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Tag Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman
Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out 3.1 “The Umpire Strikes Out”
Welcome to Late Night 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 the Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and Peacock!
This week, we begin the third and final season of Check It Out!
Episode 3.1 “The Umpire Strikes Out”
(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on October 4th, 1987)
Marlene is nervous because her father, Charlie (Michael Donaghue), is coming to visit. Charlie is professional baseball umpire and Marlene has always had a strained relationship with him. She feels that Charlie always wanted a son and that he resented her for not being into sports. After Edna allows Marlene to use her apartment to throw a small party for Charlie, Marlene suddenly starts dressing conservatively and her childhood stutter returns. She also stops dying her hair.
Agck! Poor Marlene! I could very much relate to her in this episode, largely because I had a pretty bad stutter up until I was 12 and sometimes it still kicks in if I haven’t gotten enough rest. Fortunately, Charlie does eventually realize that he was always too hard on Marlene and they agree to work on their relationship. Yay!
Meanwhile, Leslie’s feeling insecure about his age so he tries to wear a wig. It’s not a very good wig. It’s a pretty simple and obvious joke but Aaron Schwartz did a really good job selling it. Both Aaron Schwartz and Kathleen Laskey were capable of getting laughs out of the mildest of jokes and they both got a chance to show off their abilities in this episode.
This was the first episode of Check It Out!‘s third season and, from the start, it is obvious that some changes were made after the end of the previous season. Simon Reynolds is no longer in the cast, which is a shame because Reynolds was a good actor but it’s also somewhat realistic as Reynolds was playing a high school kid who, presumably, moved on to better things (like college). Whereas Howard always wore a suit during the second season, his work attire is now a dorky smock that is labeled “Howie, Store Manager.” Howard’s office now overlooks the salesfloor and, in this episode, there were enough extras in the background to convince me that Cobb’s was an actual grocery store as opposed to just a soundstage. I don’t know if this is going to be a permanent change or not but Howard was a bit less silly and more of a manager in this episode. It felt like a change for the better.
Believe it or not, this was actually a pretty good episode. Especially when compared to some season 2’s lesser episodes, the third season premiere was consistently funny and well-acted and the story actually made sense. Is this a fluke or did Check It Out! finally get itself together during the final season?
We’ll find out in 2025! Due to the holidays, this is my final Check It Out! review for 2024. These reviews will return on January 4th.
Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 12/8/24 — 12/14/24
This week, other than the shows that I watch for my Retro Television Reviews, the only other thing that I watched was Hell’s Kitchen. Brittany was eliminated. Who was Brittany? Was she on the show earlier? Sometimes, with these reality shows, it feels like contestants just pop up out of nowhere so that they can be eliminated at the end of the episode. That said, I did feel bad for Brittany when she was eliminated. No one on the Red Team could really explain why they nominated her. It certainly was not Brittany’s fault that the Red Team lost that night’s dinner service.
I did smile when I saw that Penn and Teller were guests at the dinner service. I kept waiting for Teller to complain about the food but he kept quiet.
Well, it’s the holidays and earlier today, I filed and scheduled my final Retro Television Reviews for 2024. Those reviews will return on January 1st, 2025! I’ve got a lot of films and other things to catch up on before the New Year. Wish me luck!
Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 4.11 “Frog Day Afternoon”
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, Horshack takes center stage. You’ve been warned.
Episode 4.11 “Frog Day Afternoon”
(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on November 25th, 1978)
This week’s episode of Welcome Back, Kotter does not feature Mr. Kotter.
It does not feature Vinne Barbarino.
It doesn’t even feature Beau, the new Sweathog.
It does feature a lot of the show’s two most annoying characters, Arnold Horshack and Julie Kotter.
Horshack doesn’t want to dissect a frog because he’ll be required to kill the frog before cutting it open. Did they really used to require students to personally kill their own frog in biology class? That’s a little extreme. I always assumed that everyone just got frogs that were already dead.
Julie, of course, support Horshack’s right to not open up a frog and argues with Woodman about it. I’m not really sure what Julie actually does at the school. Sometimes, she appears to be a guidance counselor. Other times, she appears to be a receptionist. She’s been called Woodman’s “secretary” a few times but we don’t ever actually see her doing any sort of secretarial work. I guess that, when Gabe Kaplan announced he wouldn’t be appearing in the majority of the 4th season episodes, they had to put Julie in the school so that there would still be a Kotter in Welcome Back, Kotter. But Julie’s originally from Nebraska so it’s not like she’s the one being welcomed back to Brooklyn.
Anyway, Horshack argues that frogs don’t get a say in whether or not they want to die and he refuses to kill them. His teacher (Dena Dietrich) says that she’ll have to give Horshack an F. Washington says, “You better lay one of those F’s on me too.” Epstein also decides to take the F. The entire class is so moved by Horshack’s stand that they all ask for an F as well!
Normally, this would be very moving but since every student at the school appears to be in their 30s, it’s pretty obvious that none of them are that worried about their grades. When you’ve already been held back twelve times, it’s not like another F is going to make a difference.
This episode …. yech. I mean, to be honest, I had sympathy for Horshack’s position. I certainly wouldn’t want to kill a frog or any other animal and I agree that students who object should be given an alternative assignment. I mean, unless you’re planning on actually going into the medical field, I don’t really see what the point is in dissecting things in school. But Horshack has become such an annoying character that it didn’t matter that I agreed with him. I just wanted him to stop talking!
During the first season, Ron Pallilo actually did a pretty good job playing Horshack. Horshack was strange but he wasn’t a cartoon. But that changed somewhere around the middle of the second season and, with each episode since then, Horshack has progressively become more and more annoying. He’s not a proper replacement for Barbarino.
Anyway. bless the frogs. They’re nice creatures if you don’t bother them.
This is my final Welcome Back, Kotter review of 2024. These reviews will resume after the holidays, on January 4th.
Live Tweet Alert: Watch SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT PART 2 With #ScarySocial!
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, for #ScarySocial, I will be hosting the holiday film that launched a thousand memes, SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT PART 2!
GARBAGE DAY!
If you want to join us on Saturday night, just hop onto twitter, start the film at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag! The film is available on Prime and Tubi! I’ll be there co-hosting 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!
Music Video Of the Day: I’m On Fire by 5000 Volts (1975, dir by ????)
Enjoy!
Late Night Retro Television Review: Friday the 13th 2.21 “Wedding in Black”
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a new 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 show can be found on YouTube!
This week, the departed return!
Episode 2.21 “Wedding in Black”
(Dir by Rodney Charters, originally aired on May 8th, 1989)
In South America, a man named Calvin Collier (Stephen Meadows) is carrying around a snow globe and strangling women. After he kills a young Jill Hennessy (credited here with playing “Spanish Hooker,”), Calvin is taken to prison. However, an ominous voice says that it has need of Calvin’s soul.
In Africa, Brother Antonio (Guy Bannerman) is caught trying to rape a woman and is promptly set on fire.
In America (or maybe Canada), Maya Zedler (Carolyn Dunn) is released from prison and promptly kills herself.
What do all three of these people have in common? They all know the folks at Curious Goods! Calvin is a friend of Micki’s. Brother Antonio is an acquaintance of Jack’s. Maya used to be Ryan’s girlfriend. And even though all three of them are now dead, Lucifer sent them back into the world of the living because he’s decided that he wants Micki to give birth to his child.
Calvin and Antonio show up and draw Micki and Jack out of the store and into a sudden blizzard. Suddenly, all four of them find themselves in the castle that sits in the middle of Calvin’s snow globe. Calvin sets about trying to seduce Micki on behalf of Lucifer.
Meanwhile, Maya shows up and tries to keep Ryan distracted so that he won’t go looking for Micki and Jack. However, it turns out that Maya still has a conscience and eventually, she turns on Lucifer and sacrifices herself to help Ryan.
This episode was an interesting change of pace. The snow globe may have been an antique but wasn’t one of the antiques and instead of Micki and Ryan stumbling into whatever terrible thing was happening, Lucifer instead came directly for them. If nothing else, this episode showed that the producers of Friday the 13th: The Series understood the danger of falling into a rut and that they were capable of changing things up without losing the overall macabre atmosphere of the show. The scenes in the castle were appropriately surreal and both Chris Wiggins and the often underused Robey gave good performances. Of the three souls, Guy Bannerman made the strongest impression just by playing his character as being totally and unashamedly evil.
At the same time, it was hard not to feel that this episode was a bit of a missed opportunity. While it was interesting to have Micki, Jack, and Ryan meet up with three spirits of people who they used to know, it’s hard not to feel that the episode would have worked better if the producers had reached into the past and brought back some of the show’s former guest stars. Not an episode passed in which Micki, Jack, or Ryan doesn’t lose someone that they cared about and it would have been fun to see some of those people come back. Imagine the emotional impact if John Stockwell or Catherine Disher or maybe one of Jack’s old war buddies had returned to life.
All in all, this was a good episode that could have been even better.
Due to the holidays, this is my final Friday the 13th review for 2024. These reviews will return on January 3rd!
Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 1.5 “Samuels and the Kid”
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!
This week’s episode of St. Elsewhere featured Dr. Craig winning an award. Good for him!
Episode 1.5 “Samuels and the Kid”
(Dir by Thomas Carter, originally aired on November 30th, 1982)
This week’s episode of St. Elsewhere was kind of boring, It wasn’t a bad episode because the show was well-acted and even the boring subplots felt as is they were part of a bigger whole but, especially when compared to last week’s episode, Samuels and the Kid just wasn’t as compelling.
The Kid of the title is Robbie Durant (Jeremy Licht), a young patient who needs to have some minor surgery done on his ankle. Dr. Samuels take a really intense interest in the kid, bonding with him and even offering him tickets to a Patriots football game. At first, it seems like Samuels is just trying to be nice to a kid who is in a scary situation. (When I was growing up, I spent a few nights in the hospital because of my asthma and it always scared me to death.) But, at the end of the episode, it is revealed that Samuels had a son who was Robbie’s age who died in a freak accident. As for Robbie, the operation is a success but he still dies as the result of an embolism. It was sad but, at the same time, I knew Robbie was going to die as soon as he showed up in the hospital. I’ve seen enough medical shows to know.
Dr. Cavanero was at a bed-and-breakfast when she learned that one of her patients had gone into labor and was at her apartment alone. Cavenro had to beg people for change so that she could use a pay phone to call the patient’s neighbors so that she could talk them through delivering the baby. Seen today, the most interesting thing about this storyline is that it takes place at a time when people had to carry around quarters so that they could call each other in case of an emergency. (There is a very dusty old payphone a few blocks away from my house. I assume it doesn’t work and I don’t think it’s been touched by human hands since the 90s — and I’m certainly not going to touch it! — but it’s always interesting to see it sitting there like some haunted beacon of the past.)
Dr. Fiscus continued to have sex with Kathy Martin. Good for them but I really don’t know that I need to spend a good deal of time listening to Howie Mandel talk about his sex life.
Dr. Chandler (Denzel Washington) accused a nurse of being incompetent. Nurse Rosenthal (Christina Pickles) got mad at him for yelling at the nurse in the hospital hallway. Dr. Westphall mediated and agreed to move the nurse to another floor. Denzel Washington is always fun when he’s yelling at people.
There was one very funny scene. Dr. Craig won an award for surgeon of the year and gave an extremely long, pompous, and rather bitter acceptance speech. (The award was a plaster cast of his own hands.) William Daniels played the scene perfectly and I have a feeling that Dr. Craig is going to end up becoming my favorite character. As a bonus, Daniels’s wife, Bonnie Bartlett, appeared as Craig’s wife. By the middle of Craig’s speech, even she had stoppled listening and lit a cigarette.
As I said, this was a little bit of a boring episode. Still, I look forward to the future of the show!
Speaking of the future, this is my last St. Elsewhere review of 2024. My next review of this show will post on January 3rd!
Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix For Strange Brew!
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 Canada’s Strange Brew!
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.
Strange Brew is available on Prime! See you there!
Music Video of the Day: My Whole Life by Alice Costelloe (2024, dir by ????)
Enjoy!
Through the Shattered Lens 