Daily Archives: August 14, 2025

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.9 “Why Punish the Children?”

Posted on by Bradley Crain

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, we will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, Tubi and other services!

Episode 4.9 “Why Punish the Children?”

(Dir. by Michael Landon, originally aired on November 25th, 1987)

In this Thanksgiving episode, Jonathan Smith (Michael Landon) and Mark Gordon (Victor French) take on roles as history teachers in a women’s prison. It seems a compassionate social worker named Melanie Canner (Sally Spencer) has been fighting hard to improve the lives of the women on the inside and has been getting close to nowhere with prison warden Thomas Inman (Bruce French). The first positive step that Melanie has been able to secure for the inmates from the warden are these history classes. Once on the inside, we meet inmates like Maria Rojas (Tasia Valenza), a young woman who’s just about to have her first baby, and Reba Williams (Bebe Drake), a mother of five. Both women want to straighten out their lives in order to give their children a better chance in life. It soon becomes clear that Jonathan, Mark, and Melanie are on a mission to convince the warden to open up more opportunities for the women to improve their lives and spend more quality time with their kids. The warden isn’t an easy case, as he seems convinced that the women shouldn’t be given any real favors as they pay their debts to society. As you might imagine, Jonathan has a couple of divine tricks up his sleeve.

I liked this episode of HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN even if it’s not the most realistic story you’ll ever see. Each woman we meet has 100% accepted the error of their ways and are determined to be a productive member of society if they can get just one more chance. The cynical part of me has to overcome this unrealistic element of the story, and the “women in prison” movie lover in me would have enjoyed a couple of good catfights. Alas, this is HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN and director Michael Landon is not in the business of going for complete realism or providing B Movie fan service! Rather, Landon is interested in creating a world where basically good people have done wrong, honestly regret how their choices negatively impact those they love, and vow to do better for their children. This series built its five seasons on the prospect of people turning their lives around, and I’ll admit I got pretty emotional again with this one. This episode really focuses in on a mother’s love for her children, and I certainly want to believe that these women would do anything for theirs. Each mother is given a beautiful moment, at Thanksgiving no less, and the chance that they need to be the mom their children deserve. I’m getting a little misty just thinking about it as I type these words. The character of the warden is there to learn the lesson that we all need to learn, which is to try to see situations from different points of view. He gets a little angelic help in this area, which is quite heavy handed and completely in line with the show’s expectations.

Overall, I again enjoyed this episode as a nostalgic trip down memory lane with a series I grew up watching with my mom. The fact that I got a little emotional is also no surprise because the older I get the more I cry when watching movies and TV shows. The fact that I was bawling in my office while I watched the show at work could have been a little hard to explain… luckily, nobody came by during those waterworks moments.

Brad’s “Scene of the Day” – Brenda Benet watches Joe Don Baker swing his big stick!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Today would have been the 80th birthday of actress Brenda Benet, a beautiful and talented woman whose life was cut short with tragedy. Born Brenda Ann Nelson in Los Angeles, California on August 14th, 1945, Benet had a career spanning over 16 years, mostly on TV. She’s probably best known for playing the character of Lee DuMonde in 298 episodes of Days Of Our Lives, but she appeared in episodes of many other classic TV series, and even in the Elvis Presley movie HARUM SCARUM (1965). In her personal life, she was married to actor Bill Bixby from 1971 to 1980, and they had one child, Christopher Sean Bixby. Tragically, Christopher died in 1981 during a ski vacation in California. Devastated and in the grip of depression after her son’s death, Brenda took her own life on April 7th, 1982. A very sad end for a very beautiful woman.

Today, I choose to celebrate her beauty and talent in this scene from WALKING TALL (1973). This is not her character’s most revealing scene in the film, but her exotic beauty at the beginning is quite the contrast to a situation that’s about to get real ugly. Rest in peace, Brenda.

June Squibb Moves To Manhattan In The Trailer For Eleanor The Great

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Scarlett Johansson is making her directorial debut with Eleanor The Great, a film that stars 95 year-old June Squibb as Eleanor Morgenstein, an elderly woman from Iowa who moves to Manhattan after a devastating loss and who gets involved in the lives of Chiwetel Ejiofor and his daughter.  Though it’s not obvious from the trailer, the reviews from Cannes indicate that Eleanor is not quite who she claims to be.

Many actors have tried their hand at directing, often with mix results.  Ron Howard enjoyed directing so much that he gave up acting.  Kevin Costner made his debut with a bang and he’s been struggling to match it ever since.  Robert Redford is a far more interesting director than actor.  You could probably make the same argument about Warren Beatty, Sean Penn, and Jon Favreau.  But then there are countless other actors who directed one forgettable film and then quit.  How will Scarlett Johansson’s debut play out?  Watch the trailer and try to judge for yourself.

Retro Television Review: Malibu CA 2.26 “Three Dudes And A Baby”

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 Malibu CA, which aired in Syndication in 1998 and 1999.  Almost the entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

Yes, this is from the first season. I don’t care. I refuse to waste my time looking for a second season advertisement.

All good things must end.

And so must all bad things.

Episode 2.26 “Three Dudes And A Baby”

(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on May 20th, 2000)

It’s over!

After two seasons and over 50 episodes, Malibu, CA is over!

As opposed to the other Peter Engel shows that I’ve reviewed on this site, Malibu CA doesn’t get a real finale.  Instead, the final episode is just another stupid 22 minutes that signify nothing.  When waitress Stacie (Kristen Miller) goes out of town, Murray, Jason, and Peter take care of her baby.  Awwwww …. wait a minute.  Why would anyone leave their baby with those idiots?

When the three men find out that Stacie is getting divorced from her husband, all three try to step up.  Murray asks Stacie to marry him.  So does Jason.  Peter offers to adopt her.  Stacie reveals that she and her husband have decided to stay together.  Are you sure, Stacie?  Murray is like really rich.

Meanwhile, Lisa (the character, not me!) gets upset because her little sister is a fan of Traycee’s television show and is thinking of quitting college so she can become an actress.  Lisa blames all of this on Traycee which is weird because 1) Traycee didn’t force Lisa’s sister to do anything and 2) Traycee has found a lot of success as an actress and if Traycee can do it, why can’t Lisa’s sister do it?

This is a typical Lisa story.  Lisa (the character, not me!) acts like a total bitch, whines nonstop, and blames everything on Traycee, even though none of it is really Traycee’s fault.  Adding the character of Lisa was one of the biggest mistakes that was Malibu CA made during its second season.  The first season was pretty dire but, in the end, it was actually better than the second season and that’s entirely because the first season did not feature Lisa (the character, not me).  I don’t want to be too hard on the actress who played her because it’s not exactly as if she was being given great material to work with.  That said, Lisa was a poorly-written character who basically was portrayed as always being annoyed with something.  The fact that the finale of the show focuses on her as opposed to wrapping up the stories of Jason and Scott says a lot about why this show was the most forgettable of all of the Peter Engel-produced sitcoms.

And so, Malibu CA comes to a close and there’s really not much to say about it.  Peter Engel tried to work his Saved By The Bell/California Dreams/Hang Time magic but the show never really found a consistent tone and neither of the Collins brothers were particularly likable protagonists.  It’s really not a shock that neither Jason Hayes nor Trevor Merszei went on to have acting careers after this show ended.

On a positive note, Brandon Brooks and Priscilla Inga Taylor were consistently amusing, if just because they were smart enough to embrace the oddness of their characters.  And Ed Blatchford had his moments as the father figure.  Otherwise, this was a forgettable sitcom that signified the end of an era.

Next week, something new will be coming to TSL in this timeslot.  What will it be?  We’ll find out next Thursday!

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Wim Wenders 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!

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 78th birthday to the great German director, Wim Wenders!  It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Wim Wenders Films

The American Friend (1976, dir by Wim Wenders, DP: Robby Muller)

Paris, Texas (1984, dir by Wim Wenders, DP: Robby Muller)

Wings of Desire (1987, dir by Wim Wenders, DP: Robby Muller)

Until the End of the World (1991, dir by Wim Wenders, DP: Robby Muller)

Music Video of the Day: Dulce Amor by David Archuleta (2025, dir by Nathan Kim)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In case you were wondering whatever happened to David Archuleta, here you go.

Myself, I can still remember when David Archuleta was on American Idol.  There was actually a lot of controversy when he came in second to David Cook, which always struck me as a bit odd.  Archuleta seemed like a nice guy with an okay voice.  David Cook actually had talent.

(If anything, this was the season that showed how silly it was to have adult performers competing against teenagers.)

Oh, the Archuleta stans were crazy.  I remember posting some very jejune criticism of Archuleta’s performance of Imagine on a message board and getting accused of being a “psychopath” for not enjoying Archuleta’s rather weepy interpretation.

My favorite that season was Jason Castro, just because of how obviously stoned he was.

As for today, Archuleta’s a boring ex-Mormon now.  Who didn’t see that coming?  This video presents us with Archuleta the angel, which is like whatever.  I honestly think it wouldn’t hurt him to get a new management team.  Either that or I guess he could become a perennial political candidate like Clay Aiken.

Enjoy!