Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing 1st and Ten, which aired in syndication from 1984 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on Tubi.

This week, we start season 4.

Episode 4.1 “The Bulls Own Up”

(Dir by Stan Lathan, originally aired on October 5th, 1988)

It’s time for a new season of 1st & Ten and things have changed!

Yinessa is nowhere to be seen.  Instead, this episode features a college quarterback named Sonny Clowers (Gary Kasper) who is being courted by agent Max Green (Mark Lonow).  Also not around is Jill Schrader, the team’s owner.  She has sold the team to a fast food chain.  The new owner of the Bulls is Charles (Monte Markham).  In his first meeting with TD Parker (OJ Simpson), Charles explains that he runs a clean-cut, all-American company and he expects the Bulls to be a clean-cut, all-American team.

In other words, it’s time to trade all of the trouble makers and the drug abusers.  Charles doesn’t want a team of individuals.  He wants a team of …. well, whatever the opposite of an individual is.

TD is not happy to hear about this.  Neither is Mad Dog, who is revealed to come from a fabulously wealthy family.  Mad Dog’s father wants Mad Dog to do something that requires more skill than football.  Hmmm …. maybe Mad Dog and all the other players could form their own company and buy the team themselves?

That doesn’t really sound like a great idea to me.  How can you release or trade a player when that player owns the team?  However, TD thinks that it’s a good idea.  Zagreb thinks it’s a good idea.  And Dr. Death shows up for practice in a three-piece suit, which somehow convinces everyone else that it’s a good idea!

Why do I get the feeling that this idea will dropped after six episodes?

This was an okay season opener.  The Bulls being sold to a fast food chain certainly makes more sense than Delta Burke acquiring them in a divorce settlement.  OJ Simpson recoiling at the thought of the team being expected to avoid scandal?  That was almost to on the nose!

Finally, I can’t end this review without saying Donald Gibb, RIP.  On a show not known for great acting, Gibb was definitely the exception.