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Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 2.1 “The Return of Screech”

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 Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Saved By The Bell: The New Class, which ran on NBC from 1993 to 2o00.  The show is currently on Prime.

This week, we start the 2nd season of Saved By The Bell: The New Class!

Episode 2.1 “The Return of Screech”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on September 10th, 1994)

After the disappointing reviews and ratings of the first season, Saved By The Bell: The New Class rebooted itself for the second season.  Robert Sutherland Telfer, Isaac Lidsky, and Bonnie Russavage were all fired and the characters of Scott, Weasel, and Vicky were dropped from the show. (No mention was ever made of where they had gone.  They just vanished.)

Suddenly, Megan and Lindsay’s best friend was Rachel Meyers (played by Sarah Lancaster, who appeared once during the first season).  Meanwhile, Swiss exchange student Brian Keller (played by a German actor named Christian Oliver) became the new head schemer while Bobby Wilson (Spankee Rodgers) became the new annoying sidekick with a crush on Megan.  From the start of the second season, everyone acted as if Brian and Bobby had always been there.  As for Lindsay and Tommy D, they continued to date.  And because Brian had a crush on Rachel, there was no longer anyone around trying to break the two of them up.

Mr. Belding was still the principal but now, he had a much bigger office with a window.  He also got a new administrative assistant, an education major who was on a work/study program with Cal U.  As you probably already guessed from this episode’s title, that administrative assistant turned out to be Screech Powers (Dustin Diamond).

Now, to give credit where credit is due, neither Screech nor Diamond are quite as annoying in this episode as they would eventually become.  By the end of the series, Diamond was giving such a broad performance as Screech that it almost came across as being deliberately self-destructive.  In this episode, though, Diamond just plays Screech as being overly earnest and too eager to please.  He may get on everyone’s nerves but at least he’s not doing the weird voices or the twisted facial expressions that would later come to typify his performance.

As for the plot of this episode, it’s dumb.  Rachel needs $700 so she can replace the jacket that she borrowed (without permission) from her mother.  Brian throws a party and sells tickets to help her raise the cash but when it turns out that Bobby’s house is not available for the party, Brian tricks Screech into unlocking the gym and allowing the party to be held in there.  When Belding shows up and demands to know what’s happening, Screech takes the blame and decides that he should return to Cal U.  And, really, he probably should have.  I mean, after all the years he spent with Zack, Screech should have been able to see that he was being manipulated.  What a moron.

But Brian does the right thing and tells the truth to Belding.  Brian and the Gang all get two-weeks detention.  Belding tells Screech that the students respect him and that he taught them an important lesson about the telling the truth.  I’m not sure how accurate any of that is but the important thing is that Screech stays at Bayside.

This episode was actually not as bad as I was expecting it to be.  Brian is a bit more likable than the first season’s Scott and this episode didn’t feature any of the mean-spiritedness that seemed to typify so much of the first season.  Even Screech was tolerable!

Don’t get used to it, though.  The season’s just getting started.

 

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 5.18 “In The Best of Families”

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, it’s all about sibling rivalry and crashing cars.

Episode 5.18 “In The Best of Families”

(Dir by John Florea, originally aired on February 21st, 1982)

Getrear is not in a good mood.

He’s got a big inspection coming up but the members of the Highway Patrol keep screwing up.  Bonnie’s patrol car is stolen while she’s on a coffee break.  Baricza’s car is stripped of its lights and its CHP insignia.  Ponch and Baker chase the thieves but somehow never manage to catch them.  Finally, someone breaks into Getraer’s dry cleaner’s place and steals two of Getraer’s uniforms.

The Highway Patrol is squabbling, as all families do.  They worry that Getraer is angling for a promotion and that they’ll have to “break in a new sergeant.”  Fortunately, Getraer isn’t planning on going anywhere.  Ponch, Baker, Bonnie, Turner, Grossie, Harlan, and Bear all get to keep their surrogate father figure.

Meanwhile, a real family is fighting.  Anne Francis has planned the perfect armored car robbery.  Now, she just needs her teenaged sons (Michael  Morgan and Timothy Patrick Murphy) to steal a patrol car and some uniforms….

This episode had a pretty silly story but that doesn’t matter because it also featured some truly spectacular stunt work.  The first crash occurs on a freeway and involves so many cars that it almost becomes a symphony of destruction.  A reporter assures us that no one was killed or even seriously injured in the accident but having watched it (in slow motion), I’m not really sure how that could be true.  Later, Turner’s car goes flying over a hillside and again, it’s such a spectacular crash that I’m shocked Turner was able to step out of the wreckage.

This was definitely an episode for those of us who enjoy watching spectacular car destruction.  This was a pure demolition derby and entertaining in the mindless way that those often are.  Even the best families enjoy automotive mayhem.

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.2 “Final Transmission”

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 Crime Story, which ran on NBC from 1986 to 1988.  The entire show can be found on Tubi!

This week, Torello and company search Chicago for a serial killer.

Episode 1.2 “Final Transmission”

(Dir by Leon Ichaso, originally aired on September 19th, 1986)

Mike Torello and the members of the MCU would really like to go after Luca and his crew but, unfortunately, there’s a serial killer on the loose in Chicago.  Realizing that the MCU is going to be tied up trying to track down Ray Pernell (John Snyder) before he kills again, Luca orders his crew to commit even more robberies.  Luca explains to a crestfallen Paulie that Luca will no longer be taking part in the robberies.  Luca is the boss and the boss doesn’t get his hands dirty.  Instead, Luca spends most of this episode meeting with Murray Weisbord’s man in Chicago, Max Goldman (Andrew Dice Clay).

This was an odd episode.  On the one hand, the show went out of its way to recreate Chicago in the early 60s.  The soundtrack was early rock and roll.  The cars all had tailfins.  The suits, the cigarettes, Luca’s haircut, all of the details screamed 1960s.  But then the episode revolved around a serial killer who thought his mother was addressing him through the television and who looked and dressed like a late 70s punk rocker.  I assume that Ray Pernell was based on Richard Speck, the notorious Chicago serial killer who, in 1966, murdered 8 student nurses.  Like Speck, Pernell had an identifying tattoo and both men were traced through the National Maritime Union.  That said, Pernell just seemed so out-of-place, with his sleeveless shirt and his punkish haircut that he just didn’t seem to belong in the world of Crime Story.

That said, I will give this episode some credit.  In the pilot, Luca often seemed like a clueless punk.  In this episode, he quickly realized that the MCU would be too busy hunting for Pernell to devote much time to him and he took advantage of that fact.  Luca’s not quite as dumb as he sometimes seems.  This episode also showed that he was capable of thinking ahead.  When he suspects that someone is listening in on his conversation with Goldman, he resists the temptation to burst into the room next door with his gun drawn.  (If he had, he would have run straight into Torello and Danny.)  This episode shows that Luca is learning and growing.  He not the buffoonish hothead that Torello originally assumed him to be.  In fact, he’s even more dangerous.

This episode ends with Pernell somehow (it’s not really clear how) taking an entire television news broadcast hostage.  Torello takes him down as the cameras roll and the entire city of Chicago watches.  It’s not a bad ending but it just doesn’t feel right for the show.  It’s a Miami Vice ending.  This is Crime Story!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.15 “Hot For Teacher”

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: The Next Generation, which aired from 2001 to 2015!  The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi.

This week, JT is still alive.

Episode 2.15 “Hot For Teacher”

(Dir by Philip Earnshaw, originally aired on July 25th, 2003)

Class clown J.T. is given a week of after school detention with Ms. Hatzilakos.  J.T. discovers that Hatzilakos is more than just a hot teacher and Ms. Hatzilakos tells J.T. that he’s capable of being more than just an obnoxious kid.  They bond while taking care of a pregnant gerbil.  But then, during class, JT stuffs some balloons up his shirt and pretends to be Ms. Hatzilakos.  It gets a laugh from Jimmy but, when Ms. Hatzilakos catches him, she is not amused.

These early JT stories are always rather childish, largely because JT himself was a rather immature character.  Eventually, by the time season 5 rolled around, JT would have a pregnant girlfriend and a side hustle selling drugs and he would become a much more interesting character.  And, of course, he would eventually end up getting stabbed to death outside of Emma’s house.  But that’s all far in the future….

Seriously, though, it’s impossible to watch a JT episode without thinking, “Hey, that kid is going to die in a scene that was probably too graphic for a high school show.”

As for the B-plot of this adequate but not particularly memorable episode, Spinner and Jimmy decide to always be brutally honest with each other.  It doesn’t last for long.  They should have tried to get Marco in on the pledge.  Now, that would have been some drama!

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life on the Street 5.8 “The True Test”

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, a special guest star ends up in the Box.

Episode 5.8 “The True Test”

(Dir by Alan Taylor, originally aired on November 22nd, 1996)

At the end of this week’s episode, Pembleton finds out that he has finally passed his firearms exam and he’s been cleared to return to active duty.  Excusing the suspension of disbelief necessary to buy that Pembleton has recovered that quickly from his stroke, it’s a good thing that Pembleton and Bayliss will be working together again.  Because, seriously, Bayliss spent this episode acting like an unprofessional ass.

There’s been a murder at the exclusive Larchmont Academy.  Fifteen year-old Marshall Buchanan, the only black student at the entire school, has been found on the athletic field, stabbed to death.  It’s Lewis’s case but his temporary partner, Bayliss, takes charge.  Bayliss is convinced that Marshall was killed by a student and that the killing was racially motivated.  Bayliss is rude to the headmaster.  He’s rude to Marshall’s 12 year-old roommates.  He gets angry in the cafeteria and starts banging his hand on a table while everyone is trying to eat.  Lewis finally asks Bayliss what his problem is.  Bayliss explains that he grew up near Larchmont.  His cousin desperately wanted to go to Larchmont but was rejected because he wasn’t from an old money family.  Bayliss has never forgotten the way his cousin cried after getting his rejection letter.

Hey, Bayliss, you know what?

Big freaking deal.  None of that matters!

Your cousin wasn’t accepted?

Oh, boo hoo.  That has nothing to do with the case!

Usually, I like Bayliss and, even more importantly, I like Kyle Secor’s performance as Bayliss.  But, in this episode, Bayliss was just kind of whiny.  Pembleton would have told him to knock it off.  Lewis just ignores him.

Bayliss is right about one thing.  The murderer is a student, a 17 year-old sociopath named McPhee Broadman.  (Seriously, Homicide, you couldn’t have come up with a less on-the-nose name?)  McPhee is a sociopath who is looked up to by a bunch of the younger students.  His mother (Sagan Lewis) is a judge and therefore, he thinks he’s untouchable.  McPhee is played by a young Elijah Wood and Wood, it must be said, gives a chilling performance as the young murderer.  Towards the end of the episode, a smirking McPhee confesses to the crime.  Even after hearing him confess and say that he wants to kill her, McPhee’s mother still immediately starts making plans to defend him and to suppress his confession.

And she’ll probably succeed.  Bayliss has an obvious personal issue with McPhee.  And, as far as I could tell, neither Bayliss nor Lewis bothered to Mirandize him before interrogating him.  Way to let a murderer back out on the streets, guys!

Seriously, thank God Pembleton is back.

As for Kellerman, he is still on restricted duty but he did buy Dr. Cox a drink at the Waterfront and it’s kind of easy to see where things are heading with those two.  But if Pembleton can recover from a stroke in eight episodes, Kellerman can beat those bribery charges.  I have faith.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell 2.1 “The Prom”

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 Saved By The Bell, which ran on NBC from 1989 to 1993.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

This week, we begin season 2!

Episode 2.1 “The Prom”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on September 8th, 1990)

It’s time for the prom!

Wow, the second season really jumps into things, doesn’t it?  Most high school shows tend to take the “each season is one school year approach” but the second season of Saved By The Bell opens with prom.

It’s time for Kelly to finally decide who is going to be prom date (and boyfriend), Slater or Zack.  If the first season occasionally featured Kelly acting a bit flighty and, at times, self-centered, the second season introduces us to the new Kelly, who is in love with Zack but who also doesn’t want to hurt Slater’s feelings.  This is also the Kelly who suddenly comes from a huge blue collar family.  Kelly agrees to go to prom with Zack (and Slater, being awesome, accepts her decision with grace).  But when her father is laid off from his job at the defense plant (“World peace has broken out,” he explains — and you can thank Ronald Reagan and the first George Bush for that!  USA!  USA!  USA!), Kelly gives up going to prom because her family needs the money that she would have spent on the evening.

(Kelly, Zack’s superrich!  Just have him pay for everything….)

Zack is upset, until Slater tells him that Kelly’s father lost his job.

“Poor Kelly,” Zack says.

“That’s right,” Slater replies.  “Poor Kelly.  Not poor Zacky.”

HELL YEAH!  I LOVE SLATER!

Slater does go to prom, with Jessie.  (This is an important episode for Slater and Jessie too.)  Meanwhile, Screech asks Lisa to be his date.  When Lisa turns him down, Screech begs her to just see a movie with him.  It’s a zombie movie and Lisa loves it!  But apparently, Screech has an issue with people who love movies because he gets mad at Lisa for talking too much and decides to go to prom alone.  For some reason, Screech becomes the prom’s DJ.  Meanwhile, Lisa bores her date by talking nonstop about the zombie movie ….. wow, this all feels very familiar to me.

As for Zack and Kelly, they do go to prom!  They dance outside of the gym and it’s one of the few genuinely romantic moments to be found in Saved By The Bell.  It’s also one of the few moments that captures the unique mix of melancholy and optimism that goes along with being a teenager.

The second season is off to a great start!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 4/26/26 — 5/2/26

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I didn’t watch a hell of a lot this week.  Here’s a few thoughts on what I did watch.

Baywatch (Tubi)

You can read my review here.

Dr. Phil (Pluto TV)

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.

Freddy’s Nightmares (Tubi)

You can read my review here.

George Gently (YouTube)

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!

St. Elsewhere (Daily Motion)

You can read my review here.

Who’s The Boss (Prime)

I played this at night whenever I had insomnia.  The theme song always put me right to sleep.

Retro Television Review: Baywatch 2.1 and 2.2 “Nightmare Cove”

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 Saturdays, I will be reviewing Baywatch, which ran on NBC and then in syndication from 1989 to 2001.  The entire show can be viewed on Tubi.

This week, we start season 2 of Baywatch.  Canceled by NBC, Baywatch found a new home in syndication.  The show was re-launched with a special two-hour premiere.  (For subsequent re-airings, the premiere was split into two episodes.)

Episode 2.1 and 2.2 “Nightmare Cove”

(Dir by Gregory J. Bonnan, originally aired on September 23rd, 1991)

A year and half after the final episode of Bayside’s network run, the show returns to the beach.

On the one hand, the basic idea is the same.  David Hasselhoff plays Mitch Buchanan, a divorced father who loves nothing more than being a lifeguard.  Eddie (Billy Warlock) and Shauni (Erika Eleniak) are two young lifeguards who are in love (though their engagement from the previous season is not mentioned).  Don Thorpe (Monte Markham) is Mitch’s no-nonsense boss. The sunsets are still beautiful.  The beaches are still inviting.

And yet, there are a few differences:

  1. Craig, Cort, Gina, Garner, and Trevor are nowhere to be seen.  (Craig, Cort, and Garner will all eventually return.  Gina and Trevor will never be mentioned again.)
  2. Hobie, Mitch’s son, is now played by Jeremy Jackson.
  3. Richard Jaeckel, who played doomed life guard Al Edwards in the pilot film, is now playing Ben Edwards, who apparently is meant to be the same character as Al.  (Mitch specifically mentions that Ben broke his leg when the pier collapsed, retconning Al’s heroic death into a mere injury.)
  4. Cort may be gone but there’s a new money-hungry lifeguard named Harvey (Tim McTigue).
  5. The second season premiere features even more musical montages than appeared in the first season.
  6. The second season premiere features a lot of random shots of women in skimpy bikinis.
  7. The red Baywatch one-piece swimsuits are back but now, they’re considerably tighter and more high-cut.
  8. The new Baywatch was airing in syndication.

I get the feeling that the Baywatch cameraman probably got together and all chanted, “Syndication, baby!” before running out onto the beach.  Even though the second season premiere is still far from what Baywatch would eventually become, one can already see the development of the aesthetic that led to it becoming the number one show for 90s frat boys and dads suffering from a midlife crisis.

As for this episode, there are rumors of an underwater monster and everyone wants in on the action.  Mitch saves an underwater photographer and falls in love for an episode.  Hasslehoff’s then-wife, Pamela Bach, plays a reporter whose editor wants sensationalized stories about the “beast of the bay.”  Of course, the beast of the bay is actually just the creation of an offshore oil company who wants to drill and ruin the environment because why not?  Luckily, one of the lifeguard, Devon (Andrea Thompson), is also an environmental activist.  Of course, Andrea Thompson is not listed in the opening credits so I imagine we’ll never see Devon again.

While Mitch is investigating the monster, Shauni rescues a little girl from drowning and then gets involved in the family’s life.  The family is black and the little girl’s brother is being recruited by a street gang so the very white Shauni arranges from him to join the junior lifeguards instead.  Shauni’s critical father (Albert Stratton) is impressed but I have to admit that I found the storyline to be a bit condescending.  Like a lot of 90s shows, Baywatch was at its weakest when it tried to deal with real-life issues.  It’s hard not to notice that whenever a guest actor who wasn’t white showed up on episode of Baywatch, they were always either being tempted or pressured to join a gang or they were trying to get out of the gang lifestyle.

In this episode, there’s an odd moment when Hobie decides to go into a storm drain and pretend to be the monster, which leads to a panic on the beach and monster hunters showing up with guns.  Mitch shows up and ends the situation before it gets too out-of-hand but you really do have to wonder if maybe Hobie would be better off with his mother.  I mean, seriously, Mitch — what are you doing here?  Your son is apparently an idiot who never learned anything from the dozen or so times his life was put in danger during the first season.

Finally, Thorpe gets promoted and he wants Mitch to take his place as chief.  Mitch argues that the new chief should be Ben Edwards.  Since apparently Ben has the power to come back from the dead, I can see Mitch’s logic.  In the end, Thorpe agrees.

And that’s it for this episode.  It’s definitely Baywatch but it’s still not quite as fun as the show would eventually become once it fully embraced just how ludicrous things could get in syndication.  This episode — and I imagine the rest of this season — feels like a show that is still making the transition from network television to anything-goes syndication.  Eventually, the show will get David Charvet, Pamela Anderson, and David “The Bulge” Chokachi.  During season 2, it was still just Billy Warlock and Erika Eleniak.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Freddy’s Nightmares 2.11 “Dreams that Kill”

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 Fridays, I will be reviewing Freddy’s Nightmares, a horror anthology show which ran in syndication from 1988 to 1990. The entire series can be found on Tubi!

This week, Springwood Confidential struggles to keep a host.

Episode 2.11 “Dreams That Kill”

(Dir by Tom DeSimone, originally aired on December 17th, 1989)

In this follow-up to Dream Come True, Dick Gautier plays Charlies Nickels, the new host of Springwood Confidential.  When he announced that his next show will be a discussion about whether or not a nightmare can kill you, he soon finds that his dreams are being haunted by Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund, hamming it up and apparently enjoying the opportunity to do more than just host for once).  Freddy is worried that the show will cause people to stop sleeping.  I’m not really sure that I follow Freddy’s logic — sleep is unavoidable, no matter how much you want to stay up for days at a time — but whatever.  Eventually, Freddy torments Charlie to the point that Charlie ends up in a coma, where Freddy can torture him 24/7.

At the hospital, a doctor (Nicholas Cascone) removes some of Charlie’s brain fluid and injects it into a comatose teenager named Mark Lindstrom (Christian Borcher).  Mark comes out of his coma but now he has Charlie’s personality and he desperately wants to be the next host of Springwood Confidential.  Mark gets the job but soon, he’s having nightmares involving Freddy.

“This is supposed to be Charlie Nickels’s dream!” Freddy says, spying Mark.  “Two for the price of one!”

As you probably already guessed, this episode ends with a vengeful Mark injecting his brain fluid into the doctor.  So now, it’s three for the price of one….

I kind of liked the idea of Freddy being passed from one victim to another.  And Robert Englund was entertaining as Freddy.  That said, this episode basically felt like the same story told twice.  Freddy haunted Charlie.  Freddy haunts Mark in the exact same way.  It was better than anything the first season had to offer but this episode still ultimately felt a bit redundant.