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

Posted on May 4, 2024 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.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 4/28/24 — 5/4/24

Posted on May 4, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This was another week where I wasn’t feeling particularly well so I spent more time sleeping than watching television. Here’s a few thoughts on what I did watch:

Abbott Elementary (Wednesday Night, ABC)

I’ve been pretty critical of the third season but I absolutely loved this week’s episode of Abbott. Yes, the whole double date thing was fun and Tyler James Williams, who can sometimes seem to be a bit one-note with his performance as Gregory, was hilarious as he grew more and more paranoid and then more and more embarrassed. That said, for me, the best part of the show was the disastrous book club. I would have joined forces with Melissa and Mr. Johnson.

Dr. Phil (YouTube)

On Tuesday morning, I watched an episode in which Phil interviewed a woman who claimed that she was the reincarnation of Pocahontas and, because she insisted on dressing like Pocahontas whenever she left the house and speaking in what she claimed was Pocahontas’s native tongue, she was having trouble holding down a job. Phil said he would get her help. Good luck with that.

I followed that up with an episode about a woman who thought images were being electronically implanted in her mind and an episode about a woman who was “married” to man who she had never met but who needed her to send him money so he could get out of Algeria. In the end, the implant woman agreed to get help and the married woman declared herself to be divorced.

New Sounds (Night Flight Plus)

The show was called New Sounds but it originally aired in 1983 so, for me, it was old sounds. Anyway, I watched an episode on Friday night and I enjoyed the music videos.

World’s Most Evil Prisoners (YouTube)

On Sunday morning, I watched an episode about James Robertson, a prisoner who was so determined to get on Death Row that he murdered his own cellmate. Agck! That was a disturbing episode. I followed this up with an episode about Edward Johnson, who used a hammer to commit the murder that got him sent to prison and then went on to use even more hammers inside the prison. Because of the seriousness of the crime, I will not mention a Beatles song that had a similar plot. Considering Johnson only killed people when he had a hammer, it seemed like there was an easy solution to getting him to quit.

Watched and Reviewed Elsewhere:

The Films of 2024: Spaceman (dir by Johan Renck)

Posted on May 4, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

At some point in an unspecified future, Czech cosmonaut Jakub Procházka (Adam Sandler) floats through space in a capsule. He’s on a mission to investigate Chopra, a cloud of dust and debris that has been spotted near Jupiter. On Earth, he’s a hero. People love to watch interviews with him from space, though few realize that the majority of his interviews were actually pre-recorded before he left the planet. Corporations are sponsoring his trip and Jakub is under order to use their marketing slogans as much as possible whenever he communicates with the people back home. Jakob is in a race to reach the cloud before a competing mission from South Korea. One can only guess what’s happened back on Earth to create a situation where the Czech Republic and South Korea are the two countries with a working space program.

Jakub is someone who grew up yearning to leave the planet and escape from the pain of being the son of a “party informer.” Now that he’s in space, he obsesses on how much he misses his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan). He and Lenka used to talk regularly through “CzechConnect” but it’s been a while since she’s answered any of his calls. Lenka was not happy when Jakub accepted the mission to Chopra, accusing him of abandoning her when she needed him most. Considering that she is pregnant (and that a previous pregnancy ended in a miscarriage), she’s absolutely right. What Jakub doesn’t know is that Lenka has decided to leave him. As her mother (Lena Olin) puts it, Jakub will always find an excuse not to return home and deal with their relationship. After he inspects Chopra, who is to say that Jakub won’t want to continue to see what is waiting beyond Jupiter? Lenka’s final message to him is being suppressed by the Czech government (represented here by Isabella Rossellini).

What is it that drives Jakub to separate himself from the rest of the world? Jakub is himself not totally sure. But when a giant space spider (voiced by Paul Dano) shows up in the capsule and explains that it wants to understand the human mind, Jakub starts to learn. The spider, who Jakub names Hanus, becomes Jakub’s companion and his confessor.

I’ve often said that there are two Adam Sandlers. There’s the Adam Sandler who makes goofy comedies with his friends and who mostly seems to view making movies as a working vacation. And then there’s the Adam Sandler who is a sad-eyed character actor who captures regret and spiritual malaise about as well any performer working today. To me, it’s always been interesting how the same actor who starred in something like Jack and Jill could also be absolutely heart-breaking when cast in something like The Meyerowtiz Stories. If the only Sandler films that you ever watched or heard about were his dramatic roles, you would probably assume that he is one of America’s most honored actors. Spaceman finds Adam Sandler in serious actor mode and he does a good job at portraying Jakub’s loneliness and the deep sadness that makes it difficult from him to open up emotionally. That said, I have to admit that, as I watched this deliberately-paced and rather somber film, there were a few times when I found myself thinking about how they should have made a sequel to Happy Gilmore where Happy became the first pro-golfer in space.

Spaceman is a film that I wanted to like more than I did. It’s a well-acted film, with Carey Mulligan again getting a chance to show the depth that she can bring to even a somewhat underwritten role. The Chopra is beautifully rendered. The Giant Spider becomes a fascinating character as the story plays out. The film does a good job of capturing the claustrophobia of being stuck in a space capsule. (Jakub may have escaped Earth but he’s still definitely trapped.) The problem is that the film’s approach is a bit too literal-minded. Instead, of engaging with viewers and letting them discover the film’s themes and solve the story’s mysteries for themselves, Spaceman spells everything out in the most obvious ways. The film, like Jakub, makes the mistake of not trusting the people watching to be able to understand what they’re seeing. 2001: A Space Odyssey was an obvious influence on the film’s final third but, whereas Kubrick took an obvious joy in leaving audiences scratching their heads, Spaceman wraps things up a bit too neatly,

In the end, I think Spaceman will be best-remembered for being the first film in which audiences will not be surprised to see Adam Sandler giving a dramatic performance. After Punch-Drunk Love, The Meyerowtiz Stories, Uncut Gems, and Hustle, we’ve reached the point where the idea of Adam Sandler being a good actor is no longer shocking. Who would have ever guessed?

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 3.20 “There’s No Business: Part One”

Posted on May 4, 2024 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 Saturdays, I will be reviewing Welcome Back Kotter, which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1979. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

Gabe finally realizes that there’s more to life than teaching!

Episode 3.20 “There’s No Business: Part One”

(Dir by Bob Claver, originally aired on January 26th, 1978)

After Vinnie attempts and fails to be a hit at the Comedy Connection’s open mic night, the Sweathogs decide that Gabe should give it a shot. According to the Sweathogs, the audience at the Comedy Connection loves it when people get on stage and tell really old jokes. Gabe admits that he’s thought about doing stand-up before. He decides to give it a shot.

And you know who is really happy about that? Mr. Woodman. Mr. Woodman can’t wait to heckle Gabe. Woodman explains that he’s a master heckler. He’s been heckling people his entire life. “Ever hear of Shecky Rubinstein?” Woodman asks. No, Gabe replies. That’s because Woodman heckled him until he quit show business.

The first night that Gabe performs, Woodman gets many opportunities to heckle. While Woodman, the Sweathogs, and Julie sit in the audience, Gabe struggles through a routine about his aunts and uncles. The audience is not amused. Woodman laughs but only at the fact that no one likes Gabe. As dispirited Gabe retreats to his dressing room, where he tells Julie that he’s going to give up on comedy.

That’s when agent Peter Charnoff (Sam Weisman) enters the room and tells Gabe that he’s funny. It doesn’t matter that Gabe bombed because “there’s some crazy old man out there heckling anyone.” Peter tells Gabe that he should talk about his students in his act.

The Sweathogs are surprisingly cool with the idea of Gabe making fun of them. The next week, Gabe again takes the stage and the audience loves his jokes, especially the ones about how Freddie always says “Hi there,” and Epstein forges his own notes. Gabe is a hit! And, with Peter’s encouragement, he announces that he’s stepping away from teaching so that he can be a stand-up comedian. The Sweathogs and Julie are stunned!

And run the end credits!

Hey, Gabe quit and apparently, he’s abandoning his wife and children. I guess the show’s over now. Thanks for reading, everyone! I wasn’t expecting things to end this abruptly but overall, I enjoyed….

Oh wait. This is a two-parter and this is just the end of part one. So, maybe the series isn’t over. We’ll find out next week, I guess!

As for this episode, it made sense that Gabe would eventually become a stand-up comedian. I’m a bit surprised it took him this long. I’m not really sure that audiences would actually go crazy over the rather anodyne jokes that Gabe told about his students but whatever. It’s television. (In Gabe Kaplan’s actual stand-up act, Arnold Horshack was named Arnold Horseshit. Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen on network television in 1978.) The highlight, as usual, was Woodman’s unhinged delight in being a jerk. Mr. Woodman is a true treasure.

We’ll see how Gabe’s new career progresses next week!

Guilty Pleasure No. 70: Face The Truth

Posted on May 4, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I am so thankful for YouTube.

Seriously, I had forgotten all about the television show, Face The Truth, until I randomly came across a clip of Vivica A. Fox yelling at a guy who she felt was being disrespectful towards “The Truth Panel.” After coming across the clip, I discovered that the Face The Truth YouTube channel still existed, despite the fact that the show hasn’t aired since 2019. I have now watched several clips, all of which reminded me of of the days when I would watch this misbegotten but oddly entertaining show while working in my office.

Produced by Dr. Phil’s production company, Face The Truth dealt with typical talk show issues. Bickering roommates would come on and talk about how messy the apartment was. Bickering parents would come on and complain about their ungrateful children. Ungrateful children would complain about their selfish parents. Ex-lovers would trash each other’s bedroom skills. Ex-business partners would accuse each other of embezzlement. At the end of each show, they would be told to stand in The Circle of Truth and the audience would vote for who they thought was right.

This show’s gimmick was that, instead of just having one host, it had five. The truth panel was made up of actress Vivica Fox and four women who regularly appeared as correspondents and consultants on Dr. Phil. Dr. Judy Ho was a psychiatrist. Rosie Mercado was a plus-sized model. Areva Martin was an attorney who specialized in family law. Scary Mary was an former judge who yelled at everyone and looked like she probably smoked a pack of cigarettes a day.

What made this show a guilty pleasure? I think what really set this talk show apart from others was just how thoroughly ineffectual the Truth Panel was. Dr. Judy occasionally had some good advice but it was obvious that the other three were mostly there to try to convince Dr. Phil to give them a solo show. The panelists talked over each other. Both Rosie and Areva gave long-winded advice that, more often that not, descended into empty psychobabble. As Scary Mary basically glared at everyone as if she personally resented their existence.

The panel rarely had anything to offer beyond the shallowest of cliches and the guests always seemed to not only pick up on this but also to get pissed off about it. It’s amazing how many of the clips on the show’s official YouTube channel features guests essentially telling the Panel to shut up while Areva and Rosie stare on in stunned silence. Just as Scary Mary hated the guests, they all hated her too. The fact that the guest’s retorts were often funnier and more memorable than Scary Mary’s insults did little to help the Truth Panel’s struggle to maintain some semblance of authority.

Who can forget the woman who stormed off set because “that older white woman doesn’t like black people!” (The older white woman was Scary Mary.) Or how about the ill-tempered guy who accused Mary of aggravating him until Mary finally turned his back on him. “You need to respect the panel,” Rosie Mercado yelled.

Or how about the moment that Scary Mary, while trying to broker peace between feuding friends, used herself as an example. “I might not like these other women but I still have to come to work!” Areva, with an awkward laugh, assured the audience that the member of the Panel all loved each other while Scary Mary dramatically rolled her eyes.

Overseeing all of this was Vivica A. Fox, who sometimes yelled and who often cried depending on the story being told and who always seemed like she deserved better than to have to deal with Scary Mary’s temper tantrums and Dr. Judy’s attempts to give earnest advise while the other panelists mugged for the camera. It was The Wrong Talk Show. But it was fascinating in a train-wreck sort of way. You watched to see which panelist would give the worst advise and which guest would be the first to tell Rosie that she didn’t know what she was talking about. It was all so openly ineffectual that Face the Truth felt like a break from talk shows that were always edited (or scripted, in many cases) to make their host look all-knowing and wise. Face the Truth was a complete mess. Indeed, it was so messy that it made me feel less guilty about my own not particular stellar track record when it comes to trying to give good advice.

As with most of the shows that he’s produced, Dr. Phil hyped the Hell out of Face the Truth until it actually premiered and tanked in the ratings. After that, Phil never mentioned the show again. Face The Truth premiered in September of 2018 and it was canceled six months later, avoiding the COVID pandemic by a year. It’s forgotten today …. or it would be if not for YouTube.

Previous Guilty Pleasures

The TSL Grindhouse: The Spook Who Sat By The Door (dir by Ivan Dixon)

Posted on May 4, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

1973’s The Spook Who Sat By The Door opens with Senator Hennington (Joseph Mascolo) in a panic.

The Senator is running for reelection and is struggling to appeal to white voters and minority voters at the same time. White voters are happy that the Senator recently gave a speech in favor of “law and order” but now, he’s polling weakly with black voters. His wife (Elaine Aiken) suggests that the Senator win back black voters by demanding that the CIA hire more black agents.

The CIA responds to the political pressure by hiring Dan Freeman (Lawrence Cook) to be their first black agent. Freeman is given the standard CIA training and taught how to start revolutions in other countries. However, after he completes his training, Freeman is assigned no real responsibilities. He is given a desk job and spends most of his day making copies. Whenever a senator or a reporter visits CIA Headquarters, Freeman is trotted out so that the CIA can claim to be diverse. Freeman understands that he’s a token. He knows that his job is to basically sit by the door and be seen. But Freeman actually has bigger plans.

After spending a few years at the CIA, Freeman resigns and heads back to Chicago to work as a social worker. Using what he learned at the agency, he starts to recruit young black men as freedom fighters. He and the Cobras (as they’re called) launch their own guerilla war against the establishment in Chicago. Some of their tactics are violent and some of them are not. Freeman understands the importance of winning both hearts and minds and he recruits Willy (David Lemieux) to serve as his lead propagandist. Because Willy is light-skinned, he is also assigned to rob a bank because Freeman knows that both the witnesses and the police will mistake him for being white and will be less likely to fire on him. (The other members of the Cobras wear whiteface during the robbery.)

Freeman hopes that he will be able to recruit his childhood friend, Dawson (J.A. Preston), to the cause. Dawson, however, now works as a detective for the Chicago PD and has been assigned to beak up the Cobras. Will Freeman be able to bring over Dawson and what will happen if Dawson resists?

Based on a novel by Sam Greenlee (who was one of the first black men to be recruited to work with the United States Information Agency and who based many of Freeman’s CIA experiences on his own), The Spook Who Sat By The Door has achieved legendary status as a film that the FBI reportedly tried to keep out of theaters. Theater owners were pressured to either not book the film or to only book it for a week before replacing it with a less incendiary film. As a result, The Spook Who Sat By The Door became a difficult film to see. As often happens, the efforts to censor the film only added to its revolutionary mystique.

Of course, in 2024, one can go on YouTube and watch the film for oneself. It’s definitely uneven film, one that has pacing issues (especially at the beginning) and also one that suffers due to its low budget. Depicting the overthrow of the government on a budget will always be a challenge. Some of the acting is a bit amateurish but Lawrence Cook broods convincingly as Freeman and he’s well-matched by J.A. Preston’s portrayal of the more down-to-Earth Dawson. At its best, there’s a raw authenticity and anger to the film that immediately captures the viewer’s attention. It’s the rare political film to actually feature conversations about actual politics and it’s a film that asks how far people would be willing to go to accomplish change. The Spook Who Sat By The Door suggests that the true villains are the members of the establishment who cynically embraced the civil rights struggle in their words but not in their actions. In the end, Dan Freeman becomes a bit of a fanatic but the film suggests that perhaps a fanatic was what the times demanded.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Friday the 13th: The Series 2.2 “The Voodoo Mambo”

Posted on May 3, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing Friday the 13th: The Series, a show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on YouTube!

This week, Micki, Ryan, and Jack get involved in voodoo!

Episode 2.2 “The Voodoo Mambo”

(Dir by Timothy Bond, originally aired on October 7th, 1988)

This episode opens with Micki and Ryan watching a street party that just happens to be taking place in front of Curious Goods. It’s a Haitian voodoo party and, judging from Micki and Ryan’s comments, it is apparently some sort of annual event that takes place wherever this show is supposed to be set.

(If Curious Goods was set in New Orleans, I could maybe buy this without giving it too much thought. But the show is filmed in Canada and, judging from the states that were specifically mentioned over the course of the first few episode, it appears that Curious Goods is meant to be located in the Northeast. How many voodoo street parties do you see in New Jersey?)

Micki and Ryan want to join the party but Jack insists that they first meet his old friend, Hedley (Joe Seneca). Hedely is a powerful voodoo priest and he has traveled to the city so that his daughter, Stacy (Rachael Crawford, who was on the first season of T & T until her character vanished), can become a priestess. Ryan is obviously attracted to Stacy but the attraction goes nowhere, which I guess is good considering that every woman who likes Ryan ends up dying in some terrible way.

Meanwhile, good-for-nothing Carl Walters (David Matheson) is in danger of losing the mansion that has been in his family’s possession ever since their days as plantation overlords. Carl finds a voodoo mask in the basement. Whenever he puts the mask on, the spirit of a voodoo priestess named Laotia (Suzanna Coy) rips out someone’s throat. Laotia wants to rip out the throats of the city’s top voodoo priests so that she can gain their powers. Carl agrees to help because part of the deal is that Carl will get what he wants as well. I’m not sure what Carl wants, though. Money, I guess. But it doesn’t matter because, of course, Laotia is really only concerned with what she wants.

This episode had some atmospheric moments, especially in the scenes featuring the big party outside of Curious Goods. There’s also some black-and-white footage of actual voodoo ceremonies that is randomly inserted throughout the episode. I assume that black-and-white footage is meant to be a flashback or something like that, though the show never really makes it all that clear. That said, this episode was a bit on the dull side. Carl and Laotia were not particularly interesting and this is the second episode this season to feature an old friend of Jack’s. (That wouldn’t be a problem, except for the fact that we’re only two episodes in.) This episode felt a bit tired, as if someone entered the production office and shouted, “I need an episode about Voodoo! You’ve got 48 hours!”

Next week, hopefully, thing will be a bit more interesting.

The Film of 2024: Lola (dir by Nicola Peltz Beckham)

Posted on May 3, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Lola (Nicola Peltz Beckham) works her days working in a convenience store and her nights dancing at a strip club. It’s not enjoyable work but she’s trying to raise money so that she can enroll her little brother, Arlo (Luke David Blumm) in a special arts school in Dallas. At present, Arlo is being homeschooled by their religious fanatic mother, Mona (Virginia Madsen). Heavy-drinking Mona throws a fit whenever she sees Arlo putting on makeup or wearing a dress but she doesn’t do a thing about the way her boyfriend (Trevor Long) leers at Lola. She’s the type who gives people doughnuts with “God” written in icing.

Lola thinks that it is a film about poor people but actually, it isn’t. Written by, directed by, and starring the daughter of billionaire Nelson Peltz, Lola is less a film about poor people and more a film about what rich people think being poor is like. As such, everyone smokes and everyone lives in either a trailer or a one-story house but the inside of those houses are perfectly lit and not the least bit cluttered. Lola may have to work two jobs and she may be hooked on cocaine but her hair and her makeup are always perfect. Lola’s homelife may not be perfect but, as all poor white girls do in movies like this, she has a super-loyal Black friend (Raven Goodwin) who doesn’t appear to have a life outside of obsessing on Lola’s problems. Lola also has a dumbass boyfriend (played by Richie Merritt, the star of White Boy Rick) who keeps her supplied with cocaine but who also gets upset when Lola says she’s not ready to lose her virginity to him.

The film follows Lola from one trauma to another. We’re supposed to sympathize with her because her life is so bad but the film itself doesn’t seem to realize that Lola is often her own worst enemy. For instance, knowing that she cannot afford to lose her job at the convenience store, she still tries to steal from the store in the most obvious way possible. When she gets caught, her boss fires her. Even when she offers to get the stolen stuff out of her locker (seriously, she put it in her locker?), her boss tells her that she’s fired. The film sets this up as if the boss is somehow being unfair but actually, he’s doing what any boss would do to an employee stealing products from his shelf. He has every right to fire her and if he didn’t, he would basically be inviting everyone else who works for him to steal from him as well. Losing the job sends Lola into a spiral of depression and desperation but again, it was her own fault so how sorry am I supposed to feel for her?

Eventually, there is a tragedy. It’s not great shock when it happens but it does lead to scene of Lola sobbing while portentous string music playing on the soundtrack. Much like everything else in the film, the music choice is so obvious and heavy-handed that it’s more like to inspire a chuckle than a tear. The right to portentous string music is something that a movie has to earn. Requiem For A Dream earned Lux Aeterna. Lola is no Requiem For A Dream.

Instead, Lola has more in common with Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut, Lost River. Both Lola and Lost River are films about poverty that try way too hard to be profound. The difference is that Lola lacks the spark of madness that made Lost River interesting, albeit incoherent. That said, I do think that Nicole Peltz Beckham does have some talent as a director. There are a few impressive shots to be found in Lola, even if Beckham doesn’t really seem to yet understand how to use them to tell a compelling story. But with some experience and a script written by someone other than herself, Nicole Peltz Beckham seems like she has the potential to be a worthwhile director.

Retro Television Review: T and T 3.7 “A Lesson In Values”

Posted on May 3, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on Tubi!

In this episode, Terri finally get to show what she can do in court.

Episode 3.7 “A Lesson In Values”

(Dir by Clay Borris, originally aired on February 17th, 1990)

While working late at the courthouse, Terri stumbles across a homeless man named Nesmith. Nesmith explains that he’s not a drug addict or a drunk or a criminal or anyone dangerous. He’s just a man who lives on the streets and travels the country, jotting down his thoughts in notebooks. Terri is charmed by Nesmith and offers to find him room at a nearby hostel. Nesmith accepts the offer but then drops dead of a heart attack.

Terri takes it upon herself to serve as executor of his estate. In his will, Nesmith asks that all of his money — several thousand dollars — be left to his friend and traveling companion, Junior Grayson. Turner tracks down Grayson, which is about all T.S. Turner does in this episode. Instead, the entire episode revolves around Terri trying to prove that Nesmith’s will is legitimate. Nesmith’s wife (Fran Gebhard) and her sleazy attorney (John Stocker) want the money for themselves, despite the fact that Nesmith left home 12 years previously and had little contact with her afterwards.

It took seven episodes but Terri finally gets to be at the center of an episode. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty predictable episode and it’s also one that presents the homeless as being not people in need of support but instead as whimsical truth-tellers who enjoy living on the streets. As played by Kristina Nicoll, Terri is not a particularly credible attorney. I mean, Amy was definitely an underused character but you never doubted that she knew what she was doing in court. Terri, on the other hand, seems to think that suggesting that the judge will be a big meany head if she doesn’t find for Grayson is an effective argument.

In the end, Grayson does get the money but, because Nesmith’s owed a bunch of back taxes (Come on, Canada, the mans dead!), Grayson will only be getting a few dollars. That’s okay, though. Grayson knows that there’s more to life than money. Grayson gives Terri all of Nesmith’s notebooks and the episode ends with Terri starting to read them while Turner and Decker box in the background. (Seriously, Turner does next to nothing in this episode and, from what we do see of him, he just seems to be annoyed in general.) Personally, I was hoping that the episode would end with Terri announcing that she was going to get the notebooks published so that everyone could know who Nesmith was.

Another strange thing about this episode is that the actors playing Nesmith and Grayson were not credited. I sat through this show a handful of times, looking for their names but they were never listed. (And they’re not listed at the imdb either.) The actor playing Grayson gave a heartfelt performance and was this episode’s redeeming factor. I wish I could credit him.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 2.8 “The Smile In The Third Row”

Posted on May 2, 2024 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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show is currently streaming on Freevee and several other services!

This week, Jonathan and Mark head to Broadway!

Episode 2.8 “The Smile In The Third Row”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on November 20th, 1985)

Fred Fusco (Lorne Greene) is a veteran actor who is appearing in a Broadway play. In the play, Fred plays a man who learns that he’s about to die. During the third act, Fred’s character actually does die and Fred ends the play with a monologue about owning the choices he made in his life before he ascends into Heaven (via a harness).

It’s a depressing play and the theater is usually half-empty whenever Fred performs. But one night, Fred claims that he spotted God sitting in the third row. Fred also says that God really enjoyed the show. When the news get out, the play becomes a huge success as audiences turn out to see a play endorsed by God. Fred becomes a huge celebrity and befriends a terminally ill boy who promises to say hi to God when he goes to Heaven. However, when Fred starts to talk about leaving his fortune to charity, both his sister (Mary Ann Gibson) and his nephew (David L. Lander) conspire to have him committed.

Fred also happens to be Jonathan and Mark’s later assignment. Mark gets a job at the theater while Jonathan puts on a collar and becomes Father Jonathan. While Mark is convinced that Fred is actually seeing God, Jonathan is skeptical because Jonathan doesn’t see God in the theater. Why, Jonathan asks, would God reveal himself to an actor but not an angel? There’s an interesting subtext here, as it quickly becomes obvious that Jonathan isn’t so much skeptical as he’s jealous. He even rather recklessly reveals to Fred that he’s an angel in his quest to convince Fred that he hasn’t actually seen God. Fred reveals that he’s willing to accept Jonathan’s word that he’s an angel but then asks why Jonathan is not willing to accept his word that he sees God in the theater.

Is God in the theater? At the end of the episode, Fred’s harness is broken but, at the end of the third act, he still ascends above the theater and then vanishes. The newspapers call it a hoax but the show suggests that, much like Elijah, he’s been assumed straight to Heaven. Is Fred meant to be a modern day Elijah? Would that therefore make his sister a modern-day Jezebel? Perhaps but, fortunately for her, she is never eaten by wild dogs.

As usual, there wasn’t much subtlety to be found in this episode of Highway to Heaven but it still worked surprisingly well. When Fred met the dying child, my first instinct was to roll my eyes at the obviousness of it all but those same eyes had tears in them by the time the scene was over. The episode benefitted greatly from Lorne Greene’s strong performance as Fred Fusco and Michael Landon’s strong portrayal of Jonathan’s mixed feelings about Fred’s claims. All in all, this was a strong episode.