You can only post replies to topics already posted in this forum. You can not start new topics. If you would like to discuss a character which doesn't already have their own topic please start the new topic in the Houseboat forum and we will move it to this forum for you.
Posts: 7,214
Joined: 2 Dec 2005
Gender: Female
Country: USA
SAK owned: Camper&Swissbit
Favorites
Season: season 5
Episode:Serenity
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Brown bomber
House: House boat
Earl Dent... what can i say?
I really like Dick Butkus. He was just-right campy in 'Harry's Will'. When he came back in 'High Control', I enjoyed his performance again, showing some growth in his character, still a bit campy and funny, but also with a touch of seriousness.
But I can't say I was so thrilled with the boxing episode.
First of all, it was again, one-too-many foreshadowings of Mac's own 7th season bombshell. I think the whole 'SAM' thing would have been a bit easier to take if not the vast majority of Mac's friends/aquaintances had already had their 'I'm a daddy' epiphanies.
Second of all, there is my ever-present distaste for the seventh season, of Mac's abrubt sacrifice of his personal space, of his lost of identity in this lunatic asylum they call a neighborhood. I mean... less than a season before this, Mac would have come UNGLUED if someone (that wasn't Pete, or Jack Dalton with provisional permission) traisped through his home like that! *shakes head in disbelief* I just can't justify it.
On the whole, I like Dent, though. He's the poster-child for 'I fell in with the wrong crowd'. MacGyver helped him turn his life around; I'd say he was one of Mac's successes.
Everyone, sometimes, needs a camel.
Old troubleshooters never die... They just wait til the last moment and then rescue themselves!
Posts: 1,889
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Gender: Female
Country: USA
SAK owned:
Favorites
Season: season 3
Episode:Passages
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Black leather
House: House boat
Amen, Loth! My sentiments exactly!
I wanted to not like this character at first, just because he did seem like a cliche biker dude, but High Control made him more of a human being than a caricature. His daughter was snotty and annoying however, and did little to add to his character. Anyway, if the series had to have a bunch of "long lost" sons or daughters, why couldn't Mac's kid have been a strong-willed daughter like Ronnie, but with a better temperament?
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."
Favorites
Season: season 1
Episode:
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Brown bomber
House: Observatory
I liked Earl Dent just fine. It's nice to see a character on MacGyver show up for 3 whole episodes- and be portrayed by the same actor! That's a feat in itself. And Dick Butkus is cool- great football player and a pretty good actor. He's shown up on a couple of shows I like, including "My Two Dads" ('80s sitcom about two guys who have to raise a daughter together- they're not sure who's the real dad- and don't really want to know because they both love her- kinda like an "Odd Couple" for the 1980s- admittedly, perhaps not the best premise- but I liked it as a kid... ) and "Hang Time" (90s TNBC teen sitcom where Dick Butkus is a high school basketball coach- fun show)- and of course, MacGyver.
Hmm- I thought Earl Dent was pretty funny on "Harry's Will"- and it was great to see him go straight and sort of enlist MacGyver to help him turn his life around in "High Control" (MacGyver seems to get drafted for such things a lot!) and then to see him trying to be a good father and take care of his daughter Ronnie in "Split Decision". Good that he made a good progression- and I think Ronnie got her life turned around a bit too for that matter...
Anyway- Earl Dent's a cool character. He seems like he'd be good "muscle" for MacGyver when he needs help with an assignment or something.
Posts: 7,728
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Gender: Male
Country: Belgium
SAK owned: Don't know
Favorites
Season: season 5
Episode:Serenity, Passages, Humanity
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Black/Navy flight
House: House boat
I voted good for Earl Dent. But his character went from good to barely ok. I like him in Harry's Will and in High Control he was even better but in Split Decision... It was bye-bye clumsy biker image and hello suite image. Than all of a sudden he has a daughter. And most of all in Split Decision he seems to explode about little things, like Ronnie saying she changed her name from Veronica to Ronnie. It's not that she did that officially, it's only a nickname for crying out loud. Well like I said in the Split Decision's weekly episode discussion. That episode is merely a bad remake of Rocky. Hardly any excitement till the end, a training scene and many scenes where in the boxer has outburst of anger. To tell you the truth Sly did a much better job than Dent did. But there's a lot more potential for him in the biker world than in the normal or boxer world.
I think the poison that was used was applied to this knife, passed to the mutton when it was cut and then activated by the wine. - MacGyver. Sometimes you just have to die a little inside to be reborn and rise again as a stronger and wiser version of you. It's better to be a little sad than to be fake content.
He annoyed me. He seemed like the kind of guy who didn't really care or listen to what people said and just expected people to do what he asked, and if they didn't then he manipulated them to get it.
Oddly enough thats pretty much what Jack Dalton did too.. but Earl had an air of arrogance about him that Jack didn't have and it just bugged the hell out of me. And I think that arrogance was really shown in Split Decision. He wanted his daughter becasue it suited him and he wasn't interested in understanding her, he just wanted to tell her to do this or that and got mad when she didn't
So he gets an ok for being a character with some depth and for being more than a 1 off.. but I didn't really like him that much.
Favorites
Season: season 1
Episode:Jack in the Box (...possibly!)
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Brown bomber
House: House boat
He gets an ok from me too. It is almost like he is two separate characters. I don’t think they saw him as a re-occurring character when they did Harrys Will. I can’t remember too much about the episodes concerned but the character I saw in Harry’s Will was not the same as when he reappeared. It took me a moment to link them if I remember rightly. I think my problem was I saw split decision before high control and it seemed a huge leap from Harrys will. Watching high control after filled in some of the gaps but I was still unconvinced.
Posts: 1,170
Joined: 1 Jun 2008
Gender: Female
Country: United States
SAK owned: Unsure:red
Favorites
Season: season 3
Episode:The Widowmaker
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Black leather
House: House boat
Hey guys! My hubby and I are watching the Chicago Cubs play the San Francisco Giants (on the TV) and Dick Butkus (aka: Earl Dent, also the Chicago Bears) sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"!
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
Posts: 180
Joined: 3 Dec 2008
Gender: Male
Country: Ashland Ky
SAK owned: Victorianox
Favorites
Season: season 5
Episode:changes often
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Brown bomber
House: House boat
I put OK. I like the character pretty good but I thought Butkus was not a very good actor, which kinda got on my nerves a little. Especially when he was boxing. That was the worst boxing and training act I have ever seen, it did not look the least bit real. I am sure that if he was doing a football scene it would have been great.
I did love his friendliness and big heart that he had in a big man's body.
He who is self taught is better off; yet on the otherhand, he does well when he listens to those who speak rightly. Aristotle Ethics
I thought he was cool and funny. I agree about MacGyver's apartment. though because in Passages when Harry said that he didn't like been crowded ay more than Mac did, Mac said no. But I doubt that he would have too big of a cow if Pete did because of their relationship.
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)