. The cast of the legendary 'All in the Family' would all remark at the writers being furious at them for refusing to speak the lines as written and often coming up with something completely different from what they'd been handed. Probably the only reason the show was memorable. I'll just say this episode is distinguished by NOT being painful either in its' concept or it's execution. Perky Sister Bertrille is in fact on the run, hiding out in the convent after being arrested as some militant Weatherman wannabee, needing to keep up appearances with a nunlike front. (Knowing that premise, lost in the ongoing story line of the show, adds to the coming confrontation.) The temptation to explore an old mine shaft leads to a scuffle with an escaped convict and a cave in. The trademark Field/Bertrille cheery optimism faces a showdown with the typical charming fatalism of the self pitying Jaglom character. It's a test of wills as the nun won't give up trying to escape while the escapee insists they're already as good as dead. Occasionally in the series the person Sister Bertrille is trying to leave behind might emerge from under the nun habit; the Jaglom character might not be ready for what he's going to face when he succeeds at breaking her optimism.
Ah, it feels like I'm exaggerating, doesn't it? In fact, it's all there, it's just it could have been done better. This show is contemporary to 'Hogan's Heroes,' the zany yet sometimes serious forebear of 'M.A.S.H.' I can just see the producers of 'The Flying Nun' seeing that they already had something better than any other episode of the show, so why not stop there? Oh darn, why not take advantage of the opportunity to do you best work? To have a moment thinking of what might have been? To maybe actually WIN that Emmy for your show that overall rivaled 'My Mother the Car' as the butt of "Was this show REALLY necessary?" jokes. I can't help but wonder if wasn't there any temptation to think this through just a little better. Any at all?
Ah well, I still enjoyed watching Field and Jaglom 'Chew the Furniture,' as we say of actors who are determined to do their best work even as they're handed the worst material. And just knowing how this has to end didn't blunt the comedic impact when our title character finally lives up to her billing after her failed efforts to reach the opening high above. I see this and I think it's a shame that Jaglom never became a star in his own right. The guy trying to insist from now on he's just out for himself but who can't help but feel sorry for this woman who's losing her mind: ('Promise me that after I fly out of here you won't tell anyone." "Oh, believe me, I have NO INTENTION of ever talking about that.")
The loss of her son seemed to take the wind out of the sails of a brief writing career. Her third and most successful novel would be her last. But Marie Teresa Rios Versace tried to parlay the modest success of her novel and the TV series it spawned into a meeting with the North Vietnamese delegation at the Paris Peace Talks. Although she failed, there is a statue of her son with two Vietnamese children is on display at the Captain Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. Another son, Dick Versace, is a former head coach of the Indiana Pacers.
Yeah, I went to school to learn to do story analysis like this. Sometimes it seems wasted on things I use it for. But it seems like a reason to watch even the bad old shows.
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