Tag Archives: One Step Beyond

Horror on TV: One Step Beyond 2.7 “The Open Window” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

If tonight’s episode of One Step Beyond seems familiar, that’s because it’s a remake of a story that was originally filmed as an episode of The Veil. 

This time, instead of witnessing a murder occurring in another apartment, it’s a suicide that is witnessed by artist Anthony March (Michael Higgins).  Of course, when he investigates, he discovers that the apartment in empty.  Is Anthony hallucinating or has he gone one step beyond and is he seeing the future?  Watch to find out!

By the way, that’s future Oscar winner Louise Fletcher playing Anthony’s model.

This originally aired on November 3rd, 1959.

Enjoy!

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

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

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.

Horror On TV: One Step Beyond 2.6 “The Inheritance” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s episode of One Step Beyond features host John Newland listening as a drunk (Sean McClory) at a bar tells the story of his former life as a gigolo and how a cursed necklace drove him mad.  This episode is interesting if just because it takes the show’s “Did this story really happen?” premise to its logical conclusion.  Apparently, John Newland couldn’t leave his house without someone telling him a story about the paranormal!

This episode originally aired on October 27th, 1959.

Horror on TV: One Step Beyond 2.5 “Night of the Kill” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

When young Davey Morris tells his parents that he’s been hanging out with a friendly Bigfoot-type creature, all of the adults in town react in the worst way possible.

This episode, from the second season of One Step Beyond, was one of the first to deal with the legend of Bigfoot.  Needless to say, it’s the adults who turn out to be the true monsters in this scenario.

This episode originally aired on October 20th, 1959.

Horror on TV: One Step Beyond 2.4 “Doomsday” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s episode of One Step Beyond deals with that classic horror theme, the curse of a dying witch.  In this case, a woman burned at the stake in Scotland curses the family of her wealthy persecutor, saying that the eldest son will be destined to always die before his father.

I swear, witch’s curses are always so complicated!

The episode aired on October 13th, 1959.

In the words of Criswell, “Can you prove it didn’t happen?”

Horror On TV: One Step Beyond 2.1 “Delusion” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of One Step Beyond.…

A young woman (Suzanne Pleshette) desperately needs a blood transfusion.  Fortunately, the police have managed to track down one of the only people to share her blood type, an accountant named Harold Stern (Norman Lloyd).  Harold seems like a nice, rather mild-mannered guy and he has a long history of donating blood.  However, when the police approach him, Harold refuses to donate.

“What type of crumb are you!?” the police demand.

Harold explains that, whenever he gives someone blood, he develops a psychic connection with that person.  He can see their future.  And that’s simply a burden that he can no longer shoulder….

This episode of One Step Beyond originally aired on September 15th, 1959.  Norman Lloyd, who plays Harold, got his start as a member of Orson Welles’s Mercury Theater and he also played the villain in Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur.  (Speaking of Hitchcock, Suzanne Pleshette played the doomed school teacher in The Birds.)  When Lloyd appeared in this episode of One Step Beyond, he was 44 years old.  He would go on to live for another 62 years, making his final film appearance at the age of 101!

Horror On TV: One Step Beyond 1.19 “The Captain’s Guests” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of One Step Beyond, a couple moves into a house on the coast.  Everyone tells them that the house is haunted but the couple refuses to believe them.  After all, everyone knows how superstitious people are in New England.  Everyone’s heard the story of the haunted mudroom, right?

However, after moving into the house, the couple starts to realize that they are not alone….

According to the show’s host, John Newland, this is based on a true story (maybe)!

This episode originally aired on May 26th, 1959.  The husband is played by Robert Webber, who also played Juror #12 in Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men.

Enjoy!

Horror On TV: One Step Beyond 1. 16 “The Burning Girl” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 16th episode of One Step Beyond was called The Burning Girl and it dealt with a teenage girl (Luana Anders, who would later star in Dementia 13 and appear as a hippie in Easy Rider) who, whenever she got upset, could apparently cause fires to spontaneously erupt.  It was written by Catherine Turney and directed by host John Newland himself.

It was originally broadcast on May 5th, 1959 — presumably long before Stephen King even had the idea to write about a girl named Carrie.

Can you prove this didn’t happen!?

Horror on TV: One Step Beyond 1.8 “Premonition” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this episode of One Step Beyond, which takes place over the course of several years, Lisa Garrick lives in fear of a chandelier in her family’s  home.  For her entire life, she has had a premonition that she is going to die when the chandelier comes crashing down.  She refuses to stop into the room but eventually, both her father and her fiancé, insist that she conquer her fear and enter the room.

Seriously, if she doesn’t want to enter the room …. don’t make her enter the room!  I love chandeliers but they do make me nervous.  They always look like there about to come crashing down to me.

I like this episode because the main character is named Lisa.

This episode originally aired on March 10th, 1959.

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

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

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.