The Irresistible Man”

Posted on February 12, 2025 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!

It’s time for another trip on The Love Boat! We’re a little late setting sail today but it happens. Let’s see what’s happening on this cruise….

Episode 5.17 “The Return of the Captain’s Lady/Love Ain’t Illegal/The Irresistible Man”

(Dir by Howard Morris, originally aired on February 6th, 1982)

This week’s cruise is all about people being stupid.

For instance, George Boggs (Dick Martin) wants to embezzle some money from his company but he can’t run the risk of his business partner, Irwin (Robert Mandan), finding out. So, George tells his secretary, Marge (Phyllis Davis), to keep Irwin distracted while George steals the money. However, Marge really does fall for Irwin. This was a very predictable storyline and it suffered from Dick Martin continually mugging for the camera and acting so obviously guilty that there was no way that the entire world wouldn’t have noticed what he was doing. Still, if you’re a fan of sitcoms from the 70s and 80s, it’s always interesting to see Robert Mandan playing a sympathetic character for a change.

Things get even dumber when Doug Bridges (Linwood Boomer) decides that the best way to get Pam (Lydia Cornell) to notice him would be to fake being pulled into a broom closet and kissed by an amorous woman who then, in Doug’s telling of the story, runs off and disappears. Soon, the entire ship is looking for Doug’s mystery woman. Why this would get Pam to like Doug, I’m not sure. Pam’s best friend (Pat Klous) does like Doug so she pretends to be the mystery woman. Of course, Doug can’t reveal that she’s lying because that would mean revealing that he was lying and …. as I said, this story was dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb!

Finally, Captain Stubing’s ex-fiancé, Linda (Pat Crowley) boards the ship and the Captain is super excited! He starts to rekindle their relationship and soon, he’s even thinking of proposing. Yay! Vicki’s finally going to have a stepmom …. oh wait. Hold on. It turns out that Linda’s married and she just boarded the boat and allowed herself to be romanced by the Captain without telling him any of this because …. reasons, I guess? I mean, don’t get me wrong. Linda is not happy with her marriage and is in the process of getting a divorce but she doesn’t tell any of that to the Captain. Merrill thinks that Linda is single and ready to get married. Nope, Linda was just looking for a fling and is not ready to get married again. Poor Merrill! At least he has the crew looking out for him….

Ugh. This episode. Listen, I am more than willing to suspend my disbelief when it comes to this show. Usually, I absolutely love The Love Boat. But usually there’s at least one sort of funny or sweet story to go along with the ones that are less memorable. None of the stories worked on this cruise and that’s a shame. That said, I’ll be back next week. The Love Boat promises something for everyone, afterall.

Are You Ready For The Slaughter Brothers Dime Circus?

Posted on February 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Back in 2022, I was lucky enough to get a chance to view and review Richard Burgin’s Fang, a visceral work of body horror that not only captured the paranoia and fear of our increasingly isolated society but which also featured an excellent performance from the iconic Lynn Lowry. It’s a wonderful film and one that I continue to recommend. With the horror genre running the risk of being commercialized and compromised by the big studios that, just a few years ago, refused to even consider supporting the genre, it is more important than ever to support indie horror and independent filmmakers.

Richard Burgin’s upcoming project promises to be another unique excursion into the world of indie horror. The Slaughter Brothers Dime Circus is described as being “(a) calliope-fueled comic nightmare. A surrealist horror circus mindbender.” The production, which takes inspiration from both classic horror and film noir, takes place at a dilapidated carnival and it will explore both the lives of those who work at the carnival and also the horror that lurks underneath the show. The Slaughter Brothers Dime Circus was originally a stage show that, like so many creative endeavors, ran afoul the COVID lockdowns. The stage show was transformed into a radio show and now, director Burgin and the show’s writer, Sean Sullivan, are hoping to adapt into a feature film.

And I hope they do! The premise sounds intriguing and Richard Burgin has already shown, with Fang, that he can craft a surprising and moving horror film. As well, I think we’re just now coming to terms with just how much the creative industry suffered as a result of the COVID era. As a result of the pandemic and how the fears of COVID were handled, so many theatrical and cinematic projects were derailed and many of them are just now getting back on their feet. Some projects never recovered. So many theaters shut down permanently as a result of the pandemic that I always have to cheer whenever I hear about one that has reopened. That’s the beautiful thing about creative people. We have faith in our vision and we don’t give up. Not only do I want to see this film for its story but I also feel that its production will prove the resilience of the creative spirit.

You can find out more about this project at their indiegogo site. As I sit here typing, this project has raised 69% of its goal. H ere’s a link to their site, which has more information about the film, its story, and the people involved in producing it. I’m looking forward to reviewing this one!

Song of the Day: Lincoln Suite by John Williams

Posted on February 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Seeing as today is Lincoln’s Birthday, it seems appropriate that today’s song of the day should come from John Williams’s score of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, performed here by the Film Symphony Orchestra.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Darren Aronofsky Edition

Posted on February 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 56th birthday to one of our favorite filmmakers, Darren Aronofsky! When we first started this site, we were eagerly awaiting the release of Black Swan. Now, ten years alter, we’re eagerly awaiting the release of Aronofsky’s next film, whatever it may be.

In honor of the birthday of a true visionary director, here are….

4 Shots From 4 Darren Aronofsky Films

Requiem for a Dream (2000, dir by Darren Aronofsky, DP: Matthew Libatique)

The Wrestler (2008, dir by Darren Aronofsky, DP: Maryse Alberti)

Black Swan (2010, dir by Darren Aronosfky, DP: Matthew Libatique)

mother! (2017, dir by Darren Aronofsky, DP: Matthew Libatique)

Music Video of the Day: Idiot Box by Sharan Van Etten & The Attachments (2025, dir by Susa LaRoche and Ethan Dawes)

Posted on February 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Idiot Box was a term often used to describe television and …. Hey, I like the idiot box!

Uhmmm ….. well, let’s forget I said that.

I also like black-and-white videos and good music.

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Pacific Blue 1.6 “Takedown”

Posted on February 11, 2025 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 Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Pacific Blue, a cop show that aired from 1996 to 2000 on the USA Network! It’s currently streaming everywhere, though I’m watching it on Tubi.

Who cares? Roll the opening credits.

Episode 1.6 “Takedown”

(Dir by Terrence O’Hara, originally aired on April 6th, 1996)

Three dangerous criminals are holding up stores in …. oh Hell. Where does this show take place? I know it’s in California but what’s the name of the town? Malibu? Is that it? Hold on, let me check with Wikipedia….

SANTA MONICA! That’s where this show takes place.

See, that’s the type of show that Pacific Blue is. I am now six episodes into this show and I’m still can’t tell you where it specifically takes place. It’s not that they haven’t mentioned that the show is set in Santa Monica. And considering that I even attended Saint Monica School for a semester, you would think that I would be able to remember it. But Pacific Blue is such a generic show that it’s difficult to really remember a thing about it. It fades from your memory within seconds of being watched. About the only thing that really sticks with the viewer about this show is how stupid everyone looks on their bicycles with their tight white shirts and their blue shorts. The fact that Rick Rossovich plays their leader with a perpetual air of grim determination only serves to make them seem even more ridiculous. Cops are supposed to look intimidating. That’s one reason why a lot of people don’t like them. These cops just look like the type of douchebags you dread getting stuck behind in traffic.

As for this episode, three dangerous criminals are holding up stores in Santa Monica. Somehow, they always manage to escape right before the cops show up. Maybe that’s because the cops are all on bicycles and they have to steer across crowded sidewalks without even having the benefit of a siren to tell people to get out of the way. What’s odd is that no one ever seems to notice the criminals until they pull out their guns. These are three extremely scruffy criminals, all of whom are clad in clothes that don’t appear to have been washed in days. Are you seriously telling me no one would notice that on the beach in San Diego or wherever this freaking show takes place?

If I was a store owner who got robbed at gunsight and who then called the police, nothing would piss me off more than having the bicycle cops respond. Seriously, you need a car to chase criminals! All the criminals have to do is wait for the bike cops to pull a muscle or ride over a stick in the middle of the road and then they’ll be home free. If I get robbed, give me the real cops!

TC gets upset when one of the criminals points a gun at him. Lt. Palermo encourages him to stop being stoic and get in touch with his feelings and …. oh, who cares? Freaking bicycle cops. While that’s going on, Chris takes a creative writing class and dates her professor (Zach Galligan). From what we hear of Chris’s literary efforts, she has no talent whatsoever. She was such a bad writer that I literally got angry while she reading her story. I wanted the professor to throw something at her. Also, Victor del Toro falls in love with a model (Krista Allen) and even gets a date with her, despite his dumbass bicycle.

Where does this show take place again? Malibu?

Anyway, this was just another episode about the most useless cops ever.

Retro Television Review: Fantasy Island 6.5 “Everybody Goes to Gilley’s/Face of Fire”

Posted on February 11, 2025 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 Tuesdays, I will be reviewing the original Fantasy Island, which ran on ABC from 1977 to 1984. Unfortunately, the show has been removed from most streaming sites. Fortunately, I’ve got nearly every episode on my DVR.

This week, Fantasy Island goes country.

Episode 6.5 “Everybody Goes to Gilley’s/Face of Fire”

(Dir by Jerome Courtland, originally aired on November 20th, 1982)

Mickey Gilley is a country-western singer who comes to Fantasy Island because he wants to finally become a star after years of struggling. Tattoo, who is a huge country music fan, puts on a cowboy hat and decides that he’ll be Gilley’s “exclusive manager.” Not so fast, Mr. Roarke says. Apparently, there’s a country-western bar on the other side of the Island and the owner, Mr. Sherwood (Dennis Cole), has a fantasy of finally having a successful bar. Roarke arranges for Gilley and Sherwood to become partners. Gilley is a star whenever he performs in Sherwood’s bar. In the end, Sherwood and Gilley leave the Island together with Sherwood as Gilley’s new manager.

I’m not a huge country music fan so I have to admit that, until I watched this episode, I had no idea who Mickey Gilley was. (In fact, in my first draft of this review, I repeatedly called him “Dennis Gilley,” so that tells you how much I know about county-western singers.) Gilley actually was a country music star, one who did spend several years toiling away in small clubs before he finally found success. This role was autobiographical for him. It’s a bit odd that he plays himself but maybe he was a big deal in 1982. As I said, country music is not my area of expertise and 1982 is a bit before my time. What I can say is that, on the show, Gilley was portrayed in a way that kind of made him seem like a jerk. I mean, the nonstop complaining and all the demands! “I’m not here for romance,” he tells Roarke at one point. Don’t tell Mr. Roarke how to do his job, Gilley!

The other storyline was a take on Jane Eyre. Jean Harrigan (Lynn Redgrave) is from Nevada, despite being totally English. She needs a million dollars. A mysterious rich guy (David Hedison) offers it to her if she can survive a weekend at his home. His crazy wife is locked away in a bedroom. She ends up catching on fire towards the end of the episode, freeing things up for Jean and the rich guy. What’s interesting is that the rich guy says that he originally met Jean when his car broke down in the Nevada desert and Jean gave him a ride. What’s interesting about this is that, when the legendary Howard Hughes died, a man named Melvin Dummar claimed that he had once given Hughes a ride after coming across him stranded in the Nevada desert and, in return, Hughes left him a good deal of his fortune. Dummar even produced a will in support of his claim. The courts ruled the will to have been a forgery and Dummar never received his money, though there still are people out there who defend “the Dummar will” and claims that he was telling the truth about meeting Hughes. Fortunately, Jean does get her money and a chance to spend some time with the totally charming and handsome David Hedison.

(Hedison was also the best Felix Leiter, appearing in Live and Let Die and License to Kill.)

Perhaps not surprisingly, I preferred the gothic story to the country music story. I appreciated that Tattoo got to do something this episode. The scene where he declares himself to be Gilley’s manager felt like a throwback to the show’s earlier seasons. This journey to the Island was a mixed bag for me, though overall it was a pleasant trip.

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 3.8 “Hot Wheels”

Posted on February 11, 2025 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 Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983. The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!

Last night’s review of CHiPs was pre-empted by a sudden storm. Here it is now, in its entirety,

Episode 3.8 “Hot Wheels”

(Dir by John Florea, originally aired on November 3rd, 1979)

Ponch is still in the hospital, recovering from last week’s accident. Still, because he’s Ponch, he’s the one who figures out that a bunch of disgruntled fireman are using city trucks to commit their jewelry thefts. Hey, wait a minute. Last week’s episode was also about jewelry thefts. Admittedly, CHiPs was a show that tended to recycle plots but, even by CHiPs standards, this is one of those coincidences that leaves you wondering what exactly was going on in the writer’s room.

Actually, it’s easy to guess. Erik Estrada really was injured while filming an episode. The cast that he wears throughout this episode was real and, as easy as it can be to make fun of his overexpressive acting and his tendency to lose his shirt every other scene, you do have to respect that Estrada showed to film this episode at all. With Estrada injured, one gets the feeling that this episode, just like last week’s, was quickly rewritten to cover the situation.

Baker gets a temporary partner in this episode. It’s the return of his former motorcycle mate, John Clayton! Clayton was apparently Baker’s partner before Ponch. Clayton has a reputation for being a practical joker, It’s all anyone can talk about. Clayton is a legendary prankster! They really want us to know that Clayton’s a fun guy before he shows up and we discover that he’s played by Andrew Robinson, the actor who is best-known for playing the Scorpio Killer in Dirty Harry. Robinson wears a mustache as Clayton, probably in an attempt to keep 1979 audiences from looking at the screen and going, “Hey, I remember that guy hijacking a school bus!”

(I should mention that Andrew Robinson himself was a committed pacifist when he filmed Dirty Harry, to the extent that he actually flinched whenever he had to shoot the killer’s gun and he actually traumatized himself while filming the school bus hijack. He actually sounds like a pretty nice guy who just happened to play one of the most loathsome screen villains of all time.)

Baker works with Clayton and it must be said that Larry Wilcox does seem to be noticeably happier when he’s acting opposite Robinson than he ever did when he was acting opposite Estrada. The episode features Clayton performing a heroic and dangerous rescue at one point and it’s easy to see that that scene was originally conceived with Estrada in mind. It’s also easy to imagine Estrada flashing his big grin at the end of the scene while Robinson, on the other hand, plays up the fact that anyone, even a dedicated cop, would be absolutely exhausted after all that.

Robinson does a good job as Clayton and it’s always fun to see Martin Kove play a villain on show like this. This was a good episode. Estrada, I assume, will be back on his bike next week.

Scenes I Love: Burt Reynolds in Deliverance

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Deliverance (1972, directed by John Boorman, DP: Vilmos Zsigmond)

“Machines are going to fail!” Lewis Medlock says in Deliverance, delivering a line that feels even more relevant today than it might have in 1972. Lewis is the athlete and self-styled alpha male who drags his friends on a canoeing trip that involves some dangerous rapids. When Lewis suffers a compound fraction, it’s a shocking moment because, up until that point, Lewis seemed invulnerable to harm. Even when they return to civilization and Lewis learns he might lose his leg, he remains defiant.

Lewis was played by the late Burt Reynolds, who born 89 years ago today. In this scene that I love, Lewis explains his philosophy to his best friend and eventual savior, Ed Gentry (Jon Voight).

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Joseph L. Mankiewicz Edition

Posted on February 11, 2025 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!

Today, we celebrate the great director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who was born 116 years ago today. It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Joseph L. Mankiewicz Films