Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 8/2/26 — 8/8/26

Posted on August 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

America 2100 (YouTube)

Baywatch (Tubi)

Big Brother (24/7, CBS, Paramount+, Pluto TV)

You can read my ongoing review of Big Brother here.

Cheaters (Tubi)

Cheaters is on Tubi! I watched a few episodes on Saturday. This show is a guilty pleasure for me because 1) it was filmed in Dallas and 2) Joey Greco is just so judgmental!

CHiPs (Prime)

You can read my review of CHiPs here.

Crime Story (Tubi)

You can read my review of Crime Story here.

Diff’rent Strokes (Tubi)

After buying their father a birthday present, Arnold and Kimberly decided to hitchhike home. They were picked up by a man who locked Arnold in a room and then threatened to rape Kimberly. This was pretty disturbing for a sitcom! I watched this two-part episode on Thursday and I was relieved when the police finally showed up to rescue them.

Freddy’s Nightmares (Tubi)

I wrote about the series finale here!

Election Coverage (Tuesday Night)

I was pretty depressed going into this week’s primary elections but I have to admit that watching the results in Michigan cheered me up, Even though the latest DSA flavor-of-the month, Abdul El-Sayed, won his primary, it was only by one percentage point as opposed to the election being the blow-out that so many predicted. Not everyone is on board with extremism and I take some hope from that.

On Thursday, I watched as the election results rolled in from Tennessee. Other than that one congressman that lost his primary, the Tennessee results weren’t quite as exciting as the Michigan results. I did find myself amused as I remembered how, way back in 2018, some pundits were convinced that Taylor Swift coming out as a Democrat would somehow turn the state blue.

1st & Ten (Prime)

You can read my review here.

Flight of the Conchords (HBOMax)

I watched one episode from the first season (Todd joined the band and things quickly fell apart, despite his skill with the bongos) and one episode from the second season. (Bret and Jermaine met Murray’s best friend, Jim.) Both episodes made me laugh. This is definitely a show that I miss, even if it does seem like Bret and Jermaine probably did everything they could with the concept during the first two seasons.

Hunter (Tubi)

You can read my review here.

The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)

You can read my review here.

Mad TV (Tubi)

Mad TV’s on Tubi now! I watched two episodes on Thursday and, unfortunately, they were even worse than I remembered.

The Office (Peacock TV)

“THIS WAS THE BEST DUNDIES EVER! WHOOOOO!” As much as I complain about the show’s final two seasons, the first three seasons are about as good as anything that has ever aired on television. On Friday, I watched The Dundies.

Pacific Blue (Tubi)

You can read my review of Pacific Blue here.

Saved By The Bell (Prime)

My review will be dropping shortly.

Saved By The Bell: The New Class (Prime)

You can read my review here!

St. Elsewhere (YouTube)

You can read my review of St. Elsewhere here!

60 Minutes (CBS, Sunday Night)

I caught the last 30 minutes of 60 Minutes on Sunday night. It’s funny that, for all the acclaim that this show has received and all the current controversy surrounding it, the only time that I have ever watched it has been when I’ve been waiting for something else to start. It seems like I always end up turning on the show whenever Anderson Cooper is doing one of his “look at my exploring the wilderness!” type of stories.

Survivor 50 (CBS, Wednesday Night)

As I watched this week’s rerun of Survivor 50, it occurred to me that the all of the Survivor icons are starting to get really, really old. A better name for Survivor 50 would have been Survivor: Seniors’ Retreat.

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 8.5 “Only the Good Die Young/Honey Beats the Odds/The Light of Another Day”

Posted on August 5, 2026 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!

Come aboard, we’re expecting you….

Episode 8.5 “Only the Good Die Young/Honey Beats the Odds/The Light of Another Day”

(Dir by Don Weis, originally aired on October 13th, 1984)

This week, Isaac’s friend Lydia (Vernee Watson) boards the boat with her young son, Timmy (Emmanuel Lewis). Is it time for Isaac to find love? Not quite. It turns out that Isaac knew Lydia’s deceased husband. This trip is the first that Lydia and Timmy have taken since he died.

At first, Timmy is all cute and adorable. But then he overhears Isaac talking to Lydia. When Isaac mentions something about the good always dying young, Timmy decides to be bad so that he’ll live longer. Soon, he’s sneaking out of his cabin, making a mess in the kitchen, and trying to steal stuff from the gift shop. Finally, Captain Stubing and Isaac explain to him that what Isaac said was just an expression. All is forgiven!

Oh God, this storyline. I almost always respond to stories about people dealing with the loss of a parent or spouse. I did not respond at all to this story, though. Some of that is because Emmanuel Lewis’s performance as Timmy was way too cutesy. Even more of it was because this story didn’t really deal with loss in any sort of honest or authentic way. Instead, it was just some stupid kid who misunderstood something that he heard. As usual, Ted Lange really poured his heart into his performance but otherwise, this story just fell flat.

Meanwhile, blind Millie Constant (Barbara Parkins) thinks that she has randomly run into Sam Washburn (John Bennett Perry — yes, Matthew’s father). In college, before she lost her eyesight, she had a crush on Sam. What she doesn’t know is that Sam is dead and she’s actually met his younger brother, George. When Millie finally figures out that George is not Sam, how will she react? Most people, blind or not, would probably be disgusted and go out of their way to avoid George for the rest of the cruise. Millie, however, falls in love with George because this is The Love Boat! This story actually featured two good performances. Both Parkins and Perry did their best with the material they had been given to work with. But the story itself asks us to suspend our disbelief just a bit too much.

Finally, Honey Mallory (Stephanie Faracy) boards the boat with her boyfriend, bookie Jake Diamond (James Sloyan). With Jake more interested in making bets than romance, Honey starts to hang out with Miles Metcalf (Jack Riley). Jake panics when he realizes that he might lose Honey. He should also panic about the fact that Miles is a federal agent who has been secretly recording all of his conversations with Honey. This story ends on a weird note. Honey realizes that she loves Jake but Miles announce that Jake will be getting indicted at the end of the week.

All in all, this was not a memorable cruise. None of the stories worked that well and, with the exception of Ted Lange, the Love Boat cast didn’t really seem like that they were that into it this week. This was a pretty forgettable cruise.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 7/26/26 — 8/1/26

Posted on August 1, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Austin City Limits (PBS)

I watched an episode of this show on Saturday morning. My musical tastes pretty much start and end with EDM. Sorry, Austin.

Big Brother 28 (24/7, CBS, Paramout+, Pluto TV)

I’ve been sharing my thoughts on the show that I love to hate over at the RealityTVChat Blog. Feel free to leave a comment over there because, right now, the blog is not quite living up to the chat part of the name.

The Larry Sanders Show (HBOMax)

It’s a funny show and it helps to ease my anxiety. I’ve watched quite a few episodes this week.

Rogue’s Gallery (NightFlight+)

I watched an episode about John Dillinger on Friday. Now there was a handsome bank robber!

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

Running Zack! I’ll be posting a review of this week’s episode in a bit.

Survivor 50 (CBS, Wednesday Night)

CBS has been re-airing Survivor 50 after episodes of Big Brother. I missed Survivor 50 when it first aired and I’m still struggling to get into it right now. I prefered Survivor when it was only an hour long. I have ADHD so asking me to concentrate for 90 minutes is a bit much.

Watched And Reviewed:

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 8.4 “Ace Meets the Champ/Why Justin Can’t Read/Call Me a Doctor”

Posted on July 29, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Come aboard, we’re expecting you!

Episode 8.4 “Ace Meets the Champ/Why Justin Can’t Read/Call Me a Doctor”

(Dir by Robert Scheerer, originally aired on October 6th, 1994)

Malcolm Bosworth (James Noble) boards the ship with his son (Dick Billingsley) and his son’s tutor (Jeannie Wilson). When both the tutor and Doc Bricker suggest that his son might be struggling academically because he’s dyslexic, Malcolm replies, “My son’s not retarded!” Booooo, Malcolm, booooo! In Malcolm’s defense, he comes to see the error of his ways but still, booooo!

Walter Milner (Louis Giambalvo) is a furniture salesman who tells Margo Bush (Tovah Feldshuh) that he’s a doctor. Margo’s mother (Doris Roberts) really wants her daughter to marry a doctor. Wow, I bet that will lead to some wacky complications!

Those two stories are both well-handled and feature some likable performances. James Noble makes Malcolm into a sympathetic figure, even if he is totally incorrect about dyslexia. But neither one of those stories is the main event.

The main event is Ace and Isaac boxing Ernie Jordan (Dick Butkus). Ernie is a professional boxer. Ace and Isaac are not. Ernie was originally scheduled to take part in an exhibition match for charity but, when his opponent gets sick, it looks like the children’s hospital will just have to close. Ernie’s publicist, Gaylan (Jennifer Holmes), is a former girlfriend of Ace’s. She left Ace because she felt he was irresponsible. Isaac and Gopher decide that the best way for Ace to prove that he isn’t irresponsible would be for him to volunteer to fight a professional boxer. Ace agrees. After Isaac writes a poem ridiculing the champ, Ernie declares that he’ll fight both Isaac and Ace at the same time.

Wow, sounds like Ace and Isaac are in a lot of trouble! Fortunately, for them, Ernie is a nice guy and he throws the fight and pretends to get knocked out. The children’s hospital is saved, Ernie’s reputation is probably ruined, and Ace proves …. well, I don’t know what Ace proves. Ace’s goal is to show that he’s not just a rich kid with an easy job but that’s a little bit difficult because he is a rich kid with an easy job. Ace is the Jack Schlossberg of The Love Boat, just with better hair. Still, Ace gets a girlfriend for the final five minutes or so of the episode so that’s a good thing.

This episode was pleasant, though it’s hard not to feel that Gopher would have been a more amusing opponent for Ernie Jordan. Pat Klous still seems to be struggling to fit in with the rest of the cast as Judy. Still, Isaac’s brief Mohammad Ali impersonation made me smile and Ted McGinley’s hair was perfect. With this episode, The Love Boat shows its age a little but luckily, our crew is still capable of delivering an enjoyable if not exactly memorable cruse.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 7/19/26 — 7/25/26

Posted on July 25, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Big Brother (24/7, CBS, Paramount+, Pluto TV)

I’ve been sharing my thoughts on Big Brother here.

Homicide: Life On The Street (Peacock TV)

My review will drop tomorrow.

The Larry Sanders Show (HBOMax)

Rip Torn could make any line funny.

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

My review will drop in an hour.

Survivor (CBS, Wednesday Night)

CBS is reshowing Survivor 50 this season. I missed it when it originally aired but I’m having trouble getting into the reruns. The 90-minute runtime is a problem for me. Survivor is the perfect 60-minute show. At 90 minutes, there’s way too much filler.

TMZ Investigates: The Reiner Murders (Tubi)

TMZ takes a shallow look at the murders Rob and Michele Reiner. This special offered up no new insights but it did serve as a reminder of what a loser Nick Reiner was (and is).

Watched and Reviews:

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 8.2 and 8.3 “Vicki and the Fugitive/Lady in the Window/Stolen Years/Dutch Treat”

Posted on July 22, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, we have a two-hour episode of The Love Boat!

Episodes 8.2 and 8.3 “Vicki and the Fugitive/Lady in the Window/Stolen Years/Dutch Treat”

(Dir by Robert Scheerer, originally aired on September 29th, 1984)

This week, the crew is assigned to a European cruise! Aboard the Royal Viking Sky, the crew and their passengers sail from England to the Netherlands and back again. This is one of those episodes that was shot on location and, as always, the scenery is lovely.

The stories on the other hand….

Vicki falls for a deckhand named Peter (Patrick Cassidy). In fact, Vicki even finds herself falling in love with him. (In this episode, it’s established that Vicki is now 17. Is she old enough now to actually get paid a salary for all the work she does on the boat?) However, Peter is actually Anton, a young man who is being pursued by Interpol. The show spends a lot of time trying to make it appear as if Antono is a criminal of some sort. Actually, he’s just a royal prince who ran off because he wasn’t ready to accept his official duties. Vicki is happy to discover that Anton isn’t a criminal but unhappy that he now has to stay behind and rule a kingdom in Europe.

Captain Stubing probably could have helped Vicki during all of this but he was too busy pursing a romance with Inga Van Damme (Elke Sommer), a mysterious passenger who, much like Anton, appeared to be keeping a secret from her romantic partner. Telling Stubing that she couldn’t be with him, Inga left the ship early. Stubing wandered all over Amsterdam, searching for her. And he discovered her …. working as a madam. “It is legal here,” Inga explains. “But is it morally right?” Stubing replies.

Speaking of being morally right, Dr. Foster (Pat Harrington, Jr.) finds himself on the boat with both his wife (Eileen Brennan) and his mistress (Teri Copley)! Wow, how many times can the exact same thing happen on the Love Boat? As always with this show, the husband went back to his wife but, fortunately, his mistress met someone while leaving the boat. “Can I help you with your bags?” the charming stranger asks. “Are you married?” the former mistress replies.

Finally, Danish Lisa Anderson (Cloris Leachman) meets Erik Larsen (George Kennedy), another Dane, on the boat. (George Kennedy speaks with his normal American accent.) Erik falls in love with Lisa (Hey! That’s my name!) but Lisa is haunted by memories of her former lover (Tim Robbins) being dragged away by the Nazis during World War II. At first, it seems that Lisa is too haunted by what happened to move on. However, it is eventually revealed that her former lover is Erik Larsen! Somehow, Tim Robbins grew up to be George Kennedy. In her memories, it appears that Lisa betrayed Erik but actually, by pointing him out to the Nazis, she bought him time. While everyone else in the town square was being executed, Erik was being interrogated and, because of this, he was still alive when the Americans returned.

So, here’s the problem. Cloris Leachman, not surprisingly, gives a great performance as Lisa. And George Kennedy, once you get over the idea that he’s supposed to be Danish, gives a pretty good performance as Erik. But flashbacks of Nazi atrocities feel very much out-of-place when mixed in with scenes of Vicki dating a prince and the doctor trying to balance being on a cruise with both his wife and his mistress. Tonally, this episode is all over the place.

That said, the scenery’s lovely (am I repeating myself) and Ted McGinley fit in nicely with the rest of the crew. Pat Klous isn’t bad as Judy but, at least at this point in the season, she doesn’t have the same sort of brother/sister chemistry that Lauren Tewes had with Fred Grandy and Bernie Kopell. McGinley, of course, had the advantage that, while he was new, he still wasn’t replacing anyone. Poor Pat Klous still has to escape from the shadow of the former cruise director.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 7/12/26 — 7/18/26

Posted on July 18, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Big Brother 28 (24/7, CBS, Paramount+, Pluto TV)

Big Brother, the show that I love to hate, is back. You can read my thoughts about the show here.

The Larry Sanders Show (HBOMax)

For some reason, this very 90s show relaxes me whenever I watch it. This week, I watched as Jeffrey Tambor sang Spinning Wheel and a young Bob Odenkirk played the most shallow agent possible.

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

My review of Saved By The Bell will drop later tonight.

St. Elsewhere (YouTube)

This week’s episode was so depressing that I couldn’t review it. Expect to see my thoughts on it next week.

Watched and Reviewed:

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 8.1 The Crew’s Cruise Director/What a Drag/Doc’s Slump

Posted on July 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Come aboard, it’s time to start season 8!

Episode 8.1 “The Crew’s Cruise Director/What a Drag/Doc’s Slump”

(Dir by Richard Kinon, originally aired on September 22nd, 1984)

The season starts with the Captain gathering the crew — including Ace, your ship’s photographer! — in his cabin and telling them that Julie will not be joining them on their next cruise. Or any other cruise for that matter. Julie has eloped will never be seen again. (In real life, Lauren Tewes was struggling with a cocaine addiction and was fired after the seventh season.) Everyone drinks a toast to Julie, even Captain Stubing who has previously been established as a recovering alcoholic.

The new cruise director is Bernice Bronson (Diane Ladd), who is oddly abrasive and doesn’t seem to care about keeping any of the passengers happy. Seriously, why is this woman a cruise director? I understand that The Love Boat had corporate sponsorship so I have to wonder how the actual executives at Princess Cruise Line felt about one of their employees being portrayed as being so incompetent at her job. Fortunately, Julie’s sister — Judy McCoy (Pat Klous) — is also on the cruise. A former cruise director herself (who, we’re told, taught Julie everything she knew), Judy takes it upon herself to cover for Bernice.

This week’s cruise is an all women’s cruise to Alaska. Along with going to the coldest place on Earth, the passengers also get to have a pajama party in the ship’s lounge and one of them will win a date with sexy singing sensation (snicker) Engelbert Humperdinck. Engelbert only appears briefly in this episode, which is good because I misspell his name every time I try to write about him.

Doc’s new girlfriend, Emily (Michelle Phillips), is not amused that Doc is on a boat full of women. She knows that Doc has a reputation and a history. Ace and Gopher take it upon themselves to try to convince Emily not to leave Doc. Doc just looks exhausted in this episode.

Emily really should put the blame on publicist Jane Fletcher (Patty Duke). Jane’s the one who came up with the idea for the cruise and also the contest to win a date with the singer whose name I can’t spell. Jane’s husband (Bert Convy) and his best friend (Arte Johnson) decide to disguise themselves as women and sneak on board. Jane immediately recognizes her bathrobe at the pajama party so she pretends to be in love with Captain Stubing in order to make her husband jealous. Meanwhile, Bernice falls in love with the husband’s friend and she quits her job.

OH MY GOD — THE CRUISE IS WITHOUT A CRUISE DIRECTOR!

Well, don’t worry. The Captain offers the job to Judy and Judy accepts.

This episode was …. well, it was okay. It felt strange not having Julie aboard but Judy seems like she’ll be a good replacement and I’m also happy that Ted McGinley is now a permanent member of the crew. Personally, I would love to have a pajama party on a cruise ship. That said, Jane should have divorced her idiot husband and Doc really should do something about this midlife crisis that he’s been having for the last eight years.

I’m looking forward to this new season, though. Love is still exciting and new.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 7/5/26 — 7/11/26

Posted on July 11, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Big Brother 28 (24/7, CBS, Paramount+, Pluto TV)

Originally, I wasn’t going to watch Big Brother this season but I gave in. Watching this show and getting annoyed is pretty much a tradition around these parts and you know me. I’m all about tradition. You can read my thoughts (and Erin’s thoughts!) about the show over at RealityTVChatBlog.

The Contender (Prime)

I watched two episodes of this old reality show on Tuesday. A group of boxers competed to be …. THE CONTENDER! They weren’t bad. I actually remember when this show aired way back in the aughts. Sylvester Stallone was the host for the first two seasons. The episodes I watched were hosted by Sugar Ray Leonard.

Homicide: Life On The Street (Peacock)

My review of Homicide will drop tomorrow.

Saved By The Bell (Tubi)

My review of Saved By The Bell will drop later tonight.

Sledgehammer! (Prime)

I watched an episode of this 80s comedy show on Friday. A contract was put out on Sledgehammer’s life so he hid with with Amish. It was a funny episode.

Watched and Reviewed

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 7.27 “Best Ex-Friends/All the Congressman’s Women/Three Faces of Love”

Posted on July 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, season 7 comes to an end,

Episode 7.27 “Best Ex-Friends/All the Congressman’s Women/Three Faces of Love”

(Dir by Ted Lange, originally aired on May 12th, 1984)

This week, on The Love Boat, Gopher fires Isaac!

You read that right. Gopher told Isaac, “You’re fired,” and it was one of the most shocking things I’ve ever seen on The Love Boat. Some of that was because Gopher and Isaac were best friends. Most of it was because I had no idea that Gopher could fire people.

Why does Gopher fire Isaac? Because Isaac refuses to fire Tina Burnell (Eugenia Wright), the new barmaid that Isaac is currently dating. In Gopher’s defense, Tina is terrible at her job. Also, in Gopher’s defense, it really doesn’t seem ethical for Isaac to hire someone just because he wants to sleep with her. In fact, that seems kind of icky by today’s standards. Then again, this episode aired in 1984. Times were apparently different back then.

The next morning, Gopher rehires Isaac and the two of them forgive each other. But then Gopher puts in for a transfer to another ship because he feels that he’s too close to everyone on the boat to do a good job. (Gopher is probably correct about this.) Isaac finally admits that Tina is not a good enough barmaid and he gently fires her. He assures her that, with her looks and personality, she’ll be able to find a new boss who wants to sleep with her and she’ll get a new job in no time. Isaac chooses friendship over meaningless sex. Awwwww!

I’m being snarky but this story actually worked far better than it had any right to. Ted Lange and Fred Grandy always made for a good team. Their friendship always feels real and, all other issues aside, it’s hard not be happy that they’re still friends at the end of this episode.

As for the other stories, Sal Viscuso plays a movie makeup artist who fears that his girlfriend (Heidi Bohay) is going to cheat on him. He disguises himself as both Burt Reynolds and Doc Bricker in order to test her loyalty. Amazingly, she’s touched by his devotion.

And finally, 11 year-old Tori Spelling plays a sociopathic little brat who doesn’t want her Congressman father (Sam Goom) to run for governor or marry his campaign manager (Phyllis Davis). So, Tori starts cutting up newspapers and magazines and using the headlines to create threatening letters. Somehow, no one has figured out that Tori is the culprit and the Congressman is traveling with a bodyguard. (Hopefully, the Congressman is paying for the bodyguard himself and not charging the taxpayers.) Eventually, Tori comes clean but only after she’s caught with a scissors, glue, and cut up magazine. Personally, I think Tori should have been tossed overboard but instead, she accepts her father’s ambition and her new stepmother’s love.

This was the final episode of Season 7 and it wasn’t a bad one to go out on. Tori Spelling was a terrible actress even at the age of eleven but the Gopher/Isaac storyline was touching. Sadly, this was Lauren Tewes’s final episode and she did not get a grand send-off. Instead, she was fired after this season because, as Tewes has admitted in several interviews, she was struggling with a serious cocaine addiction. Tewes didn’t get to do much during Season 7 and, when you consider how important Julie was during the early seasons of The Love Boat, that’s a shame.

Out of respect for Lauren’s final episode, we’re retiring the HOW COKED UP WAS JULIE scale. What’s important is that Lauren herself got clean and went on to appear in Twin Peaks: The Return. Good for her!