By all accounts (and IMDb ratings), we have reached the pinnacle of this short series. Hays Stowe boomerangs back to his home state to lead a three-man commission investigating the shooting deaths of two student protesters by the National Guard.
The story was inspired by the then-recent May 4, 1970 incident at Kent State that left four dead and nine wounded. Stowe's commission is investigating an October 3rd conflict that left two dead and four wounded. I appreciated the writers acknowledging Kent State, lending the show a fitting verisimilitude (though the verbal contortions characters bend themselves into to avoid mentioning the state or city detracts from the realism).
The casting was perfect. Ed Binns as the conservative newspaper publisher, Bernie Hamilton as a liberal sociologist, with Hal Holbrook sandwiched between. John Marley plays the small town's mayor with Noam Pitlik as his deputy (and homosexual lover according to campus radical's shouted accusation that sparks some physical action to goose the talky but always compelling courtroom drama.
What put this show over the top was its inventive employment of what I call the "PETROCELLI Playbook," which is presenting wildly conflicting dramatizations of each party's recollections of the same event. Two are featured here: the verbal showdown between John Marley and Laurence Luckinbill and later spun-like-a-top reenactments of Noam Pitlik's meeting with John Randolph.
Seeing each actor be brash and bold in one telling, and meek and mild in the second, was not only a testimony to their acting skills but very entertaining. I admit I laughed during Pitlik and Randolph's interplay, envisioning in my mind their later BOB NEWHART SHOW characters Mr. Gianelli and Junior Harrison.
"What's the matter with these kids?!" asks Randolph, giving his desk a pounding for emphasis. He is so bombastic an actor he enlivens every scene with his voice inflections and facial expressions.
But arguably stealing the show is Laurence Luckinbill as the university's chancellor. He plays his scenes with such a calculating and smooth coolness (contrasted with Marley's scratchy rough edges). I really believed he was an ivory tower academic. No surprise he was cast to play Spock's brother (in what was no fault of Luckinbill's the nadir of the STAR TREK film franchise).
Bernie Hamilton will always be Starsky and Hutch's bellicose boss Captain Dobey, and there were flashed of that here (though not as much as in the pilot movie where, playing a different character, he reamed Stowe in a fiery phone call). Ed Binns and that voice of his brought much to the proceedings. I loved his exchange with Luckinbill, where Binns noted that only reluctantly did the chancellor agree that student rioters should be charged with arson.
And on that note, Robert Pratt as campus radical and rabble rouser Zach deserves a ton of credit for keeping this episode simmering on a low boil before cranking up the heat in the closing moments! Pamela McMyler plays Zach's dreamy gal pal Jennie. Her look of concern as Zach incites the crowd indicates she'll be a pivotal player in the concluding episode, which I have held off watching until completing my review of the first half.
Having heard from the chancellor, governor, and mayor, I suspect the second half will balance the scales with testimony from the actual participants: the military and student protesters (if the college kids can be swung out from under Zach's demagogic sway).
We do get a preview of coming attractions when a sheepish and tongue-tied Randolph Mantooth appears at Hays' hotel room door. Turns out he was the Guard leader when the shooting broke out. As a recent grad of the college himself, circumstances have put him between the proverbial rock and hard place, and his attempts to avoid testifying are gently refused by Stowe.
Breaking from previous episodes, Erin and Norma are sidelined without even a phone call. That was a strength as the audience's attention is kept--dare I say riveted?-on the unfolding investigation.
Jordan Boyle, political realist bordering on cynic, makes a keen observation: "Commissions are three for a nickel today. No matter what their findings are, nobody ever acts on them." Ironically, this episode aired on November 22, 1970, the seventh anniversary of the Kennedy Assassination. The Warren Commission that investigated it (using the term loosely) may have been just what Boyle was referring to. Maybe Zach can't be blamed for anticipating a whitewash?
The story was inspired by the then-recent May 4, 1970 incident at Kent State that left four dead and nine wounded. Stowe's commission is investigating an October 3rd conflict that left two dead and four wounded. I appreciated the writers acknowledging Kent State, lending the show a fitting verisimilitude (though the verbal contortions characters bend themselves into to avoid mentioning the state or city detracts from the realism).
The casting was perfect. Ed Binns as the conservative newspaper publisher, Bernie Hamilton as a liberal sociologist, with Hal Holbrook sandwiched between. John Marley plays the small town's mayor with Noam Pitlik as his deputy (and homosexual lover according to campus radical's shouted accusation that sparks some physical action to goose the talky but always compelling courtroom drama.
What put this show over the top was its inventive employment of what I call the "PETROCELLI Playbook," which is presenting wildly conflicting dramatizations of each party's recollections of the same event. Two are featured here: the verbal showdown between John Marley and Laurence Luckinbill and later spun-like-a-top reenactments of Noam Pitlik's meeting with John Randolph.
Seeing each actor be brash and bold in one telling, and meek and mild in the second, was not only a testimony to their acting skills but very entertaining. I admit I laughed during Pitlik and Randolph's interplay, envisioning in my mind their later BOB NEWHART SHOW characters Mr. Gianelli and Junior Harrison.
"What's the matter with these kids?!" asks Randolph, giving his desk a pounding for emphasis. He is so bombastic an actor he enlivens every scene with his voice inflections and facial expressions.
But arguably stealing the show is Laurence Luckinbill as the university's chancellor. He plays his scenes with such a calculating and smooth coolness (contrasted with Marley's scratchy rough edges). I really believed he was an ivory tower academic. No surprise he was cast to play Spock's brother (in what was no fault of Luckinbill's the nadir of the STAR TREK film franchise).
Bernie Hamilton will always be Starsky and Hutch's bellicose boss Captain Dobey, and there were flashed of that here (though not as much as in the pilot movie where, playing a different character, he reamed Stowe in a fiery phone call). Ed Binns and that voice of his brought much to the proceedings. I loved his exchange with Luckinbill, where Binns noted that only reluctantly did the chancellor agree that student rioters should be charged with arson.
And on that note, Robert Pratt as campus radical and rabble rouser Zach deserves a ton of credit for keeping this episode simmering on a low boil before cranking up the heat in the closing moments! Pamela McMyler plays Zach's dreamy gal pal Jennie. Her look of concern as Zach incites the crowd indicates she'll be a pivotal player in the concluding episode, which I have held off watching until completing my review of the first half.
Having heard from the chancellor, governor, and mayor, I suspect the second half will balance the scales with testimony from the actual participants: the military and student protesters (if the college kids can be swung out from under Zach's demagogic sway).
We do get a preview of coming attractions when a sheepish and tongue-tied Randolph Mantooth appears at Hays' hotel room door. Turns out he was the Guard leader when the shooting broke out. As a recent grad of the college himself, circumstances have put him between the proverbial rock and hard place, and his attempts to avoid testifying are gently refused by Stowe.
Breaking from previous episodes, Erin and Norma are sidelined without even a phone call. That was a strength as the audience's attention is kept--dare I say riveted?-on the unfolding investigation.
Jordan Boyle, political realist bordering on cynic, makes a keen observation: "Commissions are three for a nickel today. No matter what their findings are, nobody ever acts on them." Ironically, this episode aired on November 22, 1970, the seventh anniversary of the Kennedy Assassination. The Warren Commission that investigated it (using the term loosely) may have been just what Boyle was referring to. Maybe Zach can't be blamed for anticipating a whitewash?