The Emperor’s Fortune”

Posted on February 11, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986! The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

This week, it’s a very special cruise of The Love Boat!

Episodes 7.7 and 7.8 “When Worlds Collide/The Captain and the Geisha/The Lotter Winners/The Emperor’s Fortune”

(Dir by Jerome Courtland, originally aired on November 5th, 1983)

The Love Boat is sailing to Japan!

Lila (Heather Thomas) is a photographer whose father is in a wheelchair due to the injuries that he received during World War II. She meets and falls for Bud O’Hara (Tony Danza). It seems like love at first sight but how will she react when they arrive in Japan and she discovers that Bud’s father (James Shigeta) is Japanese!? At first, Lila cannot get over her prejudice but then Bud’s father reveals that his own parents were killed at Hiroshima and that he has also struggled with forgiveness. “I am proud to be Japanese,” Tony Danza declares.

Martha Chambers (Mariette Hartley) is a professor in Asian studies who has a crush on the Captain. When she finds out that the Captain is fascinated by the culture of Japan, Martha pretends to be a geisha.

Barney (Ted Knight) and his wife (Rita Moreno) have just won five million dollars in the lottery and they spend almost the entire cruise showing off how much money they have. The crew isn’t comfortable dealing with the nouveau riche. Myself, I’m just happy that this storyline didn’t feature Ted Knight or Rita Moreno pretending to be Japanese.

Celia (Jean Hoffman) and her daughter, Joanie (Nancy Morgan), own one piece of an embroidered silk artwork. Ben Cummins (John Ritter) owns another piece. They’ve all been invited to Japan by a businessman named Yamamoto. Yamamoto claims to have the third piece and says that, when all the pieces are together, they will form a treasure map. Ben falls for Joanie. Celia falls for Harvey (Harvey Korman), a businessman who happens to be on the cruise. When the other two silk pieces are stolen, it doesn’t take long for Ben to figure out that Harvey is the one who took them. Harvey explains that he is Yamamoto and that he’s a career criminal. However, because he’s fallen in love with Celia, he returns all three of the silk pieces to her.

This two-hour episode was a travelogue. The Love Boat did one or two of these type of episodes every season. The show would leave the sound stages of Los Angeles and instead be filmed on an actual boat during an actual cruise. With these two hour episodes, the storylines were usually just an excuse for the Love Boat crew and their guest stars to see the sights. That’s certainly the case here. Captain Stubing gets a full tour of Japan. (Captain Stubing also has a lengthy fantasy sequence where he imagines himself as a shogun. It’s definitely not the show’s finest moment.)

It’s a good thing that the scenery is lovely in this episode because the stories themselves are nothing special and, in some cases, they’re actually difficult to watch. The Love Boat attempted to make a plea for tolerance and forgiveness and that’s definitely a good thing. But then the show cast Tony Danza as a half-Japanese man named Bud O’Hara and that was more than a bit cringey. There’s nothing about Tony Danza that is the least bit Japanese. For that matter, there’s nothing particularly Irish about him either.

This was not the best cruise of the Love Boat.

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case Of The Telltale Talk Show Host (1993, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on January 26, 2026 by Dazzling Erin

At the end of this movie… PERRY KISSED DELLA!

On the lips!

I knew they were in love! Obviously, Della (Barbara Hale) was also in love with Paul Drake, Sr. but with Paul gone and Paul Drake, Jr. doing his own thing, she and Perry (Raymond Burr) can finally be together. It was about time, too. Even though Perry comes across like he would be too work-obsessed to really be a good husband or even boyfriend, it has also been obvious that Perry and Della were in love ever since Perry Mason Returns.

As for the mystery itself, it’s a really simple one and I was able to guess who the killer was from the start. I know that Raymond Burr was terminally ill when he shot this film (and it was the last time Perry Mason movie to ai during his life time) and maybe that’s why the plot isn’t as complicated as usual. The guest cast is really good, though. Regis Philbin plays the owner of a talk radio station who is murdered by one of his hosts. Every host is a suspect and they’re all strange enough to be fun to watch. Both Montel Williams and G. Gordon Liddy are in this thing!

Knowing this was the last of the films to air during Burr’s lifetime made watching The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host feel a little sad. As sick as he was, Raymond Burr still dominated the courtroom. That was one reason why the kiss made me so happy. Perry (and Burr) didn’t have much time left but he made sure we all knew how he felt about Della.

Horror On TV: The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t (dir by Bruce Bilson)

Posted on October 17, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oh no! Halloween might be canceled because people just aren’t scared of the old monsters! Dracula (Judd Hirsch) calls all of the classic creatures to a meeting in his castle (where they all happen to be freeloading) and give them an ultimatum. Be more scary! It turns out to be easier said than done.

This originally aired in 1979 but, for people of a certain age, it achieved a certain immortality thanks to regular airings on the Disney Channel. It’s a cute show. It might seem a little bit corny today but that’s a large part of its appeal. It’s a reminder of a more innocent time.

Warren the Werewolf, by the way, was named after Warren “Werewolves of London” Zevon.

Freefall: Flight 174 (1995, directed by Jorge Montesi)

Posted on June 20, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

During a routine flight from Montreal to Edmonton, the two pilots (played by William Devane and Scott Hylands) discover that they do not have enough fuel to make it to their destination. Their aircraft was one of the first in the fleet to use the metric system but a conversion era led to the ground crew measuring the plane’s fuel in pounds instead of kilograms. With the help of an air traffic controller (Nicholas Turturro), the pilots try to land their plane before it falls out of the sky.

Based on a true story, Freefall is one of the many airflight disaster films that were made for television in the 80s and 90s. (Not surprisingly, the genre became less popular after 9-11.) The emphasis is on the pilots and ground control remaining calm and professional in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. While Devane and Hylands look for a place to land, flight attendant Shelley Hack keeps the passengers from panicking. In typical disaster movie style, the passengers have their own dramas that are wrapped up as they wait for the plane to either land or crash. It’s a low-budget movie but the cast does a good job. William Devane is one of those actors who just looks credible flying an airplane.

The movie’s main lesson? Don’t use the Metric System unless you absolutely have to,

Bonus Horror On TV: The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t (dir by Bruce Bilson)

Posted on October 29, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Warren the Werewolf, by the way, was named after Warren “Werewolves of London” Zevon.

Horror On TV: The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t (dir by Bruce Bilson)

Posted on October 30, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Warren the Werewolf, by the way, was named after Warren “Werewolves of London” Zevon.

Horror On TV: Ghost Story 1.9 “Cry of the Cat” (dir by Arnold Laven)

Posted on October 9, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of Ghost Story, a rodeo is terrorized by a series of cougar attacks. Could it have anything to do with the cat-like wife of rodeo star Doug McClure?

This episode originally aired on November 24th, 1972 and it is kind of silly but …. hey, it’s Doug McClure. It doesn’t get more early 70s than Doug McClure.

Enjoy!

2020 In Review: The Best of Lifetime

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As chaotic as 2020 may have been, one thing remained unchanged! Lifetime provided me with a lot of entertainment! Below, you’ll find my picks for the best Lifetime films and performances of the past year!

(For my previous best of Lifetime picks, click on the links: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019!)

Best Picture:

Best Director:

Jeff Hare for Beware of Mom
Sam Irvin for Mile High Escorts
David Weaver for Sleeping With Danger
Linden Ashby for Escaping My Stalker
Colin Theys for A Predator’s Obsession: Stalker’s Prey 2
Doug Campbell for Deadly Mile High Club

Best Actress:

Wendie Malick in Deranged Granny
Elisabeth Rohm in Sleeping With Danger
Sydney Myer in Remember Me, Mommy?
Ezmie Garcia in Escaping My Stalker
Anita Brown in Cheer Squad Secrets
Crystal Allen in Beware of Mom

Best Actor:

Houston Stevenson in A Predator’s Obsession: Stalker’s Prey 2
Antonio Cupo in Sleeping With Danger
Panos Vlahos in Psycho Yoga Instructor
Nick Ballard in Psycho Escort
Andrew James Allen in Escaping My Stalker
T.C. Matherne in A Murder to Remember

Best Supporting Actor

Damon K. Sperber in Deadly Mile High Club
Jim Klock in Secrets in the Woods
Gord Rand in Abducted on Air
Brandon Howell in Beware of Mom
Mark Jude Sullivan in Sinfidelity
Jeff Schine in A Mother Knows Worst

Best Supporting Actress

Cristine Prosperi in Killer Competition
Perrey Reeves in Abducted on Air
Mariette Hartley in Escaping My Stalker
Christina Moore in Mile High Escorts
Christie Burson in Ruthless Realtor
Cristina Rosato in No Good Dead Goes Unpunished

Best Screenplay:

Stephen Romano for Escaping My Stalker
Richard Blaney and Gregory Small for Sleeping with Danger
S.L. Heath for Beware of Mom
Barbara Kymlicka for Abducted on Air
Daniel West for Killer Competition
Adam Rockoff and Zachary Valenti for Remember Me Mommy

Best Score:

Andrew Morgan Smith for Sinfidelity
David Findlay for Revenge For Daddy
Christopher Cano for The Pom Pom Murders
Fantom for Mile High Escorts

Best Editing:

Maxime Chalifoux for Abducted on Air
Seth Johnson for The Pom Pom Murders
Bryan Capri for A Predator’s Obsession: Stalker’s Prey 2
Kelly Herron for Sleeping With Danger

Best Cinematography:

Branden James Maxham for A Predator’s Obsession: Stalker’s Prey 2
Nate Spicer for Mile High Escorts
Thomas M. Harting for Sleeping With Danger
David Dolnik for Deadly Mile High Club

Coming up next (tomorrow at the latest — maybe sooner, depending on how much time I can devote to watching 6 movie today): My picks for the best films of 2020! Finally!

TSL Looks Back at 2020:

Marooned (1969, directed by John Sturges)

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

Imagine The Martian or Apollo 13 without any humor or narrative momentum and you’ve got an idea what Marooned is like.

Three American astronauts (played by Richard Crenna, Gene Hackman, and James Franciscus) are returning to Earth after serving on an experimental space station when the engine to their spacecraft fails. Now stuck in orbit around the Earth, they only have two days before they run out of oxygen. While flight commander Crenna tries to keep everyone calm and make sure that all the proper procedures are followed, Gene Hackman yells at NASA and demands to be rescued.

Down on Earth, the head of NASA (Gregory Peck) says that there’s nothing that can be done. There’s no way to get a rescue mission set up quickly enough to save the lives of the astronauts. Both the President and David Janssen disagree with him. Janssen demands to be sent into space immediately, regardless of the dangers, so that he can bring America’s astronauts home.

Marooned is a painfully slow movie that went into production at the height of the space race and which was released just a few weeks before the first successful moon mission. Because it was made at a time when there were still many who claimed that NASA was a waste of money, the movie goes out of its way to explain that, even though the astronauts are probably going to die in space, NASA is in no way to blame. Richard Crenna absolves NASA of blame after being told that a rescue mission isn’t feasible. Gregory Peck holds a press conference, where he gives a lengthy speech about why space exploration is still important. The movie is very detailed in showing that NASA is staffed by personality-free professionals, which might have boosted confidence in NASA but which also leads to a dull story. You’ll notice that I haven’t referred to anyone in this film by the names of their characters. That’s because their names don’t matter because, other than Gene Hackman and David Janssen, none of them is really distinguished by any sort of identifiable personality. Hackman chews the scenery while Janssen plays another surly character who seems like he has a permanent hangover. I wouldn’t trust Janssen to pilot a spaceship.

Marooned won an Oscar for its Special Effects, which were probably impressive back in 1969 but which are dull by modern standards. Winning that Oscar meant that Marooned would eventually earn the distinction of being the only Oscar winner to be featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000. On MST 3K, it aired under the title Space Travelers, which is a perfectly generic name for a perfectly generic film.

What Lisa Watched Tonight #204: Escaping My Stalker (dir by Linden Ashby)

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight, I watched the first Lifetime movie of 2020 — Escaping My Stalker!

Why Was I Watching It?

Because it was the first Lifetime film of 2020, of course!

Seriously, though, 2019 was not an easy year for me as a reviewer. I got busy. My time management skills mysteriously fell apart. As a result, I missed a few Lifetime films and I also didn’t always have time to review quite a few of the ones that I did see. One of my resolutions for 2020 is to not let that happen again.

I mean, don’t get me wrong. If I’m not going to be at home when the movie airs, I’m going to set the DVR. But, this year, I’m not going to let movies pile up on my DVR before I watch them and, even more importantly, I’m not going to get behind on my reviews. That’s my 2020 resolution and if I break it, I’m blaming everyone who follows me on social media.

Those are the stakes, my friends.

(For the record, I will be watching and hopefully reviewing the remaining Lifetime films on my DVR this weekend.)

What Was It About?

Up until a year ago, 17 year-old Taylor (Ezmie Garcia) was homeless. Fortunately, she was eventually taken in and adopted by Larry (Linden Ashby) and his wife, Sandy (Alexandra Paul). Now, Taylor has a job at the local skatepark and her life appears to be heading in the right direction. However, Taylor also has a stalker! When that stalker breaks into Taylor’s home and shoots Larry in the leg, Taylor realizes that her new life isn’t as secure as she thought it was.

It’s no spoiler to tell you that Taylor’s stalker is Miles (Andrew James Allen). Miles lives with his grandmother (Mariette Hartley) and it quickly turns out that grandma is actually encouraging Miles! Miles and grandma have got their own reasons for wanting to destroy Taylor’s new family, reasons that only become clear as the film progresses.

What Worked

It all worked!

Seriously, Escaping My Stalker was a perfect way to start the new year. The story was interesting. The film was well-directed by Linden Ashby. Ezmie Garcia did a great job playing a character who was a bit tougher than the average Lifetime teenager. Meanwhile, Mariette Hartley appeared to be having a lot of diabolical fun in the role of the Grandma from Hell. Even though Miles was not necessarily a sympathetic character, it only took one look at Grandma to understand why Miles turned out the way that he did.

Also, Escaping My Stalker featured a Clu Gulager shout-out! When Taylor first meets Clu Dunsten (Pedro Correa), she asks him if he’s named after the great character actor Clu Gulager. They even spend a few minutes talking about Return of the Living Dead! If that isn’t the best way to start off 2020, I don’t know what is.

Finally, this was not just a Lifetime melodrama. It was also a film about the homeless situation, which is getting worse day-by-day (and not just on the West Coast, either). This was a Lifetime film with a conscience.

What Didn’t Work

As I said, it all worked. This was exactly the type of film that one hopes to see while watching the Lifetime Movie Network.

“OH MY GOD! JUST LIKE ME!” Moments

To be honest, I could only hope to be as tough and resourceful as Taylor.

Lessons Learned

There are still people out there who appreciate a good Living Dead film.