Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 10/3/21 — 10/9/21


This has been a busy week.  Along with dealing with the Hole of Death, I also took my Dad to and from the chiropractor on Tuesday.  I’ve always been trying to keep up with my horrorthon commitments so I didn’t watch much TV.  That’s probably a good thing.

(“Girl, you watch too much TV!” as my friend Marty would say.)

Here’s a few thoughts on what I did watch:

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

Rene had to take pictures of the secret meeting.  Luckily, Michelle of the Resistance supplied him with a totally obvious hidden camera.  He had to hide it under his apron.  How would he operate the bulky camera without anyone noticing, you may be asking.  Michelle also supplied Rene with a fake arm.  Rene went through with it because, as Michelle and others often point out, Rene is the bravest man in France.

Bachelor in Paradise (Tuesday Night, ABC)

It’s now safe to return to the beach.  Bachelor in Paradise is over …. for now!  Three couples got engaged so I guess we won’t see any of them next season.  I’m joking, of course.  They’ll all probably be back next season, even more bitter than ever.

Baywatch (Weekday Evenings, H&I)

While I was cleaning around the house on Sunday, I turned the TV on and had Baywatch going in the background.  It was the pilot film, Panic at Malibu Pier.  The Hoff tried to get used to being in charge while Madchen Amick stalked a lifeguard.

Columbo (YouTube)

Peter Falk vs. Donald Pleasence!  My friend Mark suggested this episode to me after I shared a scene of Pleasence from Wake in Fight.  It’s a terrifically entertaining episode and guess what?  You can watch it here on the Shattered Lens!

Dancing With The Stars (Monday Night, ABC)

It was Britney night!  I was too busy dancing myself to pay too much attention to the dancers on the show.

Flight of the Conchords (Friday Night, HBOMax)

After “dissing” several rappers, Bret formed a gang for his own protection.  Stay cool, Murray!

Friday the 13th: The Series (YouTube)

This is an entertaining show and I’ve been having fun highlighting here on the Shattered Lens.  Yes, I totally relate to Micki.  We both have red hair and a desire to collect cursed antiques.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Tuesday Afternoon, Sundance Channel)

I took my Dad to and from the chiropractor on Tuesday.  The television in the waiting room was tuned to the Sundance Channel and while I waited for my Dad to return, I watched two episodes of Law & Order: CI.  They were obviously very early episodes, as Vincent D’Onofrio was still slightly restrained in his performance as Goren.  One of the episodes featured a killer doctor and was kind of disturbing to watch in a doctor’s office.  Choosing what to show in the waiting room of an office is an underrated skill.  I usually go with one of the retro stations.  The shows may not be challenging but they’re also designed not to cause any undue worry.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

Arkwright, that old perv, finally got to go away with nurse Gladys Emmanuel for the weekend.  Nothing happened, though.  The nurse really seems to be leading Arkwright on, perhaps hoping that someone who isn’t a sociopathic shopkeeper will show an interest in her.  Meanwhile, Granville continued to listen to the voices in his head, undoubtedly imploring him to burn everything to the ground.

Parking Wars (Weekday Mornings, A&E)

Apparently, A&E shows episodes of Parking Wars of every morning.  I watched two episodes while I was working from home on Monday morning.  In the first episode, the people at the impound lot had to deal with an irate “customer.”  Apparently, we were supposed to feel bad for the poor little government quislings who were having to deal with the citizens whose lives they make miserable.

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about this week’s episode of Survivor here!

Talking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)

Chris Hardwicke, who has gone back to being clean-shaven, spent some time talking about Walking Dead, which was cool.  But then he spent even more time trying to get the audience hyped up for Walking Dead: World Beyond and that just felt awkward.

The Walking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)

I wrote about this week’s episode here!

Walking Dead: World Beyond (Sunday Night, AMC)

I hate to be rude but what the Hell is this?  I guess this show started during my temporary hiatus from all things related to The Walking Dead.  According to Wikipedia, World Beyond is in its seconds season.  AMC advertises the show by saying, “And now, the final season Walking Dead: World Beyond,” as if this show is some sort of landmark event as opposed to just a rather cynical spin-off from one mighty work of pop culture.

Anyway, as far as i can tell, Walking Dead: World Beyond is like a YA version of The Walking Dead.  Instead of adults killing each other and having endless discussions about the ethics of it all, it’s teenagers.  But, from what I saw of the show, it seems like a pretty pale imitation of The Walking Dead and, unlike Fear The Walking Dead, it doesn’t really add anything new to the story.  So, I don’t know if I’ll bother to set the DVR for any more episodes of Walking Dead: World Beyond.  I imagine I will but I probably won’t be very happy about it.

Horror on TV: Friday the 13th The Series 1.14 “Bedazzled” (dir by Alexander Singer)


Tonight’s episode of Friday the 13th: The Series explores what happens when Jack and Chris retrieve an antique but the owner doesn’t feel like letting them have it. This certainly isn’t the scariest episode of Friday the 13th: The Series but I like it because it’s Micki-centric and yes, I totally relate to Micki.

This episode originally aired on February 27th, 1988!

Horror TV Review: The Walking Dead 11.7 “Promises Broken” (dir by Sharat Raju)


It’s been such a busy week that it was only about an hour ago that I was finally able to sit down and actually watch last Saturday’s episode of The Walking Dead.  

As I watched Promises Broken, I found myself asking one question over and over again.  Can Maggie and Negan just kiss already?  Seriously, it’s totally obvious that Maggie and Negan are in love.  Even if the writers didn’t necessarily plan for them to be in love, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan definitely have the right chemistry for some Maggie/Negan action.  And I know some people are going to say that it’ll never happen because of what happened in the past but listen …. Glenn’s been dead for a long time.  Because of the time jump, he’s been dead even longer on the series than he has been in reality.  The world of the Walking Dead is a different place and traditional periods of mourning no longer hold much currency.  It’s time to move on.

This week, Negan did convince Maggie to stop plotting to kill him.  That was definitely a step forward.  Then he taught her how to wear a whisperer’s mask.  Awwwwww!  But then he said that he should have killed Rick’s entire party when he had the chance and that …. well, that was awkward.  I know I’ve been critical of the way the show has used Negan in the past but, this season, he’s gotten on my nerves a lot less and Jeffrey Dean Morgan finally seems to have a handle on the character.

As for the Reapers …. eh, who cares.  Pope sent Daryl and Leah on a scouting mission.  They came across a family of survivors.  They didn’t kill the survivors like they were supposed to.  Pope will probably be pissed off but Pope’s always pissed off so who cares?  The Reapers are like totally squaresville.  Real melvin.

Meanwhile, in the Commonwealth …. well, listen, I just love the Commonwealth!  There’s just something so brilliant about this gated, suburban community just sitting there in the middle of the zombie apocalypse.  So far, this season’s best scenes have been set in the Commonwealth and that continued to be true this week.  In the latest episode, Eugene and the Gang had to do community service by killing walkers.  Unfortunately, this led to Eugene and Stephanie interrupting a date between Sebastian Milton and his girlfriend, Kayla.  Sebastian, who is basically the preppy from Hell, got mad about the interruption.  Words were exchanged  Eugene punched Sebastian.  Uh-oh!  Sebastian is the son of Governor Milton!  Eugene ended up getting thrown in jail, where he was informed that he was going to stay imprisoned unless he gave up the location of Alexandria.  Is it is possible that all of this was just a set up to get Eugene to turn snitch?  Bravo, Commonwealth, bravo!

Interestingly enough, Sebastian Milton played a small but key role in the final few issues of The Walking Dead comic book.  After Rick (who was still around in the comic book) took over the Commonwealth and started to form an alliance with the recently deposed Governor Milton, a jealous Sebastian ended up killing him.  On the TV show, of course, Carl is dead and Rick is believed dead.  Unless the show is going to go super dark and kill off either Judith or Rick, Jr., there are no members of the Grimes family for Sebatian to kill.  In theory, who would Sebastian kill?  Ezekiel, with his leadership experience and his messianic tendencies, seem the most likely to take power in the Commonwealth so he might want to watch his back.

Next week is the finale of the first half of season 11.  So far, season 11 has been a bit uneven but it’s started to pick some momentum with the previous few episodes.  Hopefully, that momentum will continue to build and season 11 will give this show the conclusion that it deserves.

Horror On TV: Friday the 13th: The Series 1.13 “The Baron’s Bride” (dir by Bradford May)


On tonight’s episode of Friday the 13th: The Series, Micki and Ryan go back to Victorian-era London and deal with a vampire.

Who doesn’t like a good vampire story?

This episode originally aired on February 20th, 1988.

Horror On TV: Friday the 13th: The Series 1.12 “Faith Healer” (dir by David Cronenberg)


Tonight’s episode of Friday the 13th is all about fake faith healers but, even more importantly, it was directd by none other than David Cronenberg!

Be sure to keep an eye out for Robert Silverman, a Cronenberg regular who had important roles in The Brood and Scanners and who has appeared in a host of other Cronenberg films over the years.  He also appeared in Prom Night, playing the creepy janitor who is briefly used as a red herring before the identity of the real murdere is revealed.

This episode originally aired on February 13th, 1988.  (Originally, I got excited when I saw that date but, checking with a calendar, I saw that this show aired on a Saturday the 13th and not an actual Friday the 13th.)  Unfortunately, due to budget cuts after the show’s first season, Cronenberg would be Friday the 13th‘s last celebrity director.

(Cronenberg would, however, go on to appear in Jason X.)

A Blast From The Past: Donald Pleasence Guest Stars On Columbo


A few days ago, we observed the birthday of Donald Pleasence, a great actor who became a horror icon with his performance as Dr. Sam Loomis in Halloween. However, 5 years before a generation of filmgoers first met Dr. Loomis, Donald Pleasence played a wine connoisseur-turned murderer on a classic and much acclaimed episode of the classic detective show, Columbo.

Largely due to the battle of wits between Donald Pleasence and Peter Falk — two of the best character actors of their generation — Any Old Port In A Storm has come to be seen as one of the best episodes ever of this still much-beloved detective show. This episode originally aired on October 7th, 1973, just two days after Pleasence’s birthday. Today, on the 48th anniversary of the episode’s airing, the Shattered Lens is proud to share Donald Pleasence and Peter Falk in Any Old Port In A Storm!

As we frequently say around these parts, enjoy!

Horror on TV: Friday the 13th The Series 1.11 “Scarecrow” (dir by William Fruet)


Tonight’s episode of Friday the 13th The Series finds Micki and Ryan tracking down a cursed scarecrow. The scarecrow guarantees a good crop but only after three people have had their heads chopped off. AGCK!

Listen, folks, scarecrows are scary enough even when they aren’t chopping off people’s heads. I’ve lived around farms. Scarecrows are scary as Hell!

Enjoy!

Horror on TV: Friday the 13th The Series 1.10 “Tales of the Undead” (dir by Lyndon Chubbock)


On tonight’s episode of Friday the 13th: The Series, Ryan is convinced that an old comic book monster has come to life and is now killing people!  Could it all be connected to a cursed pen that was sold to the creator of the comic book?  

Watch and find out!

Tonight’s special guest star is Ray Walston, who played embittered comic book creator Jay Star.  From what I’ve recently learned about how the comic book industry treats its artists and writers, I can’t really blame him for being bitter.

Enjoy!

Here’s The First Trailer For House of the Dragon!


HBOMax has a Game of Thrones prequel coming out.  If you weren’t aware of that or had forgotten about it, don’t feel bad. So did I and I’m actually supposed to keep up with this stuff!

It’s definitely a sign of how let down everyone was by the final season of GoT that the production of House of the Dragon has gotten almost not attention.  Personally, I’m kind of intrigued by the show but, at the same time, it’s hard to deny that there’s been a huge backlash against Game of Thrones.  Ever since the final season, it’s become increasingly difficult to find anyone who is willing to admit that they enjoyed the show.

And yet, I know for a fact that people did enjoy the show.  Game of Thrones wouldn’t have gone for as long as it did if not for its very passionate fan base.  There’s a lot of revisionist history going when it comes to Game of Thrones.  Quite frankly, the anger that the finale generated could only have been generated by people who, after devoting several years of their lives to a program, felt that their loyalty and love had been betrayed.

(Of course, that “Who has a better story than Bram the Broken?” line didn’t help.)

So, will House of the Dragon be another success or will it be something like one of the The Walking Dead prequel series, forever destined to live in the shadow of the show that spawned it?  We’ll find out next year!  For now, here’s the official trailer for House of the Dragon:

Horror on TV: Friday the 13th The Series 1.7 “Doctor Jack”


Tonight’s episode of Friday the 13th: The Series finds Micki, Ryan, and Jack investigating a series of slashings that might be connected to a renowned surgeon named Vincent Howlett (played by Cliff Gorman, who also played an actor based on Dustin Hoffman in Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz).  Howlett has a 100% success rate and he owes it all to his antique scalpel.  Unfortunately, it turns out that there’s a deadly and bloody price for Howlett’s success in the operating room….

This episode was written by Marc Scott Zicree, who also wrote the definitive guide to the original Twilight Zone.  The plot — with its theme of a man doing great evil so that he can do great good — certainly feels like it wouldn’t have been out of place as an episode of Rod Serling’s classic anthology series.

This episode originally aired in 1987, on November 9th (hey, that’s my birthday!)

Enjoy!