Michael Lembeck Movies
The son of comedian Harvey Lembeck, Michael Lembeck started his career following his dad's footsteps as a comic character actor. The younger Lembeck made his TV movie debut in Gidget Grows Up. His subsequent small-screen gigs included Kaptain Kool in the Saturday morning extravaganza The Krofft Supershow (1977) and Max Horvath, the flight-steward husband of Julie Cooper (MacKenzie Phillips) in One Day at a Time (1979-84). He also played schoolteacher Peter Newman in the 1985 sitcom Foley Square, and, on a less comical note, was seen as Abbie Hoffman in the 1987 TV-movie special Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 7. In the past decade, Michael Lembeck has concentrated on directing such weekly series as Hope and Gloria, Mad About You and Everybody Loves Raymond; in 1996, he won an Emmy for his direction of the hit series Friends. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1972
The old Outward Bound formula is pulled out of mothballs for the made-for-TV Haunts of the Very Rich. The scene is a gorgeous tropical resort, where seven very wealthy people have converged. These worthies have been lured to this spot by an anonymous host, who has promised them a vacation in a land where their every wish will be granted. It slowly dawns on the protagonists that their heaven-on-earth is actually Hell, from which there are no return flights. Based on a short story by T. K. Brown, Haunts of the Very Rich was first aired September 20, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
The Partridges are booked to perform at the Two Hall Inn, a small hotel that has been hit by a labor strike. The complications begin piling up when Laurie (Susan Dey) refuses to cross the picket line out of loyalty to the strike leader, who happens to be her former school chum Marc Baldwin (Michael Lembeck). The mess isn't sorted out until Laurie's kid brother Danny (Danny Bonaduce) casts himself in the unlikely role of labor negotiator. This episode represents one of the few joint appearances of future director Michael Lembeck and his comedian father Harvey Lembeck. Song: "There's No Doubt in My Mind". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Gidget, the teenybopper surfer created by Frederick Kohner, grows up in the form of Karen Valentine (rather than such previous Gidgets as Sandra Dee and Sally Field). She leaves her friends and family at Malibu to head for New York, there to take a job as a guide at the United Nations building. Before this made-for-TV effort is over, Gidget teaches the U.N. delegates the true meaning of the words "foreign relations" by falling in love with handsome Edward Mulhare. Gidget Grows Up was one of several pilot films produced in hopes of reviving the 1966 Gidget series. This 1969 effort would be a waste of time if not for the presence of the ever-sneering Paul Lynde as Gidget's landlord. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
