Tag Archives: review

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 4.3 “To Your Health”

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 Prime!

This week, Ponch solves all the world’s problems.  Thank God!

Episode 4.3 “To Your Health”

(Dir by Barry Crane, originally aired on October 5th, 1980)

A farmer (Paul Gale) just wants to deliver his crops to various health food stores across Los Angeles but someone keeps sabotaging his truck.  Ponch wants to get laid so he pretends to like health food so he can get closer to the women who lives with the farmer.  Meanwhile, a kid keeps causing accidents whenever he goes windskating.  The kid’s father isn’t paying enough attention to him so Ponch gives both of them a stern talking to.  Ponch also helps the farmer make his deliveries and he saves the life of two women after a massive highway pileup.  Baker just stands around looking grim.

It’s the Ponch Show!

This episode was a bit of a mess but it was CHiPs in its most distilled form.  What little story there was only existed as an excuse for multiple car crashes.  Every time the kid went windskating, he caused an accident.  THREE MASSIVE, MULTI-CAR ACCIDENTS, all caused by this kid.  I’m talking accidents that involve cars flying through the air in slow motion.  This kid is going to get people killed!  And yet, he never really gets in trouble for it.  He gets scolded.  He gets dragged down to the police station.  But he’s always set free and apparently, he and his father somehow manage to get through episode without getting sued.

Meanwhile, that farmer wrecked his truck three times!  You would think that the farmer would get a new truck after a while.  And again, every accident seemed to lead to a car flying in slow motion through the air.  Amazingly, no one was ever seriously injured.

Baker was concerned about both the farmer and the windskating kid but, in the end, it was Ponch who solved all the problems.  In the past, Baker was always the one who gave the kids a good talking to.  But now, it’s Ponch who has all the wisdom.  Sorry, Baker.  You’ve been replaced by the blinding smile of Erik Estrada.

Really, what can we say about this episode?  Thank God for Ponch, right?  Los Angeles would be doomed without him.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 4.10 “A Rock and a Hard Place”

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!

Sonny goes to Hollywood.

Episode 4.10 “A Rock and a Hard Place”

(Dir by Colin Bucksey, originally aired on January 22nd, 1988)

I guess I am going to have to accept that Miami Vice is no longer a show about two vice cops fighting a losing war against drug traffickers.  Instead, it’s now a show about an undercover cop who is married to a world famous rock star, even though it makes absolutely no sense.

In this episode, a tabloid reporter goes to Miami to do some research on this Sonny “Burnett.”  He hears a lot of stories about how Sonny Burnett is one of the city’s biggest drug dealers and he writes a story about it.  Sonny is upset, though one would think this would actually help him maintain his cover story.  Myself, I have to wonder how competent this reporter was.  Sonny Crockett has been established as having been a semi-famous college football star (Tubbs recognized him as soon as he met him) but no one ever seems to notice that Sonny Cockett and Sonny Burnett look, sound, and act exactly alike.  Considering the number of times that Crockett’s cover has gotten blown and that everyone who has ever done business with Sonny Burnett has ended up either getting arrested and gunned down by the police, you would think there would at least be some speculation about this guy being a cop.

(On a plus note, Don Henley’s Dirty Laundry played in the background while the reporter doing his thing.  That’s a song you can’t help but chair dance to.)

The majority of this episode dealt with a corrupt record executive (Tony Hendra) who was looking to get out of paying Sonny’s wife, Caitlin, the money that she was owed for her new album.  His solution was to have her assassinated and to make it look like she got caught in the crossfire of one of her husband’s drug deals.  Needless to say, it didn’t work.  Sonny gunned down the two assassins and then arrested the record executive.  “You’re a cop!?” the bad guy said, stunned.

And again, I have to wonder how this is not going to blow Sonny’s cover.  Is the press really not going to ask why Caitlin’s criminal husband just arrested the guy releasing her latest album?

This episode had all sorts of plot holes and it asked the audience to suspend their disbelief just a bit too far.  But at least it didn’t features Crockett and Tubbs searching for a stolen shipment of bull semen.  That’ll be next week’s episode!

(Seriously, I’m not kidding….)

I miss the old Miami Vice.  Seriously, the city’s drug business is probably booming because Crockett and Tubbs are wasting their time with all of this season 4 nonsense.

Song of the Day: Everybody’s Talkin’, performed by Harry Dean Stanton, Johnny Depp, and Kris Kristofferson

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This was filmed in 2016.  Not only do we have Harry Dean Stanton, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Depp but David Lynch puts in an appearance early on in the video as well.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 2.10 “Showtime Part One”

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 High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1989 to 1991!  The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi

This week, tragedy comes to Degrassi.

Episode 2.10 “Showtime, Part One”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on January 21st, 1991)

When last we saw Claude Tanner, Caitlin was dumping him because he left her behind when the police showed up at the nuclear facility that they were vandalizing.  Claude then refused to go to court to support her, saying that his parents wouldn’t understand.  That was during the first season.

Other than appearing in the opening credits, Claude was not in the first nine episodes of the second season of Degrassi High.  When he did return in tonight’s episode, he made Degrassi history.

When we first see Claude, he’s wearing what appears to be a pirate shirt and he’s looking over a piece of paper.  His beard is a bit thicker.  His earing is a lot bigger.  When he sees Caitlin, he tries to talk to her.  Caitlin tells him to get lost and then asks Maya why Claude just can’t leave her alone.

Claude is auditioning for the school talent show.  He reads a monologue that he’s written, one about an ice queen who makes the entire world dark.  Lucy and Bronco tell him that his monologue is too depressing for the show.  Claude accuses all of the students of being sheep and storms out of the auditorium.

The next day, Claude gives Caitlin a flower, goes to his locker and retrieves a gun, and then shoots himself in the washroom.  His body is later discovered by Snake.

Over the course of Degrassi’s long history, many students would die.  Tragically, Claude would not be the only one to commit suicide.  One was shot while trying to shoot up the school.  The class clown was stabbed to death by a student from a rival high school.  Another died in a car accident.  However, Claude was the first.

And I have to say that I was really impressed with how Degrassi High handled Claude’s suicide.  Snake was traumatized.  Caitlin was left feeling numb.  Some students talked about how much Claude was hurting and also about their own struggles with depression.  Lucy and Spike both said that Claude’s actions were selfish and that he killed himself at school because he wanted to hurt all of the other students.  When it comes to Claude, I have to admit that I find myself agreeing with Lucy and Spike.  When Caitlin returns home from school, she finds a bouquet of flowers and a note from Claude waiting for her.  In the note, Claude says that he loved her and the words are obviously meant to make her feel responsible for his death.  The episodes ends with Caitlin throwing the flowers away.  Claude would probably say that proves that Caitlin doesn’t care about him.  I think it proves that Claude was a jerk who killed himself specifically to get back at Caitlin.

That doesn’t make Claude’s suicide any less tragic.  Any suicide is a tragedy, especially when the person in question hasn’t even reached adulthood.  As one of Claude’s friends says in this episode, Claude was sad and he didn’t feel he had anyone he could talk to.  That is a tragedy and sadly, even though this episode aired over 30 years ago, there’s a lot of people who still feel that way.  We live in a world where more and more people view life as being not a gift but instead a burden.  It’s sad.  Myself, I’m a strong believer in life and finding things to love.  I love my boyfriend.  I love my sisters.  I love writing.  I love movies.  I love cats.  I love knowing that, even when I’m at my lowest, happiness is in the future.  Most importantly, I love myself.  Never give up.

This episode was sensitive and thought-provoking and Degrassi as its best.  Next week, the fallout from Claude’s suicide continues.

Song of the Day: Raiders March by John Williams

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Since today is the birthday of Harrison Ford, it seems only appropriate that today’s song of the day should come from John Williams’s score of one of Ford’s best films, Raiders of the Lost Ark!

Here is Raiders March, composed by John Williams.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.17 “The Old and the Dead”

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 Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC!  It  can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, Bolander and Howard return to Homicide.

Episode 3.16 “The Old and the Dead”

(Dir by Michael Fields, originally aired on March 3rd, 1995)

When Giardello discovers that Colonel Granger (Walt MacPherson) has been hiring his brother-in-law’s shady plumbing firm to do unnecessary repairs at the city’s police stations, he leaks the story to the press.  When the scandal forces Granger out, Captain Barnfather is promoted to replace him.  Giardello thinks that, with his years of experience, he’ll be the obvious replacement for Barnfather.  Instead, the captain position is offered to Russert.  As Barnfather explains it, the mayor is aware that the majority of the voters in Baltimore are women.  When Giardello mentions that even more of the voters are black, Barnfather explains that the mayor’s leadership team already has a black man, him.

Giradello is not happy and he doesn’t hold back from letting Russert know about his displeasure.  I have to say that I respected Giardello for not holding back.  Russert has less experience than Giardello and, from what we’ve seen of her, she doesn’t appear to be as good at her job as Giardello is.  I mean, let’s be honest.  Russert had an affair with Beau Felton, of all people!  It’s a little bit hard to respect her judgment.

While Giardello was once again failing in his efforts to move up, both Howard and Bolander returned to duty.  Howard, on light duty, still manages to solve a case.  Bolander, meanwhile, is now wearing a hat to cover up the surgery scars that crisscross his head.  Ned Beatty, as usual, gave a good performance as Bolander.  I like Ned Beatty.  For some reason, I’ve never really liked Stanley Bolander.  I think it might be because he’s always complaining about something.  Maybe it’s because I’m still annoyed by the amount of unnecessary time that the first season spent on Bolander’s love life.  Or maybe it’s because Munch is devoted to the guy and Bolander still treats him like crap every chance that he gets.  For whatever reason, Bolander has always just kind of annoyed me.  That was the case with this episode.  I’m not saying I felt good about it.  Bolander was shot in the head and nearly died!  He has every right to be grumpy.  But there is just a part of me that is like, “If you hate your job so much, just retire.  Otherwise, stop bitching about everything!”

Finally, Bayliss and Felton worked surprisingly well together as they investigated a skeleton found in someone’s backyard.  It turned out that two men has never reported the death of their father so that they could continue to collect his social security checks.

As much as I complain about Bolander, this was not a bad episode.  This was a good example of an episode where the mysteries and plotlines were less important than just watching everyone in the cast play off of each other.  As of this season, the ensemble has really come together as a tight unit and each character has really come to life as an individual.  That’s one reason why I enjoyed watching Bayliss and Felton work together.  It was interesting to see how they interreacted and to compare it to how Bayliss worked with Pembleton and Felton with Howard.

Finally, this episode featured a cute cameo from the late Tim Russert, who is introduced as being Megan’s cousin.  Felton says that he never misses Meet the Press.  For some reason, I doubt that.

Brad reviews REGARDING HENRY (1991), starring Harrison Ford!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

I noticed that today is Harrison Ford’s 83rd birthday. Like most people born in the early 1970’s, I’m a big fan of Harrison Ford. My formative years included the Star Wars movies, the Indiana Jones movies, and many other great films like BLADE RUNNER (1982) and WITNESS (1984). He would go on to make more classics like THE FUGITIVE (1993) and AIR FORCE ONE (1997) as I got older and moved into adulthood, but one of my personal favorite films starring Harrison Ford is REGARDING HENRY (1991).

In REGARDING HENRY, Harrison Ford stars as Henry Turner, a ruthless bastard, who also happens to be a hugely successful and cutthroat attorney in New York City. This horrific approach to being a human being does seem to provide plenty of money for his wife Sarah (Annette Bening) and his daughter Rachel (Mikki Allen), but you don’t get the feeling there’s that much actual love being shared between the three. Then one night, after another successful day of sticking it to the masses, Henry’s world is turned upside down when he’s shot in the head at the corner convenience store by a guy sticking up the place (John Leguizamo). The bullet to the brain doesn’t kill Henry, but it does leave him with severe brain damage and extremely impaired motor skills. This turns out to be a nice turn of events for Henry, and his family, for several reasons. First, he meets Bradley (Bill Nunn), his physical therapist and all around nice guy, who really helps him get headed back in the right direction in health, and in life, again. Second, he begins to reconnect with his wife who likes this more thoughtful, caring and affectionate version of Henry that seems to be emerging. Finally, he starts to show his daughter some much needed love and attention, rather than just wanting to ship her off to boarding school as quickly as possible. Wouldn’t you know it though, just when things are going so perfect, the sweet, innocent Henry stumbles up some very uncomfortable truths about his former life. Will these revelations upend his new life, or will he be able to move forward with a fresh start and a household filled with love?!!

There are two main reasons that I love REGARDING HENRY. The first reason is undoubtedly the feel-good story at the heart of the film. This is J.J. Abrams second writing credit and his screenplay takes Henry from being an arrogant, selfish jerk who is only interested in his own glorification, to a sweet-natured man of integrity who elevates his wife and his daughter to the prominent positions they rightfully deserve. Is this transformation grounded in reality… no, but I love movies because I want to escape reality and live vicariously through the heroes on the screen. Henry may not be a hero in the same way as Superman, Charles Bronson, or Chow Yun-Fat, but he is someone that I can relate to. I want to be a better dad. I want to be a better husband. I want to be a man of principle and integrity in the workplace. I may not always be perfect, but watching Henry navigate his life and correct past wrongs is very satisfying and uplifting to see. I love the look in the eyes of his wife and daughter as they are so proud of him. I want my family to look at me in that same way. This movie just makes me feel good. When I want realism, I’ll go visit a shrink and watch documentaries about men and women dealing with traumatic brain injuries. 

The second reason I love REGARDING HENRY stems from the performances of several of the cast members. Harrison Ford is so good in the title role. His transformation from a cold hearted lawyer to a simple-minded family man is one of those things that could be really bad with the wrong actor, but I’ll gladly follow Ford through the process. He’s believable on both sides, and he has to be for the movie to work. Annette Bening is also great as his wife, Sarah. Her transformation isn’t a physical transformation, but an emotional transformation, and she’s just as convincing. The love she conveys toward Henry as he embraces his new life, followed by the way she plays the scenes when Henry uncovers some of the painful truths of their former life, are actually some of the strongest moments in the film. Finally, I want to give an extra shoutout to Bill Nunn as Bradley, possibly the greatest physical therapist on earth. If dictionaries had pictures, the word “likable” should have a picture of Bill Nunn from REGARDING HENRY. Nunn was a fine character actor, with many credits to his name, but I will never see him in a role that doesn’t take me back to his performance in this film. 

Overall, I highly recommend REGARDING HENRY to any person who enjoys a well-made and well-acted feel good story. It’s not the most realistic film in the world, but it’s one that I truly love. 

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 3.22 “For The Book”

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 and Peacock!

We all knew this day would come.  It’s time for the final episode of Check It Out!

Episode 3.22 “For The Book”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on February 14th, 1988)

Cobbs is celebrating its 50th anniversary and its putting together a commemorative book of memories.  Howard calls the staff into his office and asks them what they think should be included in the book.

“Remember that time….” Christian starts and yes, it’s a clip show.

The final episode of Check It Out! is indeed a clip show.  Really, it’s not a terrible way for the show to go out.  For 30 minutes, the show relives what the writers believed were the best moments of season 3.  (There were a few clips from seasons one and two but, for the most part, this episode was dominated by recent clips.)  Some of the clips — like Howard doing a vaudeville routine — went on for way too long.  Some, like Marlene filling in as Howard’s secretary, did not go on long enough.  It was a typical clip show.

And so ends Check It Out!  What can I say about this show?  The first season was okay.  The second season was a trainwreck.  The third season was uneven but, overall, surprisingly good.  The show was built around Don Adams but it was the supporting characters — Aaron Schwartz, Jeff Pustil, Kathleen Laskey, Gordon Clapp — who got most of the laughs.  Looking back, I really can’t think of any episodes of Check It Out! that really stand-out in my mind.  The show was the epitome of pleasant but unmemorable entertainment.

Next week, we’ll have a new show here.  For now, let’s end things with the Check It Out! theme song.