Today's WGN episode - "My Master, the Rich Tycoon"

[Rezny@gmail.com]

A color episode from season 2,was okay,but no real great shakes.However,Paul Lynde was good as the smarmy Mr.Huggins,from the I.R.S.It was a very weird episode,in that Dr.Bellows gave up (for this episode at least)his attempts to catch Tony in the act,and have his secret of having a genie(Jeannie,of course)revealed.It was fun watching Dr.Bellows,and Mr.Huggins verbally spar with each other,and the ending,in which Jeannie blinked and made all of Tony's rich items(a rembrant ,a ming vase,and a safe with a lot of money)fakes,and exposed as fakes,when Mr.Huggins brings over a renowned Art expert to prove their authenticity,and Dr.Bellows says to Tony:"Well,Major Nelson,I'm glad you did IT to someone else(Mr.Huggins,this time)",or something like that(I forgot the line).,was funny.My score-6.5/fair-to-good.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

....when Sidney Sheldon was writing the series, he decided that Dr. Bellows should have an "I give up" attitude when dealing with the strange and unexplainable things he sees Major Nelson involved with [probably because General Peterson sent him on one "vacation" too many!]. In this episode, he doesn't believe Tony has all the "expensive" things Harry Huggins accuses him of keeping from the I.R.S., nor does he believe for one moment that he's "the head of an international smugging ring". He KNOWS what Huggins is in for if he tries to prove his suspicions- and sure enough, it happens- when Jeannie changes the "Ming vase" into a cheap 'Made In Japan' knockoff in front of Huggins and his art appraiser, Professor Prever [Maurice Dallimore, in an uncredited appearance], Bellows observes, "I knew it...I don't know how, but I knew it". At the end, while Huggins is trying to mend his professional relationship with Prever {"I'll send you my bill!!!"}, Bellows says to Tony, "I can't tell you what a pleasure it is to see you do it to someone else!".

Of course, there's also the perennial problem of Tony trying to convince Jeannie that it's wrong for her to give him expensive items and to make him look like a "rich man" when he isn't [and doesn't want to be], but of course, she does what she thinks is best for "Master", and makes him appear "rich" to impress those who would visit him {even I.R.S. agents; she still doesn't quite understand about 20th Century traditions of what's acceptable and what isn't in society} because she wants people to be proud of how her "darling master" appears in front of others...and she's stubborn. Only AFTER she hears Bellows tell Huggins he doesn't believe Tony's an "international smuggler", does she realize her error {too bad there wasn't a close-up of her at that moment with a horrified look on her face, mouthing, "oh, dear"....}, and when it's all over, she tells Tony it's HIS fault for starting all this, because he didn't tell her that Huggins was a "nasty man", blah-blah-blah.....


Sidney Sheldon had written scripts for Paul Lynde before: an unsold pilot starring him, and Will Hutchins as "HOWIE" (1962), later reworked and sold as "THE PAUL LYNDE SHOW", ten years later; an appearance on "THE PATTY DUKE SHOW" during its first season, and another unsold pilot Lynde did for Screen Gems in 1964. So, this was "old home week" when Paul guest starred on "JEANNIE". No matter what dialogue he had, every time he opened his mouth, it was funny! {"And who's to stop him?"/"I am, Dr. Bellows.....I AM!!!"}. That's why he came back two more times...that is, until William Asher insisted in early 1968 that Paul make no more appearances on "JEANNIE" because he was "exclusive" to him for "BEWITCHED".