The hand movements are the clue - half persuading, half threatening. This is Benza all over. Good, terse reporting, each sentence admirably short and taut, never a word wasted, clear and sharp to the end. And all touched with a little hint of his native Brooklyn.
It only ran for three seasons, yet those 150 episodes keep coming back and back. The familiar figure stepping out from a grimy townscape in dark, mean gangster clothes that give nothing away. And introducing tonight's topic, invariably the wreck of a Hollywood dream. "But behind the glitter and glamour lay a heartless and cynical network..." Yes, we know. And we're not switching off.
At only 25 minutes, it is not clear why we need periodic mentions of 'the story so far'. Presumably the original episodes had commercial breaks, but these top-and-tail sections should have been edited-out of the recycled versions. Still, the disembodied hand cutting up the letters from 'Mysteries and Scandals' each time, in the style of a kidnap demand, does provide a repeated hint of the sinister and the unknown.
It only ran for three seasons, yet those 150 episodes keep coming back and back. The familiar figure stepping out from a grimy townscape in dark, mean gangster clothes that give nothing away. And introducing tonight's topic, invariably the wreck of a Hollywood dream. "But behind the glitter and glamour lay a heartless and cynical network..." Yes, we know. And we're not switching off.
At only 25 minutes, it is not clear why we need periodic mentions of 'the story so far'. Presumably the original episodes had commercial breaks, but these top-and-tail sections should have been edited-out of the recycled versions. Still, the disembodied hand cutting up the letters from 'Mysteries and Scandals' each time, in the style of a kidnap demand, does provide a repeated hint of the sinister and the unknown.