I first watched this when I was 15 and it scared the hell out of me. The Falklands war was going full blast between UK and Argentina on top of the Cold War and it seemed like the world was ending.
Weird, I have this distinct recollection that the episode ended with the sirens going off (not for a drill) and that the holocaust was being unleashed. And then it seemed odd when they were all there next week for another episode with no mention of it. Is it possible there was an alternate ending?
It's amazing the social consciousness about nuclear war in the early 80s vs. close to none today. An accident or miscalculation could produce the exact same result today that people were so worried about back then.
We came within a hairs length of nuclear war in the 80’s. There was a point when a soviet lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defense Forces, Stanislav Petrov didn’t launch against the west. That was in 1983.
I watched this show in first run every week but I don’t remember this one. Chances are I read the episode description and decided it would be too scary. It still is. One of the most important series in TV history.
Odd foreshadowing: Balloons are a euphemism for nuclear weapons /war (Like the song 99 Red Balloons, which was a anti-war song). And then the show ends up being about war.
I like how Mrs. Pynchon referenced the basis for Steven Spielberg's "1941"😄 Also if a war were imminent then Donovan wouldn't have been able to take his vacation, ambassadors would be expelled, NATO would have been put on alert, etc. I kind of wish they'd gone into this a little further. Also a Middle Eastern country wouldn't have gone Communist but I guess this was the Cold War era thinking here.
This episode reminds me of "The Day After," sounds like it even has a couple of the same lines. I wonder if the people behind that TV movie watched this episode and were inspired.
A good episode, but why was the city editor at the luncheon with Mrs. Pynchon and not the national and foreign editors? (I know, Asner was the star, but still... .)
I knew something was up when they kept showing the bus driver at the beginning of the show; I was like "no, no, please do not let an accident happen"...and, it did...oh well, stuff like this happens in life. I am not going to lie; I felt depressed watching this, but hopeful at the same time. Case in point--we do not have that nuclear "threat" with the Communists any more, now it's terrorists and madmen with guns. Hopefully, they have upgraded the treatment given to burn victims--that has to be one of the worse things a human can endure. I highly agree with BruceK10032's comment--the juxtapostion was very clever!
jokerswildio, the basic treatment is the same. Pain can not be controlled adequately. Dead skin must be scrubbed away. Infection is still the most likely cause of death. However, a number of advances have been made, including artificial skin, so in this episode the fact that the victim did not have enough skin to graft would not be as significant an issue now because artificial skin can be used. They have also developed innovative ways to better exploit the skin they harvest from a patient. Cosmetic reconstruction is amazing. People who would have once had lifelong horrific scars now look normal or very close to it. However, there is still only so much that can be done. The point of the episode, which is still germane today, is that even a single nuclear bomb would bring unthinkable - the title of the episode - and virtually unimaginable catastrophe upon a country.
Old Blackstock, it was bad anywhere there was population of any density, such as towns, not just of cities. I remember in about 1979-80 gas was rationed by your license plate number. Those beginning with odd numbers could only fill-up on odd numbered days and even numbers on even days. To reduce hoarding people were sometimes limited to only a limited amount when they got gas.
I wonder if the 1,000 cranes subplot was in reference to "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" by Eleanor Coerr, which was about a Japanese girl dying from atomic bomb radiation poisoning who tried to make 1,000 paper cranes to get her wish to be cured. It would make sense.
The nuclear weapons stuff was totally frightening, and what's more terrifying is the increase since this in 1982, in numbers, as well as capabilities of more countries.. like those insane N Koreans, who have been doing 'testing' lately
7:17 Ah the days before HIPAA law (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, basically says that a doctor, nurse, orderly, dentist or anyone in the medical field cannot talk about the health information to anyone but the patient or immediate family). It's also odd and interesting to see how life played out between the rocky relationship Soviet Union and United States before it was dismantled. 40:02 Boom mic alert... everyone take a drink!
Yes , this show angered President Reagan with its in the nose writing so the White House put huge pressure on CBS to rein back Ed Asner and the writers of this show . Reagan was a closeted fascist .
15:27 HAD YOU EVER HAD A GUN POINTED AT YOUR HAED -LITERALLY ? Another script blunder In the episode about the Latin American Dictor´s Wife at the Truibune there was that subplot about Charlie thretened in his younger years in jail there.
I first watched this when I was 15 and it scared the hell out of me. The Falklands war was going full blast between UK and Argentina on top of the Cold War and it seemed like the world was ending.
Weird, I have this distinct recollection that the episode ended with the sirens going off (not for a drill) and that the holocaust was being unleashed. And then it seemed odd when they were all there next week for another episode with no mention of it. Is it possible there was an alternate ending?
@@AaronB99999 Yes, it is a definite possibility.
It's amazing the social consciousness about nuclear war in the early 80s vs. close to none today. An accident or miscalculation could produce the exact same result today that people were so worried about back then.
We are one hack away
Watching this now with the war in Ukraine... Sigh...I wish people would take the time to revisit these episodes.
We came within a hairs length of nuclear war in the 80’s. There was a point when a soviet lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defense Forces, Stanislav Petrov didn’t launch against the west. That was in 1983.
I watched this show in first run every week but I don’t remember this one. Chances are I read the episode description and decided it would be too scary. It still is. One of the most important series in TV history.
"The Day After" from 1983. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After
Remember when Newspapers and Network Dramas were the thing !
Right afteer ALL THE PRESIDENT´S MEN and before this itn teh Fourties early Fifties
This episode always stuck with me. Should have been the series finale.
This is very effective juxtaposition of the problems of treating a single burn victim with discussion of the possibility of millions of burn victims.
Burns hurt more than any other pain.
depends what degree. once the nerves have been burned away, the pain right there stops.
Odd foreshadowing: Balloons are a euphemism for nuclear weapons /war (Like the song 99 Red Balloons, which was a anti-war song). And then the show ends up being about war.
pre-patient confidentiality laws - it was so easy to get details back in the day.
sorry no, there were confidentiality laws then, too. Problem became when world went digital with online systems.
Directed by Allen Williams, who played "Adam," the business editor and provided many off-camera voices on the show.
I like how Mrs. Pynchon referenced the basis for Steven Spielberg's "1941"😄
Also if a war were imminent then Donovan wouldn't have been able to take his vacation, ambassadors would be expelled, NATO would have been put on alert, etc. I kind of wish they'd gone into this a little further.
Also a Middle Eastern country wouldn't have gone Communist but I guess this was the Cold War era thinking here.
This episode reminds me of "The Day After," sounds like it even has a couple of the same lines. I wonder if the people behind that TV movie watched this episode and were inspired.
Is /Kular/ really a place? I've lived in the GCC for years and I have never heard of it. I can't find it on Google either.
No - its a fictitious place
👀
@@ssnocthey should have used a real place. Credibility suffers otherwise.
A good episode, but why was the city editor at the luncheon with Mrs. Pynchon and not the national and foreign editors? (I know, Asner was the star, but still... .)
Animal: The Smartest Guy in the Room.
If possible, be at Ground Zero.
The Reagan Era episodes got more and more contemporarily politically charged . It moved from family issues to global issues
Ed Asher says that’s why Lou Grant was cancelled….he got too political….and the episodes did as well
Ed Asner was a socialist and went right at the Reagan administration. It also cost him his show.
I knew something was up when they kept showing the bus driver at the beginning of the show; I was like "no, no, please do not let an accident happen"...and, it did...oh well, stuff like this happens in life. I am not going to lie; I felt depressed watching this, but hopeful at the same time. Case in point--we do not have that nuclear "threat" with the Communists any more, now it's terrorists and madmen with guns. Hopefully, they have upgraded the treatment given to burn victims--that has to be one of the worse things a human can endure. I highly agree with BruceK10032's comment--the juxtapostion was very clever!
since this was made, more and more burn protocols have been developed all over the US
jokerswildio, the basic treatment is the same. Pain can not be controlled adequately. Dead skin must be scrubbed away. Infection is still the most likely cause of death. However, a number of advances have been made, including artificial skin, so in this episode the fact that the victim did not have enough skin to graft would not be as significant an issue now because artificial skin can be used. They have also developed innovative ways to better exploit the skin they harvest from a patient. Cosmetic reconstruction is amazing. People who would have once had lifelong horrific scars now look normal or very close to it. However, there is still only so much that can be done. The point of the episode, which is still germane today, is that even a single nuclear bomb would bring unthinkable - the title of the episode - and virtually unimaginable catastrophe upon a country.
How did that one girl get burned while the girl sitting right next to her not have any injuries at all?
According to the story, that girl got trapped in the bus, but they did not explain how. Apparently, all other kids managed to escape.
1970s long gas lines. I was a kid. So I didn't have to deal with it. I think it was worse in big cities. I wasn't in a big city.
Old Blackstock, it was bad anywhere there was population of any density, such as towns, not just of cities. I remember in about 1979-80 gas was rationed by your license plate number. Those beginning with odd numbers could only fill-up on odd numbered days and even numbers on even days. To reduce hoarding people were sometimes limited to only a limited amount when they got gas.
I wonder if the 1,000 cranes subplot was in reference to "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" by Eleanor Coerr, which was about a Japanese girl dying from atomic bomb radiation poisoning who tried to make 1,000 paper cranes to get her wish to be cured. It would make sense.
The nuclear weapons stuff was totally frightening, and what's more terrifying is the increase since this in 1982, in numbers, as well as capabilities of more countries.. like those insane N Koreans, who have been doing 'testing' lately
I've been practicing duck and cover for 65 years.
Lou pronounced "Pseudomonas" correctly. The doctor got it wrong twice.
7:17 Ah the days before HIPAA law (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, basically says that a doctor, nurse, orderly, dentist or anyone in the medical field cannot talk about the health information to anyone but the patient or immediate family). It's also odd and interesting to see how life played out between the rocky relationship Soviet Union and United States before it was dismantled. 40:02 Boom mic alert... everyone take a drink!
Yeah, that doc gave the reporter everything except the kid's home address and school locker combination!
D best
Don't suppose anyone else recognized the guy from Sesame Street in a few scenes.:)
+甘明忠 Luis.
Luis.
I did! He's in several episodes actually!
Emilio Delgado as Ruben Castillo. Has been in several episodes since Season 2.
Yes. Emilio Delgado, who played Luis, was a reporter on the national desk here.
I can see the Persian Gulf from my window. and I have no idea wth “Coular” is. They made this country up, huh?
Yes , this show angered President Reagan with its in the nose writing so the White House put huge pressure on CBS to rein back Ed Asner and the writers of this show . Reagan was a closeted fascist .
My guess they wanted to evoke comparrisons to Qatar .
pseudoMoNas, not pseudoNoMas
The bus driver looked a lot like Robert DiNero. I know it wasn't, but am I the only one that noticed?
No, noticed it too.
I can see it
I think "Kumar" is fictional. It's the same fictional country they used in The West Wing.
I think he and Harold found White Castle
Good idea for an episode and nice writing, but bad ending.
15:27 HAD YOU EVER HAD A GUN POINTED AT YOUR HAED -LITERALLY ? Another script blunder
In the episode about the Latin American Dictor´s Wife at the Truibune there was that subplot about Charlie thretened in his younger years in jail there.
"HAED"?
40:02 ~ Sound boom in shot
A staple of Lou Grant. Could be a new drinking game.
Meh
this is sooooo 60ish.