Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 2/2/25 — 2/8/25


Here’s a few thoughts on what I watched this week.

Abbott Elementary (Wednesday Night, ABC)

I’m one episode behind as far as Abbott goes.  This week, I watched the golf course episode but I still need to watch the science fair episode.  I’ll do it tomorrow before the Super Bowl.  As always, the episode made me laugh.  The show has done marginally better with the gentrification subplot than it did with the charter school storyline a few seasons ago.

Dark (Netflix)

Case and I continuing to watch this creepy German show.  This is the only show I’ve ever seen that’s actually held my attention while the characters discuss physics.

Hell’s Kitchen (Fox, Thursday Night)

And we have a winner!  Kyle’s door open and he is the latest chef to win a season of Hell’s Kitchen.  I did like Kyle but I have to admit that I lost interest in this season after both Brandon and Egypt were eliminated.  I still can’t see Kyle as a head chef.  Brandon had a bad night and Egypt lost an arbitrary contest but I still feel like either one of them would have been a better winner.  That said, anyone who has ever tasted my cooking knows that I wouldn’t have even made it past the first 10 minutes of the first episode of Hell’s Kitchen.  Congratulations to Kyle on his victory and on proving people like me, who were pretty dismissive of his chances at first, wrong.

King of the Hill (Hulu)

I watched the episode where Bill’s touchdown record was broken and, with Hank’s encouragement, Bill rejoined the high school team in an effort to win it back.  “You the man, Bill …. don’t look down at your leg.”

Kitchen Nightmares (Fox, Tuesday Night)

Chef Ramsay was, again, in New Orleans this week.  The New Orleans shows have been kind of boring.  None of the restaurants have really been that appealing, either before or after their makeover.  You have to wonder how many times Chef Ramsay is going to have to invite an ex-football player to come and convince people to do their job.  It’s kind of funny how the only thing many of these restaurants really need is for a former member of the Saints to show up for five minutes.

After being bored with the trip to New Orleans, I hopped on Tubi and revisited the Amy’s Baking Company episodes from seasons 6 and 7.  Now that was classic Ramsay chaos!  I like it when Chef Ramsay is nice to the chefs on Hell’s Kitchen but, when it comes to Kitchen Nightmares, I just want him to rip the place apart!

Scamanda (Hulu)

On Wednesday, I watched the first episode of this NBC docuseries about a woman who pretended to have cancer and who swindled a lot of people out of a lot of money.  It was an interesting episode.  People pretending to be sick to get money from people is hardly a new phenomena but it was interesting to see not only how far Amanda took it but also how gullible people really were.  (They really wanted to believe.)  The film did have a few regrettable reenactments, including a truly risible one of a bunch of churchgoers literally throwing money at Amanda’s feet.  Still, it’s an interesting story.

Watched and reviewed:

  1. CHiPs
  2. Fantasy Island
  3. Friday the 13th: The Series
  4. Highway to Heaven
  5. The Love Boat
  6. Malibu CA
  7. Miami Vice
  8. Monsters
  9. Pacific Blue
  10. St. Elsewhere

Renegade Girl (1946, directed by William Berke)


Missouri in 1864.  The Civil War is raging and the state is divided between those who support the Union and those secretly support the Confederate guerillas led by Willian Quantrill (Ray Corrigan).  The Union’s Major Baker (Jack Holt) is determined to track down rebel Bob Shelby (Jimmie Martin) and he enlists the Native American Chief Whitecloud (played by Chief Thundercloud) to help find him.  Whitecloud has a personal vendetta against the Shelby family and, when he finds Bob, he executes him in cold blood.  Bob’s sister, Jean Shelby (Ann Savage), is also a Confederate sympathizer and she seeks revenge.  Complicating things is that Jean has fallen in love with Union Captain Fred Raymond (Alan Curtis).

One of the many B-westerns produced by Robert L. Lippert and directed by William Berke, Renegade Girl packs a lot of plot into just 65 minutes.  The action is nonstop and fans of westerns will find all of the horse chases, gunfights, and threats of hanging that they could want.  The main thing that distinguishes Renegade Girl from other B-westerns is the fierce performance of Ann Savage as Jean Shelby, a woman who will not stop until she gets her revenge.  While the film’s portrayal of the Quantrill and Chief Whitecloud definitely goes against modern sensibilities, Ann Savage’s performance feels ahead of her time.  No one is going to stand in Jean Shelby’s way.

Chief Thundercloud’s real name was reportedly Victor Daniels, though his past is shrouded in mystery.  He claimed to be a Cherokee from Arizona, though he was listed as being Mexican on a marriage record that was filed before he started his film career.  As Chief Thundercloud, he was a mainstay in westerns from the 30s to the time of his death in 1955.  He was the first actor to play the Lone Ranger’s Tonto and he also played Geronimo in a 1939 Paramount film of the same name.  His final film role was a posthumous appearance in John Ford’s The Searchers.

Retro Television Reviews Will Return On Monday


Hi, everyone!  Due to it being the big Superbowl weekend and also TSL’s tradition of posting all of the movie-related trailers that are released leading up to and during the big game, Retro Television Reviews will be taking a break this weekend but will start back up on Monday with Miami Vice and CHiPs.  Our regular reviews of Welcome Back Kotter, Check It Out, Homicide and Degrassi High will resume next weekend!

Song of the Day: Raiders March by John Williams


Today is the 93rd birthday of the great composer John Williams and today’s song of the day is one of his greatest compositions.  Here’s is John Williams, conducting Raiders March (from the Indiana Jones films) in Vienna.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special King Vidor Edition


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

Today, we celebrate the 131st birthday of Texas-born filmmaker, King Vidor!  Though Vidor may no longer be a household name, he was one of the most important and idiosyncratic filmmakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age.  The Crowd is regularly cited as one of the most influential films ever made.  (Certainly every film that’s ever featured a shot of an anonymous office worker sitting in a room full of cubicles owes a debt to it.)  Duel in the Sun went on to inspire countless spaghetti westerns.  The Fountainhead is also regularly cited as a favorite by a surprisingly large number of directors.

In honor of King Vidor’s life and legacy, here are….

4 Shots From 4 King Vidor Films

The Crowd (1928, dir by King Video, DP: Henry Sharp)

The Fountainhead (1949, dir by King Vidor, DP: Robert Burks)

War and Peace (1956, dir by King Vidor, DP: Jack Cardiff)

Solomon and Sheba (1959, dir by King Vidor, DP; Fred A. Young)

Live Tweet Alert: Watch Cannibal Apocaylpse With #ScarySocial!


As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on twitter.  I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie!  Every week, we get together.  We watch a movie.  We tweet our way through it.

Tonight, for #ScarySocial, I will be hosting Cannibal Apocalypse, starring John Saxon and Giovanni Lombardo Radice!

If you want to join us on Saturday night, just hop onto twitter, start the film at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag!  The film is available on Prime and Tubi!  I’ll be there co-hosting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well.  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy!

 

I celebrate Henry Czerny’s birthday with two of my favorite scenes!


Today is the 66th birthday of the excellent Canadian character actor Henry Czerny. My admiration and appreciation for the man stems primarily from two performances in big movies. The first time I really remember seeing him is when he played the ethically challenged Deputy Director of the CIA Robert Ritter in CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER (1994). He goes toe to toe with Harrison Ford at times in an incredible performance. Check out the scene below:

A couple of years later Czerny would play IMF Director Kittredge in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (1996) with Tom Cruise. Once again, his performance adds greatly to the film and this scene with Tom Cruise may be the best of the movie!

Actors like Henry Czerny are a treasure and I always look forward to seeing them pop up in movies and TV shows. It made me so happy when he showed back up a couple of years ago in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING (2023). Happy Birthday, Henry! 🎊🎂🎉