Tag Archives: Diana Barrington

Late Night Retro Television Review: Pacific Blue 2.22 “Rumpelstiltskin”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Pacific Blue, a cop show that aired from 1996 to 2000 on the USA Network!  It’s currently streaming everywhere, though I’m watching it on Tubi.

This week, the second season ends.

Episode 2.22 “Rumpelstiltskin”

(Dir by John B. Moranville, originally aired on April 20th, 1997)

Rumpelstiltskin.  That’s the nickname that FBI agent Tim Stone (David Lee Smith) has given to expert counterfeiter Laszlo Parkes (Josh Richman).  Laszlo and his three associates — Sheila (Heidi Lenhart, who was Jenny Garrison on California Dreams), Lana (Diana Barrington), and Bree (Jennifer Sky) — are passing the fake money all around Santa Monica.  Laszlo is planning on scoring a big drug deal.  Meanwhile, Bree and her boyfriend (Tim Griffin) are planning on taking out Laszlo.

Agent Stone requests that Cory and Chris be assigned to work with him.  It soon become apparent that Stone has more in mind than just work.  Chris likes Stone but Stone like Cory.  When Chris find out that Stone and Cory slept together, she throws a fit.   I’ve noticed that Chris really only has to modes on Pacific Blue.  Either she’s disturbingly robotic and unconcerned with civil liberties or she’s getting mad about something and threatening to go all-Fatal Attraction on somebody.  I’ve also noticed that the show’s writers are incapable of imagining Chris or Cory in a situation where they don’t end up falling for whoever they’re working with.

The funniest part of this episode was when word came in of a shoot-out so all the cops jumped on their bicycles and rode over to the scene.  Seriously, a guy was taking fire and instead of jumping in a car and speeding over there, everyone decided to ride their bicycles.  Somehow, the bike cops were able to take down the mob and also arrest Laszlo.  I always wonder how they get people to the jail after they arrest them.  Do they chain them to the bicycle or something?

After the shoot out, Tim and Cory enjoyed a romantic sunset and Tim promised that he would return soon.

And so ended the second season!

Wow, the second season sucked.  Here we are, about to start season 3, and I’m still struggling to tell everyone apart.  Chris and Cory still don’t have a personality.  Everyone still looks silly on their bicycles.  This show grows more pointless with each episode.

Next week …. we’ll start season 3!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.20 “The Son Also Rises”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Saturdays, I will be reviewing the Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

I don’t even know where to start this week.

Episode 2.20 “The Son Also Rises”

(Dir by Stuart Gillard, originally aired on March 8th, 1987)

For what seems like the 100th time since I started watching the second season of this show, Edna is going on vacation.  Technically, she’s going to be taking a computer course but everyone refers to it as being a vacation.  Not that it matters because, knowing this show, we’ll never hear another word about this class that Edna is taking or the promotion that she’s hoping to get.

No sooner has Edna left then Howard’s ex-girlfriend, Molly Maguire (Diana Barrington), shows up.  As Howard explains it to his employees (though why they would care, I have no idea), Molly was the great love of Howard’s life when he was in college and studying hotel management.  (We often hear about all of these wonderful things that Howard did in the past, which leads me to wonder why, in his mid-50s, he’s just the manager of a middling grocery store in Canada.) Howard is excited to reconnect with Molly.  It’s hard not to notice that, for all the episodes that have portrayed Howard as being the perfect boyfriend, he always tries to hook up with someone else whenever Edna is out of town.  Oddly, it appears that none of her friends at the store have ever told Edna that Howard isn’t particularly faithful when she’s away.

(Remember when Howard threw a snit fit over Edna having dinner with her ex-husband?  Seems kind of hypocritical, no?)

Howard’s plan to hook up with Molly is to invite her over to his apartment and to have Viker dress up like a butler in order to fool her into thinking that he’s rich.  However, when Molly shows up, she reveals that she doesn’t want to rekindle any sort of romance with Howard.  Instead, she wants Howard to give her child support because, according to Molly, he’s the father of her “teenage” son, Mickey (Keith Knight).

(Teenage is in quotes because, despite everything that Howard and Molly say to the contrary, Mickey is clearly not a teenager.  Actor Keith Knight, who appeared in a number of classic Canadian films including My Bloody Valentine and Class of 1984, was 31 years old when he appeared in this episode.)

Howard and Mickey bond.  Mickey turns out to be a pretty nice and intelligent “kid” and Howard starts to think that maybe he would like to be a father.  (Good luck explaining any of this to Edna, Howard.)  Howard worries about paying child support.  Leslie the cashier offers to loan him the money.  (What?)  But then Molly shows up and reveals that — ha ha! — Howard’s not Mickey’s father after all.  She just said that to get some money from Howard but since Howard obviously doesn’t have any money, never mind.

Well, that was …. interesting.  Seriously, what a weird episode.  Howard’s a jerk and, after bonding with 30-something Mickey, he discovers that he’s not Mickey’s father.  Edna comes back from her trip and asks Howard if anything happened while she was gone.  Howard says he doesn’t know where to start.  Roll credits!  There have been many inconsequential episodes of Check It Out! but none as inconsequential as this.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Friday the 13th 1.13 “The Baron’s Bride”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

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, Micki and Ryan go to 1870s London!

Episode 1.13 “The Baron’s Bride”

(Dir by Bradford May, originally aired on February 15th, 1988)

The latest cursed antique that Jack has decided to retrieve is a cursed cape.  As Jack explains it, any man who wears the cape will automatically become irresistible to women.  So, with that in mind, why does Jack take Ryan and Micki with him?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to leave Micki at home and just bring Ryan who, as a guy, would be immune to the cape’s powers?

Seriously, Jack did not think this through!

As well, Jack also doesn’t know the full extent of the cape’s power.  It not only makes the wearer irresistible to women but it also turns him into a vampire.  And if blood gets on the cape’s brooch, the vampire and anyone near him will be transported into the past.

Jack, Ryan, and Micki arrives the home of Marie Simmons (Diana Barrington), just in time to see her giving the cape to her new boarder, Frank Edwards (Tom McCamus).  Of course, as soon as Micki sees Frank, she falls under her spell.  When Marie attacks Micki, she cuts Micki’s cheek.  Micki’s blood hits Frank’s brooch and they (along with Ryan) are transported into the past.

All three of them end up in London in 1870.  While Frank stalks victims on the streets of London, Micki and Ryan team up with a young writer named — *ahem* — Abraham (Kevin Bundy) and his wife, Caitlin (Susannah Hoffman).  Frank is determined to find Micki and, because Frank is still wearing the cape, Micki once again finds herself falling under Frank’s spell.

This is an excellent and atmospheric episode.  As soon as Ryan, Micki, and Frank are transported to London, the show switches from color to black-and-white and the story plays out like a macabre Universal horror film.  The episode is full of scenes of Frank running in slow motion towards his victims and revealing his fangs as he snarls at his enemies and Tom McCamus gives a wonderfully sinister performance as the innocent boarder turned vampire.  This episode packs a lot action into just 45 minutes of screen time and Micki and Ryan (and Robey and John D. LeMay) again prove themselves to be a good team.

The episode ends with a neat, if predictable twist.  Back in the present day, Jack asks Micki and Ryan if they happened to learn Abraham’s last name.  When they reply that they only knew him by his first name, Jack reveals that they spent their time in London working with Bram Stoker.  So, in their way, Micki and Ryan are responsible for Dracula!  Woo hoo!  Way to go, guys!

This was a great and fun episode.  Episodes like this make me glad that I decided to review this show.

One final note: Keep an eye out for Friday the 13th — A New Beginning‘s John Shepherd as a police constable.