Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 10/27/24 — 11/2/24


Last Sunday, I took part in one of my favorite October traditions and I watched It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown with my sister, Erin.  I always enjoy watching these old Peanuts specials with my sister.  It’s been a part of our holiday tradition for as long as I can remember.  You can read Erin’s thoughts on the Great Pumpkin here.

I watched the latest episode of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez.  This week, Aaron murdered Odin Lloyd.  This was the crime for which Hernandez was arrested and eventually sent to prison.  You would think that this would have been a major episode of the show but it was actually pretty meh.  Who cares?  Everything that this show had to say about Aaron Hernandez and his crimes was said several episodes ago.

I enjoyed the latest episode of Hell’s Kitchen on Thursday.  The Blue Team is finally getting it together.  Chef Ramsay is being a bit nicer than usual this season but he’s still entertaining.  I actually kind of like it when Ramsay’s nice.  One gets the feeling that he really does want everyone to reach their full potential.

How did I not know that Dr. Phil started his own television network?  On Friday, I came across it while looking for something to watch in the afternoon.  I ended up watching two episodes of Jail.  Usually, the cops and guards on Jail get on my nerves but, in these two episodes, they actually did a pretty good job and treated everyone with a modicum of respect.

On Friday night, I watched two episodes of Night Flight.  It was all about 80s music and 80s films.  I enjoyed them.

Today, I watched an old episode of Dragnet from 1970.  Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb) was enrolled in night school.  An anti-cop professor tried to kick him out of class.  Fortunately, one of Joe’s classmates was an attorney and threatened to sue the college on Joe’s behalf.

As far as my retro television reviews are concerned, I finished up T&T finally.  I also watched and reviewed Friday the 13th, Welcome Back, Kotter, and Check It Out.  Welcome Back, Kotter is no longer on Tubi so I had two bucks to watch this week’s episode on Prime.  Welcome Back, Kotter’s later seasons are far more tolerable when you can view them for free.

Horrorthon is over!  I’ve got a lot of television to get caught up on, starting this upcoming week.  Apparently, I’m being given an extra hour to do so.  That was nice of whoever’s in charge of all that.

 

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 10/20/24 — 10/26/24


Wow, the story of Aaron Hernandez gets less and less interesting with each week.  American Sports Story got off to a strong start but, this week, I found myself watching the latest episode and wondering why anyone should care about Aaron and his problems.  Seriously,  I get that Aaron Hernandez was abused as a child.  I get that he struggled as a gay man in a hypermasculine, homophobic industry.  I get that he didn’t grow up privileged.  I’ll even agree with the show’s criticisms of the NFL.  But in the end, who cares?  As portrayed on this show, Aaron Hernandez comes across as being an idiot.  Beyond the fact that he played professional football, there’s nothing particularly interesting about Hernandez or his crimes.  He’s not a compelling character at all.

I was far more entertained by Hell’s Kitchen this week.  Gordon Ramsay and his terrified chefs are compelling characters.  Ramsay was in a surprisingly supportive mood this week.  That’s fine with me.  I like it when Chef Ramsay’s nice.  No one went home this week.  Yay!

Let’s see, what else did I watch this week?  I watched that old episode of Dragnet where Friday and Gannon went on the talk show.  I actually watched that episode several times.  It amused me.  Plus, the episode’s debate was a lot more interesting than any of the real debates that are currently going on.

I watched and reviewed Miami Vice, The Love Boat, and Homicide.  I watched a Halloween episode of Friday the 13th.  I watched and shared several episodes of One Step Beyond.  And, finally, I watched an episode of Dr. Phil where a man said his wife had run off with a cult.

And that’s it!  Most of my attention was devoted to horror films this week.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 10/13/24 — 10/19/24


I watched a lot of  horror movies this week but I didn’t watch much television.  Starting on November 1st, I’m going to have a lot of shows to get caught up on.

I caught the latest installment of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez.  Like a lot of Ryan Murphy’s recent miniseries, American Sports Story started out strong but the last few episodes have felt like padding.  It’s not that the episodes aren’t contributing to the story.  This week, we watched as Aaron committed what was apparently his first murder and as he started to show signs of CTE.  But it’s still hard not to feel as if each episode is basically 20 minutes worth of story stretched out to 50 minutes.  We’re halfway through this series and it has yet to really give us a reason why we should care about Aaron Hernandez.  He just comes across as being an idiot, regardless of his athletic skills, his terrible childhood, or his status as a self-hating gay man trying to survive in a homophobic culture.  He doesn’t seem to be worth all of this trouble.

I watched Hell’s Kitchen.  The chefs continue to compete at a high level and they continue to have disastrous dinner services.  Hell’s Kitchen is one of the few reality shows not to have massively changed its format over the past four years.  The producers know there’s no need to fix something that’s already working.  If only the producers of Big Brother and Survivor understood that!

I watched an old episode of Night Flight on Friday.  It featured Elvis snarling at the camera.

I watched the episode of Dr. Phil in which Phil and cult expert Rick Ross confronted a guy who said he wasn’t a cult leader despite the fact that he clearly was.  There’s a lot negative things that can be said about Dr. Phil’s show but the episodes where he exposed cults and their leaders were always entertaining and worth watching.

I watched and reviewed Homicide, Miami Vice, and The Love Boat!  I also watched and shared several episodes of One Step Beyond.

And that’s it!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 10/6/24 — 10/12/24


Here’s my thoughts on what I watched this week.

Abbott Elementary (Wednesday Night, ABC)

Abbott‘s back.  Jeanine and Gregory are dating and they’re a cute couple.  That said, I can’t help but remember how The Office kind of started to become less interesting once Pam and Jim officially became a couple.  Single, neurotic people are always funnier than stable people in love.

It’ll be interesting to see how this season goes.  Last season, I got annoyed with Jeanine working for the district and the show itself occasionally got a bit heavy-handed in a way that it hadn’t during the previous seasons.  At the time, I choose to believe that season’s weaker moments were due to the season being shortened by all the strikes that were going on.  I’m hoping this new season will prove me correct.

Ava continues to be the best character on the show.

Accused (Tuesday Night, FOX)

After an incredibly uneven first season, Fox’s crime anthology show is back for a second season.  The first episode featured a psychic accused and on trial.  Felicity Huffman (who hasn’t really been seen much ever since she was implicated in the so-called Varsity Blues scandal) and William H. Macy provided some star power but the overall results were still pretty dull. I’m not a huge fan of anthology shows in general.  They always seem to be trying a bit too hard.

American Sports Story: Aaron Herndanez (Tuesday, FX)

This week, Aaron started to find fame as a pro football player with the New England Patriots, while continuing to deal with stress by hanging out with lowlifes and criminals.  While struggling to maintain the squeaky clean image that the NFL demanded from its players, Hernandez also beat up his abusive stepfather.  Much as with last week, this episode was well-done but it still feels as if the show is dragging out the story a bit too much.  This episode was about 20 minutes worth of story stretched out over 50 minutes.  Needless to say, it did start to feel a bit repetitive after a bit.  The attempt to use Aaron Hernandez’s stupidity as a way to comment on American society continues to feel a bit half-baked.

Dr. Phil (Pluto TV)

“Shut up!” Kaye yelled, when confronted about her Nigerian boyfriend, who she has never actually met despite selling her house and sending him the money.  I know Kaye was embarrassed but yelling shut up isn’t going to get her money back.

Hell’s Kitchen (Thursday Night, FOX)

One chef left the show to go to the hospital.  Another hurt his back and voluntarily withdrew from the competition.  The Blue Team had a terrible dinner service and a Chef Ramsay sent another chef home.  The Red Team is getting pretty cocky, which I’m going to assume means that they’re going to fall apart next episode.  Getting cocky is always the worst thing that any chef can do on Hell’s Kitchen.  Hell’s Kitchen remains one of the few reality shows to remain as entertaining today as when it first aired.  The show has been smart enough to stick to its formula and not change things up just to satisfy whatever the current cultural trend may be.

Homicide: Life On The Streets (Peacock)

I wrote about Homicide here!

Law & Order (Thursday Night, NBC)

This week’s episode saw SVU‘s Mariska Hargitay making a guest appearance on Law & Order and it really does show just how much things have changed as far as this franchise is concerned.  At one time, SVU was kind of like Law & Order‘s sordid and little-acknowledged bastard cousin and it was a big deal if anyone from L&O lowered themselves to make an appearance on SVU.  Now, things are reversed.  Law & Order is still struggling to find its voice in  the 2020s and it’s SVU that’s providing some star power to its struggling cousin.

On another note, I’m surprised that there’s any tech gurus left in New York as they seem to be the number one victim of choice on Law & Order.  If they’re not getting murdered, they’re going to jail.

I continue to miss Jack McCoy.

The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)

I wrote about The Love Boat here!

Miami Vice (Amazon Prime)

I wrote about Miami Vice here!

Night Flight (Night Flight Plus)

On Friday, I watched an episode from 1988.  The first half of the episode featured music videos, including X’s Devil Doll.  The second half took a look at “upcoming” films, including one in which Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Belushi teamed up to fight crime.  No, it wasn’t The Principal.

One Step Beyond (YouTube)

This week, I have continued to watch and share episodes of this old anthology show.  I’ve been having a lot of fun watching this show.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 9/29/24 — 10/5/24


As you can probably guess, I spent most of this week watching horror movies.  I didn’t watch many television shows but here’s a few thoughts on what I did watch.  (For those keeping track, I still need to watch the first episodes of the new season of Survivor and I guess the first few episodes of Doctor Odyssey.  Maybe I’ll find the time next week.)

American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez (Wednesday Night, FX)

This week, Aaron finally made it to the NFL.  This episode was well-done and made a point about how sports is big business and how players are expected to have the right image but it was really hard not to feel that, as with so many Ryan Murphy productions, this episode basically spent 50 minutes telling a 15 minute story.  Did we have to see every details of Aaron at the combine?  Probably not.  Did we have to once again hit on all the stuff about Aaron’s family?  I mean, most of what was revealed in this episode was already revealed in the previous three episodes.  The danger with these shows is that they always drag out the story to such an extent that it’s easy to get bored.

Hell’s Kitchen (Thursday Night, FOX)

Despite all of the talent assembled for the season, the first dinner service was a disaster!  Isn’t that always the way?  “GET OUT!” Ramsay shouted.  If I went to Hell’s Kitchen and my food wasn’t screwed up and if Chef Ramsay wasn’t yelling at people the entire time, I would feel extremely disappointed.

Law & Order (Thursday Night, NBC)

Law & Order is back.  The season premiere was bland, disappointing, and heavy-handed but that always seems to be the case when it comes to the premiere of each season of Law & Order.  For whatever reason, the season premiere is almost always the weakest episode of this series and the show usually steadily improves afterwards.  That said, this is an election year and the partisan atmosphere is exactly the type of thing that tends to inflame this show’s worst tendencies.  McCoy is still missed.  Why is Maroun even on the show?

One Step Beyond (YouTube)

I watched a few episodes this week and I shared them here on the site as a part of Horrorthon!  Be sure to check them out when you get a chance because they’re all pretty entertaining.  I like the fact that the show pretended to be based on fact.  It was like the Beyond Belief of its day.

Rescue: Hi-Surf (Fox, Monday)

On Sunday morning, I watched the first three episodes of this new Fox show about lifeguards in Hawaii.  There was nothing particularly original about this show.  It was basically just a remake of Baywatch but without that show’s self-awareness.  But the scenery was lovely and some of the rescues were exciting to watch.  This is a show that could definitely become a 9-1-1-style guilty pleasure, assuming it survives its debut season.

Square Pegs (YouTube)

With my friend Pat, I watched a Halloween episode of this old 80s sitcom on Friday night.  It was amusing enough.  A very young Sarah Jessica Parker was apart of the cast and far more likable than she’s ever been on Sex and the City.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 9/22/24 — 9/28/24


Just as with last week, I’ve been busy getting ready for Horrorthon and watching a lot of movies.  I haven’t watched much episodic television over the past few days.

I binged my way through several episodes of Fantasy Island and The Love Boat. I’ll be reviewing those episodes over the next few weeks.  I watched the second season finale and the the third season premiere of Miami Vice.  I’ll be posting my thoughts on the show tomorrow.  I watched a few episodes of One Step Beyond, a horror-themed anthology show from the 60s.  I’ll be posting episodes of that show throughout October.  The fun thing about One Step Beyond is that all of the shows were claimed to be based on fact.  Every episode seems like it should feature Criswell asking, “Can you prove it didn’t happen?”

On Netflix, I watched the second season of Monsters (the Ryan Murphy-produced true crime anthology show and not the old Canadian anthology series that I review for this site).  This time, the series focused on Lyle and Erik Menendez.  Though overstuffed with ten episodes, it was a clear improvement over the first season.  At first, I was worried that the series was going to glamourize the Menendez brothers in much the same way that it previously glamourized Jeffrey Dahmer.  Fortunately, that didn’t happen.  The Menendez brothers came across as being two spoiled rich sociopaths and the fact that one of them reached out from prison to complain about how he was portrayed leads me to suspect that the miniseries got closer to the truth than some of the other shows that have been made about the Menendez murders.  As is typical of Ryan Murphy’s miniseries, the end result was uneven and occasionally a bit tasteless but it was still interesting to watch.  I plan to write and post a longer review sometime next week.

Speaking of Ryan Murphy-produced true crime, I watched the third episode of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez.  It was okay, even if it did feel as if it wasn’t really adding anything new to what we previously learned from the first two episodes.  I liked Patrick Schwarzenegger’s portrayal of Tim Tebow, even the show itself didn’t exactly treat the character fairly.  The actor playing Aaron Hernandez continues to come across as being a bit of a blank.

I plan to get caught up with Survivor next week. I might even check in on the Big Brother House, now that this season is nearly over.  I did get a chance to watch the premiere of Hell’s Kitchen this week.  I can’t wait for the first dinner service and elimination.  Just based on the first episode, this looks like it will be another good season.  Unlike Jeff Probst, who seems obsessed with changing Survivor simply for the sake of changing it, Gordon Ramsay seems to understand that there’s no need to fix something that is already working.  I always enjoy Hell’s Kitchen and I’m looking forward to this season.

And that’s it for this week!

 

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 9/15/24 — 9/21/24


I have spent most of this week getting ready for the annual October Horrorthon, which means that I’ve been watching a lot of horror movies and not a lot of television.  As a matter of fact, I haven’t watched one episode of Big Brother this year and I didn’t even realize that Survivor started last week.

(Most years, I blog about Big Brother for another site but, due to my father’s passing, I took a leave of absence of this year.  I may, however, write about Survivor because it’s only a once-a-week show as opposed to a 7-day a week gig.)

Here’s a few thoughts on what I did watch this week:

American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez (FX)

I watched the first two episodes of the latest Ryan Murphy-produced true crime miniseries on Saturday.  This show deals with the life and crimes of Aaron Hernandez, a pro football player who ended up going to prison for murder and who is suspected of carrying out a lot more murders over the course of his short life.  The first two episodes followed Aaron in high school and college, struggling to live up to his father’s ambitions and also with his own sexuality.  The episodes were well-directed but I have to admit that the culture of sports remains extremely odd to me.  So far, the defining image of the series is a bunch of naked football players hugging on each other while loudly talking about how much they hated anything that they considered to be gay.

So far, Josh Andres Rivera is believable as Aaron, even if he doesn’t exactly have the most exciting screen presence.  Then again, Aaron Hernandez appears to have been kind of an idiot so maybe it makes sense that he would be kind of a blah person.  The best performance so far has come from Tony Yazbeck as Aaron’s college coach.

The Emmy Awards (ABC)

Jeff and I watched the ceremony on Sunday but we muted it fairly early on.  From what I saw, it was a pretty boring ceremony, up until Hacks beat The Bear for Best Comedy.  I’m not really a huge fan of Hacks but it’s definitely more of a comedy than The Bear.  That said, and this may be my film snobbery coming through, The Emmys have always felt a bit pointless when compared to the Oscars.  Maybe that’s the Oscars have different nominees every year whereas the Emmys will nominate Only Murders In The Building until it finally ends its run.

Get Judged By Byron Browne (Nosey)

I watched an episode on Friday, in between horror movies.  A guy called in, upset because his father sold his childhood home.  (The guy had been led to believe, by his grandmother, that the house belonged to him.)  Byron basically told the guy that promises from grandma have no legal standing.  Poor guy.  I felt bad for him.  GIVE THE MAN HIS HOUSE!

The Jerry Springer Show (Nosey)

The episode I watched on Monday featured Jerry interviewing the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Hebrew Israelites (which, despite the name, is a Black supremacist group) at the same time.  Needless to say, none of them were happy about being on stage together and the whole thing devolved into a bunch of shouting.  One white woman in the audience shouted that black men received the right to vote before white women.  A black woman then said that the Bible says that women are not supposed to vote because men were created first.  It was a strange episode.

The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)

Read this week’s review here!

Miami Vice (Prime)

Read this week’s review here!

Monsters (YouTube)

I binged and wrote reviews of several episodes of MonstersRead this week’s review here!

Night Flight (Night Flight Plus)

This Friday, I watched an old episode of this 90s music show.  It was all about guitar rock and it was pretty cool.  Of course, the whole thing was pretty much just videos of Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Jeff Beck but they all sounded good.  This EDM girl enjoyed listening to them.

One Step Beyond (YouTube)

I watched a few episodes of this paranormal anthology show on Thursday as I prepared for this year’s Horrorthon.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 9/8/24 — 9/14/24


I’ve been up at Lake Texoma for most of this week, getting some much-needed rest after the past 3 and a half months.  As such, I haven’t watch much television over the past few days (and no, I did not watch the debate because, as I just said, I’m trying to rest and relax) but I did find time to binge and write up reviews for several episodes of Baywatch Nights, Check It Out!, Friday the 13th, and Welcome Back, Kotter.  Watch for the rest of those reviews through the rest of this month and October!

Here’s some thoughts on what I did watch:

Baywatch Nights (YouTube)

I binged Baywatch Nights this week.  Check out my review of this week’s episode here!

Check It Out! (Tubi)

I watched and wrote reviews of several episodes of Check It Out! on Sunday.  Look for the reviews through the rest of this month and October.

Fantasy Island (DVR)

I reviewed this week’s episode of Fantasy Island here!

Friday the 13th: The Series (YouTube)

Read this week’s review here!

Get Judged by Byron Browne (Nosey)

Tattooed and plain-spoken attorney Byron Browne listens to people talk about their problems and then tells them if they have grounds to sue.  I watched a few episodes on Sunday evening.  I actually liked the show.  I appreciated the fact that Browne, for all of his flamboyance, gave good advice and didn’t waste many words getting to the point.

Jerry Springer Show (Nosey)

I watched three episodes of this show on Nosey while I was working on some reviews of shows that don’t feature Jerry Springer.  One episode that I watched featured a dry cleaner who stole women’s clothes and wondered why his girlfriend was cheating on him.  Another episode featured a man who wanted his lover to dress up like his mom.  The last episode featured a man who got upset because his girlfriend was sleeping with his sister.  I’m pretty sure every guest was an actor.  I mean, I’ve known some pretty weird people but I’ve never known anyone as strange as the typical Spring guest.

Jerry Springer, let’s just be honest, came across as being incredibly sleazy.  I don’t care that he was a former politician or that he was apparently inspired by Robert F. Kennedy, Sr.  I don’t care that he was apparently an amiable presence off-stage.  Watching him on this show, smirking while the audience chants his name, I felt no need to pretend like Springer was anything other than the epitome of a sleazy talk show host.  For all the efforts made by some in the media to rehabilitate his image and to suggest that he shouldn’t have been judged by the show he hosted, Springer really was the worst and the faux sincerity of his “final thoughts” always verged on being offensive.  If he was still alive, he’d be an excellent pick to play the sleazy game show host, Killian, in a Running Man remake.

The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)

I reviewed this week’s episode of The Love Boat here!

Miami Vice (Prime)

I reviewed this week’s episode of Miami Vice here.

Monsters (YouTube)

I wrote about Monsters here!

Welcome Back, Kotter (Tubi)

I wrote about Welcome Back, Kotter here!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 9/1/24 — 9/7/24


I’ve been getting ready for our annual October horrorthon so, this week, I binged a few of the shows that I review for the Shattered Lens and I wrote up several weeks’s worth of reviews.  If nothing else, I can proudly say that I’ve got reviews of CHiPs, Degrassi Junior High, Malibu CA, and Highway to Heaven all ready to go for the next two months.

On Friday night, I watched an episode of Night Flight that featured music videos from David Bowie.  The music was great.  Though it wasn’t featured on the episode, I found myself singing Heroes while I watched it.

On Saturday morning, Jeff and I watched an episode of Homicide: Life on the Streets, which is currently streaming on Peacock.  The episode featured Robin Williams as a man whose wife was gunned down in front of him and who found himself disgusted by the seemingly callous attitude of the detective investigating the crime.  This is a show that I’ve heard a lot about and one which I’ve been told I should consider reviewing for this site.  The episode that I saw was really good so I might have to do just that.

I haven’t really watched that much television over the past few months.  In fact, I went a few weeks without watching a single thing, which is one reason why there’s been a few weeks where I didn’t even have a reason to post a Week In Television. All of my focus was on taking care of my father.  I have a lot that I now need to get caught up on and I shall.  It might take a while but as James Bond told Tracy at their wedding, “We have all the time in the world.”

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 8/11/24 — 8/17/24


I didn’t watch much this week but here’s a few thoughts on what I did watch!

American Murder: Laci Peterson (Netflix)

This three-part docuseries is the perfect antidote for that horribly biased The Murder of Laci Peterson show that still occasionally shows up on A&E.  Watching this series (as I did on Thursdasy), you are really left with no doubt that Scott Peterson murdered his wife and child.  As opposed to the one-sided approach taken by The Murder of Laci Peterson (which was essentially bankrolled by the Peterson family), American Murder gave both sides equal time.  As a result, the viewer sees how strong the case  against Scott actually was and they also see just how much in denial the Peterson family is actually in as far as Scott’s crimes are concerned.

Diff’Rent Strokes (YouTube)

Gary Coleman and the kid who played Reggie in Friday the 13th Part V found themselves being groomed by the creepy owner of a bicycle shop.  This was the episode that I watched, for some reason (boredom, perhaps), on Wednesday.  The owner of the bicycle shop was played by a familiar actor named Gordon Jump.  He seemed like a really nice guy but then he started giving the boys wine and inviting them to watch pornographic cartoons.  The episode ended with a detective explaining how the perverted mind works to a stunned Todd Bridges.

This episode is apparently an infamous one.  I thought it was fairly well-done, though the laugh track definitely felt out of place.  The episode opened with the star of the show, the very erudite Conrad Bain, encouraging families to watch and discuss the episode together.  He sounded very sincere.

Night Flight (Night Flight Plus)

The episode that I watched on Friday featured clips from and videos inspired by Woodstock.  The music was great!

The Office (Comedy Central)

I watched the classic “Did I Stutter” episode on Sunday.  That episode was The Office at its best, especially when Stanley and Michael talked about their differences.  Michael was so desperate for Stanley to like him and Stanley, to be honest, seemed like he wished he could bring himself to like Michael as well.  But, as Stanley put it, “I’ve known you for a very long time.”  Great episode.

Sally Jessy Raphael (Nosey)

On Sunday, I watched an episode from the early 90s.  Sally interviewed Corey Feldman about his career and his struggle to get off drugs.  Feldman said that he couldn’t wait to get his film career back on track.  Character actor Brion James also talked about his own struggle to get and stay clean.  It was kind of a depressing episode, to be honest.  James came across like a kind and plain-spoken man but Feldman seemed like he was desperately trying to convince everyone (including himself) that he was okay.

The Steve Wilkos Show (Nosey)

“Get off my stage!” Steve yelled, throwing a chair at a bigamist.  That’s what happened during the episode that I watched on Friday.  I wonder how much money this show spends on chairs.  It can’t be good for them, the way Steve is constantly throwing them at people.