Retro Television Review 1.37 “The Comeback”

Posted on July 9, 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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing Decoy, which aired in Syndication in 1957 and 1958. The show can be viewed on Tubi!

This week, Peter Falk guest stars!

Episode 1.37 “The Comeback”

(Dir by David Alexander, originally aired on June 23rd, 1958)

When a fire breaks out at the race track, someone steals two rolls of blank tickets. The police think that the syndicate is planning on printing up counterfeit tickets that they can use to make a killing at the track. Casey quickly figures out that track clerk Fred Dana (Peter Falk) was in the perfect position to steal the tickets during the fire.

Because Fred already saw (and flirted with) Casey at the police station, Casey can’t do her usual undercover shtick. Instead, when she later approaches Fred, she tells him that she’s looking to make some extra money and she’s willing to help Fred and his bosses get away with their crime. Fred introduces Casey to his boss and then that boss introduces Casey to another boss and soon, Casey is working her way to the top.

However, Fred is worried that Casey is getting in over her head and starts warning her that she shouldn’t get involved. When Fred figures out that Casey is just pretending to be crooked, he doesn’t betray her. Instead, he betrays the Syndicate and helps to save Casey’s life.

Why?

Fred says that Casey has “class.”

Casey looks at the camera and tells the viewers that Fred is the one with class.

Awwww!

So, this was a typical Casey-Gets-In-Over-Head storyline. We’re only two episodes away from Decoy’s finale and it’s hard not to feel that, as the series progressed, the writers made Casey less-and-less competent. She’s gone from being a smart, streetwise cop to someone whose cover is continually getting blown. This time, it’s Peter Falk who steps up to save not only Casey but also this entire episode. Falk was 30 when he appeared on Decoy but he already looked several years older. He gives an intelligent and sensitive performance here, one that almost feels like it could come from an alternative universe where Columbo became a low-level mob associate instead of a detective. His scenes with Garland are especially interesting to watch. It wasn’t unusual for Decoy to feature men hitting on Casey. But this is the only episode (at least so far) where there was a genuine romantic chemistry.

Indeed, Fred had class.

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: Decoy 1.36 “Blind Date”

Posted on June 25, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Casey goes undercover …. again!

Episode 1.36 “Blind Date”

(Dir by Stuart Rosenberg, originally aired on June 16th, 1958)

When Gladys (Mary Finney) and her niece Millie (Irene Dailey) are involved in a car accident, the police discover that they are transporting a large amount of stolen money. Millie, who has been transporting drugs, had a meeting with a money launderer to exchange the money for clean bills. Casey goes undercover, pretending to be Millie when she and Gladys meet with the launderer. However, when Millie’s boyfriend (Elliott Sullivan) shows up, the entire operation falls apart. Can Casey convince Millie’s boyfriend to turn on the criminals?

This is yet another episode where Casey’s carefully constructed cover is destroyed by something that the police should have been prepared for. Not only is Casey pretending to be a real person (which increases the risk that she’ll run into someone who actually knows the person that Casey is pretending to be) but she’s also accompanied by the increasingly hysterical Gladys. Usually, Casey is at least convincing when she goes undercover. This time, she comes across as way to calm and collected to be believable as someone committing her first crime.

To be honest, after 36 of these episodes, I’m amazed that Casey has survived for as long as she has. The New York police department seems to be truly incompetent.

Despite all of that, this was a good episode. There was plenty of on-location New York footage and Beverly Garland did a good job of portraying Casey’s growing realization that 1) she was in over her head and 2) it was a mistake to bring Aunt Gladys along. Lou Polan was also well-cast as the avuncular but still menacing money launderer. He may have been a criminal but he was also very proud of his boat. Who can blame him?

This episode ended up on vaguely upbeat note, one that really didn’t feel as it had been earned. Decoy was always at its best when it was downbeat and realistic. New York was a tough city, even back in 1958.

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: Decoy 1.35 “Tin Pan Payoff”

Posted on June 18, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Casey goes undercover!

Episode 1.35 “Tin Pan Payoff”

(Dir by David Alexander, originally aired on June 9th, 1958)

After songwriter Chick Williams is found murdered in his apartment, the only clue that the police have going for them is a vinyl record spinning on Chick’s record player. (Welcome to 1958!) The singer on the record is Sally Masters (Ellen Parker), a local nightclub performer. The police figure out that it’s a “demo record.” Sally is the number one suspect so Casey goes undercover as a music agent and discovers just how cutthroat the business can be.

This episode was a whodunit. It turns out that Chick cheated and betrayed a lot of people in his life. It seems like the entire city of New York has a motive but, since this is Decoy, Casey quickly narrows it down to four suspects. Casey going undercover as a music agent was actually more interesting than the mystery itself, if just because Casey got to dress up and hang out in one of those wonderfully atmospheric New York nightclubs. She also learned about how DJs like Jerry Lynch (Lee Bergere) can make someone a star and also how even successful songwriters like Chick Williams occasionally employed “a ghost writer.” Watching Decoy, it’s hard not to feel that the best thing about Casey’s job is that she has an unlimited wardrobe and she gets to investigate every single facet of New York society.

Like a lot of the later Decoy episodes that I’ve seen, this episode isn’t quite as gritty as the earlier episodes. There’s less emphasis on Casey as a tough cop and more on Beverly Garland looking glamorous undercover. That said, Casey still gets the job done and takes a few minutes to speak directly to the audience. One thing I appreciate about Casey is that she doesn’t let her own feelings get in the way of doing her job. At a time when women were often portrayed being too flighty or emotional to be trusted in a position of authority, Casey always got results.

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.34 “Shadow of Van Gogh”

Posted on June 11, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Casey investigates a case of art forgery!

Episode 1.34 “Shadow of Van Gogh”

(Dir by Michael Gordon, originally aired on June 2nd, 1958)

Casey investigates art forgery!

Someone has produced and sold a forged recreation of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Casey’s investigation leads her to Jack Wilson (Ray Reinhardt), a struggling artist who is obsessed with Van Gogh. Apparently, Jack once even pretended to cut off his ear. Casey discovers that Wilson did paint the forgery but that he was manipulated by a crooked art dealer named Cors1 (Edgar Stehli). When Casey confronts Corsi, he threatens to shoot her. Casey responds by threatening to take a dagger to the real Starry Night. And then Wilson shows up and grabs Corsi’s gun. With Corsi off to jail, Casey looks at the camera and encourages everyone to go to their local museum and see a real Van Gogh.

Oh, how I wanted to love this episode! I really did. I majored in Art History. I love Van Gogh. This episode should have been right up my alley. And there were some parts of the episode that I really did appreciate. During her investigation, Casey goes to Greenwich Village and we get some on-location footage of a 1950s art fair. We get to see some real-life beatniks! I enjoyed that.

Unfortunately, the rest of the episode doesn’t really live up to its promise. It’s not a particularly well-acted episode. Edgar Stehli plays Corsi as being obviously sinister from the start and Ray Reinhardt seems to be mildly channeling every single crazed artist cliche that has ever existed. If you’re going to make one of your characters a struggling artist obsessed with Van Gogh, you can either portray him as a realistic, undiscovered painter or you can go totally over-the-top and have him actually cut off his ear. This episode tries to go for the middle ground and, as such, it’s never as interesting as it should have been.

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.33 “The Lieutenant Had A Son”

Posted on May 28, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Episode 1.33 “The Lieutenant Had A Son”

(Dir by David Alexander, originally aired on May 26th, 1958)

After spending five years overseas, career soldier Lt. Larry Hayes (Leo Penn) returns to New York City. He wants to see the son that he’s never met and he’s not happy when he discovers that, in his absence, his wife (Loretta Leversee) has married another man (Will Kuluva). His wife goes to the police for protection but, once it becomes obvious that she committed bigamy, Casey has to try to sort out who is married to who and who Larry, Jr. (Robie Grant) belongs with.

This was an odd episode. Absolutely no one was sympathetic. I even got annoyed with Casey for getting involved with these people. Lt. Hayes was a self-righteous martinet. His wife was a flake who simply didn’t seem to understand why she wasn’t being given a pass on the whole bigamy thing. Five year-old Larry, Jr. was played by a child named Robie Grant. I was not surprised to discover that this was Grant’s only credit because he was beyond lousy in the role. I have never been more annoyed by a five year-old.

The most interesting thing about this episode is that Larry Hayes is played by Leo Penn, the father of Sean, Chris, and Michael Penn. Leo Penn gives a believable performance as Larry. It wasn’t his fault that the character wasn’t particularly likable.

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: Decoy 1.32 “Fiesta at Midnight”

Posted on May 21, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Casey is an accused man’s only advocate.

Episode 1.32 “Fiesta At Midnight”

(Dir by Michael Gordon, originally aired on May 19th, 1958)

Juan Ortega (Tomas Milian) comes to New York City from Puerto Rico and finds himself in jail, accused of robbery and assault. Ortega, who is still learning English, says that he was at a community dance when the crime happened and that there are two women who can provide him with an alibi. Unfortunately, one of them (Gloria Marlowe) is married and refuses to testify that she had been talking to another man. The other, a mysterious woman named Maria, cannot be found. Casey tries to help.

This was an okay episode. The episode calls out the NYPD for being too quick to assume that Ortega is guilty just because he speaks Spanish and he’s a newcomer to the neighborhood. That said, it bothered me that a translator was never provided for Ortega. Ortega was clearly not comfortable speaking English but he had to do so when talking to Casey because Casey didn’t know much Spanish. I get that this was probably all done to avoid having to ask the viewers to read subtitles but, in-universe, it felt strange. It was hard not to notice that, even in a precinct located in Spanish Harlem, there weren’t any Spanish cops.

This was an early role for Tomas Milian, who would go on to star in countless Spaghetti Westerns and who also played the corrupt general in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic. Though there’s little of the cunning or wit that distinguished Milian’s later performances, he still makes Juan Ortega into a sympathetic figure.

As for the episode’s ending, Maria (Miriam Colon) is revealed to be a nun and she testifies that Juan was with her when the crime occurred. Casey tells us that Juan got his miracle.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 5/10/26 — 5/16/26

Posted on May 16, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hollywood Demons (HBOMax)

This week’s episode took a look at prescription drug abuse in Hollywood. It really didn’t have anything new to say about the subject.

Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Shout TV)

I watched three more episodes of this odd series on Friday night. The monsters were even more trippy than usual!

The N.Y. Friars Club Roast of Chevy Chase (YouTube)

On Sunday, I watched this infamous roast from 2003. Chevy Chase was roasted by a few people who knew him and by a lot of people who didn’t. Stephen Colbert made an early name for himself with his no-holds barred set. I knew this is something that we’re not supposed to admit nowadays but, as I watched the roast, I actually found myself feeling a little sorry for Chase. It’s one thing to be insulted by your friends. It’s another thing to be insulted by strangers who genuinely seem to despise you. At least Paul Shaffer appeared to be having fun as Chevy’s roast master.

Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano (Netflix)

17 seconds? After all the hype, it’s impossible not to be disappointed with the actual fight. That said, I’ve always felt that Gina Carano was not treated fairly by Disney so I’m glad she appears to be making a comeback of sorts.

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

My review of Saved By The Bell will be dropping soon, assuming I don’t fall asleep before I can write it.

Watched and Reviewed: