Daily Archives: February 8, 2024

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway to Heaven 1.20 “The Banker and the Bum”

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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show is currently streaming on Freevee and several other services!

This week, Ned Beatty is not one but two characters!

Episode 1.20 “The Banker and the Bum”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on February 27th, 1985)

Wally the Waver (Ned Beatty) is an eccentric but beloved homeless man who usually spends his time sitting in and sleeping in a park.  He smiles and waves at passing people and sometimes, he’ll get a newspaper out of the trash and read up on the upcoming mayoral election.  What Wally does not know is that he only has 24 hours to live and that Jonathan and Mark have been sent to grant him his last wish.

Wally’s wish is that local businessman and politician J. Melvin Rich (also played by Ned Beatty) could discover what it’s like to struggle from day-to-day.  Melvin is running for mayor and a huge part of his platform calls for bulldozing the park and turning the land over to developers.  Jonathan grants his wish.  Suddenly, Melvin is in Wally’s body and Wally is in Melvin’s body.  While Melvin learns what its like to not have a place to sleep or a guaranteed nightly meal, Wally makes it a point to be kind to Melvin’s servants and his wife (Eve Roberts).  Wally also attends a mayoral debate (as Melvin) and announces that everyone should vote for Melvin’s opponent.

Melvin, needless to say, is not happy about any of this but his experiences getting kicked out of various establishments and being told that there’s no room for him at the shelter leads to Melvin starting to sympathize a bit with the plight with the underprivileged.  Then, as night falls, he once again switches bodies with Wally.  Now in his right body, Melvin discovers that he’s now considered to be a hero for endorsing his opponent and his previously estranged wife loves him again.  Wally, meanwhile, dies peacefully in the park, secure in the knowledge that he has saved it from being destroyed.  A jump forward reveals that Melvin goes on to become a beloved philanthropist who protects the park that Wally called home.

If this episode proves anything, it’s that Ned Beatty was a national treasure.  The story is heavy-handed and a lot of the humor is a bit too cartoonish for its own good.  Naming the greedy businessman J. Melvin Rich is a choice that is a bit too cutesy to really work.  Actually, Wally the Waver is concept that is almost too cutesy to work.  But Beatty makes both characters work, playing up Wally’s gentle eccentricity and Melvin’s genuine happiness at discovering that he’s suddenly a well-liked man.  This is an episode that would have been way too silly if not for Ned Beatty’s presence keeping things grounded.  Just as Melvin saves the park, Beatty saves the story.

Here’s The Teaser For Inside Out 2!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

2015’s Inside Out was a sincere, touching, sad, and joyful animated film.  If we’re going to be totally honest, it was the last truly great film to come out of PIXAR.  I absolutely loved it and …. it’s getting a sequel!

Normally, I’m weary of sequels to beloved films.  There’s always such a danger of tarnishing the original film’s legacy with a misplaced joke or an ill-thought plot development.  But Inside Out, which is about growing up and dealing with one’s developing emotions, is uniquely designed to be sequel-friendly.  We never stop growing and we never stop having emotions.  And, as we see in the just-released teaser for Inside Out 2, sometimes new emotions pop up out of nowhere.

Here’s the teaser for Inside Out 2!

Retro Television Review: Dr. Paradise 1.1 “The Pilot”

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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing Dr. Paradise, which aired on CBS in 1988.  The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

This week, Frank Langella sets himself up as the ruler of a tropical island!

Episode 1.1 “The Pilot”

(Dir by Peter Baldwin, originally aired on July 12th, 1988)

Who is Dr. Paradise?

Why, he’s Frank Langella!

Langella plays Dr. Paradise, a haughty and sarcastic man who owns a health clinic that is located on a small tropical island.  Dr. Paradise also owns the local casino so visitors at the island will often lose all of their money at night and then come to the clinic during the day.  As this episode is only 22 minutes long and there’s a whole host of other characters to introduce, we don’t learn as much about Dr. Paradise as we might want to.  We know that he’s rich.  We know that doors magically swoosh open whenever he approaches.  During the opening credits, we watch the staff throw darts at his portrait, just for Dr. Paradise to reveal that he always has an extra portrait with him.  He’s arrogant and egocentric and I get the feeling that we’re supposed to dislike his lavish lifestyle but he’s Frank Langella so it feels churlish to take away his joy.

As for the rest of the staff at the hospital …. well, none of them are as interesting as Dr. Paradise and I found myself resenting them for that fact.

Dr. Noah Fredericks (Xander  Berkeley) is the psychiatrist who is clearly meant to be a stoner, even if the show couldn’t actually come right out and say it.  But with his deadpan way of speaking and his red eyes, there’s not much doubt that Dr. Fredericks was high for the entire episode.  I don’t blame him.

Dr. Philip Moore (Hiram Kasten) is desperately looking for someone to play golf with him.

Dr. Amy Hunter (Sally Kellerman) is the ethical doctor who disagrees with Dr. Paradise’s methods but who seems to secretly kind of like him as well.

Dr. Casey Hunter (Tommy Hinkley) is Amy’s whiney son who appears to have a gambling problem.  At one point, it is mentioned that he dropped out of a top medical school so that he could become a chiropractor.  As someone who has recently had to deal with neck and back pain, I support his choice.

Hilary (Beverly Brown) is a native of the island and works as the office manager.  She has no personality beyond saying, “Dr. Paradise” in an exaggerated island accent.

The pilot centers around the character of Newton Hobbs (played by future Congressional candidate Barry Gordon), a wealthy but neurotic man who spends a lot of money at Dr. Paradise’s casino.  Newton comes to the clinic for his weekly session with Dr. Fredericks but, when Dr. Paradise insults him, Newton snaps and draws a gun.  He holds everyone hostage for a few minutes, until another patient has a heart attack from the stress.  Dr. Paradise saves the man from dying, establishing that he’s a jerk who is good at his job.  As for Newton …. NOTHING HAPPENS TO HIM!  It turns out that it was all apart of his therapy plan with Dr. Fredericks and the gun was not even loaded.

Hey, that’s all good and well.  WHAT IF THE MAN WHO HAD A HEART ATTACK DIED, YOU IDIOTS!?

Meanwhile, Casey’s parrot talks to a cat while Casey’s at the office.  That should have been cute but …. eh.

Only one episode of Dr. Paradise aired.  This pilot did not become a series and it’s easy to see why.  For all the talent — Sally Kellerman, Barry Gordon, Xander Berkeley, the great Frank Langella — the dialogue isn’t funny and the situations aren’t that interesting.  It’s a shame because Frank Langella’s performance indicates that he could have been an enjoyably over-the-top sitcom actor.  But even the best actors need a decent script.