1st season the best. - Matt Houston (1982) Discussion

[–] jquark 20 years ago

Yes, my favorite episode is from the 1st season: "Deadly Fashion" (1.4).

http://www.tv.com/matt-houston/deadly-fashion/episode/37212/summary.html?tag=ep_list;title;3

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[–] videokillerprods 19 years ago

The "best" episode was Matt Houston vs "superhuman" Chuck Conners in the amusement park.
I'll never forget Conners growling "houuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuston."

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[–] mwmtampa 18 years ago

Good call on the best episode. Conners was great in that role. I recall he was supposed to have incredible strength and was able to take on a gang of British constables and handle them easily. Yet for some reason, good ole' Matlock Houston was able to take him all by his lonesome!!! This was a major show and had much more action and fun than Magnum,,, it was very underrated.

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[–] hburly-2 18 years ago

I still remember the backstory.... Chuck Conners was surrounded by London bobbies, unfortunatley, London bobbies don't carry guns and Chuck basically tore them apart with his bare hands. I remember thinking at the time, that's the coolest thing I've ever heard. I remember seeing that in like what, 1982? And it still haunts me to this day. Chuck Connors rules!

I also remember an exchange between Matt Houston and that dude that went on to play the suicidal evengelist in the movie Bad Dreams. He had a similar role on Matt Houston.
Matt Houston: "... I think you're serving people fast food religion."
The Evangelist: ""...After I'm done, YOU WILL be a believer!"

I also liked David Cassidy's murderous robots in Joey's World, "Joey's here!"
I still find myself saying that to flies right before I swat them to death (I know it's pretty sad))

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[–] pdigaudio 18 years ago

I agree. It also had the feel of Murder She Wrote in that you as the viewer didn't know whodunit until Houston revealed the killer's identity a la Jessica Fletcher. It was more detection than action.

The last two season evolved into an action series and as such was undistinguishable from other action series on TV.

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[–] greg6363 17 years ago

The first season was really a re-deux of Burke's Law (a Spelling show from the 60's) with the all-star guest list and whodunit format. When the show moved to a later timeslot on Friday night, ABC moved the show toward the action realm. Unfortunately, NBC's scheduling of Miami Vice against Houston spelled the end of the show.

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[–] mikepcls 17 years ago

a couple episodes i liked:

1. dorian harewood plays a boxer ready to retire(told he has a heart condition). right b4 the big fight,his doctors nurse is murdered. hes not happy when his wife turns to houston,believing the champ was the real target. ends with houston beating the crud out of the guest-star responsible while the champ is winning in the ring.

2. ten little indians style at houstons office - man who tried to swindle(I THINK) very rich people killing them at a "party". houston comes in a tux(gets ruined). at the end,cj,murray, and 2 guest stars are ushered into an elevator. the killer wants 5 million from houston. following dialogue:

houston: "how do i know you'll let us go?"
killer: "you dont"

at which point, cue the fight music.

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[–] zimbo47 17 years ago

The first season of Matt Houston featured some truly thrilling fight scenes:
1)Houston kicking David Hedison's ass in "Recipe for Murder'' after a cool motorbike race.
2)Houston and Lloyd Bochner engage in some entertaining fisticuffs at the end of "Shark Bait.''
3)The aforementioned thrashing that Dennis Cole receives courtesy of our hero in "The Rock and the Hard Place.''
4)My personal favorite (indeed, maybe the greatest fight in the history of TV)is the incredible duel between Houston and Dick Sargent in the "Yacht Club Murders.''

This is just the tip of the iceberg. What a marvelous show this was.

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[–] tag65 17 years ago

Even as a kid, I realized that "Matt Houston" was a blatant rip-off of "Magnum PI", but I didn't mind. Lee H. was GORGEOUS, even with all that orange, fake-tan makeup, or worse, when they put dark makeup on over the orange to make him look like he had stubble. I like his laid-back country boy ways - kind of like "Magnum" combined with "The Rockford Files".

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[–] Andy M. 14 years ago

I MUCH preferred the second two seasons to the first, mainly because they got rid of all the country bumpkin supporting cast and focused more on "straight" drama than playing it for laughs.

Didn't mind John Aprea, just couldn't stand the farm hands and 'Mama Novelli' (shudder).

One change I thought unnecessary was that C.J. lost her Texas accent after the first season. I mean, it had already been established (unless they thought it was too fake-sounding).

One of my faves was when Judson Scott guested as the baddie (think he was on at least twice).

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[–] hackraytex 9 years ago

I respectfully disagree. When a show is working, the suits need to keep their finger out of it and resist the urge to "retool" it. I have seen a number of good shows that happened to and it usually does not work out well. I regarded it as sort of a modern day western until they made the changes. Lee Horsley also did well in "Guns of Paradise" a few years later. The interesting twist to that one was that he bumped into some real historical characters and that livened up the show. I hope Pamela is enjoying her retirement, I still remember her well from that series and sure miss her.

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[–] GaelinW 9 years ago

I agree. I much preferred the "serious" Matt Houston over the Bumpkin one.

One change I thought unnecessary was that C.J. lost her Texas accent after the first season. I mean, it had already been established (unless they thought it was too fake-sounding).

I'm watching Season 1, episode 2 now on some random cable channel. CJ's accent is coming and going. I guess they figured since the actress couldn't sustain it, they might was well let it go.

I don't trust people who don't like pets and I don't trust people who pets don't like.

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