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, 1st & Ten gets serious.

Episode 3.10 “Blood on Blood”

(Dir by Bruce Seth Green, originally aired on November 27th, 1987)

The Bulls are going to the playoffs!  It’s not because they’ve had a particularly good season.  It’s just that their division rival, Denver, lost a game and that narrowly allowed the Bulls to sneak their way into the postseason.  Coach Grier yells at all the players for celebrating.  He tells them that they have nothing to be happy about.

Well, Zagreb has something to be happy about.  The Bulgarian kicker is about to get married to Anna (Valerie Landsburg) so that he can avoid being deported.  However, at the wild bachelor party that Jethro throws for him, Zagreb strips down to his underwear and dances with a stripper.  Anna happens to show up and she calls off the wedding.  The next day, Jill tells Zagreb that the State Department is no longer trying to deport him.  It turns out that Zagreb’s father was not a communist official but instead a double agent!  (Zagreb says that he read the Communist Manifesto a hundred times for nothing.)  Zagreb no longer has to get married to stay in the country.  Except, now, Zagreb wants to get married….

Meanwhile, Billy Cooper gets his brother, Michael (Linden Ashby), a job as an assistant equipment manager.  Mike has just gotten out of prison.  He was serving time for armed robbery.  When things turn up missing in the locker room, Mike is the number one suspect.  TD Parker (played by OJ Simpson) fires him.  Just imagine getting accused and then fired by OJ Simpson!  Mike is not happy.

Later, Bubba catches another equipment manager stealing from the locker room.  Realizing that Mike was innocent, TD and Billy drive out to the liquor store where Mike is now working.  They hire Mike back.  Yay!  I love it when people get a second chance.  We’d have a lot less crime in this country if people were willing to take a chance on folks like Mike, who made a mistake but who sincerely want to turn their lives around.  Good for TD!  Good for Billy!  Good for America….

Of course, as soon as TD and Billy leave, two bikers rob the liquor store and shoot Mike dead.

Wow, this was a dark episode.  I appreciated the fact that the show attempted to take a serious look at the struggle that someone like Mike would face upon reentering society.  That said, the liquor store shooting happened so abruptly that it felt almost like a parody of a melodrama.  Much like the player dying of steroid abuse earlier in the season, this was the type of big dramatic moment that 1st & Ten didn’t really have the gravitas to pull off.

Next week, the Bulls continue to try to make it to the Championship for the third year in a row!