Tag Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman

Late Night Retro Television Review: Freddy’s Nightmares 2.22 “Life Sentence”

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 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, we finish up Freddy’s Nightmares.

Episode 2.22 “Life Sentence”

(Dir by Anita W. Addison, originally aired on March 11th, 1990)

The final episode of Freddy’s Nightmares is also one of the most boring.

Just as with last week’s snoozefest, this episode takes place at the local prison.  Andy (George De La Pena) is due to be released.  Everyone knows that he killed a guard during an armored truck robbery but Andy blamed his accomplice Bruno (Ron Troncatty) and got away with a plea bargain.  Andy can’t wait to get out of jail.  He brags to the guy in the next cell about how he knows where all the money is hidden.

Uh-oh, it looks like the prison’s psychiatrist, Elaine Alamo (Penny Johnson Jerald), is trying to keep Andy imprisoned.  What does Andy care?  Sure, everyone hates him but Bruno’s in another prison and Andy’s got all that money waiting for him.  However, when Andy finds out that Bruno has escaped, Andy no longer feels safe on the outside.  However, Elaine has changed her mind about keeping Andy in jail because she wants Bruno to kill Andy because the guard the Andy killed was her father.  So, Andy kills Elaine so he can stay in prison.  But then Bruno gets captured and becomes Andy’s new cellmate.  That’s the first story.

The second story features the prison’s warden, Hendler (John Milford), running for sheriff.  He’s behind in the polls so he uses an experimental truth serum on Andy.  Andy hallucinates that the Warden is Bruno and Andy tells him where the money is hidden.  Then Andy dies from a heart attack.  The Warden calls a press conference to announce that he’s found the money but Dr. Redman (Glynn Turman), the inventor of the serum, spikes the Warden’s drink and the Warden confesses to killing Andy.

Freddy doesn’t do anything in either one of these stories, other than appear in three host segments and tell a joke about dropping the soap.

This episode was incredibly dull.  The low-budget was extremely obvious.  (The Warden holds his press conference in the prison, presumably because the show couldn’t afford to dress another set.)  Penny Johnson Jerald does a  good job with her role but otherwise, this was a poorly acted episode that featured dull characters.  Andy was unlikable.  The Warden was unlikable.  This episode was sad note for this show to go out on.

Of course, it’s not a shock that Freddy’s Nightmares ended with a bad episode.  It wasn’t a very good show to begin with,  There were a few above average episodes during the second season and the first season features some memorably grotesque moments but otherwise, Freddy’s Nightmares was too constrained by the standards of television to really live up to the legacy of A Nightmare on Elm Street.  The best episode were the ones the featured Freddy getting involved in the plot but those were few and far between.

Freddy’s Nightmares did not get a grand finale.  Instead, it just got a forgettable final episode.  Unlike the Friday the 13th series, Freddy’s Nightmares never found a consistent tone or a compelling reason for existing.

Oh well.  Next week, we’ll have a new show in this time slot.  See you then!

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 4.5 “Slice O’Life”

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 Fridays, I will be reviewing St. Elsewhere, a medical show which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988.  The show can be found on Daily Motion.

This week, it’s a busy few days in Boston.

Episode 4.5 “Slice O’Life”

(Dir by Eric Laneuville, originally aired on November 6th, 1985)

Oh, the drama!

Elliot is still struggling to lose weight.

Fiscus is having an early midlife crisis, especially when a cancer patient (Todd Susman) philosophically accepts that the treatment is going to leave him impotent.  The patient has lived a life with meaning.  What has Fiscus done?

Dr. Craig finally admits to Ellen that he knows he was too hard on their now dead son.  They are both preparing to raise their granddaughter, Barbara, in their home.  However, Yvonne’s parents (Ramon Bieri and K Callan) arrive in Boston for a visit.  They are so blue collar and, in Dr. Craig’s eyes, unsophisticated that they almost seems like caricatures of what the rich think the poor are like.  They reveal that Stephen and Yvonne asked them to serve as Barbara’s legal guardians in case anything happened.  At first, Ellen refuses to let them take Barbara.  “Get your wife in check,” Yvonne’s father says.  “I’ll see you in court,” Dr. Craig replies.

After complaining about feeling like he has a cold and then getting upset about the Hospital Board not immediately approving all of his projects, Dr. Westphall collapses in the St. Eligius stairwell.  It turns out that he has Malaria.  Apparently, a self-righteous attitude and a bunch of impractical ideas were not the only things Westphall brought home from Ethiopia.

Finally, Bobby spends another weekend up at Cape Cod.  He picks up a local woman.  They have what Bobby is probably expecting to be just another one night stand.  The woman, however, has a razor blade that she’s hidden under her tongue (yikes!) and proceeds to slice Bobby across his face.

AGCK!

Up until that ending, this was a fairly typical episode of St. Elsewhere.  It looked like the big drama was going to be the Craigs temporarily losing Barbara.  Instead, the drama is that Bobby might be dead!

Oh, poor Mark Harmon.  When he first started playing the role on this show, Bobby was portrayed as being a nice guy who was a little boring.  The show really had no idea what to do with him, other than have him occasionally take his shirt off.  For the fourth season, the show’s writers turned him into an arrogant hedonist.  On the one hand, I’m sure there are a lot of doctors like Bobby Caldwell.  On the other hand, the change really does seem to have come out of nowhere.  And now, he might be dead.  I guess the lesson here is to stay away from Cape Cod!

The attack on Bobby ultimately overshadows everything else that happened in this episode.  I will say that, before Bobby got attacked, I was enjoying Dr. Craig’s rather snobbish reaction to Yvonne’s parents.  As for Dr. Westphall …. eh.  Westphall’s kind of become a one trick pony.  He’s depressed and he wants the world to know it.  I know quite a few people like Dr. Westphall in real life, which is probably why I get so annoyed with his character on the show.

Seriously, Westphall, cheer up!

 

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix for Judge Dredd!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly watch parties.  On Twitter, I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday and I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday.  On Mastodon, I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie!  Every week, we get together.  We watch a movie.  We tweet our way through it.

Tonight, at 10 pm et, I will be hosting #FridayNightFlix!  The movie?  1995’s Judge Dredd!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, find Judge Dredd on Prime, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag!  I’ll be there happily tweeting.  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

See you there!

 

 

Scene That I Love: Rebel Without A Cause

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Since today is Nicholas Ray’s birthday, it seems appropriate to share a scene from Ray’s best-known film, 1955’s Rebel Without A Cause.  In this scene, a group of teens who can barely find happiness or peace on their own planet are asked to consider the wonders of the universe.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Nicholas Ray Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Director and screenwriter Nicholas Ray was born 115 years ago today, in Galesville, Wisconsin.  He would go on to become one of the most influential American directors of all time, making independently-minded films that celebrated rebels and iconoclasts.  The directors of the French New Wave loved him and for good reason.

Today, we celebrate the life and legacy of Nicholas Ray with….

4 Shots From 4 Nicholas Ray Films

In A Lonely Place (1950, dir by Nicholas Ray, DP: Burnett Guffey)

Rebel Without A Cause (1955, dir by Nicholas Ray, DP: Ernest Haller)

Bigger Than Life (1956, dir by Nicholas Ray, DP: Joseph MacDonald)

Party Girl (1958, dir by Nicholas Ray, DP: Robert J. Bronner)

Late Night Retro Television Review: Hunter 1.15 “The Beach Boy”

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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing Hunter, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1991.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!

This week, someone is killing criminals in Los Angeles and, for once, it’s not Rick Hunter!

Episode 1,15 “The Beach Boy”

(Dir by Richard Colla, originally aired on April 6th, 1985)

A Hawaiian drug lord is angered when five Los Angeles drug dealers decide to stop dealing his product.  So, he sends his main assassin — Wes “Beach Boy” Kapano (Brett Clark) — to L.A. to kill all five of them.  Hunter and McCall find themselves in the strange position of providing productive custody to the dealers while trying to stop Kapano.

This was a typical “chase-em-and-shoot-em” episode of Hunter.  Dee Dee even managed to get shot for the second time this season.  (And, once again, it didn’t seem to actually hurt her.  “I’m fine!”)  For the first season, at least, Hunter kept things simple.  In between the flirtatious Hunter/McCall banter, there would be at least one car chase and three shootings.

What sets this episode apart is that Hunter and McCall are protecting drug dealers.  While McCall makes it clear that she doesn’t actually care what happens to the dealers, Hunter’s feelings are a bit more ambivalent.  He’s been chasing the dealers for so long that he’s developed a grudging affection for them.  When one of them is killed while helping the police, Hunter’s actually upset about it.

The other thing that sets this episode apart was Brett Clark’s intimidating turn as the assassin.  The Beach Boy, as he’s called, doesn’t waste too much time with conversations.  He doesn’t brag about how clever he is or go to a lot of trouble trying to fool anyone.  Instead, he just shows up and starts firing.  He wears a bulletproof vest, as well.  McCall shoots him twice and he barely flinches.  He’s a scary dude!

That said, Hunter still manages to kill him.  How many people have been killed by Rick Hunter so far?  I’ve lost track.  Most officers are suspended after a shooting so that the shooting board can rule whether or not it was justified.  Hunter is always back on the streets within an hour of killing someone.  Considering how quick he is with a gun, I probably wouldn’t want to tell him he was suspended either.

Much like Hunter and McCall, this episode was brutal and efficient.

Retro Television Review: America 2100 1.1 “Pilot”

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!  This Thursdays, I will be reviewing America 2100, which aired its only episode on ABC in 1979.  The show can be found on YouTube!

Episode 1.1 “Pilot” 

(Directed by Joel Zwick, originally aired on July 24th, 1979)

In 1979, it appears that the comedy team of Chester Barnes (Jon Cutler) and Phil Kreese (Mark King) are on the verge of breaking up.  Tired of not finding success and struggling to pay the bills, Chester is thinking of moving home and working for his uncle’s refrigeration company.  Phil begs Chester to reconsider.  Chester finally agrees to sleep on it.  To help him sleep, Phil suggests warm milk and sleeping pills.  Chester and Phil go to bed in their small apartment….

….and wake up in 2100!

As the cheery Dr. Karen Harland (Karen Valentine) explains, Chester and Phil died in 1979 but, through the use of science, they’ve been brought back to life!   What is 2100 like?

It’s a lot like the 70s, just a little bit tackier.

The Future!

At first, Chester and Phil claim that there were the leaders of America in 1979.  When Karen says that the mysterious Max takes a dim view of lying, Chester and Phil admit that they were two unemployed losers.  When they ask who Max is, Karen explains that Max is in charge and that everyone has to do what Max is.

Max is a robot, though it’s not a good idea to call him that.  He prefers to be called a — wait for it — “computer.”  Max speaks with the voice of Sid Caesar.  Every child is brought before Max and told what they’re going to do with the rest of your life.  “You’ll be a microbiologist,” Max says to one child.  “You’ll be a female impersonator,” he says to another.  Eventually, Chester and Phil are brought before Max.

“You two will be museum exhibits,” Max says.

Chester and Phil are not happy about that.  They want to be in show business!  Back at their apartment, they explain to Karen that she’s living a life where there is no freedom and, without free will, life is meaningless.  Karen admits that she secretly wants to be a tap dancer.  She then shows off a few of her tap dancing moves and the audiences goes wild and the end credits roll.

Wow, I wonder what type of wacky adventures Chest and Phil had in the future!?

Well, they didn’t have any adventures.  This pilot aired once and it didn’t lead to a series.  Watching the pilot, I could see why the show didn’t work.  The two leads were miscast and they both played their roles very broadly.  When you’ve already got Sid Caesar providing the voice of a rolling computer, you really don’t need anyone else in the cast to go overboard.  It also didn’t help that Chester and Phil seemed to be pretty much interchangeable as characters.  The only thing that really distinguished one from the other was that Chester was the one with dark hair.

That said, I am a big believer in personal freedom and I appreciated that this show attempted to make the case for allowing people to be creative and to even screw up occasionally.  An America where everyone compliantly takes orders from a computer may have seemed unbelievable in 1979 but it’s a bit more plausible in 2026.  Max is basically a less cranky version of Bernie Sanders so it was fun to see someone tell him off, even if it was just Chester and Phil.

Join #TubiThursday For Dirty Dancing!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi, everyone!  Tonight, on Mastodon, I will be hosting the #TubiThursday watch party!  Join us for a true classic, Dirty Dancing!

You can find the movie on Tubi and you can join us on Mastodon at 9 pm central time!  (That’s 10 pm for you folks on the East Coast.)  We will be using #TubiThursday hashtag!  See you then!

Song of the Day: Andy Warhol from David Bowie

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s song of the day comes from David Bowie and it’s about Bowie’s fascination with Andy Warhol.  Warhol himself apparently didn’t care for this song but Bowie meant it as a tribute.

This song came out in 1971.  25 years later, Bowie would play Andy Warhol in Basquiat.