Thursday, January 8, 2015

The Littlest Hobo

The Littlest Hobo

Mystery at the Zoo (Nov. 6, 1980)


I've always been curious about this title after seeing it on Carol's resume, and now--Thanks to the magic that is youtube-- I finally got to watch it!

This was a half-hour Canadian TV series about a extremely, intelligent dog that ran in the early 1980s.  Sorta like Lassie--except this dog is a German Shepard. Carol's episode is called "Mystery at the Zoo." She plays June Wilson, a TV reporter, doing a news story about exotic animals mysteriously disappearing from a local zoo. Carol suspects foul play, and there are a number of suspects: Is it the food delivery man, the zoo manager, or the elderly custodian??? Anyway, the dog helps Carol solve the mystery.

I did enjoy seeing Carol doing some light-fare entertainment for a change from all her serious roles. The show has a simple charm to it: there is no violence or strong language, and it was obviously aimed at children. It reminded me a lot of those 1970s Saturday morning live-action shows like Shazam or Isis. The series looks low budget like it was shot on videotape, and I liked the use of outdoor locations, but I couldn't help but wonder how on earth the producers got Carol for the part because it seems they shot in Canada and mostly used Canadian actors.

You can watch it here (before it gets removed): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZZmQiyu368
Carol looks gorgeous as ever!