Caine attends and blesses the wedding of Paul Blasidell's older daughter at a fancy hotel, then finds himself in a low-rent take-off of "DIE HARD".
First off, I suspected something was wrong when I saw this first-run, and then I was sure when I watched it again a few years later. Today, watching it again, I had it confirmed for me. "SUNDAY AT THE HOTEL WITH GEORGE", without a doubt, is the 2nd story in the series (or, hour 3 after the initial 2-hour pilot). When it was run originally, and the way it's listed online, is WRONG. Someone ran a later episode in between the pilot and this. But if you watch this, especially if you watch this right after the pilot, you can see it pretty much continues right where that story left off.
The villain, "George" (a criminal from Baltimore who tries to pass himself off as ex-Russian mafia) recognizes Peter from a news report of when Peter stopped a hold-up at a nightclub (in the 1st episode!). Paul Blaisdell (Robert Lansing) talks with Caine (David Carridine) about Peter having found his real father, and they discuss what's it's like trying to deal with him.
On top of that, this episode introduces Annie, Paul's wife who's been blind since she was very young, and has such a positive attitude about life you can't help but fall in love with her. We also learn more about Blaisdell, as it seems there's a rumor going around that he used to work for the C.I.A., and "advised" the Army during the Iraq Gulf War of 1991. We even find out more about his right-hand man, who was married in Las Vegas. Peter's nightclub singer girlfriend, who he had such a rocky relationship with in the pilot, returns here, and someone asks him if she's "thawing out" yet. And finally, we learn tantalizing hints about Peter's real mother, who was said to have had a resemblance to Rhonda Fleming.
This entire episode is practically a "pilot" in its own right! Suspense, action, likable characters, and just the right touches of humor to balance things out. What's NOT to love about this show? Among the guest cast are Bernard Behrens as a computer expert conned into helping the heist in the belief his family in Russia will be sent to America when it's over; he'd been the voice of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" on the "STAR WARS" radio shows. Also, there's Simon Williams as the very English hotel manager, who, when asked if his men can be trusted, says, "Of course-- they're on my cricket team!" DOCTOR WHO fans will recognize him as "Group Captain Gilmore" from the story "Remembrance of the Daleks".
I can never understand why TV networks screw with the scheduling of episodes. In the case of KUNG FU: THE LEGEND CONTINUES, I'm aware of at least 3 very blatant examples where continuity-heavy stories were noticeably run OUT OF SEQUENCE. And they started this nonsense right at the beginning. I'm gonna watch "SHADOW ASSASSIN" next... I'm sure it'll make more sense this time, especially as it's the one where they started to introduce "supernatural" elements completely absent from "SATURDAY AT THE HOTEL WITH GEORGE".
First off, I suspected something was wrong when I saw this first-run, and then I was sure when I watched it again a few years later. Today, watching it again, I had it confirmed for me. "SUNDAY AT THE HOTEL WITH GEORGE", without a doubt, is the 2nd story in the series (or, hour 3 after the initial 2-hour pilot). When it was run originally, and the way it's listed online, is WRONG. Someone ran a later episode in between the pilot and this. But if you watch this, especially if you watch this right after the pilot, you can see it pretty much continues right where that story left off.
The villain, "George" (a criminal from Baltimore who tries to pass himself off as ex-Russian mafia) recognizes Peter from a news report of when Peter stopped a hold-up at a nightclub (in the 1st episode!). Paul Blaisdell (Robert Lansing) talks with Caine (David Carridine) about Peter having found his real father, and they discuss what's it's like trying to deal with him.
On top of that, this episode introduces Annie, Paul's wife who's been blind since she was very young, and has such a positive attitude about life you can't help but fall in love with her. We also learn more about Blaisdell, as it seems there's a rumor going around that he used to work for the C.I.A., and "advised" the Army during the Iraq Gulf War of 1991. We even find out more about his right-hand man, who was married in Las Vegas. Peter's nightclub singer girlfriend, who he had such a rocky relationship with in the pilot, returns here, and someone asks him if she's "thawing out" yet. And finally, we learn tantalizing hints about Peter's real mother, who was said to have had a resemblance to Rhonda Fleming.
This entire episode is practically a "pilot" in its own right! Suspense, action, likable characters, and just the right touches of humor to balance things out. What's NOT to love about this show? Among the guest cast are Bernard Behrens as a computer expert conned into helping the heist in the belief his family in Russia will be sent to America when it's over; he'd been the voice of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" on the "STAR WARS" radio shows. Also, there's Simon Williams as the very English hotel manager, who, when asked if his men can be trusted, says, "Of course-- they're on my cricket team!" DOCTOR WHO fans will recognize him as "Group Captain Gilmore" from the story "Remembrance of the Daleks".
I can never understand why TV networks screw with the scheduling of episodes. In the case of KUNG FU: THE LEGEND CONTINUES, I'm aware of at least 3 very blatant examples where continuity-heavy stories were noticeably run OUT OF SEQUENCE. And they started this nonsense right at the beginning. I'm gonna watch "SHADOW ASSASSIN" next... I'm sure it'll make more sense this time, especially as it's the one where they started to introduce "supernatural" elements completely absent from "SATURDAY AT THE HOTEL WITH GEORGE".