Tag Archives: review

Late Night Retro Television Review: Good Morning Miss Bliss 1.4 “Leaping to Conclusions”

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 Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which ran on the Disney Channel from 1988 to 1989 before then moving to NBC and being renamed Saved By The Bell.  The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!

This week, Miss Bliss knows everything.

Episode 1.4 “Leaping To Conclusions”

(Dir by Burt Brinckerhoff, originally aired on December 21st, 1988)

It’s time to dissect a frog for Biology class!  Nikki (Heather Hopper) doesn’t believe in animal dissection and is especially upset that the frogs are currently still alive and living in a box with “LIVE ANIMALS” written on it.

Mr. Morton (Deryl Carroll), the crazed science teacher, doesn’t care about Nikki’s objections.  However, Miss Bliss, the school busybody, definitely does.  Miss Bliss tells Nikki to follow her conscience.  Nikki steals the “LIVE ANIMALS” box and sets all of the frogs free in a nearby creek and probably ruins Indiana’s ecosystem.

Morton’s angry but Mr. Belding lets Nikki go with a warning because Mr. Belding is convinced that a private academy is trying to recruit Miss Bliss.  Belding spends the entire episode giving Miss Bliss anything she asks for — a new globe, money for a field trip, a new projector — while the rest of the teachers receive nothing.  When Miss Bliss discovers that Belding went through her mail and saw she had received a letter from a private academy, Miss Bliss does her usual, “Mr. Belding, you stupid little American,” routine.  Belding laughs and then redistributes all of the gifts that he previously gave Miss Bliss.  Miss Bliss is not amused because, seriously, why should any other teacher have a new projector?  Everyone knows the world revolves around Miss Bliss.

As for Nikki, she steals the replacement frogs but then returns them, saying that it’s not fair for her to take away everyone else’s right to dissect a frog.  So, Nikki really didn’t have any problem with the frogs being killed.  She just didn’t want to be the one to do it.  Mr. Morton says he will have to fail Nikki.  Miss Bliss says that Nikki can just use a computer program to simulate dissecting a frog and you have to wonder why Miss Bliss is the one making that decision because it’s not even her class!

Seriously, Miss Bliss is the worst.  That said, I wouldn’t want to dissect a frog either.  That’s one reason why I lost respect for Nikki when she brought the frogs back.  When you believe that strongly in something, you don’t turn back.

 

 

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 8/3/25 — 8/9/25

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Big Brother 27 (CBS, Paramount+, Pluto TV, 24/7)

I’ve been watching reviewing the latest season of the show that I love to hate over at the Big Brother Blog.  In all honesty, I pretty much lost interest in this season as soon as Rachel Riley made her entrance.

King of the Hill (Hulu)

Over the course of a rough week, the revival of King of the Hill brought me some much needed joy.  I was skeptical when I first heard that King of the Hill was coming back.  I was scared that the revival would be too updated and that it wouldn’t stay true to everything that made the updated show so memorable.  I should have known better and had faith in Mike Judge.  The revival was everything that I love about King of the Hill — honest, sentimental, and very, very funny.  After all these years, King of the Hill remains the best show about Texas ever produced.

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 rather inspiring film and it can currently be viewed on Tubi. So, go watch it!

But watch the music video first.

Enjoy!

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 2.10 “A Pig Too Far”

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 Fridays, I will be reviewing St. Elsewhere, a medical show which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988.  The show can be found on Hulu and, for purchase, on Prime!

This week, we learn about something called hacking.

Episode 2.10 “A Pig Too Far”

(Dir by Linda Day, originally aired on January 11th, 1984)

I’ve got a family thing going on today so I’m just going to do a bullet-point review.

  • The bigger, richer hospitals are transporting their indigent patients to St. Eligius.  When one of those patients dies, Joan Holloran and Dr. Cavanero (making one of her infrequent appearances) attempt to find out why.  It turns out that other hospitals view St. Eligius as being a dumping ground.  It’s not ethical or particularly nice but everyone seems to agree that it’s a common practice.
  • Ehrlich wants to ask Roberta (Jean Bruce Scott) to marry him, despite the fact that he’s extremely immature and has no idea how to have a meaningful relationship with anyone.
  • Matthew Brody (David Knell) is a teenage computer nerd who, from his hospital bed, is able to hack into the hospital’s computer system.  You can tell this episode was from the 80s because of a lengthy scene in which Matthew explains what hacking is.  Everyone is stunned that such a thing can be done.
  • Bobby shaves his mustache.  Now he looks like the handsome Mark Harmon we all know!
  • A woman with violent mood swings is brought into the psych ward.  Dr. Ridley diagnoses her as having PMS.  He and Dr. Morrison have a good laugh about it while this reviewer narrows her eyes and considers throwing her laptop out the bedroom window.
  • Shirley and Dr. White are still under investigation.  What’s odd is that Shirley says that she’s currently not allowed in the ER but actually, we saw her working in the ER in the previous episode.  That leads me to suspect that the episodes were aired out of their extended order.
  • EXCEPT — last week’s episode was a Christmas episode.  This week’s episode features a somewhat random scene of Dr. Craig demanding someone take down a Christmas tree because Christmas is over.  So maybe Shirley being in the ER last week was genuine mistake on the part of the writers.

This was a bit of a bland episode, to be honest.  At this point, I assume anyone who shows up in the hospital is guaranteed to eventually die a terrible death.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.8 “All the Colors of the Heart”

Posted on by Bradley Crain

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

Episode 4.8 “All the Colors of the Heart”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on November 18th, 1987)

This episode brings Jonathan (Michael Landon) and Mark (Victor French) to a summer camp for the blind, where they come into contact with two men. There is Frank Riley (Tom Sullivan), an athletic blind man with a great attitude who has high hopes of gaining his sight and being able to see for the first time in his life. In contrast, there is Scott (Peter Kowanko), a young man who is in the process of rapidly losing his sight and is in complete denial of his new reality. Jonathan and Frank, who also happens to be the man who started the camp, work with Scott in hopes of helping him to face both the physical and the emotional challenges of going blind. Will Frank actually be able to regain his sight? Will Scott be able to accept his condition and find a reason to embrace life again? 

Our family watched HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN often during its run in the 80’s. My mom loved the series, and I remember its episodes going straight for the heart. I haven’t revisited it as an adult, and I must admit that I had an enjoyably nostalgic time when I watched this episode today.

While I personally had warm and fuzzy feelings based on the show’s connection to my youth, the content of the episode itself was quite serious. Scott, the young man who is going blind, is basically giving up on life, so much so that he contemplates killing himself. Peter Kowanko, who plays Scott and bears a striking resemblance to actor James Van Der Beek, is pretty good in the part. He spends most of his time screaming at people that they don’t understand what he’s going through. It’s not the most endearing performance, but I can’t help but wonder how I would react in the same position. Heck, I’ve had some of my own health issues recently, and the anxiety that has come along with that has definitely hampered my ability to put others first. I think Tom Sullivan is a little more successful in the role of Frank Riley, the man who has been blind since birth. Sullivan, who is blind in real life, receives a “Story By” credit for this episode, and is reportedly much like the man he portrays here. While some of his scenes do lean heavily into melodrama at the end, his inspiring sense of humor and overall outlook on life gives us glimmers of hope throughout the episode. I did want to point out that Kowanko and Sullivan do almost all of the heavy lifting in the acting department in this episode. While they had some fun interplay at the beginning, I was surprised by how little the characters played by Landon and French factored into the main storyline. I’m going to assume this is the exception and not the norm for the show. 

Overall, I enjoyed revisiting this TV series from my youth. This specific episode contains a strong message about the importance of finding the joys in life under the most difficult of circumstances. I think we all need to be reminded of that from time to time, even when we’re not facing the types of challenges that these characters are being forced to deal with. Michael Landon, who directed this episode, got me at the end as I felt some moisture welling up in my own eyes. I’m definitely looking forward to taking a little deeper dive into the series in the near future. 

Brad reviews ESCAPE FROM DEATH BLOCK 13 (2021), starring Robert Bronzi!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Well, I finally did it. I finally made it all the way through a movie starring Robert Bronzi, the Hungarian Charles Bronson lookalike who started making movies a few years ago with titles like DEATH KISS (2018), ONCE UPON A TIME IN DEADWOOD (2019) and 12 TO MIDNIGHT (2024). Any person who’s read any of my work on here knows that Charles Bronson is my all-time favorite actor, and that I’ve been obsessed with him for over 40 years. I’ve known about Bronzi since he first popped up in 2017, but I haven’t had much interest in him because his only similarity to Bronson is his very basic look. I watched enough of DEATH KISS back in the day to know that he doesn’t have any of Bronson’s charisma, grace or acting ability. I turned it off or fell asleep and never finished it. Well, this past week, I was on the set of a movie that’s being filmed here in Central Arkansas that’s using my brother’s convenience store as one of its filming locations. I was talking to a producer of the film (David Wade), and of course, as the conversation went on I eventually told him that I’m obsessed with Charles Bronson. If you hang around me long enough, that information is sure to be shared at some point! Once David knew this, he told me that he acted in a film with Robert Bronzi in 2021 called ESCAPE FROM DEATH BLOCK 13 that was filmed at the Mansfield Reformatory in Ohio, the location made famous as the prison used in the classic THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994). He was impressed that I was fully aware of Bronzi and his resemblance to Bronson. I promised him that I’d watch the film since he’s in it, so here we are! 

The plot of ESCAPE FROM DEATH BLOCK 13 is simple. After his brother’s death, Hungarian construction worker Mick Kovacs (Robert Bronzi) travels to America seeking justice. Visiting a recycling factory owned by the shady Renda (Nicholas Turturro), Mick demands compensation owed to his brother’s family. When Renda’s goons attack him, Mick is framed for extortion and attempted murder, and finds himself in the Pleasant Hill Penitentiary, where he faces sadistic guards, violent inmates, and the corrupt Warden Jack (Debbie Scaletta). Before going to prison, Kovacs is offered a deal by Detective Borelli (Lyindaa Russell) and FBI Agent Langley (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) to uncover a drug ring. Once inside, he discovers that Renda and the Warden are responsible for his brother’s death. Driven by a desire for vengeance, Mick sparks a violent riot in hopes of bringing justice to all those who have done his family wrong!

I’m not going to spend much time reviewing ESCAPE FROM DEATH BLOCK 13. If you’re a movie viewer who thinks the idea of watching an ultra low budget prison movie, filmed at Shawshank prison, with terrible acting, terrible special effects, and a lead actor who looks kind of like Charles Bronson sounds fun, then this could be the movie for you. This movie is not even close to the quality of Bronson’s 80’s Cannon films. Those films had good directors who delivered entertaining low budget action films, and Bronson was always worth the price of admission. Bronson’s Cannon movies were extremely profitable, especially in the golden age of VHS rentals. In the case of ESCAPE FROM DEATH BLOCK 13, director Gary Jones has delivered a terrible movie that is fun if you like bad movies. This movie knows it’s a bad movie, leans into its turkeydom, and hopes you will like it because Bronzi looks like Bronson, and there is action. In other words, it’s complete schlock that’s looking for an audience that digs the cheesiest of cheese. There’s not a thing wrong with liking cheesefests. I just want to make sure you know that’s what you’re getting into!

I did find it interesting that ESCAPE FROM DEATH BLOCK 13 is full of references to Charles Bronson’s TV and movie filmography. In this film, Robert Bronzi plays a character named Mick Kovacs. From 1958-1960, Bronson starred in the TV series MAN WITH A CAMERA playing a character named Mike Kovac. Nicolas Turturro plays a bad guy named Renda in this film. Al Lettieri played a bad guy named Frank Renda in Bronson’s excellent 1974 action film MR. MAJESTYK. And finally, in this film, Kenny Hendrix plays a bare knuckle prison boxer named Chaney. In my personal favorite Charles Bronson film, HARD TIMES (1975), Bronson plays a bare knuckle boxer named Chaney. I will admit these references were fun to spot as they came up throughout the film’s 105 minute runtime, which is probably a good 30 minutes longer than it needs to be. 

As I mentioned earlier, I watched ESCAPE FROM CELL BLOCK 13 because David Wade, who plays a prison guard in the film, asked me to. David does a fine job as guard Schaffner, with his performance fitting in perfectly with the vibe of the film. His friendly manner on the movie set at my brother’s store gave me a rooting interest in the film, and from that standpoint, I thoroughly enjoyed it! 

Retro Television Review: Malibu CA 2.25 “Big Daddy”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

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

Yes, this is from the first season. I don’t care. I refuse to waste my time looking for a second season advertisement.

This week sounds pretty bad.  On the plus side, I’m nearly done with this show.

Episode 2.25 “Big Daddy”

(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on May 13th, 2000)

This episode of Malibu CA is the last episode to not be available on YouTube.  Here’s the plot summary from the imdb:

Lisa tells Jason and Traycee about the good feeling she gets from volunteering at the local Community Center and encourages them to do likewise. Traycee is ready to volunteer but Jason isn’t interested until he sees some of the pretty girls from the center, especially Diana. Jason hopes to get some one-on-one time with Diana at the Center but she assigns him to be a “Big Buddy” for a local boy, Kenny. At first the two don’t get along very well, with Kenny insulting Jason every chance he gets. But eventually they warm up to each other and Jason lets Kenny borrow his old guitar, on which he plans to teach the youngster to play.

According to Wikipedia, Scott Whyte (of City Guys “fame”) appears in this episode as Alex’s new boyfriend, who Scott suspects is a thief.

Both plotlines sound pretty dire.  It’s interesting that the second season featured guest appearances from people who previously appeared on Hang Time and City Guys.  I guess the thinking was that it would help the show’s rating.  It must not have worked because there was never a third season.

Next week, we have the series finale and that episode has been uploaded to YouTube so I’ll get to see how this all ended.  Even better, I’ll be done with Malibu CA and not a minute to soon, to be honest.