Category Archives: Retro Television Reviews

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 2.7 “The All Nighter”

Posted on 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 High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1989 to 1991!  The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi

This week, it’s drugs and poker!

Episode 2.7 “The All Nighter”

(Dir by Eleanore Lindo, originally aired on December 16th, 1990)

This week’s episodes tells the story of several all-nighters.

Alex, who is now apparently a major character, pulls an all-nighter to write a last-minute essay, one that he was assigned over a month ago.  Hey, we’ve all been there!  Luckily, he gets it written.  Because this episode aired at the end of the 80s, he has write on an old timey typewriter.  I like old typewriters.  I can’t imagine writing with one — seriously, how did people correct typos back then? — but I do like the look and the sound of them.

Luke, Yick, Joey, and Arthur play poker at Luke’s house.  (Apparently, everyone’s forgiven Luke for giving Shane the LSD that caused Shane to plunge to his near death last year.)  At first, Luke doesn’t want to invite Arthur  but Yick talks him into it.  Arthur turns out to be a poker hustler and soon, he’s made over $15 in dimes.  Myself, I don’t think I’ve ever won a hand at poker.  I’m good at blackjack, though!

Finally, the most important all-nighter is the one that Maya, Melanie, Caitlin, and Kathleen hold for Diana’s birthday!  Woo hoo!  Birthday all-nighter’s are the best!  However, in this case, Kathleen decides to bring two joints to the party.  Kathleen explains that she and Scott used to smoke weed all the time.  (Uhmm….okay.  I remember Scott and he really didn’t seem like a stoner.)  Luke made the mistake of trying to hide his stash in the tampon machine in the girl’s bathroom, which is how Kathleen got her hands on it.

Everyone, except for Caitlin, plays truth or dare while passing around the joint.  Uh-oh, can you see where this is going?  While Diana complains that she’s not feeling anything, Melanie decides that she’s stoned enough to reveal that she read Kathleen’s diary and that Kathleen has anorexia, an alcoholic mother, an abusive boyfriend, and a therapist.  Kathleen gets upset and runs outside.  Caitlin comforts her while Melanie giggles inside.

And again, I think just about everyone has been there.  From my own high school experiences, weed drama usually didn’t involve people who were actually stoned as much as it involved inexperienced smokers who were trying to convince themselves that they were stoned and who inevitably ended up doing something stupid as a result.  Melanie, for instance, I don’t think was anywhere near as stoned as she was trying to act.  For someone who has never smoked weed before, it apparently only took Melanie a few minutes to start talking about “the munchies.”  Her giggly betrayal of Kathleen was more about her thinking she was “so high” other than actually being high.  Still, the damage was done.  This episode ends with Melanie apologizing to Kathleen and Kathleen walking away without saying a word.

(While we’re on the subject of weed, I have to admit that I kind of lost interest in it once it started getting legalized and became socially acceptable.)

Anyway, this was a good episode.  I appreciated that it didn’t go for any of the usual melodrama that teen shows usually resort to when it comes to people experimenting with drugs.  Degrassi High’s strength is its nonjudgmental attitude and that was on display in this episode.

Next week, Wheels wears out his welcome at Joey’s house …. again!

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.14 “Dead End”

Posted on 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, the elusive Glenn Holton is captured but is really the shooter?  Read on and find out!

Episode 3.13 “Dead End”

(Dir by Whitney Ransick, originally aired on February 3rd, 1995)

There’s a truly remarkable moment in this week’s episode of Homicide.

Glenn Holton (Steve Hofvendahl) has finally been arrested and is sitting in the Box.  Holton is the pedophile who is suspected of murdering a child.  Last week, Felton, Bolander, and Howard were all shot while trying to serve a warrant for his arrest.  Bayliss and Pembleton are interviewing him, attempting to get him to confess to shooting the detectives.

At first, Holton is adamant that he did not shoot anyone.  But as Pembleton and Bayliss shout at him and tell him about all the things that are going to happen to him as a sex offender in prison, Holton’s demeanor starts to change.  He becomes desperate and confused and suddenly, he confesses to shooting the detectives.  The only problem is that the story Holton comes up with doesn’t match the facts of the case.  He claims that he shot the detectives on the roof of his apartment building.  He claims they were coming at him.  When asked what type of gun he used, Holton says it was just some gun that he bought on the street.  The more Holton talks, the more obvious it becomes that, while he did murder the child, he didn’t shoot the detectives.

It’s an interesting scene because it shows just how easy it could be to get a false confession out of a suspect.  It’s left ambiguous as to whether or not Holton was lying because he preferred to be sent to prison for shooting a cop instead of killing a kid or if maybe Holton actually had deluded himself into thinking he was the shooter.  If Bayliss and Pembleton hadn’t asked him follow-up questions about the shooting, Holton probably would have been charged with the shooting.  He did, after all, confess.

Holton’s going to jail for murder but the shooter is still out there.  Who fired the gun?  I suspect I know, just because next week’s episode features a special guest star.  But we’ll talk about that next week!

The interrogation scene was the highlight of this week’s episode.  Still, I enjoyed the scenes of Munch working with Bolander’s ex-partner Mitch and struggling to hide his jealousy.  (Bolander is always complaining that Mitch was a far better partner than Munch.)  I was a bit less interested in this week’s Russert plot.  Megan was told to investigate whether or not Giardello was at fault for the detectives going to the wrong apartment.  She discovered Giardello did approve and initial the warrant without double-checking the address.  Giardello  was prepared to take the blame but Russet instead lied and claimed that, because of budget cuts, she and Giardello were both often rushed into signing things without getting a chance to fully examine them.  I’m not sure that’s a particularly good excuse but it worked.

At the hospital, Howard woke up from her coma.  Bolander is still in his coma and was not present during this episode.  (From what I’ve read, Ned Beatty was apparently not happy with the whole shooting storyling, feeling that it went against the realism that was supposed to be Homicide’s calling card.)  Lewis and Felton had a heart-to-heart about what it’s like to lose one’s partner.  It was an effective scene, even if Felton has become a bit of a one-note character.

This was a good episode and a marked improvement on last week.  I look forward to seeing how things conclude (or if they even do conclude) in the next episode.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check it Out! 3.19 “Losing It”

Posted on 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 the Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and Peacock!

This week, Howard and Leslie go into business together!

Episode 3.19 “Losing It”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on January 30th, 1988)

After Howard refuses to give Leslie a raise and suggests that Leslie instead explore other ways to make extra money, Leslie ends up inviting Howard to a franchise convention.  Howard agrees and, one scene later, Howard and Leslie are in charge of a weight loss franchise!

Howard is thrilled, especially after a group of overweight individuals comes to the store for a meeting.  Howard can’t wait to start making money off of them but Leslie is concerned.  He’s worried that the diet and the dietary supplements that come with it are a sham.  He doesn’t want to cheat anyone.  Leslie shares a story about being sent to the “husky” department when he was a teenager looking for a jacket.  Howard comes to realize that he doesn’t have it in him to cheat the people who are coming to the store in hopes of losing weight.  At the next meeting, Howard announces that the product is a sham.  The group forgives him and they decide to continue meeting at the store in order to give one another moral support.

Awww!

Listen, when I saw that Check It Out! was going to do an episode about weight loss, I was expecting the worst.  Check It Out! has rarely dealt sensitively with body issues.  But I have to say that this was really a heartfelt and surprisingly sweet episode.  The jokes were not mean-spirited and the show’s message was one of acceptance and empowerment.  I was stunned!

A lot of the credit goes to Aaron Schwartz, who was often underused on this show but who always shined whenever he was given a chance.  The scene where Schwartz, as Leslie, talked about the insecurity that he felt over his teenage weight was beautifully acted.

This was a good episode.  As I’ve said before, as uneven as this series often is, the third season has been a marked improvement over the two that came before.  This episode was a perfect example of that.

Only three more episodes to go!

Retro Television Review: The American Short Story #3 “The Jolly Corner”

Posted on 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 The American Short Story, which ran semi-regularly on PBS in 1974 to 1981.  The entire show can be purchased on Prime and found on YouTube and Tubi.

This week, we have an adaptation of a Henry James short story.

Episode #3 “The Jolly Corner”

(Dir by Arthur Barron, originally aired in 1975)

In 1906, Spencer Brydon (Fritz Weaver) returns to America from Europe, where he’s spent the majority of his adult life.  Brydon has specifically returned to oversee some properties that he has inherited, including his childhood home and an adjacent building that’s going to be turned into an apartment complex.  The middle-aged Brydon reconnects with his old friend, Alice Shaverton (Salome Jens), and finds himself wondering what type of man he would have come if he had stayed and worked in America as opposed to living a life of leisure in Europe.

Soon, Spencer comes to feel that his alternate “American” self is actually haunting his childhood home, his so-called “Jolly Corner.”  His American self haunts him like a ghost, a menacing shadow that continually forces him to ask “what if?”  He becomes obsessed with both his former home and his shadowy alter ego.  But is this American version of Spencer Brydon real?  And if it is real, what does it want from the Spencer Brydon who went to Europe?

This was a really well-done adaptation of a Henry James short story, one that was full of gothic atmosphere and which featured a compelling lead performance from Fritz Weaver.  As directed by Arthur Barron, this episode did a good job of portraying the story’s horror elements while also reminding us that James’s story, for all of its talk of ghosts and alternate realities, is ultimately a portrait of a really bad midlife crisis.  Spencer did what a lot of rich Americans do.  He went to Europe to escape the responsibilities of his home country.  And now, in middle-age, he’s asking himself, “Is this all there is?”

If nothing else, watching this episode might inspire the viewer to read more Henry James.  That’s a good thing.

 

Late Night Retro Television Review: Friday the 13th: The Series 3.16 “My Wife As A Dog”

Posted on 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 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, it’s all about a man and his dog.

Episode 3.16 “My Wife As A Dog”

(Dir by Armando Mastroianni, originally aired on February 19th, 1990)

I knew I was going to dislike this episode as soon as I saw the title.

While Johnny and Micki spend their time trying to get the store up to code so that it can pass a fire inspection (and good luck doing that when there’s a literal portal to Hell located in the basement), Jack searches for a cursed leash.  Jack has no idea what the leash does.  He just knows that it’s cursed.  However, the leash’s owner — fireman Aubry Ross (Denis Forest, making his fourth appearance on the show) — has figured out that, by using the leash to strangle people, he can transport the mind of his dying dog into the body of his estranged (but not dying) wife.

Or something like that.  To be honest, I had a hard time following the particulars of this curse.  Fortunately, so did Jack.  This is the first episode that I can think of where Jack admits that he has no idea how a cursed objects works.  Even when he retrieves the leash at the end of the episode, he admits that he’s still not sure what Aubry actually did with it.  Jack being confused made me feel a little bit less dumb so I was happy with that.  The episode ends with Aubry in jail, being visited his panting wife.  She brings him his slippers because she’s now a dog in a human body.

Ugh.  This was an attempt to do a light-hearted episode and I respect the show for trying to do something different.  At the same time, it also featured four murders and a woman, who simply wanted to get a divorce from her creepy husband, being transformed into a dog.  Our regulars were barely in this episode and, when they did appear, we had to suffer through some awkward flirting between Johnny and Micki.  Denis Forest did a good job as Aubry but otherwise, this was an episode that I could just as soon forget.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 2.3 “Newheart”

Posted on 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 Hulu and, for purchase, on Prime!

This week, things get dark.

Episode 2.3 “Newheart”

(Dir by Mark Tinker, originally aired on November 9th, 1983)

What a depressing episode!

It doesn’t start out on a particularly depressing note.  It opens with a bachelor part for Dr. Vijay Kochar, who is about marry a woman that he’s never actually met.  (It’s an arranged marriage.)  The bachelor party, which appears to have been held in Fiscus’s apartment, is a bust.  Dr. White shows up with a sex doll.  Victor Ehrlich shows up with a short film called “Sally Takes a Ride,” which turns out to be not the pornography he was expecting but instead, a short film about astronaut Sally Ride.  Vijay mentions that he’s a virgin and soon, with the help Dr. White and Nurse Daniels, the news is all over the hospital.  Kathy Martin decides to give Vijay an early wedding gift by having sex with him.

Since this episode aired in 1983, there’s a random aerobic class being held in the hospital, which leads to a lengthy scene of spandex and dancing.  It’s a bit of a silly scene for what was, for the first half hour, shaping up to be a silly episode.

Fran and Jerry Singleton finally check out of the hospital.  Fran has regained the ability to speak and can stiffly walk.  Jerry has learned to stop being such an overbearing jerk.  Dr. Morrison is not there to say goodbye to the Singletons because….

…. and here’s where things start to get dark….

….his wife is in another hospital!  Jack Morrison’s wife has an offscreen cerebral hemorrhage and, as evidenced by Morrison’s tears at the end of the episode, she does not survive.  At the same time that she’s dying, Dr. Craig gets a call telling him that there is finally a heart available for the transplant.  And, though it wasn’t explicitly stated, it seems pretty obvious that the heart in question belonged to Morrison’s wife.

AGCK!

Seriously, how much more depressing can one episode get?  And for all this to happen to Jack Morrison, who is probably the most decent character on the show, it’s just not fair!  I mean, he was literally the only married intern who had a happy marriage.  He has a newborn son.  And now, he’s going to have to balance being a single father with being a resident.

Poor guy!  I hope next week finds some sort of relief for him.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.1 “Man’s Best Friend Part One”

Posted on 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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!

This week, we start the fourth season of Highway to Heaven.  This episode features orphans and dogs!  I feel the tears coming….

Episode 4.1 “Man’s Best Friend Part One”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on September 16th, 1987)

Oh, this episode made me cry and cry.

Why?  Well, for a couple of reasons….

First off, Jonathan and Mark got new jobs working at a kennel.  Many of the dogs at the kennel had been abandoned by their owners and Ms. Lil (Fran Ryan) took care of them all, rather than taking them to the pound.  And listen, I’m not a dog person.  I’m a cat person.  We all know this.  But seriously, those dogs were adorable!

A Siberian husky named Jake gets lost.  After running across the interstate (gasp!), he finds himself alone at night.  Coyotes approach.  (OH NO!)  Suddenly, Jonathan appears and turns into a lion, scaring the coyotes off.  (*sniff*  *sniff* I’m okay.)

Every few days, Lil takes the dogs down to the local orphanage — (OH MY GOD!) — and lets them play with the orphans.  Jake, now a part of the kennel crew, begs young Alex (Danny Pintauro, who had a much worse experience with a dog in Cujo) to play with him.  Alex is shy and introverted but Jake quickly becomes his best friend.  Alex starts to come out of his shell and says that he knows he’ll never be separated from Jake.  For the first time in his young life, Alex is happy.

(Oh dear.)

The local media does a story on Lil and her dogs.  They take a picture of Alex and Jake.  The next morning, a young girl named Jenny (Elisabeth Harnois) sees the picture and recognizes Jake.  For the past month, she’s been desperately looking for Jake!

(This isn’t good….)

Jenny and her grandfather (William Schallert) pick Jake up from the kennel.  Jonathan has to go to the orphanage and tell Alex that his best friend is no longer going to be visiting him.

(Sorry, give me a minute.)

Alex is depressed.  Jake is depressed.  Jonathan shows at Jenny’s home and asks if Alex can come and visit Jake.  Jenny and grandpa say yes.  (YAY!)

Suddenly, three dreaded words appear on the screen: “TO BE CONTINUED”

What!?  No, there’s no need to continue.  Alex and Jake have been reunited, let’s end the story here….

This episode was Highway to Heaven at its most earnest, manipulative, and effective.  Not only did it feature orphans but also an adorable dog and William Schallert as a genial authority figure.  There was also a subplot about Jenny’s parents trying to have another child with a surrogate and I’m sure that has something to do with that promise of “TO BE CONTINUED.”

Nothing better happen to the dog!

Retro Television Review: Malibu CA 2.15 “Goin’ Up In Smoke”

Posted on 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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing Malibu CA, which aired in Syndication in 1998 and 1999.  Almost the entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

Yes, this is from the first season. I don’t care. I refuse to waste my time looking for a second season advertisement.

This week, Jason’s smoking!  And Dick Butkus shows up.

Episode 2.15 “Goin’ Up In Smoke”

(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on February 12th, 2000)

Okay, can we just agree that Lisa is the absolute worst?

No, not me!  I’m talking about the show’s Lisa, the premed student played by Marquita Terry.  In this episode, she somehow gets a job writing theater reviews for the local newspaper.  When Traycee puts on her own version of Romeo and Juliet (an “urban” version that she calls Rom-e-yo and Juliet), Lisa has to review it.  Lisa doesn’t like the play so she writes a negative review in which she says that Traycee is a terrible actress.  Traycee reads the review and gets offended.  Lisa says that she didn’t have a choice.  She had to be honest.

Actually, Lisa did have a choice and it wouldn’t have been involved any sort of dishonesty.  Lisa could have simply said, “I can’t review this show because I have a conflict of interest.”  The show was adapted, directed, and produced by Lisa’s roommate!  That’s all Lisa had to say to get out of writing the review.   The newspaper could have sent someone else to write the review and Lisa would have been off the hook.  Instead, Lisa went to the show, trashed her roommate in the newspaper, and then acted like somehow she was the one being inconvenienced.

Seriously, Lisa is the worst and it doesn’t help that Marquita Terry’s performance on this show was so incredibly bad that she made the cast of One World look Emmy-worthy.  Seriously, you have to be really bad to make Cray from One World look good by comparison.

That was the B-plot.  The A-plot found Dick Butkus returning as Uncle Charlie, just in time for Jason to start smoking …. just like his favorite uncle!  Peter freaks out.  His son is smoking!  Hey, Peter …. your son is 19 years old and legally an adult.  If he wants to smoke, he can smoke.  He’s a musician in Malibu so you should really be thankful that smoking cigarettes is all he’s doing.

Uncle Charlie is a smoker too.  He and Jason try to quit together but, after one hour without a cigarette, they’re both ready to kill someone.  Uhmmm …. okay.  I don’t smoke but I know plenty of smokers and most of them can last for more than an hour without a cigarette.  Anyway, Uncle Charlie gets lung cancer because this is a Peter Engel sitcom and, therefore, every point has to be made with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

This episode felt familiar, mostly because every single Peter Engel sitcom had at least one insane anti-smoking episode.  Having Dick Butkus show up just reminded me of how much better Hang Time handled smoking.  This episode annoyed me beyond all belief.

Thank God it’s the final season.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Monsters 3.21 “Talk Nice To Me”

Posted on 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 Wednesdays, I will be reviewing Monsters, which aired in syndication from 1988 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on YouTube.

This week, someone won’t stop calling!

Episode 3.21 “Talk Nice To Me”

(Dir by Ernest Farino, originally aired on February 17th, 1991)

A sexist newspaper columnist named Martin (Ed Marinaro) starts receiving phone calls from a woman (Tina Louise) with a sultry voice.  She continually calls him, leaving message after message.  She refuses to reveal her name or how she got Martin’s unlisted “private” number.  (This episode aired during the landline era, before you could block numbers.)  Martin tries everything to get her to stop calling.  He disconnects his phone for two days but, as soon as he reconnects, she calls again.  Martin can’t work.  He can’t write.  When he invites Linda (Teri Ann Lind) over to his apartment, his paranoia prove to be a real turn-off.  He becomes convinced that the stalker has somehow entered his apartment.  The truth is even more twisted….

This episode had potential but it was let down by a rather cartoonish performance by Ed Marinaro.  I could buy Marinaro as a misogynist.  I could even buy Marinaro as a womanizer.  I couldn’t buy him as a successful newspaper columnist and, as a result, the whole “you’re going to lose your column!” subplot fell flat for me.  That said, Martin’s apartment was an appropriately claustrophobic location and the idea of the nonstop caller was suitably creepy.  This was not necessarily bad episode.  It’s just an episode that could have been better than it was.

Only three more episode to go and we will have finished up with Monsters.  Though uneven, the third season has still been a marked improvement over the first two.  Even the third season episodes that don’t work quite as well as they should, like this one, are watchable.

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 6.3 “The Anniversary Gift/Honey Bee Mine/Bewigged, Bothered and Bewildered”

Posted on 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 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!

It’s time so set sail for adventure, your mind on a new romance….

Episode 6.3 “The Anniversary Gift/Honey Bee Mine/Bewigged, Bothered and Bewildered”

(Dir by Ted Lange, originally aired on October 16th, 1982)

Oh my God, what did Julie do to her hair!?  I mean, I understand that it was the 80s and everything but Julie’s short, spiky look in this episode is not a good decision.  No wonder she’s so worried that she’s going to lose her boyfriend (Richard Bergman) to her old college friend, Honey Bee Harknest (Randi Oakes, taking a break from appearing on CHiPs to do The Love Boat).  Honey Bee has always stolen Julie’s boyfriends so, for this cruise, Julie lies and says that she’s dating Gopher.  Normally, Gopher would be happy about this but he’s already got a girlfriend to whom he’s trying to stay loyal.

(I’m going to guess that we’ll never see Julie’s boyfriend or Gopher’s girlfriend again after this episode.)

In other cruise news, Lynn Redgrave and Robert Mandan are taking a vacation to celebrate 20 years of wedded bliss.  Mandan is looking forward to traveling.  Redgrave wants to have another child.  You’ve probably already guessed where this storyline is heading.  Lynn Redgrave and Robert Mandan made for a surprisingly believable couple.  Redgrave was, of course, an Oscar nominee while Mandan was the best of the celebrity skaters to appear on the Roller Disco episode of CHiPs.

(There’s our second CHiPs reference of the review!  Woo hoo!)

Finally, Phyllis Diller plays an old classmate of Captain Stubing’s.  When Diller compliments Stubing on still looking young, Stubing starts to worry about how she’ll react when he removes his captain’s cap and reveals that he’s bald.  So, he starts wearing a toupee.  Oh, Captain Stubing!  To be honest, I do like episodes that allow Stubing to be emotionally vulnerable.  Gavin MacLeod always did a good job of suggesting the insecurity that lay underneath the commanding presence and that’s certainly the case with this episode.  That said, Stubing could take a lesson from Sgt. Getraer, who still manages to run things on CHiPs despite his thinning hair.

(Boom!  Three references to CHiPs in one review of The Love Boat.  That’s got to be a record.)

This was a pleasant cruise and it was directed by Isaac himself, Ted Lange!  Lange keeps the action moving and, as a director, he obviously knew how to get good performances out of his castmates.  Julia’s terrible hairstyle aside, this was a good trip on The Love Boat.