“Well, I see we’re trying a new experiment this morning. I hope that doesn’t prove to be a disturbing influence.”
With those words, President Dwight D. Eisenhower opened the first ever televised (though pre-taped) presidential news conference. For the first time, viewers at home could watch as the President took questions from the members of the press and answered them in his own words. Today, we take it for granted and we even get bored with televised news conferences and speeches. But seventy years ago today, on January 19th, 1955, what Eisenhower did was considered to be revolutionary and a little dangerous. How would the public react to actually seeing the man who led the country answering questions in person.
Eisenhower was asked about the dangers of Communist China, the new budget bill, and his own opinion about how his first term had gone and whether had any plans for a potential second term. Eisenhower laughed at the last query, saying, “It looks like a loaded question.”
Obviously, the new experiment worked. The pubic continued to like Ike and, when he did run for a second term, he was elected just as easily as the first time. The Democrats didn’t even bother to put a new candidate and instead just brought back Adlai Stevenson. Eisenhower would be succeeded by John F. Kennedy, who went on to perfect Eisenhower’s “new experiment.”
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC! It can be viewed on Peacock.
This week, season 2 of Homicide comes to a close with an episode directed by John McNaughton, of Henry: Portrait of A Serial Killer fame.
Episode 2.4 “A Many Splendored Thing”
(Dir by John McNaughton, originally aired on January 27th, 1994)
The second season finale of Homicide opens with Bolander in a good mood and Munch feeling that life is pretty much pointless. It’s a reversal from what we’ve seen over the last few episodes of Homicide and, as annoyed as I got with all the storylines about Bolander’s private life, I was still happy to see Bolander happy in this episode. As an actor, Ned Beatty’s performance is a lot interesting when Bolander is looking forward to the future. By that same token, Richard Belzer always seemed to be trying to hard whenever it came to playing Munch’s happiness. Belzer was born to play a cynic and, in this episode, he delivers his lines with a bitterness that is both funny and authentic.
Bolander is dating Linda and I have to admit that, despite my initial weariness, I really like Ned Beatty and Julianna Margulies as a couple. Bolander and Linda go on a double date with Kay and Danvers. Awwww, two couples in love and having dinner together! How sweet! Uh-oh, here comes Munch….
While Munch is ruining Bolander’s date, Bayliss is getting in touch with his own dark side. An investigation into the S&M-related death of a young woman leads to Bayliss and Pembleton arresting a man who killed her during rough (but consensual) sex. Bayliss and Pembleton spend their investigation in Baltimore’s red light district. Bayliss claims to be disgusted by the whole scene, leading to Pembleton calling him out for being judgmental. Pembleton tells Bayliss that he can’t be a good detective unless he’s really in touch with every aspect of his existence. After the murder is solved, the woman’s co-worker, Tanya, gives Bayliss the gift of a leather jacket. Tanya is played, in a very good performance, by the actress Adrienne Shelley. Tragically, Shelley herself would, 12 years later, be murdered in her New York apartment. And while it’s tempting to write about the irony of Shelley appearing on a show like Homicide, I’d rather recommend that everyone see Waitress instead. It was the second feature film that Shelley directed and it is very good.
Finally, Lewis investigates a man who committed murder because he felt someone had taken his favorite pen. Lewis searches for a deeper motive but in the end, it really was all about a pen. Lewis, I’ve noticed, always seems to get the cases that show just how random life and death can truly be.
The second season of Homicide ends with Lewis giving Felton a pen, Bayliss putting on his new leather jacket and walking the streets of Baltimore, and Munch, Bolander, and Linda watching fireworks explode over the harbor. It’s a good way to end a season. As dark as the show was (and as dark as this particular episode was), the season ends on a note of hope. There is happiness out there for those willing to look for it.
As today is the anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, today’s scene that I love features Poe’s most famous interpreter, Vincent Price, reciting and performing The Raven. This scene comes from a 1985 television special that was called The Teller and the Tale.
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewingthe Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!
This week, Howard’s paranoid and with good reason! They are all out to get him….
Episode 3.4 “I’m Okay, You’re A Spy”
(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on October 17th, 1987)
After the new stockboy, 12 year-old Brad (played by T and T‘s Sean Roberge), shows Howard a newspaper article about how the company that purchased Cobb’s has been sending corporate spies into its stores to evaluate management, Howard gets extremely paranoid. He becomes convinced that there must be a spy in the store. He gathers Brad, Leslie, Christian, Viker, and Marlene into the stockroom and asks them if they’ve noticed anyone strange in the store. He also suggests that any one of them could possibly be the spy.
Or maybe — just maybe — the spy is the new butcher who keeps asking Howard all sorts of questions about the other employees. He would seem to be the most likely suspect and we know it’s him because the episode opens with him getting his assignment and talking about how he can’t wait to get Howard Bannister fired. Howard, of course, is so paranoid about the possibility of there being a spy in the store that he expresses all of his fears and frustrations to the spy. In other words, this is yet another episode episode where Howard is a complete moron. The previous season was split evenly between episodes where Howard was competent and episodes where Howard was an idiot. The episodes featuring stupid Howard were always funnier than the episodes featuring smart Howard so I think the showrunners made the right decision to focus o Howard’s stupidity in the third season. No one wants to watch a show about a good boss. What fun is that?
(It’s kind of like how we loved The Office when it was all about Michael screwing up but, when it became about new boss Andy proving himself, we all tuned out.)
It turns out that not everyone at the new corporation is supportive of the whole spy thing. T.C. Collingwood comes to the store and informs Howard that his butcher is the spy. Howard replies by giving the spy a lot of work to do. I guess that’s one way to handle it but it doesn’t change the fact that Howard told the spy that everyone at the store was incompetent and should be fired. This episode makes less and less sense the more that I think about it. Can’t corporate just look at whether or not the store had made any money and use that to determine whether or not Howard’s doing a good enough job? This episode didn’t make much sense.
Incidentally, Edna was on vacation during this episode. How many vacation does Edna get in the year? It seems like she’s never at the store. I have a feeling that Howard is going to run off with T.C. Collingwood at some point in the new future. Maybe that’s for the best. At least then Edna wouln’t have to flee to Florida every month.
Next week …. Howard wants to be a TV star! We’ll see what happens.
Oh my God, did Chef Ramsay really just say that!? I’ve watched a lot of episodes of Hell’s Kitchen but I don’t think any elimination has taken me as much by surprise as the elimination of Brandon this week. Brandon is who I expected to win this season and I know that I’m not alone in that. That said, Brandon did struggle at service. Of all the chefs to receive black jackets, Brandon struggled the most and, even more importantly, Brandon was really the only one to struggle. Ramsay didn’t have much of a choice but I have a feeling Brandon will return in a future season.
Speaking of Chef Ramsay, I also caught the second part of the Kitchen Nightmares premiere. I’m glad that Ramsay apparently thinks that he’s fixed that restaurant but I can promise that there is no way I would ever voluntarily eat at any establishment featured on this show. I don’t care if it’s clean now. Once a rat trap, always a rat trap.
This week’s episode of Abbott Elementary surfaced in comparison to last week’s but that’s to be expected considering the brilliance of last week’s show. I still laughed at Ava trying to figure out what it’s like to “date the poors.”
On Peacock, I watched the three episode documentary Girls Gone Wild: The Untold Story and yes, that was certainly disgusting and disturbing, It was even worse than Hulu’s Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action, which I also watched. I guess I felt like catching up on some sordid history this week!
Speaking of sordid, Who Wants To Marry A Multi-Millionaire is on YouTube. I watched it and I have to admit that I laughed when the “millionaire” came lurching out and started speaking in a voice that sounded exactly like Bill Hader’s. Who Wants To Marry A Multi-Millionaire was a one-time, two-hour special that aired in 2000. The man behind this fiasco (the marriage was annulled, the millionaire was not a millionaire but just a guy who was the subject of multiple restraining orders) went on to create The Bachelor.
Also on YouTube, I found all six episodes of The Starlet, a reality competition show where aspiring actresses competed for a walk-on role on One Tree Hill. Stop laughing, it was a real show. I vaguely remember watching it when it first aired. I watched it a second time on Monday because I was bored. One of the judges was Faye Dunaway. Faye was surprisingly nice. The mean judge was Vivica A. Fox.
Case and I are continuing to watch Dark, on Netflix. What a fascinating and macabre show! I recommend it to anyone reading.
I watched the latest episodes of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test but I don’t remember a damn thing about them, other than it amused me how everyone pretended to be taking everything so seriously.
And, as always, I watched the shows that I review on a weekly basis. I’m not going to sit here and list them all because I’m tired. But you can find all my reviews on this site. Yay!
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 Welcome Back Kotter, which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1979. The entire show can be purchased on Prime.
This week, it’s Welcome Back Barbarino!
Episode 4.14 “Bride and Gloom”
(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on January 13th, 1979)
Epstein needs a favor from Barbarino. Remember the time I saved your life? Epstein asks. No, Barbarino replies. Well, no matter! Epstein is still intent on getting to Barbarino to pay him back marrying Epstein’s Guatemalan cousin, Angelina (Rachel Levario). Angelina needs her citizenship so Vinnie just needs to stay married to her from three days and then they’ll get a divorce and Vinnie can continue to date Nurse Sally (Linda McCullough). (“What you’re doing is so noble!” Sally tells Barbarino. I am not sure I would have the same reaction to my boyfriend announcing he was marrying someone else.)
Julie and Woodman tell Barbarino that he’s too young to get married and it’s somewhat jarring to remember that Barbarino and the rest of the Sweathogs are still just supposed to be high school kids. (John Travolta was the youngest member of the cast but, by the time the fourth season rolled around, even he looked too old to be hanging out at Buchanan High.) Gabe is not around to provide any advice and I don’t think this episode even bothered to come up with an excuse to explain his absence.
Angelina does not speak a word of English so Epstein serves as the translator while she and Barbarino fight about the wedding. Angelina wants a nice wedding. Barbarino just wants to get it over with. They compromise by holding the ceremony in Barbarino’s ugly apartment. (If the show couldn’t even spend the money to convince Gabe Kaplan to appear in the show that he was starring on, there was no way they were going to splurge for an extra set.) The guests are the Sweathogs and Julie and, for some reason, Mr. Woodman. Babarino and Epstein both have huge families but none of them show up for the wedding. I guess hiring extras would have cost money. The show did hire an actor to play the priest so that was good of them.
Does Vinnie Barbarino get married? No. Angelina changes her mind and marries a musician instead. Barbarino can go back to dating Sally and I guess Gabe will just hear about it later at dinner.
“I’m so confused!” Barbarino says at one point and the audience goes wild. Even though Travolta spent this episode looking like he was pretty much over the whole thing, the studio audience was happy to see him. The show’s greatest strength, at this point, was Travolta but this episode also shows the limits of the show’s format. Barbarino had to be both a high school student and a green card groom. It felt odd and kind of unpleasant.
Finally, why is Barbarino’s apartment is always so filthy? I get that he’s supposed to be poor and living in New York but seriously, couldn’t they have swept the set occasionally? The sight of that apartment always depresses me.
This episode features the cast going through the motions and, as was often the case with season 4, it’s obvious that no one really wants to be there. I certainly didn’t want to be there! Next week features Barbarino’s final appearance on the show. Soon, Vinnie will be free.
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 Friday the 13th: The Series, a show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The entire series can be found on YouTube!
This week, Micki is faced with a moral dilemma.
Episode 2.24 “The Shaman’s Apprentice”
(Dir by William Fruet, originally aired on May 29th, 1989)
Micki’s friend, Blair (Isabelle Mejias) is in the hospital. She’s been having serious chest pains and, as Micki puts it, she’s too young to be suffering from them. Blair finds out that she has a sarcoma and the doctors are not giving her much chance to live. Dr. Lamar (James B. Douglas), the arrogant head of surgery at the local hospital, doesn’t seem to really care whether Blair lives or dies. All he cares about is taking care of the wealthy patients who might be moved to donate some of their money to the hospital.
However, Blair has found a reason for hope. There is a Native American doctor named John Whitecloud (Paul Sanchez). He has his own clinic, one that is funded by a rich man who Dr. Lamar said couldn’t be saved. Dr. Lamar hates Whitecloud, largely because Lamar is a racist who views Whitecloud’s “shamanistic” techniques with scorn. However, Whitecloud appears to be capable of saving anyone. Of course, the doctors and the nurses who have failed to treat Whitecloud with respect have a habit of mysteriously dying, usually right before Whitecloud manages to save a terminal patient.
Whitecloud does indeed have an objects that Jack and Ryan are interested in retrieving. It’s not a cursed antique. Instead, it’s a rattle that Whitecloud stole from his grandfather, Spotted Owl (Gordon Tootoosis). Whitecloud is using the rattle to cure his patients but, for every cure, he also has to use it to kill someone else. Whitecloud even uses it to kill Spotted Owl, though Whitecloud seems to feel bad about doing it. When Jack realizes that Whitecloud’s next target is going to be Dr. Lamar, he and Ryan are determined to stop him….
….except, as Micki points out, stopping Whitecloud will mean that her friend Blair will die. Why, Micki wonders, should Lamar get to live while Blair dies? Micki argues that they should at least let Whitecloud cure Blair but Jack gently explains that it doesn’t work that way. Jack says that their job is not to play God.
Long story short: The spirit of Spotted Owl shows up to drag Whitecloud into the afterlife. Jack gives the rattle back to the tribe, despite Ryan feeling that it should be in the vault. (“It’s not ours to take,” Jack explains in that reasonable and reassuring way of his.) Micki is angry and depressed that Blair is probably going to die. Blair stands on a street corner and stares at Whitecloud’s now empty clinic. Roll the end credits!
Wow, that was depressing! But it was really the only way the episode could end and I respect the fact that the show had the courage and the integrity to stay true to itself and end on such a down note. Not many shows would have had the courage to resist coming up with some sudden, miracle solution. This episode had some really cheap looking special effects and some not-so-great acting from some of the guest stars but Chris Wiggins, Robey, and John D. LeMay were as strong as always. This episode was especially an effective showcase for Chris Wiggins, who played Jack with just the right amount of weary gravitas. This was a depressing episode but it was a good one.
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 Hulu and, for purchase, on Prime!
Oddly enough, this week’s episode is not available on Hulu. I had to purchase it on Prime. I’m not really sure why this episode — and apparently this episode alone — wouldn’t be on Hulu. The world of Streaming is a strange and arbitrary place.
Episode 1.8 “Tweety and Ralph”
(Dir by Mark Tinker, originally aired on December 20th, 1982)
Dr. Craig is still trying to track down the mysterious Dr. Barnum, the man who says that he’s interested in Craig’s convertible. Dr. Craig is constantly getting messages from Barnum. He’s constantly hearing Barnum being paged on the PA. Craig has become obsessed with tracking down the elusive Dr. Barnum.
Of course, Dr. Barnum does not exist. What started as a practical joke on the part of Dr. Samuels has grown into a hospital-wide conspiracy of people playing with the emotions of the pompous and prickly Dr. Craig. Craig is so obsessed with selling his car that he even cuts his hand while working on the engine. Finally, Dr. Craig’s wife, Ellen (played by William Daniels’s real-life wife, Bonnie Bartlett), confronts Samuels and tells him that she knows what he’s doing. When Samuels hears that Craig cut his hand, he feels guilty. He knows how important a surgeon’s hands are. Samuels finally works up the courage to tell Craig the truth. Craig laughs. And then he punches out Dr. Samuels.
And you know what? Dr. Samuels totally deserved it. Good for you, Dr. Craig!
(Everyone seems to have forgiven Dr. Samuels for causing a VD break-out during the pilot. They’re very forgiving at St. Eligius.)
Meanwhile, the Legionnaire’s outbreak is finally contained, with the culprit being one dirty shower head. Ward 5 is re-opened! Yay! Dr. Westphall celebrates his victory but still comes across as being the most depressed man on the planet. While that goes on, Dr. Fiscus reveals that he now carries a gun so he won’t get mugged in the ER again and Dr. Cavanero considers her decision to devote her life to her career when a friend check into the hospital for hysterectomy.
That said, the majority of the episode centered around Ralph (Richard Marcus) and Jane (Laraine Newman), two psychiatric patients. Jane is pregnant and Ralph is the father. Ralph is a genius who graduated at the top of his class from MIT and who invented his own personal computer. Unfortunately, he also thinks that he’s a bird and has been stealing medical supplies to build a giant nest in one of the supply closets. Jane wants to marry Ralph but, when she and Ralph go out to dinner with Dr. Beale, Jane can only watch in horror as Ralph panics at the sight of a cat. “Caw! Caw!” Ralph shouts as he jumps up on a chair. The cat, for its part, just looks confused.
In other words, the marriage is off. Jane tells Ralph that she’ll always love him but that she can’t be with him anymore. The episode ends with a close-up of Ralph intensely staring at the camera. Uh-oh, that doesn’t look good….
This was a weird but ultimately effective episode. I really shouldn’t have been as emotionally moved as I was by Ralph and Jane’s story. Ralph’s behavior was more than a little cartoonish. But, I have to admit that I felt really sad as Jane said goodbye to Ralph. Richard Marcus and Laraine Newman did such a good job playing the characters that I couldn’t help but be sad that things weren’t working out for them.
Oh well. I guess that’s just another day at St. Eligius….
“For you, all lives are created equal. That’s why I came back to life. But you’ve finally come to realize it now, haven’t you? Only one thing is equal for all, and that is death.” — Johan Liebert
Naoki Urasawa’s MONSTER stands as one of the most accomplished psychological thrillers not just in manga, but in modern storytelling as a whole. Widely regarded as one of the greatest mangaka, Urasawa has built a reputation for crafting deeply human narratives that transcend genre boundaries. While his works span science fiction (20th Century Boys), sports (Happy!), and beyond, MONSTER represents perhaps his most fully realized exploration of morality, identity, and the fragile line between good and evil. Both the original manga (1998–2001) and its anime adaptation (2004–2005) serve as masterclasses in long-form storytelling, though each medium offers a slightly different experience in how these themes are conveyed.
At its core, MONSTER is a story about moral responsibility and the consequences of choice. Dr. Kenzo Tenma’s fateful decision to save the life of a young boy—who would grow up to become the enigmatic and terrifying Johan Liebert—forms the backbone of the narrative. What begins as an ethical stand against institutional corruption evolves into a haunting question: can a single act of good inadvertently unleash unimaginable evil? Urasawa refuses to offer easy answers. Instead, he constructs a world where morality is rarely absolute, and where even the most well-intentioned actions can ripple outward in unforeseen ways.
Johan himself is less a conventional antagonist and more an embodiment of philosophical dread. He represents the void—the idea that human identity can be hollowed out, shaped, or even erased entirely. Throughout the series, Urasawa interrogates whether evil is innate or constructed. Is Johan born a “monster,” or is he the product of trauma, manipulation, and systemic failure? This ambiguity is central to the story’s power. Unlike many thrillers that seek to explain or rationalize their villains, MONSTER leans into discomfort, suggesting that some truths may be fundamentally unknowable.
Another key theme is the search for identity, particularly in the aftermath of trauma. Characters across the narrative grapple with fractured pasts, false names, and reconstructed selves. Nina Fortner (Anna Liebert) serves as a compelling counterpoint to Johan—someone who has endured similar horrors but struggles toward healing rather than destruction. Through her and others, Urasawa presents identity not as something fixed, but as something constantly negotiated. Memory, in this context, becomes both a burden and a battleground. To remember is to risk pain; to forget is to risk losing oneself entirely.
The manga’s strength lies in how patiently and meticulously it develops these ideas. Urasawa’s paneling, pacing, and use of silence create a reading experience that feels almost surgical in its precision. He allows tension to build gradually, often dedicating entire chapters to side characters whose lives intersect with the central narrative in unexpected ways. These detours are not distractions but essential threads that reinforce the story’s thematic tapestry. They emphasize that MONSTER is not just about Tenma and Johan, but about a broader human landscape shaped by fear, ideology, and history—particularly the lingering shadows of post-Cold War Europe.
When Madhouse adapted MONSTER into an anime, the primary challenge was translating this deliberate pacing and narrative density into a different medium without losing its essence. Many adaptations of complex manga falter by condensing material or prioritizing spectacle over substance. MONSTER, however, takes the opposite approach. Spanning 74 episodes, the anime commits itself to a remarkably faithful retelling, often recreating scenes from the manga with near shot-for-shot accuracy.
This fidelity is both the anime’s greatest strength and, depending on the viewer, a potential limitation. On one hand, it preserves the integrity of Urasawa’s storytelling. The slow-burn pacing remains intact, allowing tension and atmosphere to develop organically. The anime resists the temptation to sensationalize its material, maintaining the grounded, almost clinical tone that defines the manga. On the other hand, this adherence means that the anime inherits the same demands it places on its audience. It requires patience, attention, and a willingness to sit with ambiguity—qualities that are increasingly rare in more fast-paced, contemporary anime.
Where the anime distinguishes itself is in its use of audiovisual elements to enhance the story’s emotional and psychological impact. The soundtrack, composed by Kuniaki Haishima, is particularly effective in reinforcing the series’ eerie, unsettling tone. Subtle musical cues and ambient sound design heighten tension in ways that static panels cannot. Silence, too, is used masterfully—moments of quiet often feel heavier and more oppressive when experienced in real time.
Voice acting further deepens character portrayal, especially in Johan’s case. His calm, almost hypnotic delivery adds an additional layer of menace that complements the manga’s more interpretive presentation. Similarly, Tenma’s internal conflict becomes more immediate and visceral when expressed through performance rather than internal monologue. These elements collectively make the anime a more immersive sensory experience, even as it mirrors the manga’s narrative structure.
Visually, the adaptation remains grounded and realistic, avoiding the exaggerated stylistic flourishes common in other anime. This restraint works in its favor, reinforcing the story’s mature tone. The European settings are depicted with care and authenticity, contributing to a sense of place that is crucial to the narrative. While the animation itself may not be as dynamic or visually striking as other series, it is consistently purposeful, prioritizing mood and clarity over spectacle.
In comparing the two, it becomes clear that the manga and anime function less as competing versions and more as complementary experiences. The manga offers a slightly more intimate engagement, allowing readers to control pacing and linger on specific panels or moments. Its visual storytelling invites interpretation, particularly in how it frames Johan’s presence—or absence—within a scene. The anime, by contrast, provides a more guided experience, using sound, timing, and performance to shape the viewer’s emotional response.
Ultimately, the success of the MONSTER anime lies in its restraint. Rather than attempting to reinterpret or modernize the source material, it recognizes the strength of Urasawa’s original vision and commits to preserving it. This makes it one of the rare adaptations that can stand alongside its source as an equal, rather than merely a derivative work.
MONSTER endures because it refuses to offer comfort. It challenges its audience to confront unsettling questions about human nature, morality, and the structures that shape our lives. Whether experienced through the manga or the anime, it remains a deeply affecting work—one that lingers long after its final moments. The anime may not surpass the manga in every respect, but it honors it with a level of care and seriousness that is all too rare, solidifying MONSTER as a benchmark for what adaptations can and should strive to be.
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, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show is currently streaming on Freevee and several other services!
This week, the highway leads to college and R-rated movies!
Episode 3.9 “Code Name: FREAK”
(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on November 19th, 1986)
Jonathan and Mark have been assigned to work on a college campus. While Jonathan gets to teach a computer class, Mark is assigned to be the resident assistant of a rowdy bunch of jocks who all live in the same dorm. This episode continues the Highway to Heaven tradition of Mark always being humiliated by the assignment. If I was Mark, I would be wondering why “the boss” always gives me the worst possible jobs.
Chris Gunn (Jeff Bryan Davis) is starting his first semester at the college. He’s smart, he’s well-read, and he’s desperate to make friends with everyone. Unfortunately, Chris is also only 13 years old and, even if he did graduate from high school, there’s no way he should be away from home at the college. He has no friends. No one invites him to any parties. Chris is refused entry to an R-rated movie because he is not accompanied by an adult.
Chris’s roommate is Danny (Gary Hershberger), a football player who is not quite as shallow as his fellow jocks. When it looks like Danny might flunk his computer class, Danny’s frat brothers offer to accept Chris into the frat if Chris agrees to hack into Jonathan’s commercial and get the answers for the next big test. Chris does so but then double-crosses Danny by giving him all the wrong answers. Chris’s not as naive as everyone thought!
Danny flunks the test and loses his spot on the football team. When its learned that he cheated, Danny loses his scholarship and is expelled for refusing to reveal how he got the answers for the test. Danny, knowing what happens to narcs, refuses to sell out and lit appears that he’s going to lose his scholarship as a result. Stunned that Danny didn’t want to get him in trouble, Chris tells the truth to the school’s dean. Danny is allowed to stay and after some prodding from Jonathan, the dean decides to allow Chris to stay as well.
Chris and Danny are both super-excited and have a new found respect for each other. They celebrate by….
GOING TO AN R-RATED MOVIE! Danny accompanies Chris so Chris gets to see a movie that’s he’s probably too young for! Yay!
This is a prototypical episode of Highway to Heaven. It’s unapologetically sentimental and rather predictable but it’s also so incredibly earnest and sincere that it doesn’t really matter. We want to see everything work out for everyone and fortunately, it does.
Myself, it will never not amuse me that, after learning that he won’t be expelled and neither will Danny, Chris’s firth thought is that they should go catch an R-rated picture while they still have time. And Danny agrees! I always want to know what type of film are they watching. Is it a slasher film or a mindless high school comedy or maybe something featuring a bunch of fast cars and occasionally juvenile behavior?
This was a classic episode. I assume Danny and Chris are still best friends.
