The Courtship Of Eddie's Father S1 Ep5: The Computer

This is the final look back at The Courtship Of Eddie's Father as part of the bonus supplements to complement The Incredible Hulk entries here at Musings Of A Sci-Fi Fanatic, but maybe we'll do a general look back at some of the highlights from the series down the road featuring its many guest stars and smoking hot babes from its run 1969-1971.  It is fitting we should end our look back just prior to the posting of The Incredible Hulk, Season One, Episode 7, 747, guest-starring none other than Brandon Cruz himself.

The Courtship of Eddie's Father serial returns with another mostly fresh, new opening segment.  Those openers are always incredibly sweet.



The latest story also brings us a fresh, new idea in The Courtship Of Eddie's Father, Season One, Episode 5, The Computer.

Whilst Tom Corbett suffers from a nasty cold and receives a little nursing from Mrs. Livingston, Norman Tinker works on some computerized mate-matching for Tom.

Mrs. Livingston calls the idea an "arranged meeting" and that's nothing new at all when she considers how the process works in Japan.



Tinker brings a woman, Ms. Diane Kirby, to Tom's home. Unfortunately all of this plays out with one of the most bizarre, computer-infused scores I've ever heard. It's a little annoying or distracting at times even. Obviously, the music is meant to suggest the computerized theme of the match-making service in play for Tom, but it's just plain odd. Fortunately it stops after the first ten minutes.


So little Eddie, who really likes Ms. Kirby calls over to his friend's house, Billy Gerber, to tell him how his Dad has a new "machine lady" friend.



Meanwhile, Tom is just not feeling it for his machine-selected girlfriend. It simply isn't working and Mrs. Livingston makes the salient point to Tom that his first marriage must have been easy because it came from his "heart." She's right of course and Tom knows it. Despite what his heart is telling him, his head says to go along and give it a try for Eddie.



Mrs. Livingston notes that Tom is subconsciously looking for a mother for Eddie and perhaps the computer picks up on that as well, confusing what works for Tom. After all, the heart wants what it wants and Tom isn't looking for a companion for Tom.





Ms. Kirby discovers in a machine test that Eddie is matched up with Diane or rather Ms. Kirby. Ms. Kirby projected her maternal feelings and that by-passed those things required in the chemistry between a man and a woman. Ultimately, The Computer is an old-fashioned and outdated version of the match-making services that have cropped up over the years on the Internet.  While certainly progressive in its thinking here, the episode doesn't ultimately work because it comes off so damn strange. The moral of the story is one should always lead with his heart and not necessarily his head.  That computes sometimes, but this particular courtship story just doesn't.

The Computer. Writer: Rick Mittleman, Ken Pettus. Director: Leslie Martinson.