Tag Archives: Retro Television Reviews

Retro Television Review: Malibu, CA 1.2 “Surf Sale”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Malibu CA, which aired in Syndication in 1998 and 1999.  The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

As my friend Mark tried to warn me, this show sucks!

Episode 1.2 “Surf Sale”

(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on October 18th, 1998)

Why am I doing this to myself?

That’s the question that I asked myself as I watched the second episode of Malibu, CA.  Why do I always decide to review the worst shows that I can find?  And when I call Malibu, CA the worst, that’s not an exaggeration.  The second episode, which I just watched, is 21 minutes of pure pain.  Producing bad television was, admittedly, Peter Engel’s trademark but not Malibu, CA goes beyond just being bad.  I mean, this is the first show that I’ve ever seen that makes One World seem brilliant by comparison.

The second episode finds Murray upset because a land developer is planning on tearing down The Surf Shack and replacing it with a luxury condo.  The Surf Shack is exactly what it sounds like.  It’s a shack that sells surfing equipment.  Murray appears to be the Surf Shack’s only employee.  Murray says that Surf Shack is his life.  The Surf Shack must be saved and Scott and Jason are going to help Murray because they think helping Murray will impress their next-door neighbor, Samantha.  Samantha is into causes and stuff.  Plus, Murray has been her friend since kindergarten.

Murray is also the son of a wealthy man so Jason and Scott suggest that Murray ask his father to buy the Surf Shack.  Murray says that he can’t because his father would then demand that Murray go to school, wear socks, and comb his hair.  With the Surf Shack doomed, Murray gets a job working as a dishwasher at Peter’s restaurant but then he nearly burns the place down after he accidentally knocks out the chef by throwing a dish in his direction.

Murray finally agrees to ask his father to buy the Surf Shack.  Murray is prepared to sell out.  But then Peter, to make his sons happy, buys the Surf Shack from Murray’s dad and then makes Murray the manager.  If Peter had the money to buy the Surf Shack, why didn’t they just go to him to begin with?

Meanwhile, Stats the Lifeguard, who desperately wants Scott to notice her, is harassed by Haji (Maulik Pancholy), a guy whose life she saved from drowning.  Haj is Indian so the whole joke here is that Haj has an accent and tends to say stuff like, “In my country, if you save someone’s life, you are destined to be together.”  However, Stats is in love with Scott and Haj isn’t willing to fight for her love because “It looks like he goes to the gym.”  Haj trips over another girl on the beach and decides that she is the one who saved his life.  I’m not sure why.

This was bad.  It’s hard to put into words how bad this episode was.  The storyline was stupid but that’s to be expected from a show produced by Peter Engel.  Instead, this episode was bad because 1) there wasn’t a single likable person in the episode (even Stats ended up being pretty rude to Haj) and 2) there did not appear to be a single person in the cast capable of reciting their dialogue without sounding like they were reading it off of a cue card.  The episode was bad because Murray’s issue with his dad seems to be that his dad expects his teenage son to actually go to school and not be a brain-dead washout.  The episode was bad because the Surf Shack itself sits on the ugliest and smallest part of the beach and it’s hard to understand why anyone would want to put a condo in that location.  (With mountains on either side, there’s really not any room for a condo.)  Finally, the episode was dumb because it had the same plot as the pilot: Developers want build something on the beach so Scott and Jason pretend to care in an effort to impress Sam.  Just as the pilot featured a disaster at Peter’s restaurant, this episode features a disaster at Peter’s restaurant.  It’s only the second episode and this show is already repeating itself.

Oh well!  At least there’s only 50 episode left….

Late Night Retro Television Review: Monsters 2.7 “Jar”

Posted on 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 Monsters, which aired in syndication from 1988 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on YouTube.

This week, Monsters brings together horror and noir!

Episode 2.7 “Jar”

(Dir by Bette Gordon, originally aired on November 1st, 1989)

Having been hired to find a missing woman, cynical private investigator Jack Bateman (Richard Edson) begins his investigation at the seedy bayou motel where the woman was last seen.  However, Mr. Hallet and Jack are not the only people at the hotel.  Ann Spiros (Gina Gershon) arrives with her loutish husband, the wealthy George (Ed Kovens).  Ann wants to get rid of her husband and she and Jack seem to share an immediate attraction to each other.  Does Mr. Hallet have something hidden away in all of his mason jars that could help Ann with that?  Of course, he does.  The show is called Monsters.  This episode is called Jar.  One doesn’t have to be a genius to figure out that something pretty extreme is about to happen in that isolated hotel and that it’s going involve something in a jar.

(Someday, remind me to write a post about all of the historical figures who had certain body parts preserved in a jar.  I don’t know why that would happen but no matter.  You can still see a few inches of Napoleon if you want to, though it might not be the part of him that you want to see.)

From the sultry saxophone on the soundtrack to the shadow visual style, this episode announces itself from the start as being an homage to film noir.  It works far better than I think anyone would have any reason to expect.  The bayou hotel is wonderfully atmospheric and steamy location.  One can literally feel the humidity that runs through this episode.  Though he was a bit young for the role, Richard Edson is a convincing hard-boiled detective.  Gina Gershon, as always, is a perfect femme fatale and seems to relish the opportunity to keep the audience guessing as to he motivations.  Ed Kovens is properly unsympathetic as the wealthy husband.  (Can you imagine how unpleasant noirs like this would be if the husbands were decent guys who just minded their own business?  It’s a good thing that they’re always louts.)  Finally, Fritz Weaver gives a nicely eccentric performance as old Mr. Hallet.  This episode is full of schemes and forbidden passions.  Fans of noir will appreciate the episode.

What’s especially surprising is just how well the supernatural and the monsters are all integrated into the noir format.  The monsters feel as if they belong in the story just as much as the hard-boiled detective and the sultry wife.  It takes a while for the monsters to do their thing but when they do, they definitely make an impression.

Monsters can be a bit of uneven show.  But Jar is definitely a triumph.

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 4.15 “The Trigamist/Jealousy/From Here To Maternity”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to 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 the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986!  The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

This week, both Doc and Captain Stubing try to get out of doing their jobs.

Episode 4.15 “The Trigamist/Jealousy/From Here To Maternity”

(Dir by Howard Morris, originally aired on January 17th, 1981)

Finally, Captain Stubing has found love!

He is totally smitten with passenger Linda Bradley (Pat Crowley) and Linda seems to like him as well.  (Why wouldn’t she?  He’s the Captain.  No one wants to date the people who are in the bottom of the boat and shoveling coal in the furnace.  The Captain is the one who has his own special table.)  Stubing is soon spending all of his time with Linda.  Vicki gets jealous.  Myself, I’m wondering who is steering the boat.

Vicki gets so jealous that Linda eventually picks up on it and breaks things off with the Captain.  The Captain is heart-broken but, when a contrite Vicki explains that Linda was just trying to protect her feelings, the Captain cheers up, Vicki agrees to accept Linda as a possible stepmother, and Linda promises to return for another cruise as soon as possible.  Will we ever see Linda again?  I doubt it.  Charo seems to be the only performer who regularly returns to the Love Boat as the same character.  We might see Pat Crowley again but she probably won’t be playing Linda.

This storyline, I could relate to.  I’m a child of divorce and I’ll just say that I was Hell on anyone who I thought was trying to be either a new father or a new mother to me.  So far, at least, the stories about the Captain and Vicki have always been handled well.  Gavin MacLeod is always at his best when he’s playing the fatherly side of Stubing.

Captain Stubing is not the only person trying to get laid on this cruise.  Doc Bricker — of course! — is eager to spend time with his latest girlfriend, Mona (Rebecca Holden), but he keeps getting summoned by the Talmadges.  Betty Talmadge (Murphy Cross) is pregnant and her husband, Arthur (Michael Young), is worried that she’s going to give birth on the cruise event though she’s not due for another 9 weeks.  “I was born on airplane!” Arthur yells at one point.  Eventually, Doc tells Arthur that he should take up jogging to deal with his nervousness.  Arthur ends up breaking his leg as a result.  That, at the very least, confines him to his cabin but Doc is now so worried about him that he still can’t find time for Mona.  Finally, as the ship docks in Los Angeles, Betty goes into labor.

Finally, Judge Joanne Atkinson (Nancy Walker) boards the ship and is surprised to see that Harrison Harper (George Gobel, who is an even less convincing womanizer than Doc Bricker) is also taking a cruise.  The judge previously sentenced Harrison to probation for being a bigamist.  The Judge and Harrison fall in love and get engaged.  Of course, Harrison is also engaged to five other women.  I’m sure it’ll all work out.

This was a weird cruise.  The main theme seemed to be that both Doc and the Captain will do anything to avoid actually doing their jobs.  Meanwhile, the Judge and Harrison’s relationship appears to be doomed from the start.  Getting arrested and being sentenced to probation has done nothing to dissuade Harrison from getting engaged to everyone he meets.  Julie looks worried as Harrison and the Judge leave the ship together and I don’t blame her!

As always, the ocean scenery was pleasant and I appreciated the sincerity of the scenes that Gavin MacLeod and Jill Whelan performed together.  Still, I was kind of happy when the boat docked this week.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Baywatch Nights 2.3 “The Rig”

Posted on 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 Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Baywatch Nights, a detective show that ran in Syndication from 1995 to 1997.  The entire show is currently streaming on You tube!

This week, Mitch and Ryan head out to an abandoned ocean oil rig.  Do they find love or do they find a glowing green slime monster?  Read on to find out!

Episode 2.3 “The Rig”

(Dir by Jon Cassar, originally aired on October 13th, 1996)

Donna is super-excited because she’s saved her first person as a lifeguard.  (Apparently, the nightclub is no longer a thing and Donna is no longer a cynical and tough-minded businesswoman.)  She tracks down Griff and she tells him about it.  Griff is impressed.  Donna wants to tell Mitch but he’s not on the beach!

Instead, Mitch and Ryan are investigating a deserted oil rig.  A few weeks ago, the crew of the oil rig died under mysterious circumstances.  The official story is that they fell victim to cabin fever or maybe a mass delusion.  But Diamont thinks that maybe something paranormal has happened and he has asked Mitch and Ryan to check it out.  Despite the fact that this is the third “paranormal” mystery that Mitch has investigated in as many episodes, he remains a skeptic.  Ryan, however, thinks that it is possible that the rig was attacked by some sort of prehistoric one-celled organism.

And it turns out that Ryan is right!  Ryan and Mitch find themselves being threatened by a green gelatinous goo that eats away at everything from metal to skin.  Joining Ryan and Mitch is Claire (Jennifer Campbell), whose boat was earlier attacked by the goo.  Claire does very little in this episode and there’s really no point to her being there, beyond the fact that the show’s producers needed someone to wear a bikini and to scream.

Featuring an absolutely ludicrous monster and a finale that involves a self-destruct mechanism slowly counting down, The Rig is actually a lot of fun.  It’s totally ludicrous and silly and everything that an episode of something like Baywatch Nights should be.  Mitch and Ryan make for an entertaining team.  Angie Harmon’s naturally sarcastic delivery contrasts nicely with David Hasselhoff’s most earnest style.  The Rig is at its best when it just follows Mitch and Ryan as they flirtatiously argue about the paranormal while walking around the abandoned rig.

And fear not!  Mitch survives his meeting with goo, jumping off the rig at the same moment that it explodes.  We get a little bit of slow motion, followed by a short of an obvious dummy crashing into the water.  When Hasselhoff jumps off the rig, the night sky is pitch black.  When he emerges from the ocean, the sun is shining.  That’s type of easily avoidable continuity error that makes Baywatch Nights so much fun!

This was a fun episode.  Next week, Mitch gets involved with a UFO!

Retro Television Review: Fantasy Island 4.24 “Paquito’s Birthday/Technical Advisor”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing the original Fantasy Island, which ran on ABC from 1977 to 1984.  Almost the entire show is currently streaming on Daily Motion.

This week, season 4 comes to an end.

Episode 4.24 “Paquito’s Birthday/Technical Advisor”

(Dir by Don Weis, originally aired on May 23rd, 1981)

This week, Tattoo is stunned to see Manuel (A Martinez) and Consuelo Lopez (Linda Cristal) get off the plane with their young son, Paquito (Anthony Trujillo).  Tattoo immediately guesses that Mr. Roarke must have given them a special deal so they could come to the Island and he snaps that Roarke is too nice.

Roarke, never one to worry about being nice when it come to Tattoo, replies that young Paquito nearly died earlier in the year and now, Manuel and Consuelo are on the verge of losing their frame.  Manual and Consuelo wanted to give Paquito a wonderful birthday party before they end up homeless.  Take that, Tattoo!

Manuel’s wealthy relative, Dona Delores (Victoria Racimo), is also on the Island and Paqutio soon starts hanging out with her, despite Manuel resenting her for having money.  Delores, who cannot have children of her own, has an idea.  Maybe she could adopt Paquito and give him the life that Manuel and Consuelo never could.  In return, she could help Manuel’s out with his money problems.

Don’t worry!  Manuel and Conseulo don’t lose Paquito and they even get to stay on Fantasy Island.  And it also turns out that Delores isn’t so bad after all.  This is Fantasy Island and nothing bad has happened on Fantasy Island since that hunter died at the end of his fantasy.  The ending is happy and the fantasy is ultimately pleasant and kind of forgettable.  In the end, what I’ll always remember is that the voice of young Paquito was obviously dubbed by an adult woman trying to sound like a child.  That was kind of weird.

Of course, it wasn’t as weird as the other fantasy.

Nancy Harvester (Randi Oakes) has spent the past few years of your life taking care of her terminally ill uncle.  After her uncle passed, he left her a fantasy in his will.  He wants Nancy to enjoy life and finally get a boyfriend.  When Roarke informs Nancy why her uncle wanted his will to be read on Fantasy Island, Nancy replies that she’s never even been with a man and there’s no way she can make her uncle’s last fantasy come true.  (Her uncle’s last fantasy was for his niece to lose her virginity?  That is definitely kind of creepy….)  Fortunately, Nancy’s childhood crush, Gene (Jim Stafford), is on the Island and Roarke summons a special friend to give Nancy advise.

Meet Helen of Troy (played by Jill St. John)!

Yes, the same Helen of Troy who inspired one of the bloodiest and most tragic wars in ancient history is the person that Mr. Roarke recruits to give advise to Nancy.  I mean, was the mermaid busy?  What about Aphrodite?  Remember how Aphrodite lives on Fantasy Island?  Couldn’t Mr. Roarke have asked them to help out?

Interestingly enough, the dialogue between Helen and Roarke indicate that they are lifelong friends, which would indicate that Mr. Roarke is several thousand years old.  Helen also makes a few comments that suggest that she and Roarke were once quite close.  Was Mr. Roarke involved in the war with Sparta?  I wonder which side he was on.

But what about Nancy?  Does Helen help out Nancy?  Yes, of course she does.  This is Fantasy Island so, of course, Nancy and Gene depart on the same plane.

All fantasies come true on Fantasy Island, which is one reason why the original show continues to be so loved. I would argue that the reason why the recent Fantasy Island reboot failed was because it complicated things by attempting to explore the lives of the people who lived and worked on the Island, as opposed to just focusing on fantasies with happy endings.  For all the time that I’ve spent speculating about what the Island actually is and how it works, it ultimately doesn’t matter.  No one cares how Fantasy Island works.  All that matters is that it does.

So ends season 4 of Fantasy Island.  It was a bit of an uneven season.  The obvious hostility between Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize made more than a few scenes a bit awkward to watch.  I miss the playfulness that defined their interactions during the earlier seasons.  But still, the Island is lovely and it’s fun to imagine what it would be like to really go there.

Next week, Roarke and Tattoo are joined by a new helper as the fifth season begins!

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 2.3 “Family Crisis”

Posted on 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 Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983.  The entire show is currently streaming on Freevee!

This week, a Partridge leads a Brady into a life of crime!

Episode 2.3 “Family Crisis”

(Dir by Phil Bondelli, originally aired on September 30th, 1978)

Tired of being confined to a police car, Officer Sindy Cahill (Brianne Leary) cannot wait to graduate from motor school so that she can become the Highway Patrol’s first female bike cop.  She’s so eager for the job that, when she’s off-duty, she rides around Los Angeles on a motor scooter and occasionally even makes an arrest.  Most of the other motorcycle cops are skeptical about Sindy …. because she’s a woman.  But Ponch is supportive of Sindy’s ambition …. because she’s a woman who he likes to look at.  Ponch spends the majority of this episode standing behind Sindy and leering.

A fancy black Trans Am has been stolen from a movie set and it is being used in a series of robberies.  The thieves have made no effort to disguise the car.  They didn’t even bother to paint over the very noticeable green racing stripe that, in theory, would make impossible for them to drive around without being spotted.  However, it doesn’t matter because the car is so fast and it can do so many fun movie tricks (like covering the street in smoke and oil) that no one can stop it.  Sindy has come up with a plan to catch the thieves but Getraer doesn’t want to hear it and we all know why.  In fact, when Sindy crashes her car while chasing the thieves, Getraer tells her that she needs to get checked out by the doctors before she goes back on duty.  “If I was a man, you’d let me right back out on the street!” Sindy snaps.  Sindy knows that Getraer is treating her differently …. because she’s a woman!

Fortunately, Getraer’s boss somehow finds a copy of Sindy’s plan and he decides that it’s brilliant.  With both the LAPD and the Highway Patrol working together, they manage to ambush and corner the Trans Am on the Los Angeles docks.  The two thieves push the wrong button in the car and they end up getting ejected from their seats and landing in the ocean.  Baker and Ponch share a laugh while the two men probably drown.

The two nameless thieves are not the only ones stealing cars.  Fred (Danny Bonaduce), a high school senior, is also stealing cars and — oh no! — he’s convinced his friend Wes (Christopher Knight) to go joyriding with him.  What Fred didn’t count on was Wes being the nephew of Officer Jon Baker.  Baker isn’t going to let anyone corrupt his nephew.  When Ponch and Baker eventually catch Fred and Wes and their girlfriends in a stolen car, they put the handcuffs on everyone, even though only Fred is going to be charged with a felony.  Baker tells Wes that he put the handcuffs on him to show him where his life is heading.  Wes thanks his Uncle Jon and hopefully, he’s learned an important lesson about why the Bradys didn’t hang out with the Partridges.

Finally, Ponch has finally moved out of his RV and into a swinging new apartment!  He’s got a view of the pool, so he’s happy.  Good for him.

This episode …. actually, this episode wasn’t that bad.  I liked Sindy because, if i was waiting to find out if I was going to be a motorcycle cop, I would probably ride around on a motor scooter too.  And having Danny Bonaduce leading Christopher Knight astray appealed to me as a student of pop culture.  There were some nice chase scenes.  The Trans Am was cool.  The California scenery was lovely.  It was a fun episode.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 2.13 “Definitely Miami”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Mondays, I will be reviewing Miami Vice, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show can be purchased on Prime!

Things get weird this week.

Episode 2.13 “Definitely Miami”

(Dir by Rob Cohen, originally aired on January 10th, 1986)

This week’s episode of Miami Vice is all about heat.

Seriously, it literally starts with a shot of a solar flares erupting off the surface of the sun.  The camera then pulls away, letting us see what the sun looks like a cloudless blue sky.  Finally, we find ourselves in Miami, where the sky is clear and a heat wave is raging.  The camera focuses on the beads of sweat forming on skin.  Every pastel shirt is stained with sweat and everyone is wearing sunglasses.  When a drug dealer drives out to a quarry to meet connection, the heat seems to radiate out of the screen.  When he’s shot and killed by Charlie Basset (Ted Nugent — yes, the musician and gun enthusiast), the dust that rises up looks like smoke rising from a burning planet.

Sonny and Rico are working undercover as Burnett and Cooper, hanging out at a hotel pool and complaining about the heat.  Their target is Sergio Clemente (Roger Pretto) but Sonny is actually more interested in Callie (Arielle Dombasle), a beautiful blonde who he spots laying by the pool.  Callie sees Sonny watching her and brings him a drink.  Sonny introduces himself as Sonny Burnett.

Clemente is willing to turn himself in but only if he can see his sister, Maria (Kamala Lopez), and know that she’s still alive.  Maria testified against her brother at a trial and is currently in the witness protecting program.  Joe Dalva (Albert Hall), an arrogant Department of Justice official, is willing to bring Maria to Clemente, despite the fact that Maria indicates that Clemente used to sexually abuse her.  Castillo thinks that it’s a terrible idea and tries to use a decoy.  In the end, the government orders Castillo to do what Dalva wants.  Castillo stands in a corner and stares down at the ground, which viewers of the show know is something Castillo does whenever he knows just how badly things are going to turn out.  When the meeting finally happens, Tubbs, Castillo, and Davla can only watch as Maria pulls a knife and stabs her brother to death.

Sonny is not there to see Clemente die.  Callie has told him that her husband is physically abusive and she wants Sonny — as Burnett — to meet him in a quarry, make a drug deal with him, and then kill him.  Sonny suspects that he’s being set up and he’s right.  Callie’s husband is Charlie and he only hits her when she tells him to.  Callie seduces drug dealers and then Charlie kills them.  Sonny, however, is smart enough to bring Zito with him to the quarry.  During a shoot out, Charlie ends up dead.  While the police dig up the quarry and find body after body, Sonny goes to the beach so that he can arrest Callie.  When Sonny approaches Callie, she’s making a sand castle that looks exactly like the quarry.  At first, Callie thinks that Sonny is Charlie but then she forces herself to smile when she sees that Charlie is dead.  She assumes Sonny will be her new partner.  Instead, Sonny calls in a police helicopter and Callie is taken into custody by two cops.  Callie flirts with one of the cops while she’s being led to the helicopter.

And the sun continues to burn in the sky….

This was an odd episode, one that put far more emphasis on vivid and sometimes surreal imagery than it did on telling a coherent story.  That’s not a complaint, of course.  This episode had a dream-like intensity to it that I really appreciated.  It was weird but entertaining, with the grinning Ted Nugent popping up like a gleefully evil goblin.  Sonny is targeted because Callie thinks that he’s a drug dealer when he’s actually a cop.  The idea of Sonny being able to maintain his undercover identity despite having personally arrested or killed a countless number of Miami drug dealers has always been one of the stranger elements of Miami Vice.  This episode, though, it makes a strange sense that Sonny could be mistaken for a drug dealer despite always acting like a cop.  That’s definitely Miami.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi Junior High 3.3 “A Big Girl Now”

Posted on 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 Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi Junior High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1987 to 1989!  The series can be streamed on YouTube!

This week, Lucy learns that she has the worst friends in the world.

Episode 3.3 “A Big Girl Now”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on December 5th, 1988)

Lucy is totally in love with Paul, her older boyfriend from the high school.  At first, all of her friends are excited for her but then Lucy stops spending time with them and they start to get jealous.  When Lucy misses L.D.’s big soccer game because she already has plans with Paul, Lucy promises to make it up to L.D. and everyone else by letting them have a party at her house.

But then Paul and his high school friends discover that Lucy’s parents are out of town and they decide that they should throw a party of their own.  And when they announce that they don’t want any “niners” other than Lucy at the party, Lucy agrees to lie to her friends.  She tells them that the party’s been cancelled because of a family crisis.

Needless to say, both L.D. and the Farrell twins discover that Lucy lied to them.  (It doesn’t help that Paul and his friends chant, “Party!  Party!” when they pull up in front of Degrassi.)  Lucy loses their friendship and, because she doesn’t want to have sex and risk getting pregnant like Spike did, Lucy also loses her boyfriend.  What she does get is a “reputation” because everyone assumes she had sex with Paul even though she didn’t.

Poor Lucy!  Listen, Lucy should not have lied about the party.  And Paul really was a jerk.  But her friends need to cut Lucy some slack.  Lucy’s parents are never home, she’s still dealing with the trauma of being groomed by that creepy substitute last season, and she’s not even allowed to shoplift anymore.  So, Lucy made some mistakes.  Everyone makes mistakes!

Why can’t Lucy’s friends be as forgiving as Wheels?  During this episode, Snake finally approaches Wheels and apologizes for not talking to him since the funeral for Wheels’s parents.  Snake admits that he didn’t know what to say and Wheels admits that he’s struggling with depression.  Wheels explains that he no longer wants to go to school and he certainly doesn’t want to be a part of the Zit Remedy.  Still, Wheels is clearly touched by Snake’s apology.  Both Neil Hope and Stefan Brogren did a good job of portraying the combination of awkwardness and sincerity that lies at the heart of their friendship.

.Finally, the results of the student election are announced.  To the surprise of no one, Nancy Kramer defeats Kathleen for student council president.  Kathleen becomes Vice President.  Melanie begs Kathleen to nominate her for the dance committee.  Kathleen, however, tells Nancy that only niners (and Melanie is not a niner) should be allowed to serve on a committee.  Melanie overhears and proceeds to pour a carton of milk in Kathleen’s hair.  Poor Kathleen!  Seriously, ladies, be more like Snake and Wheels and support each other!

This episode felt like it was setting up a lot of future storylines.  Will Lucy get her friends back?  Will Wheels ever regain his love of life?  Will Kathleen be able to get all the milk out of her hair?  We’ll find out next week!

Retro Television Review: Playmates (dir by Theodore J. Flicker)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sundays, I will be reviewing the made-for-television movies that used to be a primetime mainstay.  Today’s film is 1972’s Playmates!  It  can be viewed on YouTube.

Playmates tells the story of two divorces.

Marshall Barnett (Alan Alda) is an attorney.  He went to Yale and Harvard.  He has a successful career.  He has rich and educated friends.  He has a nice bachelor pad.  He also pays hundreds of dollars in alimony.  He and Lois (Barbara Feldon) got divorced 3 years ago and Marshall is still bitter.  He’s bitter that he has to pay her so much money.  He’s bitter that he only gets to see his son on the weekends.  He’s bitter that he can’t seem to start a new, meaningful relationship with anyone.  He’s bitter that his wife still asks him to critique her modernist paintings.

Kermit Holvey (Doug McClure) is a blue collar welder.  He has only been divorced for a few months and his relationship with ex-wife Patti (Connie Stevens) is nowhere near as contentious as Marshall’s relationship with Lois.  Still, Kermit is struggling to adjust to being single and to only seeing his son on the weekends.

Marshall and Kermit meet one weekend while they are both taking their sons to the Kiddieland Amusement Park.  Marshall is so overjoyed to meet someone else who is dealing with divorce that he comes on a bit strong in trying to get to know Kermit.  Kermit, however, does eventually get over his initial weariness and soon, he and Marshall are best friends.  It doesn’t matter that Marshall has a tendency to be a little bit condescending and that Kermit often can’t follow what Marshall is talking about.  They spend most of their time talking about their ex-wives.

But then Kermit meets Lois and he discovers that her paintings really aren’t as bad as Marshall made them out to be.  And Marshall meets Patti and he discovers that she’s not as dumb as Kermit made her out to be.  Soon, Kermit is secretly dating Lois and Marshall is secretly dating Patti and anyone who has ever watched a comedy before knows that there is a big mess waiting in the future.

Playmates was one of those films that pretended to be a lot naughtier than it actually was.  For all the winking and the occasional sly smiles, all that happens is that Kermit and Marshall both end up going out with women with whom they really don’t have much in common.  And while it’s tempting to read a lot into how quickly Kermit and Marshall become friends and how they both end up dating the other’s female equivalent, I think that might be giving this film too much credit.  (If it were made today, things might be different.)  In the end, the film really has more to say about class than it does marriage, as both Marshall and Lois obviously view spending time with Kermit and Patti as being a way of slumming and building up some working class bona fides without actually having to be working class.  Patti, to her credit, calls Marshall out on this.  Marshall admits that she has a point but he still come across as if he’s talking down to her, largely because he’s played by Alan Alda, an actor who is a master at being somehow both likable and condescending at the same time.

Playmates is a well-acted film and there are some funny lines.  The four main characters are all ultimately likable, even if they all have their moments where you can tell why they would be difficult to live with.  It deserves some credit for following its story through to its natural conclusion, with one couple realizing that they still love each other while the other realize that they are better off divorced.  The film may not be as radical as it pretends to be but it still doesn’t cop out on the ending.  In the end, Playmates is probably best watched as a time capsule.  It’s here if you ever want to experience 1972 firsthand.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out 2.5 “The Mis-Matcher”

Posted on 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 Saturdays, I will be reviewing the Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

I’m currently in the middle of a thunderstorm and in desperate need of sleep so this is going to be a short review.  It’s okay because there’s not really much to be said about this week’s episode….

Episode 2.5 “The Mis-Matchmaker”

(Dir by Stan Jacobson, originally aired on October 31st, 1986)

This is the most pointless episode of Check it Out yet and that’s saying something!

Howard is looking after his niece, Denise (Lesleh Donaldson).  Denise is young and she’s just broken up with her boyfriend and Howard is worried that she’ll hook up with a bad guy just because she doesn’t know any better.  That’s why Howard shoos away even Murray when he tries to talk to her.  (Never mind, of course, that Murray is usually portrayed as being so shy and awkward that he can’t even bring himself to look into a woman’s eyes.)  It’s also why Howard asks Leslie to take Denise on a date.  Even after Leslie explains that he’s gay, Howard insists that Leslie ask out Denise.  Leslie finally agrees.  I’m not sure why because, again, Leslie is both very out and very proud of who he is.  In the end, it would appear that Leslie only asked Denise out because his boss ordered him to.  Leslie should sue or at least demand a raise.

Anyway, Denise falls in love with Leslie and is heart-broken when Leslie informs her that he’s gay.  (Wow, I interject sarcastically, who could have seen this coming?)  Denise runs away.  Howard calls the cops but is told that he can’t involve the police just because he hasn’t seen someone in 30 minutes.  Then Denise shows up with a blue-haired guy who she met and married while she was out.

That’s the episode.

Seriously, that’s it.

This episode didn’t add up to much.  Howard had never before mentioned having a niece or even another sibling before and Denise, despite being played by the talented Lesleh Donaldson, was not given any chance to really show any spark of personality.  We really didn’t know how Howard felt about Denise or any other member of his family and vice versa.  As such, it was hard to gauge how Howard felt when Denise was missing.  Was he worried about her?  Was he worried about his sister?  Or was he just hoping to avoid any more excess drama.  We have no way of knowing.

This was a flat episode, one that suffered from the show’s lack of consistency.  A lot of the humor came from how people reacted to Denise vanishing but none of the characters have ever felt like three-dimensional human beings and their reactions felt strained and melodramatic.

Anyway, it’s raining and thundering outside so I’m going to keep this review short.  There’s just not much to say about this episode.  It’s just forgettable.