Late Night Retro Television Review: Pacific Blue 3.19 “Heat of the Moment”

Posted on March 31, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Pacific Blue, a cop show that aired from 1996 to 2000 on the USA Network! It’s currently streaming everywhere, though I’m watching it on Tubi.

This week, Chris has a crisis.

Episode 3.19 “Heat of the Moment”

(Dir by Terrence H. Winkless, originally aired on March 22nd, 1989)

Chris and TC respond to reports of a robbery occurring at a jewelry store. One of the robbers, carrying a shotgun, makes a run for it. TC goes after him. The other robber is easily captured and handcuffed by Chris. Chris calls for backup and then leaves the store to help TC, despite the owner of the store begging her to stay. As soon as Chris leaves, it is revealed that a third robber was hiding in the backroom. He proceeds to beat up the owner and then free his partner. Meanwhile, the other robber manages to escape from Chris and TC. When Chris returns to the store, she is shocked to learn about the third robber.

Chris is also shocked that anyone could think that she made the wrong decision. She didn’t know there was another robber in the store. As she explains it, TC was out there, chasing a guy with a shotgun. She made the right decision! Not everyone agrees and soon, Chris starts to wonder if maybe her relationship with TC clouded her judgment.

Uhmm …. yeah, Chris, that’s pretty much what happened. I mean, Chris basically abandoned an innocent woman to two psychotic criminals just because she was worried about TC. It would have taken Chris just a few seconds to check the backroom. Add to that, the owner was obviously terrified and begged Chris not to leave. Chris’s response was to be rude. Even if there hadn’t been a third robber, Chris still left the owner alone with the second robber and didn’t bother to secure the crime scene.

This is another episode of Pacific Blue where the viewer is expected to not dwell on the fact that Chris is terrible at her job. Chris being bad at her job has pretty much been her defining characteristic. Even before she started sleeping with TC, Chris was regularly rude to crime victims and frequently violated the constitutional rights of the people she arrested. She also spent a lot of time complaining nonstop about going from being a Navy pilot to being a bicycle cop. By any standard, Chris should have been fired a long time ago. She certainly should have been fired for not checking the backroom of that jewelry store.

But this is Pacific Blue. And, on Pacific Blue, no one with a badge is ever held accountable for screwing up. The bike patrol captures the main robber and his girlfriend. Chris shoots and kills the other robbers. And she decides that maybe she and TC should just be honest about their relationship.

“I know this week has been tough on you,” Chris tells TC.

Actually, you know who this week was hard on? The poor jewelry store owner who got beaten up because Chris is terrible at her job!

Ugh. Bicyclists just think the world revolves around them.

Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 1.9 “Good-Bye, Megan”

Posted on March 31, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Saved By The Bell: The New Class, which ran on NBC from 1993 to 2o00. The show is currently on Prime.

Can the gang convince Megan’s father not to improve her life?

Episode 1.9 “Good-Bye Megan”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on November 6th, 1993)

Megan is frustrated by the fact that, unlike her, the rest of the gang at Bayside has no plans for the future. She even imagines coming to the 20-year reunion in her medical scrubs (complete with facemask) and discovering that Tommy is a mechanic, Lindsay is a waitress, Vicki is still watching soap operas, Weasel plays video games for a living, and Scott is a lifeguard.

In other words, Megan is a snob. In her fantasy, it doesn’t matter that it’s been previously established that Tommy is actually a very good auto mechanic and that he could probably make a lot of money fixing other people’s cars. It doesn’t matter that Lindsay is married to Tommy and appears to be very happy. It doesn’t matter that Scott also appears to be good at his job (and the world does need lifeguards) and that Weasel is apparently now some sort of video game celebrity. All that matters is that Megan is a doctor and they’re …. not.

Like, seriously, what type of petty person even has a fantasy like that? Are all of her friends supposed to become doctors? The fantasy is inspired by her friends just wanting to enjoy their high school years so, to me, it seems like Megan is just jealous that other people are having a good time while she spends her nights studying. I certainly wouldn’t want Megan to be my doctor. She’d probably judge me for caring more about movies than lectures.

Megan’s father (Richard Lawson) is a judge who is able to pull some strings and get Megan accepted to exclusive Willowbrook Academy. Megan is superexcited about leaving her dumb friends behind but then she meets with two Willowbrook girls and discovers that they are too snobby for her–

Really? Because I think this episode already established that no one is a bigger snob than Megan.

Megan changes her mind about going to Willowbrook. She wants to stay at Bayside with her loser friends. When her father comes to Bayside to give a speech about his life as a judge, Megan’s friends try to convince him that Bayside is a wealthy school, just like Willowbrook. It’s pretty dumb — for one thing, it’s already been established that the judge knows all of Megan’s friends so why would he suddenly believe that Tommy D was a sophisticated entrepreneur-in-the-making — but it works. The judge is so moved by the gang’s attempts to lie to him that he allows Megan to stay at Bayside.

Yay, I guess.

This first season is pointless. There’s no continuity from one episode to the next. One episode ended with Megan and Scott walking off with each other while the audience went, “Wooooo!” Another episode has Scott trying to break up Lindsay and Tommy. Now, suddenly Tommy and Scott are best friends. Weasel had a crush on Megan but now he doesn’t. It’s a mess but, on the plus side, most of these people will be gone once season 2 begins.

As for season one, we’ve only got four more episodes to go!

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 5.13 “Breaking Point”

Posted on March 30, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983. The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!

This week, Ponch worries that he’s lost his touch.

Episode 5.13 “Breaking Point”

(Dir by Leslie H. Martinson, originally aired on January 3rd, 1982)

While pursuing a car thief, Ponch loses control of his motorcycle and crashes through the glass door of a jewelry store. He smashes into a display case and finds himself trapped underneath a shelf of jagged glass. One wrong move and he could lose his head!

Now, Baker and the other cops are able to rescue Ponch and move the display case. Still, the experience leaves Ponch so shaken that he starts to doubt himself. He starts to find excuses to not go out on his bike. He does paperwork back at headquarters. He claims that his bike has a vibration. The other members of the Highway Patrol start to whisper that Ponch is not pulling his weight. Getraer tells Ponch to take some vacation time and to get his head together.

Ponch’s sister, Patti (Maria O’Brien), is visiting. She’s a nurse but, like Ponch, she’s having doubts about her job. She would rather be a model, despite not being particularly attractive. Ponch isn’t happy about Patti giving up her career but he does arrange for Patti to spend some time with Jon’s model girlfriend, Christy (Mary Angela Young). While Patti and Christy are chatting, a man has a heart stroke and Patti saves his life. Patti realizes that her job is important and this leads to Ponch deciding that his job is important too.

I’m going to guess that this was designed to be Erik Estrada’s Emmy episode. Estrada does his best to capture Ponch’s uncertainty and his conflicted emotions but the thing with Erik Estrada is that you look at him and you just can’t believe he’s ever had a moment of self-doubt in his entire life. By the end of the episode, Ponch is back on his bike and flashing his big smile and there was never any doubt that he would be.

Even with Estrada hamming it up for the Emmy judges, this episode found room for two slo mo of doom accidents. How anyone could have survived the second accident, I have no idea. And yet, it appears that there weren’t any serious injuries. I guess we should be thankful for that!

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 5.19 “Miracle Man”

Posted on March 30, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing Miami Vice, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show can be purchased on Prime!

This week, the Miracle Man arrives in Miami!

Episode 5.19 “Miracle Man”

(Dir by Alan Myerson, originally aired on June 21st, 1989)

Who is the Miracle Man?

The Miracle Man (played by Jose Perez) is an overweight, middle-aged man who sometimes wears an eye mask and a t-shirt with a big M on it. He rallies the good people of Miami to take back their neighborhoods from the drug dealers. He thwarts drug deals, even the ones that are actually a part of an undercover operation. He’s something of a pest. The cops wants to stop him. The criminals want to kill him. A news reporter (Zach Grenier) wants to make him a star.

In real life, he’s actually Gregory Esteban and he is Izzy’s cousin. A former junkie, he blames himself for the overdose death of his daughter and he’s now determined to launch a one-man war against crime. He’s also bipolar and running low on his meds, which makes him unpredictable. Switek and Tubbs eventually catch the Miracle Man but he still manages to escape from the safehouse. His actions lead to the death of this week’s drug dealers but they also lead to him getting killed as well. That’s not really a surprise. Guest stars almost always died on Miami Vice.

This episode didn’t work for me. The Miracle Man character was too over-the-top to be taken seriously and, as a result, his story and his death didn’t have the emotional impact that it should have. As well, the villains were forgettable and generic. Considering how surreal Miami Vice could be, one would be justified in expecting this episode to be much more stylized than it was. Unfortunately, it was just dull. The Miracle Man could not save it.

Don Johnson is only in this episode for the first two minutes. Edward James Olmos isn’t in it at all. (Crockett and Castillo are described as being absent to prepare for a trial.) The whole episode feels like filler. I can kind of understand why it wasn’t aired during season 5’s original run.

Sorry, Miracle Man.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.9 “Mirror In The Bathroom”

Posted on March 29, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi: The Next Generation, which aired from 2001 to 2015! The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi.

Don’t watch this episode if you have a weak stomach.

Episode 2.9 “Mirror In The Bathroom”

(Dir by Paul Fox, originally aired on July 18th, 2003)

This is the one where Toby decides that the only way to get people to notice him in school is to join the wrestling team. However, when he discovers that he and Sean are in the same weight class (and there’s no way that Toby could ever beat Sean), Toby decides to lose a lot of weight in a very short amount of time.

Yep, this is the episode were Toby starts taking laxatives and throwing up his lunch.

Ugh. Yes, I know that eating disorders are serious. It’s nice that Degrassi did an episode about a guy doing something stupid instead of a girl. If there’s anything I get sick of, it’s the assumption that some people have that any woman who isn’t fat must have an eating disorder. Seriously, you can’t win. If you gain weight, you endanger your health. If you don’t gain weight, everyone assumes you’re throwing up everything you eat. This episode featured a guy struggling with body issues and I appreciated the change of pace.

That said …. ugh! Toby using laxatives! Ugh, ugh, ugh!

While Toby is losing weight, Terri is using her weight to get rich as a plus-sized model. Good for her, I guess. Terri’s kind of a boring character so, for now, it’s difficult to really care about her storylines. In season 3, she’ll start dating Rick Murray and everything will change. But we’ve still got a while to go.

Anyway, as always happens when someone gets an eating disorder, Toby ends up fainting in front of the entire school. He’s off the wrestling team but at least he’ll never take another laxative.

Seriously, ugh!

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 5.3 “Prison Riot”

Posted on March 29, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On 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, we have one of Homicide’s best episodes.

Episode 5.3 “Prison Riot”

(Dir by Kenneth Fink, originally aired on October 18th, 1996)

At the Maryland State Prison, convicted murderer Claude Vetter (Mark Rogers) accidentally bumps into another murderer, James Douglas (Tim McAdams), in the cafeteria. James pulls a knife and stabs Vetter in the stomach. As Vetter collapses, a riot breaks out. By the time the guards have forcefully restored order, Vetter and James Douglas are dead. Everyone knows who killed Vetter. But who stabbed James in the back?

Lewis, Munch, Howard, Bayliss, Kellerman and Giardello head down to the scene. (Pembleton, who is still struggling with his up-coming shooting test, is left behind.) Munch and Lewis don’t care about solving Douglas’s murder. As far as they’re concerned, both Claude Vetter and James Douglas got what they deserved. Munch gets annoyed and returns to the station. Lewis sticks around to help Bayliss with a few interrogations before he also leaves. Bayliss, however, is determined to solve the murder of James Douglas and Kellerman, looking to make up all the ill will that has existed between him and Bayliss, does his best to help.

Bayliss is convinced that Elijah Sanborn (Charles S. Dutton) saw who killed James. Sanborn is serving a life sentence for shooting a drug dealer who previously shot and killed Elijah’s wife in drive-by. (Elijah’s wife was an innocent bystander.) Elijah has been in prison for 14 years. He’s never getting out and he sees no reason why he should help the police. However, when Elijah’s 14 year-old son is arrested for a petty theft, Bayliss offers a deal. If Elijah tells Bayliss who killed James Douglas, Elijah’s son will only do 6 months at a juvenile facility. If Elijah refuses to talk, his son will be charged as an adult.

Elijah is outraged that Bayliss would “use my own son against me!” It’s only after his estranged daughter (Heather Alicia Simms, giving a wonderful performance) visits that Elijah agrees to share what he knows. He has one condition. He wants to see his son. When Elijah’s son turns out to be a sullen and uncommunicative wannabe gangster who tells his father that he doesn’t care about him, Elijah announces, “I killed James Douglas.”

Bayliss knows that Elijah is lying but he also knows that Elijah’s confession is enough to send him to the gas chamber. With no prospects of ever walking free and having been rejected by both his daughter and his son, Elijah has decided to use the system to kill himself.

Fortunately — or unfortunately, depending on how you look at things, another prisoner, Tom Marans (Dean Winters), beats Trevor Douglas (John Epps) into a coma. Trevor was James’s cousin and Marans reveals that Trevor is also the one who killed James because he thought James had stolen a carton of cigarettes from him. Marans explains that he was James’s “wife” in prison.

As the episode ends, Giardello congratulates Bayliss before adding that it’ll only be a matter of time before Trevor’s people seek revenge and they all have to return to the prison to investigate the murder of Tom Marans.

This was a great episode. After spending the past few seasons as Pembleton’s sidekick, Bayliss finally got a chance to step up and show off his own abilities as a homicide detective. Kellerman assisting him turned out to be an inspired move, as it allowed Kellerman to finally be something more than just a kind of goofy frat boy detective. Working together, Kyle Secor and Reed Diamond had great comedic timing, which kept this rather grim episode from getting too dark. (Kellerman: “Do you want a hug?” Bayliss: “Do you and Lewis often hug?”)

One thing that made this episode interesting was that the victims, the suspects, and most of the witnesses were all murderers who were previously arrested on this show. It was interesting to see how prison had changed or, in some cases, not changed them. The once preppy Tom Marans now had bright yellow hair, scarred knuckles, and some really nasty facial sores. Meanwhile, James and Trevor Douglas were still the same punks that they were on the outside, when they used to film themselves committing murder.

Finally, what made this episode truly powerful was the performance of Charles S. Dutton. A Baltimore native who served time in prison before becoming an acclaimed stage actor, Dutton has not always been served well by television and the movies. He’s very much a theatrical actor and, when cast in the wrong role, he can come across as being a bit over-the-top. In this episode, though, Dutton is perfectly cast and he gives a truly moving performance of as an inherently decent man who does what he has to do in order to survive as a prisoner in a system that has been constructed specifically to break and destroy him. Elijah’s fury feels earned and deserved but, in the end, he’s ultimately just a father who wants things to be better for his son and his daughter. When Elijah’s son rejected him, it was one of Homicide’s most heart-breaking moments.

Prison Riot has a reputation for being one of Homicide’s best episodes. The reputation is very much deserved.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell 1.16 “King of the Hill”

Posted on March 28, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing Saved By The Bell, which ran on NBC from 1989 to 1993. The entire show is currently streaming on Prime and Tubi!

It’s time to start the school year! Zack gets ready for his first day …. wait a minute, hasn’t school already started?

Episode 1.16 “King of the Hill”

(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on December 9th, 1989)

I’ll never forget the day Slater showed up….

For the longest time, I believed that this was the first episode of Saved By The Bell. I mean, the episode features Zack meeting Slater for the first time, Slater meeting Kelly for the first time, and it introduces all of the regulars. We discover that Zack, somehow, has a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Kelly in his bedroom. That’s weird and kind of disturbing.

However, I have since learned that, while this was indeed the pilot for Saved By The Bell, it wasn’t actually aired until halfway through the first season. That’s why we hear an older sounding Zack say, “I’ll never forget the day Slater showed up….” We’re watching a flashback. But if it’s a flashback, why is Zack talking directly to the audience? I mean, if the audience was there when it happened the first time, why would Zack be telling them about it a second time? For that matter, why — if this is Zack’s first day as a high school freshman — is he already a legendary troublemaker at the school? Mr. Belding remembers him from Good Morning Ms. Bliss but that show was set in Junior High and in Indiana! And before anyone says that they’re two different shows, allow me to point out that the Ms. Bliss episode were later reshown in syndication as Saved By The Bell episodes, complete with Zack introducing them by saying, “Here’s a story that happened in junior high….”

My personal theory about all this? Saved By The Bell was a Peter Engel show and, like most Peter Engel shows, no one cared much about continuity. Ironically, that sloppiness is a huge part of the show’s continuing popularity. People like me are still trying to make some sort of logical sense out of how Ms. Bliss and Saved By The Bell could both exist in the same universe.

As for this pilot …. well, for the most part, it’s not very good. Of the young actors, only Mario Lopez really seems to have any idea as to who his character should be. Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who would develop into a very good actor, overacts a bit in the pilot. He, Dustin Diamond, and Lark Voorhees were all still giving the same performances that they gave in Ms. Bliss and they didn’t quite feel right for what would become Saved By The Bell. Really, the only scene that truly works is when Mr. Belding puts on a sweater and attempts to “understand” why Zack is acting out before finally snapping as Zack makes a mess of his office. From the start, Dennis Haskins and Mark-Paul Gosselaar made for a good comedy team.

One final note: This episode aired nearly 37 years ago. Mario Lopez has aged, at most, ten years since then. He has got to have a haunted painting in his attic.

Retro Television Review: Baywatch 1.17 “Eclipse”

Posted on March 28, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing Baywatch, which ran on NBC and then in syndication from 1989 to 2001. The entire show can be viewed on Tubi.

This week, Eddie’s incompetence continues.

Episode 1.17 “Eclipse”

(Dir by Paul Schneider, originally aired on February 23rd, 1990)

After Kirby (Lance Wilson-White), the lifeguard that Eddie was supposed to be training, mysteriously drowns, Eddie loses his job and is shunned by every lifeguard in California.

Well, that’s what should have happened. Instead, everyone tells Eddie that it wasn’t his fault and goes out of their way to make sure that Eddie isn’t beating himself up over one unfortunate death. We don’t actually see Mitch or Captain Thorpe calling up Kirby’s family to offer condolences. We don’t see Kirby’s funeral or Kirby getting the traditional fallen lifeguard salute. Kirby? Who’s Kirby?

Instead, Eddie meets with a psychiatrist (Dr. Joyce Brothers) and later admits that his sister drowned when he was a child and that’s why he feels so guilty about what happened to Kirby. Everyone is more upset about Eddie’s sister than they are Kirby.

Meanwhile, Eddie searches the beach for a ghostly woman in a white nightgown. Eddie and Craig’s wife, Gina (Holly Gagnier), speculate that the woman is the ghost of someone who burned down the lighthouse decades ago. Mitch theorizes that the woman is an escaped mental patient. The woman later turns up on the beach, dead from drowning. Again, nobody seems to be too upset. Aren’t these people supposed to be lifeguards?

While this is going on, Hobie discovers that his friend Katie (Hayley Carr) is going to have to euthanize her dog because it bit her family’s landlord. Katie runs away and Hobie hides both her and the dog at his house. Mitch is not happy about this but he does agree to adopt the dog so it won’t be killed. Yay!

This episode was dumb. Apparently, as long as Eddie’s feeling better, it doesn’t matter that two people drowned. Stay away from Malibu, folks.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Freddy’s Nightmares 2.6 “Lucky Stiff”

Posted on March 27, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing Freddy’s Nightmares, a horror anthology show which ran in syndication from 1988 to 1990. The entire series can be found on Tubi!

This week, a lottery ticket leads to misery.

Episode 2.6 “Lucky Stiff”

(Dir by William Malone, originally aired on November 12th, 1989)

After the lottery-obsessed Lenny Nordhoff (David L. Lander) has a heart attack and dies, his widow, Greta (Mary Crosby), marries her brutish boyfriend, Hank (Richard Eden). Haunted by nightmares of Lenny holding out his bloody heart and accusing her of having broken it, Greta is not happy with her new marriage. When she and Hank realize that Lenny was buried with a winning lottery ticket, they break into the mausoleum, open his coffin, and retrieve the ticket. Then, Greta pushes Hank into the coffin and seals him up.

Months later, Greta is wealthy but now she’s haunted by visions of Hank and threatening phone calls. Eventually, she is confronted by a gravedigger (Tracey Walter), who blackmails her into marrying him.

This episode’s only memorable moment was an outdoor scene that was apparently filmed on a windy day, resulting in Mary Crosby having to awkwardly reach down to keep her dress from blowing up. (I supposed it says something about the show’s budget and production schedule that, rather than reshoot this scene, they just went with it.) Crosby didn’t do a bad job in this episode. She had the right neurotic femme fatale look.

Otherwise, this episode was pretty forgettable. The first story featured Greta having nightmares about a dead man and marrying a loser. The second story featured Great having nightmares about a dead man and marrying a loser. Even Freddy, in his reduced host role, looked pretty bored with the whole thing.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 3.13 “Dr. Wyler, I Presume”

Posted on March 27, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing St. Elsewhere, a medical show which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988. The show can be found on Daily Motion.

This week, a famous doctor comes to St. Eligius.

Episode 3.13 “Dr. Wyler, I Presume”

(Dir by Mark Tinker, originally aired on December 19th, 1984)

This week’s episode opens in the hospital gift shop. Dr. Craig is excited because a Nobel Prize-winning surgeon, Dr. George Wyler (David Wayne), is traveling from Africa to St. Eligius. Wyler is bring along a man who needs a kidney transplant. They are hoping to find a donor in Boston.

Dr. Auschlander, who is an old friend of Wyler’s, is a bit more nervous. Craig tells him not to worry so much and then grabs a carnation that he puts on Auschlander’s lapel.
As Auschlander starts to leave the gift shop, Craig says, “Don’t forget to pay for that.”

It’s a brilliant opening for a pretty good episode of St. Elsewhere. It’s always interesting to see the usually arrogant Dr. Craig in fanboy mode and one gets the feeling that, if he’s impressed by Dr. Wyler, than Wyler really must be as brilliant as everyone says.
And maybe he is! It’s hard to say for sure. When Wyler arrives at the hospital, he’s avuncular and obviously intelligent but we really don’t learn much about him, beyond the fact that he’s an old friend of Auschlander’s. The rest of Wyler’s scenes feature him and Auschlander sitting around and talking about how they’re both getting older. It’s not boring, largely due to the performances of Norman Lloyd and David Wayne. But, after all of the build-up, it’s a bit anti-climatic. That said, according to the imdb, Dr. Wyler appeared in a total of three episodes so I imagine things will develop.

While this is going on, Nurse Rosenthal is having a mid-life crisis. Her 45th birthday is coming up and she doesn’t want to celebrate it. She’s not amused when the nurses get her a stripper. Usually, I would have sympathy for a character who hates the idea of getting older but I’m a little bit tired of Nurse Rosenthal and her poor-me attitude. I get that she’s upset that her adulterous affair hasn’t been going well but maybe she should take that as a sign to stop sleeping with married men.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Hufnagle, the patient that no one likes, continues to get on everyone’s nerves. She’s even managed to alienate Elliott! I actually feel bad for Mrs. Hufnagle. Yes, she complains a lot but being in a hospital is a scary thing. I get the feeling that the doctors and nurses getting annoyed with her is probably the most realistic part of the series. Dr. Morrison is now Hufnagle’s doctor and that worries me. Morrison’s stories always end in the most depressing way possible.

At the tv station, Victor is told that his medical segments are not popular with viewers and that he needs to make being sick sound more pleasant than it is. Victor records an upbeat segment about how wonderful it is to go the hospital.

At the hospital, Victor assists Dr. Craig in removing an live exploding bullet from a woman who was shot in a robbery. Victor worries that the bullet could explode as he removes it and end his medical career. Fortunately, the operation is successful but Craig still tells Ehrlich that he’s a disgrace.

Ouch!

Hey, this was a really good episode. It was well-acted. It wasn’t too depressing. Dr. Craig got to snap at a lot of people. The best episodes always feature Dr. Craig going off on someone. St. Eligius may not be the best hospital but, this week, it was the most entertaining.