Daily Archives: November 5, 2023

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Degrassi Junior High 1.8 “Nothing To Fear”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi Junior High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1987 to 1989!  The series can be streamed on YouTube!

On tonight’s episode …. hey, it’s Spike!

Episode 1.8 “Nothing to Fear”

(Dir by John Bertram, originally aired on March 8th, 1987)

This week’s episode of Degrassi Junior High is important because it’s the first to prominently feature the character of Christine Nelson.  Played by Amanda Stepto, Christine was better known as Spike, because of the punk rock-inspired hairstyle that she wore throughout Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High.  Even when she appeared with far more conventional hair on Degrassi: The Next Generation, she was still frequently referred to her by her nickname.

Fans of the Degrassi franchise know that Spike is destined to get pregnant after having sex with her ill-fated junior high boyfriend.  They know that Spike is going to keep her daughter and that Emma Nelson is going to be the main character for the first few seasons of Degrassi: The Next Generation.  And, of course, Spike is destined to eventually marry Snake.  Most of that won’t happen for a while.  On this week’s episode, she’s mostly present as a study partner of Voula’s (Niki Kemeny) and L.D.’s (Amanda Cook).  When L.D.’s father has a heart attack, Spike and Voula visit him at the hospital but L.D. keeps finding excuses not to.

That may seem selfish on L.D.’s part but L.D. has been terrified of hospitals ever since her mother passed away.  L.D. finds excuses not to go to the hospital, from cleaning the kitchen to helping out at her father’s garage.  I knew exactly what L.D. was going through, as I’ve also hated hospitals ever since my mom passed away and it’s always a struggle for me to find the courage to step through the front doors of one of them.  My Dad has been dealing with Parkinson’s for the past few years and I often do drive him to his doctor appointments so I’ve had to set aside my fear and dislike of them so that I can help him when he needs the help but my nerves still go into overdrive as soon as I step into one of those places.

Anyway, Voula does eventually talk to L.D. about her fear of going to the hospital and L.D. finally finds the courage to visit her father.  She arrives just as he’s being released to go back home.  So, for once, Voula actually helped someone out.  I still think she’s been way too unfair to Stephanie during this season but I’m sure we’ll return to that story in an upcoming episode.

Meanwhile, Yick and Arthur accidentally set free the school snake and they have to spend the entire episode looking for it.  It was a bit of silly subplot and I get the feeling that it was included to keep the episode from feeling too grim.  That said, the snake silliness really didn’t seem to fit with the scenes of L.D. struggling to come to terms with losing her mother and potentially losing her father.

As the episode ends, L.D.’s father says, “If you think hospitals are scary, try being the father of a teenage daughter.”  Apparently, not even a heart attack can defeat dad humor.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Review: 10/30/23 — 11/5/23

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Halloween is over.  Another Horrorthon has come to an end.  I’m exhausted but it was all totally worth it.

Here’s what I watched and listened to this week!

Films I Watched:

  1. Airplane! (1980)
  2. American Gothic (1988)
  3. The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (2023)
  4. Carnival of Souls (1962)
  5. Dance Til Dawn (1988)
  6. Halloween (1978)
  7. Halloween 2 (1981)
  8. The Heroic Trio (1993)
  9. The Howling (1981)
  10. The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
  11. Look Away (2018)
  12. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
  13. Ordinary Men (2023)
  14. Ruby (1977)
  15. Sly (2023)
  16. The Stendhal Syndrome (1996)
  17. Suspiria (1977)
  18. Terror in the Sky (1971)
  19. UHF (1989)
  20. Village of the Damned (1960)
  21. The War of the Worlds (1953)
  22. The Wave (2008)
  23. You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah (2023)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. Amazing Race
  2. Big Brother
  3. Check It Out
  4. Degrassi Junior High
  5. Dirty Pair Flash
  6. Dr. Phil
  7. Friday the 13th
  8. Get Gotti
  9. Gun
  10. Highway to Heaven
  11. Jennifer Slept Here
  12. Love Boat
  13. Monsters
  14. Nightmare Café
  15. Survivor
  16. T and T
  17. Welcome Back Kotter
  18. Yes, Prime Minister

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Big Data
  2. Britney Spears
  3. The Chemical Brothers
  4. Dillon Francis
  5. Fiona Apple
  6. Goblin
  7. Gwen Stefani
  8. Hans Zimmer
  9. Jakalope
  10. John Carpenter
  11. The Libertines
  12. Moby
  13. Panic! At The Disco
  14. Rich White
  15. Saint Motel
  16. Subsonica

Live Tweets:

  1. The Heroic Trio
  2. Look Away
  3. UHF
  4. American Gothic

Trailers:

  1. 6 Trailers For October 30th, 2023
  2. 6 Trailers For October 31st, 2023
  3. The Fall Guy

News From Last Week:

  1. Actor Tyler Christopher Dies At 50
  2. ‘BOY MEETS WORLD’ MAITLAND WARD: I’M BACKING BEN’S RUN FOR CONGRESS … Rest of Cast Should Too!!!
  3. Amy Schumer says she has lost friends for her outspoken support of Israel: ‘I stand for the truth’
  4. Crisis at Marvel: Jonathan Majors Back-Up Plans, ‘The Marvels’ Reshoots, Reviving Original Avengers and More Issues Revealed

Links From Last Week:

  1. Toga Parties! Belushi’s Bluto! “My Boy Blue”! School’s Out For “Animal House” And “Old School!”
  2. Tater’s Week in Review 11/4/23
  3. Metaphysical Index::Obsidian

Links From The Site:

  1. Case reviewed A Smiling Woman Halloween!
  2. Leonard shared the trailer for The Fall Guy!
  3. Jeff shared music videos from Motorhead, Weird Al Yankovic, Metallica, Guns N Roses, Scorpions, Duran Duran, and Def Leppard!
  4. Jeff reviewed A Shock to the System and Billy the Kid vs Dracula!
  5. Erin shared The Panic Button, The Case of the Buried Clock, Mural of Rougned Odor Punching Out Dave Bautista, Kept Woman, Thrilling Ranch Stories, Smile, and Tree Limbs at Night!
  6. Erin shared The Rangers Win Game 3 of the World Series, The Rangers Win Game 4 of the World Series and The Rangers Have Won The World Series!
  7. Erin shared The Covers of Boris Karloff Tales of Mysteries!
  8. Erin counted downs the days to Halloween with 1 Day to Halloween and 0 Days to Halloween!
  9. Erin wished you a happy Halloween!
  10. Erin said goodbye to Halloween!
  11. I shared my week in television and an AMV of the Day!
  12. I reviewed Degrassi Junior High, Miami Vice, Nightmare Cafe, Fantasy Island, Gun, The Love Boat, Monsters, Jennifer Slept Here, Highway to Heaven, T and T, Friday the 13th, Welcome Back Kotter, and Check it out!
  13. I reviewed Terror In The Sky, You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah, Sly, Ordinary Men, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial Case, 2025 — The World Enslaved by The Virus, Magic, Look Away, Zodiac, The Wave, The End of Days: Global Catastrophe, Bleach, Ruby, Night of the Zodiac, The Stendhal Syndrome, Shocking Dark, The Curse of Frankenstein, Once Upon A Midnight Scary, Defiant, and The Howling!
  14. I shared The Curse of Degrassi, an episode of Baywatch Nights, an episode of the Hitchhiker, another episode of the Hitchhiker, Vincent Price reciting the Tell-Tale Heart, The Night America Trembled, the 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds, Night of the Living Dead, Christopher Lee reading Fall of the House of Usher, Halloween is Grinch Night, and Spectre!
  15. I shared scenes from Candyman and Black Sunday!
  16. I read and reviewed Lights Out and The Dare!
  17. I paid tribute to Rob Zombie and Edward D. Wood, Jr!
  18. I shared the Gotham Award nominations!

More From Us:

  1. At my dream journal, I shared No Sleep No Dreams, No Sleep No Dreams II, Last Night’s Cousin Dream, Last Night’s Godfather Dream, Last Night’s Creative Writing Dream, Last Night’s Back In College Dream, and No Dreams Last Night …. I Think!
  2. At my music site, I shared songs from Rich White, Moby, The Libertines, Subsonica, Dillon Francis, Panic! At The Disco, and John Carpenter!
  3. At Reality TV Chat Blog, I reviewed Survivor and shared Big Brother 25 — Quick Update, It’s Time To Open Up The Diary Room, About Tonight, and The Final Veto!
  4. At her photography site, Erin shared Upon Opening It They Discovered The Body Was Gone, Have a Seat, Sign in Black-and-White, Squirrel in Black-and-White, Cottonwood Park in Black-and-White, The Shade, and Hiding!

Check out last week here!

Retro Television Reviews: Terror In The Sky (dir by Bernard L. Kowalski)

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 Sundays, I will be reviewing the made-for-television movies that used to be a primetime mainstay.  Today’s film is 1971’s Terror In The Sky!  It  can be viewed on YouTube.

On a flight heading from Minneapolis to Seattle, several passengers suddenly start to get ill.

Luckily, there’s a doctor on the plane.  Sporting sideburns and wearing a turtleneck, Roddy McDowall is quite chic in the role of Dr. Baird, the dedicated medical professional who comes to realize that the passengers are suffering from food poisoning.  As Dr. Baird explains it to head flight attendant Janet Turner (Lois Nettleton), everyone who had the chicken for dinner is about get severely ill.  Uh-oh …. both of the pilots had the chicken!

Is there anyone on the plane who has any flying experience?  George Spencer (Doug McClure) flew a helicopter in Vietnam but, as George explains, it’s an entirely different type of flying all together.  George has no confidence about his ability to land the plane but he’s the only chance the passengers have.

On the ground, gruff Marty Treleavan (Leif Erickson) has been summoned to the airport so that he can help to talk George through the landing.  Marty explains what all of the instruments do to George.  He tells George that he needs to stay in the air for a few hours so that he can get comfortable with the plane.  But the people on the plane are getting more ill and George says that he might be ding things up a little but he’s going to land this plane!

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

As I watched this film last night, I found myself saying, “Oh my God, this is just a serious version of Airplane!”

And actually, it is.  Terror In The Sky was based on Zero Hour, the 1957 film that also served as the basis for Airplane!  (The directors of Airplane! even bought the rights to Zero Hour so that they freely borrow whatever they wanted to from the film.)  Indeed, much of the dialogue in both Zero Hour and Terror In The Sky also shows up in Airplane!  Even the musical cues in Terror In The Sky and Airplane! are similar.

Terror In The Sky is not a bad film.  It’s an efficient made-for-TV film that features several made-for-television veterans, including Keenan Wynn and Kenneth Tobey.  Doug McClure grimaces heroically in the role of George Spencer and Roddy McDowall is as likable as ever as the doctor who hates to fly.  It’s a very earnest movie about a group of people doing everything that they can to save hundreds of lives.  They’re doing the right thing!

But it’s also totally impossible to take the film seriously because you spend the entire movie waiting for Roddy McDowall to say, “Don’t call me Shirley,” or for Leif Erickson to say that he picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.  Every moment and every line makes the viewer think of something funny from Airplane!

Personally, I think they bought their tickets.  They knew what they were getting into.  I say …. well, you get the idea.

And yes, I did rewatch Airplane! as soon as I finished up Terror In The Sky.

Music Video of the Day: Get Back In Line by Motörhead (2010, directed by Geraldine Geraghty)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

When a bunch of upper class businessmen get together to play poker and exploit the masses, who better to rough them up than Motörhead?  While the band breaks up the poker game, they also perform on a London roof top, which provides a wonderful view of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Enjoy!