Tag Archives: TV Show

Late Night Retro Television Review: Pacific Blue 3.17 “House Party”

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 Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Pacific Blue, a cop show that aired from 1996 to 2000 on the USA Network!  It’s currently streaming everywhere, though I’m watching it on Tubi.

This week, the bicycle cops screw up again.

Episode 3.17 “House Party”

(Dir by Michael Levine, originally aired on February 1st, 1997)

One of the one more entertaining things about Pacific Blue is witnessing how bad the bicycle cops actually are at their job.

I don’t think that was intentional on the part of the show.  I think the show meant for us to watch TC, Palermo, and Victor on their bikes and think to ourselves, “Those are the men that I want protecting me!”  However, the narrative demands of an hour show required that the bike cops always screw up in some way, whether it’s failing to catch the bad guys the first time that they commit a crime or suspecting the wrong guy while working undercover or just letting their personal lives get in the way of their professional judgment.  Combine that with some bad scripts and a group of actors who struggled with showing any emotion beyond grim annoyance and you have a show about cops who are not only incompetent but also kind of rude.

That’s certainly the case with this week’s episode.  Not only do they allow an escaped murderer (Currie Graham) to grab a gun and take over the station but then TC proceeds to spend almost the entire episode arguing with Palermo and the SWAT team because Chris is among those being held hostage on the inside.  When the cops realize that the murderer’s girlfriend is somewhere on the beach, they put Cory in a chicken uniform and have her walk around pretending to hand out flyers for a restaurant.  “Chickelicous,” Cory says as she walks along the beach.  Of course, the murder’s girlfriend spots her and taking off running.  Guess what?  It’s not easy to chase someone when you’re dressed like a chicken!  Seriously, I can understand trying to maintain some element of surprise but why would they put Coy in a costume that severely limits her mobility?

Anyway, this was a hostage episode, which means that almost whole thing was the hostage taker barking orders while the hostages either cowered in fear or tried to stalk some sense into him and the members of his gang.  Episodes about hostage situations are almost always incredibly dull and this episode was no exception.  In the end, Victor — who was in the station when the situation started and managed to go unseen by the hostage takers — was there to do his John McClane thing.  All of the bad guys died.  The hostages were freed.  The bike patrol’s main concern was that Chris was okay.  I would probably be offended if I was one of the civilian hostages.  Just because their friend is okay doesn’t excuse the incompetence that led to the situation in the first place.

Eh.  Just another day in L.A., I guess.

Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 1.7 “Homecoming King”

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.

I’m saved by the bell! …. but for how long?

Episode 1.7 “Homecoming King”

(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on October 23rd, 1993)

The big Homecoming dance is coming up and Lindsay has been nominated for Homecoming Queen, just as her mom (Diane Sainte-Marie) was years ago.  Lindsay should be excited but her mom has made it clear that she doesn’t want Lindsay going to the dance with Tommy D.  In fact, her mom doesn’t want Lindsay dating Tommy D at all.  Tommy D is a troublemaker!  Lindsay gets so angry that she decides not to go to the dance at all but instead, Tommy D tells her that she has to go to the dance so that she can be crowned as Homecoming Queen.  Tommy says that he does screw up a lot.  Maybe they should see other people.

Scott, who just a few episodes ago was trying to break Tommy and Lindsay up, announces that “Tommy D stands for Decent Dude.”

(Then his name would be Tommy DD.  I swear, does anyone even go to class at this school?)

Uh-oh.  It looks like smarmy Chad Westerfield (Jimmy Mardsen) is planning on asking Lindsay to the dance.  Scott’s going to have to come up with a scheme to make sure that Chad doesn’t win Homecoming King and that Tommy and Lindsay get back together….

Wait a minute …. who is that playing Chad Westerfield?  THAT’S A YOUNG JAMES MARSDEN!  Lindsay should definitely go to the dance with Chad Westerfield!  Screw Tommy D!  Lindsay, your date is here!

This was one of James Marsden’s earliest roles but he already had the looks and the charisma that would make him one of my favorite actors.  Even though we’re supposed to hate Chad and there’s a scene where he reveals that he’s just pretending to be nice so that he’ll win the Homecoming King election, James Marsden is still so innately likable that it’s hard not to be disappointed when Scott rigs the election so that Tommy wins as a write-in candidate.  (Homecoming Queen is won by Megan, also a write-in candidate.  The “nerds” voted for her because she came to the dance with Weasel after Chad ghosted her once he found out Lindsay was available.)  Jonathan Angel was likably earnest as Tommy D but sorry, he just can’t compete with James Marsden.

(What type of school allows write-in votes in an election?)

Beyond featuring James Marsden in an early role, this episode is notable as a good example of Saved By The Bell at its most hypocritical.  Lindsay’s mother is portrayed as being wrong-headed because she judges Tommy D on his appearance.  And yet, we’re supposed to howl with laughter when Scott asks one of the nerdy girls to the dance.  (Scott is trying to get the school’s nerds to vote for Tommy.)  Saved By The Bell was always been quick to preach tolerance while also encouraging its audience to laugh at anyone who didn’t have the right look.  That was especially true during New Class.

Sad to say, this was the only appearance that James Marsden made on Saved By The Bell: The New Class.  He was smart enough not to stick around.

 

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 5.11 “Concours d’Elegance”

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, we say goodbye to a member of the highway patrol.  Excuse while I wipe the tears away from my myopic eyes.

Episode 5.11 “Concours d’Elegance”

(Dir by John Patterson, originally aired on December 13th, 1981)

This is it.  This the final episode to feature the character of Steve McLeish.

Played by a pre-transition Caitlyn Jenner, Steve was introduced as a replacement for Ponch while Erik Estrada was recovering from a stunt gone wrong.  Once Ponch rejoined the series, there really wasn’t much for Steve to do but he still stuck around for a few episodes.  He only appears for a few minutes in this episode.  He arrests some joyriding teens who are constantly trying to get older people to buy them liquor.  Maybe they should have asked Steve.  He always seemed like was eager to please.

(I should mention that both of the “teens” appear to be in their 30s.)

I’m going to miss Steve, largely because Jenner’s bland performance was so bad that it actually became rather fascinating to watch.  In this episode, he continues to deliver his lines with a puppy-dog earnestness that can’t disguise his total inability to show any emotion beyond wide-eyed wonderment.

As for this episode, it featured Baker and Ponch getting involved with a rich family.  While matriarch Hannah Chadway (Claudette Nevins) tries to see Baker up with her niece, sleazy Anthony Chadway (Gary Graham) is illegally selling cars and using the family’s charity as a front.  At one point, Hannah offers Baker a private security job.  Baker turns her down.  Couldn’t he have at least put in a word for his friend Steve?  Ponch and Baker eventually take it upon themselves to tell Hannah that she needs to get her spoiled family under control.  Hannah realizes they’re right.  Personally, I would have told Ponch and Baker that it was really none of their business but that’s just me.

This episode feature two slow motion crashes, both of which are so severe that everyone involved should have been killed.  (One accidents features not one but two cars flying through a trailer as it explodes.)  Oddly, no one is seriously injured.  I’m getting the feeling that CHiPs may not have always been a realistic show.

 

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 5.17 “Freefall”

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 Miami Vice, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show can be purchased on Prime!

This week, Crockett and Tubbs are burned out.

Episode 17 “Freefall”

(Dir by Russ Mayberry, originally aired on May 12th, 1989)

As this episode begins, we find Crockett and Tubbs at their most cynical.  After five years as partners, they’ve seen a lot of bad guys go down.  They’ve seen a lot of innocent people die.  Larry Zito was killed by drug dealers.  Switek has developed a gambling addiction.  Gina has shot numerous men in cold blood.  Trudy was kidnapped by aliens.  Castillo has never once smiled.  None of it seems to make any difference.

When the government approaches them and orders Crockett and Tubbs to go into a war-torn island country and smuggle out dictator General Manuel Borbon (Ian McShane), Crockett is not happy about the assignment.  Tubbs, however, believes that the government is telling the truth about Borbon having information that could take down the world’s biggest drug cartel.  The government, for their part, think that Crockett and Tubbs have the undercover experience to pull off the operation.  Has the government not noticed that Crockett and Tubbs have had their covers blown in nearly every episode?

Of course, it turns out that the government is lying.  They just wanted Borbon out of the country so he wouldn’t reveal what he knows about American intelligence’s activities in Central America.  Crockett and Tubbs manage to get Borbon to Miami but they then find themselves under constant attack from the drug gangs that want Borbon dead.  Borbon proves to be untrustworthy.  Because of his gambling addiction, Castillo suspects that Switek may have sold out his partners.  Switek responds by tracking down three hitmen and gunning them down.  Did Switek sell out Crockett and Tubbs?  The answer isn’t clear but it does seem like his time as a detective is coming to an end.

Finally, Tubbs and Crocket do what they have to do.  They go on a “suicide” mission that involves them firing their weapons at Borbon’s sea plane until it explodes.  Borbon is killed and so are several of his American associates.  When the CIA man in charge of the operation threatens to have their badges, Crockett and Tubbs toss their badges on the ground.  Castillo offers to back them up if they chose to stay on the force.  Tubbs says thanks but no thanks.  Tubbs is going back to New York.  Crockett is heading further south, presumably to live in the Florida everglades.

And so, Miami Vice ends.

Except it doesn’t!  There were four so-called “lost episodes” that aired in syndication.  We’ll take a look at them over the next four weeks.

As for Freefall, it’s not a terrible conclusion to the story of Crockett and Tubbs.  It stays true to the cynicism that ran though the entire series.  Crockett and Tubbs finally admit that the War on Drugs is a sham and they quit.  It’s a shame that Gina and Trudy didn’t get to do much in the finale.  I wasn’t happy with the idea of Switek being a traitor but it actually did work for his character.  Switek had been spiraling ever since Zito was killed.  This episode has a lot of surprisingly violent action, the show’s trademark political subtext, and Johnson and Thomas bringing their characters to life one last time.

Apparently, this episode was originally envisioned as ending with both Crockett and Tubbs dying.  That actually would have been a totally appropriate ending as both characters have often seemed as if they had a death wish.  However, the network turned down that idea because they were hoping to do a spin-off series.  Crockett and Tubbs were spared by the higher-ups.  The series ends — or it would end if not for the four extra episodes — with Crockett and Tubbs speeding through the streets of Miami and it’s had not to feel that’s the way it should be.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell 1.14 “The Election”

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 Prime and Tubi!

This week, Zack and Jessie fight over a pointless, ceremonial title.

Episode 1.14 “The Election”

(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on November 18th, 1989)

This is the episode where Jessie is running unopposed for student body president.  When Zack overhears Belding and Mr. Dewey (Patrick Thomas O’Brien) discussing how the new president will win a week-long trip to Washington, D.C., he decides to enter the race.  Because, seriously, what California kid doesn’t want to spend a week in one of the most humid cities in America?

Back when reruns of Saved By The Bell were running on every basic cable station, this episode seemed to show up a lot.  Rewatching it for this review, the first thing I noticed was that the cast all looked quite a bit younger than they did in last week’s episode.  Zack’s voice still hadn’t cracked and Mark-Paul Gosselaar was still overacting in much the same way as he did during Good Morning Miss Bliss.  I also noticed that none of the relationships between the characters felt correct.  Neither Zack nor Slater appeared to have a crush on Kelly.  When Lisa volunteers to be Jessie’s campaign manager, Jessie acts as if she barely knows Lisa.  Just as in the Dancing to the Max episode, a lot of emphasis is put on the idea of Zack and Jessie being lifelong friends.  I’ve always suspected that the showrunners originally meant for Zack and Jessie to become a couple and this episode seems to lean in that direction.  As for this episode, it feels like it was meant to be the first or second episode of the show but, for whatever reason, it didn’t air until halfway through the first season.

Episodes like this always amuse me because, seriously …. it’s just the Student Council!  The Student Council has no real power.  No one cares about the Student Council or, at least, they didn’t when I went to high school.  It’s a ceremonial position.  When Jessie talks about wanting to make real change, I was on Zack’s rather cynical side.  The Student Council President can’t change anything, Jessie!  When Kelly said that she needed time to think about her vote because the winner would “be in charge of the whole school,” I really wanted someone to explain to Kelly that no, the principal and the school board and the school superintendent are in charge of the whole school.

Despite trying to sabotage his own campaign after Belding tells him that the trip has been canceled, Zack is elected by one vote.  (Jessie gives Kelly the glare of death because Kelly earlier switched her vote from Jessie to Zack.  “I voted for Gilligan,” Kelly assures her.)  It turns out that Belding was lying about the trip being canceled but Zack now feels so guilty that he decides to resign as student council president so that Jessie can have the job.  Jessie would be student council president for the entirety of her time at Bayside but let’s never forget that she owed it all to Zack.

This episode was dumb but I have to admit that I enjoyed watching it.  I guess that’s the power of nostalgia.  As soon as I saw Jessie putting up her campaign poster, I felt like I was back in college, looking for an excuse not to study.

One final note: In later episodes, the show’s hairstylists and costuming supervisors sometimes seemed to have it out for Elizabeth Berkley.  I assume that was because it was eventually decided that Kelly would be the “pretty one.”  Jessie’s hair looks really good in this episode.  Good for her.

Retro Television Review: Baywatch 1.15 “Muddy Waters”

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.

The drudgery of season 1 continues.

Episode 1.15 “Muddy Waters”

(Dir by Paul Schneider, originally aired on February 2nd, 1990)

It’s a busy couple of days in Malibu!

Hobie has been getting into fights at school.  Is it because the kids refuse to believe his amazing stories about his lifeguard father or is it because he has a crush on his teacher, Amanda Keller (Sherilyn Wolter)?  Amanda wears glasses but takes them off whenever Mitch comes into the room so we all know what that means.  Mitch is about to get a girlfriend.

Meanwhile, a picture of Shauni appears in a cheap calendar, posing in her official Baywatch bathing suit.  The Captain (Monte Markham) wants to fire her but Craig proves that Shauni isn’t lying about the picture being used without Shauni’s knowledge.  Not only does Craig print a calendar with the captain as “Miss March” but he also tricks the Captain into signing a release form.  Shauni is vindicated.  Craig’s wife complains about how sexist the calendar was.  This storyline felt a bit hypocritical for a show run people who reportedly spent hours obsessing on how everyone looked in their swimsuits.

Finally, Cort and Eddie are training the junior lifeguard at the water park.  An angry man who always wanted to be a lifeguard keeps loosening the bolts on the water slide.  Cort, Eddie, and Garner catch him but the trouble’s not over yet!  The ex-boyfriend of one of the lifeguards is making trouble and vandalizing park property.  He’s captured after a dramatic chase up a water slide.  Even though Cort is chasing the guy up the water slide, people keep sliding down.  It felt kind of dumb, to be honest.  Why not just climb the stairs to the top so that you can be there whenever the guy gets there?  Why not position one lifeguard at the top and one at the bottom so the guy will eventually be caught no matter which way he climbs or slides?  It seems like Eddie and Cort put a lot of people in danger for no good reason.

This episode was forgettable and dumb.  That’s kind of the standard when it comes to the first season of Baywatch.  Some people stand in the darkness for good reason.

 

Late Night Retro Television Review: Freddy’s Nightmares 2.4 “Photo Finish”

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, it’s Halloween in Springwood!

Episode 2.4 “Photo Finish”

(Dir by Tom DeSimone, originally aired on October 29th, 1989)

This episode starts with Freddy welcoming us to a special Halloween episode of Freddy’s Nightmares.  Because it is the season, Freddy actually plays a role in both of this week’s stories and it must be said that they are both rather gruesome, even by the standards of this show.

In the first story, photographer Stoney Adler (Patty McCormack) is commissioned to take some photos for a Halloween spread that will appear in Kink Magazine.  Stoney is amazed at how good her models are at pretending to be scared.  That’s because they’re all actually terrified because they keep seeing Freddy.  Stoney isn’t aware of Freddy’s presence, at least not until Freddy drives a stake through the heart of one of her models.  Stoney tries to avoid doing any more horror shoots but she takes on one final assignment.  Freddy appears and asks Stoney, “Do you want me to make (the model) scream?”  Stoney says yes.  Freddy plucks out Stoney’s eyes.  That certainly does lead to some screaming.

The second story feature three FBI men trying to figure out why a suburban father shot his wife and daughter the night before Halloween and then apparently slit his own throat.  One of the agents — a profiler who owes more than a little to William Petersen’s performance in Manhunter — figures out that Freddy possessed the father.  Freddy, however, then possesses another one of the FBI agents and the tragedy plays out a second time.  The profiler ends up with his throat slashed, slowly dying while the camera lingers on him.  There’s no way this episode didn’t inspire a few nightmares.

This was a good episode.  It was scary, it was gory, and it was definitely designed to offend people who weren’t into horror.  This episode was exactly what you would want Halloween with Freddy Krueger to be.  The second season continues to be a hundred times better than the first.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 3.11 “Homecoming”

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 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, the heartbreak continues!

Episode 3.11 “Homecoming”

(Dir by David Anspaugh, originally aired on December 5th, 1984)

What a depressing episode!

Actually, it’s not totally depressing.  Dr. Elliot Axelrod (Stephen Furst) survives his first night as the attending-on-duty and he even convinces cranky old Mrs. Hufnagle (Florence Halop) to go back to her room.  He also handles things when a patient collapses in the hallway.  One can be sure that Elliot will be given absolutely no praise for his good work because he never is.  But at least, he was there and he proved himself to be more competent than anyone gives him credit for being.

Now, for the depressing stuff:

Nurse Rosenthal is continuing her affair with Richard Clarendon.  This wasn’t depressing because of anything that happened in this episode.  Instead, it’s just depressing that any time was devoted to these two boring characters.

After her apartment is broken into while she’s in the shower, Clancy (Helen Hunt) moves in with Jack.  Jack and Clancy make for a cute couple but, watching this episode, it’s easy to see that their relationship is doomed. Clancy is young and enthusiastic.  Jack is young but he moves like an old man and he’s already been through a lifetime’s worth of tragedy.  Sadly, Clancy living with Jack does not last longer than one night.  Clancy says that Jack acts like he’s offended by having her stuff in his apartment and she’s right.  Jack is still mourning his wife and not ready to live with anyone.

Lois Wegener (Mimi Kennedy) comes home from being out of town and discovers that her husband, Andrew (John Schuck) is becoming progressively weaker from the experimental bone marrow treatment that he’s going through in an attempt to save the life of their daughter (Brandy Gold).  Everyone at the hospital is impressed with Andrew’s courage but it’s obvious to me that this is not going to have a happy ending.

Kathy Martin is still in the psych ward.  During this episode, she gives Fiscus the note that Shirley Daniels gave her after Shirley shot and killed Peter White.

And finally, it wouldn’t be a depressing episode without a Westphall storyline.  Westphall’s daughter, Lizzie (Dana Short), comes home from college for the weekend and, without asking Westphall ahead of time, she brings along her new boyfriend, Rick (Casey Seimaszko).  Lizzie assumes that Rick will be sleeping with her in her room.  Westphall is not thrilled to hear about that.  (It doesn’t help that Rick isn’t wearing a shirt when he and Westphall first meet.)  Lizzie gets angry.  Westphall points out that his dead wife would not have approved.  Lizzie argues that she is now an adult and can do whatever she wants.

And you know what?  I am totally on Westphall’s side here.  It’s his house!  Lizzie isn’t the one paying the bills.  If Westphall doesn’t want Rick sleeping in her room (and, I might add, there are other rooms in the house where Rick could sleep), then Rick doesn’t sleep in her room.  When I was younger, I probably would have been on Lizzie’s side but now that I’ve gotten older, I see Westphall’s point and Lizzie comes across as being a spoiled brat.  I mean, if she wants to stay in the same room as Rick, they can get a motel room.  How expensive could one be in 1984?  This episode ends with Lizzie telling her father that she’s leaving.  “Lizzie!” Westphall says but she’s already gone.

See what I mean?  This was a depressing episode, even by St. Elsewhere standards.  That said, it was also a good episode.  Ed Flanders, David Morse, Helen Hunt, Stephen Furst, Mimi Kennedy, they all gave wonderfully empathetic performances.  Your heart may hurt for them but you can’t wait to see what happens next.  Sometimes, life is depressing but, like the characters on this show, you have to moving forward.

 

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 5.9 “Choices”

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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!

This week, Jonathan and Mark get into the detective business.

Episode 5.9 “Choices”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on June 30th, 1989)

Working as private investigators, Mark and Jonathan are approached by a Vietnamese couple who are looking for the two sons that they gave up for adoption many years ago.  They gave the boys up so that they could escape Vietnam and live in America, safe from communism.  Now, the father (Dr. Haing S. Ngor) wants to bring his sons back to Singapore, despite the fact that both of them have been adopted by good people and the oldest has been accepted to a prestigious college.

This was an above average episode of Highway to Heaven.  It was undoubtedly heavy-handed and there were more than a few minutes where the dialogue was a bit too spot-on for its own good.  But ultimately, the episode was so earnest and heartfelt that the viewer couldn’t help but forgive the show’s flaws.  This particular episode was very well-acted, especially by Dr. Haing S. Ngor.  A Cambodian who lost most of his family after the Khmer Rogue came to power and attempted to return the country to “Year Zero” by killing off anyone who was considered to be too educated or cosmopolitan, Dr. Ngor survived by disguising the fact that he was an educated doctor.  After the fall of the Khmer Rogue, Ngor made his way to Thailand and eventually to America.  He won an Oscar for playing a character who suffered much as he suffered in The Killing Fields (a film about communist atrocities that has the gall to unironically include John Lennon’s Imagine on the soundtrack).  In this episode, Ngor gives a strong performance as a stubborn man who struggles with the fact that his sons have grown up in his absence.  Tragically, seven years after this episode aired, Dr. Ngor was murdered in his driveway.  Though a group of gang members were arrested and convicted of his murder, it’s always been known that his murder was ordered by Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rogue.

The final season of Highway to Heaven has been uneven but this was a good episode.