Tag Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman

Late Night Retro Television Review: Hunter 1.16 “Guilty”

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, it’s another violent couple of days in Los Angeles.

Episode 1.16 “Guilty”

(Dir by Michael Lange, originally aired on April 13th, 1985)

In 1979, Louis McMahon (Ken Foree) was convicted of murder and given a life sentence.  Six years later, he’s been paroled and …. wait, really?  He served six years for murder?  What the Hell, California!?

Louis is free and working as a cook.  When someone starts stalking and killing the jurors at his trial, Louis is the number one suspect.  However, before the killer strikes, he always calls his victims and rasps, “Guilty.”  Louis’s throat was slashed in prison and he’s now mute!  Or is he?  McCall suggests that Louis is faking being mute and …. well, yeah.  That’s what he was doing alright.

This is the most simplistic episode of Hunter yet.  McCall and Hunter figure out quickly that Louis is the murderer.  All the other cops refuse to take Hunter and McCall seriously because of …. reasons, I guess?  I mean, there really is no other suspect.  Louis is the one person who has a reason to what to commit the murders.  The only thing linking the victims is that they all voted to convict Louis.  And yet, once again, Hunter and McCall find themselves being told not to bother the obvious murderer.

Of course, Hunter ends up shooting Louis.  We haven’t finished the first season and I’ve already lost track of the amount of people that Hunter has shot.  While I am as concerned as anyone is about trigger-happy cops, I do have to say that everyone that Hunter has shot had it coming.  That’s especially true of Louis, who was an absolute monster.  Ken Foree did a really good job playing him.  Foree was so scary so that it kind of made up for the fact that this was one of the most predictable hours of television that I’ve ever watched.

Once again, Hunter and McCall save countless lives and they get no credit for it.  Instead, they get sent to park to arrest muggers.  As the episode ends, they actually catch one.  I was surprised Hunter didn’t just shoot him.

Retro Television Review: Almost Heaven 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 Almost Heaven, which aired its only episode on ABC in 1978.  The show can be found on YouTube!

This week, we take a look at a pilot featuring a few familiar faces.

Episode 1.1 “Almost Heaven”

(Dir by Bill Persky, originally aired on December 28th, 1978)

After getting into an argument with his girlfriend, college student Dave Leland (Robert Hays) accidentally drives his car off of a cliff.  One second, Dave is plunging to his death and the next second, he’s stepping into what appears to be a rather nondescript counseling office.

He is met by Lydia (Eva Gabor), who explains that Dave is dead.  (“You’ll get used to it.”)  Dave wasn’t bad enough to go to Hell but he also wasn’t good enough to win immediate entry into Heaven so for now, he’s been assigned to work at the Heavenly Crisis and Conscience Center.  Lydia explains that this is where souls wait until they’ve done enough good deeds to enter Heaven.  It’s Almost Heaven.

At this point, I yelled at the screen, “It’s Purgatory!  Get it right!”

Dave’s job is to watch Earth on television and to counsel anyone who he sees preparing to make a bad decision.  (The people who he counsels will be brought to the office but they’ll forget about it as soon as they leave, though Dave’s hopefully good advice will remain in their minds.  Got it?)  Dave’s coworkers are snooty Randall (Richard Roat), perky Annie (Laura Heineman), and future talk show host Danny (Jay Leno).

Okay, actually, Danny is not a talk show host.  Instead, he’s the character who seems like he’s cynical but who actually has a good heart.  In life, he stole cars.  In death, he helps Dave learn the ropes and he has an oddly flirtatious vibe with Eva Gabor.

Once Dave gets used to being dead, it’s time for him to talk Bridgett (Ellen Regan) out of killing herself.  Does he succeed?  Well, it would be a really depressing sitcom if he didn’t.

Almost Heaven was a pilot that was not turned into a full series.  It aired once, a few days after Christmas, and that was it.  Robert Hays was likable in the lead role and the supporting cast did the best they could.  (It’s obvious that he was more of a stand-up than an actor but, to the probable disappointment of Conan fans everywhere, Jay Leno is actually okay in this pilot.)  The main problem with the pilot is that the script is so jokey that the moments that try to be serious — like Dave convincing Bridgett not to kill herself — feel out of place and fall flat.  This is one of those pilots where you can imagine it actually developing into a good show but only if the writers eventually managed to settle on a consistent tone.  As well, they really should have called this show Purgatory.  Almost Heaven could mean anywhere.

Almost Heaven only ran for one episode but hopefully, Dave eventually made it into Heaven.  As for Robert Hays, he went on to star in Airplane! so everything turned out for the best.

Join #TubiThursday For The Forbidden Dance!

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, 1990’s The Forbidden Dance!

You can find the movie on Tubi and YouTube 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!

Scenes that I Love: The Gas Station Attack From Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s not just The Birds that cause chaos in this scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film of the same name.  I will never understand why that gentleman decided that he just had to light up a cigar at that particular time.  And if he had used a lighter instead of a match, he could have prevented a lot of trouble.

You do have to respect the Birds for somehow knowing that he would do exactly that and therefore, making sure that the gasoline ended up right around his feet.  Those birds are clever!

Seriously, though, this scene really creeps me out.  I think it’s because there’s so many birds and, as this scene showed, there was absolutely no way the humans on that island were going to be able to win this particular battle.

12 Shots From 12 Films: Special Alfred Hitchcock 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!

127 years ago, the master of suspense was born in England.  Today, we honor the career and legacy of the great Alfred Hitchock with….

12 Shots From 12 Alfred Hitchcock Films

The Lodger (1926, dir by Alfred Hitchcock)

Rebecca (1940, dir by Alfred Hitchcock, DP: George Barnes)

Shadow of a Doubt (1943, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, DP: Joseph A. Valentine)

Notorious (1946, dir by Alfred Hitchcock, DP: Ted Tetzlaff)

Spellbound (1945, dir by Alfred Hitchcock, dir by George Barnes))

Rear Window (1954, dir by Alfred Hitchcock, DP: Robert Burks)

The Wrong Man (1956, Dir. by Alfred Hitchcock, DP: Robert Burks)

Vertigo (1958, dir by Alfred Hitchcock, DP: Robert Burks)

North by Northwest (1959, dir by Alfred Hitchcock, DP: Robert Burks)

Psycho (1960, dir by Alfred Hitchcock, DP: John L. Russell)

The Birds (1963, dir by Alfred Hitchcock, DP: Robert Burks)

Frenzy (1972, dir by Alfred Hitchcock, DP: Gil Taylor))

Late Night Retro Television Review: 1st & Ten 4.12 “Duty Calls”

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 Wednesdays, I will be reviewing 1st and Ten, which aired in syndication from 1984 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on Tubi.

The season continues!  Can the Bulls hold on to their undefeated record?

Episode 4.12 “Duty Calls”

(Dir by Stan Lathan, originally aired on December 21st, 1988)

Considering all of the time that I’ve spent complaining about how there’s usually very little continuity from one 1st & Ten episode to another, I really do have to start this review by giving this show some credit. This episode actually follows up on something that happened a few episodes ago. Harley (Ken Morrison), the kid that Dr. Death befriended in “Injustice for All,” shows up at Bulls Stadium and tells Dr. Death that his mother has abandoned him yet again.

Dr. Death tracks Frankie (Beth Broderick) down at a biker bar and tells her that she needs to go home and take care of her son. It turns out that Frankie hasn’t even told her new boyfriend, Deacon (John Benjamin Martin), that she has a son. When Deacon finds out, he’s offended that Frankie wasn’t honest with him. He explains that bikers are all about family. If Frankie has a son, that means all of the other members of the motorcycle gang have a son as well.

(While it’s easy to scoff at this episode’s mawkish dialogue and its simplistic handling of what looks to be a case of massive parental neglect, I do have to say that my Dad had his share of biker friends and, underneath their admittedly rough exterior, they were some of the nicest people that I have ever met.)

While Dr. Death is fixing a family, Gail (Shanna Reed) and TD Parker (OJ Simpson) are trying to motivate the team to win their 11th game by offering them a $900,000 bonus if they secure a victory. This gets Gail in trouble with the rest of the league’s owners, all of whom are worried that Gail’s bonus is going to harm their bottom line. Gail’s boss, Mr. Medford (Monte Markham), thinks that it’s a great idea.

That said, the Bulls are going to have a tough game. Two Miami gamblers (one of whom is played by a youngish Chazz Palminteri) bribe the temperamental chef at Bubba and Jethro’s bar to give the Bulls food poisoning! On the morning of the game, all of the players are feeling sick and — ugh — flatulent. Will the Bulls still be able to win the game?

Yes, they do.

How do they win the game? I have no idea. Coach Denardo yells at them and then, one jump cut later, we see that the Bulls are ahead on the scoreboard. All of the players are still sick and constantly having to run off the field, but somehow they still crush their opponents. Maybe they were just playing a really bad team….

(For a show about a football team, it’s always interesting how little time 1st & Ten devotes to things like strategy or play calling. We’re told that Coach Denardo is one of the best, but it’s rare that we ever actually see him coaching.)

As nice as it was to see Dr. Death reuniting Harley with his mother, the rest of this episode was pretty much the epitome of everything that bothers me about this show. Who are the two gamblers who poisoned the entire team? The episode keeps things vague, and I imagine that we’ll never hear about either one of them again. The gamblers will vanish, just like the team’s female placekicker vanished after appearing in one episode. There really aren’t any stakes in 1st & Ten because most storylines get abandoned only a few minutes after they start.

Oh well. At least OJ Simpson always killed it in the role of TD Parker. This episode finds OJ — or actually, TD, but we all know TD might as well be named OJ — talking about the beauty of an undefeated season. Maybe that’s why the team won. They knew better than to get on OJ’s bad side.

Next week: The march to the championship game continues!

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 8.6 “Soap Gets in Your Eyes/A Match Made in Heaven/Tugs of the Heart”

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 Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986!  The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

Soon we’ll be making another round….

Episode 8.6 “Soap Gets in Your Eyes/A Match Made in Heaven/Tugs of the Heart”

(Dir by Bruce Bilson, originally aired on October 20th, 1984)

Years ago, Gopher asked Leslie Palmer (Dianne Kay) to marry him. Leslie turned him down, breaking his heart. At the time, she said that Gopher just wasn’t mature enough to marry.  He had no direction in his life.

This week, when Leslie boards the Pacific Princess, she sees that Gopher has grown up.… well, at least a little. As Gopher explains it, he has an important job, a nice salary, and a good pension. “People call me sir,” he says, and Fred Grandy delivers the line with just enough sheepishness that one gets the feeling he’s just as surprised as anyone by the fact that he’s finally gotten his life together. When Gopher again asks Leslie to marry him, she says yes.

Oh my God! First Julie got married and now Gopher! Is there going to be anyone left on the ship?!

Well, hold on. Leslie may accept Gopher’s proposal, but later she has a breakdown and apologizes. Leslie says that she loves Gopher but, “I’m not in love with you.” It turns out that Leslie is pregnant and she accepted Gopher’s proposal so her child would not be born out of wedlock. Gopher is surprisingly forgiving.

This was actually a sweet story, largely due to Fred Grandy’s sincere performance as Gopher. At the same time, it was hard not to miss Lauren Tewes while watching this story. The Love Boat always hinted that Julie was destined to end up with either Doc or Gopher. Pat Klous is doing a good job as Julie’s replacement, but she still doesn’t have the same chemistry with the cast that Tewes did. If Julie McCoy seemed like everyone’s sister, Judy seems like everyone’s respected coworker.

While Gopher was getting his heart broken, the recently deceased Jack Davidson (Bill Macy) boarded the ship with his guardian angel, Mr. Weatherby (Fritz Weaver). In order to get into heaven, Jack would have to commit one selfless act while on the boat. Jack met and fell in love with Blair Chapman (Juliet Mills). However, knowing that he was destined to disappear into the afterlife immediately after the cruise ended, Jack gently told Blair that he couldn’t get involved with her. That counted as his selfless act. As for Blair, it turned out that she was terminally ill and had only a month or so to live. Jack leaves the boat happy, knowing that Blair will soon die and be in Heaven with him. Only The Love Boat could present dying as a happy ending.

Finally, soap opera actor David Swick (Charles Frank) plays a villain on daytime television, but he’s a nice guy in real life. Melanie (Susan Blanchard) discovers this firsthand when she meets David on the boat and they fall in love. Unfortunately, Melanie’s mother (Jayne Meadows) cannot forgive David for all the evil things his character has done on television. This story was just silly, but at least Frank and Blanchard had a likable chemistry.

Though the season overall may have gotten off to a rough start, this week’s episode of The Love Boat was actually a pretty pleasant cruise. Fred Grandy got to do something other than just be goofy. Juliet Mills died .… okay, well that wasn’t pleasant, but at least she’ll have someone waiting for her in the afterlife. As for the soap opera storyline, it took me back to those summer days when I was out of school and I watched the daytime dramas with my mom and my aunt. Those were good memories.

I enjoyed this cruise! The Love Boat truly has something for everyone.

Scenes That I Love: Moses Parts The Red Sea In The Ten Commandments!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

145 years ago, on this date, director Cecil B. DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts.  From the silent era until his death in 1959, DeMille was one of Hollywood’s superstar directors.  His films, which were often over the top and effective at the same time, helped to build the modern film industry.

Today’s scene that I love comes from DeMille’s final film.  From 1956’s The Ten Commandments, Moses parts the Red Sea.

(Please note, this video starts with a frozen image that lasts for about 12 seconds.)