One More Summer (2.17)

[Little Garwood]

Average at best [7.0] and that's being charitable.

I remember seeing this episode first run. I love the NFL, but for pacing reasons I usually despise sports movies, especially boxing. Football is a close second, though.

This episode had entirely too many scenes in the empty stadium. In fact, I got so restless, I started counting every time someone said the name "Dorsey"! Makes for a good drinking game.

Pat Morita must've been on vacation and visiting the set, because otherwise the man had absolutely no reason to be there! Wax off, Pat Morita! (Yes, I realize he's already dead).

While this one hasn't gotten any better in the four years since I last watched it, One More Summer is at least watchable just for the Higgins scenes. It's made abundantly clear that he (and The Lads) miss Thomas. The long pull away shot of Higgins walking The Lads while listing the benefits of not having Magnum around the Estate and subsequent dropping by the stadium to give Thomas his bills/mail is the kind of character scene that I enjoy so much in this series.

[308GUY]

One More Summer is at least watchable just for the Higgins scenes. It's made abundantly clear that he (and The Lads) miss Thomas. The long pull away shot of Higgins walking The Lads while listing the benefits of not having Magnum around the Estate and subsequent dropping by the stadium to give Thomas his bills/mail is the kind of character scene that I enjoy so much in this series.

:bigthumbsup: Couldn't agree more. That particular scene (for me) illustrates almost perfectly, the bond that JQH develops with TSM over the course of the series, in spite of the obvious resentment and distaste shown for his being there in the very beginning.

Nice summation.

[Mark R.Y.]

I don't think this has been mentioned yet, but this episode seems to have been strongly influenced by the 1979 Nick Nolte football movie North Dallas Forty. Wild parties, painkillers, at least one beast-like player (Sromosky here, John Matuszak in North Dallas), lounging in hot tubs dialogue scenes etc.

I also noted that the first thing Magnum does when he gets the ball during practice is to double-pump it before throwing it.

[Mrs. Higgins]

"I am de kicker...I kick de ball."

That scene cracks me up every time.

[308GUY]

"I am de kicker...I kick de ball."

That scene cracks me up every time.

Agreed! Always gets an out loud laugh from me! Especially the look on Magnum's face when he realizes he's been wasting his breath.

Oh, and I'd spell it "keeker"....

[KingKC]

Even back in the original airing of this episode in early 1982 when I was extremely tolerant of whatever came on, since we only got one Magnum per week, I will tell you that I was extremely tolerant with this one. Why is it TV thinks it can depict pro sports in a realistic way for a fictional program??? It always comes off as cheesy. Former pro football players make bad actors and Dick Butkus was no exception. It is also not believable that guys (characters) in their mid-thirties (TM and TC) can just appear on the practice field of a pro team. Gimmie a break, puh-lease!

This one is better than Two Birds of a Feather but that is the best thing I can say about it.

KingKC

[Chance]

This one has grown on me, and while it's certainly short of "excellent", it's definitely "pretty good".

My observations/highlights...

Another commenter compared Delbert to Tim Tebow, but for some reason Kurt Warner comes more readily to mind, especially with the gray-haired wife. This obviously predates Warner's stardom, however, but still...that's the connection I make.

Louise Sorel as Eleanor Greeley is fine. Her first appearance is just fantastic, in that wonderfully low-cut number she's wearing and playing with her sunglasses. She reminds me of the similarly bitchy team owner in "Major League", Rachel Phelps, played by an equally-attractive actress, Margaret Whitton.

The scene involving Magnum and the "keeker" is easily one of the top five laugh-out-loud bits of the entire series...for the dialogue, but mostly for TM's reaction behavior afterwards.*

The Higgins-and-lads crane shot...brilliance, as has been said numerous times already.*

Is it me, or is #77 in the yellow jersey at around 18:30 Mark Tuinei..."Shamu" from the previous episode, "Italian Ice"?

T.C.: "You look almost as surprised as the receiver", then looks away wide-eyed as he returns to formation, still giggling.*

(*The comic timing of this episode is really quite good)

Magnum was an obvious concussion protocol candidate after the second sack ("Whoops"), but back then I guess a soak in the hot tub was all that was needed to "fix" the malady.

Shromsky: "KILL! I will crush everything in my path! Everything in my path!!!"...another great LOL moment.

[Milton Collins]

This episode is fun for me because of the football focus. TM's love for sports (and my own) makes him such a lovable character to me as he still has almost childlike love for it. So any of the sports episodes I really enjoy other than season 3's abysmal Basket Case starring Basketball Willie ugh.

*Great surprise villain! Wow was that kid creepy, and even though he acted strange when getting Magnum and Dorsey's autograph I still didn't peg him as the stalker!

*Love TM signing the autographs at Dorsey's request lol. And then as they are walking off "We didn't drink beer when we were in training" comment was great!

*The connection between TM and Dorsey is pretty awesome as he was the understudy as an underclassman while TM was the older wiser star.

*I also love the fact that TC tried out for the team, made it all the more fun. Not to mention that CRAZY lineman hating Magnum and sacking him during the scrimmage lol.

* Pat Morita is hilarious! Man would I love to attend a party at that Oceanside pool!

*Even though he's a Wildman I completely love the Dorsey character. He seems to be pretty typical for the star quarterback/athlete role with a wild personal life off the field.

* Dick Butkus!! What a great guest star and a perfect episode for him to be in. He get's shot in the end and laughs it off and says he's had worse on the field, totally hilarious!

*I find it endearing when Higgins brings TM his mail in the locker room. As in Season 6 "The Hotel Dick" and many, many other episodes, we see how much Higgy really cares for TM even though he pretends he's a loathsome user and leach of Robin. I love the seen and unseen chemistry/relationship and also the love/hate relationship between Magnum and Higgins, one of the very best aspects of the show in my opinion.

Anyway, fun episode!

[ENSHealy]

As many others have said, the Higgins-Magnum interplay saves this episode. Without it, it's kind of a dog.

Flub? The first play that TM goes in at practice, the coach calls the play and tells Tom to throw it to the flanker, or wide receiver, but then they run the play and he throws it to TC, who was playing tight end.

A couple folks have commented that it's ridiculous that TM and TC even get to try out, but remember, it was Dorsey pulling strings in both cases. Also, just to clarify, TC did not make the team, as some have said, he was only going to be given an opportunity to play special teams in an exhibition game - which is a long way from making the team. (And since he put his shoulder out making one tackle, I'm thinking things wouldn't have ended well out there on the gridiron.)

Anyone else bothered by the fact that they were having full contact practices in shorts on the old 80s astroturf? They all would have been rug-burned beyond recognition.

Finally, a note on the back story of Thomas being the QB at Navy. Roger Staubach was Navy's starting QB from 1962-1964, winning the Heisman in 63. Thomas was supposedly class of 67, so he would have been playing QB in 64, 65 and 66 (I think this was still the era when freshmen couldn't play varsity sports in college). First, how in the heck do they not mention that Magnum was on the same team as Staubach? But secondly, and more importantly, anybody know off the top of their head who the starting QB was for Navy was in 65 and 66? Me neither, and I'm more than a casual football fan, so I think it's realistic that he has this backstory and isn't getting recognized all the time.

In case you're curious, Navy's starting QB in 65, 66 and 67 was John Cartwright. Interestingly enough, Wikipedia says after graduation he did a tour in Vietnam, just like Thomas. Although I guess that's not so unusual for a military academy graduate in 1968.

[J.J. Walters]

Great observations there Ensign Healy! But who is this John Cartwright that you speak of? Thomas S. Magnum was the QB of the Mids in '65, '66 and '67! And Dorsey Bramlett was his backup (even if he does look 10 years younger that him)!

I totally agree, they missed an opportunity to name-drop Staubach in some kind of dialog. Magnum didn't talk about his football days that much, but they should have worked that in there at some point.

Edit: I just did a search of my site and discovered that Staubach is mentioned in Season Seven's "Out of Sync". But I didn't specify the context of how he was mentioned. Anyone care to fire up "Out of Sync" tonight?

[T.Q.]

Great observations there Ensign Healy! But who is this John Cartwright that you speak of? Thomas S. Magnum was the QB of the Mids in '65, '66 and '67! And Dorsey Bramlett was his backup (even if he does look 10 years younger that him)!

I totally agree, they missed an opportunity to name-drop Staubach in some kind of dialog. Magnum didn't talk about his football days that much, but they should have worked that in there at some point.

Edit: I just did a search of my site and discovered that Staubach is mentioned in Season Seven's "Out of Sync". But I didn't specify the context of how he was mentioned. Anyone care to fire up "Out of Sync" tonight?

That’s hilarious. I literally just watched it two hours ago.

Going thorough series while I excercise I only half pay attention though. Not having seen this post I missed the reference.

[ENSHealy]

I dug up the Staubach reference. Here is the narration from Out of Sync where TM mentions him:

Did you ever commit to something you knew you really weren't committed to? Well, take my last game at Navy. We were playing Michigan, and we all knew there'd be pro scouts there. Not that that mattered much to the Navy guys. 'Cause we were already drafted, in a manner of speaking.

And I guess I really knew that they wouldn't be scouting me, even if I was available. But that's the point. See, I was having one of those great days. Over 200 yards passing, two touchdowns. Maybe...Maybe my best game ever.

And I started thinking, why shouldn't they be interested in me? You know, for the future? That's what happened to Staubach. Well, that was stupid, because I wasn't Staubach. I mean, there comes a time when you know how good you really are, and I wasn't Staubach.

So, time's running out, it's fourth down, we're trailing by three points and my wide receiver is wide open in the end zone, and I missed him by 20 yards. Now I hadn't missed anybody all day, so I don't know how I missed him by that much.

But I think I know why.

What if I'd had the best day a quarterback could ever have and nobody talked to me?

That says something about commitment.

A little flub on the writers part there, as the last game of every season at Navy is....Army-Navy!! Which they lost in 1966, 20-7. They actually didn't even play Michigan in 66. I suppose theoretically it could have been a bowl game, but they were 4-6 that year, and didn't go to any bowl games from 1965-1977.

[J.J. Walters]

Thanks ENSHealy! I've added the quote to the episode guide.

They did play Michigan in '67 though. The Mids won 26-21. But it was the 3rd game of the season. They were 5-4-1 that season, dropping games to William & Mary, Rice and Duke! Ouch!

[karolis]

3) The name Semeri Ulufale can be seen on a closeup of the scoreboard. Semeri played at the Univ. of Hawaii ('77-'81) as a "wedge buster" on kickoffs. He was a fan favorite and his nickname was "Suicide Sam". He later played arena football for the Honolulu Hammerheads in his early 40s. He died in 2004.

Screenshot:

Is it me, or is #77 in the yellow jersey at around 18:30 Mark Tuinei..."Shamu" from the previous episode, "Italian Ice"?

Screenshot from this episode:



Screenshot from previous episode:



The beard is definitely different but i see some similarities.

Funny Cola can



Higgins feels small and lonely without Magnum in Robin's Nest:



After 4 really great episodes it's definitely one of the bottom 5 episodes of the season (at least up to this one).

Here's my Season Two's Top up to this episode:

1. Tropical Madness (loved this one)
2-3. Memories Are Forever (1 & 2)
4. Italian Ice
5. Try to Remember
6. The Woman on the Beach
7. The Jororo Kill
8. Computer Date
9. Dead Man’s Channel
10. Wave Goodbye
11. Ghost Writer
12. The Sixth Position
13. From Moscow to Maui
14. One More Summer
15. The Taking of Dick McWilliams
16. Billy Joe Bob
17. Mad Buck Gibson

[karolis]

When i watched this episode a year ago, i was surprised to see Dick Butkus on opening credits. Not that i'm a fan of American football, i don't even know the rules, i'm not from USA. I was surprised to see Lithuanian last name as i, myself, am Lithuanian. I instantly googled it and got confirmation that he is in fact of Lithuanian descent. For such a small country it's not that often you see Lithuanian on American movies or TV. This is especially nice to see on one of my favourite 80s TV show! Some few other famous Lithuanians that i remember is - Robert Zemeckis, Ruta Lee, Charles Bronson, Jason Sudeikis, John C. Reilly.