Actually, I think that was the Florence Foster Jenkins story…

Boy, there's a surprising headline.

That was the coolest thing that today's young punks would find hard to imagine — TVs of the day had mechanical channel selector dials, and using the remote naturally required it to mechanically advance, with that satisfying, old-school robotic sound.

Part of Banacek's schtick was that he was basically a jerk, in that classic George Peppard way. As a kid I always did love his "how they did it" scenes though, that often involved elaborate models.

I think another factor, at least here in the US, was some controversy in the '80s about the glue-sniffing "menace", which resulted in kids being unable to buy the necessary glue on their own — just another nuisance to discourage kids' initiative.

The thought of them squealing as they roll out of the supermarket ahead of her will make me smile for days…

Our Man Flint seems to have come out the same year, as did the first Matt Helm movie, The Silencers. What I thought distinguished Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die was that it felt outright "jokier" to me than even the Dean Martin stuff, though Connors played it perfectly straight. It's kind of like he was playing…

I agree. Look up Zenith's "Space Command". I believe it was ultrasonic rather than infrared-based, as modern remotes are, but it was definitely cordless, and I"m sure my grandparents had one in the late '60s.

Thinking about it, that might have been the original gimmick — As mentioned by Hughes, in the first season Mannix worked for a "high tech" investigation firm, but succeeded by insisting on using "old school" methods (like fistfights, presumably). I think his unusual name might have been meant as a spoof on his being a…

Right before Mannix, he starred in about the first full-fledged Bond parody I'm aware of: Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die — Not exactly good, but he managed to maintain a certain dignity through it.

My intensive searches indicate otherwise…

I'm pretty sure Rhoda lived upstairs from Mary, in a smaller attic apartment, and had moved back to New York and her own spinoff at least a season before Mary's move.

Which I don't believe they ever did in front of the highrise anyway. It pretty much turned into the same interior-only dynamic as the Hartley's apartment on The Bob Newhart Show.

I always thought Mary's move had more to do with wanting to spin off Phyllis, and possibly wanting to underline Mary's upward professional mobility.

When you spend all your time watching TV… that's when they sneak up on you.

Especially the Samoans…

All right, Colonel… You asked for it!

Pitt. The. Elder!

…dressed like a peanut, he’s crushed by an elephant

Boy, could she multitask…