Late Night Retro Television Review: Freddy’s Nightmares 2.15 “Prime Cut”

Posted on May 29, 2026 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 Fridays, I will be reviewing Freddy’s Nightmares, a horror anthology show which ran in syndication from 1988 to 1990. The entire series can be found on Tubi!

This week, it’s flesh-eating time!

Episode 2.15 “Prime Cut”

(Dir by David Calloway, originally aired on January 21st, 1990)

Tony Dow plays a hiker who worries that his guide (Sandal Bergman) might actually be a vampire. Every few minutes, Dow either spots Bergman drinking blood or preparing to drink blood but then, just as suddenly, he wakes up. Finally, he wakes up one final time and discovers that he’s actually been having feverish visions because he was in a plane crash and is now stranded in the wilderness. He and Bergman are the only survivors of the crash and they’ve resorted to eating bodies of the other passengers. Dow’s wife (Amy Lyndon) eventually stumbles on the two during her own abortive attempt to provide a rescue. Uh-oh, will she now have to eat human flesh as well?

Ugh, this episode. Both storylines had potential but they really didn’t go anywhere. This was one of those episodes where, every few minutes, something weird would happen and then we would immediately cut to someone waking up. While I understand that the dreams were a part of the show’s trademark, the episode still overused them. It was far more dull than any show featuring Tony Down and Sandahl Bergman as cannibals had any right to be.

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:

Late Night Retro Television Review: Freddy’s Nightmares 2.14 “Easy Come, Easy Go”

Posted on May 22, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Mary Crosby returns. And hey — is that Wings Hauser!?

Episode 2.14 “Easy Come, Easy Go”

(Dir by William Malone, originally aired on January 14th, 1990)

In this sequel to Lucky Stiff, Greta (Mary Crosby) is still living in her mansion with her new husband, Eugene (Tracey Walter). She’s married to Eugene so that Eugene won’t turn her in for having killed her previous husband. Eugene says that he’ll leave the mansion as soon as they consummate the marriage. Greta, however, has standards. As a result, Eugene lives in the basement.

When her former brother-in-law, Wes Roscoe (Richard Eden), shows up, it doesn’t take long for a lingerie-clad Greta to seduce him. It soon becomes apparent that Wes wants her money and vengeance for the death of his brother. She makes plans to poison him but, when Wes attacks her, her life is saved by Eugene. Greta realizes that she loves Eugene. She sleeps with him. Immediately afterwards, Eugene accidentally drinks the poison and dies. Sorry, Eugene!

Shortly afterwards, Greta’s sister, Peggy (Jill Jacobson), shows up with her husband, eyepatch-wearing Sonny (Wings Hauser). Sonny is Greta’s ex. In fact, he blames her for the loss of his eye. (They got into an argument in a car and a slap from Greta sent Sonny plunging eye-first into the gear shift.) Greta seduces and then kills Sonny, just as she’s done with every man who has tried to take her money. But then Peggy turns out to be a sociopath herself (“I killed mom and dad.”) and proceeds to shoot Greta.

“Easy come, easy go,” Greta gasps.

This episode was so over-the-top and cheerfully sordid that it was impossible not to enjoy it. Mary Crosby threw herself into the femme fatale role. Wings Hauser, as always, was amusingly disturbed as the bad guy. Both stories were wonderfully sordid. Even without any supernatural elements, this was a truly fun episode.

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:

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Freddy’s Nightmares 2.13 “What You Don’t Know Can Kill You”

Posted on May 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Freddy is just as confused as the rest of us.

Episode 2.13 “What You Don’t Know Can Kill You”

(Dir by Ken Wiederhorn, originally aired on January 7th, 1990)

Psychiatrist Dr. Rothman (David Hern) has been hypnotizing his female patients and then molesting them. (This was something that apparently used to happen quite often with Victorian-era hypnotists.) When a colleague (Phil Proctor) discovers what Rothman is doing, Rothman hypnotizes and programs one of his patients, Derby Brown (Fran Montano), to become an assassin. However, Rothman screws up the programming and ends up getting shot by a hypnotized Derby. Derby’s girlfriend suggests that Derby should have plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. They see a handsome man’s photograph in a newspaper and they decide that’s the face they want. As a result of the surgery, Derby now looks exactly like Vinnie (Paul Regina, playing both roles). Unfortunately, Vinnie is a mob informant and there’s a hitman after him.

Got all that?

This episode was pretty dumb. Paul Regina did a good job as Vinnie and his new doppelganger but, for the most part, I’m not really sure why this was even an episode of Freddy’s Nightmares. There was nothing supernatural about either story and neither story was particularly scary. Freddy only appeared in his host segments and he seemed to be fairly bored with the whole thing.

Usually, I love it when a show embraces the melodrama but this episode wasn’t subversive enough to work as a satire. Despite the over the top plot, it still felt oddly generic.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 5/3/26 — 5/9/26

Posted on May 9, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hollywood Demons: After the Bell (HBOMax)

The latest episode of Hollywood Demons took a rather superficial look at life behind the scenes at Saved By The Bell. The formerly reclusive Lark Voorhies was interviewed and it was good to see her looking healthy and happy. As well, Max Battimo, from Good Morning Miss Bliss, was also interviewed and talked about what it was like to not be invited to join the cast of Saved By The Bell.

The majority of the episode focused on Dustin Diamond and his years after Saved By The Bell. The episode tried to generate some sympathy for Diamond and I have to admit that I’ve always felt that it wasn’t right to cast him as a high school student when he was barely 12 and had so little in common with the rest of the cast. That said, in this documentary, Dustin Diamond also came across as being mentally unhinged. One crew member told a story about Diamond threatening a Saved By The Bell: The New Class actor with a knife. The name of the actor was not given, though from the details provided (the incident occurred while Diamond’s mother was dying of cancer and Diamond threatened to get the actor fired), it seems that the incident took place in 1996, during the film of the New Class‘s Fourth Season. Assuming Diamond didn’t pull the knife on any of the female cast members or Dennis Haskins, that leaves Richard Lee Jackson, Ben Gould, and Anthony Harrell. Jackson was in his second season on the show and was the lead actor so I don’t think Diamond would have threatened to get him fired. Gould and Harrell were new. On twitter, I found a tweet from 2014 of someone mentioning that they had been given a tour of Hollywood by someone who Dustin Diamond pulled a knife on. Since Harrell has been busy with his musical career, that would leave Gould as the probable target of Diamond’s abuse. Of course, that’s all speculation on my part. The important thing is that Dustin Diamond didn’t come across as being particularly sympathetic, despite the documentary’s best efforts.

Unfortunately, while Lark, Max, and Ed Alonzo were all interviewed, Mark-Paul, Mario, Tiffani, Elizabeth, and Dennis Haskins were not. I’m not surprised. When you’ve actually got a career going, you don’t want to taint it by being interviewed by a tabloid television show. Still, considering that they were the stars of the show, not interviewing them seemed like a missed opportunity.

Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Shout TV)

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

Night Flight (NightFlight+)

I watched an episode on Friday night. John Cougar Mellencamp talked about his career.

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:

Late Night Retro Television Review: Freddy’s Nightmares 2.12 “It’s My Party And You’ll Die If I Want You To”

Posted on May 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Guess who is making trouble …. again.

Episode 2.12 “It’s My Party And You’ll Die If I Want You To”

(Dir by Tom DeSimone, originally aired on December 24th, 1989)

This aired when?

Wow! Happy Christmas Eve!

Freddy takes center stage in this week’s episode. First, he possesses a phony psychic (Gwen Banta) and uses her to kill a bunch of people because …. well, why not? He’s Freddy. It’s kind of what he does. The second story features Freddy seeking revenge on the woman who stood him up for prom and it features an occasionally clever subplot about a man attempting to write a film about Freddy’s life. Freddy complains that the script doesn’t have a heart. That’s because Freddy ripped it out of the screenwriter.

This was not a bad episode. Director Tom DeSimone does a good job of keeping the action moving and he allows Freddy to be genuinely menacing. This entire season has pretty much been a reminder of the fact that Freddy isn’t just an undead spirit who makes joke He’s also very scary. If the first season treated Freddy like a quip machine, the second season has gone out of its way to show that Freddy is pure evil and you’re better off not being in his presence.

This week’s stories were tied together by the presence of Oliver Michaels (Richard Speight), a spacey young man who previously appeared in Photo Finish. Oliver does his best to warn people in this episode but no one’s willing to listen until it’s too late.

That’s life in Springwood.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 4/26/26 — 5/2/26

Posted on May 2, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I didn’t watch a hell of a lot this week. Here’s a few thoughts on what I did watch.

Baywatch (Tubi)

You can read my review here.

Dr. Phil (Pluto TV)

I was bored. I watched a few episodes this week. Dr. Phil put bad parents and bratty children in their place. One episode featured a guy who refused to take a drug test. Finally, he did take the test and he tested negative. I respected him for trying to stay true to his beliefs even when it would have been easier just to give in.

Freddy’s Nightmares (Tubi)

You can read my review here.

George Gently (YouTube)

He’s a British policeman and he’s not that gentle! I watched an episode on Tuesday.

Git It On (PBS)

This was a 70s dance show. I watched an episode on Friday night.

Hollywood Demons (HBOMax)

I watched the latest episode of this sensationalized but undeniably addictive show on Wednesday. It was all about child actor and how their adult lives often seem to go off the rails. Sometimes, I feel bad for all the child actors who went on to live non-tragic, non-scandalous lives. Nobody ever takes the time to congratulate them on not self-destructing.

Intervention (Tubi)

I specifically tracked down the Ken Seeley episodes because Ken’s interventions always seemed to descend into chaos.

Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Shout TV)

On Friday, I watched three episodes of this Japanese show about teenagers who carried the fighting spirits of various dinosaurs. The saber-tooth tiger is so cool!

St. Elsewhere (Daily Motion)

You can read my review here.

Who’s The Boss (Prime)

I played this at night whenever I had insomnia. The theme song always put me right to sleep.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Freddy’s Nightmares 2.11 “Dreams that Kill”

Posted on May 1, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Springwood Confidential struggles to keep a host.

Episode 2.11 “Dreams That Kill”

(Dir by Tom DeSimone, originally aired on December 17th, 1989)

In this follow-up to Dream Come True, Dick Gautier plays Charlies Nickels, the new host of Springwood Confidential. When he announced that his next show will be a discussion about whether or not a nightmare can kill you, he soon finds that his dreams are being haunted by Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund, hamming it up and apparently enjoying the opportunity to do more than just host for once). Freddy is worried that the show will cause people to stop sleeping. I’m not really sure that I follow Freddy’s logic — sleep is unavoidable, no matter how much you want to stay up for days at a time — but whatever. Eventually, Freddy torments Charlie to the point that Charlie ends up in a coma, where Freddy can torture him 24/7.

At the hospital, a doctor (Nicholas Cascone) removes some of Charlie’s brain fluid and injects it into a comatose teenager named Mark Lindstrom (Christian Borcher). Mark comes out of his coma but now he has Charlie’s personality and he desperately wants to be the next host of Springwood Confidential. Mark gets the job but soon, he’s having nightmares involving Freddy.

“This is supposed to be Charlie Nickels’s dream!” Freddy says, spying Mark. “Two for the price of one!”

As you probably already guessed, this episode ends with a vengeful Mark injecting his brain fluid into the doctor. So now, it’s three for the price of one….

I kind of liked the idea of Freddy being passed from one victim to another. And Robert Englund was entertaining as Freddy. That said, this episode basically felt like the same story told twice. Freddy haunted Charlie. Freddy haunts Mark in the exact same way. It was better than anything the first season had to offer but this episode still ultimately felt a bit redundant.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 4/19/26 — 4/25/26

Posted on April 25, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Boy Band Confidential (HBOMax)

Another week, another special about boy bands. I watched this 3-hour, two-part documentary on Wednesday and Thursday. Joey Fatone was one of the producers so it’s not a surprise that a major theme of the documentary was that Joey Fatone was a pretty cool guy. This show hit all the usual points — hey, there’s Lou Pealman! — without adding much new insight.

Crime Story (Tubi)

My review will drop this upcoming Monday.

Degrassi: The Next Generation (Tubi)

My review will drop tomorrow night.

Hollywood Demons (HBOMax)

I watched two episodes. The first one was about Stephen Collins (yikes!). The second was about Jerry Springer. Now that Jerry is dead and his show is definitely never coming back, all of his producers are trying to cash in by letting you know that they were anti-Jerry the whole time. It all feels a bit self-serving.

Homicide: Life on the Street (Peacock)

My review will drop tomorrow.

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

Along with this week’s review episode (which will be dropping shortly), I also watched three Patrick Muldoon episodes on Friday. RIP.

Watched and Reviewed: