Daily Archives: July 12, 2023

Retro Television Reviews: The Love Boat 2.23 “A Funny Valentine/The Wallflower/Home is Not a Home”

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!

After the past few cruises, I think we’re overdue for a good episode of The Love Boat.  Let’s see if this week’s episode can deliver!

Episode 2.23 “A Funny Valentine/The Wallflower/Home is Not a Home”

(Dir by George Tyne, originally aired on March 3rd, 1979)

Julie has decided that this week’s voyage is going to have a carnival theme and, in order to get everyone in the mood, she’s hired a fortune teller!  Mary Louise (Samantha Eggar) claims that she can read palms but she’s even more interested in the art of phrenology, the study of heads.  When she sees that Captain Stubing is bald, she can’t wait to see what the top of his shiny head says about his romantic future.  Unfortunately, Stubing is in one of his depressed moods and says that fortune telling is for the young.  He explains that he’s old and he already knows that he’s destined to spend the rest of his life alone.

Awwwww!

Luckily, Mary Louise has other ideas!  The Captain is soon won over by Mary Louise’s free-spirited ways and her joi de vivre.  But the Captain also realizes that, unless he holds a carnival every cruise, there’s really not much place for a fortune teller on the ship.  The best that he can offer Mary Louise is a job in the gift shop.  Realizing that their lives are just too different, Mary Louise leaves the boat without saying goodbye the Captain …. but then she returns to tell the Captain that maybe she will take that gift shop job.

Awwwwww!

But then the Captain tells her that she would be miserable working in a gift shop.  (Hopefully, none of the other gift shop employees overheard him.)  The Captain and Mary Louise part ways.

Again, awwwwwww!

It was a simple story but I have to say that Samantha Eggar and Gavin MacLeod had a surprising amount of chemistry and both of them gave really heartfelt performances in this episode.  I found myself caring about them as a couple and hoping that things would work out.  Of course, I knew things couldn’t work out because then the show would have to find a new captain.

While all that is going on, shy Sylvia (Patty Freedman) has finally taken the advice of her neighbor, Gopher.  She has booked a cruise on the Love Boat!  However, Sylvia is painfully shy and doesn’t even realize that there’s a passenger named Monroe (Zane Lasky) who has a crush on her.  (Of course, Monroe is pretty shy himself.)  Gopher decides that Sylvia needs a confidence boost so he sends her a rose at dinner and tells her it’s from a secret admirer.  Unfortunately, Sylvia becomes so obsessed with finding her secret admirer that she continues to fail to notice Monroe trying to talk to her.  When Sylvia returns to her cabin, she discovers hundreds of roses.  When she tells Gopher about it, Gopher is confused because he didn’t send any roses to her cabin.  For some reason, Gopher assumes that Sylvia is now delusional and that she only thought she saw all of the flowers in her cabin.  Seeking to restore her sanity, Gopher confesses that he sent Sylvia the rose.  Sylvia assumes that Gopher means that he sent all of the roses so, when Monroe confesses to sending the flowers to her cabin, she assumes that Monroe is making fun of her and….

AGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

Yes, this is another story where all of the problems could have been easily resolved by everyone not acting like an idiot.  But you know what?  As much as stories like this usually tend to drive me crazy, I actually enjoyed this one.  Patty Freedman and Zane Lasky both gave charming performances, even if their characters did things that didn’t always make sense.  I was happy when they finally got together.  This was a rare case where two passengers really did seem perfect for each other.

Finally, the third storyline featured Arthur Godfrey and Minnie Pearl as Ned and Molly, two seniors who were eloping.  Looking to stop the marriage was Ned’s son, Francis (Warren Berlinger), and Molly’s daughter, Rowena (Elinor Donahue).  Of course, Francis and Rowena fell in love and the episode ended with everyone planning to get married in a big double wedding.  This story was pretty predictable and Berlinger and Donahue went a little bit overboard playing their characters as being uptight prudes in their first few scenes.  But, still, at least everyone got a happy ending.

I liked this episode.  The crew was likable, the passengers were charming, and everyone found love.  Yay!

A Few Thoughts On The 2023 Emmy Nominations

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Emmy nominations were revealed today.  There’s so many of them that I couldn’t even begin to list them all here on the site but you can view them over at the Emmys’s main site.  While looking over the nominees, I had just a few thoughts.

First off, the Emmys themselves always feel a bit silly.  I think it’s because there’s so many different categories and so many contenders that, inevitably, one feels as if they’ve only seen a few of the actual nominees.  As well, the Emmys tend to fall into the habit of nominating the same programs over and over again, regardless of whether the show or performer actually had a good individual season.  Once a show is nominated two times in a row, it seems destined to be nominated for the rest of its run, even if its subsequent seasons aren’t that interesting.  (Cases in point: Only Murders In The Building and Ted Lasso.)  By that same token, if a show is snubbed during it’s first or second season, it’ll probably never be nominated for anything, regardless of how popular or critically acclaimed it may eventually become.  (Case in point: Yellowstone.)  In other words, don’t take the Emmys seriously.

In the comedy categories, I was really happy to see that both Jury Duty and James Marsden were nominated.  Ted Lasso was nominated because the Academy is addicted to voting for it and not because it had a particularly noteworthy third season.  I was glad to see that Barry was nominated but annoyed to see that neither Sarah Goldberg nor Stephen Root were remembered.  I was glad that Natasha Lyonne was nominated but Poker Face still deserved far more nominations than it received.

In the drama categories, it’s pretty much all Succession.  Succession ended this season and I’m glad that I’ll no longer have to pretend to care about it.  There’s something so liberating about the prospect of never having to read another cutesy interview with Brian Cox or another think piece on why Shiv is the greatest character ever.  I imagine Succession will sweep the Emmys, which is a bit unfortunate as this year will always be Better Call Saul‘s last chance to be honored.  Hopefully, Bob Odenkirk will finally win an Emmy for Better Call Saul.  I’m glad that Andor was nominated but I’m disappointed that Diego Luna was not.

In the limited anthology series category, it’s hard not to be a bit annoyed that the Academy went for Ryan Murphy’s overlong and rather pointless miniseries about Jeffrey Dahmer while completely snubbing National Geographic’s A Small Light.  At this point, I guess the Academy feels obligated to honor anything that Ryan Murphy forces on them.  I was also disappointed that The English failed to pick up any major nominations, not even for the great Emily Blunt.  The Emmy win that would make me happiest would be for Ray Liotta to win for Black Bird.  

In the movie category, Beavis and Butt-Head Do The Universe was not nominated but …. well, I kind of knew that it wouldn’t be.  It was hilarious but, unfortunately, it’s not the type of thing that wins awards.

Traitors should have been nominated for Best Reality Competition.

South Park‘s “Worldwide Privacy Tour” was not nominated for Best Animated Program.  That’s just ridiculous.  The Television Academy wimped out as far as that’s concerned.

Anyway, it’s the Emmys.  In the end, no one really cares that much.

Scenes That I Love: Dracula Meets Van Helsing

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

143 years ago, on this date in Kentucky, director Tod Browning was born.  Though Browning was a director who was comfortable working in any genre, he is today best remembered for the horror films that he directed for Universal studios.  Today’s scene that I love comes from Tod Browning’s 1931 adaptation of Dracula.

In this scene, Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi) is introduced to Prof. Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan).  Van Helsing notes something interesting about Dracula’s reflection, namely that he doesn’t have one.  Needless to say, the Count is not amused.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Monte Hellman Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

94 years ago today, the great director Monte Hellman was born in New York City.  Though Hollywood never quite understood Hellman or his idiosyncratic vision, he and his films have inspired a countless number of independent filmmakers.  Hellman started his career with Roger Corman and was one of the first directors to recognize the talent of actors like Jack Nicholson and Warren Oates.  When Monte Hellman passed away in 2021, he was eulogized as one of the key figures of the Hollywood counterculture.  Today, we celebrate Hellman and his films with….

4 Shots From 4 Monte Hellman Films

The Shooting (1966, dir by Monte Hellman, DP: Gregory Sandor)

Two-Lane Blacktop (1971, dir by Monte Hellman, DP: Jack Deerson)

Cockfighter (1974, dir by Monte Hellman, DP: Nestor Almendros)

China 9, Liberty 38 (1978, dir by Monte Hellman, DP: Guiseppe Rotunno)

Music Video of the Day: Kiss by Tom Jones are Art of Noise (1988, directed by Martin Brierly and Stephen Lowe)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In 1988, long before Frank Sinatra started teaming up with pop artists and Tony Bennett had his brief moment of MTV popularity, Tom Jones and Art of Noise teamed up to cover Prince’s Kiss.  The song was an unexpected success in Europe and Asia, hitting number one in both New Zealand and Spain while entering the Top Ten in many other countries.  In the U.S., it peaked at #14 on the Billboard Top 100.

Of the two co-directors, Stephen Lowe also did videos for Duran Duran and Lisa Stansfield.  Martin Brierly has worked as cinematographer and a second unit director on several projects, including the third Alien film.

Enjoy!