How awful. In the 70s, there were probably still lots of elevators with manually operated doors. In places with lots of old multi-story buildings, there are probably such elevators even today.

Yes, there were elevators in the past with manual doors. I think they had mechanisms to prevent their opening if the elevator wasn't there, but I bet they could fail. Even today, if you are strong enough to overcome the springs, you can pry open the doors. Not a good idea, though.

You know, an elevator door can't open like that without an elevator being there. The motor is on the elevator car, not the hall door. It's an oft-used but totally erroneous trope. Other bad things can and have happened w/elevators and doors (such as the elevator moving while the door is still open). But not what Mad…

Would you say that to Tom Monroe? http://youtu.be/ax8hp3Ivbs8

Yeah, Henry David Thoreau noted these things 150 years ago. And others before him. It was all downhill from the first day someone decided they would rather live in a city than gather food. To believe that some large group of people isn't going to get royally screwed in any civilization isn't optimism, it's folly.…

It's not a trick, Michael, it's an illusion! Tricks are what whores do for money…

I'm glad you brought that up, @avclub-fbca7c48c185890bd31f538b91ba5fbb:disqus . Otherwise I was going to do it.

@avclub-0f0d67e214f9fef69b278e3d08114da9:disqus I ask myself that question at least once a day.

First thing I thought of, although I was remembering Daffy Duck as Bugs' antagonist. I don't think it would be the first time a Looney Tunes cartoon reused a gag like that.

Apparently not. You can find the title sequence on YouTube. Barbeque! The KC skyline! I'm sure the actors never set foot in the city.

Hmm… Kansas City was never the setting for Dorothy's home, and it's got at least as much to do with Missouri as with Kansas. It's not even flat and treeless! But KC was apparently the setting for a never-remember-by-me UPN sitcom in the late 90s starring Malcolm Jamal-Warner and Eddie Griffin (Wikipedia remembers…

Nice Philistines/Goliath call-back there, guys.

Yup, the Whomobile. I think that was a bit of meta-humor. The question marks… well, that's just John Nathan-Turner's bad taste.

These rings should change color to match the Don Draper Fingerbang Alert Level.

HART TO HART!

Indeed. They really suck.

Kenny G is just misunderstood!

You're all about the Python references these days, Kirk. Nothing wrong w/that, just noticing.

I think Ayn Rand used a cigarette holder. It still works.

@avclub-0f0d67e214f9fef69b278e3d08114da9:disqus , you sort of telegraphed the punchline there.