In honor of Thanksgiving Week, here’s a genuine turkey from Tom Selleck’s up-and-coming years.
THE CHINESE TYPEWRITER (1979) – It’s tough to remember the time before Tom Selleck was a tv megastar. His looks made him stand out and he had “future success” written all over him. He even showed he had a knack for comedy when he made two appearances on The Rockford Files as the annoyingly perfect and cliche-ridden detective Lance White. (“I’m okay, Jim. It’s just a flesh wound.”)
Television giant Stephen J. Cannell even used Tom’s second Rockford Files episode as a backdoor pilot for a potential series starring Selleck and James Whitmore, Jr. That didn’t work out, but Cannell still had faith in Tom and his unexpected chemistry with Whitmore.
And that brings us to The Chinese Typewriter, a 90-minute (with commercials) pilot movie for a different series to star Selleck and Whitmore. Stephen J. Cannell wrote and executive-produced the telefilm and tv veteran Lou Antonio directed.
With those writing and directing pedigrees behind the project you should have been able to smell several seasons, big money and some Emmy Awards in the offing.
Instead, it was the most embarrassing production I’ve ever seen either Cannell or Antonio be connected with. The whole thing seems slapped together like the pair were told they had ten minutes to put together ideas for the tv-movie and fifteen minutes to start filming. Continue reading
ROUND ONE: GAME ONE – The SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY FIRE welcomed the REINHARDT UNIVERSITY EAGLES (should be Rottweilers). The Fire led 14-7 in the opening Quarter and 21-10 by Halftime. Neither team scored in the 3rd Quarter, but Reinhardt University mounted a fierce rally in the 4th. Southeastern University held on for a 24-22 victory. 
ROUND ONE: GAME TWO – A more lopsided affair was to be had in Oskaloosa, IA as the WILLIAM PENN UNIVERSITY STATESMEN played host to the TEXAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY RAMS. The 1st Half ended with the Statesmen out in front 21-3. After the break, William Penn U. outscored the Rams 17-6 to win the game 38-9.
ROUND ONE: GAME THREE – The UNIVERSITY OF ST. FRANCIS (IN) COUGARS took the field against the visiting EVANGEL UNIVERSITY VALOR. A 7-0 opening Quarter advantage for the Valor became a mere 10-7 edge come Halftime. The 3rd Quarter ended with the Cougars within 12-10, then in the 4th they came from behind for a 13-12 triumph. 
In the Zoroastrian version of the end times the Big Event will happen 3,000 years after Zoroaster/ Zarathustra introduced the world to the belief system that bears his name. For those who date Zoroaster’s birth to around 1,000 BCE that means the end could come any year now, but for those who date his birth closer to 600 BCE the world still has hundreds of years to go. 
MARVEL TEAM-UP Vol 1 #53 (Jan) 
The genetically engineered human/ animal hybrid creature Woodgod (at right) – also immune to the nerve gas – is still being contained in the depopulated town by Major Del Tremens and his troops at Tranquility Base, who caused the nerve gas leak. 
The SUSQUEHANNA UNIVERSITY RIVERHAWKS will host the WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON COLLEGE PRESIDENTS. 
The WHEATON COLLEGE THUNDER will host the CROWN COLLEGE POLARS. 
CHUP – The sun god of the Ainu. His wife is Tombe, the moon goddess. Ainu homes orient their sacred window toward the east to greet the rising sun. Until recent decades it was customary to salute the sun upon exposure to its rays, similar to the practice of genuflecting to the center of an altar, but done without kneeling. 
The PITTSBURG (KS) STATE GORILLAS will host the CHADRON STATE EAGLES. 
The COLORADO STATE AT PUEBLO THUNDER WOLVES will host the UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS IN THE PERMIAN BASIN FALCONS. 
RYAN O’NEAL – Let’s face it, Errol Flynn himself probably looked down from above with envy when it came to Ryan O’Neal’s escapades with women. And it’s a cinch that Flynn would have envied O’Neal’s acting talent, which was never spectacular but was above that of many of Hollywood’s biggest names.
Ryan tried his hand at boxing, then started his film career as a stuntman before gravitating to acting. At one time he was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, but his legendary partying and volatile behavior ultimately led to him being passed over for roles that might have cemented him as an upper tier thespian in Hollywood. 
GREEN ICE (1981) – Sadly, by 1981 the age of classic heist films like Rififi was long over and that may have contributed to the less than stellar box office results for this project. Ryan O’Neal starred as Joseph Wiley, a former engineer turned adventuring globe-trotter. 
An attempt on his life drives Wiley closer to Lillian and Argenti, but after intrigues and double-crosses involving Colombian rebels, Lillian’s missing sister and clashes with the corrupt Colombian government, Argenti emerges as the main villain. 
THE ULTIMATE INHERITORS (1914) – Written by Berg Bellair. This is a very entertaining work of vintage or “ancient” science fiction and is especially noteworthy for the way it anticipates the many “big bug” movies of the 1950s and later. 
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