Yearly Archives: 2022

The Astros Take Game 4

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Yesterday, I was happy for the fans of the Phillies because their excitement reminded me of how excited I was when my team, the Rangers, made it to the World Series.  But, as someone who is cheering for the Astros in the World Series, I was not happy that they got blown out in Game 3.  They lost 0-7 and, last night, it looked like the Phillies might be unstoppable.

Tonight, though, the Astros proved that this World Series is nowhere close to being over.  Even with Jill Biden sitting in the stands and trying to turn the country against them, the Astros shut out the Phillies.  The Astros not only won, 5-0, but tonight’s game was also the first combined no-hitter (and the third no-hitter overall) in baseball post-season history.  Tonight, the Astros looked as strong as the Phillies looked last night.

You can hear the Philadelphia crowd booing in the video but I don’t care.  The Astros made history and this World Series isn’t ending anytime soon.  The World Series is now tied 2-2.  Game 5 is tomorrow night.

Go Astros!

Retro Television Reviews: The Love Boat 1.9 “The Captain’s Captain / Romance Roulette / Hounded”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986!  The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

Love?  Don’t worry.  Love won’t hurt anymore.

Episode 1.9 “The Captain’s Captain / Romance Roulette / Hounded”

(dir by Jack Arnold, originally aired on November 26th, 1977)

As I watched the opening scenes of the cruise’s passengers making their way onto the Love Boat, I noticed that this episode was directed by Jack Arnold.  I did some online checking and I discovered that this was indeed the same Jack Arnold who directed It Came From Outer Space, Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Tarantula, and a host of other so-called B pictures.  By the time the 70s rolled around, Arnold was directing blaxploitation films (including Fred Williamson’s Boss) and episodic television.  As I watched the episode, I found myself wondering which member of the cast probably asked Arnold the most questions about shooting Creature From The Black Lagoon.  I guess that it was probably Fred Grandy, since apparently he’s a pretty intelligent guy.

As for the show itself, it featured the typical three-story structure.  Gary Burghoff (who I had just watched on Fantasy Island) played a passenger who found himself trapped in his cabin with a security dog that had somehow gotten loose.  As I’ve mentioned before, I have a fear of big dogs so this particular scenario would be quite traumatic for me.  Burghoff, however, got along with the dog and even helped to deliver her puppies.  Awwwwwwww!  Big dogs are scary but little puppies are cute!

While Captain Stubing was dealing with the dog problem, his irascible father (played by Phil Silvers), who was himself a former cruise ship captain, was wandering around the ship and eventually falling in love with a cook named P.J. Muldoon (Judy Canova).  Captain Stubing was skeptical of his father’s romance but, by the end of the episode, he was proposing a toast to his future stepmother.  This storyline was fairly predictable but Phil Silvers and Gavin MacLeod were believable as father-and-son and their scenes together added some depth to Captain Stubing, a character who, in other episodes, has come across as being a bit flat.

Finally, Jane Curtin played Regina Parker, a literature professor who was on the cruise with two friends from college (Joanna Kerns and Susan Heldfond).  The three of them played a game, in which they basically had to make the first man that they heard use a certain word fall in love with them for the duration of the cruise.  The word was “screwdriver.”  When Regina went up to Isaac’s bar to wait for someone to order a screwdriver, she was taken by surprise when Frank (Vincent Baggetta), the ship’s plumber, walked up with a toolbox and asked for someone to hand him a screwdriver.  Regina started to hit on Frank.  Frank almost immediately fell in love with her and he let her read some of his poetry.  Even though his poetry was terrible, Regina fell in love with him.  As you can guess, Frank eventually found out about the game but, by the end of the episode, he and Regina were promising to write each other every day.  In its undeniably silly way, this was actually kind of a fun storyline.  Curtin and Baggetta actually had a lot of chemistry.  Frank’s poems still sucked though.

All in all, this was a pleasant episode.  The guest stars were likable and the cruise itself looked like it would have been a lot of fun.  Was this episode life’s sweetest reward?  It was good but I wouldn’t go that far.  Love is life’s sweetest reward.

Here’s The Trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

You know, way back in 2010, I took a lot of grief for not particularly liking the first Avatar.

In the years since then, it’s become a lot more common to hear people making the exact same criticism of the film that I made in 2010.  What’s strange though is that the anti-Avatar discourse has gotten so obnoxious that it’s cause me to go from hating the movie to being one of those people who is like, “Okay, it wasn’t that bad.”  Because, seriously, it’s one thing to dislike a film and it’s another thing to make that dislike into your entire personality.

To the shock of perhaps everyone who has knows me, I’m actually rooting for the Avatar sequel now.  I hope it’s good.  I hope it makes a ton of money.  Take that, you snobs!

Anyway, here’s the latest trailer for Avatar: The Way of  Water.

Music Video of the Day: Another Day In Paradise by Phil Collins (1989, directed by Jim Yukich)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Another Day In Paradise is one of two songs that Phil Collins has recorded about the homeless.  (The other was Man On The Corner.)  When this song first came out, Collins was accused of being a wealthy and condescending rock star who was more interested in singing about a problem than actually doing anything to solve it.  In an interview with Rolling Stone, Collins responded to the criticism with, “When I drive down the street, I see the same things everyone else sees. It’s a misconception that if you have a lot of money you’re somehow out of touch with reality.”

The video, which juxtaposes Phil singing with images of the homeless, was directed by Jim Yukich, who did the majority of Phil Collins’s and Genesis’s videos in the 80s and the 90s.  The scenes of Collins singing were filmed in New York City and were completed in under an hour.

I am fairly certain that I’ve heard a version of this song in which George H.W. Bush is heard giving a speech about the homeless.  I cannot find any official online confirmation that it exists but I know it’s out there somewhere.

Enjoy!

The Phillies Win Game 3

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

After being canceled due to yesterday’s weather, Game 3 of the World Series was played in Philadelphia tonight.  As I’ve said since the post-season began, I’m a Texan.  I wish the Rangers were in the World Series but they’re not.  The Astros are the Texas team in the World Series and that’s who I’m cheering for.  I wasn’t happy to watch the Astros lose tonight.  I especially wasn’t happy to see them lose by 0 runs to 7.

I’m happy for all the Phillies fans, though.  Whenever I would start to get upset about the score, the broadcast would show the fans reacting in the stands and they were so happy that I couldn’t help but be happy for them.  It reminded me of how excited I was when the Rangers made it to the World Series and how excited I’ll be when they make it their again.

So, congratulations, Phillies!  I’m still cheering for the Astros but the Phillies played a good game and they made their fans happy.

Retro Television Reviews: Fantasy Island 1.8 “Superstar/Salem”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing the original Fantasy Island, which ran on ABC from 1977 to 1986.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

Despite being exhausted last night, I still made sure to watch the next episode of Fantasy Island before allowing myself to fall asleep.  It’s all about priorities.

Episode 1.8 “Superstar/Salem”

(Dir by Earl Bellamy, originally aired on March 25th, 1978)

After a conversation with Tattoo about Tattoo’s sudden interest in photography, Mr. Roarke heads to the docks to meet this week’s guest stars!

First up, we have Richard Delaney (Gary Burghoff) and his wife, Dora (Darleen Carr).  Dora thinks they are on a business trip but actually, Richard has a fantasy.  Despite the fact that he is short, middle-aged, and not at all athletic, Richard’s fantasy is to not only pitch in a baseball game but to also strike out the best baseball players around.

(As a side note, as soon as I saw that this was going to be a baseball episode, I woke up Erin and made her watch it with me.  Of course, it was also one in the morning at the time but still, I would have been a bad sister if I hadn’t.)

Anyway, Richard gets his chance.  It turns out that Fantasy Island is holding a charity baseball game and Mr. Roarke has told everyone that Richard is the best amateur pitcher in the world.  With the help of some Fantasy Island magic, Richard is able to strike out every batter who comes up to the plate.  (According to Erin, all of the batters were real baseball players.)  We know that Richard’s skills are due to magic because, whenever he throws the ball, we hear goofy sound effects.  (“This is dumb,” Erin said, “Why did you wake me up for this?”)  Richard is offered a try-out with the Dodgers.  Yay!

Richard immediately get a little bit full of himself but it turns out that Richard’s fantasy didn’t include becoming a professional baseball player and he loses his ability to pitch.  Unfortunately, Richard doesn’t discover this until after he tells off his boss.  Fortunately, his boss is impressed by Richard’s honesty and he gives Richard a raise.  Richard may never play pro ball but at least he’ll make a lot of money as an accountant or whatever it is that he does for a living.  Yay!  (“Is it over?” Erin asked, “Can I finally get some sleep now?”)

Meanwhile, Martha and Walter Tate (played by Vera Miles and Stuart Whitman) think that the world has become too permissive of bad behavior so they want to go some place where people are better behaved.  Mr. Roarke promptly sends them to 17th century Salem, where they are both accused of being witches and narrowly avoid being executed.  You know, Mr. Roarke, you could have just sent them to a friendly rural community in Nebraska or something.  NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE A LESSON!

The best thing about the Salem storyline was that the evil and feared Dr. Whitfield, the man who ruled Salem with a iron fist, was played by Leslie Nielsen.  When we first meet Dr. Whitfield, he’s explaining how the town drunk came to die.

Dr. Whitfield wanted to hang both Martha and Walter for the sins of dancing and giving aspirin to a child.

Leslie Nielsen may be playing a villain but he delivers his lines in the same style that later made him a comedic icon.  If nothing else, that makes this episode fun to watch.

Martha and Walter end up fleeing Salem and, miraculously, they find themselves back on Fantasy Island.  Mr. Roarke says that he hopes they have had an enlightening fantasy.  Personally, if I was Mr. Roarke, I would be more worried about the lawsuit that they’re probably going to file against him.

This was a pretty silly episode but, as a general rule, I enjoy anything that features Leslie Nielsen playing a humorless villain.  Add to that, it was hard not to smile at the sight of Mr. Roarke and Tattoo casually emerging from the jungle in their white suits to greet Walter and Martha after the latter two escaped Salem.  It may have been a silly episode but it was also a fun one.  And really, what else does one expect from Fantasy Island?