by Ron Lewis
This is from 1986.
Artwork of the Day: Nolan Ryan (by Ron Lewis)
Category Archives: TV
Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 10/30/22 — 11/5/22
I’ve spent this week in a state of exhaustion as I’ve tried to physically and mentally recover from this year’s Horrorthon. Here’s a few thoughts on what I watched over the past seven days.
Abbott Elementary (Wednesday Night, ABC)
The commercial was amusing and I enjoyed the scene where everyone realized that the reason they had allowed the commercials to be filmed was because they had gotten used to being followed around by cameras. I enjoyed hearing about the shows that the characters happened to be watching when they saw the commercial. I’m not really sure that Abbott needs a supervillain, though.
The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)
I wrote about the latest episode of The Amazing Race here!
Atlanta (Thursday Night, FX)
Al moved out to a farm and nearly got killed by a feral hog. Brian Tyree Henry’s reactions were priceless.
California Dreams (YouTube)
Surf dudes without attitude …. kinda groovy …. I watched a few episodes and wrote a few reviews that will be dropping over the course of the next few weeks. I’ll be glad to be done with season 2 because, as everyone knows, season 3 is when this show gets good.
City Guys (Tubi)
98 Degrees played Manny High and Chris dated a goth! You can read about it here.
Family Feud (Weekday afternoons, Buzzr)
On Monday, I watched two episodes of this deathless game show. They were both Halloween episodes from the 80s so everyone was wearing a costume. I have no idea who won. Survey says, “Didn’t much attention!”
Fantasy Island (Tubi)
I wrote about Fantasy Island and Leslie Nielsen here!
Ghost Whisperer (Hulu)
I watched an episode of my favorite guilty pleasure on Monday. Jennifer Love Hewitt helped Hillary Duff deal with a ghost. Meanwhile, Melinda’s dead husband continued to hang out in someone else’s body. That was a weird season.
Hang Time (YouTube)
I watched a few episodes of Hang Time yesterday and today and I wrote and scheduled reviews for all of them. Keep an eye out on Monday.
Highway to Heaven (YouTube)
I shared this episode on Monday. Jonathan battled the devil for Mark’s soul.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Hulu)
I watched the episode in Sunday in which Mac and Dennis tried to create an economy based on Paddy Bucks. Meanwhile, Frank chopped off a finger while trying to sale knives. I fell off the couch laughing.
It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (Apple TV+)
Erin and I watched this classic on Sunday. It’s a part of our Halloween tradition. A few years ago, Erin wrote about this special and why it continues to appeal to us.
King of the Hill (Hulu)
I watched two episodes on Monday. The first was the episode where Hank fights for the right to trick or treat. The second was one of my favorites, in which Bobby buys a pack of Tarot cards and accidentally joins a coven.
Law & Order (Thursday Night, NBC)
A fashion designer is murdered while crime spirals out of control in New York. This was actually a pretty good episode, even if the mystery itself was rather routine. It was an episode that acknowledged just how powerless people feel in the face of America’s current crime wave and it put the blame squarely on our elected officials.
The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)
I wrote about my latest voyage here.
Night Flight (NightFlight+)
I watched an episode of this entertainment news show from 1992. The show contained a profile of Bruce Springsteen, some footage of Duke Ellington performing, and then a few comedic shorts featuring Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, and others.
The Office (Peacock)
On Halloween, I watched the first Halloween episode. Imagine how different the series would have been if Michael had fired Creed instead of Devin.
One World (Tubi)
I binged the entirety of this show on Thursday and Friday. Here are my thoughts on two episodes.
Saved By The Bell (Hulu)
Zach and the gang went on a mystery weekend! It’s about as close as this show ever got to a Halloween episode so I watched it on Halloween. Even when Zach thought people were actually being murdered, he seemed oddly unconcerned.
Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)
I wrote about the latest episode of Survivor here!
Toy Story of Terror (Sunday Night, ABC)
I watch this special every year. I have to admit that it’s never quite as good as I seem to remember it being but, that said, how can you not love the toys?
The Astros Have Won The World Series!
CONGRATS TO THE ASTROS!
And thank you for winning it in Texas!
Retro Television Review: California Dreams 2.6 “Surfboards and Cycles” and 2.7 “A Question of Math”
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 California Dreams, which ran on NBC from 1992 to 1996. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!
This week, love is in the air as Jake and Tiffani realize that they could make beautiful music together. Meanwhile, the pressure of exam season threatens the future of the Dreams!
But first, the opening credits. Again, because the post-Jenny opening credits for season two have not been uploaded to YouTube, you have to imagine Jennie Kwan in the place of Heidi Noelle Lenhart.
Episode 2.6 “Surfboards and Cycles”
(Directed by Don Barnhart, originally aired on October 16th, 1993)
In a storyline that shows how much the second season of California Dreams owed to every single season of Saved By The Bell, the members of the band have to pick an elective. Sly and Matt enroll in home economics so they can meet girls and are stunned to discover that their teacher is a hardass former Marine who expects culinary perfection.
Meanwhile, Tiffani and Sam enroll in auto shop so that they can meet boys. Also enrolled in auto shop is Jake. Jake is convinced that women don’t belong in auto shop and Tiffani and Sam quickly prove his point by revealing that they know nothing about cars. (I would also be clueless in auto shop but I will say that my sister Melissa can fix anything on a car.) That said, Tiffani and Jake still fall in love. The band panics because Jake and Tiffani seem like such opposites. So, Sly and Tony go out of their way to plant seeds of doubt in Jake and Tiffani’s mind. When Jake insists on wearing his leather jacket to the beach, Tiffani dumps his ass. Yay, Tiffani!
But …. oh no! Before breaking up, Tiffani and Jake wrote a duet. Matt wants to make the song a part of the regular Dreams set list but how can he do that if Tiffani and Jake aren’t speaking? Looks like it’s time to take over Sharky’s and trick Tiffani and Jake into meeting for the most romantic dinner of their lives! Somehow, it works. I’m just wondering why Sharky was always willing to let the Dreams shut down his place of business whenever they felt like it. That doesn’t seem like a good business model.
This episode was pretty derivative and the main message appeared to be that Matt’s a jerk who can’t come up with a song on his own. But Tiffani and Jake actually were a pretty cute couple and they had a likable chemistry together. That chemistry pretty much saved this episode.
Episode 2.7 “A Question of Math”
(Directed by Miguel Higuera, originally aired on October 23rd, 1993)
The entire school is freaking out about midterms! Sam becomes a tutor but her latest student, an arrogant football star (Richard Hillman), pretends to like her just so he can get out of paying her! Luckily, Sam gets her revenge by tricking him into buying a fake test that has all the wrong answers. Way to go, Sam! Ruin that guy’s future!
That most interesting about this episode is that the football star was played by Richard Hillman, who also played Kirsten Dunst’s jerk of a boyfriend in Bring It On. This was an enjoyable episode, even if I have my doubts about whether or not everyone would go that crazy over a high school midterm. Maybe it’s just because I’m also watching One World and experiencing first hand what happens when a cast has absolutely no chemistry but I’ve really grown to appreciate the cast of California Dreams. They all just seem like they sincerely enjoy hanging out together and, for the most part, they’ve got enough comedic timing that they can save even a weak joke.
What does the future hold for the surf dudes with attitude? We’ll find out next week.
Retro Television Review: One World 2.6 “Cyrano De Bengerac” and 2.7 “It’s All Greek To Me”
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing One World, which ran on NBC from 1998 to 2001. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!
The Cast of One World
Uptown, I see a lot of brothers and sisters living on the streets….
Well, not really. But I can agree that we’re living in one world….
Episode 2.6 “Cyrano de Bengerac”
(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on October 23rd, 1999)
Good God, this was so painful!
Ben wants to date Roxanne (Ashley Yegan) but Roxane is into poetry and plays and she can basically speak in coherent sentences. Ben, meanwhile, is Ben. Actually, I’ve noticed that Ben’s level of intelligence and maturity tends to change from episode-to-episode, depending on the needs of the story. In this episode, Ben was required to be an absolute idiot.
Knowing that Neal is smart, Ben recruits his brother to tell him what he needs to say to win over Roxanne. Neal agrees, on the condition that Ben read the play Cyrano de Bergerac. This leads to the exact same scenario that showed up at least once in every single TNBC series. Ben puts in an earpiece and goes to a play with Roxanne. Neal sits a few rows away from them and tells Ben what to say. Unfortunately, the earpiece starts to pick up other signals and Ben dumbly repeats everything that he hears, even the stuff that makes no sense and which is obviously not being sent to him by Neal. Roxanne is still impressed enough that, even after she notices the earpiece, she’s still willing to dump Ben so that she can go out with Neal. Sorry, Ben! At first, Neal isn’t willing to betray his brother but then Ben reads the play and tells Neal to go for it.
Meanwhile, Dave tries to bond with his adopted daughters by taking them all camping. Of course, it’s a disaster because Marci and Sui don’t like sleeping in dirt and Jane enjoys starting to trouble. Since I’m not really into the whole camping thing, I could relate to their horror of having to sleep outside. That said, the main message here appeared to be that Dave is an idiot and his daughters, who are all approaching adulthood, are thoroughly incapable of taking care of themselves. Perhaps it’s time for someone to call social services again.
Anyway, as I said at the start, this was a painful episode in which everyone was required to be even dumber than usual. Let’s move on.
Episode 2.7 “Its All Geek To Me”
(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on October 30th, 1999)
Oddly enough, this episode was not included on Tubi. I had to go to YouTube to watch it. I was hoping that maybe this would be a controversial episode that was pulled from syndication because someone made an offensive joke or something like that. Instead, this episode was One World at its most jejune.
Sui is failing history and running the risk of getting kicked off the basketball team. (Wait — she plays basketball now?) Neal arranges for her to be tutored by Billy (Michael Thomas Dunn). Billy is kind of nerdy but sweet and when he asks Sui to go to the Dave Matthews Band concert (90s alert!), Sui agrees. But then everyone gives Sui a hard time about “dating a geek” so she lies to get out of it. Didn’t the same thing happen to Zach Morris when an overweight girl bought him at a date auction? Why was everyone on TNBC so shallow?
Anyway, Sui learns the error of her ways and she and Billy share a kiss with the entire football team watching. “Wooooo!’ the audience exclaims.
Sui learned an important lesson about peer pressure and Billy will probably never be seen again.
Game 5: The Astros Are Just One Game Away
The final score for tonight: Astros 3, Phillies 2.
The Astros are just one game away from winning the World Series!
Game 6 will be played on Saturday. If there’s a Game 7, it’ll be played on Sunday. No matter what, the World Series is ending in Texas!
Go Astros!
Retro Television Review: City Guys 2.7 “Dance Fever” and 2.8 “A Guy And A Goth”
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 City Guys, which ran on NBC from 1997 to 2001. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!
This week, both of the City Guys, those neat guys who smart and street-wise, learn a lesson about relationships and honesty! But before we get to that, how about that theme song?
Episode 2.7 “Dance Fever”
(dir by Frank Bonner, originally aired on October 24th, 1998)
Cassidy is dating Nick Lachey, the leader singer of 98 Degrees, but no one seems to care for some reason. Instead, everyone is more worried about helping Jamal get a date with Amber, a private school girl who keeps stopping by the diner. When Jamal invites Amber to come to a school dance with him, Amber accepts. The only problem is that there isn’t a dance scheduled and Ms. Noble has neither the time nor the resources to arrange one.
Because he’s an idiot, Jamal decided to 1) trick Dawn into giving him the keys to the roof and 2) unlock the roof so that he can throw an unauthorized “underground” dance. This is one of those things that has disaster written all over it so Jamal decides to up the stakes by announcing that Cassidy’s new boyfriend will be performing at the dance.
Needless to see, a huge crowd shows up. (“Some of these people don’t ever go to our school,” Jamal says.) But, when it’s time for the band to arrive, only Nick Lachey shows up. It turns out that their producers wants them to lay down a few new tracks at the studio so they’re going to be late.
Realizing that a riot is going to break out and his date will be ruined if he doesn’t find a way to entertain the crowd, Jamal sends Chris, Al, and L-Train out to perform.
Just as it looks as if a riot is on the verge of breaking out, 98 Degrees shows up and calms the crowd by singing I Do (Cherish You).
The crowd may be satisfied but, because Jamal and Chris broke the rules and defied authority, the Gods of TNBC demand that they be punished. The police show up and put a stop to the illegal dance. While Chris and Jamal technically should have been arrested for breaking and entering (and nearly inciting a riot), they are instead turned over to Ms. Noble. Noble promises to punish them both and, despite Jamal getting freaking 98 Degrees to serenade her, Amber announces that she never wants to see him again.
Oh well! At least Cassidy got to date Nick Lachey before Jessica Simpson broke his heart.
Episode 2.8 “A Guy and a Goth”
(dir by Frank Bonner, originally aired on October 31st, 1998)
Hey, remember how Chris and Jamal are apparently the only two DJs at the school radio station? During their morning show, Chris gets a call from a girl named Zoey. Even though Chris has never seen her before, he likes her voice so he asks to meet her at the diner. Zoey agrees. One scene later and….
Oh my God, Zoey’s a goth!
All of Chris’s friends give him a hard time about dating a goth so he lies to Zooey to get out of taking her to a surprise party that everyone is holding for Ms. Noble. (These students are bizarrely obsessed with hanging out with their principal.) When Zooey discovers the lie, she’s hurt. Chris makes it up to her by dressing up like a goth.
Yeah, this was pretty dumb. Making it even worse is that, in a scene that it totally ripped off from Grease, Zoey shows up at the diner dressed “normal.” Zoey was cool and smart and funny and what she saw in Chris is never really that apparent. That said, this episode was all about the costumes that people wear and it aired on October 31st. That was clever.
Zoey takes back Chris, even though she definitely deserved better. I have a feeling that Zoey will never be mentioned again on this show.
The Astros Take Game 4
Yesterday, I was happy for the fans of the Phillies because their excitement reminded me of how excited I was when my team, the Rangers, made it to the World Series. But, as someone who is cheering for the Astros in the World Series, I was not happy that they got blown out in Game 3. They lost 0-7 and, last night, it looked like the Phillies might be unstoppable.
Tonight, though, the Astros proved that this World Series is nowhere close to being over. Even with Jill Biden sitting in the stands and trying to turn the country against them, the Astros shut out the Phillies. The Astros not only won, 5-0, but tonight’s game was also the first combined no-hitter (and the third no-hitter overall) in baseball post-season history. Tonight, the Astros looked as strong as the Phillies looked last night.
You can hear the Philadelphia crowd booing in the video but I don’t care. The Astros made history and this World Series isn’t ending anytime soon. The World Series is now tied 2-2. Game 5 is tomorrow night.
Go Astros!
Retro Television Reviews: The Love Boat 1.9 “The Captain’s Captain / Romance Roulette / Hounded”
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986! The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!
Love? Don’t worry. Love won’t hurt anymore.
Episode 1.9 “The Captain’s Captain / Romance Roulette / Hounded”
(dir by Jack Arnold, originally aired on November 26th, 1977)
As I watched the opening scenes of the cruise’s passengers making their way onto the Love Boat, I noticed that this episode was directed by Jack Arnold. I did some online checking and I discovered that this was indeed the same Jack Arnold who directed It Came From Outer Space, Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Tarantula, and a host of other so-called B pictures. By the time the 70s rolled around, Arnold was directing blaxploitation films (including Fred Williamson’s Boss) and episodic television. As I watched the episode, I found myself wondering which member of the cast probably asked Arnold the most questions about shooting Creature From The Black Lagoon. I guess that it was probably Fred Grandy, since apparently he’s a pretty intelligent guy.
As for the show itself, it featured the typical three-story structure. Gary Burghoff (who I had just watched on Fantasy Island) played a passenger who found himself trapped in his cabin with a security dog that had somehow gotten loose. As I’ve mentioned before, I have a fear of big dogs so this particular scenario would be quite traumatic for me. Burghoff, however, got along with the dog and even helped to deliver her puppies. Awwwwwwww! Big dogs are scary but little puppies are cute!
While Captain Stubing was dealing with the dog problem, his irascible father (played by Phil Silvers), who was himself a former cruise ship captain, was wandering around the ship and eventually falling in love with a cook named P.J. Muldoon (Judy Canova). Captain Stubing was skeptical of his father’s romance but, by the end of the episode, he was proposing a toast to his future stepmother. This storyline was fairly predictable but Phil Silvers and Gavin MacLeod were believable as father-and-son and their scenes together added some depth to Captain Stubing, a character who, in other episodes, has come across as being a bit flat.
Finally, Jane Curtin played Regina Parker, a literature professor who was on the cruise with two friends from college (Joanna Kerns and Susan Heldfond). The three of them played a game, in which they basically had to make the first man that they heard use a certain word fall in love with them for the duration of the cruise. The word was “screwdriver.” When Regina went up to Isaac’s bar to wait for someone to order a screwdriver, she was taken by surprise when Frank (Vincent Baggetta), the ship’s plumber, walked up with a toolbox and asked for someone to hand him a screwdriver. Regina started to hit on Frank. Frank almost immediately fell in love with her and he let her read some of his poetry. Even though his poetry was terrible, Regina fell in love with him. As you can guess, Frank eventually found out about the game but, by the end of the episode, he and Regina were promising to write each other every day. In its undeniably silly way, this was actually kind of a fun storyline. Curtin and Baggetta actually had a lot of chemistry. Frank’s poems still sucked though.
All in all, this was a pleasant episode. The guest stars were likable and the cruise itself looked like it would have been a lot of fun. Was this episode life’s sweetest reward? It was good but I wouldn’t go that far. Love is life’s sweetest reward.
The Phillies Win Game 3
After being canceled due to yesterday’s weather, Game 3 of the World Series was played in Philadelphia tonight. As I’ve said since the post-season began, I’m a Texan. I wish the Rangers were in the World Series but they’re not. The Astros are the Texas team in the World Series and that’s who I’m cheering for. I wasn’t happy to watch the Astros lose tonight. I especially wasn’t happy to see them lose by 0 runs to 7.
I’m happy for all the Phillies fans, though. Whenever I would start to get upset about the score, the broadcast would show the fans reacting in the stands and they were so happy that I couldn’t help but be happy for them. It reminded me of how excited I was when the Rangers made it to the World Series and how excited I’ll be when they make it their again.
So, congratulations, Phillies! I’m still cheering for the Astros but the Phillies played a good game and they made their fans happy.
Through the Shattered Lens 