Late Night Retro Television Review: 1st & Ten 3.6 “The Bulls Change Hands”

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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 episode was confusing. Is syndication to blame?

Episode 3.6 “The Bulls Change Hands”

(Dir by Stan Lathan, originally aired on September 9th, 1987)

Diana no longer owns the Bulls!

That was the main plot development to be found in this cluttered episode of 1st & Ten. As I’ve mentioned before, the episodes of 1st & Ten that are available on Tubi are the heavily edited versions that were sold into syndication as opposed to the original, R-rated versions that appeared on HBO. With quite a few of these episodes, it’s obvious that entire plotlines have been pretty much chopped out. That certainly feels like the case here because, despite having watched the episode, I’m still not totally sure how Diane lost the Bulls in the first place.

What I do know is that she threatened to expose Teddy’s insider trading. Teddy responded by leaving the country but, before he left, he gave his ownership shares to his daughter, Jill (Leah Ayres). Teddy explains that this makes Jill the owner of the Bulls. But my understanding was that Teddy only owned half the team so it seems like that would mean Jill and Diane would now be co-owners. Perhaps I missed something in an earlier episode or maybe some line of dialogue was cut out for syndication, I’m not sure. What I do know is that Jill now owns the Bulls. The first thing she does is break up with Yinessa because she can’t be both his boss and his girlfriend.

In her final locker room speech, Diane orders the Bulls to win because Diane is taking Jill to court and she wants the team to be in the playoffs once she returns as the owner. It’s not a bad speech but again, I thought Diane still owned at least half of the team.

Meanwhile, Yinessa is back as quarterback. And he leads the Bulls to their first victory of the season. His new wide receiver, Billy Cooper (Michael Toland) catches the game-winning pass. At the same time that Billy is scoring, some guy who we’ve never seen before is shooting at him from the roof of the stadium. The police arrest the guy and Billy later discovers a bullet lodged in his helmet.

Bubba’s sex therapist (Penny Johnson) is now obsessed with him, despite Bubba’s attempts to set her up with with Jethro. I have a feeling that the Jethro/Bubba storylines were the ones that really got left on the cutting room floor when it came to editing these episodes for syndication. Jethro and Bubba have been with the show since the beginning and they’ve got prominent billing in the opening credits but, when it comes to their roles in the episodes themselves, it seems like the only thing that happens is Bubba says that he needs to get laid and then the two of them disappear for several weeks. When they do finally reappear, Bubba is always in some sort of new trouble with his wife.

Speaking of marriage, in this episode, TD Parker finally confesses to his wife that he’s been having an affair.

TD apologizes. His wife tells him to get out. Agck! I can see where this storyline is heading but OJ Simpson fighting with his wife still lands differently in 2026 than it probably did in 1987.

This episode was a mess but I guess Jill is the owner of the Bulls now and Teddy’s fled to South America. Can’t the Bull just concentrate on playing football and earning their paycheck?

Late Night Retro Television Review: 1st & Ten 3.5 “Illegal Use Of Love”

Posted on February 25, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

With their best player now dead, the Bull begin their new season.

Episode 3.5 “Illegal Use Of Love”

(Dir by Stan Lathan, originally aired on September 2nd, 1987)

Uh-oh, TD Parker is cheating on his wife with assistant, Kay (Alexa Hamilton). TD explains that his wife is upset about the amount of time that he’s putting in with the team. She feels that he’s neglecting his family. She doesn’t even like football anymore!

Yep, TD has a lot of excuses for cheating on his wife but don’t think that he’s a bad guy or anything. As he tells his mistress, everything is fine except for….

As I’ve said before, probably the most interesting thing about 1st & Ten is the way that everything that OJ Simpson says now has a double meaning. At the time this was filmed, OJ was just a former football player who had become a likable if not particularly versatile actor. Watching it today in 2026 …. well, words land differently.

As the Bulls, the team is in trouble. Their season opener against Baltimore is a disaster. Yinessa is still out and demanding a new contract before he’ll play so, instead, he sits in the stands and watch as the backup quarterback throws interception after interception. Later, he tells Teddy’s daughter, Jill Schrader (Leah Ayres), that all he wants to do is play football. If that’s the case, why not sign your stupid contract and play football? Seriously, when did Yinessa get so whiny?

There’s a brief sign of hope during the Baltimore game. Dr. Death intercept a pass. But then Dr. Death runs the wrong way and gets tackled behind the other team’s goal line. A local sports commentator says that Dr. Death and Mad Dog (who blocked while Death was running the wrong way) are idiots. He’s correct but he retracts his statement after Death and Dog threaten to destroy his car.

The Bulls need a quarterback. Teddy goes behind Diane’s back and arranges a trade for arrogant Johnny Valentine, the coke-addled quarterback who Diane kicked off the team the previous season. Diane gets angry but what can she do? Teddy owns half of the team….

For now!

TD’s mistress shows TD some financial reports that show that Teddy has been making his money through insider trading. TD is shocked.

If anyone knows about illegal….

It looks like Teddy might be in some trouble. It also looks like Diane might be in some trouble as well because the other owners think that she’s failed to control the drug use on her team. (They’re not incorrect.) We’ll see what happens next week but I have a feeling that a change is coming.

And really, that change can’t come a minute too soon. Even with the steroid storyline, this season has been a snoozefest so far. Here’s hoping things perk up next week!

Late Night Retro Television Review: 1st & Ten 3.4 “The Comeback Trail”

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Some will never play the game….

Episode 3.4 “The Comeback Trail”

(Dir by Stan Lathan, originally aired on August 26th, 1987)

The Bulls are in disarray! Yinessa is in the hospital and might never play again. Diane wants to trade John Manzak for a new quarterback but TD Parker explains that Manzak is actually one of the best players that they have.

Then, OJ — I mean TD — heads to the locker room and catches Manzak shooting up steroids in the bathroom. TD tries to take the steroids away from him and Manzak …. well, Manzak doesn’t appreciate that.

Manzak apologizes and explains that, after ten years of injuries, he needs the steroids to play. TD orders him to stop using them. Manzak doesn’t listen and during the next practice, he collapses on the field. TD runs out to him and checks his pulse.

OJ would know!

So ends the saga of John Manzak. He just wanted to play football but he took too many steroids and collapsed dead on the practice field.

How will the Bulls survive without him? We’ll find out next week!

Shattered Politics #60: Absolute Power (dir by Clint Eastwood)

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The main reason that I enjoyed the 1997 Clint Eastwood film Absolute Power was because it features a murderer who also happens to be the President. As someone who dislike the idea of any one person having absolute power, I always get annoyed by the attitude that authority is something that has to be automatically respected. Instead, I’ve always felt that all authority should be distrusted and continually questioned.

Just take President Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman) for example. At the start of Absolute Power, he’s a popular President. He’s quick with a smile. He’s quick with a memorable line. I imagine that excerpts from his State of the Union speech would probably be very popular on YouTube. However, at the start of the film, elderly burglar Luther Whitney (Clint Eastwood) witnesses President Richmond getting violent with Jan Levinson-Gould. When Jan resists him, two Secret Service agents (Scott Glenn and Dennis Haysbert) run into the room and shoot her.

Okay, technically, the victim was not really The Office‘s Jan Levinson-Gould. (They both just happen to be played by Melora Hardin.) Instead, her name was Christy Sullivan and she was also the wife of one of Richmond’s top financial supporters, Walter Sullivan (E.G. Marshall). After the murder, President Richmond and his chief-of-staff, Gloria Russell (Judy Davis), attempt to frame Luther for the crime.

Absolute Power is pretty much your typical Clint Eastwood action picture. In the role of Luther, Eastwood snarls his way through the film and never dispatches a bad guy without providing a ruthless quip. (When one bad guy begs for mercy, Luther replies that he’s “fresh out.”) Luther has an estranged daughter, a lawyer named Kate (Laura Linney) and, despite the fact that she’s helping the homicide detective (Ed Harris) who is trying to capture him, Luther still pops up to look out for her. In the end, Luther’s not only try to prove that the President is a murderer but he’s trying to be a better father as well! Awwwwwww!

Again, it’s all pretty predictable but the film is worth seeing just for the chance to witness Gene Hackman play one of the most evil Presidents ever. As far as soulless chief executives are concerned, Alan Richmond makes Woodrow Wilson look like a humanitarian! And Hackman does a good job embodying the affable type of evil that could conceivably translate into an electoral landslide.

Absolute Power may not be a great film but it’s a good one to watch whenever you need an excuse to be cynical about the absolute power of the government.