Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 5.19 “Silent Partner”

Posted on May 11, 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 Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983. The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!

This week, the California Highway Patrol is thoroughly incompetent.

Episode 5.19 “Silent Partner”

(Dir by Gordon Hessler, originally aired on February 28th, 1982)

This is one of those episodes of CHiPs where two “comedic” car thieves are stealing cars and it takes three high-speed, accident-filled chases before the Highway Patrol finally manages to catch them. Episodes like this are always fairly odd to watch. I’m not really sure if the show’s producers really understood what they were implying with an episode in which a bunch of professional law enforcers can’t seem to catch two buffoons who have no idea what they’re doing.

The first chase leads to an accident that leaves Grossman injured. He doesn’t break his neck but he does have to wear a neck brace, which temporarily keeps him from talking and eating. Those are Grossman’s favorite activities! These car thieves must be stopped!

(Seriously, Grossman was usually the most entertaining thing about this show. Taking away his ability to speak was not a good idea. Needless to say, Ponch can still talk.)

Meanwhile, Baker arrests a man at the scene of Grossman’s accident. Baker thinks that the man (Saul Brandt) must be drunk, just because the man did not react to Grossman’s sirens and he also doesn’t follow any of Baker’s orders. Uh-oh, it turns out that man was deaf and now he wants to file a complaint against Baker! And really, the man is totally justified in doing so. Baker was pretty rough when he tossed him around and Baker really had no evidence that the man had been drinking. Despite being totally in the wrong, Baker is still upset about being written up. Luckily, Ponch starts dating a deaf social worker (Dawn Jeffory) and she helps the man to understand that Baker just made a mistake and he was only in a bad mood because he has to work with Ponch. The complaint is dropped.

This episode featured two good car crashes and a lot of bad acting. It was well-intentioned but I am starting to wonder if maybe the people of California deserved a better highway patrol.

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.3 “Shadow Dancer”

Posted on May 11, 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 Mondays, I will be reviewing Crime Story, which ran on NBC from 1986 to 1988. The entire show can be found on Tubi!

This week, Torello’s war on Luca continues!

Episode 1.3 “Shadow Dancer”

(Dir by Leon Ichaso, originally aired on September 26th, 1986)

With the frequency killer now dead, Torello and his men are once again free to focus on trying to bust Ray Luca. The sooner they do it, the better. For one thing, Torello is becoming so obsessed that, even though his wife is pregnant, Torello’s dreams are still dominated by Luca taunting him. Also, Luca’s latest robbery has resulted in a death. Vincent Noonan (Michael Kemmerling), a former cellmate of Frank Holman’s (Ted Levine,) lost it during their latest home invasion and beat to death Mrs. Novak (Nancy Sheeber).

(Noonan, it turns out, has a history of losing control. It probably wasn’t a good idea to hire him in the first place but, with Luca no refusing to personally take part in robberies, the crew had to find a third man and quickly. Holman recommended Noonan because of how loyal Noonan was to him in prison)

Eager to solve the case and take down Luca, the Major Case Unit starts to put pressure on Luca’s boss, Phil Bartoli (Jon Polito). After his weekly craps game is broken up by Danny Krychek, Bartoli tells Luca that he has to do something to get the police to back off. Bartoli orders him to turn Noonan over to the police. Luca, who no longer handles dirty work himself, tells Holman to take care of it. Holman sends Noonan on a job and then tips off Torello. Despite Danny telling him that Noonan would die before turning into a rat, Torello is convinced that, if he takes Noonan alive, he’ll be able to get Noonan to give up Luca. (What Torello doesn’t realize is that Noonan has never actually met Luca. To quote Willy Cicci, “The family had lots of buffers.”)

It’s all for naught, though. Torello and the cops chase Noonan all over the streets of Chicago and, in the end, Noonan dies while trying to escape. Much like Homicide’s Luther Mahoney, Luca appears to be untouchable …. for now.

This episode worked best as a character study. After last week’s somewhat over-the-top villain, this episode reminded us that Luca and Torello are two tightly-wound men who struggle with emotion. Beyond his own self-absorption, Luca lacks the emotions necessary to truly understand his fellow humans. Torello, meanwhile, gets too emotional. Whether he’s pursuing Ray Luca or snapping at a condescending salesman, Torello is a self-styled crusader who appears to be going slowly but surely insane. This wasn’t a particularly complex episode but it felt important. It was a reminder of what this show is all about.

Join #MondayMania For The Wrong Man

Posted on May 11, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi, everyone! Tonight, on twitter, I will be hosting one of my favorite films for #MondayMania! Join us for 2017’s The Wrong Man!

You can find the movie on Prime and then you can join us on twitter at 9 pm central time! (That’s 10 pm for you folks on the East Coast.) See you then!

Song of the Day: The Twilight Zone Theme by Marius Constant

Posted on May 11, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Technically, the French composer Marius Constant did not set out to write the theme song for The Twilight Zone. In the 50s, CBS commissioned Constant to compose a number of short pieces for CBS stock music library, basically as musical stingers that could be used for radio shows. In 1960, when The Twilight Zone needed a theme song, an enterprising CBS employee combined two of Constant’s composition to create the iconic Twilight Zone theme.

Enjoy our short but haunting song of the day.

Scenes that I Love: “It’s a cook book!” from The Twilight Zone

Posted on May 11, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy Twilight Zone Day!

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Twilight Zone Edition

Posted on May 11, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 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 is Twilight Zone Day! In honor of this site’s favorite anthology show, it’s time for….

4 Shots From The Twilight Zone

Twilight Zone 1.8 “Time Enough At Last” (1959, dir by John Brahm)

Twilight Zone 1.22 “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street” (1960, dir by Ronald Winston)

Twilight Zone 2.6 “Eye of the Beholder (1960, dir by Douglas Heyes)

Twilight Zone 2.17 “Twenty-Two (1961, dir by Jack Smight)

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us For The Sword and the Sorcerer!

Posted on May 11, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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

Tonight, for #MondayActionMovie, the film will be 1982’s The Sword and the Sorcerer!

It should make for a night of fun viewing and I invite all of you to join in. If you want to join the live tweets, just hop onto Mastodon, find the movie on YouTube and hit play at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag! The watch party community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

See you soon!

Music Video of the Day: The Radiator by Getdown Services (2026, dir by JJ Jarman)

Posted on May 11, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s always good fun until someone gets pushed down a flight of stairs.

That’s a lesson for us all.

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.16 “Message In A Bottle”

Posted on May 10, 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 Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi: The Next Generation, which aired from 2001 to 2015! The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi.

This week, we have a very special episode of everyone’s favorite Canadian show. Degrassi goes there!

Episode 2.16 “Message In A Bottle”

(Dir by Bruce McDonald, originally aired on August 1st, 2003)

The school’s basketball team is finally doing well and Jimmy decides to throw a party at his apartment to celebrate. (As usual, Jimmy’s parents are out of town.) Paige is having a spa weekend so she doesn’t come. Ellie is too busy pretending to be Marco’s girlfriend to come. J.T. and Toby? Forget it. This is so not their scene that they’re not even in this episode!

Ashley come to the party with Terri. If nothing else, this reminds us that Terri is still a character on the show and she hasn’t suffered any school-ending brain damage at the hands of Rick Murray …. not yet, at least. Jimmy is excited to Ashley. However, romance will have to wait because Sean shows up drunk and accidentally breaks a liquor bottle. Jimmy throws a fit. That’s not a surprise. Jimmy’s always upset about something.

For that matter, so is Sean. Sean, however, has more reasons to be upset than Jimmy. His parents are drunks. His older brother, Tracker, cannot hold down a job, despite having a supercool name like Tracker. In this episode, Emma tells Spike and Snake that Sean will be joining them for dinner without bothering to ask Sean beforehand. Sean actually handles the first part of the dinner fairly well. But then, during the second half of the dinner, he sneaks some alcohol and becomes convinced that Spike is talking down to him. Myself, I’m more concerned about the fact that they ate a sushi dinner despite the fact that Spike is pregnant.

Emma comes to Jimmy’s party, looking for Sean after Sean storms out of dinner. Emma assumes that it’s all her mom’s fault but Sean admits that he’s been drinking and he overreacted. Sean is stunned when Emma calls her mom for a ride home. Sean can’t imagine living with a parent who isn’t abusive. That’s actually really, really sad. Daniel Clark always did a great job as Sean and that’s certainly the case here. Clark elevates this episode above being a typical anti-drinking episode. I appreciated that the episode didn’t judge Sean and that it didn’t lecture him. It’s as if the show understood that Sean felt bad enough without having every other character go off on him. At least during the early seasons, that’s one thing that set Degrassi apart from other high school shows.

The episode ends with forgiveness, which was sweet. Sean thinks Emma is going to dump him. Emma tells him that everyone makes mistakes. And that’s true! This was a good episode.