Lisa Marie’s Week In Television — 2/13/22 — 2/19/22

Posted on February 19, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week stated with my watching the Super Bowl, which I imagine will be the last football game that I ever pay attention to in my life. (Seriously, football’s depressing. I hate it when the losing team starts crying.) It’s ending with my thoroughly disgusted by the Olympic Games. This has not been a great week for sporting events. Except, of course, for karate. I finally watched the fourth season of Cobra Kai. Miyagi Fang is definitely the philosophy to follow.

Anyway, here’s what I watched this week:

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

An odd episode. Having stolen several bars of Gold from the Germans, Rene hid the gold in his cuckoo clock, which led to the clock making a weird noise every few minute but, for some reason, no one but Rene ever seemed to notice. Somehow, this led to Rene and his staff disguising themselves as a musical group so that they could infiltrate the general’s chateau and search for the stolen painting, as well as the famous Enigma machine which, if smuggled out of France, would give the British the ability to translate Germany’s secret code. Eventually, Crabtree sang a song in his mangled version of French. This was silly humor that I could appreciate.

The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about the latest episode of The Amazing Race here! We’re down to the top four now. Somehow, Arun and Natalia have survived. This has been a weird season because of the COVID lockdowns and a few really strong teams were forced to drop out of the race. As a result, Kim & Penn have pretty much dominated things, despite neither one having much of a personality. I have a feeling this will continue through the finale.

Celebrity Big Brother (CBS and Paramount Plus)

I wrote about Celebrity Big Brother over at the Big Brother Blog. Celebrity Big Brother is almost over and, to be honest, I won’t miss it.

Cobra Kai (Netflix)

On Tuesday night, Jeff and I finally got a chance to start in on season 4 of Cobra Kai. We watched the first three episodes of the season and we were both immediately sucked back into the hyperemotional and somewhat silly, yet always affecting world of Cobra Kai. My heart broke for Kenny, the new kid who found himself being bullied by Daniel’s son and I was worried when I saw that Kenny was being drawn towards the Cobra Kai dojo. I enjoyed Thomas Ian Griffith’s surprisingly contemplative performance as Terry Silver and his explanation that his over-the-top behavior in Karate Kid III was due to a cocaine addiction. (Really, it’s the only explanation that makes sense.) I enjoyed the complex portrayals of characters like Robby and Torry. And, of course, I loved the uneasy friendship of Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso.

We watched the next three episodes on Wednesday. Terry confronted Daniel! Daniel and Johnny fought to a draw! The Karate tournament changed their rules! Johnny returned to his old high school and creeped out the entire track team! It was all good. I liked the fact that Cobra Kai embraces both the silliness of the later Karate Kid films while also managing to sneak in some truly touching moments. The show manages to maintain an almost perfect balance between satire and drama.

We watched episode 7 and 8 on Thursday. Daniel learned that his son was a bully and Kenny learned how to take advantage of his opponent’s overconfidence. This was followed by the return of Paul Walter Hauser’s Stingray, who attempted to rejoin Cobra Kai and eventually ended up getting beaten up by Terry Silver for his trouble. The school held their prom, Johnny and Carmen revealed their relationship to Miguel, and Robby and Torry got to show off their dance moves!

Early Saturday morning, we watched the final two episodes of the 4th season of Cobra Kai. The All-Valley Tournament dominated both episodes, with Johnny and Daniel making peace, Robby realizing that the Cobra Kai way was not his way, Miguel leaving to find his father, and Torry winning a fixed match against Sam. In the end, Terry framed Kreese for beating up Stingray. Kreese was taken to prison while Daniel realized that he would have to go against his promise to abandon Miyagi Do (or Miyagi Fang as it was renamed during the tournament) if he was going to stop Cobra Kai. It was an exciting conclusion, full of drama, tears, and some enjoyable self-parody. Bring on season 5!

King of the Hill (Weekday Afternoon, FXX)

I watched a few episodes on Tuesday afternoon. Joseph was recruited by a private school and Dale nearly had to fake his death to get out of a financial debt. (This happened quite frequently with Dale). Peggy had a memorable birthday party on train. This was followed by one of my favorite episodes, the one in which Hank accidentally stole a man’s wallet and the man interpreted Hank’s efforts to return it as being Hank threatening him. (At the same time this was going on, Dale found himself working at the show’s version of Hooter’s. Dale had applied for a job, expecting to be turned down because he was a skinny, bald guy. Dale figured he could then sue the restaurant. The restaurant’s manager decided to call his bluff.) This was followed by Hank getting scared by a bat hanging out in his garage, Louanne’s father returning from the oil rig (which, it turned out, was actually federal prison), and Bill finding himself temporarily confined to a wheelchair.

King of the Hill was a good show, though I’m biased because the show is based on my hometown and it’s all about Texas. A part of me does worry about the proposed revival, just because I don’t know if I’m prepared to hear what Hank thinks of twitter. If there is a revival, they better give Boomhauer a podcast.

Inventing Anna (Netflix)

Starring Anna Chlumsky and Julia Garner, Inventing Anna is a limited series about Anna Delvey, a Russian con artist who managed to fool some of the leading members of New York high society. Julia Garner plays Anna while Anna Chlumsky plays a fictionalized version of the reporter who interviewed Anna during her trial.

I watched the first two episodes on Thursday. From the minute I saw the Shondaland logo, I knew what I was getting into. The first two episodes were occasionally intriguing but largely superficial, with no consistent tone and too many superfluous scenes. Julia Garner gave a good performance as Anna, though, smirking her way through the interview and intentionally changing up her accent in order to keep everyone off-balance.

The Office (All week, Comedy Central)

On Saturday afternoon, I rewatched The Michael Scott Paper Company arc. I loved Pam trying to establish an identity outside of answering the phones at Dunder Mifflin, Jim trying to play soccer and Michael unsuccessfully trying to convince his grandmother to invest in his company. It’s kind of unfortunate that Pam turned out to be terrible at sales but I could relate. I doubt I could sell paper either. I’m stunned that anyone on The Office was able to make a career out of it.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

Granville shot a man just to watch him die. Arkwright was too busy pining for Nurse Gladys Emmnauel to notice.

Pam and Tommy (Hulu)

Pam and Tommy is one Nathan Lane cameo away from turning into a Ryan Murphy production. I wrote about the latest episode here.

Silk Stalkings (Tubi)

On Monday morning, I got back to binging Silk Stalkings on Tubi. Though I hadn’t really been keeping track up until this week, a quick check with Wikipedia confirmed that I am currently watching episodes from the second season of the show. There’s 8 seasons in total so I’ve still got quite a bit to watch as far as this stylish and enjoyably silly series is concerned.

Anyway, the first episode that I watched on Monday was called Scorpio Killer. I’m a Scorpio so I appreciated the title! The show dealt with a man who murdered his mistress’s husband. It was a fun episode. The thing I like about Chris and Rita is, as played by Rob Estes and Mitzi Kapture, they seemed to be aware that they were characters in a somewhat sordid television series and, as such, they never had any problem winking at their audience and basically saying, “Can you believe this plot?” This was followed by an episode in which Chris and Rita investigated the death of a tennis pro’s stepfather. It featured a lot of slow motion tennis action and overheated locker room talk.

On Tuesday, I got things started with an episode in which Chris and Rita investigated a murder that occurred at a rather tacky beauty pageant. They solved the case but the highlight of the show was Rita’s attempts to buy fish for her aquarium. Needless to say, Chis was convinced that all of Rita’s fish were going to die and Chris was probably right since the aquarium was nowhere to be seen during the next episode. That episode found Chris and Rita investigating a murder that was connected to a high-profile divorce. It was a typical Chris-and-Rita-Smirk-At-Dumb-Rich-People episode. Seriously, don’t commit a murder in Palm Springs because Chris and Rita will definitely judge you.

On Thursday, I started off with a pretty good episode called Jasmine. Directed by Rob Estes, Jasmine featured Rita investigating a decades-old cold case and having plenty of surreal dreams in the process. Of course, the main reason Rita was investigating the case was to help her deal with the guilt that she felt after the murder of one of her friends. It was a well-directed episode and also well-acted by Mitzi Kapture. The next episode was an enjoyably trashy one, in which Chris and Rita tracked down a cocky teenager who was seducing both his classmates and their stepmothers.

Silk Stalking is a lot of fun. I like forward to continuing the binge next week.

Super Bowl (Sunday Night, NBC)

The Super Bowl? Does anyone remember the Super Bowl? It was played last Sunday and …. well, someone won. I don’t remember who won. I watched it for the commercials, which kind of disappointed me this year.

Super Bowl Pre-Show (Sunday Afternoon, NBC)

Yes, I even watched the big show before the game, just in case they showed any interesting commercials. They didn’t but it was still kind of nice to see how excited everyone was before the game started. I don’t know if it was really necessary to include an interview with President Biden, though. That gave the whole thing kind of a weird feel. Like why do we need the President’s permission to enjoy the game? At least he didn’t do that creepy whispering thing.

The Winter Games (All Week, Every Channel)

On Sunday morning, as I got ready for a day of watching Super Bowl commercials, I watched a bit of NBC’s coverage of the games. It was a little bit of skiing with some speed skating and some figure skating tossed in as well. I didn’t really pay that much attention.

On Wednesday night, I watched the USA take on Canada in hockey. Usually, when it comes to hockey, I support Canada because I know hockey is an important part of Canadian culture. This year, I was Team USA because Justin Trudeau annoys me. Canada still won, though, so I guess my cheering powers were not as powerful as I thought they were.

On Thursday night, I watched some skiing and then I watched the figure skating, which has been quite controversial this year. What I saw pretty much turned me off of watching any more of the Beijing Games. Though I didn’t agree with the decision to let her skate, I still felt bad for Kamila Valieva, the Russian skater who has essentially been villainized due to doping allegations. No one should be put under that type of pressure and scrutiny when they’re only 15 years old, especially when it’s quite probable that any drugs that she took were forced on her by the adults who are supposed to be looking out for her best interests. Not surprisingly, given all the stress she was under, Kamila did not do as well as she had done in the past. She ended up finishing in fourth place and started crying. This, of course, overshadowed the accomplishments of the talented women who did win medals but what really struck me was that none of the members of Kamila’s coaching entourage — the people who should have been acting as her “support team” — appears to offer any words of comfort or encouragement. (Later, I learned that her coach had demanded to know, “Why did you give up!?”) And we wonder why so many young athletes burn themselves out or grow up to have personal troubles once they can no longer compete. Meanwhile, the skater who came in second screamed in anger over having to settle for a silver medal while the gold medal winner sat alone, holding a teddy bear. It was not one of the better moments of the Winter Games. In fact, it was so disturbing to watch that it pretty much turned me off of the idea of watching what little was left of the Olympics.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 1/30/22 — 2/5/22

Posted on February 5, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As I promised last week, I spent most of this week getting caught up on movies. Here’s some thoughts on what little television I did watch:

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

Though the episode aired on Sunday, I didn’t get to watch it until Friday and I have to admit that I was a bit out of it at the time, so don’t even ask me to explain just what exactly happened. I do remember that Officer Crabtree had a conversation in which he mangled the French language. I know that happens every episode but still, it always makes me laugh.

The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about the latest episode of The Amazing Race here!

The Bachelor (Monday Night, ABC)

Claytonbot continued to learn human emotions while the bachelorettes continued to accuse each other of not being on the show for the right reasons. Claytonbot even cancelled the cocktail party due to some drama that was definitely totally real and in no way staged. Like, totally, for real.

Bar Rescue (Weekday Mornings, Paramount TV)

I watched an episode on Tuesday. A bartender couldn’t make the perfect Manhattan so Jon Taffer condemned everyone who worked at the bar to Hell.

Celebrity Big Brother (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday Night)

I wrote about Celebrity Big Brother, the show that I love to hate, over at the Big Brother Blog.

Football Game: Bengals vs. Chiefs (Sunday Night, Fox)

I was happy when the Bengals won because they wear those cute helmets with the stripes.

Football Games: 49ers vs Rams (Sunday afternoon, CBS)

Everyone’s a winner as far as I’m concerned! Yay! But, on a much more realistic note, the Rams won. Or was it the 49ers? I can’t remember for sure. Either way, congrats.

Full House (Sunday Mornings, MeTV)

I watched two episodes on Sunday. Uncle Jesse was upset that no one cared about his crappy cover band. I have to wonder if the band themselves ever resented having all of Danny Tanner’s bratty children wandering around the place while they were trying to rehearse. Also, why didn’t they rehearse in the garage as opposed to that cramped living room? I haven’t seen that many episodes of Full House but I’m getting the feeling that this show often did not make sense.

The Love Boat (Sunday Evening, MeTV)

It was a Halloween episode so everyone wore a costume. Woo hoo!

The Office (All Week, Comedy Central)

On Friday, I watched the “Search Committee” episode, which I’ve always considered to be one of those shows biggest mistakes. This was after Michael had left, D’Angelo had died, and Dwight had fired a gun in the office. Jo appointed Gabe, Jim, and Toby to interview applicants to be the new manager and, of course, all of the applicants were played by celebrities. The cameos were distracting and I still don’t understand why James Spader’s bland take on Robert California led to the show being massively restructured during the following season. Of the celebs who interviewed, Ray Romano actually came across like he would have been the best fit for the show’s style but, if I remember correctly, Romano was already on another show at the time. Personally, I think that, instead of trying to find another Steve Carell, they should have just hired some nondescript nobody to play the manager and spent the last seasons of The Office concentrating on the people working there.

I can still remember watching this episode when it originally aired. At the time, I actually felt a bit of dread when Andy Bernard showed up to be interviewed because I knew he was probably going to end up with the job. Andy was a funny character during his first two seasons with the show but, after that, Ed Helms’s performance started to become oddly needy. All of the flaws that made Andy an unfortunate choice to be at the center of the season 8 were present in the “Search Committee” episode.

Finally, I have to ask — why would Jo put Jim on the Committee? How does that make any sense? He already had managerial experience so why didn’t she just promote him?

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

Granville seemed to be really upset about something. As usual, Arkwright was too busy obsessing on Nurse Gladys Emmanuel to care. This was definitely an episode that I had seen before.

Pam & Tommy (Hulu)

I wrote about the first three episodes of Pam & Tommy here.

Parking Wars (Tuesday Morning, A&E)

The indie towing guys took a man’s truck and then laughed when the man said that he was going to lose his job and wouldn’t be able to feed his family. What a bunch of scumbags. “I feel bad for him but he came here cussing and I got no sympathy for that.” ANY SYMPATHY, you illiterate fascist!

The View (Weekday Mornings, ABC)

It’s been a very long time since I’ve watched The View but I decided to watch it on Tuesday to see how they would deal with Whoopi Goldberg outing herself as being incredibly ignorant on the subject of the Holocaust. It turns out that they didn’t really deal with it. Whoopi briefly interviewed the president of the ADL, who mentioned that The View had never had a Jewish co-host. The show then went to commercial and we came back with Whoopi and the gang talking about “you know who,” which I guess is their way of referring to Trump. Later, Charlie Day was interviewed. I like Charlie Day. For one thing, he’s not an anti-Semite.

That night, after the show aired, ABC announced that Whoopi would be suspended for two weeks. For the record, I don’t think Whoopi’s comments were malicious, at least not in the way that Nick Cannon’s anti-Semitic comments were. (It’s kind of weird how Nick basically repeated the same anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that have, for centuries, been used to justify the persecution of the Jewish people but, afterwards, was allowed to keep his job as host of The Masked Singer and was also giving his own talk show. Like seriously, how the Hell does that happen?) I think Whoopi’s comments were ignorant and the fact that she doubled down on them, on both the show and apparently later on Colbert, shows the type of arrogance that only comes from never having to deal with anyone openly disagreeing with you. I’d rather that, instead of suspending her and waiting for everything the blow over, The View would have used this opportunity to educate both Goldberg and the show’s viewers. Whoopi Goldberg is 66 years old and, we are constantly told, a smart woman. That she could be so ignorant is definitely a cause for concern.

The Winter Olympics (Weekdays, NBC and other stations)

I’ve tried to watch a little of The Olympics but the whole thing just feels icky this year. As soon as the Olympics Committee guy started quoting John Lennon during the opening ceremonies, I had to look away. I imagine I’ll watch a bit of skating and maybe some curling. But I’m definitely in no way enthusiastic about the Olympics this year.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 1/23/22 — 1/29/22

Posted on January 29, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Another week in January essentially means another week of allergies and sneezing. I watched quite a few movies this week but I also catched a few shows. When you’re feeling under the weather, it’s sometimes more fun to watch something that’s only going to require 30 minutes of your attention as opposed to 132 of them.

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

The show started with Rene nearly blowing up the cafe while trying to hide the stolen land mines and it ended with Herr Flick and Von Smallhousen trapped on a British airplane flying high over occupied France. Along the way, Crabtree tried to speak French and the British airmen hid in a barrel. It was all good fun. I laughed.

The Amazing Race (Wednesday, CBS)

I wrote about the latest episode of The Amazing Race here! Switzerland, as I mentioned in my write up, is a beautiful country. The scenery is gorgeous and the people understand the value of staying on schedule.

The Bachelor (Monday Night, ABC)

This week on The Bachelor, the women went to group therapy and Clayton continued to try to understand and replicate human behavior. Seriously, they should just call him the Claytonbot. I keep expecting him to ask someone why humans laughs and cry.

Bar Rescue (Monday Morning, Paramount TV)

Jon Taffer rescued a karaoke bar. Yay! A world without music is not a world for any of us.

Football Game: Buccaneers vs. Rams (Sunday Evening, NBC)

If only both teams could have won! Seriously, from what I’ve seen of it, football is the most depressing sport ever because the players on the team that doesn’t win always end up sitting there and crying while the other team is celebrating. That sucks. If I was the coach, I would make sure that every game ended in a tie so that everyone could be a winner.

Full House (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

God, this was a bad show. I watched the first four episodes of the show on Sunday afternoon. I felt kind of bad about not liking it but it was just so painfully cutesy. The first episode of the series featured John Stamos and the goofy guy moving in with John Stamos. The second episode featured John Stamos and his band trying to practice while two of Bob Saget’s daughters danced around. (The band sounded terrible.) The third episode featured …. I don’t even remember. I know it was during the third or the fourth episode that the school year started. Candace Cameron was upset about being put in a gifted class. John Stamos hit on a teacher. I can’t remember what the goofy one did.

From what I understand, the first four episodes are apparently the show’s highpoint so I can’t imagine what the rest of the series must have been like.

King of the Hill (Weekday Afternoons, FXX)

I watched three episodes of this classic on Friday. Things got started with Grillstravaganza, in which Bobby temporarily fell under the influence of Joe Jack. This was followed by the episode where Mr. Strickland briefly got involved with Luanne’s pool-based bible study group. And then the final episode I watched featured Hank taking over the middle school’s organic garden. Anything that featured Hank trying to motivate the apathetic students at the middle school was always funny. Hank’s work at the organic garden may have been a success but he was still perturbed when he ended up getting added to the mailing list of a hippie food store called Passages.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

Granville discovered that he had a cousin and she used to be able to communicate with the spirit world. Unfortunately, Granville’s spirit had already been too thoroughly broken for him to take much comfort in that knowledge.

Parking Wars (Monday Morning, A&E)

On Monday morning, as I watched the parking cops go out of their way to harass the citizens of Philadelphia, it occurred to me that most of these episodes were filmed over ten years ago. I wonder how many of these people still work for the government and how many have retired. How many are receiving a pension and how many are still walking the sidewalks and saying, “I’m just doing my job here?” Hopefully, they’re all retired and collecting a pension. It has to be kind of a sad existence, though. How does anyone sleep soundly with the knowledge that they were a part of the system?

Seinfeld (Weekdays, Comedy Central)

I watched two episodes on Friday afternoon. George and Jerry flew out to Hollywood to see Kramer. kamer, meanwhile, was arrested for being a serial killer. The real killer was Clint Howard, who was briefly arrested but who escaped police custody after George and Jerry accidentally left the backdoor of a police car unlocked. It was all kind of dark, to be honest.

Silk Stalkings (Tubi)

On Monday, I got back to binging my favorite 90s show about attractive detectives investigating half-naked criminals. The first episode featured Chris falling for a duplicitous skip tracer who, it turned out, was actually just a hitwoman. Oh, Chris! Everyone knows you and Rita are in love! The next episode featured Chris and Rita investigating the murder of a vice cop. They suspected that it may have been a cop-on-cop killing and, of course, it all linked up to Chris’s past. It was kind of a dull episode, to be honest. It wasn’t quite trashy enough. Oh well!

I didn’t return to the show until Thursday. The first episode I watched opened with the brutal murder of a wealthy married couple. At first, Chris and Rita thought that the murders had been committed by the couple’s twin sons but eventually, it was discovered that it was actually the work of the maid and a hitman. That episode was enjoyably sordid. The episode that followed was a bit less interesting. Chris and Rita investigated a gang of jewel thieves, one of whom was played by a youngish Tobin Bell. It was all a bit bland but the chemistry between Rob Estes and Mitzi Kapture kept things fun.

Lisa Marie’s Week in Television: 1/16/22 — 1/22/22

Posted on January 22, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I made a specific decision not watch too much TV this week (and next) so that I could concentrate on getting caught up on the films of 2021. I made an exception for The Amazing Race, because I write about it for another site. And, on Thursday, I did turn on the TV because I’ve had a long-standing argument with a friend of mine about whether or not The United States of Al is real show or just a twitter meme. It turns out that it’s real!

Anyway, here’s a few thoughts on what little I watched.

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

In occupied France, the search for the stolen money was replaced by the search for the stolen landmines. Rene continued to try to run his cafe and cheat on his wife in peace while Michelle and the Resistance continued to insist that, as the bravest man in all of France, Rene had a responsibility to continually put his life in danger. Along the way, Michelle said, “I shall say this only once,” and Herr Flick and Van Smallhousen disguised themselves as monks. The comedy on this show is very broad but it’s also very well-acted so I can’t help but laugh.

Crabtree referred to the bombs as being “bongs.” Again, it made me laugh.

The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about the restart of the race here! I shall miss Anthony and Spencer the most.

B Positive (Thursday Night, CBS)

This is one of Chuck Lorre’s many depressing sitcoms. Imagine Mom but instead of being a bunch of drunks, all of the characters are terminally ill. Anyway, I watched this week’s episode just to confirm to myself that this show actually exists. And it does. I didn’t pay much attention to the episode, though. For some reason, what I did see reminded me of those annoying commercials that Kate McKinnon does for Verizon.

Who doesn’t love a comedy about people dying scared and alone?

Football Game: Cowboys vs 49 (Sunday Afternoon, CBS)

My initial reaction to Dallas’s loss went something like this: “Congrats on cheating your way to victory, San Francisco. Must be great to have the officials on your side. Well, you guys got the victory but at least my city is a nice place to live so we’ll call it a draw.”

Fortunately, it has since been explained to me what happened during the final minutes of the game and I now understand that the Cowboys lost because they made a lot of sloppy and stupid mistakes. So, a sincere congrats to the 49ers and to the Cowboys: Stop screwing up!

Full House (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

MeTV showed four episodes of Full House as a part of their tribute to Bob Saget. I watched all four and My God, that was a bad show. Saget was likable, though. And I liked both John Stamos and Lori Loughlin and even Candace Cameron did her best to bring some sort of reality to the over-the-top cutesiness of the show. But everyone else was pretty obnoxious and the dialogue was so painfully sweet that it was impossible to listen to without cringing. I do have to admit that the audience’s habit of responding to everything by going, “Awwwww!’ did make me smile a little.

Ghosts (Thursday Night, CBS)

Ghosts is about a couple who live in a haunted house with a bunch of quirky ghosts. Cute concept but it gets old quickly. Why can’t the scoutmaster ghost take that stupid arrow out of his neck? This week, one of the ghosts discovered that she had the power to end people to Hell which … eh. Like I said, it got old quickly.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

Arkwright was obsessed with Nurse Gladys Emmanuel. Granville was depressed. I’m pretty sure that Sunday was not the first that I had seen this episode.

The United States of Al (Thursday Night, CBS)

I watched an episode of this show just to see if it actually existed. Apparently, it’s been on the air for a year or two but I have never met anyone who has actually watched the show. Earlier this year, there was some twitter excitement over an extremely mawkish commercial for the show’s new season but that was pretty much it. I always suspected that the commercial was actually some sort of viral prank but I guess I was wrong.

Anyway, this is about a veteran who lives with Al, who was his interpreter in Afghanistan. It’s a culture clash comedy. The main theme seems to be that Al is annoying af. It’s also a Chuck Lorre sitcom so the show actually deals with serious issue in a cartoonish way. This week’s episode featured Al getting addicted to online poker. His roommate sprayed him with a garden hose until he snapped out of it.

Yep, this is a real show.

Oh! And the episode ended with one of those stupid Chuck Lorre title cards for people who want to hit pause and discover what Chuck thinks about the world. It was something about Liz Cheney. It was like five or six words long but that proved to be too many for my ADD. Oh well!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 1/9/22 — 1/15/22

Posted on January 15, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Another week and I have yet to watch the latest season of Cobra Kai. What can I tell you? This was a busy week and I was sick for a good deal of it. No, not COVID sick. Instead, I was just sick with the cold and the allergies that I get hit with every January. You would think that would lead to me having a lot of extra time in which I would have nothing to do but watch all the latest shows but it didn’t quite work out that way.

Anyway, I’m feeling better now and David Lynch’s birthday is next Thursday so this upcoming week is going to be a good one.

Here’s my week in television.

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

LeClerc was nearly executed in the town square by Herr Flick. Apparently, it was because Flick is still searching for the stolen money. (To be honest, it can be a bit difficult to keep up with everyone’s motivations on Allo Allo.) Fortunately, the British bombers flew over the town just in time to provide a distraction. “The bummers!” Office Crabtree announced, in his mangled French, “Just in the nock of tome!” LeClerc escaped with his life but the British airmen are still stuck at Rene’s café.

The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)

The Amazing Race went to Scotland this week, which made me feel very nostalgic for the last time that I was in Scotland. Unfortunately, at the end of this leg of the race, Phil announced that shooting was being suspended due to the COVID lockdowns. The action then picked up over a year later, with the remaining teams gathering in Switzerland to continue the race. Unfortunately, not all of the teams could return, including my favorite, the team of Anthony and Spencer. Boo hoo. Anyway, I reviewed this week’s episode here!

The Bachelor (Monday Night, ABC)

This Monday, I watched the Bachelor while also watching a Steven Seagal film. I’m still trying to decide which leading man had less charisma. Seagal is pretty boring but Clayton is just like a piece of cement that can speak in barely legible sentences.

Bar Rescue (Weekday Morning, Paramount)

I had this on the TV for background noise on Thursday morning. While Windows updated, I listened to Jon Taffer yell at an owner who forgot to call a cab for a drunk guy. Usually, I think Taffer needs to calm down but, in this case, he did have a point.

The Brady Bunch (Sunday Morning, MeTV)

On Sunday, MeTV aired four episodes of The Brady Bunch and they all featured Alice being taken for granted. In the first two episodes, her boyfriend took her for granted. In the next two, the family took her for granted and even drove her to quit at one point. The new maid wasn’t as nice as Alice so the family went down to Alice’s new waitressing job and basically got her fired. What a bunch of jerks. Why did Alice put with all that? Was the money that good?

Dexter: New Blood (Sunday Night, Showtime)

I wrote about the series finale here! For the record, I refuse to believe that Dexter’s dead.

Judge Steve Harvey (Monday and Tuesday Night, ABC)

I watched this new series on Monday. It came on after The Bachelor and I was too busy (or maybe lazy) to change the channel. I can’t really say I paid that much attention to it. Why would you air a cheesy courtroom show in Primetime? Why would you get Steve Harvey to be the judge? Why, why, why?

By the way, since Steve Harvey is now an ABC employee, you know he’s going to end up hosting the Oscars right? The Oscars are going to come back from commercial and Steve’s going to say, “If you ain’t thanking God in your speech, that Oscar’s not going to provide much comfort while you’re burning in Hell.”

King of the Hill (Weekdays, FXX)

I watched a few episodes of King of the Hill on Sunday afternoon. My favorite of them was the two-part episode where Hank was briefly a murder suspect and he feared that, due to accidentally taking one hit off a joint, he might be guilty. “My God, I’m hearing things. That’s a side effect of the marijuana poisoning.”

The Larry Sanders Show (HBOMax)

This is a 90s sitcom that aired on HBO, about a neurotic talk show host (Garry Shandling), his sleazy sidekick (Jeffrey Tambor), his profane producer (Rip Torn), and the show’s staff. Jeff loves this show so we watched two episodes on Sunday morning. The first one we watched featured Larry freaking out over David Duchovny having a crush on him. The second one featured Larry’s sidekick, Hank, freaking out because one of his sex tapes had been stolen. In short, there were a lot of people freaking out. Both episodes were pretty funny, though the whole thing was definitely a relic of a different era. (The highlight of the second episode was a bizarre conversation between Norm McDonald and Henry Winkler. Winkler thought Hank’s sex tape was an exercise video. McDonald said, “Hank’s got a huge cock,” in that Canadian way of his. Winkler replied, “Then why is he so upset?” Trust me, it was funny.) Rip Torn was hilarious as Larry’s producer. That said, I don’t think I would have wanted to spend any time with any of the characters on The Larry Sanders Show. They were all funny but kind of mean. They probably would have made me cry.

The Love Boat (Sunday Evening, MeTV)

MeTV paid tribute to Betty White on Sunday by showing a 1984 episode of The Love Boat, in which she was a passenger. Also on the Boat for that cruise: Carol Channing, Rue McClanahan, Michelle Phillips, Cesar Romero, Alan Thicke, Dick Van Patten, and Fred Willard.

Betty White and Carol Channing played showbiz veterans who were trying to convince Cesar Romero to publish White’s memoirs. Thicke played a man who was trying to convince his ex-wife (Phillips) to marry Fred Willard so he wouldn’t have to pay any more alimony. Meanwhile, in a totally serious subplot, Dick Van Patten played an abusive salesman married to McClanahan. The serious subplot was kind of jarring when mixed in with scenes of White and Channing singing and Fred Willard doing his amiable goof routine.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

MeTV showed four episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, all featuring Betty White in the role of Sue Anne Nivens. Needless to say, they were all funny but it was hard to watch them without considering that the entire cast is now gone.

Mom (Weekday Afternoon, Paramount)

On Thursday, I forgot the change the channel before Paramount started their two-hour Mom bloc. All four of the episodes dealt with the moms and their friends freaking out over people smoking weed. The few time that I’ve seen Mom have made me happy that I don’t have an addictive personality because I don’t think I could handle being a Recovery person.

The Office (Weekday Evenings, Freeform)

I’m happy to say that The Office is now on FreeForm, so I can watch it without having to deal with Comedy Central’s weird, mental health commercials. (“The past two years have been difficult for everyone….” Yeah, no shit. That’s why I’m watching your station, so I can escape for a few hours.) I watched a few episodes from Season 4 on Wednesday and then a few from Season 5 on Friday.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

While Arkwright cheated his customers and sold them spoiled food, Granville swept the store in quiet misery.

Relatively Famous: Ranch Rules (Saturday Morning, E!)

The children of celebrities work at a ranch, that’s the plot of this show. On the episode I saw, Billy Bob Thornton’s son was fascinated by a cow giving birth. Then everyone went back to their cabin and talked about how difficult it was being only relatively famous.

Silk Stalkings (Tubi)

On Sunday morning, I decided to get back to binging Silk Stalkings, the 90s show about half-naked people committing crimes. The first episode that I watched featured Chris and Rita investigating the murder of a hair dresser. At first, they thought it was mob-related but then it turned out to be relationship related. This was actually an episode that I had seen before but it was still enjoyable to rewatch. The second one I watched featured Chris and Rita investigating the murder of a surgeon and again, this turned out to be one that I had seen before. (Both episodes previously aired on ZLiving while I was dealing with that terrible sinus infection last year.) Still, even if it was a rewatch, it was still enjoyable. Silk Stalkings was delightfully trashy.

The first episode that I watched on Monday was another one that I saw last summer, while I was dealing with that sinus infection. (Yuck. I hate word sinus and I hate the word infection.) A real estate tycoon was beaten to death by a baseball bat and all the suspicion fell on the baseball player that Rita happened to be dating. This was followed by an episode in which an obnoxious radio talk show host bullied people into committing murder and suicide. It was a well-done episode. Rodger Bumpass (who is perhaps best-known for voicing Squidward Tentacles on Spongebob) was perfectly cast as the evil talk show host. The third episode I watched involved Chris and Rita solving a homicide that was witnessed by a teenage runaway. Rita encouraged the runaway to get back in school. Good for Rita! Finally, the fourth episode featured Rita investigating the murder of a friend’s nanny. I didn’t really pay much attention to it but, from what I saw, everyone appeared to be having fun.

On Tuesday, I got things started with an episode that featured Chris and Rita investigating a murder at an exclusive casino. Chris got to wear a tux while Rita went undercover as a dealer. They were so cute together! This was followed by an episode with Rita and Chris investigated the death of a drug dealer, despite the fact that the new DA wanted them to lay off the case because it might make the department look bad. It was a bit of bland episode, to be honest. The third episode was considerably better, as it featured Chris shooting a suspect and then the suspect’s sister trying to get revenge by seducing him. It was trashy and fun. Even more trashy and fun was the final episode that I watched on Tuesday, in which a prostitute witnessed a murder and Chris and Rita ended up investigating a judge.

I didn’t watch the show on Wednesday but I did return to it on Thursday. The first episode I watched featured Chris, Rita, and their captain (played by Broadway legend Ben Vereen) going undercover to bust a bunch of drug dealer who were working out of a club. Vereen seemed to be having a lot of fun and that made this otherwise pedestrian episode entertaining. This was followed by an episode that found Chris and Rita going undercover yet again, this time on the set of a trashy film shoot. It turned out that one of the actresses on the film was Chris’s mother! It was a fun episode.

On Friday, the first episode that I watched featured the great Patrick Muldoon as a serial rapist who had just been released from prison. Chris and Rita made sure that he didn’t go back to prison by sending him to the graveyard instead. Muldoon, in his younger years, was always perfectly cast as a villain and this episode was effectively disturbing. Rita and Chris’s fury felt real and cathartic. At its best, Silk Stalkings was trash with a conscience. That was followed by an episode where Chris and Rita went undercover as a married couple and were totally adorable as they solved the murder of a man who was found on the beach wearing a tuxedo.

I did not watch the show on Saturday but I look forward to returning to it over the course of the upcoming week!

WKRP In Cincinnati (DVD)

This 70s sitcom dealt with the daily life at a radio station in Cincinnati. Jeff loves this show so we watched a few episodes on Sunday morning. One dealt with a man in a pig costume painting the station’s lobby. Another one featured the station manager running unsuccessfully for city council. And the third one featured the station’s ad guy appearing on an early reality show called Real Families. WKRP was a pretty funny show. Like The Larry Sanders Show, it was very much a show of its time. Unlike The Larry Sanders Show, the show’s characters were really likable and I would have probably enjoyed working with them. No one would have made me cry.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television 1/2/22 — 1/8/22

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As the first week of 2022 comes to a close …. I have yet to watch the fourth season of Cobra Kai! What’s up with that? Oh well, I’ll watch it next week. This week, I was busy. Next week, I’ll ignore everything else I need to do and watch TV. How is that not a good plan?

Anyway, here’s what I watched this week:

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

After being gone for a month due to pledge programming, Allo Allo returned to the PBS line-up on January 2nd. Having escaped from the hospital, Rene returned to the café and dealt with Michelle’s latest scheme to get the airmen out of France. It involved hiding them in a hollow bomb that would be dropped over England. The only problem is the Resistance needed a place to hide the bombs. Michelle, of course, volunteered Rene’s cafe.

While I continue to laugh at Crabtree’s mangled French, I also find myself looking forward to the every scene involving LeClerc and his attempts to disguise himself. “It is I, LeClerc.”

The Amazing Race 33 (Wendsenday Night, CBS)

I wrote about the premiere of The Amazing Race here!

The Bachelor (Monday Night, ABC)

Big goofy Clayton is the new Bachelor. Big goofy Jesse Palmer is the new host. Honestly, we need more of a break between installments of this franchise. Anyway, Monday’s episode featured Clayton meeting the girls and, of course, sending one of them home on the first night because she wasn’t there for the right reasons (plus, she was like sloppy drunk). It was such an obvious set up.

Dexter: New Blood (Sunday Night, Showtime)

I reviewed the latest episode of Dexter: New Blood here!

Joe Millionaire (Thursday Night, Fox)

On this dating reality show, a group of women are competing to end up with one of two men. One of the men is a millionaire. The other isn’t! The twist is that the women don’t know which is which. Unfortunately, the viewers do know and that takes a lot of the fun out of the show. It would be a lot more enjoyable if we were guessing along with the women. Instead, we know that the farmer is actually very wealthy and the dude who looks like a European prince is actually a construction worker.

(To be honest, this show seems more like a parody of a reality show than an actual show.)

The first episode of this new edition of Joe Millionaire aired on Thursday. One of the women was sent home because she followed one of the men on social media. The show handled this development as if it was the most serious thing ever. I guess sending one random person home on the first day is going to be a new dating show ritual. Anyway, Joe Millionaire was pretty stupid. The men were boring. The women were boring. The host is also the butler at the mansion where everyone is staying. There was a lot of nonsense over whether or not everyone was there for the right reason. (What is the right reason when it comes to stuff like this?) Who cares?

I’ll probably watch it, though. I just won’t talk about it on twitter. It’ll be our little secret, my dear readers. Sound good?

The Love Boat (Sunday Evening, MeTV)

The Love Boat and its enthusiastic crew completed their cruise to Alaska. Everyone learned an important lesson about being too competitive and the importance of following one’s heart. Yay! Needless to say, it was a pretty silly show but sometimes, it’s good to watch something silly.

And Love …. won’t hurt anymore….

The Office (All The Time, Comedy Central)

I watched a few episodes from the fourth season on Thursday. Michael hanging out in New York with Ryan was good. The dinner party remains a classic. I had to change the channel once we got to the one where Jim was playing golf with the client and, for some stupid reason, he brought along Kevin and Andy. It never felt right whenever the show featured Jim actually working.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

After being off the air for the month of December due to pledge programming, Open All Hours has returned to the PBS lineup. On Sunday’s episode, Arkwright longed for Nurse Gladys Emmanuel while Granville continued to stew in resentment. I don’t blame Granville. It couldn’t have been easy being a 40 year-old stockboy. I always find myself wondering what Granville did to get sold into indentured servitude in the first place.

Shipping Wars (Tuesday Morning, A&E)

A&E is now showing the old, original episodes of Shipping Wars in the morning and new episodes at night. I have yet to watch any of the new episodes, mostly because the old episodes got so annoying after Roy died that I can’t imagine that the new episodes could be any better.

Anyway, on Tuesday, I mostly had the show on for background noise. I did notice that one episode featured a bunch of people pointing guns at Roy. It was presented as being a very dramatic situation but if Roy was really going to be shot, I kind of doubt that Shipping Wars film crew would be allowed to just hang out while it was happening. Eventually, it all turned out to be an elaborate prank.

Another episode featured Jen basically destroying a butter sculpture that she had been hired to deliver. Apparently, this was no prank. On the original Shipping Wars, Jen ruined nearly every delivery she was supposed to make. It’s kind of odd that people kept hiring her.

The Twilight Zone (Sunday, SyFy)

SyFy completed its Twilight Zone marathon on Sunday. I caught two of the marathon’s final episodes, both of which were from the season when the show had an hour running time instead of 30-minute. The hour-long Twilight Zones tend to be uneven. The first episode I watched was about a ship that came across as possibly haunted submarine. It would have been an enjoyably creepy 30-minute episode but, at an hour, there was just too much obvious padding. The second episode featured a young Dennis Hopper as a Neo-Nazi loser who finds success after a mysterious benefactor takes him under his wing. The identity of the benefactor was obvious from the start (it rhymed with Jitler) but Hopper’s odd and unhinged performance made this episode memorable.

U.S. Figure Skating Championships 2022 (Saturday afternoon, NBC)

USA! USA! USA!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 11/21/21 — 11/27/21

Posted on November 27, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Between my sister’s birthday, Thanksgiving, and my attempts to get caught up on my Lifetime movie viewing, I didn’t watch much TV this week. Here’s some thoughts on what did I see:

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

With the long-distance duck making its way (very slowly) to London, Rene and the Resistance disguised themselves as doctors and nurses so that they could rescue Monsieur Alphonse from the hospital. Meanwhile, the German colonels plotted to assassinate Alphonse with an exploding bedpan. It was a bit of an odd episode but I still laughed.

Baywatch Hawaii (Prime)

On Friday, I continued my binge of the first season of Baywatch Hawaii, watching three episodes.

Episode 11 featured a bit of tragedy for the Baywatch Hawaii team. No sooner had Allie declared her love for Nick, the hunky coast guard helicopter pilot, than Nick ended up sacrificing his life so that two dummies trapped in a mini-sub could live. David Hasselhoff made a brief appearance so that he could presumably collect his a paycheck and also so that Mitch could declare, “Nick wasn’t a lifeguard but he died being one.” That’s actually probably why he died.

Episode 12 featured some JD/Jessie relationship drama, as it was revealed that JD and Dawn had previously worked together and had a relationship in Florida. I’m assuming that JD and Jessie broke up over the fact that JD kept it a secret, though the ending of this episode kind of left things in the air. There was also an odd subplot about JD inventing a new type of wet suit that allowed lifeguard to swim faster than dolphins. It was an oddly disjointed episode (and I haven’t even gotten into the subplots about the missing child and Dawn getting named in a wrongful death suit) but it did end with a nicely surreal scene of the lifeguards relaxing underwater while fireworks exploded in the sky above.

Speaking of surreal, that’s the only way to describe Episode 13. A man was recovered after drowning. Despite having been underwater and medically dead for 20 minutes, he was still revived with absolutely no brain damage or any other injuries. This led to Dawn and Sean exploring an underwater meditation technique that Dawn learned in India. Sean was freaked out by a vision that he had in which Dawn appeared to be trying to drown him. MEANWHILE, Jessie, Allie, and Kekoa went shopping! Yay! This led to them getting invited to a party on a boat and it also led to them having to strip down to their newly-purchased lingerie (in slow motion, of course) in order to save a group of stranded swimmers. It was weird mix of philosophy and prurience and, to be honest, it was kind of brilliant in a Baywatch sort of way.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Sunday Night, PBS)

A few years ago, my sister wrote about why this special is something to give thanks for.

Cowboys vs. Raiders (Thursday Afternoon, CBS)

Because it was Thanksgiving, I kind of watched this football game with my family. Most of my cousins really got into it. Myself, I’m just hoping that no one suffered any permanent injuries and that both teams had a nice Thanksgiving meal after the game ended. I was a little bit disappointed when the game went into overtime. I mean, they already had the tie. There was no need to hurt anyone’s feelings! Still, with their enthusiastic spirit and their can-do attitude, both teams were winners!

Dexter: New Blood (Sunday Night, Showtime)

I wrote about the latest episode of Dexter here!

Fear the Walking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)

I wrote about the latest episode here!

King of the Hill (Sunday Afternoon, FXX)

I watched three classic episodes on Sunday afternoon. Khannie and the Dale Gribble Bluegrass Experience went to Branson. (“She’s good …. she’s Branson good!”) Peggy was conned by the president of the fictitious Genius Institute but she got her money back by pulling a con of her own. Finally, Hank tried to convince his father to allow the local Vietnam vets to join the local VFW.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

Arkwright tried to impress Nurse Gladys Emmanuel while Granville bitterly considered the pointlessness of his life.

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about the latest episode of Survivor here!

The Walking Dead: World Beyond (Sunday Night, AMC)

This week brought us another slowly paced episode of Walking Dead: World Beyond. I guess the scientists and the main family are trying to break out of the paramilitary compound now? Well, that’s probably a good idea.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 11/14/21 — 11/20/21

Posted on November 20, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s that time again. Here’s some thoughts on what I watched over the past seven days:

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

Finally! It was time for the long-distance duck to fly from France to London, carrying with it the plans for the German invasion of England. Unfortunately, the duck itself really didn’t feel like flying, which led to Rene and Edith having to chase it around the courtyard while Michelle and the two airmen watched from a balcony above. Meanwhile, everyone was trying to figure out what to do with the forged money that Rene stole from the bank. It was a funny episode. I relate to Michelle.

Baywatch Hawaii (Prime)

I had a really tough day on Tuesday so I decided to unwind and calm myself down by continuing my binge of the first season of Baywatch Hawaii. This, of course, was the sequel to Baywatch, in which the Hoff moved to Hawaii and helped to train a new group of lifeguards.

I started things off with watching the 9th episode of the series, which was called The Hunt. It featured Jessie investigating a case of shark poaching and Jason trying to come to terms with his Hawaiian heritage. In the end, the poaches were defeated, Jessie was rescued after her jet ski sank, and Jason proved himself to be worthy of the islands by having some sort of weird mind-meld with a shark. “The shark is my brother,” Jason explained. Yay! Incidentally, the poacher’s boat was named “All She Rote,” which was kind of clever. This was followed by a treasure hunt episode, where the lifeguards mistakenly believed that they had found a long-lost treasure. I’m pretty sure this was a remake an old Baywatch episode, with gold instead of doubloons.

Cold Case (Weekday, Afternoons, Start TV)

On Tuesday’s episode, Lily and the gang investigated the 1967 murder of a brush salesman. Speaking of brushes, Lily could have used one because her hair was a mess. I will never understand why Lily never did anything about that.

Court Cam (Wednesday, A&E)

A&E always airs several episodes of Court Cam on Wednesday and they do tend to blend together. For some reason, this week, there were a lot of clips of defendants cussing out their judges. That’s never a good courtroom strategy. One fellow got 360 days for contempt of court, though it was later reduced to 90 days. Ironically, he only served 5 days for the crime that he was initially charged with. Seriously, be polite when talking to a judge.

Crossing Jordan (Weekday Afternoons, Start TV)

I watched two episodes on Tuesday. Jordan was cranky while Bugs was again being targeted by bigots and Homeland Security. That was pretty much the plot of every single episode of Crossing Jordan, yet somehow everyone on the show always acted as if the same thing didn’t keep happening over and over again.

Dexter: New Blood (Sunday Night, Showtime)

I wrote about the latest episode of Dexter here!

Fear The Walking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)

I wrote about the latest episode of Fear the Walking Dead here!

Monty Python’s Flying Circus (Monday Morning, BBC America)

I watched two of my favorite episodes on Monday morning, Mr. Pither’s Cycling Tour and The Ministry of Silly Walks. I especially love Mr. Pither, if just because Michael Palin did such a wonderful job playing the well-meaning but utterly clueless cyclist. “My lack of God, it’s Trotsky!”

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

Arkwright cheated his customers by pretending to be blind. Granville took a heap of abuse. They both attempted to provide better customer service at their little shop. It didn’t go well.

Shipping Wars (Tuesday Morning, A&E)

It amazes me that everyone who ever appeared on this show — whether they were a regular or just a customer — was a complete and total jerk. I watched several episodes of Tuesday morning and I can’t think of one episode that featured anyone who was the least bit likable.

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about Survivor here!

Three’s Company (Weekday Afternoons, Antenna TV)

I watched two episodes on Tuesday. Believe it or not, both of them revolved around simple misunderstandings that could have been solved in a matter of minutes if all of the characters on the show weren’t so stupid.

The Walking Dead: The World Beyond (Sunday Night, AMC)

I think what’s frustrating about this show is that it works best when it focuses on the teens growing up in a world where society has collapsed but, for some reason, the show keeps getting sidetracked with all of the adults. I don’t care about the adults but sometimes, the majority of the show seems to be made up of scenes of them sitting around and having hushed conversations. It gets boring!

Yes, Minister (PBS, Monday Morning)

I rewatched the episode where Jim becomes Prime Minister. Yay, Jim!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 10/31/21 — 11/6/21

Posted on November 6, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I spent the first week after Halloween in a state of exhaustion. That’s the way it usually is after a successful horrorthon. I got a lot of work done at the office. I had the TV on for background noise for quite a bit of the time. Here’s what I watched:

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

With the colonels being held hostage by the Communist Resistance, Michelle came up with a great plan to solve the problem! Rene could simply rob a bank! After all, Michelle said, they had access to the greatest safe cracker in all of France. LeClerc looked confused until he realized she was talking about him. Rene attempted to refuse but soon found himself in a bank, holding a torch while LeClerc attempted to break into the safe. It all led, of course, to an explosion. Monsieur Alphonse was upset that some of his money was set on fire to provide light in the vault. Who can blame him? Meanwhile, Officer Crabtree kept asking Michelle and Rene if there done “ribbing the bonk.” I laughed.

The Bachelorette (Tuesday Night, ABC)

Michelle sent Jamie home, which was good. But then she canceled the Cocktail Party, which …. eh. The whole “I’m going to cancel the cocktail party and go straight to the Rose Ceremony” thing has become the biggest Bachelorette cliché move. It’s right up there with questioning whether someone is on the show for the right reasons.

Baywatch Hawaii (Prime)

Running for two seasons, from 1999 to 2001 (wow, two centuries!), Baywatch Hawaii was an attempt to reenergize the fading popularity of Baywatch by moving all of the lifeguard action to a new state. Mitch (David “The Hoff” Hasselhoff) left California for Hawaii, where he started a new branch of Baywatch. JD (Michael Bergin), Jessie (Brooke Burns), and Newman (MICHAEL NEWMAN!) came with him and were joined by a group of new lifeguard trainees. Of the new cast members, a very young Jason Mamoa played an impetuous lifeguard named …. Jason.

Having binged the original Baywatch earlier this year, I figured that I might as well watch the two seasons of Baywatch Hawaii, just so I could get the complete story. Luckily, both seasons are on Prime.

On Thursday, I watched the first four episode and they weren’t particularly good. The Hoff looked extremely bored and really wasn’t in much of the show. Instead, most of the action revolved around Sean (Jason Brooks), the hardass instructor brought in to train the new lifegaurds and turn them into a team. Every episode, Sean threatened to send someone back to the mainland and, each time, the lifeguards proved themselves at the last minute. The first episode opened with the Hoff having an existential crisis in Hawaii, one that was solved when he saved a little girl from drowning. The second episode featured Sean yelling at the new recruits while the Hoff saved the exact same little girl from suffering a case of secondary drowning at her birthday party. This was followed by an episode where a new lifeguard named Dawn joined the team and immediately started scheming to seal JD away from from Jessie. Finally, in episode #4, Jason was nearly sent home for being too “self-reliant,” which didn’t make much sense to me but whatever. In all four episodes, the Hawiiaian scenery was lovely and everyone had an aesthetically pleasing body and really, that’s the main concern with a show like this.

On Friday, I watched episodes 4 through 8. Sean yelled at the lifeguards. Jason struggled to learn how to work as a member of a team. Dawn kept trying to steal everyone’s boyfriend. So far, this has been a pretty repetitive show. The same could be said of the original Baywatch but that show often seemed to be cheerfully aware of how silly it was whereas Baywatch Hawaii took itself a bit too seriously. The 8th episode did feature the return of Hobie. The Hoff was upset when he discovered that 1) Hobie was marrying a girl that the Hoff had never met and 2) Hobie was apparently embarrassed to introduce the Hoff to the wealthy parents of his wife-to-be. Embarrassed by the Hoff!? Say it ain’t so, Hobie! It all worked out in the end, though. The Hoff saved a wedding photographer who fell in the ocean and Hobie and his girlfriend decided to put off getting married and instead just decided to live together in sin. My aunt would be very disappointed in them.

Classic Concentration (Weekday Afternoons, Buzzr)

This was an old game show, in which contestants tried to match the pictures that were hiding under the squares. I watched two episodes on Wednesday and it was actually kind of a fun show.

Cold Case (Weekday Afternoons, Start TV)

On Monday’s episode, the Cold Case Squad investigated why Lilly never seemed to wash her hair. No, actually, they investigated a 1962 murder that had been disguised to look like a murder. Seriously, though, what was up with Lilly’s hair?

Court Cam (Wednesday Evening, A&E)

I watched two episodes on Wednesday evening. One featured a defendant who told the judge to go “<bleep> yourself” and I have to say that the A&E censorship beeps are so loud that they can actually give you a headache after a while.

Crossing Jordan (Weekday Afternoons, Start TV)

I watched two episodes on Monday but, for the most part, I just had the show on for background noise. In the first episode, Jordan and her team of quirky coroners were outraged over prison conditions. In the second episode, Jordan and the gang were outraged over a religious cult. There was a lot of quirky outrage.

Day of the Dead (Friday Night, SyFy)

Eh. It’s not really a bad show but, after watching three episodes this week to get caught up, I kind of feel that Day of the Dead is just not going to be for me. It’s hard to say why I don’t particularly care for it. The anti-fracking stuff is a bit too on-the-nose but, then again, George Romero wasn’t exactly subtle when it came to making his political points in the latter Dead films either. I think my main problem is that we’re four episodes in and it’s still doesn’t seem as if the show has established any sort of narrative momentum. So, I think I’m done with Day of the Dead for now.

Dennis The Menace (Weekday Mornings, Antenna TV)

I kind of watched two episodes of this show on Tuesday morning. I say “kind of” because I only had the TV on in the office for background noise and Dennis was such a sociopathic little brat that I really couldn’t bring myself to pay that much attention to him. Poor Mr. Wilson!

Fear the Walking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)

Read my thoughts here!

Ghost Whisperer (Weekday morning, Start TV)

I watched an episode at Monday while I was at work. After a college student was scared into a coma, Melinda had to determine if it was the work of Bloody Mary or if it was just a ghost who needed help crossing over. This episode was from the Jay Mohr years so it had all of this weird sexual tension between Rick and Melinda, despite Melinda being married to Jim.

Hazel (Weekday Mornings, Antenna TV)

On Tuesday, I used two episodes of this maid-centered, old sitcom for background noise. In one, Hazel raised money to repair a broken vase. In the next one, she helped out a gardener who was in danger of getting fired. Hazel really needed to get a life outside of work.

I Dream of Jeannie (Weekday Afternoons, Antenna TV)

On Tuesday, I had two episodes on for background noise. One featured Jeannie’s dog causing chaos. The other featured Jeannie ruining the marriage of Major Nelson’s commanding officer. How many lives did Jeannie ruin during her reign of terror?

The Love Boat (Sunday Evening, MeTV)

I wrote about the special Halloween episode of The Love Boat here!

Match Game ’76 (Weekday Mornings, Buzzr)

I watched two episodes of this old game show on Wednesday. Two contestants tried to match answers with a group of angry-looking alcholics. The entire set looked like it reeked of gin, cigarettes, and skunk weed.

Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour (Weekday Mornings, Buzzr)

This was a weird game show from the 80s. Basically, it’s 30 minutes of the Match Game, followed by 30 minutes of Hollywood Squares with the same contestants and minor celebs taking part in both. I kind of watched an episode of Wednesday morning but, to be honest, the show was mostly just background noise while I organized the office.

Medium (Weekday Mornings, Start TV)

I caught an episode on Monday, while I was at work. Alison solved the case of a young woman who was pushed off a cliff. Alison and her incredibly understanding husband also wondered whether they should warn a friend that Alison had foreseen him having a fatal heart attack. The low-key and serious approach of Medium provided a clear contrast to the more sensationalistic approach of Ghost Whisperer. But Ghost Whisperer was a much more fun show to watch.

The Office (Sunday Night, Comedy Central)

Jim and Pam badgered Danny Cordray over why Danny didn’t ask Pam on a second date. This episode is a good example of how unlikable Jim and Pam became after they got married.

One Step Beyond (YouTube)

Check out the episode that I watched here.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

Granville sadly wondered if he would ever marry. Arkwright told him he was too young to worry about such things, despite the fact that Granville appears to be nearly 50. No wonder Granville is losing his grip on reality.

Saved By The Bell (Sunday Morning, MeTV)

No sooner had I recommended that people watch the Mystery Weekend episode for Halloween than MeTV aired it.

Survivor 41 (CBS, Wednesday Night)

I wrote about the latest episode of Survivor here!

Unforgettable (Weekday Afternoons, Start TV)

On Monday’s episode, Carrie and Al investigated a murder in upstate New York. It reminded Carrie of her sister’s murder, mostly because Carrie has total recall and everything reminds her of her sister’s murder. To be honest, I think if I had watched this show when it originally aired, I probably would have liked it. The photographic memory aspect is interesting and Poppy Montgomery and Dylan Walsh are likable in the lead roles.

Walking Dead: World Beyond (Sunday Night, AMC)

Saved by the Dead remains an entertaining-enough show. I’m still not sure what’s going on but I do enjoy all of the annoyed and rebellious attitudes.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television 10/24/21 — 10/30/21

Posted on October 30, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Needless to say, this week was more about movies than it was about TV. Here’s what I did watch.

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

“Some you may be wondering what I am doing in my office, bricking myself up.” Oh, Rene …. I’m sure you have a good reason. In this case, it was because Rene was concerned that the Germans were looking to arrest him. It’s far more probable that Rene just wanted an excuse to get away from all of the drama in the cafe. Eventually, Michelle showed up to give Rene both a medal to honor his bravery and a suicide pill for him to take once he was captured. Fortunately for Rene but unfortunately for the Resistance, the attempt to send all of the German generals to England failed and Rene was in the clear. The Resistance took back both the suicide pill and the medal.

Eventually, this all led to Rene pretending to be a member of the clergy, Michelle pretending to be in love with Rene, Mimi pretending to be s baby, Herr Flick also pretending to be a baby, and a group of Italian soldiers running around the village with bayonets.

It was all very odd but rather funny.

Dancing With The Stars (Monday Night, ABC)

It was horror night! All of the dances went pretty well, in my opinion. I did have to smile a bit at the dance that was described as being “an homage to The Purge,” as if the Purge is some decades-old classic. And I groaned when one of the dancers said he was “dressed as Hellraiser,” when he was clearly dressed as Pinhead. JoJo’s It-inspired dance was good. The judges were too hard on Melora Hardin. To be honest, the judges remain the worst part of this show.

Degrassi: The Next Generation (DVD)

I watched the classic Breakfast Club episode from season 3 and I wrote about it here!

Fear the Walking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)

I reviewed the latest episode here!

Firing Line (Sunday Night, PBS)

On this public affairs show, Margaret Hoover was interviewing a woman who was very concerned about Donald Trump’s policies. It was a new episode but no one was interested in talking about Joe Biden’s policies. In its way, this episode was actually a perfect reflection of what politics is like in America right now. We have a president that few people take seriously and an ex-president who everyone either fears or loves.

Friday the 13th: The Series (YouTube)

Discovering this series has been one of the true pleasures of this year’s horrorthon.

It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Sunday Night, PBS)

Erin and I watched this classic on Sunday. Two years ago, Erin wrote an essay about why we love this special and it’s still relevant today.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

Arkwright’s attempt to set up a mobile food truck nearly killed Grandville. All of the neighbors were, as usual, upset at being inconvenienced. No one seemed to have too much of a problem with Grandville nearly dying. Poor Grandville.

Seinfeld (Every Day, Comedy Central)

I watched two episodes on Friday. One featured Jerry dating a Miss America contestant and Elaine getting a job with a cranky old man. The other featured Elaine ordering a “Big Salad.” I relate to Elaine. Big salads are the best!

Survivor 41 (Wednesday Night, ABC)

I wrote about this week’s episode here!

Toy Story of Terror (ABC, Thursday Night)

Erin and I watch this Halloween special every year. Though it may not bring me to tears like the movies do, it’s still nice to see all of the toys together and looking out for each other.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond (Sunday Night, AMC)

I’ve actually reached the point where I’ve gone from being totally indifferent to kind of liking this show. The idea of teenagers trying to enjoy their youth in a world that will probably not allow them to grow old is actually more compelling than I thought it would be. Plus, it’s not quite as slow as the other two Walking Dead shows. I still spend a good deal o this show feeling confused but still, it does mange to consistently hold my interest for the hour that it’s on. That may be a long-winded compliment but …. well, so be it.