The Avengers International Fan Forum

mousemeat wrote:

norw27 wrote:I've heard Brian say before about how he was 'stuck' with Linda, if they really were that aghast with the lead surely they could have replaced her as they did with Elizabeth Shepherd. And to say Linda has no sense of humour is just rubbish.

i concur...Brian is just blowing smoke... I suspect the sour grapes was due to Linda and her then relationship with Bryce...

Alleged relationship. Best not mention it (doing so led to the Avenegrs Dossier being pulped) due to legal issues - one or both of them were married at the time.

Dandy Forsdyke wrote:No they couldn't replace Linda. It was a different situation from the Elizabeth Shepherd situation where they no time to recast as they were in the middle of an American run. It's a pity Brian still feels he was burdened upon with LT, but I personaly believe it stems from the fact that he was not involved in the audition process. Had he been I think he would still have chosen her.

The sense of humour thing is a bit unfair. I think he was just used to the seamless same type of Patrick-Diana chemistry where the lines bounce and spark off between them.

Macnee and Rigg had an extraordinary chemistry, the kind that I don't think would have been duplicated with anyone else. From all of the women that I've seen who auditioned, I'd say Linda was definitely the right choice; young, fresh, stunningly beautiful, athletic, and most importantly, looked like an Avengers girl, which I don't think any of the others did. As for the "sense of humour" subject, all I know is that I saw Linda Thorson in the original Broadway run of "Noises Off" in the mid-1980s and laughed myself silly.

From what I understand, it was the ABC network in America that was calling all the shots, since they had a large financial stake in the show. They picked Linda, so it was out of Clemens' hands, which he obviously couldn't come to grips with. ABC also made the disastrous decision to air the show at the family hour of 7:30 PM (it had previously been aired at the more appropriate hour of 10 PM), ahead of the 8 PM start time for the No. 1 show on American television at the time, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In on NBC. There was simply no way it could have survived that time slot. The ratings died, and that was it.

MRotten wrote:

Dandy Forsdyke wrote:No they couldn't replace Linda. It was a different situation from the Elizabeth Shepherd situation where they no time to recast as they were in the middle of an American run. It's a pity Brian still feels he was burdened upon with LT, but I personaly believe it stems from the fact that he was not involved in the audition process. Had he been I think he would still have chosen her.

The sense of humour thing is a bit unfair. I think he was just used to the seamless same type of Patrick-Diana chemistry where the lines bounce and spark off between them.

Macnee and Rigg had an extraordinary chemistry, the kind that I don't think would have been duplicated with anyone else. From all of the women that I've seen who auditioned, I'd say Linda was definitely the right choice; young, fresh, stunningly beautiful, athletic, and most importantly, looked like an Avengers girl, which I don't think any of the others did. As for the "sense of humour" subject, all I know is that I saw Linda Thorson in the original Broadway run of "Noises Off" in the mid-1980s and laughed myself silly.

From what I understand, it was the ABC network in America that was calling all the shots, since they had a large financial stake in the show. They picked Linda, so it was out of Clemens' hands, which he obviously couldn't come to grips with. ABC also made the disastrous decision to air the show at the family hour of 7:30 PM (it had previously been aired at the more appropriate hour of 10 PM), ahead of the 8 PM start time for the No. 1 show on American television at the time, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In on NBC. There was simply no way it could have survived that time slot. The ratings died, and that was it.

laugh in no doubt 'socked it to the show'...actually, the ratings were not that dire..and the show simply could have been moved to another slot-and-or-night. but ABC was the third rated network at the time..and constantly made poor choices etc

Just watched an episode of Thriller, Brian Clemens series from 1973. Called The Ladykiller, starring Robert Powell and Linda Thorson no less. Not The Avengers quality admittedly, but not bad at all, and well worth watching. Has anyone seen any other episodes of this series, and can you recommend any episodes in particular. I have read the episodes range from brilliant to truly dire, so I would prefer to watch the former! Rich.

cyberrich wrote:Just watched an episode of Thriller, Brian Clemens series from 1973. Called The Ladykiller, starring Robert Powell and Linda Thorson no less. Not The Avengers quality admittedly, but not bad at all, and well worth watching. Has anyone seen any other episodes of this series, and can you recommend any episodes in particular. I have read the episodes range from brilliant to truly dire, so I would prefer to watch the former! Rich.

problem to me, was the scope of the scripts from that time frame.

cyberrich wrote:Just watched an episode of Thriller, Brian Clemens series from 1973. Called The Ladykiller, starring Robert Powell and Linda Thorson no less. Not The Avengers quality admittedly, but not bad at all, and well worth watching. Has anyone seen any other episodes of this series, and can you recommend any episodes in particular. I have read the episodes range from brilliant to truly dire, so I would prefer to watch the former! Rich.

I really liked Thriller back in the day, but sadly it has not aged well. Each episode is over an hour long which could easily be cut down to half, to three parts, of an hour in my opinion. Perhaps they were trying to build the suspense back then, but they're just very s-l-o-w. I've had my box set for a few years now but have watched only a handful of episodes. And even then I'm probably overestimating.

cyberrich wrote:Just watched an episode of Thriller, Brian Clemens series from 1973. Called The Ladykiller, starring Robert Powell and Linda Thorson no less. Not The Avengers quality admittedly, but not bad at all, and well worth watching. Has anyone seen any other episodes of this series, and can you recommend any episodes in particular. I have read the episodes range from brilliant to truly dire, so I would prefer to watch the former! Rich.

The one set in a college for blind students was good, starring Dennis Waterman and Alun Armstrong (New Tricks) plus William Marlowe and Peter Vaughan. It was called "The Eyes Have It". I haven't sene many others, though the one with Jeremy Brett as the new owner of a haunted Rolls Royce motor car is crazily amusing.

I think they went for the c.70 minute length to be closer to a feature film of the time. Films tended not to be too much longer then, and dominated the night's viewing schedule (when commercial breaks were factored in to the running time), so perhaps Thriller aimed at the same domination of the later evening/night schedule.

The new opening/closing titles made for American markets are dire though.

Timeless A-Peel wrote:

Dandy Forsdyke wrote:Ah, I see.

When Timeless says 'pretty sure' I think she's being modest. She's very clued up.

I try.

The farm made for a pretty good episode, actually--half the fun of that one is watching Tara run around all over the place. Talk about bringing your work home with you.

Very witty banter Timeless! so i was unclear did brian buy the place after the shot or that was his actual home at tbe time? i am guessing that it was his home. That was sooo funny!

anti-clockwise wrote:

Timeless A-Peel wrote:

Dandy Forsdyke wrote:Ah, I see.

When Timeless says 'pretty sure' I think she's being modest. She's very clued up.

I try.

The farm made for a pretty good episode, actually--half the fun of that one is watching Tara run around all over the place. Talk about bringing your work home with you.

Very witty banter Timeless! so i was unclear did brian buy the place after the shot or that was his actual home at tbe time? i am guessing that it was his home. That was sooo funny!

It was his home at the time. It fit the bill, so he thought they may as well use it.

I haven't read this thread in awhile, so don't recall being witty, but thanks all the same!

"He takes his work home with him" was very fitting! That is really interesting that they filmed his home. Can't wait to see it on my DVD's when they arrive!