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 T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on Tubi!
Are you ready to get back into T and T?
Yeah, me neither.
But I made a commitment to review the show so here we go!
Episode 3.11 “A Place In History”
(Dir by Alan Simmonds, originally aired on March 17th, 1990)
Phil (Sean McCann), the new cut man at Decker’s gym, impresses everyone when he throws one solid punch that breaks the nose of a cocky boxer. Phil tells them that he learned how to take care of himself back when he was better known as Lucky O’Mara.
OH MY GOD, everyone says, LUCKY O’MARA!
Apparently, in the 50s, Lucky O’Mara was a gangster who was famous for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. His picture was never taken and his mysterious disappearance led to a legend growing all over Canada about what happened to Lucky O’Mara. (He was the Toronto version of D.B. Cooper, I suppose.) After the local media gets wind of Phil’s story, he becomes a celebrity. Everyone wants to interview Lucky O’Mara. And at least one person — a veteran mafia hitman — wants to kill Lucky O’Mara.
Only Turner, Terri, and Detective Hargrove are skeptical of Phil’s story. When Hargrove summons Phil to the police station and announces that he’s going to be arrested for a murder that Hargrove says Lucky committed, Phil comes clean and admits that he’s not Lucky. And it all turns out that Phil wasn’t going to be arrested anyway. It was just a clever ruse on the part of Hargrove and Terri.
At the end of the episode, Phil is back to working as a cut man and no one at the gym seems to be all that upset about him lying to them. Phil tells Turner that he actually is Lucky O’Mara. Turner shrugs.
Wow, what a nothing episode. The idea was intriguing but the episode did little with it. You kind of have to wonder how it is that a busy policeman like Hargrove and a busy attorney like Terri have time to fake arrest someone. I mean, aren’t there real arrests that need to be made? Worst of all, T.S. Turner spent most of this episode sitting in his office. He didn’t growl at anyone. He didn’t threaten anyone. He didn’t get mad at anyone. What’s the point of T and T if you’re not going to use the T that most people are probably watching for?
This episode was typical of the third season of T and T. It didn’t add up too much and Mr. T really didn’t seem like he wanted to be there anymore. I know how he feels but there’s only a few more episodes to go and I’m going to review everyone of them.
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 T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on Tubi!
Hi, everyone! I sprained my wrist yesterday and today, it still hurts to type so today’s review is going to be a quick one. You might even call it a mini-review!
Episode 3.10 “Silent Witness”
(Dir by Alan Simmonds, originally aired on March 10th, 1990)
When a bank is robbed, a young deaf boy named Vito (Daniel DeSanto) is the only witness to catch sight of one of the robbers without his mask on. The police bring in T.S. to keep an eye on the kid until it is time to testify.
This was a sweet episode. Mr. T, who has occasionally seemed a bit bored with the third season of this show, really brightened up when he was acting opposite DeSanto. One gets the feeling that both T.S. and Mr. T are naturally protective of kids. It was nice to see Mr. T being warm-hearted instead of grumpy and annoyed. It felt like a flashback to the first season, when T.S. Turner was still an earnest idealist.
Proving that everyone has to start somewhere, the great character actor Henry Czerny shows up here as a corrupt cop.
This episode suffered a bit due to its short running time. Stuffing an hour’s worth of plot led to things occasionally feeling a bit rushed.
The episode ended with Vito watching Turner argue with a detective (Richard Fitzpatrick) and finally speaking, for the first time in the episode. “Stop!” Vito says. It was a nice note to end on. Stop arguing and just be happy that the case has been solved.
And that seems like a good place to stop this review.
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 T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on Tubi!
This week, Mr. T enters the wrestling ring and we all wonder what took so long. Seriously, T and T, do you not realize who is starring on your show?
Episode 3.8 “The Mysterious Mauler”
(Dir by Alan Simmonds, originally aired on February 24th, 1990)
Teri and T.S. Turner are hired to investigate a series of accidents that have afflicted the wrestlers of the Galactis Wrestling Federation. With the GWF royal championship coming up, all of the contenders are being taken out of contention before they even step into the ring! Teri and T.S. think that a wrestler known as the Masked Mauler may be involved but the head of GWF, Mr. Barnum (Elias Zarou, chewing every available piece of scenery), refuses to reveal the Mauler’s true identity. Instead, Mr. Barnum is more interested in putting a “hood” on T.S. Turner and sending him into the ring.
From the start, this episode confused me. It opened with Terri excitedly telling T.S. that their money woes were over because they had been hired by an insurance company to investigate all of the accidents that have been taking place in the GWF. Now, I could understand the company hiring Turner because he’s an established detective but this episode seems to suggest that Terri is now a private investigator as well. But, in every previous episode, Terri has been portrayed as being an attorney who is almost as prominent and as successful as her sister Amy. Terri suddenly working for an insurance company as an investigator doesn’t really make sense. Aren’t the Taler sisters supposed to be crusading attorneys who have dedicated their practice to defending the little guy from heartless corporations? But now, Terri is suddenly an enthusiastic insurance investigator. Terri sold out!
And yet, this episode actually isn’t that bad, at least not by the usual standards of T and T. From the minute I learned this episode was set in the world of professional wrestling, I knew that Mr. T would eventually end up in the ring while wearing a sparkly uniform and that’s exactly what happened. Mr. T perfectly fits into the flamboyant world of pro-wrestling and he certainly does seem to be in a good mood in this episode. From the second season on, T and T has often failed to take advantage of the fact that half of their duo was Mr. T. This episode allows Mr. T to be himself.
As for the Mauler, his identity is eventually revealed. He owns a pizzeria and wears a mask so that his wife won’t discover that he’s a wrestler. The Mauler may be fearsome in the ring but, outside of it, he’s just trying to live a peaceful life and make an appetizing pizza. Good for him!
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 T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on Tubi!
This week, the Canadian Mafia (*snicker*) is making trouble.
Episode 3.6 “Take My Life Please”
(Dir by Alan Simmonds, originally aired on February 10th, 1990)
Phillip Phillips (played by Robert Cait) is a stand-up comedian who makes jokes about the mob. His mafia-themed humor has made him the hottest comic in Canada but it’s also led to him having a run-in with two men who say that they work for the mob. After they beat him up, Phillip goes to Terri and T.S Turner for help. Terri totally wants to help out Phillip, especially after he explains that he can’t just change his act because “I do mob jokes!” Turner, oddly enough, seems rather indifferent to the whole thing. Maybe he misses Amy.
After being absent for the past two episodes, Terri does return in this episode and she actually gets to do quite a bit. In fact, since T.S. doesn’t really seem to care that much about Philip and his attempts at comedy, Terri actually ends up doing most of the investigating. What Terri does not do is mention where Amy has gone or why everyone is acting as if Terri has always been around. We are six episodes into the third season and the show still hasn’t bothered to explain why a major character has just vanished. It’s disconcerting. I mean, did something bad happen to Amy? Is that why they’re pretending like she never existed? Could Turner’s indifferent attitude actually be the result of the depression that he feels over losing the person who launched the appeal that put him back on the streets? Poor T.S.!
As for this episode, I have to admit that I’m a bit skeptical that Phillip, or any comedian working the Toronto comedy circuit, could become a superstar by exclusively making jokes about the Mafia. I mean, Phillips isn’t Jerry Lewis playing Las Vegas in the 50s and he’s not Don Rickles joking with Joey Gallo in New York in the 70s. This certainly isn’t Sicily, where it requires a lot of courage to run the risk of upsetting the Mafia. This is Canada. And while Canada certainly does have a Mafia that played an important role in smuggling liquor into the United States during prohibition, it’s still hard to believe that Canada is so mob-infested that a hacky comedian like Phillip could become a star with jokes like, “Remember the mob spelled backwards is bom.”
Of course, in fairness to the episode, it does eventually turn out that the two men who are threatening to Phillip are not actually affiliated with the Mafia. Instead, they’ve been hired by a comedy club owner who wants to scare Phillip into hiring him as his agent. That’s actually a fairly clever twist on the episode’s part but it still requires us to believe that the painfully unfunny Phillip is on the verge of superstardom. It just doesn’t work.
Personally, I think this episode should have been about T.S. Turner launching a career as a stand-up comedian. Seriously, talk about a missed opportunity.
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 T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on Tubi!
This week, someone from the past shows up but it’s not Amy.
Episode 3.4 “Cry Wolf”
(Dir by Alan Simmonds, originally aired on January 26th, 1990)
While filming footage for what is sure to be a riveting cinematic essay on urban decay, high school student Martina (Joanne Vannicola) films a drug deal going to down in an abandoned warehouse. (The world of T and T was full of abandoned warehouses where people were either selling drugs or hiding stolen money.) Unfortunately, Martina runs out of film before actually capturing the drugs being exchanged. Everyone who sees the footage says that it doesn’t prove anything.
Martina decides to take justice into her own hands. I’m not really sure why. Martina’s obsession with tracking down the drug dealers and getting them arrested feels somewhat unhinged and it’s a bit disturbing to see coming from a teenager. I mean, Martina doesn’t know the drug dealers. She is apparently not a user of cocaine. She’s just decided that these people deserve to be taken down by her. One gets the feeling that Martina is going to grow up to be a member of the secret police.
Martina’s investigation leads her to a suburban couple who capture her and make plans to eventually kill her. Fortunately, Martina’s best friend is Joe Casper (Sean Roberge) and he is able to enlist his mentor, T.S. Turner, to save Martina’s life.
That’s right! Joe’s back. He was a semi-regular during the second season, appearing in the opening credits even though he rarely got to do anything on the show. Still, the return of Joe would, in theory, be the perfect opportunity for the show to explain what happened to Amy. Amy and Joe were close, after all. It seems like it would be natural for Joe and Turner to say something about missing Amy and perhaps provide us with a clue as to why Amy has been replaced by Terri.
However, that doesn’t happen. In fact, Turner acts as if he barely knows Joe, despite the fact that he practically adopted him during the second season. “Why are you kids always here?” he growls when he sees Joe and Martina in Decker’s gym. And seriously, why is everyone always in Decker’s gym? The place is a dump! And is there no one at the gym who could tell T.S. that the hot pink bodysuit that he wears while boxing looks kind of silly?
Anyway, T.S. goes down to the suburbs and saves Martina. As usual, it doesn’t take much effort because the drug dealers are all kind of wimpy whereas T.S. Turner is Mr. T. It was only as things ended that I realized that Terri didn’t even appear in this episode. With Amy gone and Terri not being all the important, T and T is feeling more and more like T.
This episode was pretty dumb but I did appreciate that the drug dealers were essentially just two suburbanites who had no idea what they were doing. That was a nice twist. But otherwise …. yeah, pretty dumb.
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 T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on Tubi!
This week, T.S Turner returns to the ring!
Episode 2.14 “The Contender”
(Dir by Alan Simmonds, originally aired on February 13th, 1989)
T.S. Turner meets Kevin Hart!
No, not that Kevin Hart.
Instead, the Kevin Hart in this show is a boxer and he’s played by an actor named Phillip Jarrett. (Kevin Hart, I immediately, noticed was very handsome for someone who made his living getting punched in the face by professionals. I checked with the imdb and I was not surprised to learn that Phillip Jarrett was a model before he went into acting.) Kevin Hart is a contender for the championship but his trainer has vanished. With the big fight coming up, Hart’s manager asks T.S. Turner to train him for the fight.
Kevin Hart turns out to be a boxer with an attitude. He shows up at Decker’s Gym with his entourage and is miffed to discover that Turner is running late. “What does T.S. stand for?” Hart demands to know, “Too Stupid?”
“Temporarily Sorry,” Turner says as he steps into the gym.
“Temporarily?”
“Yeah,” Turner growls, “I was sorry but now I’m not.”
Turner works hard to train Hart. Or, at least, it appears that he works hard. For the most part, we just see a montage of Hart doing physical stuff while Turner yells at him. Despite Turner’s efforts, Hart doesn’t even seem to care about the fight. He does care when someone takes a shot at him in the gym. Pressured by Turner, Hart finally confesses that he agreed to take a dive. He also says that all of his other fights were fixed as well. That’s why his former trainer ran away. He didn’t want to be involved with a boxer who was owned by the Canadian Mafia.
Turner doesn’t have any time for that attitude. He tells Hart that he has the talent to win the fight on his own. He also tells Hart that it’s time to fight like a man and win. Inspired by Turner’s words, Hart does just that. By the end of the show, Hart is the champ. I imagine he’s got the mob after him now but oh well. I mean, Sonny Liston reportedly upset the mob and he still managed to live a full and exciting life until his mysterious death at the age of 40. So, I’m sure boxing’s Kevin Hart will be fine and maybe, some day, he’ll change his mind about hosting the Oscars.
The way to make watching this episode entertaining is to pretend that Mr. T was playing Clubber Lang and not T.S Turner. Apparently, in an early draft of his script for Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone wrote a scene in which it would be revealed the Lang changed his ways and became a preacher after losing his rematch with Rocky. So, this episode of T and T — and really, the entire series — works best as Clubber Lang fan fiction. As Rocky said at the end of Rocky IV, “Everybody can change!”
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 T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on Tubi!
This week, Mr. T whacks the attack!
Episode 2.7 “Fast Friends”
(Dir by Alan Simmonds, originally aired on November 14th, 1988)
On a rainy night in Toronto, Jonah (Leslie Toth) asks his friend Adam (Peter Spence) for permission to borrow Adam’s car. Jonah explains that he’ll only need the car for an hour and he just has to do some “business.” He promises Adam that this business has nothing to do with drugs. Adam hands over the keys.
So, from the start, this episode establishes that Adam is idiot.
I mean, seriously, once can just look at the sweaty and fidgety Jonah and tell that he needs the car to pick up some drugs. When someone who hasn’t taken a shower in a week tells you that he has to go out and do some “business,” it’s guaranteed that the business is going to involve drugs. And even if Jonah was being honest about not being involved in the Canadian drug trade, who lets anyone borrow their car? Even if it was a life-and-death situation, I would not give any of my friends the keys to my car. That’s right — I would rather that someone die than let them drive my car.
But Adam feels differently. He hands over his keys and, of course, Jonah drives to a warehouse and picks up several vials of crack cocaine. Jonah is in debt to some drug dealers so he needs to pick some crack to sell on the streets. But since Jonah is a no-good junkie, he smokes a little before he gets back in his friend’s car. While trying to return the car, Jonah attracts the attention of the police. Jonah abandons the car in an alley and runs for it.
When Adam finds out about what happened, he yells at Jonan and then, stupidly, heads down to the alley to get the car. Adam is shocked to find crack cocaine all over the front seat because, again, Adam is an idiot. Suddenly, the cops show up and arrest Adam!
Despite the best efforts of Detective Luntz (Alar Adema), Adam refuses to betray Jonah. He claims that he was at home all night and that someone stole his car and left it in the alley with the drugs. Detective Luntz continually points out that Adam’s story makes no sense because, if Adam’s car was stolen, how did Adam know where to find it?
It looks like Adam is doomed but, fortunately, his mother hires Amy Taler and T.S. Turner! While Amy talks to Luntz in the hallway, Turner talks to Adam and shows off his new, far less menacing mohawk.
Adam tells T.S. about Jonah. T.S. tracks down Jonah at a local drug den. When Jonah tries to run, T.S. grabs him and says, “I know who you are, I know what you’re doing, and I don’t like it …. Talk to me, brother!” That’s all it takes for Jonah to realize the error of his ways. After T.S. beats up the drug dealers, Adam is released from custody. However, Jonah still confesses to possessing the drugs because it’s the right thing to do.
And that’s the episode! This was another instance in which the show’s 30-minute running time led to the story feeling a bit rushed. T.S. tracked down Jonah with remarkable ease and he really didn’t seem to have any trouble convincing Jonah to turn on his dealers. That said, the scene in which T.S. walked through the crack house was well-directed and full of a lot of creepy visuals. Say what you will about Mr. T’s range of an actor, this episode featured him at his most sincere. One gets the feeling that beating up drug dealers was something that Mr. T did whenever he had a break from filming.
Next week on T and T …. oh, who knows? Toronto’s a wild city.
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 T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on Tubi!
This week, T.S. insults the national sport of Canada and Amy battles city hall.
Episode 1.9 “On Ice”
(Dir by Alan Simmonds, originally aired on March 7th, 1988)
“In this episode,” Mr. T tells us, “Decker is forced to face the truth about a long-time friend.”
Though T and T took place in a generic city, the show itself was filmed in Canada, with a largely Canadian cast and crew. Hence, it only makes sense that the show would eventually do an episode that centered around hockey. This episode opens with Mr. T’s friend, Decker (David Nerman), coaching a junior hockey game. While the players skate on the ice and chase the puck, Decker deals with fans like the loud Mrs. Mowby (Jayne Eastwood), who is apparently convinced that she knows better how to coach the team than the actual coach! Unfortunately, Decker is yanked out of the game by two detectives who announce that he is under arrest for “theft of over $2,000.”
After T.S. Turner and Amy bails Decker out of jail, Amy explains that it appears that over $25,000 has been embezzled from the Junior Hockey Association. Decker admits to being the association’s treasurer but he also admits to not being good at numbers. He explains that his old friend, Goldie Stanski (played by Sean McCann), usually goes over the books for him.
“Goldie?” T.S. growls, “You trusted a guy named Goldie!?”
Decker explains that Goldie has been his friend for years. Goldie was his former coach! And, indeed, when Mrs. Mowby demands that Decker be kicked out of the Junior Hockey League, Goldie argues that Decker has not been convicted of anything, not that it does Decker much good. However, Detective Jones (Ken James) informs T.S. that “word on the street” is that Goldie has a gambling addiction.
Decker takes T.S. to his next practice and introduces T.S. to the team. They ask T.S. if he’s going to join them on the ice.
“No thanks, brothers,” T.S. replies, “I don’t play no sport when you can get frostbitten indoors. Besides, I think hockey’s an old ladies’ game …. Look at the ton of equipment you guys wear!”
After practice, Decker is arrested for a second time after the detectives, having gotten an anonymous tip, search his locker and just happen to find a bus ticket that leads to a bag full of money. Fortunately, Amy is able to bail him out of jail again, much to the relief of her spacey administrative assistant, Sophie (Catherine Disher), who has a crush on Decker.
T.S. has decided that Goldie is setting up Decker. Now, he just has to get Goldie to give himself away.
“I think with a little persuasion,” T.S. tells Amy, “he might do something foolish …. Friendly persuasion, of course!”
T.S.’s style of persuasion is to show up in Goldie’s apartment and tell him that everyone knows what Goldie’s done while drinking a glass of milk. “Thanks for the milk,” T.S. growls before leaving. When Goldie responds by going to the gym and pocketing more money from the hockey’s charity fund, Amy, T.S., and Decker are there to chase him out on the ice and catch him. If you’ve ever wanted to see Mr. T drive a Zamboni, this is the episode for you.
Decker’s name is cleared and he’s re-instated as coach. Yay!
This was a totally predictable episode but I kind of liked it. Mr. T on a Zamboni was just a ludicrous enough image to make the entire show work.
Episode 1.10 “The Latest Development”
(Dir by George Mihalka, aired on March 14th, 1988)
“In this episode,” Mr. T tells us, “Amy and I fight City Hall …. and City Hall fights back!”
When a dumb, 13 year-old kid named Nick (Toby Proctor) breaks into a construction site and takes a bulldozer for a joyride, he accidentally destroys a truck. The owner of the site, Enzo Malec (George Touliatos), is determined to throw the book at Nick because he’s an evil developer and he wants both Nick and his grandmother, Cora (Helen Hughes), out of their home.
It turns out that one of Amy’s former classmates, Brian Brack (Richard Comar), works in the city’s legal department so she heads down to City Hall in an attempt to guilt him into allowing Cora to stay in her home. For once, we actually get to see Amy doing legal work, which basically amounts to wandering around with a file folder and rolling her eyes while having conversations with other people.
Meanwhile, T.S. takes Nick down to the construction site and convinces Malec to let Nick work off his debt as a construction worker. T.S. arranges for Cora to move in with gospel-singing Aunt Martha (Jackie Richardson) while Nick moves in with Decker.
Suddenly, building inspectors show up at Amy’s office and start searching for violations. “Brian Brack is responsible for this, isn’t he!?” Amy says, while the inspectors write her up for not having a window that opens quickly enough. That’s a $2,000 fine! Upon discovering that they are now going to war with city hall, T.S. tells Amy, “This could be a title bout!”
Amy confronts Brian at a fancy restaurant and tells him that she has discovered that he has invested in Enzo Malec’s development. She demands to know who he and Malec paid off at city hall. Brian tells Amy that she doesn’t know who she is missing with. Amy responds by tossing a drink on him. In a case of amazing timing, Alderman Kent (Mark Walker) shows up and asks if Amy is going to be joining him and Brian for lunch. Hmmm …. I wonder who the corrupt politician could be.
Meanwhile, T.S. and Decker help Nick deal with his anger by training him to box.
“I know how to fight!” Nick says.
“To win, you need a strategy,” T.S. replies.
T.S. proceeds to knock down a 13 year-old.
While T.S. is teaching Nick how to fight, the city is threatening to shut down Aunt Jackie’s foster home! When T.S. finds out, he puts on his dark jacket and starts to head off to City Hall so he can presumably beat up the mayor. Instead, Amy convinces him to hold off by revealing that Brian and Alderman Kent have been taking bribes from Enzo Malec. When T.S. heads down to the construction site, Malec panics and, later that night, he tries to burn a bunch of incriminating files. However, it turns out that he’s being filmed by Amy and the local news.
And that apparently fixes the whole thing!
This episode felt rushed as it basically only had 30 minutes to deal with an hour’s worth of complications. It only took one boxing lesson for Nick to let go of his anger and it only took one confrontation with T.S for Enzo Malec to make one sloppy mistake. That said, I appreciate any episode that portrays municipal government as being thoroughly corrupt and irredeemable. Fight the system!
Through the Shattered Lens 