Tag Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 4.16 “The Goodbye Guy”

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 Saturdays, I will be reviewing Welcome Back Kotter, which ran on ABC  from 1975 to 1979.  The entire show can be purchased on Prime.

This week, Epstein gets a story of his very own.

Episode 4.16 “The Goodbye Guy”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on February 1oth, 1979)

Barbarino is gone.  Gabe is gone.  It’s Epstein’s turn to step up and become the center of the show.

Epstein is upset because he has wrestling tickets but the other Sweathogs all have dates for the evening,  For some reason, Epstein decides to go the Kotter apartment even though Gabe is — *ahem* — out of town.  Was Epstein planning on asking Julie to go see a wrestling match with him?  We’ll never know because Julie is not at the apartment.  She’s at the faculty dance with Mr. Woodman.

Mr. Woodman’s niece, Kelly (Georganne LaPiere), is at the apartment, babysitting the rarely-seen Kotter twins.  (I was actually starting to think that Gabe might have abducted the twins and moved to Long Island with them, it’s been so long since we’ve seen or heard from any of them.)  Kelly is a college student but she looks considerably younger than Epstein, who is supposedly just a high school senior.  That said, it’s love at first sight between Kelly and Epstein.  Mr. Woodman’s not happy about that and orders Kelly to stay away from the Sweathog.  So, of course, Kelly moves in with Epstein.

It’s as culture clash, of course.  Kelly is smart and sophisticated.  Epstein has been in high school for ten years and says that his dream is to own a fleet of dump trucks.  After Kelly laughs at his dream and Epstein makes a scene at a vegetarian restaurant, it looks like their love might be doomed!

Well, that happens when you move in with someone after knowing them for two hours….

“I’m going to miss you, Fido,” Epstein says after they have one final conversation in the high school courtyard.  The audience says “Awwwww!” but I think Kelly made the right decision to walk way because Epstein is never going to graduate high school.  The show’s producers obviously intended to keep the Sweathogs in that school forever.  Add to that, how can you love a guy who nicknames you after a dog?

Speaking of nicknames, why does Epstein tolerate being called “Little Juan” by Horshack?  When this show began, Epstein was the most dangerous and unstable of the Sweathogs.  He was the one who was voted most likely to take a life.  I remember at least a few episodes where he brought a knife to school.  Epstein was always on the verge of exploding, which made his character an interesting one.  If Kotter could reach Epstein, he could reach anyone.  But now, Epstein is just as bland and well-behaved as everyone else in the show.  It’s a shame.

Oh well.  At least Woodman was happy by the end of this episode.

We’re nearly done with this show!  Only a few more episodes to go.  Will Gabe ever return?  We’ll find out.

Film Review: Soap Opera (dir by Andy Warhol)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Directed by Andy Warhol, 1964’s Soap Opera features a plot that largely plays out in silence.

The silent, grainy black-and-white footage depicts what appears to be a love triangle between Warhol associate Rufus Collins, Sam Green, Ivy Nicholson, Gerard Malanga, and “Baby Jane” Holzer.  There’s a lot of kissing.  There’s a lot of slapping.  There’s a lot of scenes of our nameless characters giving each other suspicious and meaningful looks.  At one point, Jane Holzer makes what appears to be a very important phone call.  We don’t know who these people are or how they’re related but they certainly do seem to be intensely obsessed with each other.  The situations grow progressively more and more sexual and one gets the feeling that, if we could only hear the dialogue, we would have a chance to vicariously take part in a great melodrama.  Of course, the footage itself is so grainy that it’s sometimes hard to tell who is who.  Indeed, the characters often seem to be interchangeable.  That’s certainly true of real soap operas as well.  With new actors regularly stepping into old roles and one story’s hero becoming the next story’s villain, soap operas were all about accepting whatever was presented on the screen.  In real life, drama has real consequences.  In Warhol’s film and on television, melodrama is just something that happens without any real repercussions.

Janes Holzer in Soap Opera

Fortunately, the film provides a few breaks from the repetitive cycle of nonstop, grainy drama.  Sprinkled throughout the film are commercials breaks, featuring actual commercials that were supplied to Warhol by Lester Persky, an advertising executive who later found greater fame as a Broadway producer.  (He produced Hair, amongst other productions.)  In between scenes of Ivy Nicholson kissing Sam Green and Rufus Collins looking shocked, we get a serious of very happy and very loud commercials.  Indeed, after watching the silent and grainy soap opera footage, it’s a bit jarring to have an expertly staged commercial suddenly blare forth in crisp black-and-white.  An obnoxious salesman tries to sell us things to make our home better and our meals tastier.  Jerry Lewis shows up with a child and tells us to be sure to contribute money to his telethon.  Model Rosemary Kelly is introduced by an announcer who tells us that Rosemary is going to tell us about the greatest adventure of her life.  That adventure?  Not conditioning her hair for five days.  Amazingly, her hair is still full and lustrous!  Even after swimming and sleeping on it!  Not even a broken steam valve can make her hair look bad!  This commercial is so effective that it’s actually featured twice and why not?  Even I want to know Rosemary’s secrets and my hair always looks good!

Rosemary Kelly in Soap Opera

Warhol subtitled this film The Lester Persky Story, both to thank Persky for supplying the commercials but also to point out that the commercials were really the whole point of the show.  The plot of any show, whether it’s a real one or the one in Warhol’s film, really only exists to keep you watching long enough to see the commercials.  And it must be said that the commercials are the most interesting part of this film.  After watching the Soap Opera actors for ten minutes, it’s a relief when Rosemary Kelly appears and, with a big smile on her face, starts enthusiastically talking about her hair.  We all complain about commercials but we still accept them as a fact of life and, in the end, it’s usually the commercials that people remember and try to pattern their lives after.  I mean, there’s a reason why I’m still singing that “Nothing is everything” song from the Skyrizi commercials.

And now, let’s check out how Rosemary Kelly’s hair is doing in hurricane winds!

Rosemary Kelly in Soap Opera

 

Live Tweet Alert: Join #ScarySocial for Ticks!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on twitter.  I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and 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 9 pm et, Deanna Dawn will be hosting #ScarySocial!  The movie?  1993’s Ticks!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag!  I’ll be there tweeting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well.  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

Ticks is available on Prime!

See you there!

Song of the Day: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, performed by Gene Pitney

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Since I already shared a scene from my favorite John Ford film, it seems only right that today’s song of the day should pay some respect to Mr. Ford as well.  Here is the theme song from 1962’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, performed by Gene Pitney.

When Liberty Valance rode to town
The womenfolk would hide, they’d hide
When Liberty Valance walked around
The men would step aside

‘Cause the point of a gun was the only law
That Liberty understood
When it came to shooting straight and fast
He was mighty good

From out of the East a stranger came
A law book in his hand, a man
The kind of a man the West would need
To tame a troubled land

‘Cause the point of a gun was the only law
That Liberty understood
When it came to shooting straight and fast
He was mighty good

Many a man would face his gun
And many a man would fall
The man who shot Liberty Valance
He shot Liberty Valance
He was the bravest of them all

The love of a girl can make a man stay on
When he should go, stay on
Just trying to build a peaceful life
Where love is free to grow

But the point of a gun was the only law
That Liberty understood
When the final showdown came at last
A law book was no good

Alone and afraid, she prayed that he’d
Return that fateful night, oh that night
When nothing she said could keep her man
From going out to fight

From the moment a girl gets to be full grown
The very first thing she learns
When two men go out to face each other
Only one returns

Everyone heard two shots ring out
One shot made Liberty fall
The man who shot Liberty Valence
He shot Liberty Valance
He was the bravest of them all

The man who shot Liberty Valance
He shot Liberty Valance
He was the bravest of them all

Songwriters: Burt F. Bacharach / Hal David

Scenes That I Love: Who Was Really “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance?”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

John Ford was born 131 years ago today and it seems appropriate that today’s scene of the day should come from his final great film (even if it wasn’t the last film that Ford directed).

In 1962’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, frontier lawyer Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) comes to political prominence due to his notoriety for being the man who, in self-defense, gunned down notorious outlaw Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin).  Stoddard, an intellectual who opposes violence, is not happy about this.  When Stoddard considers refusing to be a delegate to the upcoming statehood convention, he is reprimanded by Tom Doniphon (John Wayne).  Stoddard and Doniphon are friends but they’re also romantic rivals, both being in love with Hallie (Vera Miles).  In this scene, Doniphon reveals the truth about who shot Liberty Valance.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Friday the 13th: The Series 2.26 “Coven of Darkness”

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 Friday the 13th: The Series, a show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The entire series can be found on YouTube!

This week, the second season comes to an end.

Episode 2.26 “Coven of Darkness”

(Dir by George Bloomfield, originally aired on June 12th, 1989)

Jack and Ryan have recovered a “witch’s ladder,” and they’ve put it in the vault.  However, Lysa Redding (Maria Ricossa) is a witch who wants the ladder back.  Lysa (and I do always enjoy hearing my name, even if it is misspelled) is the head of a coven that was connected to evil old Uncle Lewis.  Lysa performs a ceremony that causes Ryan to become possessed so Micki has to become a white witch so that she can battle the dark witches.

Now, I should mention that Micki has never had magical powers before.  In the past, she’s usually been the down-to-Earth skeptic of the group so Jack suddenly announcing that Micki is actually a powerful witch took me by surprise.  But anyway, Micki is able to use her powers to break Lysa’s spell.  It’s such a grueling experience that Jack says its possible that she’s used up all of her magic powers.  What?  Really?  I guess …. okay, I don’t know what to say about that.  They suddenly gave Micki magic powers and then took them away.

This was a weird episode.  Based on this episode and Prisoner, I’m going to guess the production was nearly out of money at the end of season two.  Coven of Darkness takes place over three different locations and it’s mostly just continual jump cuts between Lysa spellcasting and Ryan freaking out and Micki looking intense.  It all feels very cheap and basic and not at all like a typical episode of Friday the 13th.  Instead of using their wits to defeat evil, Chris and Micki use magic.  It just doesn’t feel right.

I’m going to guess, though, that this was an attempt to reboot the show for the third season.  I’ve seen enough of the third season to know that the reboot didn’t stick around but I can kind of see what they were going for.  With John D. LeMay not planning on being a part of the third season, it perhaps seemed like it would be a good idea to turn the show into the Micki Witchcraft Hour.  And it probably would have been interesting but it definitely wouldn’t have had the same feel as classic Friday the 13th.

This brings season two to an end.  It was, overall, a good season, though I think the show lost its way a little towards the end.  The introduction of Johnny Ventura was rather clumsily handled and a few too many episodes seemed to forget that the show was supposed to center on finding Lewis’s cursed antiques.  The highlight of the show was the chemistry between the three leads.  I’m curious to see how the upcoming season will play without Ryan.

We’ll find out starting next week!

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 1.9 “Hearts”

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 Hulu and, for purchase, on Prime!

This week, Dr. Ehrlich faints!

Episode 1.9 “Hearts”

(Dir by Mark Tinker, originally aired on January 11th, 1983)

Ralph, the guy who thinks that he’s a bird, is now running around the hospital and checking in on patients and signing his name as “Dr. Bullfinch.”  I guess it says something about how big St. Elgius is that Dr. Chandler spends most of this episode asking people if they’ve ever heard of or met Dr. Bullfinch.  The show plays this for humor.  There’s only two problems.

First off, we’ve already done the fake doctor thing.  Dr. Craig spent three episodes searching for Dr. Barnum, the fictional doctor who Mark thought was interested in buying his car.  Since Chandler was a part of that whole practical joke, it surprised me that it didn’t occur to him that maybe Dr. Bullfinch also didn’t exist.

Secondly, Ralph is one of those character who was amusing at first but, after episode-after-episode of him disrupting the hospital and making the patients uncomfortable, I can’t help but feel that it’s time for Ralph to at least try to fly off into the sunset, even if it leads to him crashing to the pavement below.  Dr. Westphall tells Dr. Beale to keep Ralph locked up in the psych ward or else Westphall will send Ralph to a mental hospital.  I think Westphall should have just gone for it.  I mean, does Westphall not realize the legal jeopardy that the hospital is now in because of Ralph’s continued presence?

While that was going on, an overweight woman (Conchata Ferrell) checked into the hospital with stomach pains and was shocked to discover that she was pregnant and going into labor.  This was a heartbreaking story, largely due to the wonderful performance of Conchata Ferrell.  No one — from her father to the nurses at the hospital — has ever treated her with any sort of compassion.  In the end, she checks out of the hospital and abandons her baby in the maternity ward.

A new doctor (Dorothy Fielding) came to work at St. Eligius and — hey! — she has a romantic history with Dr. Samuels.  *Yawn*  Samuels is the most boring character on the show and I tuned out this storyline as soon as I realized he was going to be at the center of it.

Newly separated from his wife, Dr. White is having a nervous breakdown and has to abandon a patient so that he can cry in the stairwell.  Dr. Westphall offers him some heartfelt advice but you can tell that Westphall thinks that White doesn’t have what it takes to be a doctor.  I think Westphall is right.

Finally, an ill Dr. Erhlich tries to get out of assisting Dr. Craig with an operation.  Craig tells Erhlich to man up.  Erhlich faints during the operation.  Surprisingly, Dr. Craig is not angry with Ehrlich because, as he explains it, the important thing is that the operation was a success.  Seeing how sick Ehrlich has become, Craig tells Ehrlich to go home and get some rest.

“Do you have a car?” Dr. Craig asks.

“No, I usually ride the bus,” Ehrlich replies.

“Good,” Craig says, “you shouldn’t be driving in your condition.”

And I have to admit that exchange made me laugh.  William Daniels gives such a good performance as the arrogant yet talented Dr. Craig that you can’t help but love the guy, no matter how much of a jerk he is.  After knowing him best as the always compassionate Mr. Feeney on Boy Meets World, it’s been interesting to watch William Daniels play a character as thoroughly self-centered and vain as Dr. Craig.  On the drama St. Elsewhere, William Daniels often provides some much-needed comedic relief.  On the (very silly) sitcom Boy Meets World, Daniels was the dramatic relief.  It’s a strange world.

This episode had a few too many plotlines that I either didn’t care about or which felt a bit played out (like Ralph the Birdman).  It wasn’t St. Elsewhere at its best but William Daniels and Conchata Ferrell still saved the episode.

Song of the Day: Sister Morphine by Marianne Faithfull

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s song of the day comes to us, like our music video of the day, from the late Marianne Faithfull.

Co-written with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, Sister Morphine was originally recorded by Faithfull in 1969 but her recording was initially banned in the United Kingdom due to the song’s drug-related content.  The Rolling Stones would go on to release a version of the song in 1971 and Faithfull would record and release the song a second time in 1979.

Here I lie in my hospital bed
Tell me, Sister Morphine
When are you coming around again?
Oh I don’t think I can wait that long
Oh you see that my pain is so strong

All the other patients say
They’ve never seen a man with such pain
Tell me, Sister Morphine
When are you coming round again?
Oh I don’t think I can wait that long
Oh you see that I’m not that strong

The scream of the ambulance
Is sounding in my ear
So tell me, Sister Morphine
How long have I been lying here?
What am I doing in this place?
Why does the doctor have no face?
Oh I can’t crawl across the floor
Can’t you see, Sister Morphine?
Just tryin’ to score

Well the actions go to show
Things are not what they seem
Please, Sister Morphine
Turn my nightmare into dream
Oh can’t you see that I’m fading fast?
And this shot will be the last

Please, cousin Cocaine
Lay your cool hands on my head
Hey, Sister Morphine
You better make up the black bed
‘Cause you know and I know
That you want me, I’ll be dead
You sit around and watch
The clean white sheets stained red

songwriters: Marianne Faithfull/Mick Jagger/Keith Richards

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix For The Sword and the Sorcerer!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on Twitter and Mastodon.  I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and 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, #FridayNightFlix presents one of my Arleigh’s favorite movies, The Sword and the Sorcerer!

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

The Sword and the Sorcerer is available on Prime!  See you there!