Margot Rose – Through the Shattered Lens

Robert F. Lyons is one of my favorite character actors, and he turned 87 years old on October 17, 2026. One of the best nights of my life was when I was able to interview him, along with host Eric Todd, on the THIS WEEK IN CHARLES BRONSON PODCAST episode “Everyone calls me Bobby.” I mostly appreciate him based on his work with Bronson (DEATH WISH II, TEN TO MIDNIGHT, MURPHY’S LAW), but he’s got over 100 credits, and he’s given a lot of memorable performances in films and on TV over the years. As far as the horror genre, I generally think of his role as Skeeter Norris in THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW (1981). When I was looking through his filmography this week, I noticed he had guest-starred in an episode of FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES that premiered on February 4th, 1990. Having never watched an episode before, this seemed like the perfect time to check it out.

I only watched the first part of the episode in order to see Lyons, but his story concerns an obnoxious sculptor (Lyons) who fakes his own death to avoid prosecution after the accidental death of one of his models. This also has the added benefit of increasing the value of his work. He instructs his wife, who knows he’s really alive, to sell his remaining sculptures for the premium before they head to France and live out their lives in luxury. The narcissist that he is, he goes stir crazy cooped up in his loft apartment, even accusing his wife of having an affair. Unsurprisingly, things don’t go well for him in the end.

As I said earlier, this was my first episode of FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES. I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I did enjoy the nostalgia of seeing Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) host the episode, even if his comments were a little corny. I don’t want to speak for the entire series, but based on this one episode alone, the story seemed designed to teach our protagonist a thing or two about the right way to treat people. Despite his artistic talent, our lead was selfish, jealous, bitter, and abusive to everyone around him, and he learned a valuable, but deadly lesson. I enjoyed Lyons’ performance, and I thought Fabiana Udenio was extremely sexy as his wife. I mean seriously, the guy should have been thanking God that he had her rather than treating her like crap. This being the early 90s, he had an earring in his left ear and a cute little ponytail, but he truly is a jerk and Lyons went all in as he always seemed to in his best performances.

I’m glad I watched this episode, even if I don’t necessarily have the desire to go back through the entire series. Lyons is good, and the story had a reasonable, if superficially manufactured, moral lesson for a guy who had treated the important people in his life kind of like property. If another episode catches my attention in the future, I’ll definitely give it a watch!

P.S. I’ve attached a link to our interview on TWICB just in case interviews with character actors like Lyons interest you. It was so much fun for me!

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 Freddy’s Nightmares, a horror anthology show which ran in syndication from 1988 to 1990. The entire series can be found on Tubi!

This week, a loft sees a lot of action!

Episode 2.17 “Interior Loft Later”

(Dir by Ken Wiederhorn, originally aired on February 4th, 1990)

The loft from last week’s episode returns!

The loft is now home to sculptor Alex McFain (Robert F. Lyons). Alex spends most of his time sitting and sleeping in a bath tub and complaining about the fact that his work doesn’t make him much money. When his wife, Fabina (Fabiana Udenio) accidentally kills one of Alex’s models, Alex comes up with a brilliant plan. He’ll fake his own death so his work will become valuable!

At first, the plan works. The only problem is that Alex can no longer leave the loft. With Fabina constantly going outside to sell his work, Alex starts to worry that she’s having an affair with another man. It tuns out that he’s half-right. Fabina is having an affair but it’s with another woman. Alex is shocked but he’s then killed by decorative sword that falls off of the ceiling. Now, his work will be really valuable!

Months later, Fabina’s former boy toy, Art (Dean Fortunato), shows up at the apartment and discovers that it is now occupied by Stacy (Leslie Bega) and Gina (Tory Polone). Art moves in with them and proceeds to seduce both of them. He tells one that he’s an environmental activist being pursued by a cartel of fishermen. He tells the other that he’s being chased by the mob. When Stacy and Gina compare notes, it’s bad news for both Art.

Freddy doesn’t do anything in either one of these stories, other than introduce them. Both stories follow the familiar pattern where anything overly dramatic that happens is ultimately revealed to be a dream. Neither story is all that interesting but Robert F. Lyons does his best to bring some life to his role of the sculptor pretending to be dead. As has so often been the case with the second season, this episode isn’t great or even memorable but it’s still a hundred times better than the majority of the first season.