Tag Archives: review

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 5.9 “Choices”

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

This week, Jonathan and Mark get into the detective business.

Episode 5.9 “Choices”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on June 30th, 1989)

Working as private investigators, Mark and Jonathan are approached by a Vietnamese couple who are looking for the two sons that they gave up for adoption many years ago.  They gave the boys up so that they could escape Vietnam and live in America, safe from communism.  Now, the father (Dr. Haing S. Ngor) wants to bring his sons back to Singapore, despite the fact that both of them have been adopted by good people and the oldest has been accepted to a prestigious college.

This was an above average episode of Highway to Heaven.  It was undoubtedly heavy-handed and there were more than a few minutes where the dialogue was a bit too spot-on for its own good.  But ultimately, the episode was so earnest and heartfelt that the viewer couldn’t help but forgive the show’s flaws.  This particular episode was very well-acted, especially by Dr. Haing S. Ngor.  A Cambodian who lost most of his family after the Khmer Rogue came to power and attempted to return the country to “Year Zero” by killing off anyone who was considered to be too educated or cosmopolitan, Dr. Ngor survived by disguising the fact that he was an educated doctor.  After the fall of the Khmer Rogue, Ngor made his way to Thailand and eventually to America.  He won an Oscar for playing a character who suffered much as he suffered in The Killing Fields (a film about communist atrocities that has the gall to unironically include John Lennon’s Imagine on the soundtrack).  In this episode, Ngor gives a strong performance as a stubborn man who struggles with the fact that his sons have grown up in his absence.  Tragically, seven years after this episode aired, Dr. Ngor was murdered in his driveway.  Though a group of gang members were arrested and convicted of his murder, it’s always been known that his murder was ordered by Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rogue.

The final season of Highway to Heaven has been uneven but this was a good episode.

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.22 “Reasonable Doubts”

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 Decoy, which aired in Syndication in 1957 and 1958.  The show can be viewed on Tubi!

This week, Casey deals with two brothers who may or may not be guilty of a crime.

Episode 1.22 “Reasonable Doubts”

(Dir by Teddy Sills, originally aired on March 10th, 1958)

An office is robbed and the manager is shot.  As Casey Jones tells us in her narration, the difference between this robbery and countless others is that someone got a good look at the robber.  Lawrence Osler (Joe Warren) is arrested for the crime.  However, Lawrence’s sister, Julia (Anna Minot), is convinced that Lawrence is innocent and she thinks that Lawrence’s younger brother, John (Thomas A. Carlin), can prove it.  Casey agrees to go undercover as a friend of Julia’s who has agreed to pay Lawrence’s bail.  Her assignment is to get John to talk.  Julia thinks that Casey is going to exonerate both the brothers but, in reality, Casey is trying to put John in jail with Lawrence.

“It wasn’t very nice,” Casey ruefully tells us.  But, Casey goes on to note, neither is robbing an office and putting a man in the hospital.

Casey discovers that Lawrence is innocent.  It was John and his shady buddy Oscar (Edward Walsh) who robbed the place.  John was willing to let Lawrence take the fall because he thought Lawrence would be acquitted in court.  But now, Oscar is trying to frame Lawrence.  Will John take responsibility for his own actions?

This episode probably sounds more interesting than it is.  With only a 30 minute running time, there’s not much room to generate any sort of suspense as to which brother is guilty.  Lawrence is obviously innocent from the start and John is obviously guilty.  It doesn’t take Casey long to figure this out but she can’t really do anything about it until Oscar shows up unexpectedly and casually reveals that truth about what happened.  This is one of those episodes where the viewer feels like Casey just got lucky.  As well, most of the action too place indoors so there weren’t any of the 1950s New York location shots that so often added life to this series.

That said, Beverly Garland was great as always.  Her regret over manipulating Julia added an extra dimension to the story.  As Casey said, “It wasn’t nice.”  In the end, Julia saves one brother but loses another.

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

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 1st and Ten, which aired in syndication from 1984 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on Tubi.

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

Episode 3.5 “Illegal Use Of Love”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For now!

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

If anyone knows about illegal….

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

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

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 7.10 “Julie and the Bachelor/Set-up for Romance/Intensive Care”

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!

Love, exciting and new.  Come aboard, they’re expecting you …. welcome aboard, it’s looooooooove!  Yes, it’s time to take another cruise on the Pacific Princess.

Episode 7.10 “Julie and the Bachelor/Set-up for Romance/Intensive Care”

(Dir by Richard Kinon, originally aired on November 19th, 1983)

As always, we start with one very important question.

Engelbert Humperdinck is on this cruise so the answer is 11 on a scale of 10.

Engelbert plays Colin Crawford, who is Julie’s favorite film star and singer.  Julie is superexcited to meet him and even more thrilled when Colin appears to be romantically interested in her.  What Julie doesn’t know is that Colin’s loyal secretary is actually his wife, Gina (Penny Fuller).  To maintain Colin’s romantic image, they’ve kept their marriage under wraps.  However, Gina is sick of the deception and Colin eventually realizes that major film stars actually can be married.  By the end of the cruise, Colin has announced to the world that he’s married and Julie is surprisingly okay with having been manipulated.  The cocaine probably helped.

Meanwhile, Herbert Chandler (Tom Bosley) is a grump old man who has been in a wheelchair ever since he was in an accident 8 months ago.  Herbert boards the boat with his nurse, Donna (Patricia Carr).  “I’m the purser and you’re the nurser,” a smitten Gopher says.  Doc. meanwhile, figure out that, after 8 months, Herbert’s legs should be healed and able to walk.  It turns out that Herbert is faking his condition because he’s in love with Donna.  It turns out that Donna is in love with Herbert and is remarkably forgiving.  What better way to start a relationship than with eight months of lies?

Finally, Rick Tucker (Mark Harmon) boards the boat with his boss, Mr. Chandler (Bradford Dillman).  Rick also meets Christine Barton (Cristina Raines), who happens to be Chandler’s mistress.  Rick is devastated because he likes Christine too.  Once Rick discovers that Mr. Chandler is lying about leaving his wife for Christine, he’s able to not only end his boss’s relationship but also to get one of his own.  Strangely, it doesn’t occur to Rick to tell Christine that Chandler’s lying about leaving his wife until Rick has a conversation with Isaac.  Isaac apparently has the ability to help people realize things that they should have been able to figure out for themselves.  As Rick runs off to tell Christine, Isaac mentions that everyone he helps always runs off without leaving a tip.  That made me laugh because it’s true.

The Tom Bosley storyline did not work for me.  My Dad spent the last three months of his life in wheelchair and watching Herbert pretend that he needed a wheelchair when he didn’t did not sit well with me.  Otherwise, this was a pleasant episode.  It was one of the episodes that was shot during an actual cruise so it was nice to see the ocean in the background and the wind ruffling everyone’s hair.  None of the stories were particularly complicated but Mark Harmon’s easy going charm kept me watching and even Engelbert Humperdinck was tolerable.  It’s too bad that Julie once again missed out on love but I’m sure the cocaine helped.

Music Video of the Day: Future Shock by Marc Collin, feat. Clara Luciana (2019, dir by Marc Collin)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Both this song and the scenes in the videos are taken from one of my favorite films of the last few years, The Shock of the Future. A tribute to the women who helped to create electronic music, The Shock of the Future is a wonderfully inspiring film. Go watch it!

But watch the music video first.

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Pacific Blue 3.16 “Double Lives”

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 Pacific Blue, a cop show that aired from 1996 to 2000 on the USA Network!  It’s currently streaming everywhere, though I’m watching it on Tubi.

This week, Chris screws up again.

Episode 3.16 “Double Lives”

(Dir by Scott Lautanen, originally aired on January 18th, 1998)

Sean McGovern (Rob Youngblood) shows up on the beach, looking for Chris.  It turns out that he’s a former lover who is now in the witness protection agency.  We jump forward several months and Sean has not only vanished by Chris has been accused of helping him flee.  Chris is being investigated and, as is typical with this show, the reaction of the bicycle cops is to get offended that they’re being held to any sort of professional standard.

Seriously, Chris’s former boyfriend escapes custody?  Heck yeah, Chris should be investigated!  (I gave up cursing for Lent, everyone.)  Instead, Chris pouts about having to answer the most basic of questions and Palermo wanders around in the background, talking about how he needs to get Chris back on a bicycle and doing her job.  It’s hard to take any of this seriously when everyone’s wearing bicycle shorts.

Meanwhile, a gang of teenagers is mugging closeted gay men because they know the men won’t go to the police.  Victor is told to go undercover as a gay man to catch the muggers.  “No one’s going to believe me as a gay man!” Victor says.  Fortunately, Victor is wrong and he’s able to capture the muggers.

This episode was well-intentioned.  As far as the mugging storyline was concerned, it treated the victims with sensitivity.  Judge Annadale (Gil Gerard) refuses to make a police report because coming out of the closet would end his career and, at the time this show aired, he had every reason to believe that.  That said, the actors playing the muggers were not exactly the most intimidating teenagers around.  As far as Chris’s storyline is concerned …. who cares?  Seriously, why does Chris never have to face any consequences for being awful at her job?

Watching this show is becoming a real trial.

Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 1.6 “George Washington Kissed Here”

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 Saved By The Bell: The New Class, which ran on NBC from 1993 to 2o00.  The show is currently on Prime.

This week, Scott ruins the school play.

Episode 1.6 “George Washington Kissed Here”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on October 16th, 1993)

Mr. Belding is directing the school play, a tribute to the heroes of the American Revolution.  When Scott sees that Lindsay in the play, he decides that he wants her to play Martha Washington while he plays George so that he can kiss her on stage.  Scott goes as far as to convince that Mr. Belding that the play should be an “MTV version” of the American Revolution….

Sorry, I just rolled my eyes so hard that I passed out.  Okay, I’m back.

Anyway, Tommy D gets so jealous that he takes a role as a messenger, despite feeling that acting is “for dweebs.”  Megan is cast as Betsy Ross and Weasel is cast as Ben Franklin.  Vicki is also in the cast because she wants to see Scott in tights.

(Audience: whoooo!)

Tommy D is jealous and tries to ruin the play but Megan calls him out backstage and says, “Tommy D stands for Doesn’t Have A Clue.”  The audience cheers, even though Tommy D’s name should be Tommy DHAC.  Tommy realizes that he’s being a jerk so he apologizes, which leads to Lindsay chasing after him despite the fact that her cue is coming up.  So, Vicki steps in and plays Martha even though Lindsay was previously onstage as Martha.  Vicki kisses Scott, Tommy D and Lindsay get back together, and everyone applauds Mr. Belding, even though the play sucked.

I hated this episode.  As someone who has done high school and community theater, watching these idiots run around backstage ticked me off.  Lindsay missed her cue and everyone acted like it was no big deal.  No, it’s a huge deal.  It was totally unprofessional.  Lindsay should have been expelled.

Watching this episode, it occurred to me that Zack Morris could have pulled it off but Scott’s obsession with Lindsay just comes across as being creepy.  Zack may have been fixated on Kelly and jealous of Slater but at least Kelly was actually single and interested in him.  Lindsay is dating Tommy D and seems pretty happy with him.  Scott needs to move on.  In fact, wasn’t the audience going “whooooo!” about Scott and Megan just two episodes ago?

I hope Mr. Belding never directed another play.