After seven years, finally a Christmas episode!!!
Christmas Eve 1972. J. Edgar Hoover, who had been FBI director for 48 years, had been dead and buried for seven months. Richard Nixon had been re-elected the previous month in a landslide, but Watergate was just beginning to rear its ugly head.
And finally, The FBI had a Christmas-themed episode!
“Dark Christmas” truly ranks as one of the best episodes of the entire series. It has a dark atmosphere that has a special quality. The plot line, which concerns a hitman’s attempt to kill a Denver businessman, has its share of action, including Assistant Director Arthur Ward’s getting into a physical altercation with a bad guy. Unlike so many other episodes, we get to see plenty of snowy weather, and also period stock footage of Denver.
The episode also benefits from a strong cast, starting with Don Gordon playing hitman Stuart Tilden, and Sondra Locke as a woman who befriends him in Denver. Their interaction is an interesting one. Kim Richards, fresh from her stint on Nanny and the Professor, and who would continue her acting career into the 2010s, plays one of the children of the intended victim.
There are also some interesting details, such as seeing a Catholic priest wearing a cassock and beretta, something not normally seen in 1972. The producers deserve extra credit for shooting in the snow and ice here, as it lends a real air of realism to the episode!
We don’t think the episode was ever rerun, but it is available on disc. And it is highly recommended!!!
And before we forget …
Beginning at the end of November, we start getting into birth and death anniversaries. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. was born 104 years ago on 30 November. His co-star on Batman: The Animated Series, Kevin Conroy, born on that date in 1955, recently passed away, not quite 67. Stephen Brooks passed away on 1 December 1999, so we had the 23rd anniversary of that event.
And sadly, for the first time, 9 December marks the birth anniversary of William Reynolds, who died on 24 August at age 90. He was the last surviving male lead cast member of the series.