For tonight’s horror on the lens, how about a chance to watch David Hasselhoff and Angie Harmon battle the forces of dark magic?
That’s right, it’s an episode of Baywatch Nights! This episode shows what happens when Angie and David investigate the burned book that they found at the scene of an occult gathering. It’s all a little bit silly but then again, that’s the charm of the show!
Enjoy!
Circle of Fear originally aired on October 27th, 1996.
In tonight’s episode of Baywatch Nights, Lifeguard Mitch (David Hasselhoff) is struck by lightning while saving the life of an awkward and really pale first time surfer. It’s then up the Paranormal Investigator Mitch to discover all of the surfer’s secrets. Not surprisingly, it all goes back to aliens.
At the risk of starting the obvious, the second season of Baywatch Nights is probably a show that would have never existed without the success of The X-Files. The first season of Baywatch Nights was a straight detective show. Because no one watched the first season, the 2nd season found Hasselhoff investigating a different paranormal event every week. What I find interesting is that, after battling sea serpents and all the rest, Mitch could apparently easily go back to his day job as a lifeguard. Seriously, I would be so paranoid after meeting just one monster, I can’t imagine how I would react after meeting three of them. I definitely wouldn’t be smiling while watching people go into the water. I would be demanding that the beaches close.
Anyway, this episode makes Baywatch Nights‘s debt to The X-Files pretty clear. Personally, I just like the super cheap lightning effect.
This episode originally aired on October 20th, 1996.
Enjoy!
On tonight’s episode of Baywatch Nights, David Hasselhoff and Angie Harmon investigate yet another sea monster.
Let’s see. The first episode of Baywatch Night featured a sea monster. And then the 2nd episode featured a killer mermaid. And then this episode features yet another monster living in the sea. Could it be that after just 3 episodes, the writers of Baywatch Nights were running out of ideas? Fortunately, later episodes would involve various land monsters.
That said, I do find the green blob to be kind of creepy. In general, blobs are just scary.
Enjoy!
In tonight’s episode of televised horror, it’s David Hasselhoff vs. a mermaid. Basically, the mermaid wants to procreate but it also wants to kill and that leads to all sorts of conflicts and….
Well, listen, this episode is pretty silly. To be honest, they’re all pretty silly. But that’s kind of the fun of it all, isn’t it?
This episode of Baywatch Nights originally aired on October 6th, 1996.
Enjoy!
During the month of October, we like to share classic episodes of horror-themed television. That was easier to do when we first started doing our annual October horrorthon here at the Shattered Lens because every single episode of the original, black-and-white Twilight Zone was available on YouTube. Sadly, that’s no longer the case.
However, there is some good news! Twilight Zone may be gone but every episode of Baywatch Nights is currently available on YouTube!
Baywatch Nights was a show that ran for two seasons in the 90s. It featured David Hasselhoff as a guy who was a lifeguard during the day and a private detective at night. The first season featured Hasselhoff solving crimes and hardly anyone watched. The 2nd season featured Hasselhoff fighting monsters and other supernatural forces. Again, no one watched but the 2nd season was still a lot more fun.
Now, I’ve shared random episodes of this show in the past but, for this year’s Horrorthon, I’m going to share every episode from the 2nd season of Baywatch Nights. It’s not easy keeping those beaches safe!
For tonight’s episode, we have the first episode from season 2. In this episode, Hasselhoff and company investigate a boat that may have been sunk by a sea monster. Assuming that you’ve spent the first 40 or so years of your life believing that there’s no such thing as sea monsters, how would you react upon discovering that they actually did exist? I think it would drive most people crazy. That’s my theory. Hasselhoff and company, however, handle things pretty well.
Anyway, here’s the episode, which originally aired on September 26th, 1996! Enjoy!
I have to admit that I have a sneaky admiration for network television.
I mean, on the one hand, the networks are dying. After decades of dominating America’s free time, network television was pushed aside first by cable and now by streaming services. It’s been a long time since anyone looked to the big four networks in search of ground-breaking entertainment. (Don’t even get me started on the CW.) In many ways, the networks feel like relics of a bygone era. Why structure your life around staying at home on a certain night so that you can catch whatever’s on NBC, ABC, CBS, or Fox when you can just DVR it or watch it online at your own convenience?
And yet, the networks carry on. In the middle of the Streaming Revolution, the networks continue to insist that they’re at the forefront of American culture. “Look,” they say, “We have football! We have the awards shows! We have game shows hosted by formerly funny comedians! We have the smarmiest late night talk shows host around! We have the nightly news!” There’s something oddly touching about the refusal of the networks to admit that they’re no longer particularly relevant. They’re like Charles Foster Kane, isolated away in Xanadu and insisting that he’s still as powerful and important as he’s always been.
I guess that’s why I’m always fascinated by the start of a new television season. That never-say-die spirit just appeals to me and I always imagine a bunch of network executives saying, at the start of each season, “This time, we’re going to show Netflix and HBO how it’s done!” With the Emmys now over and done with, the 2020-2021 network television season has begun. For me, It’s always interesting to see which shows become a surprise hit and which shows end up getting cancelled after just three weeks. Oddly enough, the previous television season brought us no real hits and only a few dramatic cancellations. That’s the first time I can remember anything like that happening. It was strange.
This new season is also going to be strange because, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, production on a lot of shows were halted. Of the few new dramas and sitcoms that are scheduled for this season, the majority of them are starting in October. Even once the season does get started in earnest, most nights are going to be dominated by celebrity-themed games shows and reality competition programming. That said, I remain an optimist. Surely, there will be at least one good new drama or sitcom on network television this season, right?
Well, it probably won’t be Filthy Rich.
Filthy Rich, which premiered on Fox on Monday night, is the latest primetime soap opera. It’s a show about a wealthy Southern family that owns a Christian television network. When the patriarch of the family is killed in a plane crash, it leads to all of his bastard children coming out of the woodwork so that they can get their inheritance and blah blah blah. It’s meant to be campy and over-the-top and satirical but, judging from the pilot, it just tries too hard. Kim Cattrall plays the scheming matriarch and her erratic southern accent serves to remind that us that Kim Cattrall doesn’t exactly have the greatest range as an actress. Meanwhile, none of the children are really that interesting and even the big, ornately decorated mansion seems rather dull. It’s all a bit too calculated to be genuinely subversive.
With its portrait of scheming rich people and Christian hypocrites, Filthy Rich feels like the edgiest show of 1999. Unfortunately, it’s airing in 2020 and, at this point, we’ve all seen enough Ryan Murphy productions to be able to guess every single thing happens in the pilot for Filthy Rich. (Admittedly, Filthy Rich is not actually a Ryan Murphy production. Instead, it was developed by the director of The Help, Tate Taylor.) There’s not a single surprise to be found. The show seems to think that it’s blowing our minds but, at this point, it takes more than a supporting character smoking weed to be shocking. What would have made Filthy Rich better? It probably would have helped if it had aired on HBO or maybe even FX. Instead, it’s a primetime network show that tries hard to convince us that it’s edgy when it’s actually totally mundane.
Anyway, it’s hard to imagine Filthy Rich surviving against Dancing With The Stars and The Voice so hopefully, everyone involved will move on to better things.
I skipped watching the Emmys this year because …. well, do I need a reason? When it comes to award shows, my heart has always belonged to the Oscars. The Emmys have never done much for me.
That said, I do want to say Congrats! to all the winners. Bad Education won and I am excited about that, though it still bugs me that if only the film had been purchased by Netflix rather than HBO, it would be Oscar eligible as opposed to having to settle for an Emmy. I’m also happy to see that Zendaya won for Euphoria and …. well, to be honest, there’s not a single winner that I really disagree with. I don’t watch Succession but I know a lot of people love it. Schitt’s Creek doesn’t do much for me but it’s nice that Pop! got some recognition.
I mean, at this point, I’m just happy that the Emmys — which were done with an audience and featured all of the winners accepting either from their home or a hotel room — were even held. If they can do the Emmy, there’s no reason why they can’t do the Oscars, right?
Here are the winners!
Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Killing Eve
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Stranger Things
Succession — winner
Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown
Laura Dern, Big Little Lies
Julia Garner, Ozark — winner
Thandie Newton, Westworld
Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve
Sarah Snook, Succession
Meryl Streep, Big Little Lies
Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale
Nicholas Braun, Succession
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show — winner
Kieran Culkin, Succession
Mark Duplass, The Morning Show
Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul
Matthew Macfadyen, Succession
Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid’s Tale
Jeffrey Wright, Westworld
Andrij Parekh, Succession — winner
Jesse Armstrong, Succession — winner
Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show
Olivia Colman, The Crown
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Laura Linney, Ozark
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Zendaya, Euphoria — winner
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Steve Carell, The Morning Show
Brian Cox, Succession
Billy Porter, Pose
Jeremy Strong, Succession — winner
The Masked Singer
Nailed It!
RuPaul’s Drag Race — winner
Top Chef
The Voice
Little Fires Everywhere
Mrs. America
Unbelievable
Unorthodox
Watchmen — winner
Outstanding Film — Bad Education (winner!)
Uzo Aduba, Mrs. America — winner
Toni Collette, Unbelievable
Margo Martindale, Mrs. America
Jean Smart, Watchmen
Holland Taylor, Hollywood
Tracey Ullman, Mrs. America
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Watchmen — winner
Jovan Adepo, Watchmen
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend
Louis Gossett Jr., Watchmen
Dylan McDermott, Hollywood
Jim Parsons, Hollywood
Maria Schrader, Unorthodox — winner
Damon Lindelof, Cord Jefferson, Watchmen — winner
Jeremy Irons, Watchmen
Hugh Jackman, Bad Education
Paul Mescal, Normal People
Jeremy Pope, Hollywood
Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True — winner
Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America
Shira Haas, Unorthodox
Regina King, Watchmen — winner
Octavia Spencer, Self Made
Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver — winner
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dead to Me
The Good Place
Insecure
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Schitt’s Creek — winner
What We Do In the Shadows
Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
D’Arcy Carden, The Good Place
Betty Gilpin, GLOW
Marin Hinkle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Annie Murphy, Schitt’s Creek — winner
Yvonne Orji, Insecure
Cecily Strong, Saturday Night Live
Mahershala Ali, Ramy
Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method
Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Sterling K. Brown, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
William Jackson Harper, The Good Place
Daniel Levy, Schitt’s Creek — winner
Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live
Daniel Levy and Andrew Cividino, Schitt’s Creek — winner
Daniel Levy, Schitt’s Creek — winner
Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
Don Cheadle, Black Monday
Ted Danson, The Good Place
Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek — winner
Ramy Youssef, Ramy
Christina Applegate, Dead to Me
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me
Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek — winner
Issa Rae, Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish
So, I’ll be honest. My first reaction when I saw this trailer was to spend like the next six hours talking about how cute Baby Yoda is. Once I got over the cuteness of Baby Yoda, I thought about how atmospheric and full of menace and mystery this entire trailer is. Seriously, this whole thing is wonderfully put together.
Enjoy the trailer! The Mandalorian returns on October 30th! As for now, be sure to watch the Emmys on Sunday to see how the show does when the big awards are handed out. It’s got quite a few nominations. There’s a long-standing Emmy tradition of shows that are a part of the cultural zeitgeist receiving a lot of nominations during their first season and then not winning anything. Hopefully, that won’t be the case with The Mandalorian.
Let’s just be honest here.
Come December, we all know what we’re going to be in the mood for. After making our way through 11 months of 2020, everyone is going to watch a miniseries about a society-destroying pandemic that leads to a civil war and the destruction of a major U.S. city.
I mean, seriously.
The latest version of The Stand will premiere on December 17th, on CBS All Access so, if you’re thinking of canceling your subscription because of how terrible Big Brother has been this season …. well, hold off for a few months. This version of The Stand features Alexander Skarsgard and Whoopi Goldberg and it’s probably going to be really bad but …. well, our longtime readers know how I feel about Alexander Skarsgard. I’ll watch him in anything.
Anyway, here’s the first teaser for The Stand.
Randall Flagg says hello.
Baby, can you dig your man?
He’s a righteous man!
Good God, this looks awful. When is Mario Lopez going to start aging? I swear, the man has to have a Dorian Gray-type painting up in his attic or something.
Oh well. As bad as it looks, I’ll probably watch a few episodes.
Through the Shattered Lens 