Category Archives: TV

Horror on TV: Friday the 13th: The Series 2.26 “Coven of Darkness” (dir by George Bloomfield)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, with Horrorthon coming to a close, it’s time to share one final episode of Friday the 13th: The Series. Coven of Witches is the final episode of the second season. The third season would see John D. LeMay leave the show and Steven Monarque taking his place as Robey’s main co-star. So, this is perhaps the last classic episode of Friday the 13th: The Series.

I’ve really enjoyed sharing this series here on the Shattered Lens. In November, I’m going to sit down and the binge the entire show. Every episode is on YouTube, for anyone else who may want to catch up on it.

This episode originally aired on June 17th, 1989.

What Lisa Marie Watched Tonight: The Love Boat 2.7 “Ship of Ghouls” (dir by Roger Duchovny)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, after I finished up Halloween, I switched over to MeTV and I watched a Halloween episode of that very 70s series, The Love Boat!

Why Was I Watching It?

A special Halloween episode of the silliest television series ever!?  And one featuring Vincent Price as an illusionist!?  How couldn’t I watch?

What Was It About?

For the ship’s Halloween cruise, the Amazing Alozno (Vincent Price) has been hired to do his act.  He’s quite the illusionist.  Through a combination of hypnotism and magic, he transforms the ship into a magical wonderland where people turn into donkeys and the pool briefly appears to be a giant ice cream sundae.  But will Alonzo also be able to conjure up love or will he continue to ignore his devoted fiancée and instead, only worry about keeping his fans happy?

Meanwhile, a model (Barbara Anderson) who is recovering from a serious car accident has absolutely no use for illusion.  She just wants to stay in her cabin but her friend, who also happens to be the cruise director, demands that she enjoy the cruise.

What Worked?

Vincent Price as an illusionist!?  Hell yeah!  Okay, the illusions were kind of dumb and never really made sense and the show never actually explained how he could turn Gopher and Doc into donkeys but …. well, isn’t the silliness kind of the point?  The important thing is that he was Vincent Price and he appeared to be having time of his life.  Good for him!

Barbara Anderson actually gave a pretty good dramatic performance as the model.  Admittedly, it did feel a little strange to have this extremely dramatic story playing out beside scenes of Vincent Price turning people into donkeys and transforming the ship’s pool into a giant ice cream sundae but again, I guess that was kind of the appeal of the show.  It’s all weird and somehow, it works.

The boat, incidentally, looked really nice.  I’m going to take a cruise now.

What Did Not Work?

On the Love Boat, everything works!

“Oh my God!  Just like me!” Moments

I could relate to the model and before anyone rolls their eyes, allow me to explain.  When I was 19, I was in a pretty serious car accident.  The car that I was in flipped over and I basically ended up upside down in the driver’s seat, surrounded by broken glass.  Later, I was told that, when people saw the damage the car, they assumed that I had to have died.  Instead, I only got a few scrapes, bruises, and cuts.  I ended up with two permanent scars — a small one on my hand and then another one on the side of my neck.  And for years, I was so self-conscious of that scar on my neck, even though it faded quickly and I now realize it was barely noticeable.  I obsessed on it, though, both because I disliked having it and also because it reminded me of a traumatic event.  All the angst and worrying that I did about it seems kind of silly now.

Lessons Learned

Love won’t have to hurt anymore.  It’s an open smile on a friendly shore.

6 Classic Television Episodes To Watch On Halloween

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

If you want to celebrate Halloween but you don’t necessarily want to spend the entire day watching horror movies …. well, what the Hell’s wrong with you?

No, no!  I’m just joking!  I actually understand where you’re coming from!  Well, fear not — here are six wonderful shows for Halloween and I believe they’re all streaming somewhere.  So, if you need some quick Halloween entertainment, take a look at this list below!

(The episodes below are listed in chronological order.)

  1. Saved By The Bell 3.26 “Mystery Weekend” (first aired on December 21st, 1991)

Desperate to spend a weekend away from Bayside High School and Mr. Belding, Zack and the gang head off to a mansion for a mystery weekend!  The plan is to solve the murders and win …. something.  To be honest, I’ve never really understood the point of the mystery weekend and I’ve always found it weird that the a bunch of underage high school kids were allowed to participate without the presence of their parents.  Like I would think most murder houses would have an age requirement.  Of course, an even bigger question is why would they bring Screech with them?

Anyway, it soon appears that the mystery weekend has taken a dangerous turn as people start to turn up dead for real!  Or are they?  And then Lisa Turtle disappears! Or does she?  Only Zack Morris can solve this case!  This episode is dumb but entertaining in the typical Saved By The Bell manner.

2. Boy Meets World 5.17 “And Then There Was Shawn” (February 27th, 1998)

The entire season 5 cast is in detention because they interrupted class to have a debate over Cory and Topanga breaking up.  Good Lord, did these people not have a life outside of Cory and Topanga’s creepy relationship?  Anyway, it soon turns out that there’s a murderer in the school and, one by the one, the entire cast is murdered!  Who could it be!?

Complete with a random guest appearance from Jennifer Love Hewitt (who was dating BMW’s Will Friedle at the time), And Then There Was Shawn was a parody of films like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer.  It’s surprisingly well-done and I say this as someone who isn’t really a huge fan of this show.  (Cory’s love for Topanga was a bit too stalkerish for me.  Even worse was everyone’s insistence that Topanga was obligated to love him back, regardless of how she felt.)  In fact, this episode is a macabe classic in its way.  One gets the feeling that the writers had been discussing how they would like to kill off the cast for a while before this episode was written.

3. King of the Hill 7.9 “Pigmalion” (January 12th, 2003)

Luanne (voice by the much-missed Brittany Murphy) is dating Trip Larsen (voice by Michael Keaton), the owner of Larsen Pork Products and one of the richest men in Texas.  Yay!  Trip is totally and completely insane and only Peggy (Kathy Najimy) realizes it.  Uh-oh!  My favorite thing about this episode is that, even though Trip is trying to kill everyone and he’s literally in love with a pig, no one but Peggy and eventually Luanne ever notices.  Instead, they just shrug off his behavior as him being an eccentric Texas millionaire.  Michael Keaton does a wonderful job voicing Trip and fear not, Trip does eventually get his sanity back.  Of course, as soon as he regains his sanity, he notices that he’s on the conveyer belt in a slaughter house and well …. things don’t end well for him.  But, as Luanne pointed out, at least he sounded happy before he died.

This episode was originally meant to air during Season 5 but was delayed because Fox thought it would be too controversial.  (The episode takes place during Halloween but aired in January.)  When it did air, it would be the only King of the Hill episode to get a “parental discretion advised” warning slapped on it.  It’s a good episode, though.  Family Guy wishes it could come up with something as good as Pigmalion.

4. The Office 2.5 “Halloween (October 18th, 2005)

Poor Michael!  He just wans to celebrate Halloween and he’s even come up with a pretty cool costume.  Unfortunately, corporate expect him to spend the day finding someone to fire.  Will it be Creed or will it be Devon?  When this episode was being shot, the writers weren’t sure who Michael would fire.  But after the scene where Creed Bratton argues with Michael in his office, it was decided to keep Creed and the eccentric energy that he brought to the show.  Don’t worry, though.  Devon Abner the actor was already planning on leaving the show because he had gotten a role in a play and Devon the character was hired back in the final episode.

5. Community 3.5 “Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps” (October 27th, 2011)

After Britta gives all the members of the Study Group an anonymous personality test, she is shocked to discover one of them is a psychopath!  But who?  Perhaps the best way to find out would be to have everyone tell a scary story.  Shirley’s story involves her wild friends getting “left behind.”  Pierce’s story is reactionary, violent, and kind of disturbing.  Abed’s story is extremely meta while Troy’s story is, of course, about him and Abed.  My favorite story was Annie’s rather violent vampire story.  Eventually, it turns out that Britta misread the test results.  Only one member of the group is sane but I won’t spoil who it is.

The great thing about this episode is not just that it perfectly parodies so many horror films but that each story is also perfectly tailored for the character telling it.  Only Annie could have come up with that vampire story.  Only Troy would have found the positive in being sewn together with Abed.  Season 3 of Community was one of the best.  For proof, just consider that this episode that preceded this one was Remedial Chaos Theory.

6. South Park 16.12 “A Nightmare on FaceTime” (October 24th, 2012)

Long before he became a marijuana farmer, Randy Marsh tried to force his family to help him run the last Blockbuster in Colorado.  It turned out to be a haunted Blockbuster and, not surprisingly, Randy ends up going crazy and turning into Jack Nicholson from The Shining.  Fortunately, it all worked out in the end!

Happy Halloween!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television 10/24/21 — 10/30/21

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Needless to say, this week was more about movies than it was about TV.  Here’s what I did watch.

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

“Some you may be wondering what I am doing in my office, bricking myself up.”  Oh, Rene …. I’m sure you have a good reason.  In this case, it was because Rene was concerned that the Germans were looking to arrest him.  It’s far more probable that Rene just wanted an excuse to get away from all of the drama in the cafe.  Eventually, Michelle showed up to give Rene both a medal to honor his bravery and a suicide pill for him to take once he was captured.  Fortunately for Rene but unfortunately for the Resistance, the attempt to send all of the German generals to England failed and Rene was in the clear.  The Resistance took back both the suicide pill and the medal.

Eventually, this all led to Rene pretending to be a member of the clergy, Michelle pretending to be in love with Rene, Mimi pretending to be s baby, Herr Flick also pretending to be a baby, and a group of Italian soldiers running around the village with bayonets.

It was all very odd but rather funny.

Dancing With The Stars (Monday Night, ABC)

It was horror night!  All of the dances went pretty well, in my opinion.  I did have to smile a bit at the dance that was described as being “an homage to The Purge,” as if the Purge is some decades-old classic.  And I groaned when one of the dancers said he was “dressed as Hellraiser,” when he was clearly dressed as Pinhead.  JoJo’s It-inspired dance was good.  The judges were too hard on Melora Hardin.  To be honest, the judges remain the worst part of this show.

Degrassi: The Next Generation (DVD)

I watched the classic Breakfast Club episode from season 3 and I wrote about it here!

Fear the Walking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)

I reviewed the latest episode here!

Firing Line (Sunday Night, PBS)

On this public affairs show, Margaret Hoover was interviewing a woman who was very concerned about Donald Trump’s policies.  It was a new episode but no one was interested in talking about Joe Biden’s policies.  In its way, this episode was actually a perfect reflection of what politics is like in America right now.  We have a president that few people take seriously and an ex-president who everyone either fears or loves.

Friday the 13th: The Series (YouTube)

Discovering this series has been one of the true pleasures of this year’s horrorthon.

It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Sunday Night, PBS)

Erin and I watched this classic on Sunday.  Two years ago, Erin wrote an essay about why we love this special and it’s still relevant today.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

Arkwright’s attempt to set up a mobile food truck nearly killed Grandville.  All of the neighbors were, as usual, upset at being inconvenienced.  No one seemed to have too much of a problem with Grandville nearly dying.  Poor Grandville.

Seinfeld (Every Day, Comedy Central)

I watched two episodes on Friday.  One featured Jerry dating a Miss America contestant and Elaine getting a job with a cranky old man.  The other featured Elaine ordering a “Big Salad.”  I relate to Elaine.  Big salads are the best!

Survivor 41 (Wednesday Night, ABC)

I wrote about this week’s episode here!

Toy Story of Terror (ABC, Thursday Night)

Erin and I watch this Halloween special every year.  Though it may not bring me to tears like the movies do, it’s still nice to see all of the toys together and looking out for each other.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond (Sunday Night, AMC)

I’ve actually reached the point where I’ve gone from being totally indifferent to kind of liking this show.  The idea of teenagers trying to enjoy their youth in a world that will probably not allow them to grow old is actually more compelling than I thought it would be.  Plus, it’s not quite as slow as the other two Walking Dead shows.  I still spend a good deal o this show feeling confused but still, it does mange to consistently hold my interest for the hour that it’s on.  That may be a long-winded compliment but …. well, so be it.

Bonus Horror on TV: The Curse of Degrassi (dir by Stefan Brogren)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

How about a bonus installment of Horror on TV?

This is a special episode of my favorite TV show of all, Degrassi!  Originally airing on October 28th, 2008, The Curse of Degrassi features Degrassi’s main mean girl, Holy J Sinclair (Charlotte Arnold), getting possessed by the vengeful spirit of deceased school shooter, Rick Murray (Ephraim Ellis).  Chaos follows!  Fortunately, Spinner (Shane Kippel) is around to save the day.  As any true Degrassi fan can tell you, only Spinner has a chance against the forces of the undead.

What I like about this episode is that, in the best tradition of Degrassi, it goes there.  Holly J does get possessed.  Just about the entire cast end up dying horribly.  Spinner has to battle the undead spirit of Rick Murray and he has to do it without the help of Drake.  And, as far as we know, this episode is canon.  So, yes, Rick Murray’s ghost actually does haunt Degrassi Community School and yes, only Spinner can save us all.

Go Spinner!

Enjoy!

Horror on TV: Friday the 13th: The Series 2.23 “The Maestro” (dir by Timothy Bond)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight, for our horror on the lens, we have the twenty-third episode of the 2nd season of Friday the 13th: The Series!

Yes, I did pick tonight’s episode specifically because it was about dancer and an insane choreographer. Sometimes, you just seen an episode of a show and you immediately relate. Colm Feore gives a great and menacing performance as this week’s villain.

This episode originally aired on May 27th, 1989.

The Martian Chronicles: Episode 3: The Martians (1980, directed by Michael Anderson)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Episode 2 of The Martian Chronicles ended with Sam Parkhill (Darren McGavin) helplessly watching as Earth was consumed by nuclear fire.  Episode 3 opens with Col. John Wilder (Rock Hudson) returning to Earth in 2006 and discovered that the entire planet is dead.  He had hoped to find his brother and rescue him but instead, all Wilder finds is a video of his brother being vaporized by an atomic blast.

Back on Mars, the planet is nearly deserted.  Most of the human colonizers were ordered to return to Earth before the war broke out and, as a result, they died in the atomic inferno.  Only a few humans remain on Mars.  One of them, Ben Driscoll (Christopher Connelly), is excited to discover another survivor named Genevieve (Bernadette Peters) but he abandons her when he discovers that she’s too high-maintenance for him.  He decides he’d rather live alone.  (Too mean-spirited to really be funny, this was the weakest short story in Rad Bradbury’s collection and it’s also the weakest segment of the miniseries.)  Wilder and Father Stone (Roddy McDowall) visit another survivor, a scientist named Peter Hathaway (Barry Morse).  Peter lives with his devoted wife and daughter but when he dies of heart attack, they barely notice because they’re robots.

The first hour of the final episode of The Martian Chronicles is considerably weaker than the two episodes that proceeded it.  After the effective scenes of Wilder exploring Earth, the series is suddenly taken over by Christopher Connelly, playing a character that we’ve never seen before and who isn’t very likable.  The Ben and Genevieve sequence is weak and never that funny, despite Peters’s skill with comedy.  The sequence with Dr. Hathaway and the robots feels like a dry run for something Ray Bradbury would have written for The Twilight Zone.

Fortunately, the final segment of The Martian Chronicles swoops in to save the series.  Col. Wilder and his family spend the day camping at the same ancient Martian city where, during the first episode, Spender tried to convince Wilder not to allow Mars to be colonized.  While walking around the ruins of the city, Wilder meets what is either the ghost or the future projection of a Martian.  They have a friendly and philosophical conversation.  They talk about how The Martian doesn’t know if he’s from the past or if he’s from the future but it doesn’t matter.  Returning to his family, Wilder looks at their reflection in Briggs Canal and he say that, with Earth gone, they are now the Martians.  With Earth in ruins and only a few humans left, it’s up to the survivors to combine the ways of Earth with the ways of Mars and create a new world.  Though Hudson is usually held up as being the epitome of a stuff actor, when he made The Martian Chronicles, he had the right amount of gravitas to make the final scenes work.

The Martian Chronicles is an uneven miniseries.  The first episode is so good that the two that follow struggle to keep up.  But just, as in Bradbury’s book, the ending is perfectly realized and it still work, ever after all these years later.

Here’s The Trailer For True Story

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Wesley Snipes comeback continues in the upcoming series True Story. This series will also feature Kevin Hart in a serious role. To be honest, I think Kevin Hart can handle a serious role. It’ll be interesting to see if I’m right.

True Story drops on November 24th, on Netflix. Here’s the trailer: