Okay, so how many of you think Robert Blake killed his wife?

I don't know what to think at this point. Like most people, I hope he had nothing to do with it. But the chances that some mysterious stalker or stranger walked up to that car right when Blake was conveniently out of sight are pretty damn slim. Then again, the couple seemed to have surrounded themselves with shady characters. A friend of Blake's claims that the reason he knows that Blake did not kill his wife is that he had offered to kill her himself and Blake had turned him down. Okaay. Blake and Bakley (how many of you keep saying Blakely instead of Bakley, like me?) were apparently pretty shady themselves.

This is one of those disillusioning moments for me, when the illusions of celebrity built during your childhood years come crashing down around you. I'm not devastated by this, not by any means, but I'm pretty bummed out. I really liked Blake, for some odd reason. He was fantastic in In Cold Blood (1967), playing one of two ex-cons who brutally murdered a family of four in Kansas. Of course, we watched "Baretta", every Wednesday night I think it was, because my mother had a thing for Blake.

I was watching Baretta when I swore for the very first time in front of my mother. I was twelve years old, I think. Anyone remember the opening credits for that show? It was a montage of action scenes, with someone (Sammy Davis, Jr.?) singing the theme song (Keep your eeeeyyyyeeee, on the sparrow!); there was a quick scene in which Baretta was dressed as an old woman, undercover (one would hope), and some 'punk' tries to snatch his purse. Ever the tough little guy, Baretta grabs the guy's arm, swings him around and knees him, well, you-know-where. Apparently in some sort of fugue state and completely unaware of where I was (lying on the floor in the living room, watching with my mother and sisters), I witness the above mentioned assault and yell out, "Aw MAN! Right in the BALLS!"

I don't think I even knew what they were at the time.

That was one episode of Baretta I did not see.