Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on Tubi!
This week, T.S. and Amy battle the Canadian Mafia!
Episode 2.8 “Every Picture….”
(Dir by Don McCutcheon, originally aired on November 21st, 1988)
This episode of T and T continues to insist that the show is taking place in a place called Metro County. It even features a newspaper called the Metro County Eagle and suburb of Metro County that is called Ridley. As well, it appears that all of the cars in Metro County have American-style license plates.
Listen, T and T, you’re not fooling anyone.
We can all see the snow on the ground.
We can all see the frozen breath whenever a scene takes place outside.
We have all noticed how polite all the extras are.
We can all see the hockey hair and the denim jackets.
Even more importantly, we can all hear the accent whenever anyone apologizes or asks, “What’s this all aboot?”
Everyone knows that T and T totally takes place in Toronto! Obviously, a lot of a Canadian shows deliberately tried to leave their setting ambiguous so that they could appeal to viewers in the United States. Interestingly enough, the most successful syndicated Canadian show in the United States was Degrassi, which was always proudly and forthrightly Canadian.
As for today’s episode, it opens with a waitress named Kathy (Jacqueline Samuda) fleeing from a diner after she happens to see her picture in the newspaper. It turns out that a lot of people have noticed that picture. One of them is a burly mob hitman (Paul Coeur) who calls the paper and demands to know who took the picture. When the editor refuses to name names, the hitman breaks into the office to search for the name himself.
Because Amy is friendly (and maybe more!) with the editor, she volunteers T.S. to investigate the photograph. T.S. and Amy track down the photographer, a nerdy teenage prodigy named Lenny (Robert Haiat). After talking to Lenny, they track down the diner where Kathy worked and eventually, they break into Kathy’s apartment. Kathy isn’t there.
“She either left in a hurry or she’s a bad housekeeper,” T.S. growls.
Meanwhile, the hitman kidnaps Lenny and demands that he take him to the diner where the picture was taken. When Lenny’s father tells T.S. that the abduction is all his fault, T.S. says, “I’m going to make this right!”
Kathy, it turns out, is actually named Maria. Because she testified against her mob boss brother, she’s in the Canadian witness protection program. Lenny kind of ruined all that by taking her picture. Now, she’s hiding out in a church but, after the hitman catches a priest entering Kathy’s apartment, he’s able to track her down. This hitman is so evil that he’s prepared to shoot Kathy in the head in the middle of a church! Luckily, T.S. shows up just in time.
“HEY, FOOL!” T.S. shouts before beating the crap out of the hitman.
There’s a simplicity to T and T that you really have to admire. For all the talk of T.S. being a detective and an advocate of peace and understanding, he solves most of his problems by either punching someone out or throwing them through a window. This show reminds us that the simple solution is sometimes the best.
Anyway, you know what? This was a really good episode. The mystery was intriguing. The show generated actual suspense over who would find Kathy first. The scene in the church was nicely atmospheric. Even the sentimental ending, with Kathy giving T.S. a crucifix to thank him for saving her life, felt totally earned. Way to go, Toronto!
Through the Shattered Lens 