"Pups Save a School Bus" after Adventure Bay's bus gets four flat tires. Ryder volunteers to drive the kids to school in the pups' bus, but then Alex takes off in Chase's car and the pups have to go after him. "Pups Save the Songbirds" when they vanish suddenly, and Mayor Humdinger is involved.
Let Family Feud run while I made my grocery list and got my schedule. In good news, three days off, more hours. In bad news, two 8 1/2 hour days. No idea what's going on there. I don't usually work that long on the head bagger's days off. Maybe one of the college-age baggers who usually work in the afternoons went on vacation.
Headed off to do this week's grocery shopping after I got off the computer. Restocked coconut milk, granola bars, and bananas at Sprouts. Thought I'd try their dried pineapple this week and a buy one, get one free deal on Live, a new probiotic soda. Grabbed chocolate chips for a recipe I never got a chance to make later in the day. Dropped off the remaining Mercedes Lackey books I finally finished before heading down Cuthbert Road to the Acme.
The Westmont Acme was even less busy than Sprouts was. It's the last day of the month and the weather continues to be beautiful. I was mainly there to pick up yogurt, Kind kids bars on a good sale, and bagels for lunch at work next week. Found a bag of blood oranges for a good price and more of that tasty Slice soda on sale. (I don't remember Slice being that good when I was a kid!) Spices were buy 2, get one free, so I restocked cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Picked up chai tea and provolone cheese for dinner.
Had lunch when I got in, then went through the bin of the random doll clothes and items. The boxes I use for the dolls' clothing are now big enough to fit their pajamas and coats, and I don't need nearly all of the hangers I have. I found a few accessories I'd been looking for too, including Samantha's purse and two scarves I made for the dolls years ago. I moved the tote bags to the big Marshalls bag and switched the dolls' accessories and the Cabbage Patch Dolls' clothing to the bin that held the tote bags. The plastic bag that held my linens and out-of-season quilts was falling apart, so I moved those to the other bin.
Let Buzzr run while I worked, starting with The Price Is Right. Bob asked the ladies in the second episode what they were up to. As it turned out, not a lot. Dian claimed to be seeing someone, Holly had her eye on a guy, and Janice was engaged. The Showcases were a hoot and a half. The big theme on the first episode had "adventures," which mainly meant trips and a boat. The second episode featured a hilarious spoof of Trivial Pursuit, with Holly answering "Texas Ranger" to every question.
The second episode also featured the rare mini-game "On the Nose." The contestant guesses the prices of four items. However many prices he gets right is the amount of tries he has to play a game, like throwing a baseball or a football. Though the contestant did win (with only one try!), I can see why this game didn't last long. Not everyone has that good of an arm (or gets that lucky), and sports and prices are really kind of an odd mix.
Match Game Syndicated had its own fun. Gene and Charles spent the first episode teasing Arte Johnson and comedian Ronny Graham for bringing purse-like bags onstage. For some reason, Steve Kanaly of Dallas has not cleared his syndicated week (though his PM episode has run), so they skipped straight into the week with Bill Cullen, Lee Merriweather, and Bill Daily. Bill Daily was extra-squirrely that week, especially when someone would have to call on him for the Audience Match and he'd either make faces or hide.
Finished the night honoring the late Gene Hackman with a genuine rarity from 1975. Lucky Lady has Liza Minnelli as blousy widow Claire who hooks up with Walker (Burt Reynolds) in order to wind up her business affairs in Tijuana, Mexico in 1930. After an attempt to smuggle illegal Mexican immigrants doesn't work out, they join rumrunner Kibby (Hackman) and his young captain Billy (Robby Benson) to do a different kind of smuggling. Even with the Coast Guard after them, they make enough money on the liquor shipment to net them a cushy home, repairs on Kibby's boat the Lady Luck, and a wealthy swain for Claire.
The Coast Guard aren't the only ones on their tail. When Kibby and Walker are ambushed by east coast gangster McTeague (John Hillerman), they lose Billy, their shipment, and the Lady Luck. Horrified, Claire runs out on a dinner party and joins them to round up every rummy on the West coast and show those East Coast crooks they don't know as much about the business as they think.
While not the greatest thing ever, this charming caper does have its good points. The production is gorgeous, with pitch-perfect period gowns for Minnelli and suits for the guys. I actually like that she doesn't decide between the guys and decides to keep both of them. Anyone else would have had her choose one or the other, but they were both so darn likable, I could understand why she wouldn't want to.
On the other hand, the story is disjointed, especially in the second half. The script was constantly re-written, and they never did really decide on an ending. The dialogue isn't so hot, either. There's some decent songs by Kander and Ebb (including the title number), and Donen is more at home dealing with them than with the big action finale at sea. Apparently, the entire finale was over his head and scared him to death. Donen never did figure out the tone, either. The movie veers from crime caper to violent gangster film (including showing Billy's death) without rhyme or reason.
Worth checking out once if you're a really big fan of vintage camper comedies, Donen, or the stars involved. YouTube seems to be the only place you can find this at the moment; the Shout TV! DVD is expensive.
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