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Retro Television Reviews: Fantasy Island 4.3 “The Skater’s Edge/Concerto of Death/The Last Great Race”

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 1986.  Almost the entire show is currently streaming is on Youtube, Daily Motion, and a few other sites.

This week, Fantasy Island loses a fantasy.  Read on to find out the details and remember, “Smiles, everyone!  Smiles!”

Episode 4.3 “The Skater’s Edge/Concerto of Death/The Last Great Race”

(Dir by Cliff Bole and Vince Edwards, originally aired on November 8th, 1980)

When this episode originally aired, it was a special two-hour episode of Fantasy Island, one that featured three fantasies as opposed to the usual two.

In Skater’s Edge, Charlie Johnson (Charlene Tilton) is a farm girl from Missouri who dreams of being a world class figure skater.  She comes to the Island to compete in the Fantasy Island Skating Competition.  Mr. Roarke gives Charlie a pair of magic skates that he claims belonged to figure skater Sonja Henie.  As long as Charlie is wearing the skates, she is the greatest skater in the world.  She takes the competition by storm and she also wins the heart of coach Mike O’Brien (Dack Rambo).  Unfortunately, in doing so, Charlie upsets Mike’s protégé, Laura Henderson (Peggy Fleming).  Laura steals Charlie’s skates but, after Mr. Roarke talks to her about the importance of friendship and fair play, Laura returns the skates to Charlie. Charlie gets a perfect score from the judges but, even more importantly, she learns a lesson in humility and she’s happy when Laura is named the winner of the competition.  Laura has the Fantasy Island championship but Charlie has got Mike.

In Concerto of Death, Dennis Cole plays Jeremy Hale, who comes to the island with his wife (Mary Ann Mobley).  Jeremy’s brother was a talented concert pianist who was murdered.  Jeremy wants to play as well as his brother but he also wants to solve his murder.  Roarke gives Jeremy an emerald ring that glows a deep green when Jeremy plays his piano.  Roarke warns Jeremy that his brother’s ghost might try to possess him and seek violent revenge against those who he blames for his death.  The scenes involving Jeremy being possessed feature Jeremy being suffused by a green glow and yes, it’s kind of silly but it’s still fun in the way that cheap special effects often are.  Eventually, Jeremy realizes that his brother was killed by Carla Marco (Erin Gray) and it ends with the police taking away Carla and Jeremy’s guest cabin burning to the ground.  That cabin burned down to the ground at least once per season.

Finally, in The Last Great Race, Dick Shawn and Juliet Mills play a couple who are divorcing.  They go on a race with the winner getting the majority of their possessions.

You may notice that I don’t have much to say about The Last Great Race.  This is because the Race fantasy was edited out of this episode when it went into syndication.  Unfortunately, all of the versions that I’ve found of this episode online are of the syndicated version.  So, I guess The Last Great Race is just going to be the lost fantasy of Fantasy Island.

It’s hard to judge this episode because, in the syndicated version, it’s very obvious that a lot has been removed.  It makes things feel a bit disjointed with the scene transitions often coming abruptly.  Charlie and Mike seem to fall in love in record time and Laura declaring herself to be Charlie’s friend seems odd because we haven’t really seen them interact before Laura steals her skates.  Meanwhile, the story with Jeremy also feels rushed with the final confrontation between Jeremy and the murderer seeming to come out of nowhere.

That said, it’s kind of a fun episode.  The skating scenes feature an obvious stunt double for Charlene Tilton and it’s hard not to be kind of charmed by how obvious it all is.  (You can get dizzy as the scene cuts from close-ups of Tilton’s face and close-ups of the stunt double’s legs.)  The supernatural story makes no sense but the silly special effects made me smile.  The episode ends with Mr. Roarke causing snow to fall on Fantasy Island but, in typical Roarke fashion, he makes sure that it only falls on Tattoo.  Roarke has a good laugh while Tattoo screams in terror.  Seriously, those two hate each other so much.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: CHiPs 1.4 “Moving Violation”

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, we learn who is a good cop and who is a not-so good cop.

Episode 1.4 “Moving Violation”

(Dir by Edward M. Abroms, originally aired on October 13th, 1977)

Tonight’s episode of CHiPs doesn’t so much have a plot as much as it’s just a random collection of incidents that are designed to allow us to see the differences in personality between Officer Jon Baker and Officer Frank “Ponch” Poncharello.

Officer Baker is quiet, conscientious, and mild-mannered.  He’s the officer who spots a stolen church bus but gives his partner the credit for discovering it because his partner is on probationary status with the department.  On a more serious note, he’s also the guy who is sent to inform women that they are now widows because their husbands met misfortune on the California highways.  Tonight’s episode sees Baker being sent to inform a woman that her husband has died and Baker handles the job with sensitivity and tact.  He wipes away a tear of his own as the woman starts to cry.  Larry Wilcox was not exactly the most expressive actor in the world but, in that scene, he did a wonderful job.

Officer Poncharello, on the other hand, is a screw-up who smiles frequently, lies to an almost pathological extent, and who often looks straight at the camera while delivering his lines.  He’s the type of police officer who needs his fellow officers to lie to Sgt. Getraer about what a good police officer he is.  If Officer Baker is the ideal highway patrolman, Ponch is the guy who really shouldn’t be out there.  It’s not just that Erik Estrada looks notably less assured on that motorcycle than Larry Wilcox.  It’s also that Ponch himself doesn’t ever really seem to be paying attention to …. well, anything!

This episode, Ponch lies to a woman and gets her to go out on a date with him under the assumption that he’s a sergeant.  She’s not thrilled to discover that he’s just a police officer and that he drives (and live in) an RV.  Ponch is not thrilled when he gets a ticket for not using his turn signal and he has to take a driver’s education class.  Worried that he might run into someone who he has ticketed, Ponch wears a fake mustache and, eventually, a fake beard.

As I mentioned earlier, there’s not much of a story to this episode.  Ponch and Baker just deal with whatever they come across, whether it’s a stolen church bus or a man trapped in a van with a bunch of rattlesnakes.  The oddest moment of the show comes when they pull over a motorist played by football player Roosevelt Grier and Grier proceeds to start beating up his car.  Ponch and Baker just watch in amazement.  At one point, Grier puts his fist through a window and Ponch laughs.  Uhmm …. how about checking to make sure the guy isn’t bleeding to death?

And, hey — guess who shows up in driver’s education class at the end of this episode!?  And guess who rips off Ponch’s fake beard and mustache.  The episode ends with a freeze frame of a nervous Ponch laughing but I don’t think he’s going to be laughing much longer.

This was a weird episode.  It was basically a combination of broad comedy, lovely California scenery, and that one shockingly dramatic scene in which Baker told a woman that her husband was dead.  The episode was obviously meant to introduce us to Baker and Ponch.  I would definitely prefer to get pulled over by Baker because he’s obviously just trying to do his job quickly and efficiently.  Ponch, on the other hand….

Anyway, assuming that Ponch wasn’t killed by Rosey Grier, he should be next week!  We’ll see what happens!

Retro Television Reviews: Miami Vice 1.13 “Milk Run”

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 is currently streaming on Tubi!

This week, Crockett and Tubbs fail to observe movie line etiquette.

Episode 1.13 “Milk Run”

(Dir by John Nicolella, originally aired on January 4th, 1985)

At Miami International Airport, Tubbs is sweating buckets (one thing I do appreciate about Miami Vice is that it captures that Yankees never seem to get used to Southern humidity) while Crockett watches and smiles at a woman in a miniskirt.  Not surprisingly, ZZ Tops’s Legs is playing on the soundtrack.  Having good legs is definitely a plus in life.  They’ve certainly helped me out.

Anyway, Crockett and Tubbs notice that two teenagers have just paid for a ticket to Colombia in cash.  Crockett and Tubbs confront them in the airport cafeteria, causing both Louis Martinez (Evan Handler) and his friend, Eddie Rivers (Al Shannon), to make a run for it.  They manage to outrun both Crockett and Tubbs.  Louis and Eddie may not be as streetwise or experienced as the two cops but they’re definitely a lot younger and a lot quicker.

Louis is enthusiastic about Eddie flying down to Colombia and smuggling cocaine-filled statues into the United States.  Eddie is more nervous about it and keeps saying that he wishes he could just go home and pretend like they never agreed to help this week’s villains, the Moya cousins.

Not surprisingly, at least to anyone who has watched this show, Crockett and Tubbs just happen to be investigating a drug warehouse that belongs to the Moyas.  After the warehouse blows up, they discover a locker full of the statues and they also find out that the Moyas are into Santeria.  This leads to a scene where they attempt to interrogate one of their informants (played by Rainbow Harvest), a Santeria high priestess who works at a “punk rock movie theater.”  (Don’t ask me, I didn’t write the episode.)  While Crockett keeps bothering her at work, Tubbs has a tense conversation with her boyfriend, who is played by a youngish Eric Bogosian!

The two stories eventually link back up.  Eddie flies to Colombia but he and Louis are arrested by Crockett and Tubbs as soon as he returns to America.  While Louis continues to play tough, Eddie talks about how he wishes that he could just go back home and not get involved in any of this.  Crockett promises Eddie that he’ll make sure he gets home safely.  Can you guess who ends up getting gunned down the cartel at the end of the episode?

Milk Run was an episode about which I had mixed feelings.  At first, it was hard for me to have much sympathy for either Louis or Eddie.  But, at the same time, I also had a hard time having much sympathy for Crockett and Tubbs.  Whether they were holding up a line to interrogate a ticket agent at the airport or holding up the line to interrogate the Santeria priestess at the movie theater, they ended up holding up a lot of lines and that’s a pet peeve of mine.  But, by the end of this episode, I felt sorry for Eddie and the dark conclusion drove home the episode’s point.  There’s no way to escape your decisions.  Of course, by this point, we pretty much know what’s going to happen whenever Crockett promises to keep someone safe but that didn’t make the ending any less effective.

This was an okay episode.  The ending was powerful and it featured a strong supporting turn from John Kapelos in the role of a sleazy attorney.  In the end, the message was clear.  Don’t get involved with a shady business unless you’re totally prepared to deal with the consequences.

Film Review: Evil Dead Rise (dir by Lee Cronin)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In the latest Evil Dead film, an earthquake hits Los Angeles, shaking an apartment complex, destroying the fire escape, and screwing up the elevators.  It also leads to a part of the basement parking lot collapsing, revealing a previously concealed chamber.  Three siblings — teenagers Danny (Morgan Davies) and Bridget (Gabrielle Echols) and their younger sister, Kassie (Nell Fisher) — enter the  chamber.  Danny finds several vinyl records and a book that is bound in human skin.

Now, personally, if I found a book that was bound in human skin, I would not pick it up.  I mean, that’s just creepy!  Honestly, the only reason why someone would bound a book in human skin would be to let the world know that the book is something evil.  But Dany is stupid, so he takes the book back to the apartment where he and his siblings live with their mother, Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland).  Danny not only opens the book but he also plays the records.  The second record features a priest reciting an incantation and soon, all Hell breaks lose.  It doesn’t take long before Ellie is dead and then possessed by the Deadites.  Soon, the entire building is full of possessed people and it falls to Ellie’s wayward sister, a “groupie” named Beth (Lily Sullivan), to protect the children from the demon that is inhabiting their mother’s body.

Evil Dead Rise has been described as being the “second Evil Dead film without Bruce Campbell” but that’s not quite true.  Along with Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell served as an executive producer on the film and he also provided the voice of one of the people heard on the vinyl record.  As Campbell is heard telling the priest not to read the incantation, it’s totally probable that the voice on the record is meant to be belong to Ash Williams.  Evil Dead Rise definitely takes place in the same cinematic universe as the previous Evil Dead films.  This isn’t like one of David Gordon Green’s snooty Halloween films.  Evil Dead Rise is not ashamed of its heritage and, indeed, it’s full of visual references to the previous Evil Dead films.  Yes, an eyeball is swallowed.  Yes, there is a huge amount of blood spilled in the film, with the film’s main characters literally getting drenched in it.  Yes, a boomstick is fired.  And yes, there is some chainsaw action towards the end of the film.  Beth says, “Come get some,” at one point and it’s a crowed-pleasing moment.  The characters are all named after people who were involved in the previous films.  At a time when so many sequels and reboots seem to resent the films that came before, Evil Dead Rise does not hide its heritage.

That said, while watching Evil Dead Rise, it was hard not to miss the slapstick anarchy that Raimi and Campbell brought to Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness.  Evil Dead Rise plays up the horror of the Deadites and it is one of the rare horror films where you truly do come to feel like any character, regardless of how innocent or likable, could die at any moment.  But, to be honest, the Deadites aren’t that interesting without Sam Raimi’s hyperactive visuals and Ash’s over-the-top mix of machismo and stupidity.  Without the humor and the destructive glee of Raimi and Campbell, the Deadites are just another group of mean-spirited demons.  Without Ash and Raimi’s kinetic camerawork, the film focuses on the Deadites and the film sometimes feels a bit generic as a result.

Which is not to say that Evil Dead Rise is not an effective survival horror film.  The apartment building is an appropriately claustrophobic location and the sibling rivalry between Ellie and Beth brings an interesting subtext to the film’s story.  When the possessed Ellie taunts Beth, it’s obvious that Beth is hearing everything that she’s always suspected her sister thought about her.  Defeating her possessed sister is as much about Beth conquering her own insecurities as it is about defending Ellie’s children.  Even if it’s not quite to the level of Raimi’s films, the blood-drenched finale achieves a horrific grandeur that bring to mind the best of Lamberto Bava’s Demons films.  Evil Dead Rise is a well-made if occasionally generic chapter in the Evil Dead saga, though it’s impossible not to miss Rami and Campbell while watching the film.

Music Video of the Day: Radar by Britney Spears (2009, dir by Dave Meyers)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In today’s music video of the day, Britney Spears visits a polo mansion and decides that she doesn’t really need a new necklace.  Apparently, the original plan for the video was to have Britney and her friends chasing one guy through several different clubs.  However, in what director Dave Meyers described as being an attempt to “class things up,” the video was instead moved to a mansion and featured Britney flirting with polo players.  Personally, while I think this video is well-done, I think they should have stuck with the original plan.  Britney’s appeal has always been that she doesn’t have to be posh.

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi Junior High 1.12 “Parents’ Night”

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!

Though not as dramatic as last week’s episode, this week’s episode is just as important to the future of Degrassi.

Episode 1.12 “Parents’ Night”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on April 5th, 1987)

When it comes to this week’s episode of Degrassi Junior High, it helps to know a little bit about franchise’s history.  On the surface, this is a fairly standard episode, with Wheels, Joey, and Spike all getting a storyline.  But if you know what waits for these characters in the future, then you know this is one of the most important shows of the franchise’s history.  Much like last week’s It’s Late, this episode sets up the storylines that will play out over the next three decades.

Spike is still adjusting to being pregnant.  As she tells the Farrell twins, she doesn’t want to have an abortion but she also know that, at the age of 14, she’s too young to be a mother.  Shane, she says, has barely spoken to her since discovering that she’s pregnant.  Spike is considering giving up the child for adoption.  The Farrell twins suggest that Spike speak to Wheels, who is adopted himself.  In a rather sweet scene that is well-played by both Amanda Stepto and Neil Hope, Wheels tells Spike that he’s never been angry over being adopted.  He also says that he’s never been curious about his birth parents.  Much like Spike and Shane, they were simply too young to raise a child.

Wheels has a lot going on in this episode.  He’s the bass player in a band!  Joey and Snake are also in the band.  Joey wants to call the band Joey and the Joy Buzzers.  Snake wants to call them Snake and the Charmers, which is actually pretty clever.  Wheels says that he’s fine with whatever because Wheels, at this point in the show, is the most well-balanced kid in school.  Sadly, this won’t last.

While leaving rehearsal for the upcoming Parents’ Night Talent Show, Wheels is approached by a man named Mike Nelson (Dave James).  Mike introduces himself as Wheels’s father and he gives Wheels his number.  With Joey’s encouragement, Wheels calls Mike and even meets with him at a local diner.  It’s an awkward meeting but, when Wheels finds out that Mike is also in a band, he starts to feel a connection to his father.

However, Wheels also feels guilty because he hasn’t told his parents that he’s been talking to Dave.  This eventually leads to him getting angry with Dave and yelling at Dave for trying to re-enter his life.  Dave calls Wheels’s adoptive parents and apologizes.  When Wheels’s parents tell him that it’s okay if he wants to talk to Dave, Wheels worries that they don’t really want him.  Eventually, after giving it some thought, Wheels realizes that he can have a relationship with both his birth father and the people who raised him.

As for Joey’s storyline, he forges a letter from his parents, in which “they” tell Mr. Raditch that they will not be coming to Parents’ Night.  Mr. Raditch sees right through him.  Oh, Joey!

As I said, it’s a fairly simple episode but it works due to the wonderful and empathetic performance of Neil Hope.  Unfortunately, the tragic details of Neil Hope’s life after Degrassi has often overshadowed just how good he truly was on the show.  Indeed, it’s not always easy to watch him, bright and full-of-life in Degrassi Junior High, with the knowledge of what the future holds for both the actor and the character.  Hope, whose own life provided the inspiration for a few of Wheels’s storylines, was such a good and natural actor that Wheels is compelling despite having the second worst nickname on the show.  (Snake, of course, wins the prize for worst nickname.  That said, the character was apparently nearly named Slim, which would have been even worse.)

So, why is this episode so important to the future of Degrassi?  The reasons below are all technically spoilers but, if you’re a big enough Degrassi fan that you tracked down this review, I’m probably not telling you anything that you don’t already know.

First off, the band will eventually get a name and it won’t be Joey and the Joy Buzzers or Snake and the Charmers.  It would be Zit Remedy and Joey’s attempts to become a star would not only be a major plotline through Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High but it would also frequently be mentioned in Degrassi: The Next Generation as Joey vicariously lived his rock dreams through his stepson, Craig Manning.  Famously, Zit Remedy only wrote and performed one song but that song has had a very long life on the show.  Everybody wants something, right?

(As well, Zit Remedy was the first of MANY bands to be formed at Degrassi.  Hell Hath No Fury, Downtown Sasquatch, Studz, and Whisperhug would all follow but Zit Remedy was there first.)

Though this episode ends with Wheels at peace with both his birth father and his adopted parents, that peace wouldn’t last.  One reason why it’s kind of sad to see Wheels happy in this episode is because Wheels would rarely be happy for the rest of the series.  Musical “talent” is not the only thing that Wheels and Dave have in common.  Dave is an alcoholic and Wheels is destined to end up in prison after killing a kid while driving drunk.  (Following this seemingly innocuous episode, Wheels’s life got dark!)

As for Joey, he’ll never be a rock star but eventually, he will make peace with Mr. Raditch, to the extent that Raditch will even joke with him when Joey comes up to the school after Craig is caught skipping class.

And finally, Spike is not going to give up her baby for adoption.  Instead, she’s going to keep her daughter and, in the future, Emma Nelson will be at the center of the Degrassi universe.  (And Snake will even be her stepfather!)

Next week, season one comes to a close!

Retro Television Reviews: Blood Sport (dir by Jerrold Freedman)

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 1973’s Blood Sport!  It  can be viewed on YouTube.

David Birdsong (played by Gary Busey, who was 29 at the time) is a high school senior with a potentially bright future ahead of him.  He’s the quarterback of his high school’s football team and it looks like he’s on the verge of leading his team to an undefeated season.  He’s getting recruited by all the big schools.  Scouts are coming to his games to watch him play.  He also has one of the highest GPAs at his school, though it’s suggested that might have more to do with his importance to the football team than his actual study skills.

“Don’t you have anything else you want to do with your life?” his high school principal (David Doyle) asks him and David’s reaction indicates that he’s never really given it much thought.  From the time he was born, David’s father, Dwayne (Ben Johnson), has been shaping his son to become a star athlete.  Dwayne is happiest when he’s watching David play, whether on the field or in the highlight reels that he keeps down in the basement.  When Dwayne sees that his son isn’t on the field, he’s the type of father who will get out of the stands and argue with the coach on the sidelines.  Dwayne continually tells David not to stay out too late.  The one time that David does, Dwayne slaps him hard enough to send his son to the floor.

Coach Marshall (Larry Hagman) is determined to get his undefeated season, no matter how hard he has to push his players.  The coach is the type who is convinced that his players respect him for his stern ways and his long-winded speeches but little does he realize that they all secretly despise him.  When one of his players drop dead of a heart attack during practice, Coach Marshall demands that the player stop being lazy and get up.  When he realizes that the player is never going to get up, Coach Marshall angrily asks, “Why did this have to happen now!?”  Later, at a pep rally, Coach Marshall announces that his team had a private meeting and agreed that they would win the final game in the player’s memory.  The team is disgusted but the rest of the town loves their coach.

David is never happier than when he’s on the field, playing football and being cheered by both the crowd and his team.  But, through it all, he sees reminders that the future in uncertain.  On the sidelines, David spots an injured player, watching the game with the knowledge that his dreams of getting a scholarship have ended.  When David visits a college, he’s reminded that being the best high school player doesn’t mean much in college and when he says that he’s a quarterback, he is told that his coach will ultimately decide who he is and David will accept the coach’s decision because David isn’t being offered a scholarship to think for himself.

When the film originally aired in 1973, it was called Birdsong but the title was changed to Blood Sport for both subsequent showings and for a European theatrical release.  Blood Sport is the more appropriate title because, even though the main character is named David Birdsong, the film is ultimately about all of the athletes who are expected to put their health at risk for the people on the sidelines.  It’s not just football that’s a blood sport, the film suggests.  It’s the entire culture that has sprung up around it, the one that cheers when players are at their best but which also looks away at the times when the players need the most help.

At 29 years of age, Gary Busey is a bit too old to be totally convincing as a high school senior but he still does a good job of capturing David’s gradual realization that he’s never really had any control over his own life.  Ben Johnson and especially Larry Hagman also give good performances as the two men who are living vicariously through David’s accomplishments.  Hagman is so believably obnoxious as the coach that you’ll want to cheer when someone finally finds the guts to stand up to him and tell him to just shut up for a minute.

The film ends on an ambiguous note, leaving many questions open about David’s future.  One hopes that he’s started to find the strength necessary to live his own life but it’s ultimately hard to say.  In the end, nothing is guaranteed, no matter how far you can throw a football.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Check It Out! 1.9 “Phantom of the Market”

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!

This week, someone is stealing disgusting gourmet food!

Episode 1.9 “Phantom of the Market”

(Dir by Stan Harris, originally aired on November 27th, 1985)

Howard is super-excited because he has been named Cobb’s Manager of the Year!  The manager of the year wins a Hawaiian vacation for two because, apparently, there’s not a single Cobb’s manager who has a large family.  I get the feeling that the whole manager of the year thing is a scam to give the the company’s managers an excuse to go to Hawaii with their secretaries.  That’s certainly what Howard is planning to do, though at least he’s actually unmarried and dating Edna.

(Being a Canadian company, I would think Cobb’s would reward its employees with a Discovery Islands vacation but no, Cobb’s would rather send its employees to the USA.)

Howard’s employees even go through the trouble of making and hanging a big banner congratulating Howard.  Of course, they hang it upside down but Howard is in such a good mood that he doesn’t even yell about it.  Unfortunately, Howard’s mood is soon ruined when a corporate stooge (played by Grant Cowan) shows up and tells Howard that his store is missing $400 worth of gourmet meat and that Howard is going to lose his job if he can’t figure out what has happened to the missing inventory.

Feeling that it might be an inside job, Howard and Alf spend two nights at the store in hopes of catching whoever it is.  The first night, Howard falls asleep and wakes up in his underwear.  Somehow, the thief took all of his clothes without waking up Howard.  Howard wraps himself in the banner, which I would think would make him look even more undressed than when he was just wearing shoes, boxers, and his undershirt.  (How did the thief undress Howard without taking his shoes off?  Again, how did Howard sleep through that?)  The second night, Howard discovers that Cobb’s actually has a basement and that basement is occupied by Henry Weinberg (Antony Parr).

The well-dressed and well-fed Henry explains that his family used to own the land on which the store was built.  Henry has been living in the basement of various Cobb’s stores for several years and he’s been stealing their food.  He gives Howard a box that he says contains the ashes of his grandfather.  Howard is surprisingly accepting of all this.

The next day — yay!  All of the missing inventory is back.  Howard gets to keep his job and go to Hawaii.  Henry shows up in the story and tells Howard that he stole replacement food from all the other grocery stores in the area.  After Henry leaves, Alf informs Howard that Henry is actually a comedian who used to do a bit about putting his grandfather’s ashes in a box.  As Henry speaks, Howard discreetly spills the ashes onto the flood and kicks them underneath a shelf.  Yikes!

This was kind of a strange episode but, in this case, the weirdness worked to the show’s advantage.  In previous episodes, Don Adams sometimes seemed to be overacting.  In this episode, everyone was acting bizarrely and, as such, Adams’s exaggerated reactions actually fit well with the situation.  Add to that, this episode featured the return of Viker, the dumb but very confident electrician played by Gordon Clapp.  As played by Clapp, Viker’s earnest stupidity was definitely the high point of the episode.

Next week, everyone car pools to work!  I really can’t imagine that going well but we’ll find out what happens soon!