This week’s episode took a look at prescription drug abuse in Hollywood. It really didn’t have anything new to say about the subject.
Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Shout TV)
I watched three more episodes of this odd series on Friday night. The monsters were even more trippy than usual!
The N.Y. Friars Club Roast of Chevy Chase (YouTube)
On Sunday, I watched this infamous roast from 2003. Chevy Chase was roasted by a few people who knew him and by a lot of people who didn’t. Stephen Colbert made an early name for himself with his no-holds barred set. I knew this is something that we’re not supposed to admit nowadays but, as I watched the roast, I actually found myself feeling a little sorry for Chase. It’s one thing to be insulted by your friends. It’s another thing to be insulted by strangers who genuinely seem to despise you. At least Paul Shaffer appeared to be having fun as Chevy’s roast master.
Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano (Netflix)
17 seconds? After all the hype, it’s impossible not to be disappointed with the actual fight. That said, I’ve always felt that Gina Carano was not treated fairly by Disney so I’m glad she appears to be making a comeback of sorts.
Saved By The Bell (Tubi)
My review of Saved By The Bell will be dropping soon, assuming I don’t fall asleep before I can write it.
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 Daily Motion.
The drama continues in Boston.
Episode 3.20 “Amazing Face”
(Dir by Janet Greek, originally aired on February 20th, 1985)
This week, at St. Eligius:
Nurse Rosenthal thinks that she’s pregnant. That sound you hear is me sighing. Seriously, I liked Nurse Rosenthal during the first season but now I’m kind of sick of her and her sanctimonious attitude, her homewrecking affair with Richard, and her annoying children. Obviously, the show’s writers really liked Nurse Rosenthal but I’m tired of her. A pregnant Nurse Rosenthal? I don’t think I could handle that. Fortunately, it turns out that Nurse Rosenthal is actually starting menopause.
When is Rosenthal going to dump Richard? We all know it’s going to happen.
Dr. Westphall has put his house on the market and boy, is he glum about it. Westphall continues to be the most depressing human being on the planet.
Mrs. Hufnagle has heart surgery. Before that, however, she steals some scrubs and wanders in on an operation.
Fiscus wants to hook back up with Cathy Martin. When a macho patient makes a misogynistic comment about Cathy, Fiscus throws a punch and gets his ass kicked. Luckily, Cathy has learned kung fu.
The bandages are removed and Andrea Fordham (Ann Hearn) sees her new face. She now looks like an average teenager. She tells Dr. Caldwell that she’s still not ready to face the world.
Shirley Daniels is a patient at St. Eligius. She tells everyone who she meets that she killed Peter White and that she can’t wait to go to jail for it. She promises Doctors Wade and Morrison that she’ll never shoot anyone else. She also reveals that she’s the one who sent the baby ski mask to Peter’s widow. She’s knitting a new ski mask for Morrison’s son. Oh, Shirley!
The episode ends with Shirley going to the morgue and flashing back to the time she shot Peter in the testicles.
Considering all the hospitals in Boston, was it really a good idea for her to stay at the same one where she happened to kill a doctor, albeit one who deserved exactly what he got?
This episode felt like filler. Ehrlich acted like a jackass. Morrison acted like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Dr. Craig was arrogant. Dr. Westphall was depressed. It wasn’t a bad episode but there wasn’t anything terribly memorable about it either.
The latest episode of Hollywood Demons took a rather superficial look at life behind the scenes at Saved By The Bell. The formerly reclusive Lark Voorhies was interviewed and it was good to see her looking healthy and happy. As well, Max Battimo, from Good Morning Miss Bliss, was also interviewed and talked about what it was like to not be invited to join the cast of Saved By The Bell.
The majority of the episode focused on Dustin Diamond and his years after Saved By The Bell. The episode tried to generate some sympathy for Diamond and I have to admit that I’ve always felt that it wasn’t right to cast him as a high school student when he was barely 12 and had so little in common with the rest of the cast. That said, in this documentary, Dustin Diamond also came across as being mentally unhinged. One crew member told a story about Diamond threatening a Saved By The Bell: The New Class actor with a knife. The name of the actor was not given, though from the details provided (the incident occurred while Diamond’s mother was dying of cancer and Diamond threatened to get the actor fired), it seems that the incident took place in 1996, during the film of the New Class‘s Fourth Season. Assuming Diamond didn’t pull the knife on any of the female cast members or Dennis Haskins, that leaves Richard Lee Jackson, Ben Gould, and Anthony Harrell. Jackson was in his second season on the show and was the lead actor so I don’t think Diamond would have threatened to get him fired. Gould and Harrell were new. On twitter, I found a tweet from 2014 of someone mentioning that they had been given a tour of Hollywood by someone who Dustin Diamond pulled a knife on. Since Harrell has been busy with his musical career, that would leave Gould as the probable target of Diamond’s abuse. Of course, that’s all speculation on my part. The important thing is that Dustin Diamond didn’t come across as being particularly sympathetic, despite the documentary’s best efforts.
Unfortunately, while Lark, Max, and Ed Alonzo were all interviewed, Mark-Paul, Mario, Tiffani, Elizabeth, and Dennis Haskins were not. I’m not surprised. When you’ve actually got a career going, you don’t want to taint it by being interviewed by a tabloid television show. Still, considering that they were the stars of the show, not interviewing them seemed like a missed opportunity.
Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Shout TV)
I watched three more episodes of this odd series on Friday night. The monsters were trippy!
Night Flight (NightFlight+)
I watched an episode on Friday night. John Cougar Mellencamp talked about his career.
Saved By The Bell (Tubi)
My review of Saved By The Bell will be dropping soon, assuming I don’t fall asleep before I can write it.
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 Daily Motion.
St. Elsewhere gets political!
Episode 3.19 “Red White Black and Blue”
(Dir by Eric Laneuville, originally aired on February 13th, 1985)
This week, on St. Elsewhere!
The First Lady is coming to Boston! Though she’s going to be visiting Boston General, St. Eligius has been designated as a backup hospital. While she’s in the area, the Emergency Room will be closed to everyone but her. As well, some members of the hospital staff have been flagged as security risks — including Dr. Craig!
Dr. Craig is not happy about that but eventually, he’s cleared. It turns out that his wife was the security risk because she once defended the Black Panther Party.
Betty White plays Captain Gloria Neal, a doctor who is on the First Lady’s security team. She is an old friend of Dr. Westphall’s. At first, it seems like she and Westphall might pursue a romance but it doesn’t happen. I’m going to guess this is because Gloria realized that Dr. Westphall is the most depressing man on the planet.
When a severely injured man is rushed to St. Eligius, Neal refuses to open the Emergency Room. So, Dr. Craig takes it upon himself to overrule her. The man dies on the table.
Dr. Jacqueline Wade (Sagan Lewis) follows Captain Neal around, complaining about the president’s policies. In fact, the entire hospital seems to be full of Democrats! Wow, this President sure must have been unpopular. Let’s see who it is …. hey, Ronald Reagan! Three months before this episode aired, Reagan was reelected with 58% of the vote. He carried 49 states, including Massachusetts. Apparently, everyone who voted for Walter Mondale worked at the same hospital.
Mrs. Hufnagle is back at the hospital. She is having heart problems. Dr. Westphall glumly tells the doctors that they have been neglecting her because of her terrible personality. However, not even Westphall can handle talking to her. He passes the case over to Dr. Craig.
Fiscus has dinner with Shirley Daniels, who says that she hopes she goes to prison for shooting Dr. White. The next day, Shirley is admitted to the hospital with appendicitis.
Victor Ehrlich wrong believes that a child has been abused by his mother. He gets social services involved. Later, Westphall sighs with regret and tells Victor that he did the wrong thing. Westphall is being kind of a prick here. Legally, if Ehrlich thinks that there’s been abuse, he’s required to report it. Westphall seems to be upset that Ehrlich can’t read minds.
Finally, chronic homewrecker Nurse Rosenthal has to spend the day at the hospital so her lover, Richard, spends the day with her annoying children. Well, I guess he certainly wasn’t going to spend it with his wife. I will never understand why this show felt it was necessary to spend so much time with this particular family. They were all annoying, every single one of them.
This episode opened with a homeless man using an American flag as a blanket and then went on to feature a man selling American flags getting attacked. That’s about as subtle as things got. It’s interesting that the show previously established Dr. Craig as being a Republican but apparently, with this episode, viewers were expected to believe that he was not a fan of Ronald Reagan’s.
In other words, this was not a great episode. This felt like the medical equivalent of one of those Law & Order episodes where all of the salt of the Earth cops start talking about how they never miss Morning Joe.
Finally, I feel bad for Mrs. Hufnagle, Even annoying people deserve good medical treatment!
I was bored. I watched a few episodes this week. Dr. Phil put bad parents and bratty children in their place. One episode featured a guy who refused to take a drug test. Finally, he did take the test and he tested negative. I respected him for trying to stay true to his beliefs even when it would have been easier just to give in.
He’s a British policeman and he’s not that gentle! I watched an episode on Tuesday.
Git It On (PBS)
This was a 70s dance show. I watched an episode on Friday night.
Hollywood Demons (HBOMax)
I watched the latest episode of this sensationalized but undeniably addictive show on Wednesday. It was all about child actor and how their adult lives often seem to go off the rails. Sometimes, I feel bad for all the child actors who went on to live non-tragic, non-scandalous lives. Nobody ever takes the time to congratulate them on not self-destructing.
Intervention (Tubi)
I specifically tracked down the Ken Seeley episodes because Ken’s interventions always seemed to descend into chaos.
Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Shout TV)
On Friday, I watched three episodes of this Japanese show about teenagers who carried the fighting spirits of various dinosaurs. The saber-tooth tiger is so cool!
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 Daily Motion.
This week, it’s a stormy episode!
Episode 3.18 “Any Portrait In A Storm”
(Dir by Leo Penn, originally aired on January 30th, 1985)
As a rain storm rages outside, the drama inside St. Eligius continues.
Dr. Auschlander cancels the grand unveiling of his portrait, saying that he doesn’t feel worthy of the attention and also admitting to Westphall that the whole thing not only makes him feel old but also reminds him that he’s dying. Westphall’s response is to nod glumly because Westphall is the most depressed man on the planet. Auschlander is dying of liver cancer and he still manages to usually be more cheerful than Westphall. Even this episode ends with Auschlander in a good mood. He finally looks at his portrait and discovers that he likes it. Plus, Luther tells Auschlander how important he is to him and the other workers at the hospital.
While Auschlander feels his age and Westphall sadly stares at the ceiling, Dr. Ehrlich makes an effort to be more polite and fails completely. Ms. Hufnagle argues about her hospital bill. In an amusing moment, Warren spots Dean (Tim Van Patten) getting on an elevator and shouts, “Salami!” Before St. Elsewhere, Byron Stewart (who played Warren) and Van Patten starred together on a show called The White Shadow. Stewart played Warren, the same character that he plays on St. Elsewhere. Van Patten played someone named Salami. What makes the scene especially humorous is that Dean hesitates before saying, “You got the wrong guy,” as if he somehow remembers being a different character on another show.
Dean is at the hospital to tell his pregnant girlfriend that, despite the fact that she’s currently in labor, he’s leaving Boston for Florida so he can set up a drug deal. Both Dean’s girlfriend, Maddy (Lycia Naff), and Peter White’s widow, Myra (Karen Landry), give birth in this episode. Tragically, Maddy’s daughter dies. Myra has a son, who survives and who she names Peter. Afterwards, she receives an anonymous present — a little ski mask, identical in every way but size to the one that her late husband used to wear while he was terrorizing the hospital.
This was not a bad episode. The rain served as a good (if perhaps too obvious) metaphor for the drama happening inside the hospital. A good deal of this episode centered around Dr. Woodley trying to get Maddy to accept some help and get Dean out of her life. The problem is that this is only Dr. Woodley’s third or fourth episode and, as a result, I still don’t feel like I know much about the character. Having her suddenly take center stage for this episode felt a bit premature. Still, Norman Lloyd’s performance as Dr. Auschlander and the scene were Dr. Craig realizes that he left his lights on when he got out of his car kept things watchable, occasionally humorous, and, in the end, rather poignant. Sometimes, Dr. Asuchlander could be almost too good to be true but Norman Lloyd’s performance always sold every moment. That was certainly the case here.
Another week, another special about boy bands. I watched this 3-hour, two-part documentary on Wednesday and Thursday. Joey Fatone was one of the producers so it’s not a surprise that a major theme of the documentary was that Joey Fatone was a pretty cool guy. This show hit all the usual points — hey, there’s Lou Pealman! — without adding much new insight.
Crime Story (Tubi)
My review will drop this upcoming Monday.
Degrassi: The Next Generation (Tubi)
My review will drop tomorrow night.
Hollywood Demons (HBOMax)
I watched two episodes. The first one was about Stephen Collins (yikes!). The second was about Jerry Springer. Now that Jerry is dead and his show is definitely never coming back, all of his producers are trying to cash in by letting you know that they were anti-Jerry the whole time. It all feels a bit self-serving.
Homicide: Life on the Street (Peacock)
My review will drop tomorrow.
Saved By The Bell (Tubi)
Along with this week’s review episode (which will be dropping shortly), I also watched three Patrick Muldoon episodes on Friday. RIP.
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 Daily Motion.
Oh, Dr. Westphall, what’s got you upset this week?
Episode 3.17 “Give The Boy A Hand”
(Dir by Janet Greek, originally aired on January 23rd, 1985)
Dr. Westphall’s daughter, Lizzie (Dana Short), comes home from college. At first, Westphall is happy to have her home. So is Tommy, Westphall’s several autistic son. Still, he gets the feeling that Lizzie isn’t telling him something and we know he’s right because nothing good ever happens to Dr. Westphall. Sure enough, Lizzie’s boyfriend shows up unannounced and Westphall discovers that Lizzie is struggling in college. Lizzie reveals that she’s miserable away from home. She wants to drop out and return home so that she can take care of Tommy. Westphall tells her that’s not an option. Lizzie gets angry and goes back to school. Westphall ends up sitting in his house, alone and in the dark.
Agck! Seriously, Dr. Westphall, can you get any more depressing!?
Meanwhile, Mrs. Hufnagle is back in the hospital. When Dr. Chandler introduces himself as her new doctor, Hufnagle says that she doesn’t want him as her doctor. “May I ask why?” Chandler asks. “Because you’re colored,” comes the response. Chandler explains that he went to Yale and graduated at the top of his class. Hufnagle says that’s due to Affirmative Action. In the cafeteria, Chandler begs the other doctors to take over as Hufnagle’s doctor. “Go away!” the other doctors say. Chandler is stuck with Hufnagle and, despite her original comments, Hufnagle decides that she’s okay with that. Maybe she noticed that Dr. Chandler is played by a young Denzel Washington.
Dr. Woodley continues to treat pregnant teenager Maddy (Lycia Naff). Meanwhile, Maddy’s idiot boyfriend (Timothy Van Patten) tried to set up a drug deal that went to pieces when one of his partners overdosed and was rushed to the ER, where he subsequently died.
Finally, Ehrlich has been on the local news, presenting a daily medical commentary. However, when he tries to present a commentary about treating the disabled with respect, he tells a joke about a man who went to the hospital, had his legs accidentally amputated, tried to sue, and was told he didn’t have a leg to stand on. After the station is flooded with complaints, Ehrlich is fired. He gets the news right before he does his final commentary. Ehrlich sings I’ve Got To Be Me on the air. Later, he gets drunk and goes to the hospital, where he tells Dr. Craig that he feels like he’s forgotten what made him love being a doctor in the first place. Ehrlich thinks he should quit medicine.
“It’s too late for that,” Craig replies.
“That’s it!?” Ehrlich, who was hoping for better advice, replies.
Craig sighs and gives Ehrlich a retractor of his very own. Ehrlich thanks Craig and then makes a dumb joke.
“Just can’t help yourself,” Craig says.
The Ehrlich stuff was entertaining. Ed Begley Jr. and William Daniels make for a great team. Otherwise, this was a somewhat bland episode. How many times can we watch Dr. Westphall get depressed? Seriously, the man needs someone to tell him a good joke.
Matthew Perry played the boyfriend of Kirk Cameron’s sister. He drank too much, he crashed his car, and he died. This is one of those very special episodes that one might roll their eyes at, if not for the fact that it guest starred Perry. Because it did guest star Perry, it was very sad to watch.
Homicide: Life On The Street (Peacock)
A review for this episode will be dropping tomorrow.
Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Shout TV)
In this show, from Japan, a group of teenagers used the power of the dinosaurs to defeat a witch. I watched three episodes on Saturday. The stop-motion dinosaurs and tigers were cute.
The Right Time (YouTube)
This was a 90s music show that was hosted by singer Tom Jones. I watched two episodes on Friday. The first one was called “Pop Music” and I enjoyed it. The second one was called “Gospel Music” and it was a little dull.
Saved By The Bell (Tubi)
A review for this episode will be dropping later tonight.
Who’s The Boss (Prime)
On Friday, after Jeff and I finished up The Trip, Amazon took us straight into this Tony Danza-starring sitcom. We watched the first episode, which was pretty forgettable. (Danza is a former baseball player turned housekeeper and no one can believe it.) The theme song kind of got stuck in my head though.
WKRP In Cincinnati (DVD)
Jeff and I watched several episodes of this 70s sitcom over the week. Even if the humor was a bit dated, it was a funny show. Herb Tarlek’s suits were amazing.
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 Daily Motion.
This week, things continue to be awkward in Boston.
Episode 3.16 “Saving Face”
(Dir by Charles Braverman, originally aired on January 16th, 1985)
This episode of St. Elsewhere was even busier than usual.
Tough-as-nails Dr. Mary Woodley (Karen Austin) has been hired to oversee the ER. Dr. Fiscus isn’t happy about it. He’s going to have to work for a woman? Agck!
Dr. Cavanero is also not happy. Of course, the last time that St. Eligius hired a new female doctor, Cavanero told everyone at the hospital that she was a lesbian and, for some reason, this led to the doctor having to leave town. (It was the 80s.) Maybe, just maybe, there are reasons to have doubts about Cavanero’s professionalism.
Dr. Westphall shows Dr. Woodley around the hospital and, as usual, comes across as being the saddest man on the planet.
Dr. Westphall informs Jack that he will be allowed to continue on as a resident. However, Westphall also rather glumly states that he will be watching Jack from now on. Jack better not screw up or Westphall will “come down” on him. Personally, I think Westphall is too depressed to really do much of anything.
Feeling guilty about Murray’s death, Elliott brings Mrs. Hufnagle a ham. Mrs. Hufnagle has an allergic reaction and ends up back in the hospital. “She thinks I tried to kill her!” Elliott says.
A teenager (Tim Van Patten) brings in his pregnant girlfriend, who has OD’d. Dr. Woodley says she is required to call family services. Myself, I started shouting, “I am da futah!” as soon as Tim “Stegman” Van Patten showed up on the screen.
Dr. Caldwell performs extensive plastic surgery on a disfigured young woman. When Dr. Ehrlich says that the patient looks like she got hit with the “ugly stick,” Caldwell kicks Ehrlich off his team.
Nobody wants to work with Ehrlich! Dr. Craig declines to invite Ehrlich to his 34 year anniversary party. Cavanero agrees to take Ehrlich as her date. “What are you doing here!?” Craig snaps as soon as he sees Ehrlich in his living room.
Dr. Craig’s younger brother, William (Lou Richards), also shows up. He was invited at Ellen’s insistence, despite the fact that William and Mark haven’t spoken in over four years. Mark feels that William has wasted his life and his potential. But when William proves to be the life of the party, it becomes apparent that Mark is actually jealous of how likable his younger brother is.
In the kitchen, Mark and William have a long conversation. William admits that he’s struggling to pay the bills. Mark writes him a check. For a few minutes, the brothers actually reconcile.
However, Mark later hears William joking about how much money surgeon’s make and he loses his temper. In front of the entire party, he calls out William and reveals that he doesn’t have a dime to his name.
That night, after everyone else has left and William has gone to the guest room, Ellen tells Mark that he should apologize. Mark agrees and says he’ll do it in the morning.
Later, during the night, Mark steps out of his bedroom and discovers that William has gone home. He left behind the check, which he ripped in half. Mark stares at the check and starts to cry.
This was another episode that did a good job balancing the serious and the humorous. Dr. Ehrlich’s inability to say the right thing will never not be funny. For that matter, the same can be said of Dr. Craig’s general irritation with everything. And yet, seeing Dr. Craig break down and cry was truly heartbreaking. Dr. Craig and Dr. Ehrlich share an inability to socialize and a habit of screwing up even the kindest of gestures. Even when they try to do the right thing, they somehow always manage to screw it up.
Through the Shattered Lens 