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, the show attempts a change of pace!
Episode 3.13 “Midnight Riders”
(Dir by Allan Eastman, originally aired on January 29th, 1990)
An odd episode, this one.
Jack, Micki, and Johnny head out to a small town so that Jack can look up into the night sky and see a once-in-a-lifetime convergence of the stars. However, possibly as a result of the convergence (it’s never really made clear), a bunch of dead motorcycle riders are resurrected and they rumble into town, seeking vengeance on everyone who took part in the death of their leader. If the bikers can kill every one of them, their leader will be resurrected. Finally, the ghost of Jack’s father (Dennis Thatcher) shows up and works with Jack to stop the bikers. It turns out that Jack and his father had a difficult relationship. Ryan had a difficult relationship with his father. Johnny was falsely accused of murdering his father. We’ve never met Micki’s father but he’s probably a jerk too.
The weird thing about this episode is that it didn’t feature a cursed antique. Instead, Jack and the crew went to a small town and supernatural stuff started happening shortly after they arrived. That’s okay, I guess. In theory, there’s nothing wrong with trying something new. But, at the same time, the cursed antiques were what set this show apart from all of the other supernaturally-themed television series out there. Personally, even when the antique’s curse makes no sense, I still enjoy seeing what the show comes up with.
This episode had a lot of atmosphere and a typically good performance from Chris Wiggins. The ghost bikers were never quite as intimidating as they should have been, despite all of the murders. If anything, they reminded me a bit too much of Sometime They Come Back. This episode was a change of pace and, as if often the case with things like this, it didn’t quite work. Here’s hoping next week will have a cursed antique!
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, a bunch of new characters show up! What the Hell!?
Episode 3.3 “Demon Hunter”
(Dir by Armand Mastroianni, originally aired on October 14th, 1989)
I have read that one of the biggest mistake that aspiring screenwriter make when they attempt to create a compelling spec script for their favorite show is that they’ll often introduce new characters. Instead of focusing on the established stars of the show, they’ll have a new character show up and suddenly become the center of the story. It’s a mistake because, no matter how good the script may be, it doesn’t work as an episode of the series that the writer is trying to get a job with. Showrunners don’t want a writer who can write about new characters. They want a writer who can work within the framework of what the show has already established.
This week’s episode of Friday the 13th feels very much like a failed spec script.
Make no mistake. Jack and Micki are in it. They spend the entire episode at Curious Goods, where they are originally seen putting a cursed dagger in the vault. With Ryan having been transformed into a child in the previous episode, Micki makes Jack a partner in the shop. Johnny Ventura (played by new series regular Steve Monarque) is also in this episode, though he’s called to the store a bit later than Micki and Jack. I guess Johnny is now a part of the group, even if he doesn’t have a job at the shop. For all the time the show spent establishing Johnny as being an edgy delinquent during the second season, this episode finds Johnny as a rather conventional leading man. He listens to a baseball game and, at one point, he’s seen making a model ship.
That said, the majority of the episode is dominated by a bunch of new characters. The Cassidys are a family of militia types who, having rescued Bonnie Cassidy (Allison Mang) from a bunch of cultists, are now on the run from a demon that is determined to kill them. The Cassidys have some sort of demon tracker device that leads both them and the demon to Curious Goods, where Micki, Jack, and Johnny join in the effort to destroy the demon. The Cassidys are so prominently featured in this episode and take up so much screentime that the episode almost feels like a backdoor pilot about them. The Cassidys are even featured in black-and-white flashbacks that show us how they rescued Bonnie.
The problem, of course, is that we don’t know the Cassidys so its a bit jarring to see them take over the episode. After what happened in the previous episode, I think most viewers would have a lot of questions about what happened after Jack, Micki, and Johnny returned from France. For instance, what did they do with Ryan? Did they drop Ryan off with his mother? Did they leave him in France? We don’t find out in this episode and it’s actually kind of insulting to anyone who has spent the previous two seasons getting wrapped up in Ryan and Micki’s adventures. Instead of answering the questions that they had to know that viewers would be asking, the show’s writers expect us to care about the Cassidys.
Even without John D. LeMay, Robey and Chris Wiggins had a likable chemistry. Micki and Jack were the strongest thing this series had gone for it as the start of season 3. Why push them to the side for a family that we’ve never seen before and will probably never see again? As far as guessing what the rest of Season 3 will be like is concerned, it’s not a good sign.
Hopefully, I’ll be proven wrong in the weeks to come.
Welcome to Late Night 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 Friday the 13th: The Series, a show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on YouTube!
It’s sequel time!
Episode 2.14 “Face of Evil”
(Dir by William Fruet, originally aired on February 6th, 1989)
In this sequel to the first season episode Vanity’s Mirror, Joanne Mackey (Gwendoline Pacey) returns to Curious Goods for the first time since the death of her younger sister, Helen. Joanne reveals that she’s the one who stole the cursed gold compact at the end of Vanity’s Mirror, explaining that she simply had to have something that belonged to her sister. Jack is not amused, telling her that she should have turned it over so that it could be stored in the vault.
Calm down, Jack. Joanne knows she did something wrong and she’s trying to make amends. She is especially concerned because the compact is now in the hands of an aging supermodel named Tabitha Robbins (Laura Robinson). Tabitha is upset that her career is struggling and she’s been told that not even plastic surgery can reverse the fact that she’s just not as young as her competition. Tabitha has figured out that anyone whose face is caught in the reflection of the mirror will either die or, at the very least, suffer a terrible disfigurement. Apparently, in this case, the antique’s curse changes depending on who owns it.
I have mixed feelings about this episode. On the one hand, I could relate to Tabitha’s feelings about aging. No one wants to age and that’s doubly true when you’re working in an industry where youth is the most valuable commodity. I also enjoyed the very 80s fashion shoots that were featured in this episode. On the other hand, there were a lot of rather silly scenes of Tabitha trying to catch Ryan and Micki’s reflection in the mirror while Mick and Ryan ducked around with their hands over their faces. There’s no other way to put it other than to say it all looked really goofy.
The biggest problem with this episode is that the majority of it was taken up with clips from Vanity’sMirror. Every few minutes, Joanne would think about Helen and we would get a flashback. Unfortunately, a lot of the flashbacks didn’t even feature Joanne so you have to wonder how exactly she was able to remember them. The constant flashbacks made this episode feel like a clip show and you know how much I hate those.
In the end, Tabitha accidentally catches her own face in the mirror’s reflection and she immediately starts aging. I guess that’s the risk you take when you try to use a mirror as a weapon. Micki and Ryan finally retrieve the compact and Jack mentions that Joanne could have saved a lot of lives by not stealing the compact in the first place. Look, Jack — she feels bad enough already! I’m sorry everyone isn’t beating down the doors of the antique shop to give you their cursed items. Get off Joanne’s back!
Oh well. At least the evil compact will hurt no one else….
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!
It’s ninja time!
Episode 2.19 “Family Honour”
(Dir by Ryszard Bugajski, originally aired on May 15th, 1989)
First things first, I have to admit that I smiled when I saw the title “Family Honour” flash on the screen. T and T was a Canadian-produced show that always desperately tried to convince viewers that it was actually taking place in the United States. But that “Honour,” which no one on the production staff probably even gave a second thought to, totally gives the game away. It’s like when a Yankee trying to pretend to be from the South says that they’ve been waiting “in line” instead of “on line.”
(Of course, Texans like me also have little tells that give away our place of origin. Me, I drop the g’s on “ing” so casually that I don’t even realize that I’m doin’ it half the time.)
Anyway, this episode begins in medias res. Mrs. Shimada (Brenda Kamino) has invited Amy and T.S. to her home so that she can thank them by serving them tea. Apparently, Amy arranged for a centuries-old Samurai sword to be returned to the Shimada family. T.S., meanwhile, has been guarding the sword because of how valuable it is. Still, that doesn’t stop a ninja from breaking into the house and trying to kill Kim (Lisa Jai), the ten year-old to whom the sword has been gifted. Fortunately, Turner is there to run him off.
Mr. T vs. ninjas!? Hell yeah!
Unfortunately, there aren’t really many scenes of Mr. T fighting the ninjas. There’s one scene where he gets flipped onto his back by an apprentice ninja. And there’s another where T.S. grabs a sword out of a ninja’s hand and then knocks him out with one punch. That was pretty cool. But, considering the potential here, it’s hard to be disappointed by the fact that Mr. T himself never put on a ninja outfit or flew through the air.
Instead, T.S. confronts Kim’s uncle, Ikuta (Denis Akiyama). Having left Japan after bring shame onto the family, Ikuta relocated to Canada and opened up his own ninja training academy in Toronto. T.S. thinks that Ikuta wants the sword for himself and he also thinks that Ikuta is trying to kill his own niece so that he can be rewarded with special ninja powers. (Uhmm …. okay, then.) Ikuta says that’s ludicrous and it turns out that T.S. was too quick to judge Ikuta. It’s not Ikuta who is trying to steal the sword. It’s Ikuta’s main student, James (David Orth)! Ikuta proves his worth by defending Kim from James. Turner, more or less, just observes.
That seems to be a pattern with the last few episode of T and T. As of late, Turner hasn’t been as active a participant as in the past. Instead, it’s hard not to feel that he’s mostly just there so that the show can introduce new characters, all of whom could potentially be spun off into another series. This episode felt much like a backdoor pilot for a show that would have followed Ikuta as he regained his honour. That said, this was still a marked improvement over last week’s episode. You really can’t go wrong with ninjas.
Welcome to Late Night 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 Friday the 13th, a show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on YouTube!
This week’s episode is a classic of teen angst, vanity, and murder!
Episode 1.15 “Vanity’s Mirror”
(Dir by William Fruet, originally aired on February 29th, 1988)
Poor Helen Mackie (played by Ingrid Veninger)!
A student at Hamilton High, the shy and physically awkward Helen is as unpopular as her older and far more attractive sister, Joanne (Gwendoline Pacey), is popular. Helen has a crush on Scott Thomas (David Orth), who is Joanne’s boyfriend but little does she suspect that Scott is only nice to her because he’s trying to impress her sister. Scott’s friends, including Russell (who is played by Simon Reynolds, who also played Murray the bagboy on Check It Out!), all make fun of Helen and the fact that no one has asked her to prom.
However, things are about to change for Helen because she has gotten her hands on a gold compact. All she has to do is open the compact and shine the mirror in a boy’s direction and the boy will automatically fall in love with her. It happens with Russell. It happens with Greg (Zack Ward). And Helen hopes that it will happen with Scott as well. Of course, as with all the cursed antiques, there is a catch. Helen is driven to murder anyone who is in love with her.
Needless to say, Jack, Micki, and Ryan all show up and try to get the compact from Helen before she can use it to score a prom date. But this episode truly is Helen’s story and it is dominated by Ingrid Veninger’s performance as Helen. At first, it’s impossible not to feel sorry for Helen. Everyone at school is so cruel to her that you’re on her side. But once Helen actually starts using the mirror and killing her boyfriends, she becomes far less sympathetic. She gets way too much enjoyment out of killing people and the viewer is left to wonder if it was the cursed antique that corrupted Helen or if perhaps Helen is only now showing her true self. Has Helen always been evil or is she simply lashing out at a world that has always treated her like an outsider? It’s a fair question and not one that is easily answered.
In the end, having finally stolen her sister’s boyfriend and gotten the prom date that she always wanted, Helen climbs to the roof of her high school and then plunges to her death, taking Scott with her. Micki, Jack, and Ryan can only watch helplessly and then, to top it all off, the compact disappears once again. Someone (we don’t see their face) spots it on the ground and grabs it. Considering that the episode opened with Ryan and Jack finally rather cocky about their recent successes, this episode ends with a reminder that good does not always triumph.
In other words, this is a very dark episode but also a very effective one. If nothing else, it’s an episode that shows us why it’s so important to track down and take possession of the cursed antiques. There are a lot of Helen Mackies in the world.
Tonight’s episode of The Hitchhiker features Roberta Maxwell as a fortune teller who, for five bucks, gives her clients a vision of the future and, as we all know, no one gets a happy ending. Maybe that’s why so many of her teenage clients end up committing suicide. Greg Spottiswood and Cynthia Preston play the two teens who decide to investigate how the fortune teller is involved in their friends death. This is an intriguing episode, featuring a good performance from Roberta Maxwell.
This episode originally aired on November 24th, 1989.
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 plays the game!
Episode 1.17 “The Game”
(Dir by Robert Malenfant, originally aired on May 2nd, 1988)
“In this episode,” Mr. T explains, “Amy and I disagree on tactics as I try to bring an end to a very dangerous game.”
Pam Richards (Cynthia Preston) and her boyfriend Nash Weaver (David Orth) are two spoiled rich kids, playing a dangerous game. Nash steals some expensive dishes and silverwear from the home of his father (who is judge, no less) and, with Pam’s help, puts it in the locker of one of their shy classmates, Greg Walker (Victor Erdos). Nash then calls the police, gives them an anonymous tip, and Greg is arrested. Greg is only 14 but it appears that he’s going to be tried as an adult! Canada is going to make an example out of him!
Fortunately, Greg’s attorney is Amy Taler and that means that T.S. Turner is on the case! It doesn’t take T.S. long to figure out what happened.
“The way I see it,” he tells Amy, “the girl played decoy so they could plant stuff in Greg’s locker! These are the type of games these kids are into. I’m going to see if I can play too.”
T.S. stakes out Pam’s house. Nash orders a pizza for him. “I don’t eat while on duty,” T.S. growls.
That night, Nash and Pamela leave Nash’s house and break into a neighbor’s house. T.S. follows them, just to discover that they’ve already left the house. In the kitchen, T.S. finds a balloon that looks like an eyeball. The balloon pops, revealing a note that reads, “We’re watching you too.” Suddenly, the cops show up and arrest T.S!
Waiting outside the house, Nash tells T.S. to “give my regards to the boys in blue.”
“Give it to them yourself,” T.S. replies.
Nash and Pam claim that they were just going in the house to water the plants and T.S. is not charged with breaking and entering. Detective Jones assures T.S. that he doesn’t like Nash much either, saying that the kid has been in trouble before but he’s never been charged.
“Why?” T.S. snarls, “Because his father’s a judge?”
T.S. returns to staking out Nash’s house. (He’s eventually joined by Greg, who simply cannot believe that Pam would frame him.) “These kids are not playing kid games!” T.S. says. Eventually, Nash and Pam drive off to small warehouse. When T.S. follows them, Nash pulls a gun on them.
“You want to go to prison?” T.S. demands, “You know what prison’s like? Being locked up in the small cell, 24 hours! After you shoot me, who is next? Is it Pam? How about your father …. BECAUSE HE’S A JUDGE!”
(T.S. is really hung up on that.)
Nash points the gun at his own head.
“It’s not worth it, brother!” T.S. shouts.
A sobbing Nash surrenders himself.
Later, T.S. tells Amy, “Nash was just a little frightened kid, reaching out for love and attention.”
Here’s the thing — this all happened over the course of 30 minutes running time. As a result, Nash’s surrender seemed to come out of nowhere. This is an episode that would have benefitted from a full hour. As it is, this episode ends on a jarringly abrupt note and therefore, Nash’s surrender is neither as effective nor satisfying as it should have been.
Episode 1.18 “A Victim of Fashion”
(Dir by Don McCutcheon, originally aired on May 9th, 1988)
“In this episode,” Mr. T tells us, “the world of fashion loses its glamour as threats and murder come into play.”
“I’m not going to hire no tux and go to no bourgeois fashion show and that’s that!” T.S. Turner tells Amy when she informs him that he has no choice but to accompany her to an uptown fashion show. This leads to a genuinely amusing scene in which Amy leads T.S. onto an elevator, where T.S. is suddenly grabbed by two men who proceed to …. get his measurements so they can rent him a tuxedo.
Fashion designer John Merrick (Richard Monette) has hired Amy and T.S. because he was mailed a slashed up picture of his top model, Anita (Tonya Williams). Anita doesn’t know that she’s being stalked and Merrick wants T.S. to be her bodyguard without explaining why. Tonya, for her part, is just happy to be famous enough to require a bodyguard.
“Please,” T.S. tells her, “call me T.S.”
“Okay,” Anita replies, “if you’ll tell me what it stands for.”
“Tree Surgeon.”
Who could the stalker be? Could it be the long-haired man wandering around with a camera? Of course it is! This is only a 30 minute show so it’s not like there’s time to develop a lot of suspects. However, it turns out that Lonzo (Patrick Brymer) was not really stalking Anita as much as he was demanding that Merrick admit to stealing Lonzo’s designs. When Merrick tries to murder Lonzo, T.S. is there to save the day! Yay!
Again, just as with the other episode I looked at this week, this is an episode that would have been considerably more effective with a 60-minute running time. With only 30 minutes to tell the story, it felt rushed. There was a lot of comedic potential to the idea letting Mr. T loose in the fashion world but sadly, there was enough time to get to any of it.
Next week — T.S. quips his way through another case! Evildoers beware!
Through the Shattered Lens 