Watching the Master”

Posted on September 2, 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 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!

And looooooove, won’t hurt anymore….

Episode 8.9 “The Last Heist/Starting Over/Watching the Master”

(Dir by Ted Lange, originally aired on November 10th, 1984)

Recent law school graduate Paula (Julia Duffy) boards the boat with the man who paid for her education, Uncle David (Patrick Macnee). Paula thinks David is a businessman but, as David explains to her once they’ve reached their cabin, he’s actually a jewel thief. Paula asks David to retire from stealing but David explains that he’s going to pull off one final big score by stealing a necklace owned by Martha Parker (Abby Dalton). He’s even had a replica of the necklace made so that Martha will never notice that the real one has been stolen,

Needless to say, Paula has a lot on her mind when stockbroker Andy Brooks (Douglas Barr) first tries to hit on her. But what if Andy isn’t a stockbroker? Shortly after David steals the necklace, Andy shows up at his cabin. Andy explains that he’s actually an insurance investigator and that David will be turned over to the authorities as soon as the ship docks in Los Angeles. Oh no!

However, because Andy has fallen in love with Paula, he later tells them that he won’t turn David in as long as David both returns the necklace and retires from being a thief. David agrees. What David doesn’t realize is that Andy actually is just a stockbroker and the whole thing was a set-up engineered by Paula to get him to retire.

Meanwhile, Doc is excited because his new girlfriend, Gloria (Delta Burke), is going to be on the cruise. Unfortunately, Hal Winston (William Christopher) is also on the boat. Hal is marrying one of Doc’s ex-wives and he’s on the cruise so he can observe Doc and learn to be more like him. Doc gets annoyed. Gloria falls in love with Hal. “I guess I’m still paying alimony,” Doc says as he watches Hal and Gloria leave the boat together.

These first two stories were really charming. I especially liked the story involving David, Andy, and Paula. Patrick Macnee had just the right twinkle in his eye. Julia Duffy and Douglas Barr had the type of carnal chemistry that was rarely seen on the G-rated Love Boat. As for Doc’s story, it was funny in its dopey way.

Unfortunately, those two stories were overshadowed by the third story. Beth Reed (Deborah Adair), an old friend of Judy’s, boards the cruise. Beth is recently divorced. When another passenger, Joe (Brodie Greer), starts to hit on her, Beth says she’s not interested. At first, Joe thinks that it’s because he’s been coming on too strong and Judy assumes that Beth is struggling to adjust to being divorced. However, Beth eventually explains that she got divorced because her husband could not handle the fact that she was raped by a stranger. At first, Joe seems understanding but then he freaks out when Beth says that, when she returns to Los Angeles, she will be testifying against her rapist. That’s going to be so embarrassing for you!, he says. Joe goes on and on about how Beth shouldn’t testify. In fact, Joe was so adamant that I was almost expecting it be revealed that Joe was the brother or a friend of the man who raped her.

Instead, it just turns out that Joe’s a jerk. Beth says that she never wants to see Joe again and that’s really where this story should have ended. Joe goes from coming on way too strong to basically ordering Beth not to testify against a rapist. Joe should have been dumped and Beth should have left the boat alone but proud that she stood up for herself. Instead, Joe offers up a half-assed apology and Beth not only takes him back but agrees to marry him.

NO! Joe does not deserve to be taken back. NO! Do not marry the guy who, after knowing you for two days, tries to tell you how to live your life. It seems like Beth is just going from one jerk to another and her friend Judy doesn’t do anything to stop her.

I have no doubt that there were good intentions behind this story. But, seen today, the best thing you can say about the story is that it was tone deaf and insensitive. Brodie Greer, who was likable as Baricza on CHiPs and on a previous episode of The Love Boat in which he appeared, gives a rather stiff performance, almost as if he himself couldn’t believe some of the lines that had been written for him.

Two of the stories were charming but they were both overshadowed by the third story and it brought the entire episode down.

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 7.12 “Dee Dee’s Dilemma/Julie’s Blind Date/The Prize Winner”

Posted on March 25, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Come aboard, we’re expecting you….

Episode 7.12 “Dee Dee’s Dilemma/Julie’s Blind Date/The Prize Winner”

(Dir by Richard Kinon, originally aired on December 3rd, 1983)

A detective (Don Gordon) tells Isaac and Gopher that he suspects a woman named Doris will be boarding the boat. She’s supposed to testify in a high-profile divorce case and she’s been dodging the process servers. The detective mentions that there’s a reward for turning Doris in. That definitely get Gopher and Isaac’s attention.

And Doris (Markie Post) is on the boat! Except she is pretending to be a teenager named Dee Dee and she’s speaking in an annoying squeaky voice. Jerry Howard (Clark Brandon) meets Dee Dee and develops a crush on her. Meanwhile, Jerry’s father, Phil (Geoffrey Scott), meets Doris and develops a crush of his own! In the end, Doris falls in love with Phil and Jerry …. well, Jerry gets his heart broken but he claims not to care. Phil is amused. As for the divorce case, it’s settled so Doris doesn’t have to testify after all!

(And no, there’s no reward for Isaac and Gopher. In fact, Stubing threatens to fire them.)

While that’s going on, author Daniel Baker (Tom Poston) wants to enjoy a romantic cruise with his wife (Abby Dalton) but he’s being blackmailed by his assistant, Wendy (Leslie Easterbrook). Wendy knows that Daniel plagiarized sections of his book and she threatens to reveal the truth unless Daniel has an affair with her. This is one of those storylines that would have worked better if some different casting choices had been made. As it is, noted sex symbol Tom Poston feels miscast.

Finally, Julie has a blind date boarding the boat. He turns out to be a nerdy, overweight guy named Leonard Gluck (Walter Olkewicz). Julie has nothing in common with Leonard and is planning on dumping him. But then Leonard dumps her first and Julie has a crisis of confidence. This story had the potential to reveal a new side of Julie but, in the end, Leonard revealed that he only dumped Julie to make her like him and Julie’s confidence was restored, along with her rule about not dating fat guys.

This was not a great cruise. It took me two minutes to get sick of Dee Dee’s voice. Oh well — not every trip can be a winner!

The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1958, directed by Roger Corman)

Posted on October 10, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent. That’s the title of this one and it’s far too long for a 67-minute drive-in feature. Maybe Roger Corman thought he could fool people into thinking the movie was better than it was by giving it a pompous sounding title.

A group of Viking men leave on a voyage and never come back. After waiting nearly a year, the remaining Viking women vote to set sail and look for them. Leading them is Desir (Abby Dalton) and she even welcomes the bad-tempted Enger (Susan Cabot) onto their boat. The last remaining male Viking, Ottar (Jonathan Haze), also joins the quest.

The Viking women (and Ottar) have barely set sail when a “giant” sea serpent rises out of the water and strands them on an island. The Viking women discover that their men are being held prisoner on the island. Even if they can rescue their men from King Stark (Richard Devon), the sea serpent still waits for them to try to return.

The Saga of the Viking Women and yadda yadda yadda is a remarkably cheap-looking epic. A major film about the Vikings was scheduled to be released by United Artists and Corman, determined to get his movie into theaters first, shot the film in ten days and for $65,000. Irving Block and Jack Rabin, two special effects experts, promised Corman an amazing sea serpent and instead delivered what appeared to be a water-proof puppet. The Sea Serpent only appears in two scenes and Corman doesn’t allow us a very good view of it. It looks like something you could have picked up at Toys ‘R Us back in the day.

There’s nothing convincing about the movie, from the costumes to the combat to the serpent. This was one of Roger Corman’s early misfires though, released on a double bill with the Astounding She-Monster, it still made money. People love Vikings.

MAVERICK (TV Series) – starring James Garner – S2, E19: “Duel at Sundown” (Guest star – Clint Eastwood)

Posted on May 30, 2025 by Bradley Crain

Bret Maverick (James Garner) stops off and visits his old friend Jed Christianson (Edgar Buchanan). Jed is desperate to break up the hot and heavy romance between his beautiful and wild daughter, Carrie (Abby Dalton), and a good for nothing gunslinger named Red Hardigan (Clint Eastwood). He asks Bret to stay for a while and help break them up. Not really wanting to get involved, Bret changes his tune when he’s offered $1,000 to hang around for a week. There is one serious problem, though, and that’s the fact that Red has a reputation for being extremely fast and accurate with a gun, and he’s not afraid to use it. When Bret actually sees a demonstration of Red’s shooting skills, he knows he’s going to have to come up with a plan to drive Red away that avoids a gunfight at all costs. And that’s exactly what he does. I won’t give away exactly what he does, but it involves his brother Bart (Jack Kelly) and a notorious gunslinger named John Wesley Hardin, and it’s genius!

As we continue to celebrate the birthday of Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood, I decided I’d watch his 1959 guest starring appearance on the TV series MAVERICK with James Garner. I recently watched Eastwood and Garner work together in the enjoyable “geezers in space” movie SPACE COWBOYS (2000), which came out about 40 years after this. With that fresh in mind, I especially enjoyed seeing them work together while they were both in their prime. “Duel at Sundown” is the first episode I’ve watched of the MAVERICK TV series, and I must say that I had a ball with it. James Garner’s effortless charisma and laid back demeanor as Bret Maverick make his character right down my alley. Nothing seems to rattle the man, and he’s as funny as hell! As of the time of this review, all five seasons of the series are streaming on PlutoTV, so I’m planning on catching some more episodes as I can. As far as the young Clint Eastwood, who was 29 when this show premiered, he definitely looks the part of a future star. Maybe I’m just being influenced by what he’s accomplished over the last 60 years, but his steely intensity, his great head of hair, and his way with the ladies are all on display. And even though his character of Red is a hot headed gunslinger who’s driven by jealousy, there are a couple of times when he flashes that million dollar smile, and you can’t help but like him. For me, it’s fun to watch these megastars in roles when they were just working actors trying to build a career. You can usually see the qualities that will make them the most popular actors in the world, but they’re still going to lose to the star of the series at the end. It’s a rite of passage.

Overall, “Duel at Sundown” is an excellent introduction to the MAVERICK TV series for me. It’s funny and actually quite clever, as evidenced by the scheme that Bret Maverick comes up with at the end to keep from having to face Red in a gunfight. But the true highlight is seeing Garner, in one of his signature roles, working with a young Eastwood who’s destined for stardom. I highly recommend it!