Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) has spent a semester teaching moot court at a law school. When one of his students, Frank Wellman Jr. (John Allen Nelson), is murdered, the accused is another student named Ken Malansky (William R. Moses). Despite being a close friend of the victim’s father (Brian Keith), Perry thinks that Ken is innocent and agrees to defend him. Ken’s ex-girlfriend, Amy Hastings (Alexandra Paul), pays Ken’s bail and helps him and Perry investigate the crime, even though Ken spends the whole movie talking about how “crazy” she is.
No William Katt. No David Ogden Stiers. Barbara Hale’s barely in it. The Case of the Lethal Lesson was the start of a new era in the Mason movies and I didn’t like it. Ken and Amy are Perry’s new assistants but I didn’t like either one of them. Amy was stalkerish but Ken still cried too much about her being the one who paid his bail. Did Ken just want to stay in jail? Ken just wasn’t very likable and it bothered me that the movie never explained why Paul wasn’t available to help. Both Paul and William Katt deserved better. Meanwhile, the new prosecutor (Marlene Warfield) didn’t have the same friendly rivalry that her predecessor did. The mystery element was okay until some cartoonish gangsters showed up. I didn’t buy any of it.
Give it up for my sister, though. A few minutes into the movie, Lisa said, “I bet that’s the murderer,” and she was right! If Perry Mason had her helping him instead of Ken and Amy, he could have solved this case a lot quicker.
Fifteen years ago, the sister of Sara Wingate (Doran Clark) was murdered at a lake near the family home. Traumatized, Sara had a nervous breakdown. It was only when she married Billy Travis (David Hasselhoff), a former tennis player, that Sara started to get over her fear of the lake. When Sara disappears while walking along the lake, Billy is arrested and charged with murdering her. Because Perry’s is an old friend of Sara’s uncle (John Ireland), he takes the case. If you’re going to get arrested for murder, you better hope one of your relatives knows Perry Mason.
This movie wasn’t bad. It had a twist at the end, which I saw coming but which was still unique for the Perry Mason movies. The actual guilty party is pretty obvious but the mystery wasn’t as important as usual in this one. The supporting cast was pretty good, though David Hasselhoff seemed to be too calm for someone accused of murder. As Perry, Raymond Burr uses his cane again and leans against something whenever he has to stand up. Della jokes that Perry won’t be skiing anymore. Most of the action falls to Paul Drake, Jr. (William Katt), who gets beaten up even more than usual but who also gets to be the big hero in the end.
This was the last Perry Mason film for both William Katt and David Ogder Stiers, who played the district attorney. I’m going to miss both of them. William Katt’s hair was huge in this one and I was really looking forward to seeing how much bigger it could get.
Sleazy magazine publisher Harlan Wade (Robert Guillaume) has made a lot of enemies through his scandal sheet. He just published a story suggesting that Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) and Della Street (Barbara Hale) are more than just friends. Well, duh! Everyone knows Perry and Della are in love! Perry still wants to sue him but then Harlan turns up dead in his swimming pool. It would have been interesting if Perry had been a suspect but instead the police arrest Michelle Benti (Susan Wilder), a reporter who was recently fired by Wade. Because Michelle is the ex-girlfriend of Paul Drake, Jr. (William Katt), Perry defends her in court.
This is another case of someone close to the Mason crew being accused of murder. The D.A. should know better than to arrest anyone who knows Perry, Della, or Paul. Michelle first appeared in The Case of the Shooting Starbut she was played by a different actress. It’s still good that, for once, the series actually acknowledged one of Paul’s ex-girlfriends. I worry about Paul and the way he falls in and out of love.
This one had a good mystery and a really memorable supporting cast. Morgan Brittany, Yaphet Kotto, Wings Hauser, and George Grizzard all played potential suspects. I liked that this was one of those mysteries where the victim went to a party before he died and everyone there threatened to kill him at some point. This movie also featured one of the better courtroom confessions. Raymond Burr uses a cane in this episode and is usually filmed either sitting down or leaning against something for support. Even though Burr obviously wasn’t feeling well, it’s nice to see him and Barbara Hale share some sweet scenes together.
Who sent Della flowers, champagne, and perfume? Watch to find out!
Former madam Suzanne Domenico (Ann Jillian) attempts to blackmail four rich men who are planning on embezzling money from a bank and is found dead by her husband, Tony, shortly afterwards. Tony (Vincent Baggetta) is arrested and charged with murdering his wife. Tony’s older brother used to run around with Della Street (Barbara Hale) and Della is able to get Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) to defend him in court. Paul Drake, Jr. (William Katt) is brought in to do the investigative legwork. Once again, Paul falls for a younger woman (Daphne Ashbrook) who will probably never be mentioned again in any of the other movies.
This movie was a little sad because it was obvious that Raymond Burr was not in good health. He spends most of the movie sitting or moving with crutches. In the movie, they say that Perry is using crutches because of a skiing accident but looking at Raymond Burr, there’s no way to imagine him skiing. Burr is still as sharp as ever when asking questions in the courtroom but it’s still clear that he was in pain when he did this movie. Perry being sidelined does mean that Barbara Hale and William Katt get to do more than usual. After spending the last few movies constantly getting outrun and smacked around, Katt finally gets to beat someone up in the movie.
The mystery isn’t bad, even though I guessed who the murderer was long before the trial started. The entire embezzlement scheme comes down to embezzling a few cents a day so that no one will notice. That’s the same thing they tried to do in Office Space! Luckily, no one got murdered that time.
Overall, this was a good entry in the Parry Mason movies, especially for those of us who like watching Paul Drake, Jr. I’m starting to wonder if all of Perry and Della’s friends are going to end up getting accused of murder at some point. My aunt and I always used to joke about how often Jessica Fletcher’s nephew was accused of murdering someone. It might be just as dangerous to be a friend of Perry Mason’s!
David Hall (Matthew Faison) is an obnoxious horror writer who invites a group of associates and former friends to spend the night at a “haunted” hotel. He’s invited them because all of them are on the verge of suing him for writing about them in his latest book, The Resort. Over the course of the night, he plays cruel practical jokes on all of them. Finally, someone gets fed up and tosses him over a railing. The police arrest publisher Jordan White (Robert Stack) and charge him with the murder. It’s a good thing that Jordan’s best friend is Perry Mason (Raymond Burr).
Perry uses a cane in this movie and is not that active outside of the courtroom. That means that it’s up to Paul Drake, Jr. (William Katt) to do most of the investigating. As usual, Paul falls for an attractive, younger woman, in this case the hotel’s owner, Susan Warrenfield (Kim Delaney). Every movie features Paul falling for someone and then we never hear about them again. Does Paul have commitment issues?
I enjoyed this Perry Mason mystery. The hotel was a great location and I appreciated that the movie tried to add some horror elements to the story. The Perry Mason movies can be predictable so I always like it when they at least try to do something a little bit different. This was a fun entry in Perry Mason’s career.
Actor Robert McCay (Joe Penny) decides that it would be hilarious to shoot talk show host Steve Carr (Alan Thicke) on live television. McCay thinks that the gun is loaded with blanks but, before he goes on the show, someone slips a live round into the gun. McCay kills Steve Carr and there are a million witnesses who see him do it. Time to call in Perry Mason (Raymond Burr)!
The third Perry Mason movie isn’t as good as the first two. Shooting someone on television as a joke and then leaving the studio immediately afterwards is a really stupid thing to do. As my sister pointed out while we were watching, even if Robert McCay wasn’t guilty of premeditated murder, he was probably guilty of negligent homicide for not bothering to double check whether or not there was a live round in the gun. McCay goes right back to shooting his movie, even while he’s on trial for murder. As for the trial, it was ridiculous. How many people can confess under cross examination in one trial? “Mistrial!” my sister yelled whenever Perry pulled one of his stunts and I agreed.
Paul (William Katt) teams up with a photojournalist (Wendy Crewson) and his investigation somehow leads to him playing a priest in a cheap vampire movie. For once, Perry didn’t give Paul a hard time about anything. Maybe he realized Paul’s scenes were the best part of The Case of the Shooting Star.
As a part of my effort to get caught up with all of the potential Emmy nominees, I watched a lot of television this week. This was a week of binging! Here’s a few thoughts on what I watched:
1923 (Paramount Plus)
A western set in the 1920s, starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren? Seriously, what took so long? Between watching Hot Fuzz last week and binging 1923 this week, I’ve also come to newly appreciate Timothy Dalton.
Are You Being Served? (Sunday Night, PBS)
The womenswear staff had to temporarily share space with the menswear staff! No one got along but the audience loved it. This show is single-handedly challenging all of my assumptions about the natural superiority of British humor.
The Bear (Hulu)
I was dreading watching The Bear because everything I read about it made it sound like the type of depressing show that I usually can’t stand but, having now binged the first season, I can now say that it was far better than I was expecting. A lot of that was due to the steady and empathetic lead performance of Jeremy Allen White. I’m looking forward to binging the second season.
Beavis and Butt-Head (Thursday, Paramount Plus)
Smart Beavis and Smart Butt-Head attempted to abduct Tom Anderson so that they could experiment on him. Unfortunately, their anal prober broke down but luckily, Tom was able to repair it. However, once he found out what it was for, he announced that he didn’t want to join the Elks that badly and he walked out of the flying saucer. Meanwhile, teen Beavis and Butt-Head tried to convince Cody to let them play his video game. Cody’s parents loved Beavis and Butt-Head. Apparently, this week’s episode was the second season finale. It was an okay wrap-up. As always, I enjoyed the Tom Anderson stuff. Cody and his parents were kind of boring but at least we got to watch Beavis and Butt-Head beat each other up while watching a relaxation video.
Dirty Pair Flash (YouTube)
On Friday night, I watched the fifth episode of Dirty Pair Flash. Lilly and Yuri were supposed to go on a stakeout but Lilly had a date. Yuri was not happy. Personally, I was on Lilly’s side. Just because you have a job, that doesn’t mean that you don’t get to have a life!
I watched an episode on Thursday. Robin Givens was giving people paternity tests. Robin yelled at all of her guests for being a bunch of cheaters. I watched another episode on Friday, in which Robin was ordering even more cheating men to “get into the doghouse.” Robin was very loud and very shrill and so was her audience. Say what you will about Mother Love’s style of hosting, at least the sound of her voice didn’t induce migraines.
A Friend of the Family (Peacock)
I finally watched this miniseries about how Jan Broberg was abducted not once but twice by the same friend of the family and oh my God, was it ever creepy! It’s easy to watch the Brobergs in this show and dismiss them as just being unbelievably naïve but, as the Jan mentioned in her introduction to the show, it was a different time. This miniseries featured excellent performances from Jake Lacey, Colin Hanks, Anna Paquin, and McKenna Grace.
Jenny Jones (YouTube)
“Stop dissing my dreams!” children said to their parents, who refused to support their show business dreams. A flustered Jenny Jones encouraged the parents to be more accepting of their kids. The show that I watched on Thursday was over 20 years old and none of the kids became stars. What a bunch of losers! Shame on them for wasting everyone’s time.
King of the Hill (Weekday Afternoons, FXX)
I watched two episodes on Friday, both of which were personal favorites of mine. First, Hank was happy that Bobby was getting into church until Hank discovered that Pastor K was a long-haired skater. This episode featured the classic line, “Don’t you realize you’re not making Christianity better, you’re just making rock and roll worse!” This was followed by the episode where Hank was excited that his new neighbor was a former Cowboy until he discovered that “Big Willy” Lane wasn’t the hero that he thought he was. These were two excellent episodes, funny and heartfelt.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime)
The final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was brilliant, with the time jumps reminding us that the story isn’t ending even if the show is. My main fear was that the show would do some sort of alternate history thing to save fan favorite Lenny Bruce but, though the temptation was undoubtedly there, the show didn’t. If Midge watching Jeopardy with Susie in 2005 didn’t bring a tear to your eye, I don’t know what to tell you.
I enjoyed the first season of Only Murders In The Building but, even during that season, I was aware that the show would probably end up becoming a bit too self-satisfied for its own good. I could forsee a future of slumming stars stopping by to hang out with Steve Martin and Martin Short.
This week, I watched the second season with a bit of trepidation. I did end up enjoying it, even if the second season didn’t quite have the thrill of discovery that made the first so likable and replacing Sting with Amy Schumer just confirmed my fear that the show is heading towards the trap of celebrity self-indulgence. That said, Steven Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez continue to be delightful and hopefully, the show will survive season 3’s addition of Meryl Streep to the cast. (Like many talented people, Meryl is at her worse whenever she’s slumming.)
Paul T. Goldman (Peacock)
I watched this non-fiction miniseries on Monday night. It basically featured an apparently mentally disturbed man explaining his paranoid theories about why his marriage failed. To be honest, it all felt a bit mean-spirited. Paul T. Goldman didn’t seem to be in on the joke and he made some pretty serious accusations against people who weren’t there to defend themselves. The whole thing held my interest but still felt pretty icky.
Perry Mason (HBO)
It’s a shame that HBO has cancelled Perry Mason. I watched the second season this week and I found myself very much enjoying its stylish portrayal of 1930s Los Angeles. The story itself didn’t do much for me but the show was such a visual treat and Matthew Rhys was so well-cast as Mason that it was still compulsively watchable.
Shrinking (AppleTV+)
This week, I finally caught up with Shrinking, which is a dramatic sitcom about therapists and their patients. I laughed more than I was expecting to at the show’s dark humor but, to be honest, the main appeal of this show is watching Harrison Ford prove that he’s still one of our best actors. Between this and 1923, it’s hard not to regret that Harrison Ford waited so long to start doing television.
Ted Lasso (AppleTV+)
It’s finally over! I was never as huge a fan of Ted Lasso as some people were and the third and perhaps final season didn’t really hold my interest when I watched it this week. (Admittedly, some of that could be because I felt a bit rushed with the Emmys coming up.) Jason Sudeikis is a likable actor and, even if the show wasn’t my favorite, the final episode did warm my heart a bit. I will say this: if this show was your favorite, I understand why and I don’t think any less of you.
Wednesday (Netflix)
I enjoyed Wednesday more than I expected I would. Netflix has a pretty uneven history when it comes to horror adaptations (remember when Case and I used to suffer through their Sabrina show?) but Wednesday was enjoyable and, of course, Jenna Ortega was perfectly cast in the lead role.
This is another show that I meant to watch earlier but I only got around to the latest season this week. I loved the mix of political melodrama and gorgeous scenery.
Yes, Minister (Monday Morning, PBS)
Jim Hacker made the mistake of thinking for himself during a television interview and talking about the need to cut back on wasteful government expenditures. Fortunately, Sir Humphrey was able to remind Hacker of his proper place.
Famed fashion photographer David Morrison (Eric Braeden) has fallen on hard times but things are looking up. The American Museum of Art wants to do a retrospective of his work. He just has to get the permission of his current wife, Dee (Kathy Ireland), and his four ex-wives (Shelley Hack, Kim Alexis, Maud Adams, and Beverly Johnson). All of them are super models who owe their careers to David but four of them hate his guts and Dee isn’t happy when she sees evidence that he has been cheating on her. When David turns up dead, Dee is arrested. She claims that she’s innocent but the prosecution is sure that they have an airtight case.
This sounds like a case for Perry Mason!
However, Perry’s out of town so it falls to Perry’s never previously mentioned best friend, Tony Caruso (Paul Sorvino), to solve The Case of the Wicked Wives! With the help of Perry’s tireless associates, Della Street (Barbara Hale) and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses), Caruso works to solve the case and prove the Dee is innocent. He also prepares many pasta dinners and frequently sings.
So, where was Perry? As everyone knows, Raymond Burr played Perry Mason for 9 seasons in the 50s and the 60s. 20 years after the show aired its final episode, Burr returned to the role in a series of highly rated, made for television movies. Unfortunately, Burr died in 1993 with several movies left to be filmed. In his will, Burr specifically requested that production on the remaining films continue so that the cast and crew wouldn’t lose their jobs. Since the role of Mason obviously could not be recast that soon after Burrs’s death, it was decided that the remaining movies would feature guest lawyers. Enter Paul Sorvino.
The Case of the Wicked Wives was the first Perry Mason film to be made after Burr’s death. As his replacement, Tony Caruso has much in common with Mason, including the ability to make the guilty confess in open court. Unlike Mason, Caruso is also obsessed with cooking elaborate spaghetti dinners and singing operatic arias. This movie came out just a year after Sorvino left Law & Order to specifically pursue his opera career. Sorvino sings a lot in The Case of the Wicked Wives, sometimes in court. Unfortunately, a love of singing and pasta are the only two personality traits that are really given to Caruso. Through no fault of Paul Sorvino’s, Caruso is never as compelling a character as the coolly calculating Mason. Mason could trick anyone into confessing through perfectly asked questions. Caruso is more into courtroom stunts that would get most lawyer disbarred.
Because the mystery itself is a dud, the main reason to watch The Case of the Wicked Wives is for the wives. Who wouldn’t want to keep Kathy Ireland from being wrongly convicted? All of the wives get at least one big moment to shine and tear up the scenery. You’ll guess who the murderer is long before anyone else in court.
How did Ozzy Osbourne come to sing a song about television’s most famous lawyer?
Apparently, it came from a session of guitarist Zakk Wylde and keyboardist John Sinclair just improvising. Wylde liked what they came up with and when he shared the music with Osbourne, Osbourne made up the lyrics on the spot. No one seems to know why Ozzy Osbourne had Perry Mason on his mind that particular day. Maybe he had been watching TV.
The music video features a young girl walking through what appears to be death row and spotting Osbourne performing the song in a cell. It was directed by Ralph Ziman, a South African director who, along with doing anti-Apartheid feature films, had also directed the video for the Ozzy Osbourne’s previous hit, No More Tears. It only made sense to bring him back for Perry Mason.
The Olympics are here! I know what I’m going to be watching for the next two weeks.
Seriously, don’t ask me to explain it. I just get excited about the Olympics. Admittedly, I do usually prefer the winter games to the summer games but still, I’m just glad that the Olympics are finally being held. This is the year that I discovered that badminton is an Olympics sport and I have to admit that I’m kind of upset that I didn’t know that earlier. My sisters and I used to play badminton all the time. WE COULD HAVE GONE TO THE OLYMPICS!
Anyway, here’s my thoughts on what I watched this week:
Allo Allo (PBS, Sunday Night)
“I have the spy camera! It is disguised as a potato!”
Allo Allo opened with Rene escapes from the Colonel’s dungeon and then being sent on a mission to take photographs of a safe. As usual, it was overly complicated and funny. I think what I like about this show is that some of the humor is very complex and very clever and then an equal amount of the humor just comes from silly things like Crabtree and his greeting of “Good moaning,” regardless of the time of day. It’s a mix of sophistication and stupdity and it’s a good combination.
The Bachelorette (ABC, Monday Night)
And now we’re down to four! The highlight this week was Katie sending Andrew home, then changing her mind and asking him to stay, just for Andrew to turn her down. And that’s why Andrew will probably be the next Bachelor.
Big Brother 23 (CBS and Paramount Plus, 24/7)
You can read my thoughts on the show that everyone love to hate over at the Big Brother Blog.
Court Cam (A&E, Wednesday Night)
More courtroom drama! I complain about this show, some would say nonstop. And yet, it is addictive. Or, at the very least, it makes for good background noise. It’s one of those shows that you don’t really have to pay too much attention to. Each 30 minutes episode is full of so many little stories that it’s basically tailor-made for people with ADD like me. That said, I still stand by my claim that this show is a sign of the decline of civilization in general. We live in dangerous times. Or actually, I guess we just live in increasingly stupid times. Dangerous is such a dramatic word.
Dragnet (MeTV, weekday mornings)
Monday’s two-episode block of Dragnet 1968 started with an episode in which an ex-con called the police to let them know that someone had solicited him to commit a murder. The solicitation happened as a result of an ad that the ex-con put in a “hippy newspaper.” Joe Friday went undercover as the ex-con to catch the killer. Somehow, he was able to do this despite the fact that there is absolutely nothing about Joe Friday that suggests that he would even know what a hippy newspaper was, let alone put an ad in one. Episodes of Dragnet where Friday goes undercover are some of my absolute favorites because it’s not like Friday puts any effort into changing his behavior or his style of speaking. He just takes off his tie! He’s still obviously a cop, no matter what he claims. This was followed by an episode in which Friday and Gannon investigated the murder of a real estate agent. Interestingly enough, for a show from 1968, the victim and all of the suspects were black but no mention of race was made during the episode. Instead, the emphasis was on Friday and Gannon treating everyone exactly the same as they treated white suspects. I imagine that was a deliberate decision on the part of the producers, as Dragnet always went out of its way to present the LAPD in the best light possible.
Tuesday started with a somewhat silly episode about a gang of dogs that had been trained to snatch purses. For those who love campy Dragnet, the highlight of the episode was Friday and Gannon interviewing a victim who was also a hippie and who carried a gigantic flower with her and who explained that she “like(d) the fuzz because you’re all flowers too.” This was followed by an episode where Friday and Gannon once again went undercover, this time to bust a con artist who was responsible for a pyramid scheme. Uniquely, this episode ended with a lengthy and rather dull courtroom scene.
Wednesday started off with Friday and Gannon pursuing another set of con artists. This time the con involved impersonating police officers and selling people cards that were said to extend special privileges. Soon, Los Angeles was full of swindled people tearing up traffic tickets. Fortunately, the LAPD were able to get the fake cops off the streets and once again, Friday and Gannon took of their ties and went undercover to make the arrest. One of the con artists was played by G.D. Spradlin, who would later go on to memorably play Sen. Pat Geary in The Godfather, Part II. This was followed by an episode where Friday and Gannon investigated whether a patrolman had taken a bribe. As usual, the emphasis was put on the police force doing things by the book.
Thursday stated off with a Christmas episode, in which Friday and Gannon worked hard to recover a stolen statue of Jesus. This is actually a classic episode, one that is aired by the retro stations every Christmas season. The statue was recovered and no one went to jail. This was followed by an episode in which Friday and Gannon searched for a drug smuggler whose plane had crashed in the San Fernando Valley. Many people went to jail at the end of that episode.
Finally, Friday’s episodes started off with Joe and Gannon investigating the disappearance of two little girls. It turned out the parents of the girls were divorced, which led to Joe giving their mother a lot of attitude, as if it was solely her fault that her daughters were missing. And indeed, the show ended with the girls being recovered safely (it turned out that they had just run off to see their old dog) and a hearing in which the father was given “reasonable visitation rights.” It was an awkward episode that didn’t really sit well with me. Fortunately, it was followed by a much more enjoyable episode, in which Joe and Gannon investigated a cult leader who was giving his followers LSD. It was Joe Friday vs. the counter culture! Brother William, who thought everyone should embrace LSD, was well-played by a distinguished actor named Liam Sullivan. For 20 minutes or so, Brother William and Joe Friday debated whether or not drugs should be legal. “How many times have you taken LSD?” Friday demanded. “Several hundred times!” Brother William exclaimed, “and look at me! I’m as sane as you are!” In the end, no one learned anything but Brother William did eventually got to prison.
Fasten Your Seat Belts (A&E, Wednesday Night)
Hey, who doesn’t love chaos at airports and on airplanes, right?
Actually, hold on. Both of those things would totally make me and a lot of other people nervous. The last place most of us would ever want to be would be on an airplane where someone is losing it during mid-flight.
Regardless, Fasten Your Seat Belts is a the new, ultra-cheap reality show that features footage of people acting up on airplane and in airports. It’s basically like watching YouTube for 30 minutes, except for the fact that Robert Hays (star of the Airplane! films) is the host. I guess if you’re into YouTube videos of people acting like jackasses and inconveniencing their fellow travelers, this show might be for you.
Hell’s Kitchen (Fox, Monday Night)
For me, the funniest part of any Gordon Ramsay show, from Hell’s Kitchen to KitchenKnightmares to that motel hell show, is when everyone sits around and talks about how attractive they find Chef Ramsay to be. It happens at least once every season. This week’s episode of Hell’s Kitchen featured Chef Ramsay talking to all the chefs one-and-one and then all of the chefs talking amongst themselves about how sexy they found Chef Ramsay to be. Eventually, Keona was sent home but Ramsay told her to keep her head up high and to keep growing as a chef and, the show seemed to be saying, who couldn’t appreciate those words coming from someone as amazingly handsome as Gordon Ramsay?
Hunter (ZLiving, Weekday Mornings)
Hunter is an extremely 80s cop show about a 7 foot detective named Hunter who shoots criminals in Los Angeles. His partner is Dee Dee McCall, who is just as quick to shoot as Hunter is. This is one of those shows that always appears to be playing on at least one retro station. I’d never actually watched a full episode until Monday morning, when I used two of them for background noise. The show looked fun in a silly 80s cop show sort of way — a lot of tough talk, car chases, and gunplay. At one point, Hunter casually tossed a man off a roof and then said, “Works for me.” That pretty much sums up the show.
Moone Boy (PBS, Sunday Night)
Martin wanted the latest game system but his father couldn’t afford it and was sure that “this whole computer thing is just a fad.” (Remember, Moone Boy takes place in the early 90s.) To raise the money himself, Martin got a job as a “golf ball hunter” at the local country club. Eventually, Martin got struck in the head by an errant golf ball and his imaginary friend, Sean, was briefly transformed into a 1920s style golf pro. Meanwhile, Martin’s father reached into the past and remembered his time as a table tennis champ to win his son’s respect. It was a sweet and funny episode, as most episodes of Moone Boy tend to be.
Open All Hours (PBS, Sunday Night)
Apparently, PBS has re-started Open All Hours, showing the very first episode this week. Arkwright looked about the same but Granville was obviously much younger this week than he was last week. That said, even at a young age, he still seemed like he had been utterly defeated by life. Poor Granville. No wonder he’s always trying to figure out a way to kill Arkwright.
Perry Mason (MeTV, Weekday Mornings)
I was back at the office on Monday and I needed a little background noise while getting my desk organized so I turned on MeTV and I watched an episode of the old, 1950s Perry Mason. This was the one with Raymond Burr as Perry. Unfortunately, because I was working and organizing while the show was on, I couldn’t pay much attention to it but I did see that Perry did manage to not only win an acquittal for his client but he also exposed the real murderer, who just happened to be sitting in the courtroom when Mason announced his name! He confessed and everything! Yay!
Rachael Ray (Channel 21, Weekday Mornings)
On Monday, I turned over to Rachael Ray for background noise while I was at work. She discussed how to make the perfect hot dog. It all looked very complicated but I will say that, if I was one to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, I would probably totally trust Rachael. She seems to know what she’s talking about.
Silk Stalkings (ZLiving, Weekday Afternoons)
This is a cop show from the 90s, an exercise in pure style that followed two beautiful cops as they arrested beautiful (and often half-naked) people for committing ugly crimes in Florida. On Monday, I watched two episodes. The first one was about killer frat boys and somewhat inevitably featured William McNamara as one of the bad guys. The second featured an investigation of murder among the rich, famous, and unclothed. It was a fun, largely because nearly everyone in it was oversexed and naked for the majority of the episode.
Tokyo Olympics (NBCSN, Saturday Afternoon)
I watched badminton and a bit of beach volleyball. I noticed that professional badminton moves a bit more quickly than what I’m used to. Still, I think if I had made the Olympic team, I could have adjusted at brought home the bronze.
Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremonies (NBC, Friday Morning and Night)
I caught the final half of Friday’s opening ceremony during the morning broadcast and the first half when NBC reshowed it later that night. I can’t help it — I love the Olympics, though I prefer the winter games to the summer games. I was really upset when they were cancelled last year so I’m glad to see them back this year. As for who I’m rooting for — my father’s side of the family is Irish, my maternal grandmother was born in Spain, and one set of great-great grandparents came to this country from Italy. And my best friend was born in Israel. So, I’m cheering for Ireland, Israel, Italy, Spain, and maybe the United States. I don’t know. The U.S. has been getting on my nerves lately.
Upstart Crow (PBS, Sunday Night)
While trying to write a new comedy called The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare struggles to come up with a big issue that could set the play apart from other plays. Christopher Marlowe, who is sleeping on Shakespeare’s couch after having faked his own death, is of no help. Things start to look up when the intense actor Wolf Hall joins the theater (“I’m a member of the Wolf Pack!” Kate exclaims) but the ever sneaky Robert Greene plots to ruin Shakespeare’s new play by tricking Wolf into making an ill-thought political statement. This was another funny episode, featuring a great turn by Ben Miller as Wolf Hall.
Through the Shattered Lens 