Tag Archives: Homicide

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 7/20/25 — 7/26/25

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

1st & Ten (Tubi)

I reviewed 1st & Ten here!

American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson (Netflix)

Another year, another OJ documentary.  I binged this 2025 docuseries on Monday.  On the one hand, the story has been told and re-told so many times that it’s debatable whether any documentary will ever have anything new to add.  (And now that O.J. Simpson is dead, no one’s pretending that he was framed or that he was ever looking for the “real killers” anymore.)  On the other hand, the story itself such an important moment in American cultural history that there’s nothing wrong with examining it for a second or tenth time.  I appreciated that the docuseries took the time to talk about who Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman were as people before they were murdered by OJ.  (And make no mistake, that’s exactly what happened.)

The American Short Story (YouTube)

I reviewed this week’s episode here!

Big Brother 27 (24/7, CBS, Paramount Plus, Pluto TV)

I wrote about Big Brother here!

Black Sabbath: Up Close and Personal (Night Flight Plus)

On Saturday morning, Jeff and I joined our friend Pat in watching this 2007 documentary about Black Sabbath.  Some of the members were interviewed for the documentary.  Ozzy Osbourne was not (instead the documentary used archival interviews to get his thoughts) but, for the most part, everyone was very complimentary to him.  Personally, I liked the steady and straight-forward beat of the band’s music.

CHiPs (Prime)

I reviewed CHiPs here!

Degrassi High (Tubi)

I reviewed Degrassi High here!

Diff’Rent Strokes (Tubi)

I watched two episodes on Thursday.  In one, Kimberly Drummond (Dana Plato) went to a ski lodge with her friends and was considering losing her virginity when suddenly — surprise! — her father (Conrad Bain) decided to join her.  The second episode featured Willis (Todd Bridges) starting high school and being told that he had smoke weed to be cool.  Willis actually did get high in this episode and it’s amazing just how stoned he managed to get in just a few seconds.  Anyway, Mr. Drummond told Willis to stay off the grass.  This episode was disturbing because one of the high school stoners was wearing jeans so tight that …. well, let’s just say that it showed off more of him than was perhaps typical for network television.

Fantasy Island (DVR)

I reviewed Fantasy Island here!  Laurence is really letting me down as Mr. Roarke’s new servant.

Fred and Rosemary West: A British Horror Story (Netflix)

I watched this three-episode true crime docuseries on Sunday and Monday.  Fred and Rosemary West were a seemingly ordinary couple who actually murdered an untold number of young women and buried them out back under their patio.  Watching the docuseries, I was reminded a bit of the Paul Bernardo/Karla Homalka case, except in this case Fred tried to keep the police from discovering Rosemary’s role in the murders.  Fred ended up committing suicide.  Rosemary is still in prison.  It was a disturbing case.  Watching the docuseries, my heart broke for all of their victims.

Freddy’s Nightmares (Plex)

I reviewed Freddy’s Nightmares here!

From Rock Star To Killer (Netflix)

I watched this French docuseries, about the murder of actress of Marie Trintignant on Tuesday.  It was a sobering film, one that explored how many people refusing to believe that Marie’s famous boyfriend could also be a viscous abuser.  I minored in French in college so I watched the first episode without subtitles and I discovered that my French has gotten really rusty.  The remaining episodes, I watched the dubbed versions and I have to say that the dubbing was so poorly executed that I have to wonder if it was done by AI.

Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer (Netflix)

On Tuesday, I watched this 2025 docuseries, which dealt with the infamous (and still largely unsolved) Long Island serial killer case.  To be honest, I’ve seen so many documentaries and dramatizations of this story that I kind of doubt there’s really anything new to learn about it.  That said, I appreciated that the series devoted so much time to profiling the victims and showing us who they were before they became a part of a cold case.  The victims of these crimes are so often overlooked or outright dismissed.

Good Morning, Miss Bliss (Prime)

My review of the second episode of Indiana Saved By The Bell will drop in about 90 minutes.

Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service (Hulu)

On Saturday, I watched a two-part episode in which Gordon helped out three sisters who had taken over their late father’s restaurant.  On the one hand, I’m the youngest of four sisters so I could relate to the family dynamics that I saw in this episode.  On the other hand — yech!  Mice and roaches in the food!  I’m never eating out again.

Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit (Hulu)

This true crime docuseries explored the disappearance of Iowa news anchor Jodi Huisentruit.  Along with giving us the details of her life and disappearance, the series also presented us with four potential suspects.  I’ve read some criticism online that the four suspects were all cleared of involvement by the police investigation or, in at least one case, was actually just a person of interest rather than a suspect.  It’s a tragic story, nonetheless.

Highway to Heaven (Tubi)

This week’s episode …. agck!  I reviewed it here.

Homicide: Life On The Street (Peacock)

I reviewed Homicide here!

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX & Hulu)

The Lawyer returned!  After being a little bit disappointed in the first two episodes of the new season, my faith was renewed by the third episode.  Not only did the Lawyer return but we also got Dennis and Mac pretending to be EMTs, Dee screwing up yet another job, and Charlie turning into a demanding chef.  That’s the Sunny that I love!

The second episode that I watched this week, in which the Gang dealt with the consequences of dumping baby oil in a local waterway, I also enjoyed.  I always like it when Dennis tries to do his whole slick, corporate spokesman routine.

I’m still getting used to the Rob Mac name change.

The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)

This week was a Thanksgiving cruise!  I can’t wait for the holidays!  I reviewed the episode here!

Malibu CA (YouTube)

Oh, how I hate this show.  Anyway, I wrote about the latest episode here.

Miami Vice (Prime)

This week’s episode was all about trying to retrieve stolen bull semen.  I swear, the stuff I watch for this site!  I reviewed it here.

New York Post Presents: Luigi Mangione: Martyr or Monster (Tubi)

I watched this documentary on Saturday because I was bored.  It presented the facts of the case without digging too deeply.  I remember that when Brian Thompson was shot, a lot of my friends were (and, in many cases still are) sympathetic to Luigi Mangione and they were always a little surprised that I wasn’t, especially after everything I went though when the insurance company evicted my Dad from his rebab facility.  Myself, I don’t believe in killing and I’m not going to praise a cold-blooded murder just because the shooter wrote some dumbass manifesto.  As for Luigi, if it wasn’t for his smile, most people wouldn’t care about him.

Night Flight (Night Flight Plus)

On Friday night, Jeff and I joined our friend Pat in watching an episode of this pop culture digest from the late 80s.  The episode opened with a look at “Satan Rock,” (Hi, Ozzy, hi, Iron Maiden) and then it went on to feature the hottest music videos of 1988.  As a history nerd and a student pop culture, I always enjoy watching artifacts like this.

Pacific Blue (Tubi)

Bleh.  Bicycles.  The bike cops were especially obnoxious this week.  I reviewed Pacific Blue here!

St. Elsewhere (Hulu)

Depressing episode, this week.  I reviewed St. Elsewhere here!

TMZ Investigates: What Happened to Justin Bieber (Tubi)

I was bored this afternoon so I watched this TMZ special.  Justin appears to be going through some problems.  The TMZ team considered that it could be drug-related.  Personally, I think fame does strange things to people, especially with today’s bizarrely obsessive celeb-driven culture.  Of course, having the TMZ folks following him around probably isn’t helping Justin’s mood.

TMZ Investigates: What Happened To Liam Payne (Tubi)

I watched this on Saturday.  TMZ investigates the tragic death of Liam Payne and it’s exactly what you would expect from TMZ.  There’s a lot of speculation, a lot of faux concern, and ultimately the whole thing leaves the viewer feeling a bit icky.

Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy (Netflix)

I generally enjoy Netflix’s Trainwreck series.  I watched this entry on Friday.  It dealt with the death of nine people during a Travis Scott performance at Astroworld in 2021.  This documentary didn’t dig too deeply into how it happened, beyond suggesting that the majority of the blame should be assigned to the show’s promoters.  The desperate chant of “Stop the Show!” was haunting.

Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel (Netflix)

On Friday, I watched this documentary about the rise and fall of American Apparel.  It was weird essentially seeing my high school years turned into a “back in the day” documentary.  I guess this is what it feels like to realize you’re not getting younger.

Trainwreck: The Mayor of Mayhem (Netflix)

Rob Ford, a brash populist, is elected mayor of Toronto and makes a name for himself as a bigger-than-life reformer.  Then, he gets caught on camera smoking crack and everything falls apart.  This was my favorite of the Trainwreck documentaries that I watched, largely because Rob Ford was such a fascinating character.  I’ve read some comments online from some people who think that this documentary went a little bit too easy on Ford.  Maybe it did.  I’m not Canadian so I don’t know.  I just know it was an interesting story.

Trainwreck: P.I. Moms (Netflix)

The latest Trainwreck as is also perhaps the most pointless.  A reality show falls apart before the first episode even premieres.  The P.I. Moms, who would have been featured on the show, all argued that they deserved to be taken seriously and that they weren’t just acting for the camera but, at the same time, none of them came across as being particularly sincere so it was hard to have much sympathy for them.  It was a documentary about a bad reality show that felt like a bad reality show.

True Crime Arizona: Finding Robert Fisher (Tubi)

In 2001, it’s believed that Robert Fisher, a Navy veteran and former firefighter, murdered his wife and his two children, set his house on fire, and then disappeared into the Arizona wilderness.  Fisher has been a fugitive for 24 years and, while some speculate that he either committed suicide or died in the wilderness, people all over the country still regularly report spotting him.  This special took a look at Fisher’s crime and offered a few theories of how he managed to disappear.  The Fisher case has haunted me ever since I first learned about it and this special reminded me of why.  Fisher seemed like the type of guy you would want for a neighbor because he was good with tools and he had a clean-cut look.  Instead, he turned out to be a killer/  Personally, I think Fisher still out there.  Much like John List (the real-life inspiration for Jerry Blake in The Stepfather films), he’s probably got a new family and a new identity.  I have faith he’ll be captured eventually.

True Crime Arizona: The Missing (Tubi)

This episode looked at the cases of several indigenous women who had disappeared in Arizona and took a look at why their disappearances rarely seem to get the media attention that other true crime stories too.  This was well-produced and thought-provoking.

True Crime Arizona: Notorious Killers (YouTube)

I was so impressed by the True Crime Arizona episodes that I saw on Tubi that I then looked for more on YouTube.  This 23-minute episode took a look at some of Arizona’s most notorious killers.  I think I missed my calling.  I’d love to host True Crime Texas.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.18 “In Search of Crimes Past”

Posted on 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 Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC!  It  can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, Giardello sets a dangerous precedent.

Episode 3.18 “In Search of Crimes Past”

(Dir by Kenneth Fink, originally aired on April 14th, 1995)

A woman (Felicia Shakman) takes Colonel Barnfather hostage, pointing a gun at his head and demanding that Bolander reopen the investigation into a murder that occurred sixteen years ago.  Bolander was the primary on the murder and the man that he arrested is scheduled to be executed in just a matter of hours.  The woman with the gun is the man’s daughter.  Russert wants to bring in the hostage negotiators but Giardello instead orders Bolander to take a look at the files and the evidence and to try to see if he arrested the wrong man.

I’m not really sure I buy Giardello’s response.  Giardello claims he has no choice but actually, it seems to me that Giardello is setting a dangerous precedent.  In Baltimore, if you think a relative has been wrongly convicted, you can apparently just take someone hostage and demand the case be reopened.  I’m not sure those are the rules that anyone wants to set.

Now, of course, it turns out that Bolander did arrest the wrong guy.  It perhaps would have been more interesting if Bolander had look at the files and said, “Yeah, I got the right guy,” but then this episode wouldn’t be able to make a statement against the death penalty.  Bolander realizes that he made a mistake and also that the actual murderer is a man who committed suicide that very evening.

While that’s going on, Pembleton and Bayliss investigate the death of an elderly woman who appears to have slipped and drowned in her bathtub.  Her husband (Barnard Hughes) seems to be heartbroken.  Of course, the husband actually killed her.  He has fallen in love with another woman and he killed his wife so that he could be with her.  I preferred this storyline to the Bolander one, just because it featured a lot of Pembleton/Bayliss scenes and a good performance from Barnard Hughes.

Finally, Munch hired a new bartender.  He didn’t bother to tell his partners beforehand but how could Lewis and Bayliss possibly complain about Munch hiring Jerry Stiller to tend bar?  (Technically, Stiller was playing an Irishman named McGonical.)  This was a minor but likeable storyline, mostly because of Jerry Stiller’s likably bizarre performance.

So, this was yet another good but not great episode.  The Bolander storyline was a bit too melodramatic for its own good.  It’s not the sort of thing that would have happened during the show’s first two seasons, back when the whole point was to be realistic.  But that Bayliss/Pembleton storyline featured the show’s two most compelling characters doing what they did did best.  This episode was not perfect but it held my attention nonetheless.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.17 “The Old and the Dead”

Posted on 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 Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC!  It  can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, Bolander and Howard return to Homicide.

Episode 3.16 “The Old and the Dead”

(Dir by Michael Fields, originally aired on March 3rd, 1995)

When Giardello discovers that Colonel Granger (Walt MacPherson) has been hiring his brother-in-law’s shady plumbing firm to do unnecessary repairs at the city’s police stations, he leaks the story to the press.  When the scandal forces Granger out, Captain Barnfather is promoted to replace him.  Giardello thinks that, with his years of experience, he’ll be the obvious replacement for Barnfather.  Instead, the captain position is offered to Russert.  As Barnfather explains it, the mayor is aware that the majority of the voters in Baltimore are women.  When Giardello mentions that even more of the voters are black, Barnfather explains that the mayor’s leadership team already has a black man, him.

Giradello is not happy and he doesn’t hold back from letting Russert know about his displeasure.  I have to say that I respected Giardello for not holding back.  Russert has less experience than Giardello and, from what we’ve seen of her, she doesn’t appear to be as good at her job as Giardello is.  I mean, let’s be honest.  Russert had an affair with Beau Felton, of all people!  It’s a little bit hard to respect her judgment.

While Giardello was once again failing in his efforts to move up, both Howard and Bolander returned to duty.  Howard, on light duty, still manages to solve a case.  Bolander, meanwhile, is now wearing a hat to cover up the surgery scars that crisscross his head.  Ned Beatty, as usual, gave a good performance as Bolander.  I like Ned Beatty.  For some reason, I’ve never really liked Stanley Bolander.  I think it might be because he’s always complaining about something.  Maybe it’s because I’m still annoyed by the amount of unnecessary time that the first season spent on Bolander’s love life.  Or maybe it’s because Munch is devoted to the guy and Bolander still treats him like crap every chance that he gets.  For whatever reason, Bolander has always just kind of annoyed me.  That was the case with this episode.  I’m not saying I felt good about it.  Bolander was shot in the head and nearly died!  He has every right to be grumpy.  But there is just a part of me that is like, “If you hate your job so much, just retire.  Otherwise, stop bitching about everything!”

Finally, Bayliss and Felton worked surprisingly well together as they investigated a skeleton found in someone’s backyard.  It turned out that two men has never reported the death of their father so that they could continue to collect his social security checks.

As much as I complain about Bolander, this was not a bad episode.  This was a good example of an episode where the mysteries and plotlines were less important than just watching everyone in the cast play off of each other.  As of this season, the ensemble has really come together as a tight unit and each character has really come to life as an individual.  That’s one reason why I enjoyed watching Bayliss and Felton work together.  It was interesting to see how they interreacted and to compare it to how Bayliss worked with Pembleton and Felton with Howard.

Finally, this episode featured a cute cameo from the late Tim Russert, who is introduced as being Megan’s cousin.  Felton says that he never misses Meet the Press.  For some reason, I doubt that.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.16 “Law & Disorder”

Posted on 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 Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC!  It  can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, Munch gets away with murder.

Episode 3.16 “Law & Disorder”

(Dir by John McNaughton, originally aired on February 24th, 1995)

This week’s episode of Homicide gets off to a strange start, with a cameo from Chris Noth as Law & Order‘s Detective Mike Logan.  (Logan appeared early in the history of Law & Order, before North became known as the ill-fated Mr. Big on Sex And The City.)  Logan is transporting a prisoner to Baltimore and that prisoner is played by none other than John Waters!  Meeting Pembleton at the Amtrak station, Logan proceeds to bitch about Baltimore.  Pembleton bitches about New York.  Waters comments that Edgar Allan Poe hated New York.  When Pembleton says that Waters will be heading to prison but at least it will be a Baltimore prison, Waters says that’s why he didn’t fight extradition.  It’s a cute scene, though, as I watched it, I was struck by just how better of an actor Andre Braugher was than Chris Noth.  Noth delivered all of his line like a TV actor.  Braughter delivered his dialogue like a poet.

As for the rest of the show, we get several plotlines.  Bayliss is investigating the death of Gordon Pratt but, because Pratt shot Bolander, Felton, and Howard, none of his fellow detectives are that concerned about solving his murder.  Bayliss comes to suspect that it was a homicide detective who shot Pratt.  He asks Pembleton, Lewis, and Munch for their alibis and none of them really have a good one.  Myself, I think it’s pretty obvious that Much shot Pratt.  Munch’s hero-worship of Bolander, his anger after Pratt walked out of the station, all of it pretty much makes him the main suspect.  Lewis, who is still struggling to come to terms with Crosetti’s suicide, seems like he would be more likely to deal with his anger by drinking.  Even if he doesn’t want to admit it, Pembleton is too much of a wannabe Jesuit to do the eye for an eye thing.  Munch, though …. yeah, there’s no way Munch didn’t kill Gordon Pratt.  John Munch is a murderer.  (Okay, to be clear, the show leaves it ambiguous and never outright states that Munch was the killer but it’s still kind of obvious.)

And he gets away with it.  Bayliss tells Giardello that he’s followed-up every lead and that the Pratt case is just going to have remain open and go cold.  “Won’t help your clearance level,” Giardello shrugs.  It’s a decision that’s going to haunt Bayliss but the show suggests that Bayliss sees it as a sort of cosmic justice.  Before announcing that the case is going to go cold, Bayliss has a conversation with Pembleton and, of course, Bayliss brings up the Adena Watson case.  The Arabist got away with killing Adena Watson so Bayliss is going to let someone — Munch, let’s be honest — get away with killing Gordon Pratt.

Munch isn’t just a murder suspect in this episode.  He’s also a laughing-stock as a nude photo of him from his hippie days is the centerpiece of a photography exhibition that’s being put on by an ex-girlfriend (Valerie Perrine).  It was kind of strange, watching the episode go from Much being a suspected murderer to Munch being the comedic relief.  Still, I always enjoy it when the show remembers that Munch is basically a drug-addled survivor of the 60s.

Felton returns to the squad room, cleared for light duty.  He insists on going out to a crime scene with Giardello, leading to Felton stumbling around, making a fool of himself, and then throwing up afterwards.  Giardello informs Felton that he’s not a good detective in his current state but then again, Giardello adds, Felton has never been a good detective.  Ouch!  That’s harsh.  Of course, it’s also true.  As I’ve said before, I would not want sweaty, racist, borderline illiterate Beau Felton investigating the murder of anyone close to me.

Finally, Pembleton and Lewis investigated an apparently random shooting.  Pembleton thought the gunshot came from the projects.  Lewis insisted that the gunshot came from the white side of the neighborhood.  It turned out Lewis was right but Pembleton was unapologetic, saying he would investigate the case the exact same way if he had to do it all over again.  Watching this storyline, I found myself thinking about how black characters on television often feel interchangeable and they rarely have much of a personality beyond being a white person’s idea of what their black best friend might be like.  Homicide featured three prominent black characters — Lewis, Pembleton, and Giardello — and all three of them are portrayed as being unique individuals with their own different ways of viewing the world, the job, and each other.  Even today, when every television show is desperate to make sure everyone knows how “committed to diversity” they are, it’s rare to see a network show like Homicide, where black characters are portrayed as being individuals as opposed to just stereotypes.  This is something for which Homicide definitely deserves a bit more credit.

This was a good episode.  It appears the murder of Gordon Pratt will never be solved.  Of course, we all know Much did it.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.15 “End Game”

Posted on 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 Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC!  It  can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, the Homicide detective finally arrest the shooter but can they get a confession?

Episode 3.15 “End Game”

(Dir by Lee Bonner, originally aired on February 10th, 1995)

Finally, the Homicide detectives have figured out who actually shot Bolander, Howard, and Felton.  Gordon Pratt (Steve Buscemi), who lived at the apartment that the detectives were accidentally sent to, is a gun-obsessed pseudo-intellectual whose apartment is full of books that he’s probably never read and a picture of himself posing like Lee Harvey Oswald with the rifle he used to kill JFK.  Pratt also has an outstanding warrant for his arrest, explaining why he panicked when the cops accidentally knocked on his door.

Here’s my question.  Why exactly did it not occur to anyone to see who lived in Apartment 201 when the shootings first happened?  I understand that they were focused on a different suspect but it still seems strange that, with all the detectives assigned to the case, no one bothered to check out the guy who lived in Apartment 201.

Anyway, Bayliss and Mitch Drummond drop in on Pratt’s parents, who own a farmhouse and insist that Gordon would never shoot anyone.  Meanwhile, Pratt’s co-workers all talk about how much they hate his guts with one guy mentioning that Pratt went out of his way to antagonize people.  Pratt is finally tracked down at a massage parlor.

The majority of this episode centers around Pembleton and Bayliss interrogating Pratt.  It’s an obvious attempt to recapture the intensity of the first season’s Three Men and Adena and it actually succeeds, thanks to some smart writing and the performances of Andre Braugher, Kyle Secor, and especially Steve Buscemi.  Buscemi plays Pratt as being the ultimate uneducated know-it-all, someone who has picked bits and pieces of philosophy and who has learned that, if you deliver your mundane thoughts with a sneering contempt, some people will assume that you’re smarter than you actually are.  Pembleton and Bayliss have fun picking apart Pratt’s arrogance but — and this is what sets Homicide apart from so many other cop shows — Pembleton ultimately goes too far.  When he takes a look at Pratt’s copy of Plato’s The Republic and realizes that it’s written in Greek, Pembleton can’t help but taunt Pratt and point out that, unlike Pratt, he can actually read ancient Greek because he was educated by “the Jesuits,” while Pratt didn’t even mange to graduate high school.

“I want a lawyer!” Pratt shouts.

At this point, I realized that I had gotten so wrapped up in the interrogation scene that I had totally forgotten about the fact that all of the evidence linking Pratt to the shooting was circumstantial.  Without a gun or a confession, there’s not enough evidence to hold Pratt.  He pleads out to his outstanding assault warrant and he’s free within a few hours.

“You got too cute, Frank,” Munch says, leading to Pembleton physically attacking Munch and then storming out of the station.  Munch goes to the hospital to see Bolander (who has woken up from his coma but who has no memory of who Much actually is) and Bayliss is the only person left to take the call when Gordon Pratt turns up dead in the lobby of his apartment building, shot in the head.

Who murdered Gordon Pratt and was it a cop?  That’s what Bayliss — who sarcastically declares “I love my job!” before heading to the crime scene — will have to figure out.

Great episode!  Not only was it wonderfully performed but, just when you thought to yourself, “There’s no way Pembleton could get away with this in real life,” it turns out that Pembleton couldn’t get away with it on Homicide either.  That’s what makes Frank Pembleton such a fascinating character.  He’s a brilliant detective but, in this episode, he let his desire to embarrass Pratt get in the way of doing his job.  “He who loses control loses,” Pembleton says and, in this episode, he lost control.  Pembleton’s reaction is to storm out of the station in a huff, leaving Bayliss the task of figuring out who killed Gordon Pratt.

My money’s on Munch, just because of how upset he was when Pratt walked and also that it would make sense for Munch to avenge Bolander’s head wound by shooting Pratt in the head.  We’ll see if I’m correct next week!

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.14 “Dead End”

Posted on 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 Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC!  It  can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, the elusive Glenn Holton is captured but is really the shooter?  Read on and find out!

Episode 3.13 “Dead End”

(Dir by Whitney Ransick, originally aired on February 3rd, 1995)

There’s a truly remarkable moment in this week’s episode of Homicide.

Glenn Holton (Steve Hofvendahl) has finally been arrested and is sitting in the Box.  Holton is the pedophile who is suspected of murdering a child.  Last week, Felton, Bolander, and Howard were all shot while trying to serve a warrant for his arrest.  Bayliss and Pembleton are interviewing him, attempting to get him to confess to shooting the detectives.

At first, Holton is adamant that he did not shoot anyone.  But as Pembleton and Bayliss shout at him and tell him about all the things that are going to happen to him as a sex offender in prison, Holton’s demeanor starts to change.  He becomes desperate and confused and suddenly, he confesses to shooting the detectives.  The only problem is that the story Holton comes up with doesn’t match the facts of the case.  He claims that he shot the detectives on the roof of his apartment building.  He claims they were coming at him.  When asked what type of gun he used, Holton says it was just some gun that he bought on the street.  The more Holton talks, the more obvious it becomes that, while he did murder the child, he didn’t shoot the detectives.

It’s an interesting scene because it shows just how easy it could be to get a false confession out of a suspect.  It’s left ambiguous as to whether or not Holton was lying because he preferred to be sent to prison for shooting a cop instead of killing a kid or if maybe Holton actually had deluded himself into thinking he was the shooter.  If Bayliss and Pembleton hadn’t asked him follow-up questions about the shooting, Holton probably would have been charged with the shooting.  He did, after all, confess.

Holton’s going to jail for murder but the shooter is still out there.  Who fired the gun?  I suspect I know, just because next week’s episode features a special guest star.  But we’ll talk about that next week!

The interrogation scene was the highlight of this week’s episode.  Still, I enjoyed the scenes of Munch working with Bolander’s ex-partner Mitch and struggling to hide his jealousy.  (Bolander is always complaining that Mitch was a far better partner than Munch.)  I was a bit less interested in this week’s Russert plot.  Megan was told to investigate whether or not Giardello was at fault for the detectives going to the wrong apartment.  She discovered Giardello did approve and initial the warrant without double-checking the address.  Giardello  was prepared to take the blame but Russet instead lied and claimed that, because of budget cuts, she and Giardello were both often rushed into signing things without getting a chance to fully examine them.  I’m not sure that’s a particularly good excuse but it worked.

At the hospital, Howard woke up from her coma.  Bolander is still in his coma and was not present during this episode.  (From what I’ve read, Ned Beatty was apparently not happy with the whole shooting storyling, feeling that it went against the realism that was supposed to be Homicide’s calling card.)  Lewis and Felton had a heart-to-heart about what it’s like to lose one’s partner.  It was an effective scene, even if Felton has become a bit of a one-note character.

This was a good episode and a marked improvement on last week.  I look forward to seeing how things conclude (or if they even do conclude) in the next episode.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.13 “The City That Bleeds”

Posted on 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 Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC!  It  can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, it’s another red ball on Homicide!

Episode 3.12 “The City That Bleeds”

(Dir by Tim Hunter, originally aired on January 27th, 1995)

This week’s episode opens with Bolander, Munch, Howard, and Felton having a morning meeting outside of an apartment building.  They put on bullet-proof vets because they (and several uniformed officers) are about to arrest Glenn Holton, a sex offender who is believed to have murdered a child.  Unfortunately, because of a transcription error on the warrant, the detective go to Apartment 201 instead of 210.  As they knock on the door to 201, someone on the stairwell opens fire on them.  Bolander, Howard, and Felton are hit.  Munch somehow avoids being shot.

It’s red ball time!  We’re only 12 episodes into season 3 and this is our third “all hands on deck” red ball of the season.  NBC reportedly wanted showrunner Tom Fontana to give them more drama in return for renewing the low-rated Homicide and Fontana delivered.

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  This was a compelling episode, featuring Pembleton tracking Glenn Holton across the city while Bayliss tried to deal with his guilt over being relieved that he wasn’t shot.  After visiting the hospital, Giardello had an emotional breakdown while Lewis was driving him back to the station.  Felton’s wife returned from Philadelphia to visit him in the hospital.  Gloria Reuben and Tony Lo Bianco guest-starred as detectives who came in to help with the case and, for both of them, this episode felt like an audition to join the cast.  Things ended with a cliffhanger.  Holton is still at large.  Felton is awake but hospitalized.  Bolander and Kay are still in critical condition.  It was an exciting episode.

And yet, one can understand why Ned Beatty later said, in an interview, that this was one of the episodes that eventually led to him leaving the show.  First off, why the detectives would be serving the arrest warrant as opposed to the uniformed cops or, considering Holton’s crimes, even the SWAT team, I’m not sure.  Munch makes a comment about how the four of them had served hundreds of arrest warrants in the past but it’s not something that we’ve ever seen them do on the show before.  That the nonstop emotional drama was compelling was due to the strength of the cast and not the strength of the script, which was occasionally so overwrought that it felt almost like a parody of a cop show.  This episode worked but, after it ended, I found myself thinking about how different it felt from the deliberately-paced and moody episodes the aired during the first and second seasons.

And finally, it’s hard not to get annoyed that, with everything going on, we still had to deal with all of Felton’s stupid domestic nonsense.  I’m tried of hearing about Felton’s wife and kids and how he can’t make his marriage work.  I’m even more tired of Megan Russert, a character who could be a total badass, being solely defined by her relationship with Felton.

This episode, the first of a three-parter, held my attention while I was watching it and it was only afterwards that I realized I kind of had mixed feelings about it overall.  Homicide is changing.  We’ll see where it goes.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.12 “Partners”

Posted on 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 Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC!  It  can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, the bar finally opens!

Episode 3.12 “Partners”

(Dir by John McNaughton, Originally aired January 20th, 1995)

As you can tell by the title, this episode was all about partners.

For instance, Megan Russert realized that her former partner from narcotics, Douglas Jones (Robert Clohessy, with his Bronx accent), has been beating up his wife, Natalie (Lily Knight).  He regularly puts her in the hospital, though Natalie always insists that she either fell down the stairs or walked into a door.  Jones, who is now working homicide during the night shift and under Russert’s command, insists that he would never hurt his wife.  When Russert asks Jones’s former boss if Jones had been having any trouble while working narcotics, he refuses to give her specifics.  It’s a boys club and the boys protect each other.  Eventually, Natalie ends up shooting Jones with his own gun, probably killing him.  (We’re told that he’s barely holding on.)  This storyline was well-acted and well-written but watching it, I was reminded of just how awkwardly this show tends to use Russert.  Because she commands a different shift, she doesn’t really get much interaction with the other main characters.  Her affair with Beau Felton has never really made sense.  From what I understand, Russert was created by NBC demanded more personal drama and some glamour.  Isabella Hofman does about as good a job as anyone could with her often underwritten character but there’s really just not much for her to do.

Meanwhile, with Pembleton under suspension and threatening to quit, Bayliss doesn’t have a regular partner.  His attempt to partner up with Lewis ends in disaster when Lewis’s bad (albeit hilarious) driving leads to Bayliss getting a minor concussion.  Fortunately, Pembleton does return to the Homicide Department, though not before nearly burning down his kitchen while trying to make dinner.  Unfortunately, before Pembleton can return to his job, he has to take the fall for offering to drop the investigation into Congressman Wade’s false kidnapping report.  Andre Braugher perfectly plays the scene in which Pambleton testifies in court.  It’s easy to see the emotional and mental pain that Pembleton feels as he essentially commits perjury, taking the blame and letting Commissioner Harris of the hook.  Pembleton is forced to compromise and it eats away at his soul.  At the same time, he also gets to return to doing what he does best.  Early on in the episode, Giardello acknowledges that he and Pembleton are not friends.  “I’ve never been to your house, I’ve never met you’re wife …. I am not your friend ….” but Giardello explains that Pembleton is a good detective.  He turns “red names black” and that’s why he wants and needs Pembleton to return.

Bayliss, Lewis, and Munch finally open their bar and, at the end of the episode, it looks like the entire city of Baltimore has turned out.  Bolander even looks like he’s having a good time!  Munch raises a glass in a toast to the best partners that anyone could hope for and I got tears in mismatched eyes.  Seriously, I was so happy to finally see that bar open!  It was also nice to see everyone else happy for once.  That doesn’t often happen on Homicide.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.10 “Every Mother’s Son”

Posted on 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 Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC!  It  can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, life and death both continue in Baltimore.

Episode 3.10 “Every Mother’s Son”

(Dir by Kenneth Fink, originally aired on January 6th, 1995)

Let’s get the least important part of this week’s episode out of the way first.  Felton is still looking for his wife and kids.  He abandons Kay while she’s in the middle of a homicide investigation.  When Kay calls him out on it, Felton brings up the fact that she went on vacation for a weekend.  The difference is that Felton isn’t taking vacation days.  Instead, he’s just leaving in the middle of work and expecting Kay to handle all of his cases.

BEAU FELTON — WORST HOMICIDE DETECTIVE EVER!

Meanwhile, Lewis and Munch discover that their bar is a historical landmark because George Washington once stopped there to use the restroom.  The bar stuff, while not really related to the episode’s main drama, didn’t feel as unnecessary as the stuff with Felton’s family.  A lot of that is because Lewis, Munch, and Bayliss are a lot more sympathetic than Felton.  This week’s scenes with Howie Mandel as an interior decorator felt a bit off for an episode of Homicide but they still amused me.  That said, at some point, these three really are going to have to get it together and open the place.

As for the main storyline, it featured Pembleton and Bayliss investigating the shooting of a 13 year-old in a bowling alley.  It’s a familiar story, one that this show has used before.  The fact that we’ve seen it before is not a reflection on the show.  It’s reflection of the reality of life on the streets.  The murderer was another kid, one who was now facing life in prison if he ended up getting charged as an adult.  The murderer showed little remorse, telling Pembleton that he would rather be in jail than the on the streets.  What made this episode stand out was a scene between two mothers — one the mother of the victim and the other the mother of the shooter — meeting by chance in  a police station and striking up a conversation despite not knowing who the other was.  Gay Thomas Wilson and Rhonda Stubbins White both gave excellent and poignant performances of two women who, by the end of the show, would have both ended up losing their oldest son.

This was a simple but effective episode, a moody look at the ironies of death and violence in Baltimore.  George Washington once stopped by the Waterfront Bar but that doesn’t mean anything to the people who are dying and suffering in the city.  In the end, Pembleton could only look on in silene as the shooter announced that he was happy to be in jail.  “You’re probably going to die in a cell just like this,” Pembleton says.

“Better here than on the streets,” is the reply.

And nothing more is left to be said.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.9 “Nothing Personal”

Posted on 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 Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC!  It  can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, Felton again proves himself to be the most incompetent cop in Baltimore.

Episode 3.9 “Nothing Personal”

(Dir by Timothy Van Patten, originally aired on April 21st, 1995)

Woe be anyone whose murder is investigating by Detective Beau Felton.

Felton (played by Daniel Baldwin) shambles his way through this episode, his hair a greasy mess and his eyes bloodshot.  The episode takes place over the course of several days and Felton doesn’t change his clothes once.  Just looking at him, one can smell the pungent mix of sweat, cigarettes, and booze.  Felton is searching for his wife and his son.  In this episode, his mother-in-law tells him that his wife is planning on coming home, just for her to change her mind at the last moment.  On the one hand, I do feel a bit bad for Felton, even if he was an absolutely terrible husband.  On the other hand, he’s got an important job and, right now, he sucks at it.  His decision to go back to Megan Russert’s place after he talks to his mother-in-law definitely does not make him in any way extra sympathetic.

Poor Kay!  She has been just been assigned the Chilton murder, which was one of Crosetti’s unsolved cases and now her 100% clearance rate is threatened.  The case is considered to be unsolvable.  Someone strangled Erica Chilton.  Her husband (Dean Winters) gives Kay and Felton a stack of letters that were sent by Erica’s secret lover.  Alcoholic Felton loses the letters.  The episode ends with Kay reluctantly accepting that she might never solve the case.  Personally, I think Kay should consider that the victim’s husband is played by Dean Winters.  With the exception of Law & Order: SVU, I have never seen Dean Winters appear on a show like this without eventually turning out to be the murderer and the fact that he had a huge stack of letters from Erica’s boyfriend would give him a motive.  See, Kay?  I solved your case for you!

Meanwhile, Giardello goes out to lunch with Megan Russert and one of her friends.  Russert wants to set them up.  Giardello is interested but Russert’s friend isn’t.  Giardello, in a wonderfully performed moment (all hail Yaphet Kotto), tells Russert that he feels that light-skinned black women always reject him because he’s “too black.”  Russert says that’s ridiculous, just for Giardello to reply that, as a “white woman,” she wouldn’t understand.  Giardello spends the rest of the episode depressed.  It’s always interesting whenever Giardello, who is usually so imposing, let’s down his guard a bit and reveals his emotions.  Kotto always did a great job playing Giardello, regardless of whether Giardello was ordering Pembleton to work with Bayliss or just trying to avoid doing his laundry with Munch.

Speaking of Munch, the Waterfront Bar continues to be a headache.  Lewis, Bayliss, and Munch have finally purchased their bar but it turns out that the former owner is not allowed to leave behind any of the liquor that she previously had at the bar.  So, the three partners are going to have to pay for all their liquor themselves.  The Waterfront Bar storyline has been dragged out a bit but it is a storyline that shows just how difficult it is to start a business in an overregulated state.  So, it appeals to be my libertarian side.

There were a lot of good moments in this episode, even if I am getting a bit tired of Felton and his incompetence.  One thing that I’ve really enjoyed about this season is how much Kay and Russert seem to sincerely dislike each other.  This episode featured Russet calling Kay out for obsessing over her perfect clearance rate and Kay’s barely pent up irritation was entertaining to watch.  Still, I do find myself wondering why Russet is always at the station, even though her shift is over.  Seriously, Russert, spend some time with your child and tell Felton to get off your damn couch!  There’s murders that need to be solved.