Showing posts with label Nightbeat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nightbeat. Show all posts
Monday, June 17, 2013
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Review: Nightbeat
When I was a kid in the mid 1970's, one of the first programs I discovered that I really liked was Nightbeat.
The station I listened to carried OTR every weekday night I believe but Nightbeat might be only twice a month. I do believe it was my favorite program then.
Randy Stone, a late-night reporter for The Chicago Star newspaper, was played by veteran actor Frank Lovejoy. His voice is perfect for a radio actor and I enjoyed listening to it very much as a kid. My imagination went wild with this show as those hot summer nights would come to a close and I lay there in my bed.
But OTR tastes, like your taste in food, changes.
Nightbeat is a show I still listen to late at night sometimes. Whatever magic or draw the show seemed to have when I was 12 or 13 doesn't seem to exist now. I have scratched my brain trying to figure out why the show doesn't click for me as it used to. The only thing I can figure is that like so many of these detective and detective-like shows, there are big holes in almost every story. The holes are there so you cannot figure out what is going to happen. At least, not most of the time. And I think that's the problem with most shows like this is that they cheat - and I don't like to be cheated.
Nightbeat isn't horrible or even predictable and it's still a fun show. But it's not a great show. It's a lot like Box 13 - as a matter of fact, these two shows could be brothers, if you know what I mean.
So when I listen now, I no longer listen with intrigue. I no longer pant in anticipation...is it going to come on tonight?
No. Now I just listen and fall asleep.
©Jimbo 2010/2011
The station I listened to carried OTR every weekday night I believe but Nightbeat might be only twice a month. I do believe it was my favorite program then.
Randy Stone, a late-night reporter for The Chicago Star newspaper, was played by veteran actor Frank Lovejoy. His voice is perfect for a radio actor and I enjoyed listening to it very much as a kid. My imagination went wild with this show as those hot summer nights would come to a close and I lay there in my bed.
But OTR tastes, like your taste in food, changes.
Nightbeat is a show I still listen to late at night sometimes. Whatever magic or draw the show seemed to have when I was 12 or 13 doesn't seem to exist now. I have scratched my brain trying to figure out why the show doesn't click for me as it used to. The only thing I can figure is that like so many of these detective and detective-like shows, there are big holes in almost every story. The holes are there so you cannot figure out what is going to happen. At least, not most of the time. And I think that's the problem with most shows like this is that they cheat - and I don't like to be cheated.
Nightbeat isn't horrible or even predictable and it's still a fun show. But it's not a great show. It's a lot like Box 13 - as a matter of fact, these two shows could be brothers, if you know what I mean.
So when I listen now, I no longer listen with intrigue. I no longer pant in anticipation...is it going to come on tonight?
No. Now I just listen and fall asleep.
©Jimbo 2010/2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Nightbeat name game: Lucky, Randy, Rudy
You may remember my discussion not too long ago about Nightbeat and Randy Stone being "Lucky Stone" in the audition.
Here's a sound clip where you can hear Lucky, Randy and also, "Rudy Stone" in the series' first episode:
(The clip will take a few seconds to start)
©Jimbo 2010/2011
Here's a sound clip where you can hear Lucky, Randy and also, "Rudy Stone" in the series' first episode:
(The clip will take a few seconds to start)
©Jimbo 2010/2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Auditions... blecch!
I hate to listen to auditions. When I do listen, I find that things are different and I don't like "different."
For instance, the other day I finally listened to the audition of Father Knows Best. Instead of the Anderson family, they were the Henderson family. That just doesn't work. I was expecting a sasquatch to show up in the show.
There was one drastic improvement in the audition though. The girl who played Kathy (not sure who she was) was a lot better than the Kathy (Norma Jean Nilson) on the regular show.
Now that's funny because I love lil Norma Jean on Jack Carson's show (she plays the little neighborhood girl.) But I'd strangle her if I lived in the Henderson (oops Anderson) neighborhood.
And I listened to the audition (and further) of Nightbeat, where Randy Stone is a night time reporter for a Chicago newspaper.
However, in the audition and for a few episodes after, he is not Randy but "Lucky!" That makes me cringe.
In the audition, which is one of the better auditions I have heard, he acts like he could star in a 1950's Die Hard film. He gets himself into one serious scrape after another chasing a guy whom he thinks killed his old friend.
 |
| Sometimes-annoying Norma Jean Nilsson |
There was one drastic improvement in the audition though. The girl who played Kathy (not sure who she was) was a lot better than the Kathy (Norma Jean Nilson) on the regular show.
 |
| Lucky Stone |
And I listened to the audition (and further) of Nightbeat, where Randy Stone is a night time reporter for a Chicago newspaper.
However, in the audition and for a few episodes after, he is not Randy but "Lucky!" That makes me cringe.
In the audition, which is one of the better auditions I have heard, he acts like he could star in a 1950's Die Hard film. He gets himself into one serious scrape after another chasing a guy whom he thinks killed his old friend.
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