The Chronic Rift Network

"Free For All"

UK Airing: October 20, 1967

US Airing: June 29, 1968

The Prisoner is thrust into the politics of the Village as he runs for the position of Number Two.

John and writer Jim Beard discuss an episode that was produced second and yet aired fourth and that bothers Jim. They discuss how the episodes actually played out on television regardless of production, how this episode is timeless in its commentary on elections, and the dig the episode takes at the Fifth Estate.

Take a moment to comment on the episode here or by writing [email protected]. One source used for this episode was The Official Prisoner Companion by Matthew White and Jaffer Ali.

"Lux Radio Theatre" presents yet another star-studded adaptation of a cinema classic. This time, it's the 1950 film "All About Eve." Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, and Gary Merrill reprise their roles from the Academy- Award-wining film originally written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

Lux Radio Theater

October 1, 1951

"All About Eve"

2:14

"A. B. and C."

UK Airing: October 13, 1967

US Airing: June 22, 1968

Number Two has only one more chance to get the information they need from The Prisoner. He turns to a new brain scanning technique of Number Fourteen's for help.

John and author Jim Beard discuss the direction of this episode, how it is a much smoother episode than fan favorite, "The Chimes of Big Ben" and continue their discussion of episode order in light of how this episode plays out. Please make sure you comment here or by writing us at [email protected].

Episode 57—The Immersive War of the Worlds

Science fiction writer and editor Scott Pearson's cohost Ella Pearson recounts surviving a Martian invasion with a walkthrough of her visit to Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience. Sets, actors, and VR headsets put her into the middle of a nineteenth-century London swarming with Martian tripods! Warning: spoilers for people lucky enough to be able to attend the Immersive Experience themselves.

Segments

00:27 Intro

01:04 A Musical War of the Worlds?!

03:15 An Immersive Overview

15:25 The Invasion Begins

17:35 Looking for Carrie

19:45 Evacuating London

21:00 Captured by Martians

26:00 Going Underground

29:00 Into the Air

30:15 The End of the Martians

31:10 Surviving the Invasion

32:13 Down the Pub

33:18 Final Thoughts

We start off with another episode of "The Aldrich Family," that domestic sitcom featuring the adventures of teen-ager Henry Aldrich. This episode, centering on a neighborhood wedding, is several notches above the usual fare, with some particularly clever lines and funny misunderstandings – all the elements you need for a solid sitcom. Then let's test our collective brainpower with an episode of "Information Please." Are you up on famous elopements, occupations of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, and schoolteachers in fiction?

Episodes

The Aldrich Family

May 13, 1948

"Date with Helen Forbes"

aka "Wedding Day Date with Helen Forbes"

1:47

Information Please August 1, 1941

"Guests: Lyman Bryson and Henry Noble McCracken"

30:18

"The Chimes of Big Ben"

UK Airing: October 6, 1967

US Airing: June 8, 1968

One of the fan favorites, in the second episode of the series, The Prisoner has a chance to escape thanks to meeting a prisoner who a similar background to our hero.

John and author Jim Beard discuss the plot choices of this particular story, pose the questions, "Does anyone really ever leave?", and "Is the viewer as much a prisoner as The Prisoner himself?". Please make sure you comment here or by writing us at [email protected].

Groucho Marx kicks things off with an episode of "You Bet Your Life." He trades barbs with a taxi driver from Vienna, and an Irish-American Texan tells how he met his wife when he ruined her cake at a St. Patrick's Day party. Then, on "Vic and Sade," their teen-aged son Rush is staying up late hoping to finish off the leftovers from a neighbor's party. Later, both Rush and Vic have to fight the temptation to draw a mustache on a sleeping man.

Episodes

You Bet Your Life

December 6, 1950

"The Secret Word is 'Hair'"

2:08

Vic and Sade

1940

"Too Many Faces in the Windows"

aka "Ice Cream and Salted Peanuts at Midnight"

"Mr. Sludge Grows a Mustache"

aka "Sleepers Beware"

31:48

"Arrival"

UK Airing: September 29, 1967

US Airing: June 1, 1968

Your Chronic Rift host, John S. Drew, is joined by author/editor Jim Beard to explore this cult limited series in the first of our limited series summer podcasts. You know Jim from such podcasts as The Batcave Podcast, The Hornet's Sting Podcast, and right here on The Chronic Rift. Together, as a pair of fans with some knowledge of the series between them, they will explore each episode and try to come up with their only answer to what it is we all want - information.

In the first episode, John and Jim discuss the pilot episode, the Village, and Patrick McGoohan as an actor. Please make sure you comment here or by writing us at [email protected].

We start off this week with some clever science fiction in the form of "X Minus One." In this episode, some hapless humans find themselves at the mercy of an alien lifeboat bent on saving their lives no matter what. It's an adaptation of Robert Sheckley's "The Lifeboat Mutiny." Then, on "The Jack Benny Show," Jack obsesses about the $4.75 he lost on a horse race, and the event manifests itself in the form of a hilariously strange dream. Also, the gang sings a parody of that ballad of a fighting Irishman, "Clancy Lowered the Boom."

Episodes

X Minus One

September 11, 1956

"The Lifeboat Mutiny"

1:46

The Jack Benny Show

May 2, 1954

"Jack Loses $4.75 at the Race Track"

31:56

It's National Library Week, from April 19th to 25th of 2020, so we're going to present two transcriptions, one a thriller and the other a comedy, centering on libraries. First up, in this episode of "Suspense," movie star Myrna Loy, who you probably know as Nora Charles in the "Thin Man" movies, is a librarian whose investigations into a vandalized copy of "Gone With the Wind" seem to point to a kidnapping. Then on "Fibber McGee and Molly," Fibber receives a bill for an overdue library book, which he can't find.

Episodes

Suspense

September 20, 1945

"Library Book"

2:13

Fibber McGee and Molly

November 21, 1939

"Overdue Library Book"

33:52