Introducing....WITH UMBRELLA, CHARM AND BOWLER: THAT (Other) AVENGERS PODCAST

As some of you may know, my favorite TV Show of all time is The Avengers.  Originated in 1961 by Sidney Newman (who would also help create a little show you may have heard of called Doctor Who--this guy had some instincts) as a way to retain Ian Hendry, the lead of Police Surgeon, it started out as a fairly conventional suspenser with Hendry’s doctor helping out a mysterious spy played by Patrick MacNee.  But during the years it ran, The Avengers morphed into something of its time, and yet timeless...one of the most distinctive products of the Spymania that overtook the mid-60‘s.

I imprinted on the show when I watched the reruns on WWOR-TV here in New York.  Back then, we Americans only had access to the last four (?)* seasons of the show, most of which featured my First Super Crush, Diana Rigg as Emma Peel.  As I grew up, I found ways to watch the show whenever it was presented--late at night as part of CBS’ Friday night programming; waking up at 3a.m. during college when WABC presented the show as a lead-in to their Western repeats, then going back to bed for two more hours of sweet sleep--and it got to the point where I could tell the episode by the opening shot.  When A&E finally imported the two seasons featuring Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale, I started watching those.  The only episodes I haven’t seen are the two-and-one-quarter episodes that still survive from the first season...until now.

You see, some years ago I made a promise that if I ever had access to all the surviving episodes and could find someone to take the journey with me, I would do an index podcast covering the entire series.  Late last year, I found access to the whole run of the series, and you know me--make a promise, keep a promise.  Thus I have teamed with Scott McGregor, who had fond memories of watching the show as a young’un, the talented amateur looking at the show I’ve practically memorized with new eyes.  Starting this month, we’ll be covering an episode a month, beginning with the fifteen-minute bit that remains of the pilot, ‘Hot Snow.’

The promo is here, in case you’re curious.  Episodes will drop monthly on the Two True Freaks Podcast Network, the same place you get The Honeywell Experiment.  Come join us for a trip back in time to an England that never existed--but probably should have been...a land of charm, civility, derring-do, and as much champagne as allowed by law.

Be seeing you.

*--there is some dispute as to whether the color Emma Peel episodes encompass one or two seasons.  I'm going to split the difference and call them '5A' and '5B' for the show's purposes.