Today, we have another cute little Christmas film from the insanely prolific director, Fred Olen Ray.
In 2014’s Christmas In Palm Springs, Dina Meyer is a divorced workaholic who is due to give a presentation in Palm Springs. Patrick Muldoon is her ex-husband, who would like to get back together with her. Fortunately, their children want them to get back together as well and will do anything to make it happen….
It’s cute and Christmas-y and Ian Ziering and David Chokachi in small roles. (You may remember Chokachi as the speedo-wearing Baywatch lifeguard that my friend Evelyn nicknamed “The Bulge.”) And it’s also a Starship Troopers reunion. Personally, I just like it when Patrick Muldoon shows up in these movies!
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 Saved By The Bell, which ran on NBC from 1989 to 1993. The entire show is currently streaming on Prime and Tubi!
This week, Zack has a chance to get ride of his main frenemy!
Episode 1.6 “Aloha Slater”
(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on September 23rd, 1989)
Zack Morris used to be the “top dog” at Bayside but now that Slater has arrived, no one cares about Zack’s pathetic little third place ribbon that he got at a track meet. Instead, they care about the giant trophy that Slater won at his latest wrestling match.
However, there may be hope on the horizon! Slater’s father, Major Martin Slater (Gerald Castillo), has been offered a transfer to Hawaii. When Major Slater tells Belding that he will be removing AC from school, Screech listens from inside a filing cabinet. Major Slater can’t wait to go to Hawaii but AC isn’t so sure. He’s finally got friends and he’s winning trophies! Major Slater leaves it up to his son. If AC Slater wants to go to Hawaii, the family will transfer. If AC wants to stay in California, they will.
Zack decides that AC has to go to Hawaii. He convinces Lisa, Kelly, and Jessie that AC is dying of a mysterious disease and that his only hope for survival is moving to Hawaii. Zack sprinkles fire ants on AC’s back to make AC herk and jerk, as if he’s having a spasm. “This is study hall, not soul train!” the teacher announces. That teacher, by the way, was played by Dustin Diamond’s father.
Zack convinces everyone to treat AC like crap. He also steals AC’s wrestling trophy. AC announces that he’s going to Hawaii. Kelly replies, “And I’m going with him!”
Zack is stunned. I’m stunned, as well. How exactly is Kelly going to go with him? Are her poor, salt-of-the-Earth parents okay with moving to one of the most expensive states to live in? At least the Slaters have a home and a good job waiting for them in the Aloha State.
(Actually, now that I think about it and I remember Saved By The Hell Hawaiian Style, Kelly did have that uncle who lived in Hawaii so I guess it’s not as out-there a development as I initially though.)
Kelly tells Slater that she knows he’s dying. Slater realizes that he’s been set up. It’s time for another prank! AC’s father turns out to be remarkably okay with staying in California. He’s also okay with pretending to be insane and throwing a grenade at Zack.
Watching this episode, it occurred to me that, during the first season at least, Mario Lopez was clearly the star of the show. While Mark-Paul Gosselaar was still trying a little bit too hard (and he wasn’t helped by some overwritten dialogue) and Dustin Diamond looked like he was about 10 years old, Mario Lopez gave a believable performance as a teenager who had finally found a home and didn’t want to leave it. Slater’s the compelling character, the one who actually gets to grow and deal with real problems. (Gosselaar, of course, has grown tremendously as an actor since the first season of SBTB.)
Fortunately, Slater stays in California. Yay! It’s hard to imagine Bayside without him.
This is my final Saved By The Bell review of 2025. Retro Television Reviews is taken a break for the holidays so that I can focus on Awards Season and Christmas movies! Saved By The Bell will return on January 10th, 2026.
Oh, I love this one! Seriously, Boris Karloff and Christmas are a great combination!
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Friday, NBC)
Why is Santa Claus so mean in this one? This special has always been my least favorite of the classic Christmas specials because it makes the North Pole look like a terrible place to work.
Saved By The Bell: The New Class (Prime)
I’ve been struggling with insomnia this week but I discovered that, if I put SBTB: The New Class on as background noise, it actually eases me into sleep. This week, I slept through seasons 6 and 7. I had totally forgotten that, after Richard Lee Jackson left, they brought in yet another blonde transfer student from Valley to step into the Zack role. As I said last week, this show was the version of Saved By The Bell that I grew up with and I have a certain nostalgia for it. It’s not good but it’s oddly comforting in its terrible way.
Sean Combs: The Reckoning (Netflix)
I watched this docuseries on Friday and Saturday. It’s always so weird to me how people just kind of shrug off rap feuds turning violent, as if all the death is just a part of the entertainment. As for the series itself, it obviously had an agenda but that doesn’t make Sean Combs any less sleazy.
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 Baywatch, which ran on NBC and then in syndication from 1989 to 2001. The entire show can be viewed on Tubi.
This week, there’s a lot happening on the beach!
Baywatch 1.7 “The Cretin of the Shallows”
(Dir by Vern Gillum, originally aired on December 1st, 1989)
Eddie gets his wisdom teeth taken out. Feverish and on pain-killers, he has a hallucination in which Gina Pomeroy (Holly Gagnier) kisses him. Eddie spends the entire episode nervous that Craig is going to discover that he’s having an affair with his wife but actually, Eddie isn’t having an affair. It’s not until the end of the episode that Gina tells Eddie that they never kissed and Eddie finally starts to relax. Gina promises not to tell Craig because “I think it’s sweet.” Myself, I’m just curious as to how stupid Eddie actually is.
Shauni and Jill deal with a teenage boy who has made a bet with his friends that he’ll be able to get a kiss from both of them.
And a horrifying serial killer (Robert Trebor) is stalking the night, brutally murdering people on the beach.
One of these storylines is not like the other!
The first season of Baywatch was seriously weird. Light-hearted lifeguard hi-jinx would be mixed in with scenes of people being murdered. Mitch and Craig weren’t just lifeguards. They were also cops who solved mysteries (Kind of like Baywatch Nights!) and they put their lives at risk to do so. Remember how I mentioned that Gina told Eddie that they never kissed? She told him that after she had been rescued from the serial killer. Gina nearly died! Neither Gina nor Craig seemed to be too upset about that, though. I would be a little bit traumatized but that’s just me.
This episode really didn’t work for me. Personally, I like the light-hearted stuff. It’s dumb but, at heart, Baywatch’s appeal is that it’s a dumb show with nice scenery. Tossing a serial killer into the mix just made things unpleasant. It didn’t feel like it belonged on a show about people running on the beach in red bathing suits.
This is my last Baywatch review of 2025. Retro Television Reviews will be taking a break for the holidays so that I can focus on Awards Season and Christmas movies! Baywatch will return on January 10, 2026.
Here are the nominations of the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association!
Film Hamnet Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another Sentimental Value
Sinners
Director Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
Ryan Coogler – Sinners
Jafar Panahi – It Was Just an Accident Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme Chloé Zhao – Hamnet
Actor Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another Joel Edgerton – Train Dreams
Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan – Sinners
Actress Jessie Buckley – Hamnet Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked: For Good Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
Supporting Actor Benicio del Toro – One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo – Sinners Sean Penn – One Battle After Another Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value
Supporting Actress Ariana Grande – Wicked: For Good
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan – Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another
Youth Performance Miles Caton – Sinners
Cary Christopher – Weapons
Shannon Mahina Gorman – Rental Family Jacobi Jupe – Hamnet
Mason Thames – How to Train Your Dragon Nina Ye – Left-Handed Girl
Voice Performance Jason Bateman – Zootopia 2 Arden Cho – KPop Demon Hunters Ginnifer Goodwin – Zootopia 2 Yonas Kibreab – Elio
Ke Huy Quan – Zootopia 2
Motion Capture Performance Oona Chaplin – Avatar: Fire And Ash
Stephen Lang – Avatar: Fire And Ash
Zoe Saldaña – Avatar: Fire And Ash Sigourney Weaver – Avatar: Fire And Ash Sam Worthington – Avatar: Fire And Ash
Ensemble Hamnet
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners Wake Up Dead Man
Original Screenplay It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
Sentimental Value
Sinners Weapons
Adapted Screenplay Bugonia Frankenstein Hamnet
One Battle After Another Train Dreams
Animated Film Arco
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters Little Amélie Or The Character Of Rain
Zootopia 2
Production Design The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Sinners Wicked: For Good
Cinematography Frankenstein
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners Train Dreams
Editing F1: The Movie
Hamnet Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Score Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Joe Barber Award for Portrayal of Washington, DC Anniversary
Captain America: Brave New World
A House of Dynamite
Nuremberg Thunderbolts
Stunts F1: The Movie
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning One Battle After Another Sinners Superman
Documentary Come See Me in the Good Light
The Librarians
Orwell: 2+2=5
The Perfect Neighbor Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk
Foreign Language Film It Was Just an Accident
Left-Handed Girl No Other Choice
The Secret Agent Sentimental Value
Consider the plot of 2022’s A Royal Christmas On Ice.
He’s a prince.
She’s a former Olympic skater turned hard-as-nails coach.
They meet in a small town.
They fall in love….
AT CHRISTMAS!
Seriously, has there ever been a film more obviously made for me? This is a cute movie and a reminder that you can find just about anything in Fred Olen Ray’s filmography.
In this scene, from Sergio Corbucci’s Django, the film’s title character (played by my man, Franco Nero) reveals what’s actually in the coffin that he’s been dragging from town to town.
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 honor the birth and the legacy of the great Italian director, Sergio Corbucci! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Sergio Corbucci Films
Django (1966, dir by Sergio Corbucci, DP: Enzo Barboni)
The Hellbenders (1967, dir by Sergio Corbucci, DP: Enzo Barboni)
The Mercenary (1968, dir by Sergio Corbucci, DP: Alejandro Ulloa)
The Great Silence (1968, dir by Sergio Corbucci, DP: Silvano Ippoliti)
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? 2001’s Joyride!
If you want to join us this Saturday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag! It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
Through the Shattered Lens 