Tag Archives: review

Late Night Retro Television Review: Pacific Blue 2.14 “One Kiss Goodnight”

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, Cory helps a man who can’t remember how lame this show is.

Episode 2.14 “One Kiss Goodnight”

(Dir by Sara Rose, originally aired on December 15th, 1996)

Alec Cooper (Markus Flanagan) gets amnesia after he falls off the balcony of his hotel room while trying to escape some mysterious men with guns.  Cory tries to help Alec figure out who he actually is and she starts to fall in love with him in the process.  Alec admits that there seems to be something familiar about Cory.

Well, that means there are only two possibilities.

Cory and Alec are either meant to be together

or

Alec is married to someone who looks just like Cory!

It turns out the latter is true.  Alec eventually get his memory back and Cory meets his wife, who indeed looks a lot like her.  Cory goes back to being single.  Interestingly, Chris spends this entire episode telling Cory that she needs to date more but she doesn’t approve of Cory dating someone who has amnesia.  Then again, Chris doesn’t really approve of anyone doing anything.

Meanwhile, TC’s girlfriend makes the decision to leave Santa Monica so that she can attend a graduate program and become a counselor for rape victims.  This is the sort of storyline that would have been touching if TC has any personality or if he and his girlfriend had any sort of chemistry.  But they don’t.

It probably sound like I hated this episode.  Actually, I think it’s one of the better episodes of season 2, if just because the bike riding was kept to a minimum.  The bikes would have made this awful.  Without all of the bike nonsense, it was merely forgettable.  That’s progress!

Music Video of the Day: Summers in Vegas by Lolo Zouaï (2019, dir by Lolo Zouaï and Tommy Nowels)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This is a nicely evocative video.  Las Vegas is the quintessential American city, a celebration of commerce and hospitality that happens to be sitting out in the middle of an inhospitable desert.  Vegas could only have been founded in America and it’s only in America that it could have thrived to become the iconic city that it is today.

Of course, I should also mention that, whenever I see any clips of the Las Vegas strip, I automatically think about the movie Casino and the Ace Rothstein Dancers.  If I ever go to Vegas, I’m going to let Commissioner Pat Webb know that Sam “Ace” Rothstein has nothing to hide.

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 4.7 “Satan’s Angels”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983.  The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!

This week, Bonnie is taken hostage!  It’s good thing Ponch exists because you know no one else on this show is going to able to rescue her.

Episode 4.7 “Satan’s Angels”

(Dir by Phil Bondelli, originally aired on December 14th, 1980)

When confronting a group of outlaw bikers who are harrassing a teenager (Heather Locklear, in her screen debut), Bonnie is kidnapped!  Reno (John Quade) manages to snap her own handcuffs on her wrists and then drags her to a cabin owned by Stan (William Smith) and his wife (Candice Azzara).

Can the Highway Patrol find the cabin?  The cabin is in the mountains it might not be easy to locate.  It’s a good thing that Ponch and Jon just happen have those motorized hang gliders!   It’s California living to the rescue!  Needless to say, Ponch and Jon (but mostly Ponch) are able to swoop in for the rescue.

This episode didn’t do much for me but then again, episodes about hostage situations rarely do.  Once a character is taken hostage, it pretty much causes the action to slow down to a crawl.  There’s only so many times you can listen to someone being told not to even think about escaping before it gets kind of boring.  This episode did feature the great villainous character actor, William Smith.  It had that going for it.  But, otherwise, the episode itself moved very slowly and it didn’t help that Bonnie herself was required to make a lot of very stupid mistakes so that she could be kidnapped in the first place.  When a show’s storyline depends on a previous competent person suddenly being amazing incompetent, it’s an issue.

This episode’s b-plot featured Getraer’s very pregnant wife continually going the hospital, just to discover it was a false alarm.  Getraer’s wife was played Gwynne Gilford who was (and is) married to Robert Pine.  Their son, Chris Pine, was born a few months before this episode aired.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 4.14 “Baseballs of Death”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Mondays, I will be reviewing Miami Vice, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show can be purchased on Prime!

I saw the title of this week’s episode and I immediately called my sister….

Episode 4.14 “Baseballs of Death”

(Dir by Bill Duke, originally aired on February 19th, 1988)

“Watch this with me,” I told Erin, “it’s a baseball episode!”

“It is?” Erin asked.

“Look at the title!”

I was excited.  I always like to find things that I can watch with my sister and, as we all know, she loves baseball.  She certainly loves baseball more than she loves tv shows about bombs that blow up when you step on them.

Unfortunately, it turned out that this episode was not about baseball.  Instead, it featured a bunch of bombs that blow up when you step on them.  According to this episode, those bombs are known as baseballs.  Sorry, Erin!  Honest mistake….

Misleading title aside, this is a really good episode.  It features Tony Plana as a Chilean diplomat who is trying to buy a shipment of weapons, including the explosive baseballs.  Plana is a chilling villain.  In fact, he’s the first villain of season 4 to actually feel dangerous.  When we first meet him, he’s coldly executing the girlfriend of a tabloid reporter.  Plana’s lack of emotion as he kills and plots to kill feels like a throwback to the soulless sociopaths who made the first season’s rogue gallery.  A very young Oliver Platt shows up as an arms dealer and his nerdy confidence adds to some comedy to what is an otherwise fairly grim episode.  Just as with Plana’s cold villainy, Platt’s cheerful amorality felt like a throwback to the first season.

Indeed, this entire episode felt like a return to what the show used to be.  After a season that’s involved televangelists, bull semen, UFOs, and Crockett getting married to Sheena Easton, it was nice to see an episode that actually felt like an episode of Miami Vice.  Director Bill Dule gave this episode a stylish and, at times, almost surrealistic feel.  Crockett was back to be a cynic.  Castillo stared at the floor and spoke through clenched teeth while Switek actually got to put his phone-tapping skills to good use.  In the end, Tony Plana may have been the villain but, in old school Miami Vice style, the majority of the blame was still put on the U.S. government.  The episode even ended with an exciting boat chase.  All this episode needed was Phil Collins on the soundtrack and it could have passed for something from the first two seasons.

Season 4 has been uneven but this episode felt like classic Vice.  Erin thought the episode would have been better with actual baseballs and I agree with her that the title was misleading.  That said, this was still an enjoyable throwback to what the show used to be.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 2.13 “One Last Dance”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1989 to 1991!  The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi

Degrassi High comes to a close.  Here’s the final time we’ll be hearing this theme song.

Episode 2.13 “One Last Dance”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on February 11th, 1991)

With the end of term approaching, the students of Degrassi High are shocked to hear that their school will be closing.  The next year, everyone will be split up and going to different schools.  Lucy may have just been elected president of the student council but she’s never going to take office.

It’s sad news but at least the students get one last dance.

Joey and Caitlin finally get back together as the series come to a close, dancing in Degrassi’s gym.  Upon hearing some students discussing the rumor that one of their classmates is HIV+, an angry Dwayne finally admits that it’s him.  His “friend” Nick (George Chaker) refuses to speak to him.  His other friend, Tabby (Michele Johnson-Murray), finally gets over her fear and shares a dance with him.  Snake dances with Michelle.  Wheels shows up to the dance and I’m going to assume that he’s no longer homeless.  Arthur — remember when this show was all about Arthur? — is spotted dancing with someone.  The camera pans over all of the students in the school’s gym, sharing some final moments as they prepare to end one chapter of their life and start another.  It’s a low-key but effective ending for the show.  It helps that the we’ve gotten to know the characters so well.  Degrassi High didn’t need to burn down the school to have an effective ending.  It just needed to get everyone together in the gym.

However, it was not the end of the franchise, not hardly.  A year after Degrassi High ended, School’s Out would air and our characters would be given temporary (and, in some cases, rather tragic) closure.  I’ll take a second look at School’s Out next Sunday. And then, a decade or so later, a new generation would become students at Toronto’s most famous learning center.  Degrassi: The Next Generation is coming soon!

Brad reviews AMERICAN OUTLAWS (2023)!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

AMERICAN OUTLAWS is a 2023 crime drama inspired by the true story of the Dougherty siblings, Dylan (Emory Cohen), Lee-Grace (India Eisley), and Ryan (Sam Strike). Starting in Florida, the film follows the three siblings, who, facing potential prison time, embark on a desperate cross-country crime spree in 2011. Dylan, the older brother, leads the trio, with Lee-Grace, a former stripper battling drug addiction, and Ryan, a soon-to-be father at risk of returning to prison for a parole violation. Their plan is to flee to Costa Rica for a fresh start, but their journey spirals into chaos after Dylan escalates a routine traffic stop by shooting at police, leading to a series of bank robberies and an eight-day manhunt. The film explores their loyalty and reckless pursuit of freedom, set against a backdrop of poverty, ultimately culminating with their capture, and collective jail sentences of 179 years in prison.

AMERICAN OUTLAWS, written and directed by Sean McEwen, is a mixed bag, but I definitely enjoyed watching it. It’s a low-budget, ambitious B-movie, but it’s also somewhat a victim of its budget. On the positive side, McEwen creates a gritty feel, particularly during the car chases, shootouts and various criminal acts. He also incorporates real news footage that adds authenticity and grounds the story in a specific date and time. The cast, led by India Eisley’s uninhibited portrayal of Lee-Grace, delivers committed performances, with Emory Cohen and Sam Strike capturing the siblings’ desperate bond. On the negative side, the low budget is also quite evident at times. You can’t help but wonder what McEwen could have done with more money to throw at the production. He’s clearly a talented filmmaker, and I’m looking forward to watching his future projects.

I did want to note that AMERICAN OUTLAWS is the final role of actor Treat Williams, who would pass away in a tragic accident on June 12th, 2023. The actor, who would have roles in classic films like Sidney Lumet’s PRINCE OF THE CITY (1981) and Sergio Leone’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (1984), adds gravitas as Agent Jameison R. Donovan, though his screen time is limited. His five decade career doesn’t end on an extremely high note, but it’s still a joy to see him in a solid, authoritative role. 

Ultimately, AMERICAN OUTLAWS is a solid thriller that gets by on a committed cast and a true-crime story, but it isn’t able to fully capitalize on its premise due to budget limitations. It’s worth a watch for fans of gritty crime dramas. Just be sure to keep your expectations in check. 

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.20 “The Gas Man”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC!  It  can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, the third season of Homicide comes to an end.

Episode 3.2o “The Gas Man”

(Dir by Barry Levinson, originally aired on May 5th, 1995)

The third season of Homicide was coming to an end and NBC was dragging its heels as to whether or not it would renew the show.  Homicide was critically acclaimed but its ratings were low, despite the efforts to make the show more audience-friendly during the third season.  Producer Barry Levinson grew frustrated with NBC’s refusal to tell him whether or not the show would be renewed.  Feeling that show was probably over, Levinson and showrunner Tom Fontana decided to do something truly radical.  They crafted a series finale that sidelined most of the major characters.

Instead, The Gas Man focuses on Victor Helms (Bruno Kirby) and his best friend, Danny Newton (Richard Edson).  Helms has just gotten out of prison, where he served six years after a gas heater he installed malfunctioned and caused the death of one of his customers.  Helms blames Frank Pembleton for the loss of both his freedom and his family.  (After getting released, Helms tries to talk to his teenage son but is rejected.)  Helms and Newton follow Pembleton across Baltimore, watching as he goes to work and to a fertility clinic.  While Pembleton is investigating the murder of a fortune teller, Helms and Newton sneak onto the crime scene and find both the murder weapon and the fortune teller’s severed head.  Helms takes both of them home and sends pictures to the Baltimore Sun, trying to taunt Pembleton.  Both the Sun and Pembleton assume its a hoax.  Eventually, Helms makes his move and, even with a knife to Pembleton’s throat, he realizes that he doesn’t have it in him to commit a cold-blooded murder.  He starts to cry.  Pembleton arrests him.  Life goes on.

This was an interesting episode.  The first time I saw it, I was a bit annoyed that the focus was taken off the lead characters.  But the more I think about it, the more I appreciate what Levinson was going for.  With this episode, he shows us what happens after the investigation and the conviction.  Victor Helms is angry because he feels, perhaps with some justification, that he was unfairly charged and convicted.  He’s obsessed with Pembleton but it’s clear that Pembleton doesn’t even remember him.  For Pembleton, arresting Victor Helms was a part of his job, nothing more.  For Helms, it was the moment that his entire life collapsed.  Bruno Kirby and Richard Edson both gave good performances as Helms and Danny.  Kirby captured Helms’s obsession but he also gave us some glimpses of the man that Helms used to be.  As portrayed by Edson, Danny’s loyalty to his friend was actually kind of touching.

Of course, it turned out that this episode was not the series finale.  Homicide would return for a fourth season, without Daniel Baldwin or Ned Beatty.  We’ll start season four next week!