For tonight’s horror on the lens, how about a chance to watch David Hasselhoff and Angie Harmon battle the forces of dark magic?
That’s right, it’s an episode of Baywatch Nights! This episode shows what happens when Angie and David investigate the burned book that they found at the scene of an occult gathering. It’s all a little bit silly but then again, that’s the charm of the show!
Enjoy!
Circle of Fear originally aired on October 27th, 1996.
In tonight’s episode of Baywatch Nights, Lifeguard Mitch (David Hasselhoff) is struck by lightning while saving the life of an awkward and really pale first time surfer. It’s then up the Paranormal Investigator Mitch to discover all of the surfer’s secrets. Not surprisingly, it all goes back to aliens.
At the risk of starting the obvious, the second season of Baywatch Nights is probably a show that would have never existed without the success of The X-Files. The first season of Baywatch Nights was a straight detective show. Because no one watched the first season, the 2nd season found Hasselhoff investigating a different paranormal event every week. What I find interesting is that, after battling sea serpents and all the rest, Mitch could apparently easily go back to his day job as a lifeguard. Seriously, I would be so paranoid after meeting just one monster, I can’t imagine how I would react after meeting three of them. I definitely wouldn’t be smiling while watching people go into the water. I would be demanding that the beaches close.
Anyway, this episode makes Baywatch Nights‘s debt to The X-Files pretty clear. Personally, I just like the super cheap lightning effect.
This episode originally aired on October 20th, 1996.
Enjoy!
On tonight’s episode of Baywatch Nights, David Hasselhoff and Angie Harmon investigate yet another sea monster.
Let’s see. The first episode of Baywatch Night featured a sea monster. And then the 2nd episode featured a killer mermaid. And then this episode features yet another monster living in the sea. Could it be that after just 3 episodes, the writers of Baywatch Nights were running out of ideas? Fortunately, later episodes would involve various land monsters.
That said, I do find the green blob to be kind of creepy. In general, blobs are just scary.
Enjoy!
The Watcher in the Woods is one of those films that scares you, but you see it in your youth and it first introduces you horror. It’s like a horror movie kiddie pool. I watched this today with my daughters, which makes a really bad dad or a really awesome dad. Not sure.
My Daughter’s – Half Scary, Half weird.
I would agree with that assessment. There’s possession and I think aliens, but they don’t burst out of your chest.
The Curtis family moves into a Good Value house rental in England next door to Mrs. Aylwood (Bette Davis). Right away, poor Jan (Lynn-Holly Johnson) starts seeing weird things all around the property like laser beams. Yes, laser beams. After a lot of strange things, we learn that Mrs. Alywood’s daughter disappeared. The middle-aged townsfolk are somehow responsible….dun dun dun.
There are a lot of themes in this movie that revolve around mirrors and eclipses. For a Disney film, it is pretty scary!
I any case, the movie is free! Watch it and determine for yourself if this was a bad parenting call.
Happy Horrorthon!!! What do you get when you have Basques, Demons, Blacksmithing, and Illegitimate Children? About 91 minutes of entertainment! The toughest part of this movie is getting the title spelling correct. I couldn’t tell if they were speaking their Euskadi language or Spanish. I remember this dialect when I ran with the bulls in Pamplona. I was 22, hard-drinking, and up for anything dangerous. Once you left the city, it all looked liked rural Massachusetts and this film captured that old world culture and better yet, you have didn’t see me at 22 vomiting Paella, making out with Brits and Argentines, or ACCIDENTALLY ending up in a brothel.
The story centers around the reclusive Patxi who is considered a crazy hermit who lives outside of town and Usue, an orphaned child, who lives with the stigma of her mother’s suicide. Patxi was a veteran of the Napoleonic wars. When France invaded Spain, he fought, was captured and sentenced to death by firing squad. In order to see his family again, he made a deal with a demon Sarteal – as you do. Demons, they’re always acting like pun crazy evil genie’s, twisting your wishes to make them terrible.
I would be able to handle such a wish. I would draft a wish document with supporting case law, retain counsel for a minimum of 2 grand to review the wish, and insist the counsel indemnify. Sadly, Paxti did not have my savvy. After he made the wish, he survived and went home to find that his wife thought he was dead, had a baby – Usue- with a lover, and in a rage Paxti killed the lover and the mom hanged herself. In response, Paxti blames Sarteal for his wife’s death, captures Sarteal, and imprisons him in his bunker outside of town. Poor Usue is left parentless because of Paxti.
Side Note: Screw Paxti. Yes, Sarteal’s evil and blah blah blah, but it was Paxti who did the murdering. Take some personal responsibility, Paxti! It’s like that song “Hey Joe” by Jimi Hendrix. Joe is an asshat, but the Narrator is just as guilty. In Errementary, there’s no one else to blame! Unlike this story, Joe confessed that he was “gonna shoot [his] Old Lady and the narrator doesn’t do ANYTHING!!!” Why not say… Heeeey Joe, Where you going with that gun in your hand? Heeeey Joe, Maybe we should have a chat..take a breather…maybe up the meds a bit? Heeeeey Joe, you don’t down own your Old Lady and domestic violence is never acceptable! Heeeey Police, Joe’s got a damn gun and is threatening to murder his wife… yes… right now… he’s heading to.. where is that house honey? …. 72..yeah….7213 Robins Lane. Thank you.
The local kids are constantly taunting Usue and chasing her and, on one occasion, she’s fleeing bullies and goes where they will NOT follow- Paxti’s property. His home and property is riddled with traps, Christian crosses, and other warding. There appears to be a child in a cage that she sets free, but this in fact Sarteal- the demon. Sarteal attacks Paxti, but Paxti gets him back, and then Paxti bonds with Usue by torturing the demon with chickpeas. Yes, Chickpeas. Demons are all OCD if you throw chickpeas on the ground, they have to count them. It comes up repeatedly in the story. It’s a whole thing.
Sarteal is kind of funny actually. He’s a failed soul collector and has been in Paxti’s makeshift prison for at least 20 years. In town, a Tax Collector comes and convinces the townsfolk to enter Paxti’s property because there is supposedly gold there. The Tax Collector, however, is not who he seems (except to Libertarians!)- he’s a demon -Alastor – sent to collect both the Blacksmith’s soul as well as Sarteal who is in poor standing in Hell for being a screw up.
The townsfolk try to enter Paxti’s property, but get caught in Paxti’s many traps he set up to imprison Sarteal if he escaped. The Tax Collector convinces the townsfolk to believe that Paxti is holding or killed Usue on his property. They form a mob with torches…very 3rd Act Frankenstein. Usue wants to see her mom again; therefore, she makes a deal with Alastor to see her mom in Hell in exchange for her soul. Alastor takes her to Hell and Paxti’s sets out to rescue her. He goes to Hell with a Golden Bell because the chimes do things to demons….it’s weird.
The depiction of Hell on their budget was not bad. Paxti does manage to redeem himself. He sends Usue back to Earth and he stays in hell with his bell and to find Usue’s mom…it’s weird. I enjoyed this film A LOT, but mostly because of the live tweeting. So, my advice is to try to watch it in some way with friends!
In tonight’s episode of televised horror, it’s David Hasselhoff vs. a mermaid. Basically, the mermaid wants to procreate but it also wants to kill and that leads to all sorts of conflicts and….
Well, listen, this episode is pretty silly. To be honest, they’re all pretty silly. But that’s kind of the fun of it all, isn’t it?
This episode of Baywatch Nights originally aired on October 6th, 1996.
Enjoy!
During the month of October, we like to share classic episodes of horror-themed television. That was easier to do when we first started doing our annual October horrorthon here at the Shattered Lens because every single episode of the original, black-and-white Twilight Zone was available on YouTube. Sadly, that’s no longer the case.
However, there is some good news! Twilight Zone may be gone but every episode of Baywatch Nights is currently available on YouTube!
Baywatch Nights was a show that ran for two seasons in the 90s. It featured David Hasselhoff as a guy who was a lifeguard during the day and a private detective at night. The first season featured Hasselhoff solving crimes and hardly anyone watched. The 2nd season featured Hasselhoff fighting monsters and other supernatural forces. Again, no one watched but the 2nd season was still a lot more fun.
Now, I’ve shared random episodes of this show in the past but, for this year’s Horrorthon, I’m going to share every episode from the 2nd season of Baywatch Nights. It’s not easy keeping those beaches safe!
For tonight’s episode, we have the first episode from season 2. In this episode, Hasselhoff and company investigate a boat that may have been sunk by a sea monster. Assuming that you’ve spent the first 40 or so years of your life believing that there’s no such thing as sea monsters, how would you react upon discovering that they actually did exist? I think it would drive most people crazy. That’s my theory. Hasselhoff and company, however, handle things pretty well.
Anyway, here’s the episode, which originally aired on September 26th, 1996! Enjoy!
I have to admit that I have a sneaky admiration for network television.
I mean, on the one hand, the networks are dying. After decades of dominating America’s free time, network television was pushed aside first by cable and now by streaming services. It’s been a long time since anyone looked to the big four networks in search of ground-breaking entertainment. (Don’t even get me started on the CW.) In many ways, the networks feel like relics of a bygone era. Why structure your life around staying at home on a certain night so that you can catch whatever’s on NBC, ABC, CBS, or Fox when you can just DVR it or watch it online at your own convenience?
And yet, the networks carry on. In the middle of the Streaming Revolution, the networks continue to insist that they’re at the forefront of American culture. “Look,” they say, “We have football! We have the awards shows! We have game shows hosted by formerly funny comedians! We have the smarmiest late night talk shows host around! We have the nightly news!” There’s something oddly touching about the refusal of the networks to admit that they’re no longer particularly relevant. They’re like Charles Foster Kane, isolated away in Xanadu and insisting that he’s still as powerful and important as he’s always been.
I guess that’s why I’m always fascinated by the start of a new television season. That never-say-die spirit just appeals to me and I always imagine a bunch of network executives saying, at the start of each season, “This time, we’re going to show Netflix and HBO how it’s done!” With the Emmys now over and done with, the 2020-2021 network television season has begun. For me, It’s always interesting to see which shows become a surprise hit and which shows end up getting cancelled after just three weeks. Oddly enough, the previous television season brought us no real hits and only a few dramatic cancellations. That’s the first time I can remember anything like that happening. It was strange.
This new season is also going to be strange because, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, production on a lot of shows were halted. Of the few new dramas and sitcoms that are scheduled for this season, the majority of them are starting in October. Even once the season does get started in earnest, most nights are going to be dominated by celebrity-themed games shows and reality competition programming. That said, I remain an optimist. Surely, there will be at least one good new drama or sitcom on network television this season, right?
Well, it probably won’t be Filthy Rich.
Filthy Rich, which premiered on Fox on Monday night, is the latest primetime soap opera. It’s a show about a wealthy Southern family that owns a Christian television network. When the patriarch of the family is killed in a plane crash, it leads to all of his bastard children coming out of the woodwork so that they can get their inheritance and blah blah blah. It’s meant to be campy and over-the-top and satirical but, judging from the pilot, it just tries too hard. Kim Cattrall plays the scheming matriarch and her erratic southern accent serves to remind that us that Kim Cattrall doesn’t exactly have the greatest range as an actress. Meanwhile, none of the children are really that interesting and even the big, ornately decorated mansion seems rather dull. It’s all a bit too calculated to be genuinely subversive.
With its portrait of scheming rich people and Christian hypocrites, Filthy Rich feels like the edgiest show of 1999. Unfortunately, it’s airing in 2020 and, at this point, we’ve all seen enough Ryan Murphy productions to be able to guess every single thing happens in the pilot for Filthy Rich. (Admittedly, Filthy Rich is not actually a Ryan Murphy production. Instead, it was developed by the director of The Help, Tate Taylor.) There’s not a single surprise to be found. The show seems to think that it’s blowing our minds but, at this point, it takes more than a supporting character smoking weed to be shocking. What would have made Filthy Rich better? It probably would have helped if it had aired on HBO or maybe even FX. Instead, it’s a primetime network show that tries hard to convince us that it’s edgy when it’s actually totally mundane.
Anyway, it’s hard to imagine Filthy Rich surviving against Dancing With The Stars and The Voice so hopefully, everyone involved will move on to better things.
A few weeks ago, I was looking through the Guide and I noticed that MeTV had apparently started airing a show called The Powers of Matthew Star.
The name immediately intrigued me, though I wasn’t quite sure why. I think that some of it just had to do with how silly it sounded. The Powers of Matthew Star. Of course, someone named Matthew Star would have powers. But what type of powers? Since his last name was Star, it would probably be a good guess that they would be extraterrestrial powers and since his first name was Matthew, it stood to reason that he was either an angel or a human-alien hybrid, or perhaps an alien pretending to be a human.
As I pondered just who Matthew Star could be and what his powers were, I suddenly realized the real reason why the title jumped out at me. I had actually heard of this show before. Several years ago, while I was reviewing all of the Friday the 13th films for this site, I came across several references to The Powers of Matthew Star. That was because the show had featured by Amy Steel (who survived Friday the 13th Part II) and Peter Barton (who did not survive Friday the 13th — The Final Chapter).
Because The Powers of Matthew Star airs at four in the morning (Sunday morning, to be exact) I set the DVR to record it. I’ve now watched a handful of episodes and I like the show, even though I’m still not really sure what’s going on.
As I suspected, Matthew Star (played by Peter Barton) is an alien who is pretending to be a human. Each episode opens with a narrator explaining how Matthew Star ended up on Earth but I have to admit that I’ve found the narration next to impossible to actually follow. As far as I can tell, Matthew Star is actually a member of alien royalty but, after his home planet was either conquer or blew up, he had to go to Earth in order to hide out from another alien race that wants to destroy him. Because he looks like a teenager, Matthew has to go to high school and deal with high school stuff while, at the same time, solving crimes for the government. As far as his powers are concerned, he can apparently move stuff with his mind but he has to be careful about moving too much because then his cover might get blown and the aliens that are searching for him might destroy Earth.
Matthew’s guardian is Walt Shepherd (Louis Gossett, Jr.), who is a teacher at the high school and who knows about Matthew’s powers. I think Walt is actually supposed to be another alien, though the episodes I’ve seen have not exactly been clear about this. Matthew’s best friend is Pam (Amy Steel), who is the editor of the school newspaper. Matthew has a crush on her but he’s not sure if he can ask her to prom because he’s an alien and he’s got other aliens looking for him.
From what I’ve seen, the show’s a bit silly. For instance, one episode featured Matthew and Shepherd going to Italy on some sort of top secret government job. The very next episode featured Matthew using his powers to win a high school football game and it ended with a message about the importance of education. Despite my love of Italy, I preferred the football game episode to the secret agent episode. The football game episode was so achingly sincere that it was hard not to enjoy it.
And really, from what I’ve seen, that’s the main appeal of The Powers of Matthew Star. It’s silly and the plot is difficult to follow but there’s an overwhelming sincerity to the show’s portrayal of Matthew as an alien who just wants to save the Earth, enjoy high school, and work up the courage to ask Pam out on a date. If I had been alive and like 13 years old in 1982, I would have had such a huge crush on Peter Barton. Barton is incredibly likable as Matthew Star and he and Amy Steel are a cute couple whenever the show allows them to get together.
Unfortunately, according to Wikipedia, it appears that the whole high school angle of the show was dropped after the first 12 episodes. (MeTV is only 7 episodes in.) Starting with the 13th episode, Matthew was no longer a high school student, Amy Steel was no longer on the show, and every episode featured Matthew and Shepherd exclusively using their powers to defeat terrorists and other criminals. That doesn’t sound like it’ll be as much fun. I’ll probably stop DVRing the show once that happens.
Until then, though, I’m enjoying the adventures of Matthew Star, alien royalty-turned-high school student!
Previous Guilty Pleasures
Usually, when it’s time for the Emmy nominations to be announced, I’ll post what I personally would have nominated. I didn’t do it this year because, for whatever reason, I didn’t watch as much TV last season as I have in the past so I felt like, if I had done a Lisa Has All The Power post for the Emmy nominations, I would have ended up just nominating a bunch of shows that I hadn’t actually watched and that would just be wrong.
I will say that I was hoping to see nominations for Bad Education and Unbelievable. Both did receive nominations, though not as much as they should have. Bad Education was nominated for Best TV Movie and Hugh Jackman received a nomination but it deserved so much more. (It’s the best film that I’ve seen so far this year and it bugs the Hell out of me that it was sold to HBO and not Netflix because Bad Education is the type of movie that should get Oscar recognition.) Unbelievable was nominated for Best Limited Series but Kaitlyn Dever and Merritt Weaver deserved nominations as well. I was also disappointed that neither Aaron Paul nor Robert Forster were nominated for El Camino. I’m also upset that my favorite comedy series — Medical Police — was totally snubbed but I’m not really surprised. Medical Police is hilarious but it’s not self-important enough for the Emmys. Still, considering that Curb Your Enthusiasm was kind of terrible this year, it’s a shame that Medical Police couldn’t sneak in there.
(This year still isn’t as bad as the year that Twin Peaks: The Return was snubbed in all the major categories.)
Anyway, here are the major nominees. At least The Mandalorian got some recognition. GO BABY YODA!
Drama Series
“Better Call Saul” (AMC)
“The Crown” (Netflix)
“The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu)
“Killing Eve” (BBC America/AMC)
“The Mandalorian” (Disney Plus)
“Ozark” (Netflix)
“Stranger Things” (Netflix)
“Succession” (HBO)
Comedy Series
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” (HBO)
“Dead to Me” (Netflix)
“The Good Place” (NBC)
“Insecure” (HBO)
“The Kominsky Method” (Netflix)
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon Prime Video)
“Schitt’s Creek” (Pop TV)
“What We Do in the Shadows” (FX)
Limited Series
“Little Fires Everywhere” (Hulu)
“Mrs. America” (Hulu)
“Unbelievable” (Netflix)
“Unorthodox” (Netflix)
“Watchmen” (HBO)
Televison Movie
“American Son” (Netflix)
“Bad Education” (HBO)
“Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings: These Old Bones” (Netflix)
“El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” (Netflix)
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend (Netflix)
Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Jason Bateman (“Ozark”)
Sterling K. Brown (“This Is Us”)
Steve Carell (“The Morning Show”)
Brian Cox (“Succession”)
Billy Porter (“Pose”)
Jeremy Strong (“Succession”)
Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Jennifer Aniston (“The Morning Show”)
Olivia Colman (“The Crown”)
Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve”)
Laura Linney (“Ozark”)
Sandra Oh (“Killing Eve”)
Zendaya (“Euphoria”)
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Anderson (“Black-ish”)
Don Cheadle (“Black Monday”)
Ted Danson (“The Good Place”)
Michael Douglas (“The Kominsky Method”)
Eugene Levy (“Schitt’s Creek”)
Ramy Youssef (“Ramy”)
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Christina Applegate (“Dead to Me”)
Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Linda Cardellini (“Dead to Me”)
Catherine O’Hara (“Schitt’s Creek”)
Issa Rae (“Insecure”)
Tracee Ellis Ross (“Black-ish”)
Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Jeremy Irons (“Watchmen”)
Hugh Jackman (“Bad Education”)
Paul Mescal (“Normal People”)
Jeremy Pope (“Hollywood”)
Mark Ruffalo (“I Know This Much Is True”)
Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Cate Blanchett (“Mrs. America”)
Shira Haas (“Unorthodox”)
Regina King (“Watchmen”)
Octavia Spencer (“Self Made”)
Kerry Washington (“Little Fires Everywhere”)
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Giancarlo Esposito (“Better Call Saul”)
Bradley Whitford (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
Billy Crudup (“The Morning Show”)
Mark Duplass (“The Morning Show”)
Nicholas Braun (“Succession”)
Kieran Culkin (“Succession”)
Matthew Macfadyen (“Succession”)
Jeffrey Wright (“Westworld”)
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Laura Dern (“Big Little Lies”)
Meryl Streep (“Big Little Lies”)
Helena Bonham Carter (“The Crown”)
Samira Wiley (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
Fiona Shaw (“Killing Eve”)
Julia Garner (“Ozark”)
Sarah Snook (“Succession”)
Thandie Newton (“Westworld”)
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Andre Braugher (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”)
William Jackson Harper (“The Good Place”)
Alan Arkin (“The Kominsky Method”)
Sterling K. Brown (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Tony Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Mahershala Ali (“Ramy”)
Kenan Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”)
Dan Levy (“Schitt’s Creek”)
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Betty Gilpin (“GLOW”)
D’Arcy Carden (“The Good Place”)
Yvonne Orji (“Insecure”)
Alex Borstein (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Marin Hinkle (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Kate McKinnon (“Saturday Night Live”)
Cecily Strong (“Saturday Night Live”)
Annie Murphy (“Schitt’s Creek”)
Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Dylan McDermott (“Hollywood”)
Jim Parsons (“Hollywood”)
Tituss Burgess (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend”)
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Watchmen”)
Jovan Adepo (“Watchmen”)
Louis Gossett Jr. (“Watchmen”)
Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Holland Taylor (“Hollywood”)
Uzo Aduba (“Mrs. America”)
Margo Martindale (“Mrs. America”)
Tracey Ullman (“Mrs. America”)
Toni Collette (“Unbelievable”)
Jean Smart (“Watchmen”)
Reality Competition
“The Masked Singer” (FOX)
“Nailed It” (Netflix)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” (VH1)
“Top Chef” (Bravo)
“The Voice” (NBC)
Variety Sketch Series
“A Black Lady Sketch Show” (HBO)
“Drunk History” (Comedy Central)
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
Variety Talk Series
“Daily Show with Trevor Noah” (Comedy Central)
“Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” (TBS)
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC)
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO)
“Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS)
Through the Shattered Lens 