Lynne Gorman | Through the Shattered Lens

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!

This week, Cobb’s needs cookies!

Episode 2.7 “A Chocolate Chip Off The Old Block”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on November 14th, 1986)

Strange episode.

When a homeless woman named Gert (Lynne Gorman) starts hanging out in the store’s parking lot, Howard’s first instinct is to force her to go away. He’s especially annoyed when Gert starts sleeping in his parking space. However, Edna takes sympathy on Gert and practically adopts her. It turns out that Gert makes the best cookies that anyone has ever tasted!

That’s good news because Grandpa Morgan’s Cookies can no longer be sold in Cobb’s because the company has signed an exclusive contract with Flechman’s Grocery Store. Jeremy Corbyn (Grant Cowan), who works at the head office and who is a real jerk, is looking for a scapegoat and Howard seems like a likely target. But then Howard decides to start selling Grandma Gert’s Cookies in the store. When it comes time to sign Gert to an exclusive contract, Gert’s business manager, who happens to be the store’s assistant manager, Jack Christian, drives a hard bargain. Gert being managed by someone who works for the people who want to sign her to an exclusive contract sounds like a massive conflict of interest but it doesn’t matter because Gert has disappeared.

Desperate to sell cookies, Howard dresses up like a carnival barker and tries to get the customers interested in Uncle Howie’s Cookies. A homeless man named Lester (Warren Van Evera) interrupts Howard’s presentation to tell him that Gert died. It turns out that Gert was a millionaire and she left her money to not only her friends at the shelter but also to several charities. Lester hands Howard an envelope from Gert. Howard is excited because he thinks Gert left him money. Edna opens the envelope and reveals that Gert left him a cheap ring as a symbol of friendship.

Disappointed, Howard returns to trying to get people to buy Uncle Howie’s cookies and the episode ends.

Seriously, what a strange episode. After all the panic over the cookies, the episode ends without a resolution. The recipe for Gert’s cookies dies with her and I guess Cobb’s is just not going to be able to sell cookies. (Seriously, though, what type of store only sells one brand of cookies? What type of cookie company would only want their product to be sold in one store?) As well, this was another episode where Howard behaved in a way that totally went against what we’ve previously seen of the character. This show has never seemed to be sure whether or not Howard is supposed to be a well-meaning, somewhat hapless manager or if he’s meant to be an arrogant buffoon. This episode finds him in buffoon mode and his callous and greedy reaction to Gert’s death feels totally wrong.

It’s probably best to just move on from this episode and pretend like it didn’t happen. So, let do just that.

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, a show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on YouTube!

This week, David Cronenberg directs a story about a cursed glove.

Episode 1.12 “Faith Healer”

(Dir by David Cronenberg, originally aired on February 8th, 1988)

After being absent for the last few episodes, Jack has returned to the antique shop and he’s back just in time to investigate a faith healer named Stewart Fishoff (Miguel Fernandes).

Fishoff started his career as a phony evangelist, one who was exposed by one of Jack’s friends, Jerry Scott (Robert A. Silverman). However, Fishoff is back and now, it appears that he truly does have the power to heal the sick. Jack can’t help but notice that Fishoff is now wearing a white glove, one that was purchased from the store. The glove can take away someone’s illness but then it then passes on that illness to the next person that it touches. With Micki busy researching the store’s history and Ryan suffering from a cold, Jack pays a visit to Jerry to plot how to get back the glove.

The problem is that Jerry wants the glove for himself and he’s willing to kill not only Fishoff but also Jack to get it.

Faith Healer was directed by David Cronenberg, one of the many prominent Canadian horror filmmakers who directed an episode or two of this show. Not surprisingly, the episode is full of visually striking images, from Fishoff’s church and the member of his cult to the scenes of suddenly sickened skin erupting and then rotting away. Indeed, if you watched this episode and somehow missed the directorial credit, you would still be able to guess that it came from the mind of David Cronenberg. It’s full of moody Cronenbergian images and themes, as the rational skepticism of Jerry goes to war with the faith of Fishoff’s cult and both turn out to be equally destructive. A good deal of this episode focused on showing how both Fishoff and Jerry were seduced by the cursed glove and its promise of power. If you’ve ever wondered why everyone on this show is so quick to use the antiques for evil, this episode seems to suggest that the antiques are a bit like a powerful drug. Once you give in to the temptation, the addiction quickly follows.

This episode was well-acted by both Cronenberg regular Robert A. Silverman and Chris Wiggins. Silverman turns Jerry into a compelling villain, one who falls victim to the same dark magic that he previously made a career out of debunking. This episode ends with Jack in a particularly dark place and Chris Wiggins does a great job of capturing Jack’s disillusionment. As Jack points out, all of his friends are either evil or dead or both! This episode explores the pain that comes from both owning the antiques and tracking them down.

Next week: Micki and Ryan travel in time to pursue a vampire!