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, stuff happens.

Episode 5.11 “Surprise, Surprise”

(Dir by Stan Lathan, originally aired on December 27h, 1989)

Oh no!  As a result of last week’s ghostly encounters, Ernie is now encouraging all of the players to have fun at practice and, as a result, Johnny Gunn injures his shoulder!  It looks like the playoffs are in jeopardy!  Wait a minute …. JOHNNY’S OKAY!  Hey, it turns out that he only faked having an injury to make the other team underestimate him.

Oh no!  Kristy’s husband shows up and he’s still a charming gambler!  He’s put money on the Bulls game!  What if the Bulls beat the spread …. oh wait, they didn’t.  Okay, well, so much for that plot.

It’s amazing how many 1st & Ten episodes don’t add up to anything.  There’s no real plot developments or suspense or, for that matter, even comedy.  I’m not really sure why anyone would have watched this episode.

The Bulls are going to playoffs!  Or maybe they’re already in the playoffs.  Who knows?  This episode didn’t really make anything very clear.  The important thing is that the team won.

This is such a silly show.  Reid Shelton’s performance as Coach Denardo used to be one of the things that worked about this show but I’ve noticed that he now just tends to spend his time standing around with a goofy smile on his face.  It’s kind of annoying.

Go Bulls, I guess.