Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 3/29/26 — 4/4/26

I watched an episode of this classic detective series on Tuesday. Maury Chaykin was a great Wolfe and Timothy Hutton was a wonderful Archie Goodwin. The late James Tolkan also appeared in the episode, wearing an eyepatch.

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

My review of Saved By The Bell will drop in 30 minutes.

Show Me A Hero (HBO Max)

“….and I’ll show you a tragedy.” I rewatched this 2015 HBO miniseries on Wednesday. The miniseries dealt with the fight over low-income housing in Yonkers, New York and it starred Oscar Isaac as Nick Wasicsko, who went from being elected mayor at the age of 28 to committing suicide 6 years later. Supporting roles were played Catherine Keener, James Beluhsi, Peter Riegert, Jon Bernthal, Winona Ryder, Alfred Molina, and Carla Quevado. The show was written by David Simon and each episode was directed by Paul Haggis. Not surprisingly, several actors from The Wire popped up in small roles.

Show Me A Hero really impressed me when it originally aired. Rewatching it, it still held my attention but I could see that the miniseries was a bit more heavy-handed than I remembered and that Simon and Haggis were clearly more interested in the political storyline than they were in the stories of the people who eventually moved into the new housing developments. Some of the performances were better than other. Catherine Keener and Winona Ryder both overacted while, cast as the show’s three mayors, Belushi, Isaac, and Molina all gave strong performances. Carla Quevado was exceptionally good as Isaac’s wife.

In the end, Show Me A Hero works best as a portrait of an ambitious politician who peaked too young, suffered due to things out of his control, and then spent the rest of his life trying to regain his lost promise. Some people feel that Nick Wasicsko was a hero. This miniseries ultimately focuses on the tragedy.

St. Elsewhere (Daily Motion)

I reviewed St. Elsewhere here.

TV 2000 (NightFlight Plus)

Jeff and I watched an episode of this old 80s music program on Friday night. John Kassir, who played the kicker on 1st and Ten and who would later voice the Crypt Keeper on Tales From the Crypt, was one of the hosts. He was a bit hyperactive.

Retro Television Review: Baywatch 1.18 “Shark Derby”

Posted on April 4, 2026 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 Saturdays, I will be reviewing Baywatch, which ran on NBC and then in syndication from 1989 to 2001. The entire show can be viewed on Tubi.

This week, a lifeguard dies!

Episode 1.18 “Shark Derby”

(Dir by Gregory J. Bonann, originally aired on March 2nd, 1990)

Hey, remember Jill?

Jill, played by Shawn Weatherly, was a major character at the start of the season. She was the tough, seasoned lifeguard who was one of Mitch’s best friends. She was also Shauni’s mentor. If Shauni was often silly and superficial, Jill was all business. She also had a brief flirtation with Trevor, before Trevor vanished from the show.

As the first season progressed, Jill became less and less important. In this week’s episode, Jill finally gets to do something, She dies! She dies after being attacked by a shark who was drawn to the beach by an unethical restaurant owner (Peter Brown) who has been pouring chum into the ocean and who has also placed some sort of transmitter underwater that sends out a high-pitched tone that only sharks can hear. The restauranter is just doing it to promote his annual shark derby. However, when one of the sharks attacks a raft full of school children, Jill swims out into the ocean to save them. And she ends up getting bitten by a shark. She doesn’t lose any limbs. In fact, we don’t see any blood at all. But, at the hospital, it’s announced that Jill has over two hundred sutures. Yikes!

Despite getting chomped by a shark, it first appears as if Jill will survive. But towards the end of the episode, even as she’s preparing to leave the hospital, she develops a blood cot that kills her, off-screen. David Hasselhoff gets to show off his ability to cry onscreen. To be honest, that’s the main reason this episode works. We don’t really know enough about Jill to get too emotionally involved in her situation. But Hasselhoff is so incredibly earnest and sincere in his grief that he gets to you. Jill must have been someone amazing if the Hoff is crying.

This episode was shameless and emotionally manipulative and it was pure Baywatch. This episode also featured a record number of slo mo of doom scenes. The shark attacked in slow motion. Jill and Craig yelled at people to get out of the water in slow motion. Is it really slow motion if no one yells? I’m not sure.

So, Jill is dead. But the Hoff and the rest are still alive and ready to save swimmers across California.

The Eric Roberts Collection: The Night Never Sleeps (dir by Fred Carpenter)

Posted on April 4, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

2012’s The Night Never Sleeps takes place over the course of one very long night in a New York city.

Sgt. Cavanaugh (Dan Brennan) is a tough and plain-spoken cop, the type who might not be great with pleasantries but who is a good enough policeman that he’s not going to let anyone stop him from avenging the deaths of the officers working under him. Each murder leads to Cavanaugh digging deeper and deeper into the city’s underworld. In between phone calls from his ex-wife (played by Eliza Roberts, wife of Eric) and meetings with the skeptical Inspector Romanelli (Armand Assante), Cavanaugh pursues a bloodthirsty hitman (Russ Camarda) and his boss.

The Night Never Sleeps is a low-budget police procedural, one that actually works far better than it has any right to. There’s hardly a cliche that isn’t present and there’s as few scenes where the nonstop “tough talk” verges on self-parody but the actors — especially Dan Brennan — all give good performances and the fact that the action was actually shot on location gives the film an appropriate gritty feel.

As for Eric Roberts, he plays a pimp whose cheerful manner hides a dangerous temperament. This is one of Roberts’s better cameo appearances. Not only does he seem to be invested in the performance but his character is also central to the plot. The film makes good use of Eric Robert’s off-center smile. On the one hand, he seems friendly, or at least as friendly as a pimp can be. On the other hand, there’s just enough fidgety nervousness beneath his amiable manner to indicate only as fool would turn their back on him.

The Night Never Sleeps is a flawed film but it still held my attention.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

Live Tweet Alert: Join #ScarySocial for The Slime People!

Posted on April 4, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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, at 9 pm et, Deanna Dawn will be hosting #ScarySocial! The movie? The Slime People!

If you want to join us this Saturday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag! It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

The film is available on Prime!

Song of the Day: The Wicked Flee, composed by Carter Burwell

Posted on April 4, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s song of the day is this beautiful and haunting piece from 2010’s True Grit.

Scene that I Love: Superstar from Jesus Christ Superstar

Posted on April 4, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Just like yesterday’s scene, today’s scene that I love comes from 1973’s Jesus Christ Superstar.

Not surprisingly, both the musical and the film were controversial when first released. Seen today, though, it’s one of the best and most spiritually sincere films about the Passion ever made.

Carl Anderson, as the ghost of Judas, sings as if the world depends upon it.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Andrei Tarkovsky

Posted on April 4, 2026 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!

On this date, 94 years ago, Andrei Tarkovsky was born in Russia. Before he was murdered by the communist KGB in 1986, Tarkovsky was responsible for some of the most intriguing and visually stunning films ever made. Today, we pay tribute to Tarkovsky’s art and his legacy. It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Andrei Tarkovsky Films

Ivan’s Childhood (1962, dir by Andrei Tarkovsky, DP; Vadim Yusov)

Solaris (1972, dir by Andrei Tarkovsky, DP: Vadim Yusov)

Mirror (1975, dir by Andrei Tarkovsky, DP: Georgy Rerberg)

Stalker (1979, dir by Andrei Tarkovsky, DP: Alexander Knyazhinsky)

Music Video of the Day: Someday (I Will Understand) by Britney Spears (2005, dir by Michael Haussman)

Posted on April 4, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this video, Britney sings to Sean.

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Freddy’s Nightmares 2.7 “Silence is Golden”

Posted on April 3, 2026 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 Fridays, I will be reviewing Freddy’s Nightmares, a horror anthology show which ran in syndication from 1988 to 1990. The entire series can be found on Tubi!

Mimes are evil!

Episode 2.7 “Silence Is Golden”

(Dir by Charles Braverman, originally aired on November 19th, 1989)

“Here’s what on my mind tonight!” Freddy Krueger tells us as this episode starts.

Our first story is about radio DJ Rick Rake (Jeff Yagher), who has a mullet, a leather jacket, and a bad attitude. “I say what I think and I think what I say,” Rick says. When he’s visiting the park with his wife, Sheila (Sherry Hursey), a listener attempts to pick a fight with Rick. Rick throws a punch and accidentally hits a mime (Abie Selznick).

Eh, who cares? We all hate mimes, right?

Unfortunately, The mime carries a silent grudge and soon, Rick is haunted by visions of the mime everywhere. When Sheila is sucked into the ground and buried alive, the police say it was a sinkhole but Rick knows that it was the mime. Rick goes on the radio and announces that all mimes should be hunted down and killed. Rick sees the mime in the studio and, going after him, ends up taking a literal rake to the throat. Rick survives but he can no longer speak …. JUST LIKE A MIME!

In the second story, we discover that the mime is named Kip and he’s also a professional burglar. He steals to keep his girlfriend (Kim Morgan Greene) happy but he’s haunted by nightmares involving mistakes and death. When he learns that the last two people he robbed have turned up dead, Kip worries that he’s being set up. And, of course, he is.

At the end of the episode, Freddy reminds us that he’s dead so he can never be a mime or a DJ. Sorry, Freddy. You kind of brought it on yourself, though.

The first story actually worked fairly well, just because mimes are creepy. The second story was basically a noir with nightmares. I think it might have worked a bit better if Kip had just been an ordinary guy as opposed to a mime. The show never really explained if he was the same mime who killed Sheila and silenced Rick or was he just another mime in Springwood.

How many mimes are there in that town? No wonder Freddy went crazy.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 3.14 “Whistle, Wyler Works”

Posted on April 3, 2026 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 Fridays, I will be reviewing St. Elsewhere, a medical show which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988. The show can be found on Daily Motion.

This week, we learn why almost all of Morrison’s patients seem to die.

Episode 3.14 “Whistle, Wyler Works”

(Dir by David Anspaugh, originally aired on January 2nd, 1985)

It’s another busy day at St. Eligius.

Having finally found a kidney donor, Dr. Westphall performs the transplant. Tshalla (Larry B. Scott) gets a new kidney but Dr. Wyler is shaken to discover that, while he’s been working in Africa, surgical techniques in America have progressed to the point that Wyler now feels undertrained.
Having managed to alienate even the super patient Dr. Morrison, Mrs. Hufnagle is now working her “charm” on Bobby Caldwell. Caldwell tells Hufnagle that she doesn’t really need plastic surgery but Hufnagle seems to really want it.
Victor freaks out when he’s not included to assist in Dr. Craig’s latest big surgery. A chance meeting with Ellen Craig leads to Victor confessing that his father died when he was young and that he’s always been looking for a new father figure.
Ellen snaps at Mark for not understand how much Victor looks up at him. Yay! I always like it when Ellen stands up to Mark. That Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels were (and are) married in real life always adds an extra snap to these scenes.
Elliott appears to have a crush on one of Nurse Rosenthal’s daughters. There’s no way that’s going to end well.
Dr. Chandler returns from vacation (in reality, Denzel Washington was probably busy filming a movie) and deals with a patient (Jay Tarses) who is also a bigamist.
When the representative of a fly-by night medical school approaches Luther and tries to get him to enroll, Auschlander kicks the smarmy representative out of the hospital. Before the rep leaves, he mentions that St. Eligius already has at least one of his school’s graduates on staff.
Yep, it’s Jack Morrison.

It’s already been established that Jack got his medical degree from a Mexican medical school. In this episode, it’s further established that, whereas most doctors spends years in medical school, Jack graduated after six months. Jack explains that he still passed all of the tests that he was required to take but that he was also given credit for his life experience of working as a pharmaceutical rep.

Dr. Westphall is not amused. If someone could learn how to be a doctor that quickly, Westphall says, wouldn’t we all being doing it? Westphall points out that he put his reputation on the line to keep Jack around as a second-year resident. Westphall also says that this explains why Jack always seems to be misdiagnosing his patients and …. well, I think Westphall has a point!

This was not a bad episode, though I’m a bit weary of this Dr. Wyler storyline. Wyler doesn’t do much other than feel sorry for himself. I’m far more interested to see where things will be going with both Victor and Jack.