Tag Archives: Page Fletcher

Horror on TV: The Hitchhiker 5.26 “Pawns” (dir by Leon Marr)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Poor Eddie!

Eddie (David McIlwraith) used to be a rock star but now he’s a washed up alcoholic without a cent to his name.  Needing to pay his bills, Eddie decides to make the ultimate sacrifice.  He decides to go down to a pawnshop and sell his trademark guitar.  However, a quirky woman named Elisabeth (Jill Hennessy) has another idea.  Maybe …. he could just rob the pawn shop!

Did you know that, as a name, Lisa started out as a shortened version of Elisabeth?

This episode originally aired on December 16th, 1989.

Horror On TV: The Hitchhiker 5.24 “My Enemy” (dir by René Bonnière)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of The Hitchhiker, Joan Severance stars as both a film star and a woman who is stuck in a go-nowhere marriage.  Neither one is happy with her life and looking for an escape.  Murder turns out to be a convenient solution.  This episode has a bit of a strange ending, one that really doesn’t make a lot of sense if you think about it too much.  But, fortunately, The Hitchhiker is there to impart a lesson.

(It’s a bit unfortunate that they apparently never did an episode that explored the Hitchhiker’s origins.  I mean, the guy just pops up everywhere.)

This episode originally aired on November 25th, 1989.

Horror on TV: The Hitchhiker 5.23 “Dying Generation” (dir by Timothy Bond)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s episode of The Hitchhiker features Roberta Maxwell as a fortune teller who, for five bucks, gives her clients a vision of the future and, as we all know, no one gets a happy ending.  Maybe that’s why so many of her teenage clients end up committing suicide.  Greg Spottiswood and Cynthia Preston play the two teens who decide to investigate how the fortune teller is involved in their friends death.  This is an intriguing episode, featuring a good performance from Roberta Maxwell.

This episode originally aired on November 24th, 1989.

Horror on TV: The Hitchhiker 5.22 “Cruelest Cut” (dir by Michael Robison)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s episode of The Hitchhiker features Melody Anderson and David James Elliott as, respectively, a veteran prostitute and a polite young man who seems to be the rare honest person that the guy with the lantern was always looking for.  However, someone also happens to be killing men who talk to prostitutes.

This episode originally aired on November 18th, 1989.

Horror on TV: The Hitchhiker 5.19 “Hit and Run” (dir by Randy Bradshaw)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of The Hitchhiker, Bruce Weitz gives a strong performance as a man who abandons his family for a stripper and then finds himself haunted by a man that he ran over in his car.  A guilty conscience cannot be escaped.

This episode originally aired on November 10th, 1989.

Horror On TV: The Hitchhiker 5.17 “Coach” (dir by Eric Till)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In tonight’s episode of The Hitchhiker, a track coach (Charles Haid) is freaking out over the prospect of his son (Jonathan Crombie) breaking his 25 year-old track record.  The coach ends up taking things to extreme to try to preserve his record.

This episode features a ferocious performance from Charles Haid, who plays the coach as every high school student’s worst nightmare.  This episode has a lot to say about both the strange rituals of athletic competitiveness and how some people are so scared of getting old that they’ll go to any extreme to hold on to their accomplishments of youth.

The episode aired on September 30th, 1989.

Horror on TV: The Hitchhiker 5.16 “Hootch” (dir by Leon Marr)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s episode of The Hitchhiker depicts what happens with a greedy woman (Stephanie Zimbalist) attempts to force her Vietnam vet brother out of the house that has been his only sanctuary from all the troubles of the world.  Needless to say, things do not go well.

This episode originally aired on September 16th, 1989.

Horror on TV: The Hitchhiker 5.12 “Spinning Wheel” (dir by George Mihalka)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of The Hitchhiker, Patti D’Arbanville is perfectly cast Wendy, a performance artist who uses her disturbing nightmares for inspiration and who finds herself losing her grasp on reality.

The episode originally aired on August 5th, 1989.

Horror On TV: The Hitchhiker 5.8 “Code Liz” (dir by Bruno Gantillon)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of The Hitchhiker, Marc Singer plays a real loser, a deadbeat husband who spends almost all of his time talking to a phone sex operator named Liz (Paulina Mlynarska).  When Liz suggests that the husband murder his wife (Katrine Boorman), who is left to wonder whether he should follow her advice or if she even exists to begin with.

This episode, featuring a wonderful turn from Marc Singer, originally aired on July 21st, 1989.

Horror On TV: The Hitchhiker 5.6 “Renaissance” (dir by Bruno Gantillon)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of The Hitchhiker, David Soul plays a greedy developer who runs afoul the Parisian underground.  It turns out that thinking big is not always the fool-proof strategy that the developer thinks that it is.  The cocky developer finds himself forced to confront his own dark side.  Myself, I’m curious why the opening credits always feature The Hitchhiker walking through the desert but, since the 5th season began, he’s pretty much just exclusively been hanging out in France.  Seriously, who is this guy?

The episode originally aired on July 14th, 1989!