#blackandwhite #TV NOIR BLACK-AND-WHITE TV #MysteryTheater #HomicideSquad #FrontPageDetective #DumontNetwork #DangerMan #Code3 #HollywoodOffbeat #RichardDiamond #Coronado9 #HerculePoirot #MikeHammer
tom-gillispie.blogspot.com/2025/09/blac...
#RichardDiamond End of walkthrough.
Do I recommend?
Yes for Radio esp the first NBC run of 76 eps. As Radio became a slave to ads in the 1950s so running times decreased and the quality but the ABC run of eps is still very decent.
No for the TV show: not well made and it's all over the place.
#RichardDiamond Short Story #3-#4. cont'd.
I threw this book into the bin unread, well after I read the first sentence.
One of the three stories isn't a Diamond story the two that are are set in LOS ANGELES 1949. Like what the f**k?
Enjoy your โฌ5 Alan King it's the last you'll ever get off me.
#SteveRandall TV 1.11 cont'd.
In exactly the same way that the first 2 seasons of the TV version of #RichardDiamond didn't work as it was pre-filmed in LA but set in NY, so this is pre-filmed in NY but set in LA.
I'll persevere as there are still a few other surviving eps and the prints look decent.
#RichardDiamond Short Story #3-#5 (04-Jul-16).
I made the mistake of not first checking Amazon.com where this anthology sells for $1 on Kindle so I had already spent โฌ6 on Amazon.ie for this in paperback.
As it's 2016 so it will not have used AI tools in it yet I'm dreading reading the 3 stories.
#RichardDiamond Short Story #2 "Vacation in Hollywood" (30-Mar-06).
This 3rd volume of "It's That Time Again!" is all crossovers. Diamond's story is with "The Jack Benny Program".
Rick must prevent Benny's house being robbed. It has to satisfy as a Benny Radio ep too so we get the wallet gags etc!
#RichardDiamond Short Story #1 "Fall from Grace" (15-Nov-02).
Good work. Lots of in jokes and meta fare ala Radio. Obvs all these legacy tales will be Powell not Janssen.
Diamond sings a bit too much but I let it pass.
Otis finding a clue was fun.
Not sure of Rick using recording equipment mind.
#RichardDiamond TV 4.10 cont'd.
And that is that after 157 Radio eps and 78 TV eps Richard Diamond presumably hangs up his cigarettes.
Skipping Don Taylor's sole pilot TV ep I confess that Dick Powell and David Janssen were excellent.
There are still more adventures to come ....but 42 years later!
#RichardDiamond TV ep #4.10 "The Mouse" (13-Sep-60).
Final ep!!!
It's a bit of a mess again. An ep about Nazis and Nazi sympathisers. TBF David Janssen looks like he's ready to punch Nazis and is strongly passionate here but Nazi stories are out of date by 1960.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQbz...
#RichardDiamond TV ep #4.09 "Running Scared" (06-Sep-60).
This was a far better ep that kept one guessing till the end. The premise has been done before elsewhere but it was done well here.
Is this Diamond's catchphrase "Have you though of going to the police?"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQbz...
#RichardDiamond TV ep #4.08 "East of Danger" (30-Aug-60).
Very generic and dull Chinatown heroin smuggling tale. Boy this had been done to death well before 1960.
And yes James Hong turns up and he's not even young in 1960!
Also has 1952 Miss Hong Kong Judy Dan ไฝ่ฑ่ฟช
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7ZT...
#RichardDiamond TV 4.07 cont'd.
I had to go look up that fake French woman. Jeepers holey moley now that is a broad!!! Where has she been hiding?!!!
She's Swedish actress called Lili Kardell. Just 24 IMDB items and later retired to become a state mediator.
#RichardDiamond TV ep #4.07 "Accent on Murder" (23-Aug-60).
File under the sub-genre of private dick gets stuck with a prize animal. Not as much fun or as good as Radio ep #40 "Timothy the Seal" (05-Feb-50) mind. But boy the dog was cute and also that big one too!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmLL...
#RichardDiamond TV ep #4.06 "The Lovely Fraud" (16-Aug-60).
Diamond ends up in a #JohnnyDollar ep. Otherwise a pretty cookie cutter insurance fraud ep.
The labwork and cop forensics were so #Dragnet. It even has a now post-Dragnet actor the ubiquitous Jack Kruschen.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0e-...
#RichardDiamond TV ep #4.05 "Double Trouble" (09-Aug-60).
Before he was an appalling TV Producer who ruined #StarTrek and #Space1999 Fred Freiberger was a jobbing TV script writer. He wrote this pedestrian forgettable dreck.
I liked the black windows and little else.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Sg...
#RichardDiamond TV ep #4.04 "Coat of Arms" (02-Aug-60).
The one punch ending to this McGuffin ep was not great but I liked the rest of this gritty ep and the postscript.
Features a young James Coburn and the client is Rita Moreno. The latter is still alive at 94!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1M6...
#RichardDiamond TV 4.03 cont'd.
The woman was Virginia Vincent. I'll see her as 6 separate roles in 1960s #Dragnet!
I saw her in #TalesOfTomorrow TV eps #2.26 "Another Chance" (13-Feb-53) & #2.12 "The Lost Planet" (07-Nov-52). The latter I previously declared the best TV episode of the 1950s.
#RichardDiamond TV ep #4.03 "Fallen Star" (19-Jul-60).
This is Richard Diamond's version of "The Caves of Androzani". This ep is so good I thought it was #Dragnet as the box starts to close around the hero and the villain. You can see Janssen is too good for this.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nt-...
#RichardDiamond TV ep #4.02 "And Whose Little Baby Are You?" (05-Jul-60).
Good premise of private dick stuck with a baby. But boy this ep just did nothing bar one comedy bit at the start. Diamond's new g/f was a non-entity. Why did the guy hide out at the club? Dumb.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CcW...
#RichardDiamond TV ep #4.01 "The Popskull" (28-Jun-60).
With no difference in production for this ep I think the first ep of S4 might really be ep #3.19. Hence this #4.01 is really #4.17 but I won't change my numbering now.
Illegal hooch ep. So very dated for 1960?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e14J...
#RichardDiamond TV 3.34 cont'd.
As son I heard the Dr Braun I immediately said I know that voice. Never seen Howard McNear but know him from #Suspense, #JohnnyDollar & loads more!
Even better Jonathan Hole plays the same pompous bank manAger from #Dragnet TV ep #4.30 "The Big Number". #HeadCanon!
#RichardDiamond TV ep #3.33 "Seven Swords" (18-Jan-60).
The existing file is low quality but worth watching as it's a better ep. Lower res did help with the main twist! I liked that the magic trick and at the start and end was re-used.
I'm warming to Sam 2.0 (3.0?).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLbt...
#RichardDiamond TV ep #3.32 "Dead to the World" (11-Jan-60).
Decent ep again but like this show seems incapable of landing every morsel of drama needed to elevate it. It may be 1960 but there's not much separating this from a 1950 show in terms of quality.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_l8...
#RichardDiamond TV ep #3.31 "One Dead Cat" (28-Dec-59).
Ok ep but how the girl knew Diamond in the first place might've been explained.
Reasonable ep otherwise. But again none of these eps are overly special.
That musician sure packed a punch. I liked his death scene.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvg-...
#RichardDiamond The next 5 eps are lost. Pity but this show isn't setting the world afire.
TV ep #3.30 "The Caller" (21-Dec-59).
A hit man is after Diamond who has 24 hours to live. Not great but I liked the finale. Diamond beating up everyone at the start: no.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO5E...
#RichardDiamond TV 3.24 cont'd.
Good inventive hall of mirrors ending.
Be nice to have seen the comedian on stage or even make a joke.
It may be that all this show's eps would be good if the surviving prints were as pristine as this but I'm sure that's not the case.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEuz...
#RichardDiamond TV ep #3.24 "The Comedian" (09-Nov-59).
Top ep and a pristine print for once!
Rat Pack member Joey Bishop with an early TV role.
Nice seeing Carole Mathews again. Recently saw her in #ILoveAMystery Movie #1 (25-Jan-45) and #ManAgainstCrime TV e#5.06 "Man Bout is Murder" (15-Nov-53).
#RichardDiamond TV ep #3.23 "The Runaway" (02-Nov-59).
Fairly unbalanced ep plus the finale is missing from one file of this online.
I liked the recurring Frisco gag and I'm certain that's been done in OTR eps I've listened to not necessarily a Richard Diamond ep.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLqc...
#RichardDiamond TV ep #3.22 "The Client" (26-Oct-59).
Think this was an old #JohnnyDollar ep?
Rick heads to Mexico so they cast all the Latin looking actors from the cowboy movies. I liked the night shooting as when this show isn't sundrenched it works far better.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LmI...
#RichardDiamond TV ep #3.21 "The Bookie" (19-Oct-59).
The cop in this, Kile, was maybe in one prior ep as the main cop keeps rotating. So we're not too interested in his well being. Why not just keep one main cop?
It looks like Mary Tyler Moore isn't coming back?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRA8...
