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 1st and Ten, which aired in syndication from 1984 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on Tubi.

This week, the Bulls have got a problem on the field!

Episode 5.10 “Heaven Help Me”

(Dir by Stan Lathan, originally aired on December 20th, 1989)

Due to a bad call from an incompetent referee, the Bulls lose a close game. Coach Denardo gets angry and takes it out on the players. Kristy (Shannon Tweed) and TD Parker (OJ Simpson) suspect that the referee might have an agenda of his own. What can be done? Maybe TD knows someone who is good with a knife….

Fortunately, it doesn’t go that far. Kristy does some research and discovers that, in his day job, the referee does business with a rival owner. She goes to the Commissioner with her suspicions and the Commissioner agrees to take the referee out of the rotation. Wow, that was simple.

Meanwhile, Coach Denardo is visited by the spirits of Vince Lombardi (Ralph Monaco) and Bear Bryant (Bob Larkin), who both inform him that he’s going to go to Hell unless he’s nicer to his players. Before the next game, Denardo tells the players that he’s proud of them and that he just wants them to do their best. With the referee having been permanently retired, the Bulls win the game. Yay! Coach Denardo is going to Heaven!

Finally, Jethro meets a woman (Deborah Lacey) who claims to be the princess of an African nation. Jethro falls for her and is forgiving when he discovers that she’s actually just a maid.

This was another strange episode of 1st & Ten. The episode features three plots that really didn’t go anywhere. But I guess the important thing is that the Bulls are going to the playoffs and OJ didn’t have to kill anyone. That’s a victory in my book.