Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 7/5/26 — 7/11/26

Posted on July 11, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Big Brother 28 (24/7, CBS, Paramount+, Pluto TV)

Originally, I wasn’t going to watch Big Brother this season but I gave in. Watching this show and getting annoyed is pretty much a tradition around these parts and you know me. I’m all about tradition. You can read my thoughts (and Erin’s thoughts!) about the show over at RealityTVChatBlog.

The Contender (Prime)

I watched two episodes of this old reality show on Tuesday. A group of boxers competed to be …. THE CONTENDER! They weren’t bad. I actually remember when this show aired way back in the aughts. Sylvester Stallone was the host for the first two seasons. The episodes I watched were hosted by Sugar Ray Leonard.

Homicide: Life On The Street (Peacock)

My review of Homicide will drop tomorrow.

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

My review of Saved By The Bell will drop later tonight.

Sledgehammer! (Prime)

I watched an episode of this 80s comedy show on Friday. A contract was put out on Sledgehammer’s life so he hid with with Amish. It was a funny episode.

Watched and Reviewed

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.9 “Justice Hits The Skids”

Posted on July 6, 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 Crime Story, which ran on NBC from 1986 to 1988. The entire show can be found on Tubi!

Torello is going to snap….

Episode 1.9 “Justice Hits The Skids”

(Dir by Mario DiLeo, originally aired on November 11th, 1986)

Torello is losing it.

Well, that’s not really a surprise. Torello has been losing it since the pilot. However, this episode finds him acting even more intense than usual. He’s getting divorced. His best friend Ted Kehoe has been murdered and the federal prosecutor seems to be more interested in trying to prove that Torello is corrupt than in going after Bartoli and Luca. Torello doesn’t even go to Ted Kehoe’s funeral, leading to everyone thinking that Torello is losing what little grip on sanity he has left. Even his soon-to-be ex-wife checks in on him.

While Torello stews over Luca, Suzanne Terry attempts to investigate the growing use of drugs in some of Chicago’s poorest neighbors and she gets attacked and put into the hospital as a result. David Abrams tries to investigate on his own, leading to Suzanne telling him that she needs some time apart from him. (Before she’s attacked, David takes her out to dinner. When a racist diner complains and the head waiter asks them to move to a different table, Suzanne wants to leave the restaurant. David insists that they stay and finish their meal. David may see himself as being a righteous crusader but, at the same time, he also comes across as being rather controlling. It doesn’t seem to occur to him that Suzanne might not want to give any business to a racist restaurant.) Torello and the Major Crimes Unit then take up the case, even though his superiors tell him not to waste any time on it.

Sweet Haywood (John Canada Tyrell), the drug dealer who attacked Suzanne, is eventually captured. Sitting in jail, he meets his public defender, who just happens to be David Abrams. Abrams pulls out a gun and shoots Haywood in the chest. However, this turns out to just be a fantasy on David’s part. When the real Haywood demands to know if Abrams is going to keep him out of the jail, Abrams says, “Of course. That’s my job. Abrams for the defense.”

The gun-shooting fantasy scene was effective but otherwise, the ending doesn’t make much sense. Assigning Abrams to serve as the public defender for a guy who was arrested for beating up Abrams’s girlfriend is a massive conflict-of-interest. If Abrams intentionally offers up a poor defense, Haywood will automatically have grounds for an appeal. I mean, this is 1963. This the era of the Warren Court!

Even with that in mind, this wasn’t a bad episode. David Abrams and Mike Torello are both flawed heroes, which is what makes the show so watchable. Torello may be fighting on the side of the law but he really does seem like he’s one bad day away from blowing up the entire city of Chicago. Meanwhile, Abrams clearly sees himself as being the last righteous crusader but he often seems oblivious to how his actions effect other people. Neither is perfect. Indeed, each one seems to be just one step away from self-destructing.

We’ll see what happens!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 6/21/26 — 6/27/28

Posted on June 27, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Bands of Enchantment (PBS)

On Friday night, I watched a performance by the band Pacifica. They were okay. I prefer louder music.

Bring Me The Beauties: The Model Cult (HBOMax)

I watched this 3-part docuseries on Monday. It was yet another cult documentary. This time, only good-looking people could join the cult. That actually made sense to me. If you’re a cult leader, why would you want to be surrounded by ugly people?

Degrassi: The Next Generation (Tubi)

My review of this week’s episode will drop tomorrow.

Election Coverage

I watched this latest primary results on Tuesday. Ugh, the DSA in New York. Never has a group of activist been both so charmless and so successful at the same time. A lot of people are panicking about that but, honestly, if the DSA was going to win anywhere, it was going to be in New York. I imagine they’ll do well in Denver next week as well. DSA appeals to gentrifiers. (I also remember that the DSA insurgency was declared dead after the primaries in Illinois so perhaps we should be careful about reading too much into any one night.) It seems like after every “wave election,” there’s a few new congresspeople (and even senators) who end up self-destructing during their first or second term, people like Katie Hill, George Santos, Madison Cawthorn, Cori Bush, and Jamaal Bowman. This year, I’m putting my money on Dairaliza Avila Chevalier and, if he wins, Graham Platner as being the most likely to fall apart as soon as they arrive in Washington.

Homicide: Life On The Street (Peacock)

My review of this week’s episode will drop tomorrow.

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

My review of this weeks episode will drop later tonight.

Watched and Reviewed:

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.8 “Old Friends, Dead Ends”

Posted on June 22, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Torello discovers some disturbing facts about an old friend.

Episode 1.8 “Old Friends, Dead Ends”

(Dir by Bobby Roth, originally aired on November 4h, 1986)

Luca has bought a controlling interest in a bottling company so that he can borrow from the pension fund and use that money to purchase casinos in Las Vegas. He’s brought a reluctant Bartoli in as his partner. The owner of the company is Ted Kehoe (Mark Hutter), who just happens to be an old friend of Mike Torello’s. When Kehoe’s business partner, Marilyn Stewart (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson), becomes suspicious of Kehoe’s arrangement with Luca, Bartoli starts to wonder if it’s really worth it to keep Marilyn and Ted around.

This is especially the case after Bartoli’s attorney, Dee (a youngish Eric Bogosian), informs Bartoli that U.S. Attorney Harry Brietel (Ray Sharkey) is planning on indicting both him and Luca for money laundering. Looking to end Brietel’s case before it can even get started, Luca murders Marilyn Stewart. Marilyn’s body is later found by two teenagers and–

HEY, IT’S CHRISTIAN SLATER!

This episode does indeed feature an early performance from Christian Slater. He pays a teenager who is trying to convince his girlfriend to “do it” when they happen to spot Marilyn’s body floating in the river. Slater’s girlfriend is played by Kim Walker, who was later co-star with Slater in Heathers.

Torello is not happy. Well, that’s not a surprise. Torello is never happy. But this episode gives him even more reasons than usual to be in a foul mood. Because of his childhood friendship with Ted Kehoe, Brietel suspects that Torello might be corrupt. After Marilyn is murdered, Brietel seems more interested in trying to pin the murder on Torello than going after Luca.

As for Ted Kehoe, he tells Luca that he’s done working for him. Kehoe is going to tell the cops everything! And what is Luca going to do about it? This episode ends with Kehoe getting thrown out the window of his penthouse and falling several stories down to his death….

Piece of advice: If you’re going to turn on the mob, don’t tell them ahead of time.

This was a good episode! Torello’s friendship with Kehoe brought some real stakes the story and, once again, we got to see just how ruthless an adversary Ray Luca truly is. Luca, Bartoli, and the other mobsters can occasionally seem a bit buffoonish. This episode reminded us that, in Luca’s case, it’s always a mistake to underestimate him.

As for now, Kehoe is dead and Torello is under suspicion. I look forward to seeing what happens next week!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 6/14/26 — 6/20/26

Posted on June 20, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Buskers (PBS)

This documentary was about …. well, it’s right there in the title. One man performed card tricks. A woman played a saw like a violin. Another woman wrote poems on a typewriter in the park. A man danced on a subway train. The documentary was an interesting look at a group of unique Americans. Unfortunately, I watched it rather late at night so my eyelids were heavy during the majority of the show.

Degrassi: The Next Generation (Tubi)

My review will drop tomorrow.

Homicide: Life on the Street (Peacock TV)

My review will drop tomorrow.

Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Shout TV)

There’s just no stopping those dinosaurs!

The Larry Sanders Show (HBOMax)

Hank’s Sex Tape! Oh my God, what a cringey episode. When a sex tape featuring Hank Kingsley starts to circulate in Hollywood, it threatens Hank’s new job as an orange juice commercial spokesman. Henry Winkler and Norm MacDonald appear as themselves and have a classic conversation about Hank and …. well, you can watch the episode and see for yourself. Why is this episode so funny and so cringey? Hank is played by Jeffrey Tambor. “Wash your mouth out with Hank.” AGCK!

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

My review of this week’s episode will drop in about 90 minutes.

UFC Freedom 250 (Paramount Plus)

I’ll just go ahead and tick everyone off by admitting that I enjoyed the spectacle and the unique silliness of UFC on the White House lawn. Yes, there were some regrettable moments. If you were annoyed by the comment about a certain former first lady, you had every right to be. It was a stupid thing to yell and unnecessarily divisive. But, at its heart, the event itself was pure Americana. Abraham Lincoln’s favorite sport was wrestling. Teddy Roosevelt loved boxing. Richard Nixon was a bowler. There’s actually a long history of this sort of thing.

Watched and Reviewed:

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.7 “Pursuit of a Wanted Felon”

Posted on June 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the Torello marriage falls apart.

Episode 1.7 “Pursuit of a Wanted Felon”

(Dir by Aaron Lipstadt, originally aired on October 28th, 1986)

Last week, a recently acquitted man named Hector (Ving Rhames) was arrested after murdering his landlord. Torello, Danny, and David Abrams were all upset.

This week, they’ve all moved on. Sorry, Ving Rhames, you were only a one-episode guest star.

David is pursuing his relationship with Suzanne Terry (Pam Grier). At a cocktail party, Detective Walter Clemmons (Paul Butler), the black member of the Crime Squad, approaches Suzanne and warns her that she shouldn’t be pursuing a relationship with “that white boy.” Seriously, this is the first time that Walter’s gotten any real dialogue since the show began and it’s basically to tell Suzanne not to pursue an interracial relationship. “We’re only seven years out from integration,” Clemmons says, an awkward piece of dialogue that is meant to remind viewers that this show takes place in 1963. The show actually deserves some credit for being realistic about how many people would have viewed David and Suzanne’s budding romance in 1963. I just find it interesting that the show’s only regular black character is the one who is shown objecting while all of the white Chicago cops don’t have a problem with it. Who knew the Chicago police force was so progressive in the early 60s?

(I really want to like Stephen Lang’s performance as David but something feels off about it. It’s not a bad performance. I stand by my earlier praise. It’s just that David is such a caricature of an early 60s liberal that it is sometimes hard for me to tell if his character is supposed to be satirical or not. In episodes like this, where David is portrayed as being a cool hipster, Lang can seem a bit stiff and miscast. He’s much better when he’s giving an emotional speech in court.)

Luca continues to prove himself indispensable to Manny Weisbrod. In this episode, he blows up a union leader who doesn’t want to take orders from the mob.

Finally, Mike and Julia Torello split up in this episode. It’s not really a shock. Mike Torello is extremely intense and obsessed with his job. He’s tightly wound, to the point where he seems like he might just randomly shoot someone at any given moment. An attempt to take a relaxing vacation with Julie is a disaster. (The motel is tacky. The service is mediocre. Mike spends the entire time threatening the staff and complaining.) As soon as Torello returns to Chicago, he hops on a plane for Cleveland in an unsuccessful attempt to capture Frank Holman. When Torello returns home, he finds that Julie is preparing to go out with another man.

“You are not going to watch my TV,” Torello says, before grabbing the TV and leaving the apartment with it.

Does that scene sounds familiar? That’s probably because Michael Mann later reused the scene, almost word-for-word, in Heat. It’s a good scene. It’s certainly the most memorable moment in this episode.

Otherwise, this episode felt a bit bland. Torello’s doomed marriage isn’t really that interesting and I actually kind of got annoyed with David and Suzanne going to a cocktail party when they really should have been trying to get Hector out of prison. I laughed at Torello’s irritation at the hotel and his line about the TV. Those were the highlights. The rest of this installment was forgettable.

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.6 “Abrams For The Defense”

Posted on June 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, David Abrams gets his time in the spotlight.

Episode 1.6 “Abrams For The Defense”

(Dir by Aaron Lipstadt, originally aired on October 14th, 1986)

In the slums of Chicago, Hector Lincoln (Ving Rhames) strikes his landlord, Sturkowski (Frederick Nuemann), after one of Hector’s children is bitten by one of the rats that roams freely through the apartment building. Hector is arrested and facing time in prison. Public defender David Abrams (Stephen Lang) defends Hector in court, claiming that conditions in the slums were so bad that Hector only struck Sturkowski in self-defense. Helping David to make his case about the conditions in Sturkowski’s building is a crusader reporter named Suzanne Terry (Pam Grier).

This episode was all about showing us who David Abrams is. David’s father was a mob lawyer but David has no interest in working with people like Ray Luca and Phil Bartoli. Instead, he wants to defend the poor and the downtrodden. Torello and Krychek happen to stop by the trail and they’re impressed with David’s passion. Krychek is disgusted when Sturkowski says that Hector and his family don’t deserve to live a better life. Who knew that two Chicago cops would be so liberal?

To celebrate Hector’s acquittal, a block party is held. David is the guest of honor and, for reasons that aren’t really clear, he decides to invite Torello and Krychek to come celebrate with him. Everyone at the block party is super excited that two cops are hanging out with them. But then Sturkowski tries to evict the Lincolns and Hector strikes him again. This time, he kills Sturkowski. Torello and Krychek promptly arrest Hector as the episode comes to an end.

(And that is why you don’t invite cops to the block party.)

This episode was well-acted, if a bit heavy-handed. (To a certain extent, it reminded me of those episodes of Miami Vice where Crockett would certainly start talking like an undergrad who had just read about Marx for the first time.) It certainly allowed us to get to know more about David Abrams and Stephen Lang and Pam Grier had a good deal of chemistry as two people who appear to be poised on pursuing a relationship that was not all that common in 1963 Chicago. The block party was where the episode kind of lost me, just because I found it hard to believe that Torello and Krychek would not only show up but be treated as the guests of honor despite the fact that most of the people at the party wouldn’t have the slightest idea who they were. I can understand Abrams being welcomed because Abrams kept Hector out of prison. But Torello and Krychek are just two random, middle-aged, white cops.

This episode established David Abrams as being a man caught between two different worlds, the law and lawless. I can’t wait to see what the show does with him.

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.5 “The War”

Posted on May 25, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Luca has to prove himself.

Episode 1.5 “The War”

(Dir by Leon Ichaso, originally aired on October 7th, 1986)

Luca is in trouble.

Last week’s episode ended with Max Goldman on the receiving end of a beating from Noah Ganz’s goons. Goldman survives and returns with a message. Ganz is not happy that Luca tried to steal his book. Bartoli, Weisbord, and Fosse all inform Luca will have to resolve the Ganz situation on his own.

Luca tries to get public defender David Abrams (Stephen Lang) to act as a negotiator for him but David doesn’t want to get involved in the mobster lifestyle that made his father rich. David just wants to defend the poor and play sax in a jazz club. When Luca is attacked while driving in Chicago, he realizes that negotiating with Ganz is a dead end.

Instead, he just kills Ganz. In a bravura sequence, Luca shows up at a hotel and, with the help of sniper, takes down Ganz’s bodyguards. Then he uses a bomb to take out Ganz while the latter is holding court in an elevator. A plume of white smoke puffs out of the hotel’s exhaust vent.

Having taken care of the issue, Luca is welcomed back into the family. Weisbord says, “Call me Mac.” Fosse (played by Michael Madsen) nods and slowly smokes a cigarette.

Meanwhile, Torello’s wife miscarries. This is the episode that features the clip of Torello walking down a lonely Chicago street on a rainy night. (The clip is prominently featured during the show’s opening credits.) In fact, both Torello and Luca end up spending a good deal of time walking around at night while David Abrams plays his saxophone. It’s a scene that is so overstylized that it shouldn’t work but somehow, it does. If nothing else, it reminds us that Crime Story of two dangerously obsessed men on a collision course.

This was a good episode, if just because it showed that Luca can be a clever criminal when he needs to be. Before this episode, Luca seemed to be clearly outmatched by Torello. With this episode, Luca proved himself to be Torello’s equal.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 5/17/26 — 5/23/26

Posted on May 23, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Bardo: A Night In The Life (YouTube)

This was a live music program that aired on certain PBS stations. On Friday night, I watched a concert given by Lake Street Drive. Musically, they were very talented but a little mellow for my tastes.

Burning Love (Prime)

I bought all three seasons of Burning Love this week. On Wednesday, I watched the first season. Ken Marino was Mark Orlando, a fireman looking for love on a reality dating show. “Will you accept my hose?” “Please put your hose in my hands.” I laughed and laughed. If nothing else, it made up for not having a new season of The Bachelorette.

The Cult Behind The Killer: The Andrea Yates Story (Hulu)

I watched this documentary on Wednesday and Thursday. Over three episode, it revisited the horrific crimes of Andrea Yates and suggested that she was brainwashed by a street preacher. It didn’t really convince me. Obviously, Yates claimed that she was driven to murder by her beliefs but I think that, even if she had never heard a sermon in her life, she would have eventually become a murderer. Some people are just evil and will use whatever they can as a justification.

This documentary featured interviews with two people who were former members of the preacher’s cult. Former cult members always make for terrible witnesses because it’s hard to have much respect for anyone who could get brainwashed in the first place.

Dr. Phil (YouTube)

I watched an episode on Saturday about fighting in-laws. They should have just called off the wedding.

Election Coverage (Tuesday)

As someone who pretends not to follow politics, I made sure to pretend that I wasn’t glued to Tuesday’s election coverage. I did a little cheering, I’ll admit it.

Family Lockup (Disney+)

I watched the first episode of this true crime show on Wednesday. The father of a prisoner spent 72 hours in jail so he could talk to his son and see what it was like to be on the inside. At the end of the episode, the son was released and his father was waiting for him. Awww!

George Gently (YouTube)

I watched an episode of this British detective show on Tuesday. It was depressing, as most British detective shows tend to be.

Good Times (Tubi)

In this 70s sitcom, the Evans family was divided over who to support in the next election, Alderman Fred C. Davis or Jimmy Pearson, who was well-educated but refused to play the dozens. Jeff and I watched this episode on Sunday night. Jimmy lost his election but swore that he would run again and this time, he would play the dozens. Good for you, Jimmy. Get out there and sell out.

Hollywood Demons (HBOMax)

This week’s episode took a look at 16 and Pregnant. I guess it’s good that this episode exists because, in the future, historians will probably try to deny that 16 and Pregnant ever existed.

Homicide: Life On The Street (Peacock TV)

My review of this week’s episode will drop tomorrow.

Hulk Hogan: Real American (Netflix)

I watched this docudrama on Thursday. It told the story of Hulk Hogan, from his early days to his death. The weird thing about this documentary was that it acknowledged that wrestling was fake but still tried to pretend like it wasn’t. (I have to admit that I’ve never been a big wrestling fan.) The documentary featured extensive interviews with sickly looking Hogan. He passed away shortly after filming wrapped. Hulk Hogan took down Gawker and he’ll always be remembered for that.

Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Shout Factory TV)

I watched two episodes of this weird Japanese series on Saturday morning. Monsters were everywhere but luckily, so were some people who were apparently descended from dinosaurs. I really couldn’t follow the plot but the saber-tooth tiger was cute.

The PGA Championship (Sunday, CBS)

Congratulation to Aaron Rai! I loved looking at the golf course. It looked so relaxing.

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

My review of this week’s episode will drop in about 90 minutes.

Watched and Reviewed:

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.4 “St. Louis Book of Blues”

Posted on May 18, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, everyone’s going to Missouri. Can you blame them?

Episode 1,4 “St. Louis Book of Blues”

(Dir by Leon Ichaso, originally aired on September 30th, 1986)

After Ray Luca discovers that his henchman, Frank Holman (Ted Levine), has been compromised by Torello, he decides to deal with the situation by sending Holman down to St. Louis. A gangster named Ganz (Raymond Serra) has a home in St. Louis and, according to Ganz’s associate Johnny Fosse (Michael Madsen, doing his slow-talking, cigarette-smoking Madsen thing), there is a book in Ganz’s shelf that contains the name of every bookie, coach, and sports-fixer in America. Ray, who is hoping to start up his own nationwide gambling syndicate, wants that book.

Far be it for me to question Ray Luca’s strategy but it does seem strange that his response to one of his people screwing up is to give that person an even more important job to do. I get that Ray is trying to be a manager now and, as a result, he no longer personally robs anyone but Frank really does seem like the last person he should trust to pull this off.

And, to no one’s surprise, Frank doesn’t pull it off. Torello and his men follow him all the way to St. Louis. They not only arrest him but they also get their hands on Ganz’s book. They do this despite the operation nearly being ruined by an ambitious and publicity-hungry sheriff named Hartman (Allen Swfit).

Unfortunately, when Frank offers to inform on the entire “St. Louis mob,” Hartman releases him from jail. Frank promptly flees town. When he calls Ray, Ray orders him to stay out of Chicago and instead to go to Cleveland. Frank replies that if he has to choose between Hell or Cleveland …. he’ll go to Cleveland. Good thinking, Frank!

(Actually, I’ve never been to Cleveland so I don’t know if it’s really good thinking. Wasn’t Dennis Kucinich from Cleveland?)

As this episode ends, Ganz is ready to declare war on Luca and it appears that Max Goldman might be the first victim. The funny thing about Max is that he’s played by a young Andrew Dice Clay and, in every scene in which he appears, Clay’s facial expressions are totally and completely over-the-top, as if Clay was determined to make sure that no one forgot he was in the scene. I hope that Max survives, just for the sake of entertainment,

This episode returned to the idea of Torelllo being dangerously and tightly wound. Before he followed Frank to St. Louis, he nearly firebombed a furniture store because the owner hadn’t delivered the table that he had ordered. Torello was talked out of doing so by his fellow cops but the store owner still got the message. The table arrived at Torello’s apartment. Of course, it was the wrong table. That made me laugh. People have no idea how close Torello is to snapping and killing everyone around him.

This was a good episode. It was interesting to see a young Ted Levine, not to mention a young Michael Madsen as well. The corrupt and incompetent sheriff was identified as being a Democrat. I appreciated that. I’m looking forward to seeing where this show is going.