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Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 5.12 “Mitchell & Woods”

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 …. hey, what is this!?

Episode 5.12 “Mitchell & Woods”

(Dir by Bernard L. Kowalski, originally aired on December 18th, 1981)

Paula Woods (Jayne Kennedy) and Melanie Mitchell (Cindy Morgan) may have once just been two members of the highway patrol who were trained by Ponch but they’ve now been promoted to working as plainclothes detectives in Ocean City!

“Look out Ocean City!” Jon Baker says.

When an old high school friend of Michell’s is murdered, Mitchell and Woods uncover a male prostitution ring.  Along with bringing the guilty to justice, they also help Chickee (Pamela Susan Shoop) find the courage to leave her abusive relationship….

No, there’s not much motorcycle action.  No, there’s no slow motion car crashes.  Yes, this is an episode of CHiPs.  Well, kind of.

It’s actually a backdoor pilot for a show about Mitchell and Woods.  Ponch and Baker show up at the start of the show to wish Mitchell and Woods luck.  Ponch and Baker return halfway through the show so that Ponch can tell Mitchell and Woods about an informant named Avrom (Tony Burton).  And, finally, Ponch and Baker return at the end of the episode and give our erstwhile detectives a parking ticket.

Backdoor pilots at the worst!  You’re all prepared to spend 40 minutes with people you know and suddenly, a bunch of new folks show up and start demanding your attention.  It doesn’t help that Mitchell & Woods is a terrible pilot and I’m not really surprised that it didn’t become an actual series.  Can Mitchell and Woods prove that woman can be good detectives?  Will they ever impress their new boss (Paul Gale)?  I don’t really know the characters so I don’t care.

I swear, they could have at least brought back Caitlyn Jenner for this episode.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 5.18 “World of Trouble”

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!

This week, Al Lombard retuns.

Episode 5.18 “World of Trouble”

(Dir by Alan Myerson, originally aired on Jun 14th, 1989)

Way back in the first season, Dennis Farina appeared as an honorable gangster named Al Lombard who did not want his son, Sal, to follow him into the family business.  During his first appearance, Lombard considered ratting out his associates in return for an immunity deal but, in the end, he refused.  Al Lombard was old school.  He was not a rat.  That didn’t make much difference to his associates.  The episode ended with an ambiguous freeze frame and gunshot that suggested they had executed him.

In this episode, it is revealed that Al Lombard faked his death and has spent the last few years in Europe.  When a judge dismisses the years-old indictment against him, Al returns to Miami so he can visit his son, Sal (Timothy Patrick Quill).  Despite the fact that Lombard went back on his promise to testify against his associates, Crockett and Tubbs are still happy to see him.  Al is a likable guy!

Unfortunately, the whole thing is a set-up.  Rival gangster Federico Librizzi (Ned Eisenberg) arranged for the indictment to be dismissed in order to lure Al back to Miami.  Once in Miami, Al is upset to discover that Sal is now involved in the family business and that a gang war is about to break out over a new superweapon that Sal stole from the DEA.  When Librizzi’s hitmen try to take out Al, they hit Sal instead.

Sal is dead and Al wants revenge.  Al is smart enough to show up at a meeting between Librizzi and Burnett and Cooper (*sigh* the undercover thing again).  Librizzi shoots Al, forcing Crockett and Tubbs to shoot Librizzi.

This was one of the fifth season episodes that did not originally air during the show’s network run.  It was included in syndication as a “lost episode.”  Dennis Farina gives a charismatic performance as Al Lombard but that’s about all this episode really has going for it.  The other performances are nowhere close to being as good as Farina’s and the whole plot to bring Lombard back to Miami is ludicrously convoluted.  Seriously, there aren’t mob hitmen in Europe?

Scenes That I Love: William Shatner Interprets Rocket Man

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we wish a happy 96th birthday to the one and only William Shatner!

In this scene that I love, William Shatner performs Rocket Man at the 1978 Science Fiction Film Awards (better known as the Saturn Awards).  This video has become a bit of tradition around here.  Only Shatner could make this work so brilliantly.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 3/15/26 — 3/21/26

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 98th Annual Academy Awards (Sunday Night, Hulu)

I wrote about the Oscars here.

The Bachelorette: Before The Final Rose (Sunday Night, ABC)

It will never not be amusing that ABC decided to show the “first” episode of Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette after the Oscars and then they ended up canceling the season five days later.  What a waste of prime real estate!  I really haven’t cared much about The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, or Bachelor in Paradise in recent years.  Bring back Chris Harrison, you cowards!

Radio 1990 (NightFlight+)

I watched an episode of this old 80s music video show on Friday night.  Cyndi Lauper said that girls just want to have fun.  And then the host said that Virgin was going to start their own luxury airline and tickets would cost $144 each!

 

A Quick Review Of The 98th Oscar Ceremony

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In a word: Boring.

It wasn’t quite as dull as the COVID Oscars.  The 2021 ceremony set a standard for dullness that will probably never be matched.  This year, the ceremony actually took place in a theater and it actually had a host who, for the most part, knew what he was doing.  That’s not to say that Conan O’Brien was a particularly exciting host but at least the opening monologue went by quickly.  When Jimmy Kimmel came out to present the Best Documentary Oscar, we were reminded of just what an improvement O’Brien was on previous hosts.

It’s funny when you think about it.  We always bemoan stuff like Will Smith slapping Chris Rock or Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announcing that the wrong film had won Best Picture but the Oscar ceremony is pretty dull without any of that.  Last night’s show ran relatively smoothly and only went over by a few minutes.  It probably would have been livened up by a slap or two.

The acceptance speeches were okay.  I prefer arrogant Paul Thomas Anderson to sincere Paul Thomas Anderson but at least he finally won the Oscars that he probably should have first won many years ago.  Anderson is one of our best filmmakers so it’s unfortunate that he won for one of his least interesting films.  But that’s the way it often goes with the Academy.  Martin Scorsese didn’t win for Goodfellas or Raging Bull or even The Aviator.  He won for The Departed.

What happened to all that Sinners momentum?  Looking back, the majority of that momentum was a mirage of wishful thinking.  A lot of people — myself included — wanted something unexpected to happen to liven up what had been a pretty boring Oscar season.  In the end, Michael B. Jordan emerged as Best Actor, over the early favorites. The momentum was less for the film and more for the actor.

The In Memoriam segment was well-handled, though I would have liked to have seen Robert Duvall also get an individual segment.  That said, I imagine that Duvall died after the segment had already been planned out.  In the end, we all know what a great actor Robert Duvall was and that’s the important thing.  Bud Cort, Joe Don Baker and Brigitte Bardot were left out of the In Memoriam montage.  I can’t say why Cort and Baker were left out.  Brigitte Bardot was undoubtedly left out because of her politics and shame on the Academy for that.

Sean Penn was not at the ceremony, so we were spared a Penn speech.  Fortunately, for fans of wealthy celebrities bloviating about politics, Javier Bardem showed up wearing a big ugly button that looked like it was made by an 8 year-old.

There was a lot of talk about how AI will never replace real movies and it felt a bit desperate.  I don’t want AI to replace real movies but, sad to say, I think we can all see where things are heading.  Perhaps if the real movies were a little bit better, AI wouldn’t be such a threat.

I haven’t seen the ratings yet.  Ten years ago, the Oscars dominated social media.  This year, things felt much different.

Finally, my Oscar tweet received a review of their own last night.

*Sigh* Sorry, Liz.

 

Lisa Marie’s Week In Televison: 3/8/26 — 3/14/26

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

American Love Story: John F. Kennedy and Carolyn Bessette (FX)

This week, I watched the first three episodes of American Love Story.  Ryan Murphy is only an executive producer on this one but it is still very much shows his touch.  The first two episodes were okay.  The third episode was self-indulgent and felt like it could have just been 15 minutes without losing anything.  In the lead roles, Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly are two good-looking blanks.  Daryl Hannah has spoken out about how she’s been portrayed in the miniseries and she has every right to be angry.  My main issue with Ryan Murphy’s history lessons is that so many people accept them at face value without doing their own research.

Friends Like These: The Murder of Skylar Neese (Hulu)

I watched this three part crime docuseries on Sunday.  It told the story of Skylar Neese, a teenage girl who was brutally murdered, for no apparent reason, by her two best friends.  Though I had heard the story before, this was still sad and disturbing to watch.  While one of the murderers did seem to have some guilt afterwards, the other has shown zero remorse.  You really have to wonder what is happening inside some people’s minds.

Houses of Horror: Secrets of College Greek Life (Hulu)

I watched three episodes of this rather sordid docuseries on Thursday.  My favorite was the fraternity that was apparently a front for a drug running operation.

Rollergames (YouTube)

On Friday, Jeff and I hung out with our friend Pat and Dani and we watched an episode of this 90s roller derby show.  It was amusing, even if I had no idea what was actually going on for the majority of the show.  This could very well be a future Retro Television Review.

The Simpson (Disney+)

Poochie died on his way back to his home planet.

Top of the Pops (YouTube)

Jeff, Pat, Dani, and I watched an episode of this after Rollergames.  Fortunately, Jimmy Saville was not hosting.

Retro Television Reviews Will Return On March 23rd

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

With both 2026’s second Friday the 13th approaching and Oscar Sunday this weekend and then St. Patrick’s Day and Bruce Willis’s birthday coming up the week after, this is going to be a busy 14 days for me.  I’ve got a lot of movies to watch and reviews to write so my Retro Television Reviews are going to take a break for the next two weeks.  They will return on March 23rd, at which point I will hopefully be all caught up!

Retro Television Review: Decoy 1.23 “Night of Fire”

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 investigates a case of arson!

Episode 1.23 “Night of Fire”

(Dir by Don Medford, originally aired on March 17th, 1957)

This is one of those episodes that ends with Casey speaking directly to the camera.  She tells us that Michele (Betty Lou Holland) will be hitting the streets in search of a new job.  If she comes in your office, Casey says, give her a chance.

It’s a nice sentiment, especially since the viewer has just spent 30 minutes watching a number of people wrongly accuse of Michele of having set a fire at a factory.  Casey, working undercover as another secretary, knows that Michele has recently been released from a mental hospital and that she’s still haunted by a bad relationship that she had with an older man.  But Casey also understands that evidence against Michele is circumstantial.  Yes, Michele had some matches in desk.  Yes, Michele had a can of turpentine in her desk.  All the rest, though, is gossip.

And it does turn out that Michele is innocent.  Co-worker Joe (Clifford David) has an alibi for the night of the fire.  While the factory was burning, Joe was getting arrested for making a scene at the bar.  When Casey learns that Joe is diabetic, she announces that diabetics can’t drink so Joe must have been faking being drunk to give himself an alibi.  Joe confesses that he was hired by the owner of the factory to set the place on fire for the insurance money.

(And it’s a good thing that Joe confessed because I’m pretty sure Casey’s logic would not have held up in court.)

Problems with Casey’s logic aside, I did like this episode.  Betty Lou Holland gave a very good performance as Michele, as did Betty Walker as Jenny, Michele’s main tormenter.  Beverly Garland did a great job communicating Casey’s righteous fury over Jenny’s self-righteous attitude. Finally, after two stage-bound episodes, this story saw a return to the location shooting that makes Decoy such a fun show for history nerds like you and me.  1950s New York was apparently the best place in the world to go shopping with a suspect.

As this episode ended, I found myself hoping that someone did give Michele a shot.

She deserved it.

 

Late Night Retro Television Review: 1st & Ten 3.6 “The Bulls Change Hands”

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.

This episode was confusing.  Is syndication to blame?

Episode 3.6 “The Bulls Change Hands”

(Dir by Stan Lathan, originally aired on September 9th, 1987)

Diana no longer owns the Bulls!

That was the main plot development to be found in this cluttered episode of 1st & Ten.  As I’ve mentioned before, the episodes of 1st & Ten that are available on Tubi are the heavily edited versions that were sold into syndication as opposed to the original, R-rated versions that appeared on HBO.  With quite a few of these episodes, it’s obvious that entire plotlines have been pretty much chopped out.  That certainly feels like the case here because, despite having watched the episode, I’m still not totally sure how Diane lost the Bulls in the first place.

What I do know is that she threatened to expose Teddy’s insider trading.  Teddy responded by leaving the country but, before he left, he gave his ownership shares to his daughter, Jill (Leah Ayres).  Teddy explains that this makes Jill the owner of the Bulls.  But my understanding was that Teddy only owned half the team so it seems like that would mean Jill and Diane would now be co-owners.  Perhaps I missed something in an earlier episode or maybe some line of dialogue was cut out for syndication, I’m not sure.  What I do know is that Jill now owns the Bulls.  The first thing she does is break up with Yinessa because she can’t be both his boss and his girlfriend.

In her final locker room speech, Diane orders the Bulls to win because Diane is taking Jill to court and she wants the team to be in the playoffs once she returns as the owner.  It’s not a bad speech but again, I thought Diane still owned at least half of the team.

Meanwhile, Yinessa is back as quarterback.  And he leads the Bulls to their first victory of the season.  His new wide receiver, Billy Cooper (Michael Toland) catches the game-winning pass.  At the same time that Billy is scoring, some guy who we’ve never seen before is shooting at him from the roof of the stadium.  The police arrest the guy and Billy later discovers a bullet lodged in his helmet.

Bubba’s sex therapist (Penny Johnson) is now obsessed with him, despite Bubba’s attempts to set her up with with Jethro.  I have a feeling that the Jethro/Bubba storylines were the ones that really got left on the cutting room floor when it came to editing these episodes for syndication.  Jethro and Bubba have been with the show since the beginning and they’ve got prominent billing in the opening credits but, when it comes to their roles in the episodes themselves, it seems like the only thing that happens is Bubba says that he needs to get laid and then the two of them disappear for several weeks.  When they do finally reappear, Bubba is always in some sort of new trouble with his wife.

Speaking of marriage, in this episode, TD Parker finally confesses to his wife that he’s been having an affair.

TD apologizes.  His wife tells him to get out.  Agck!  I can see where this storyline is heading but OJ Simpson fighting with his wife still lands differently in 2026 than it probably did in 1987.

This episode was a mess but I guess Jill is the owner of the Bulls now and Teddy’s fled to South America.  Can’t the Bull just concentrate on playing football and earning their paycheck?

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 7.11 “The World’s Greatest Kisser/Don’t Take My Wife, Please/The Reluctant Father”

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 wont hurt anymore….

Episode 7.11 “The World’s Greatest Kisser/Don’t Take My Wife, Please/The Reluctant Father”

(Dir by Ted Lange, originally aired on November 26th, 1983)

Sawdust Radell (Dan Haggerty) is looking for revenge.  The woman he loved dumped him after having a romance with one of the officers on the Pacific Princess.  She didn’t tell him the officer’s name but she did say that he was “the greatest kisser in the world.”  Ol’ Sawdust boards the ship with his best friend, Bonnie Lee Boone (Elaine Joyce).  He wants Bonnie Lee to kiss each of the ship’s officers and then report back on which one is the greatest kisser.  What is Sawdust planning on doing?  I have no idea but I have a feeling that Sawdust might have a prison stint in his future.

(That was certainly true for actor Dan Haggerty who, two years after this episode ended, was arrested for trying to sell cocaine to an undercover police officer.)

Bonnie Lee kisses the Captain, Doc, and Gopher.  She causes a lot of jealousy amongst the crew but they’re not the only ones getting jealous.  Sawdust realizes that he’s in love with Bonnie Lee.  He also gets a cable from his ex, informing him of the name of the officer.  It turns out that the “world’s greatest kisser” is some guy who we have never seen or heard of before and he has since transferred to a different ship.  Well, that’s convenient.

Before leaving the ship, the Captain asks Bonnie who the best kisser amongst the remaining crew was.  Wisely, Bonnie Lee looks over at Sawdust and says, “Him!”

(No, she did not kiss Isaac.  Then again, Ted Lange was busy directing this episode so Isaac’s not really around that much.)

Young executive Matt Stevens (Parker Stevenson) is taking a business cruise.  He boards with his new wife, Marion (Kirstie Alley).  Uh-oh, it turns out that Matt’s boss, Arthur Boggs (David Doyle), gave strict orders that wives were not allowed on the cruise!  As Arthur explains it, “If I let you bring your wife, then I have to bring my wife.”  And it turns out that Arthur — who says stuff like “As they say in Moscow, I’m hot to Trotsky!” — really wants to cheat on his wife.

Matt asks Marion to remove her wedding ring and pretend she doesn’t know him.  Marion agrees.  (Personally, I would have just asked for a maritime divorce.)  But when Arthur starts hitting on Marion and Marion starts spending time with Arthur, Matt is finally forced to stand up and announce, “This is my wife!”

“You’re fired!” Arthur replies.

And you’re sued, Matt should have said.  Seriously, you can’t fire someone for being married.  And perhaps Arthur figures that out because he later offers to give Matt back his job.  Matt smiles and accepts.  Does Matt have any self-respect?

Finally, teenage Melissa Weatherly (Danielle Brisebois) boards the boat with her father, Elliot (William Christopher).  Melissa’s parents divorced when Melissa was young and she’s never really known her father.  But now that her mom has died, Melissa is living with Elliot and the two are trying to adjust.  Elliot makes the mistake of suggesting that Melissa go to boarding school.  Melissa becomes convinced that Elliot doesn’t love her.  Fortunately, Vicki is there to talk to Melissa and the Captain is there to talk to Elliot.

This storyline made me think of my own relationship with my Dad and, as a result, it brought tears to my eyes.  Gavin MacLeod always did well whenever the show gave him a serious storyline.  Plus, it was good that Vicki actually had someone her own age to hang out with for once.  I always worry about the fact that Vicki seems to spend all of her time on a cruise ship, surrounded by people who are about 40 years older than her.

This is one of the many episodes that Ted Lange directed.  Lange always seemed to get better-than-average performances out of both the regulars and the guest stars and that’s certainly the case here.  William Christopher and Danielle Brisebois both turn in strong performances as the father and the daughter.  Parker Stevenson and Kirstie Alley were themselves newlyweds when they did this episode and their chemistry comes through, even if Stevenson is playing an annoyingly wimpy character.

This was a good cruise!