I'm watching all of Fantasy Island, a show I remember fondly in general, though I don't clearly recall any specific episodes from so long ago! I watched this one "out of sequence," because it is Mary Ann Mobley's first appearance on the show, and she is one of my favorite actresses. Another plus was that lovely Lana Wood also appears in the same story.
One thing that surprised me was how little screen time Mary Ann and Lana had in their segment! As I start watching Season 1 episodes, I'm realizing that with two complete stories in each episode, by necessity most of the supporting roles will be brief, and the actors in those will be lucky if the writing offers them some good moments.
That said, both Mary Ann and Lana were fine, they just didn't have much to do! Well, Mary Ann appeared in 7 more episodes, so I'll look forward to those! (She was tied with another actress for appearing in the third-highest number of ep's: Carol Lynley had the most appearances, at 11, and Phyllis Davis (co-starred in Vegas with Bob Urich) was second with 9.
Rich Little did a good job in his role as a would-be star attorney. I'm an attorney myself, so I always take an interest in how my profession is portrayed! The courtroom scenes had to be pushed along very quickly, more than would be at all realistic, but given the time constraints of the show, that story still had some good moments.
I thought the story with Ken Berry as a love-seeking, would-be womanizing guy who wanted to romance two women at the same time, was a more effective story. It was helped by Ken's excellent physical comedy skills and his great comic timing--I laughed out loud several times during his segment.
I think the most effective FI episodes are those where there is a nice romance, and also those where you get a feeling that the hero or heroine is in real danger--I especially liked, now that I think about it, the ones where there is something magical or occult going on, and Roark has to get into it and battle the forces of evil or the supernatural. I'm really looking forward to seeing those. I have the first three seasons that are out on dvd--the transfers look good--and 'll have to figure out how to watch the other four seasons when I finish 1 to 3.
Bottom line: fans of FI should enjoy this episode. It's entertaining and relaxing, though not a standout.