Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 4.20 “A Bullet For Crockett”

Posted on September 15, 2025 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 Mondays, I will be reviewing Miami Vice, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show can be purchased on Prime!

This week, in honor episode 4.20, Cockett and Tubbs get high.

Just kidding! Instead, Crockett takes a bullet and Phil Collins sings Something In The Air tonight.

Episode 4.20 “A Bullet For Crockett”

(Dir by Donald L. Gold, originally aired on April 15th, 1988)

After Crockett is shot by a drug dealer’s girlfriend, he fights for his life while the other members of the Vice Squad hover nearby. Crockett remembers past moments. The other members of the Vice Squad remember past moments….

Hey, it a clip show!

Usually. I hate clip shows but I’ll defend this one because it was well-edited and it reminded me of how good this show was before season 4 started. Plus, the episode made good use of Something In The Air Tonight.

The important thing is that, after all the memories were shared, Tubbs took down the shooter and Crockett woke up. Let’s not worry too much about why Crockett’s new wife never came to the hospital. She at least appeared in flashback.

What doe it say about Season 4 that the best episode was probably the clip show?

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 4.19 “Blood & Roses”

Posted on September 8, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Gina’s in trouble again!

Episode 4.19 “Blood & Roses”

(Dir by George Mendeluk, originally aired on April 1st, 1988)

Frank Mosca (Stanley Tucci) is back!

In case you’ve forgotten, Mosca was the villain from the fourth season premiere, Contempt of Court. That episode ended with Mosca getting away with everything. This episode finds him killing a rival drug lord (Michael Wincott) and trying to kill Crockett. Because Mosca knows who Crockett and Tubbs are, it falls on Gina to go undercover. This becomes yet another episode where Gina starts to fall for the bad guy and ends up having sex with the target of a Vice investigation. As often happens with these type of episodes, Gina ends up shooting Mosca to keep him from shooting Sonny. Mosca’s body plummets down an air shaft and it’s hard not to notice that Stanley Tucci has suddenly become a mannequin with painted hair.

Stanley Tucci gave a magnetic performance as the charismatic but evil Frank Mosca. Watching Tucci, it’s easy to see why the show brought him but Mosca was such a memorable character that it’s shame that he was given a standard Miami Vice death scene. Mosca deserved to go out with a bit more style. Saundra Santiago gave a good performance as Gina but it’s hard not to notice that every time she’s at the center of an episode, it’s pretty much the same basic plot. As a character, Gina deserved better than to constantly be used as a sex toy by every bad guy she went undercover to investigate.

Watching this episode, I found myself wondering if the show’s writers remembered that Crockett was supposed to be married. Between his jealousy over Gina getting close to Mosco and a scene where he and Gina shared a brief but intense kiss, it was hard not to notice that Crockett didn’t seem to be thinking about his wife. Perhaps this episode was originally meant to air earlier in the season, before Crockett’s somewhat improbable wedding. Who knows? It’s been a while since anyone asked Crockett about Caitlin. Maybe they got a quickie divorce offscreen.

This episode was typical of season 4. It was well-made but everything just felt a bit too familiar. to be effective.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 4.18 “Badge of Dishonor”

Posted on September 1, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Crockett and Tubbs battle some corrupt cops.

Episode 4.18 “Badge of Dishonor”

(Dir by Richard Compton, originally aired on March 18th, 1988)

Badge of Dishonor opens with Underworld’s Glory, Glory playing on the soundtrack. It’s an early electronic tune, one that isn’t quite EDM but still definitely shows hints of what Underworld and a lot of other synth-pop bands would eventually become. Usually, that would be pretty cool but, unfortunately, the song also has a gospel music feel and I personally gospel music to be excruciatingly dull.

That’s certainly the case here, where the music is played over the opening teaser and the gospel sounds robs it of whatever momentum it might have had. The episode opens with a drug deal gone wrong. Tubbs is working undercover when he and his contacts are suddenly busted by four cops, who kill the real dealers and then steal the drugs and the money. Tubbs barely manages to escape with his life. It should have been an exciting opening but it had a “been there, done that” sort of feel to it. This isn’t the first Miami Vice episode to feature an drug deal gone wrong and it’s not even the first to feature corrupt cops.

The cops in question are all originally from Cuba. Back in Castro’s Hellhole, they were all members of the same street gang. After coming to Miami and building up lengthy juvenile records, the four men were subsequently hired after a race riot (a real-life event that Castillo discusses in his terse manner) led to demands for a more racially-balanced police force. Because the force desperately needed some non-redneck cops, no one bothered to do an extensive background check on the four men when they applied to be cops. Tubbs comments that the corrupt cops are setting “minority hiring back 400 years.”

Crockett and Tubbs’s investigation at first centers on a lieutenant (Reni Santoni) who they think is crooked because he lives on a yacht. The lieutenant explains that he married well and that he suspects the same four cops as Crockett and Tubbs. The lieutenant is subsequently murdered by the cops. It turns out that the corrupt cops are getting their information from an undercover detective named Madison Stone (Michele Shay). Stone has spent the past few years deep undercover, living in a homeless community on the riverfront. Stone is not herself corrupt. She’s just been manipulated and is now in an impossible situation. At least, that’s the way Tubbs views it. Myself, I just felt that Madison Stone appeared to be as bad at working undercover as Sonny Crockett.

Technically, this was a well-made episode. The main problem is that the plot itself just felt so familiar and the four corrupt cops were not particularly interesting. Compared to the usual flamboyant Miami Vice criminals, the cops were pretty bland. In typical Miami Vice fashion, it ended on a dark note. The corrupt cops were defeated but both Madison Stone and their lieutenant were dead. There’s no happy endings in Miami.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 4.17 “Hell Hath No Fury”

Posted on August 25, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Trudy is once again the main character. Fortunately, there’s no UFOs this time around.

Episode 4.17 “Hell Hath No Fury”

(Dir by Virgil W. Vogel, originally aired on March 11th, 1988)

Alan Beaks (Don Harvey), the scion of a prominent Florida family, has been released from prison after serving only a few years for raping a black school teacher named Ellen Mason (Carla Brothers). Beaks claims that he’s reformed and, at the start of the episode, he appears on a talk show where the audience agrees that Alan Beaks is the perfect example of someone who has straightened out his life.

“I wouldn’t want it to happen to me,” one woman in the audience says, “but if it did, I would hope he would be as charming as Alan Beaks.”

Beaks now wants to make a public apology to Ellen. However, she refuses to see him. When she starts to get threatening phone calls, both she and her best friend Trudy are convinced that Beaks is the one calling.

Castillo, however, doesn’t want Trudy to have anything to do with Ellen or Beaks. It’ll make the Vice Quad look bad, he says. (Since when has Castillo ever used that type of logic?) Still, when Ellen hires a hitman (John Finn) to kill Beaks, the Vice Squad finds itself involved. No one on the Squad has any sympathy for Beaks and they don’t make much of an effort to protect him. When a shootout leaves both Beaks and the hitman dead, Castillo tells the members of the Squad that they have failed and if they’re not going to full commit themselves to the job, they can transfer to another department. Meanwhile, even with Beaks dead, Ellen is still getting phone calls, implying the Beaks was actually not her stalker. The episode ends with a terrified Ellen listening as the caller threatens her….

Here’s my number one question about this episode: Why didn’t anyone trace the calls? Ellen, the victim in a high-profile rape case, is getting calls from someone threatening to harm her. That right there seems like the sort of thing that the police would normally investigate. Trudy is Ellen’s best friend. Trudy knows about the calls. Trudy is a cop. So, why didn’t the Vice Squad try to track down the caller? If they could have proven that Beaks was the caller, Beaks would have gone back to prison. If it turned out that someone else was the caller, that person would have gone to prison. Beaks would still be free but at least Ellen wouldn’t be getting threatened every ten minutes. In the past, that’s what would have happened on this show. For some reason, this episode features everyone forgetting how to act like a cop.

In the end, this episode tried to deal with a lot of issues — tabloid journalism, rehabilitation, vigilante justice, racism, classism — but it ultimately felt like fan faction that was written by someone who really didn’t know much about the show or the characters. (One would think that Gina, a rape survivor who gunned down her rapist during the first season, would have some thoughts on Ellen’s plan but instead, she spends the episode cheerfully exchanging one-liners with Switek.) This was another Season 4 disappointment.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 4.16 “Honor Among Thieves”

Posted on August 18, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, a man kills for his dolls.

Episode 4.16 “Honor Among Thieves?”

(Dir by Jim Johnston, originally aired on March 4th, 1988)

A serial killer named Paul Delgado (John Bowman and no, we’re not related as far as I know) is killing girls in Miami. He believes that he’s being ordered to kill by his collection of dolls and, when he’s speaking as a doll, he uses a high-pitched voice. He picks women up at carnivals or on the beach and he kills them by injecting them with 100% pure cocaine. He poses their bodies with a doll beside them.

Because of the cocaine connection, homicide detective Jarrell (Dylan Baker) approaches Castillo. Castillo explains that his best men are working deep undercover, trying to take down a drug lord named Palmo (Ramy Zada). That’s right, this is yet another episode where Crockett pretends to be Burnett and Tubbs pretends to be Cooper and somehow, they’re able to get away with it despite the fact that their cover has been blown in almost every previous episode.

Delgado works for Palmo and things get even more complicated when it turns out that Delgado is Crockett and Tubbs’s connection inside Palmo’s operation. When Palmo discovers that Delgado is the killer, he puts Delgado on trial. The jury is made up of other drug dealers. Since Crockett is pretending to be a lawyer, he’s assigned to serve as Delgado’s defense counsel. Palmo tells Crockett that, unless he’s acquitted by the drug dealer jury, he’ll reveal that Crockett and Tubbs are working undercover….

This was a weird episode, It didn’t really work because Delgado was a bit too cartoonish to be taken seriously. Perhaps if the show had just made him a serial killer who killed women with cocaine, it would have worked. But the show had to go the extra step and have him talk to his dolls in a high-pitched voice. As well, this was yet another episode where we were forced to wonder if people in the Miami underworld just don’t communicate with each other. After all the drug lords that have been busted by Crockett and Tubbs, you would think that word would eventually get out about “Burnett” and “Cooper.” I mean, their cover gets blown in nearly every episode. Frank Zappa put a bounty on Crockett’s head in season 2! And yet somehow, Crockett and Tubbs are still able to walk into a drug lord’s mansion, introduce themselves as Burnett and Cooper, and not automatically get shot.

There were some definite problems with this episode but it was weird enough to at least hold one’s attention. As opposed to the episodes with the aliens and the bull semen, this episode didn’t seem like it was trying too hard to be weird. Instead, it just was genuinely weird. It was watchable and, as far as the fourth season of Miami Vice is concerned, that definitely counts as an accomplishment.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 4.15 “Indian Wars”

Posted on August 11, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Castillo goes undercover!

Episode 4.15 “Indian Wars”

(Dir by Leon Ichaso, originally aired on February 26th, 1988)

The Vice Squad is trying to take down Colombian drug dealer Acosta (Joe Lala). Acosta does not trust gringos so Crockett can’t pretend to be Burnett this week. Instead, he’s temporarily promoted to head of the Vice Squad while Castillo goes undercover. Castillo explains to his bosses that, as a Latino, he’s the only one who can do it. I’m not sure that I really buy Castillo’s argument. Do you mean to tell me that, in Miami, there’s only one Latino detective working Vice? If that’s true, someone really needs to talk to whoever is in charge of giving the detectives their assignments.

Acosta is soon taken out of the picture and replaced by the even more evil Levec (played by the great character actor, Joe Turkel). Castillo discovers that both Acosta and Levec are being attacked by a paramilitary force that is made up of Native Americans. Tubbs goes undercover as an anthropologist and discovers that the local Indian chief has made a deal with the drug dealers and his son (Patrick Bishop) is not happy about it. However, it turns out that the chief’s son is actually an aspiring drug lord himself and that his whole vigilante act is really just his way of getting rid of the competition.

This was not a bad episode, particularly when compared to some of the other episodes that aired during the fourth season. Joe Turkel made for a great villain and the scenes of the Indians attacking the drug dealers were properly atmospheric. The episode even includes a small homage to the final showdown from Scarface. Philip Michael Thomas was mildly amusing when he pretended to be a nerdy anthropologist. Meanwhile, Don Johnson was barely in this episode at all. This episode was all about Edward James Olmos’s smoldering intensity as Castillo.

Again, it wasn’t a bad episode but it still felt like it was missing something. As with so much of season 4, it felt like the show was just growing through the motions. In this case, it went through those motions with a bit more skill than it did in some of the season’s other installments. This episode didn’t feature any aliens or any bull semen. That made it a definite improvement over at least two season 4 episodes. Still, this episode largely felt like Miami Vice on autopilot.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 4.14 “Baseballs of Death”

Posted on August 4, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I saw the title of this week’s episode and I immediately called my sister….

Episode 4.14 “Baseballs of Death”

(Dir by Bill Duke, originally aired on February 19th, 1988)

“Watch this with me,” I told Erin, “it’s a baseball episode!”

“It is?” Erin asked.

“Look at the title!”

I was excited. I always like to find things that I can watch with my sister and, as we all know, she loves baseball. She certainly loves baseball more than she loves tv shows about bombs that blow up when you step on them.

Unfortunately, it turned out that this episode was not about baseball. Instead, it featured a bunch of bombs that blow up when you step on them. According to this episode, those bombs are known as baseballs. Sorry, Erin! Honest mistake….

Misleading title aside, this is a really good episode. It features Tony Plana as a Chilean diplomat who is trying to buy a shipment of weapons, including the explosive baseballs. Plana is a chilling villain. In fact, he’s the first villain of season 4 to actually feel dangerous. When we first meet him, he’s coldly executing the girlfriend of a tabloid reporter. Plana’s lack of emotion as he kills and plots to kill feels like a throwback to the soulless sociopaths who made the first season’s rogue gallery. A very young Oliver Platt shows up as an arms dealer and his nerdy confidence adds to some comedy to what is an otherwise fairly grim episode. Just as with Plana’s cold villainy, Platt’s cheerful amorality felt like a throwback to the first season.

Indeed, this entire episode felt like a return to what the show used to be. After a season that’s involved televangelists, bull semen, UFOs, and Crockett getting married to Sheena Easton, it was nice to see an episode that actually felt like an episode of Miami Vice. Director Bill Dule gave this episode a stylish and, at times, almost surrealistic feel. Crockett was back to be a cynic. Castillo stared at the floor and spoke through clenched teeth while Switek actually got to put his phone-tapping skills to good use. In the end, Tony Plana may have been the villain but, in old school Miami Vice style, the majority of the blame was still put on the U.S. government. The episode even ended with an exciting boat chase. All this episode needed was Phil Collins on the soundtrack and it could have passed for something from the first two seasons.

Season 4 has been uneven but this episode felt like classic Vice. Erin thought the episode would have been better with actual baseballs and I agree with her that the title was misleading. That said, this was still an enjoyable throwback to what the show used to be.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 4.13 “Vote of Confidence”

Posted on July 28, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Crockett and Tubbs are not looking for bull semen.

Episode 4.13 “Vote of Confidence”

(Dir by Randy Roberts, originally aired on February 12th, 1988)

After spending last week trying to retrieve a cannister of bull semen, this episode finds Crockett, Tubbs, and Switek actually doing Vice work for once. At the start of this episode, they stop a train that doubles as a rolling bordello. They arrest a man named Tom Pierce (Larry Pine), a congressman who just happens to be running for governor!

(Tubbs thinks that Pierce has some good ideas. Crockett doesn’t believe in voting. Try to get away with that on a television show in today’s hyperpartisan climate.)

Tubbs and Crockett are frustrated when the district attorney declines to prosecute Pierce. The D.A. says that they can’t prove that Pierce was actually on the train to hook up with a prostitute. He could have just been passing out campaign literature. Crockett and Tubbs are outraged, wondering why the prostitutes should be arrested but not the people who keep them in business. Crockett and Tubbs see it as another example of the rich and powerful being let off the hook and they’re probably right about that.

Still, Pierce’s campaign is rocked by the news of his arrest and, when he withdraws from the election, Internal Affairs investigates to make sure that Crockett and Tubbs didn’t set him up. While Crockett and Tubbs are definitely innocent, they still suspect that someone may have indeed set Pierce up. When Pierce disappears, they wonder if maybe he’s been abducted or murdered. Their investigation leads them to a notorious political prankster (Barry Lynch) and a shady press operative (Jonathan Hadary).

This episode was apparently based on the same scandal that, decades later, would inspire The Front Runner. It was an improvement on last week’s but then again, anything would have been an improvement on last week’s episode. Just the fact that Crockett and Tubbs were actually doing police work as opposed to stifling laughs every time someone mentioned “bull semen” guaranteed that this episode would shine compared to last week’s episode. On the plus side, this episode features a return of the cynical Crockett and Tubbs that we all know and love. On the negative side, the story itself is so bland that it fades from the memory as soon as the episode ends. This episode was competently done but bland. That’s the problem with episodes that are meant to be “ripped from the headlines.” Headlines eventually fade.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 7/20/25 — 7/26/25

Posted on July 26, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

1st & Ten (Tubi)

I reviewed 1st & Ten here!

American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson (Netflix)

Another year, another OJ documentary. I binged this 2025 docuseries on Monday. On the one hand, the story has been told and re-told so many times that it’s debatable whether any documentary will ever have anything new to add. (And now that O.J. Simpson is dead, no one’s pretending that he was framed or that he was ever looking for the “real killers” anymore.) On the other hand, the story itself such an important moment in American cultural history that there’s nothing wrong with examining it for a second or tenth time. I appreciated that the docuseries took the time to talk about who Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman were as people before they were murdered by OJ. (And make no mistake, that’s exactly what happened.)

The American Short Story (YouTube)

I reviewed this week’s episode here!

Big Brother 27 (24/7, CBS, Paramount Plus, Pluto TV)

I wrote about Big Brother here!

Black Sabbath: Up Close and Personal (Night Flight Plus)

On Saturday morning, Jeff and I joined our friend Pat in watching this 2007 documentary about Black Sabbath. Some of the members were interviewed for the documentary. Ozzy Osbourne was not (instead the documentary used archival interviews to get his thoughts) but, for the most part, everyone was very complimentary to him. Personally, I liked the steady and straight-forward beat of the band’s music.

CHiPs (Prime)

I reviewed CHiPs here!

Degrassi High (Tubi)

I reviewed Degrassi High here!

Diff’Rent Strokes (Tubi)

I watched two episodes on Thursday. In one, Kimberly Drummond (Dana Plato) went to a ski lodge with her friends and was considering losing her virginity when suddenly — surprise! — her father (Conrad Bain) decided to join her. The second episode featured Willis (Todd Bridges) starting high school and being told that he had smoke weed to be cool. Willis actually did get high in this episode and it’s amazing just how stoned he managed to get in just a few seconds. Anyway, Mr. Drummond told Willis to stay off the grass. This episode was disturbing because one of the high school stoners was wearing jeans so tight that …. well, let’s just say that it showed off more of him than was perhaps typical for network television.

Fantasy Island (DVR)

I reviewed Fantasy Island here! Laurence is really letting me down as Mr. Roarke’s new servant.

Fred and Rosemary West: A British Horror Story (Netflix)

I watched this three-episode true crime docuseries on Sunday and Monday. Fred and Rosemary West were a seemingly ordinary couple who actually murdered an untold number of young women and buried them out back under their patio. Watching the docuseries, I was reminded a bit of the Paul Bernardo/Karla Homalka case, except in this case Fred tried to keep the police from discovering Rosemary’s role in the murders. Fred ended up committing suicide. Rosemary is still in prison. It was a disturbing case. Watching the docuseries, my heart broke for all of their victims.

Freddy’s Nightmares (Plex)

I reviewed Freddy’s Nightmares here!

From Rock Star To Killer (Netflix)

I watched this French docuseries, about the murder of actress of Marie Trintignant on Tuesday. It was a sobering film, one that explored how many people refusing to believe that Marie’s famous boyfriend could also be a viscous abuser. I minored in French in college so I watched the first episode without subtitles and I discovered that my French has gotten really rusty. The remaining episodes, I watched the dubbed versions and I have to say that the dubbing was so poorly executed that I have to wonder if it was done by AI.

Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer (Netflix)

On Tuesday, I watched this 2025 docuseries, which dealt with the infamous (and still largely unsolved) Long Island serial killer case. To be honest, I’ve seen so many documentaries and dramatizations of this story that I kind of doubt there’s really anything new to learn about it. That said, I appreciated that the series devoted so much time to profiling the victims and showing us who they were before they became a part of a cold case. The victims of these crimes are so often overlooked or outright dismissed.

Good Morning, Miss Bliss (Prime)

My review of the second episode of Indiana Saved By The Bell will drop in about 90 minutes.

Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service (Hulu)

On Saturday, I watched a two-part episode in which Gordon helped out three sisters who had taken over their late father’s restaurant. On the one hand, I’m the youngest of four sisters so I could relate to the family dynamics that I saw in this episode. On the other hand — yech! Mice and roaches in the food! I’m never eating out again.

Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit (Hulu)

This true crime docuseries explored the disappearance of Iowa news anchor Jodi Huisentruit. Along with giving us the details of her life and disappearance, the series also presented us with four potential suspects. I’ve read some criticism online that the four suspects were all cleared of involvement by the police investigation or, in at least one case, was actually just a person of interest rather than a suspect. It’s a tragic story, nonetheless.

Highway to Heaven (Tubi)

This week’s episode …. agck! I reviewed it here.

Homicide: Life On The Street (Peacock)

I reviewed Homicide here!

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX & Hulu)

The Lawyer returned! After being a little bit disappointed in the first two episodes of the new season, my faith was renewed by the third episode. Not only did the Lawyer return but we also got Dennis and Mac pretending to be EMTs, Dee screwing up yet another job, and Charlie turning into a demanding chef. That’s the Sunny that I love!

The second episode that I watched this week, in which the Gang dealt with the consequences of dumping baby oil in a local waterway, I also enjoyed. I always like it when Dennis tries to do his whole slick, corporate spokesman routine.

I’m still getting used to the Rob Mac name change.

The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)

This week was a Thanksgiving cruise! I can’t wait for the holidays! I reviewed the episode here!

Malibu CA (YouTube)

Oh, how I hate this show. Anyway, I wrote about the latest episode here.

Miami Vice (Prime)

This week’s episode was all about trying to retrieve stolen bull semen. I swear, the stuff I watch for this site! I reviewed it here.

New York Post Presents: Luigi Mangione: Martyr or Monster (Tubi)

I watched this documentary on Saturday because I was bored. It presented the facts of the case without digging too deeply. I remember that when Brian Thompson was shot, a lot of my friends were (and, in many cases still are) sympathetic to Luigi Mangione and they were always a little surprised that I wasn’t, especially after everything I went though when the insurance company evicted my Dad from his rebab facility. Myself, I don’t believe in killing and I’m not going to praise a cold-blooded murder just because the shooter wrote some dumbass manifesto. As for Luigi, if it wasn’t for his smile, most people wouldn’t care about him.

Night Flight (Night Flight Plus)

On Friday night, Jeff and I joined our friend Pat in watching an episode of this pop culture digest from the late 80s. The episode opened with a look at “Satan Rock,” (Hi, Ozzy, hi, Iron Maiden) and then it went on to feature the hottest music videos of 1988. As a history nerd and a student pop culture, I always enjoy watching artifacts like this.

Pacific Blue (Tubi)

Bleh. Bicycles. The bike cops were especially obnoxious this week. I reviewed Pacific Blue here!

St. Elsewhere (Hulu)

Depressing episode, this week. I reviewed St. Elsewhere here!

TMZ Investigates: What Happened to Justin Bieber (Tubi)

I was bored this afternoon so I watched this TMZ special. Justin appears to be going through some problems. The TMZ team considered that it could be drug-related. Personally, I think fame does strange things to people, especially with today’s bizarrely obsessive celeb-driven culture. Of course, having the TMZ folks following him around probably isn’t helping Justin’s mood.

TMZ Investigates: What Happened To Liam Payne (Tubi)

I watched this on Saturday. TMZ investigates the tragic death of Liam Payne and it’s exactly what you would expect from TMZ. There’s a lot of speculation, a lot of faux concern, and ultimately the whole thing leaves the viewer feeling a bit icky.

Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy (Netflix)

I generally enjoy Netflix’s Trainwreck series. I watched this entry on Friday. It dealt with the death of nine people during a Travis Scott performance at Astroworld in 2021. This documentary didn’t dig too deeply into how it happened, beyond suggesting that the majority of the blame should be assigned to the show’s promoters. The desperate chant of “Stop the Show!” was haunting.

Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel (Netflix)

On Friday, I watched this documentary about the rise and fall of American Apparel. It was weird essentially seeing my high school years turned into a “back in the day” documentary. I guess this is what it feels like to realize you’re not getting younger.

Trainwreck: The Mayor of Mayhem (Netflix)

Rob Ford, a brash populist, is elected mayor of Toronto and makes a name for himself as a bigger-than-life reformer. Then, he gets caught on camera smoking crack and everything falls apart. This was my favorite of the Trainwreck documentaries that I watched, largely because Rob Ford was such a fascinating character. I’ve read some comments online from some people who think that this documentary went a little bit too easy on Ford. Maybe it did. I’m not Canadian so I don’t know. I just know it was an interesting story.

Trainwreck: P.I. Moms (Netflix)

The latest Trainwreck as is also perhaps the most pointless. A reality show falls apart before the first episode even premieres. The P.I. Moms, who would have been featured on the show, all argued that they deserved to be taken seriously and that they weren’t just acting for the camera but, at the same time, none of them came across as being particularly sincere so it was hard to have much sympathy for them. It was a documentary about a bad reality show that felt like a bad reality show.

True Crime Arizona: Finding Robert Fisher (Tubi)

In 2001, it’s believed that Robert Fisher, a Navy veteran and former firefighter, murdered his wife and his two children, set his house on fire, and then disappeared into the Arizona wilderness. Fisher has been a fugitive for 24 years and, while some speculate that he either committed suicide or died in the wilderness, people all over the country still regularly report spotting him. This special took a look at Fisher’s crime and offered a few theories of how he managed to disappear. The Fisher case has haunted me ever since I first learned about it and this special reminded me of why. Fisher seemed like the type of guy you would want for a neighbor because he was good with tools and he had a clean-cut look. Instead, he turned out to be a killer/ Personally, I think Fisher still out there. Much like John List (the real-life inspiration for Jerry Blake in The Stepfather films), he’s probably got a new family and a new identity. I have faith he’ll be captured eventually.

True Crime Arizona: The Missing (Tubi)

This episode looked at the cases of several indigenous women who had disappeared in Arizona and took a look at why their disappearances rarely seem to get the media attention that other true crime stories too. This was well-produced and thought-provoking.

True Crime Arizona: Notorious Killers (YouTube)

I was so impressed by the True Crime Arizona episodes that I saw on Tubi that I then looked for more on YouTube. This 23-minute episode took a look at some of Arizona’s most notorious killers. I think I missed my calling. I’d love to host True Crime Texas.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 4.12 “The Cows of October”

Posted on July 21, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week …. I don’t even know how to describe it.

Episode 4.12 “The Cows Of October”

(Dir by Vince Gillum, originally aired on February 5th, 1988)

A cannister of bull seamen has been stolen from a Miami lab and the feds (represented by Harry Shearer) want it back before it falls into the hands of the Cubans. Switek assists. Izzy shows up to broker the deal. Gerrit Graham plays a shady person who we are told is from Texas. (His accent is more Arizona.) Philip Michael Thomas wears a cowboy hat. Don Johnson is largely absent until the final scene. One gets the feeling that Johnson hated every minute of this episode while Thomas just seemed to be having fun.

This episode was, without a doubt, the stupidest episode of Miami Vice ever filmed. And listen, I will admit that I haven’t seen every episode. I’ve still got a season and a half to go. There seems to be a general online consensus that the final two seasons of Miami Vice were not good at all. I’m sure I have many dumb episodes ahead of me. But I cannot — as much as I try — imagine any episode that could be as a dumb as the Vice Squad abandoning the war on drugs so that they could keep the Cubans from getting their hands on a cannister of bull semen.

Miami Vice has always been as its best when its been surrealistic, cynical, and gritty. I would argue that Miami Vice really does not need to do comedic episodes. For the first three seasons, nearly every episode ended with an innocent person either dead or forever embittered. At its best, Miami Vice was not a happy show. It was a show where Crockett and Tubbs drove around in the dark, loaded their guns, and Phil Collins sang in the background. When Collins sang, “I can feel it coming in the air tonight,” he was not talking about bull semen. At least, I hope he wasn’t. (Oh, Lord….)

I really don’t know what to make of season 4. Trudy’s going to space. Crockett’s married. The Vice Squad is searching for bull semen. Yet somehow, through it all, Castillo continues to just stare at the floor and speak through gritted teeth. Like seriously, shouldn’t Castillo be concerned about all this weird stuff going on?

I didn’t care much for this episode. Searching for bull semen is a Pacific Blue thing. Miami Vice needs to handle real cases and leave all that other stuff for the bike cops.