I watched an episode on Sunday. A woman was suing her former friend for smelling like marijuana when they got pulled over for failing to use their turn signal in Texas. The patrolman searched their car, found even more weed, and issued both of them citations. The woman felt that the friend should pay her ticket because the patrolman wouldn’t have searched the car if she hadn’t smelled like weed. The friend pointed out that the patrolman wouldn’t have stopped the car in the first place if the woman has used her turn signal. Personally, I didn’t think the woman really had a case because it was her car and she knew the marijuana was there even before she was pulled over. Judge Williams partially agreed, ruling that the friend should only have to pay half of the woman’s ticket as opposed to the entire ticket.
Saved By The Bell: The New Class (Prime)
This continues to be my go-to cure for insomnia.
The Simpsons (Disney+)
I watched two Christmas episodes. In one, Bart got caught shoplifting. That one made me cry. The second one featured Gil moving in with The Simpsons. “Eggs a la Harold Stassen, because they’re always running.” That made me laugh.
As a tax accountant, I get pretty stressed every year from the months of January through April 15th. To help relieve that stress, I like to watch my favorite movies and TV shows on my 3rd computer screen at night and on the weekends. I don’t necessarily pay much attention to them but just having them playing so I can look over and see my favorite scenes helps me feel better. A few years ago, I ended up watching all eight seasons of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW three times during tax season. There’s just something about hanging out in Mayberry that makes me happy. Today, I thought it would be fun to revisit the one and only Christmas episode of the show.
“Christmas Story” centers on Ben Weaver (Will Wright), a crotchety old scrooge of a businessman, who catches local moonshiner Sam Muggins (Sam Edwards) pedaling his illegal liquor on Christmas Eve. Ben takes Sam, and the jug full of evidence, into Sheriff Andy Taylor’s (Andy Griffith) office, where he insists that Andy and his deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts) lock Sam up even though it’s Christmas. Andy, who’s trying to keep the peace with the important and politically connected Ben Weaver, and who still wants to have the holiday gathering he had planned with his own family, comes up with a solution. He arrests Sam’s wife and kids as “accessories” so they can spend Christmas together at the jail, and then he deputizes his girlfriend Ellie (Elinor Donahue), his son Opie (Ron Howard), and Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) to help watch over the prisoners. Before long, the jail has turned into a Christmas party, complete with food, laughter, and singing. Everyone is enjoying themselves…everyone, that is, except Ben Weaver.
“Christmas Story” is such a good example of why I love the Christmas season and THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW. As the show plays out, the crotchety Ben Weaver spends most of his time spying through the windows of the sheriff’s station as everyone, including the prisoners, is having the best time. He’s clearly lonely, but his pride won’t allow him to admit that what he really wants is to be inside with the rest of them. After trying to get himself arrested a couple of times, the ever-perceptive Andy figures out what Ben is up to. He arrests him, but before he takes him to jail, he lets him stop by his store to pick up a few presents for the others. By the time of the feel-good ending, Ben Weaver has gone from bitter and lonely to generous and happy, all because Andy took the time to see past his gruff exterior.
Other than the satisfying emotional arc for Ben Weaver, there were a few other things that stood out to me while watching “Christmas Story.” First, this was the 1st season of the series, so Andy Griffith was still playing Andy Taylor much more broadly. He would eventually play his character almost completely straight to give something for Don Knotts’ standout character of Barney Fife to play against. Second, the opening scene where Andy and Barney are going through the Christmas cards that they have received, specifically one from the Hubacher Brothers who are all in the state prison, is a comic masterpiece. I laughed out loud when Barney paid off the scene with the following line while viewing the picture of three smiling brothers behind bars… “Yeah, I think it’s just wonderful that they’re all together at Christmas.” Finally, when Andy plays the guitar and duets with Ellie to “Away in a Manger,” it’s just a perfect moment, one that brings up nostalgic feelings of singing the song at church or with my own family around the holidays.
At the end of the day, “Christmas Story,” like the entire series itself, isn’t really a realistic representation of the world around us. Rather, it’s a representation of a world more like we want it to be. In Mayberry, decent people do thoughtful things for other people, for no other reason than the fact that they genuinely care. And in Mayberry, the most bitter man in town, can recognize his weaknesses and turn his life around when he’s shown a little understanding and compassion. This episode provides hope for a better future for its characters, which makes it a perfect episode to watch during the Christmas season. In some ways, isn’t that what Christmas is all about?
Today would have been the 82nd birthday of Jack Nance, the talented but troubled actor who was a favorite of David Lynch’s and who died under mysterious circumstances in 1996. Born in Massachusetts but raised in Texas, Nance first won acclaim as a star of the stage show, Tom Paine. The director of Tom Paine later received a fellowship to the American Film Institute where he met a young director named David Lynch and recommended that Lynch cast Nance as the lead character in his film, Eraserhead. Lynch and Nance were kindred spirits, two all-American eccentrics with their own unique view of the world. Lynch went to use Nance in almost every film that he made up until Nance’s death. Nance would also appear in small roles in films from other directors, usually cast as quirky and obsessive characters. Outside of his role in Eraserhead, Nance is probably best known for playing Pete Martell on Twin Peaks. Pete’s discovery of Laura Palmer’s body launched the entire saga.
Twin Peaks 1.1 — The Pilot (dir by David Lynch)
In honor of Jack’s talent and legacy, here is today’s song of the day!
Murray books Bret and Jermaine for a concert at “Central Park,” but he insists that they tour first to prepare for it. Bret continually causes havoc that Murray blames on Jermaine. In the end, it turns out that the concert is at a central park not The Central Park. Jeff and I watched that classic episode on Wednesday. It made me cry a little.
Frasier (Prime)
Jeff and I watched three episodes of the original 90s version of Frasier on Tuesday. The first episode featured Frasier getting into a war of words with a columnist who wrote a column about why hated Frasier’s radio show. It almost led to an actual physical fight before the police intervened on the behest of Martin Crane. (John Mahoney was a treasure!)
The second episode was “The Candidate,” in which Frasier endorses Phil Patterson for Congress, just to discover that Phil Patterson is convinced that he was abducted by aliens and taken into outer space. The scene where a stunned Frasier attempted to record a commercial for Patteson (“the sane choice”) made me laugh so much that I almost fell off the couch.
Finally, we ended with a Christmas episode! Frasier wants to get his young son a Christmas gift that will make him think. Martin argues that Frasier should get him a gift that he’ll have fun with. Frasier and Niles have to go to a mall. The closing scene, with Martin revealing that he had purchased the gift that Frasier’s son actually wanted, made me cry.
What a great cast this show had! Watching these three episodes, I was reminded why the revival didn’t work. As good as a job as Kelsey Grammer did in the revival, no one wants to think of Frasier moving back to Boston and no longer having anything to do with his family in Seattle.
The Office (Peacock)
On Tuesday, Jeff and I watched several classic episodes of The Office. We started with season 2’s Christmas Party. Then, we watched Season 4’s Did I Stutter, followed by Season 6’s Scott’s Tots, and we followed it all up with Season 3’s The Convict and A Benihana Christmas. I know I’ve been pretty critical of the direction that The Office eventually ended up going. But the first three seasons were about as good as any sitcom that has ever aired and seasons 4-6, while uneven overall, still produced some classic episodes. I will always enjoy the Christmas episodes, no matter how much that annoying actress from A Benihana Christmas whines about it.
Saved By The Bell: The Next Class (Prime)
Saved By The Bell: The Next Class continues to be my preferred background noise for when I’m struggling to get some sleep.
Seinfeld (Netflix)
On Tuesday, Jeff and I watched two Christmas episodes of this classic 90s sitcom. We started with the episode where Elain was dating a communist and Kramer got fired from his department store Santa job because he was spreading propaganda. Meanwhile, Jerry’s high school rival resurfaced and demanded a rematch on a race that Jerry won after getting a head start. I loved this episode! Everything from Jerry and George pretending to randomly run into each other at the coffee shop to the race at the end to the little kid yelling, “Hey, this guy’s a commie!”
We followed that episode with the Festivus episode. I love the scene where Jerry Stiller (as George’s father) casually talks about seeing someone else grab the doll that he was planning to buy for his dolls. “As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be a better way!” Also, I totally would have wanted to be Submarine Captain too. Free sub? Give me my ticket!
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, the detectives take over someone else’s house.
Episode 4.16 “Stakeout”
(Dir by John McNaughton, originally aired on March 15th, 1996)
When a young man confesses to helping an older man carry out a series of murders, the Homicide Squad stakes out the older man’s house. Jim True-Frost and Kate Walsh play the owners of the home that the squad takes over. The husband is out of work. The wife has a habit of oversharing. While they try to adjust to having cops hanging out in their living room, the detectives adjust to the idea that Bayliss may be leaving them.
Once again, Bayliss is thinking about leaving Homicide. This has been a recurring theme with Bayliss, ever since he failed to close the Adena Watson case. (In this episode, he mentions that his number one suspect — Risley Tucker — has recently died.) Bayliss’s complaint is that he still feels like he barely knows the other detectives. He mentions that he’s never even been to Pembleton’s house. Pembleton asks if Bayliss is really that surprised that Pembleton might want time to himself when he’s not on the clock. Bayliss talks about how the Vice Squad regularly has barbecues. He talks about the comradery that he felt when he was on the Governor’s security detail. But Homicide tends to attract the misanthropes and the eccentrics.
Of course, Bayliss doesn’t leave Homicide. At the end of the episode, he takes one look at the board and sees that he still has one open case. “I can’t leave until the Lambert case is closed,” Bayliss says while Pembleton smiles.
Giardello, meanwhile, is struggling with the knowledge that his daughter is getting married to a man that he’s never even met. Giardello has been invited to the wedding in San Francisco but he keeps finding excuses not to go. Pembleton finally convinces Giardello that he needs to go to his daughter’s wedding. Unfortunately, when Giardello arrives at the airport, he’s told that all flights have been grounded due to the weather. So, Giardello misses the wedding regardless.
Eventually, the killer returns to his home. He’s a stout man who looks like he should be selling insurance. Bayliss and Pembleton arrest him and the stakeout ends. The husband, who has been out looking for a job, pulls up just as Bayliss and Pembleton are leaving. Life goes on for everyone but the dead.
This episode was okay. I appreciated that it was a return to the character-driven drama of the earlier seasons. The snowy imagery brought a lot of atmosphere to the episode and director John McNaughton (of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer fame) did a good job framing scenes that could have come across as being excessively talky in lesser hands. That said, the husband and the wife were not that interesting and I never really bought the idea that they would pour out all of their marital woes to a bunch of strangers in their living room.
This is my final Homicide review for 2025. Retro Television Reviews is taking a break for the holidays! Homicide will return on January 11th, 2026.
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 has a chance to get ride of his main frenemy!
Episode 1.6 “Aloha Slater”
(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on September 23rd, 1989)
Zack Morris used to be the “top dog” at Bayside but now that Slater has arrived, no one cares about Zack’s pathetic little third place ribbon that he got at a track meet. Instead, they care about the giant trophy that Slater won at his latest wrestling match.
However, there may be hope on the horizon! Slater’s father, Major Martin Slater (Gerald Castillo), has been offered a transfer to Hawaii. When Major Slater tells Belding that he will be removing AC from school, Screech listens from inside a filing cabinet. Major Slater can’t wait to go to Hawaii but AC isn’t so sure. He’s finally got friends and he’s winning trophies! Major Slater leaves it up to his son. If AC Slater wants to go to Hawaii, the family will transfer. If AC wants to stay in California, they will.
Zack decides that AC has to go to Hawaii. He convinces Lisa, Kelly, and Jessie that AC is dying of a mysterious disease and that his only hope for survival is moving to Hawaii. Zack sprinkles fire ants on AC’s back to make AC herk and jerk, as if he’s having a spasm. “This is study hall, not soul train!” the teacher announces. That teacher, by the way, was played by Dustin Diamond’s father.
Zack convinces everyone to treat AC like crap. He also steals AC’s wrestling trophy. AC announces that he’s going to Hawaii. Kelly replies, “And I’m going with him!”
Zack is stunned. I’m stunned, as well. How exactly is Kelly going to go with him? Are her poor, salt-of-the-Earth parents okay with moving to one of the most expensive states to live in? At least the Slaters have a home and a good job waiting for them in the Aloha State.
(Actually, now that I think about it and I remember Saved By The Hell Hawaiian Style, Kelly did have that uncle who lived in Hawaii so I guess it’s not as out-there a development as I initially though.)
Kelly tells Slater that she knows he’s dying. Slater realizes that he’s been set up. It’s time for another prank! AC’s father turns out to be remarkably okay with staying in California. He’s also okay with pretending to be insane and throwing a grenade at Zack.
Watching this episode, it occurred to me that, during the first season at least, Mario Lopez was clearly the star of the show. While Mark-Paul Gosselaar was still trying a little bit too hard (and he wasn’t helped by some overwritten dialogue) and Dustin Diamond looked like he was about 10 years old, Mario Lopez gave a believable performance as a teenager who had finally found a home and didn’t want to leave it. Slater’s the compelling character, the one who actually gets to grow and deal with real problems. (Gosselaar, of course, has grown tremendously as an actor since the first season of SBTB.)
Fortunately, Slater stays in California. Yay! It’s hard to imagine Bayside without him.
This is my final Saved By The Bell review of 2025. Retro Television Reviews is taken a break for the holidays so that I can focus on Awards Season and Christmas movies! Saved By The Bell will return on January 10th, 2026.
Oh, I love this one! Seriously, Boris Karloff and Christmas are a great combination!
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Friday, NBC)
Why is Santa Claus so mean in this one? This special has always been my least favorite of the classic Christmas specials because it makes the North Pole look like a terrible place to work.
Saved By The Bell: The New Class (Prime)
I’ve been struggling with insomnia this week but I discovered that, if I put SBTB: The New Class on as background noise, it actually eases me into sleep. This week, I slept through seasons 6 and 7. I had totally forgotten that, after Richard Lee Jackson left, they brought in yet another blonde transfer student from Valley to step into the Zack role. As I said last week, this show was the version of Saved By The Bell that I grew up with and I have a certain nostalgia for it. It’s not good but it’s oddly comforting in its terrible way.
Sean Combs: The Reckoning (Netflix)
I watched this docuseries on Friday and Saturday. It’s always so weird to me how people just kind of shrug off rap feuds turning violent, as if all the death is just a part of the entertainment. As for the series itself, it obviously had an agenda but that doesn’t make Sean Combs any less sleazy.
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, there’s a lot happening on the beach!
Baywatch 1.7 “The Cretin of the Shallows”
(Dir by Vern Gillum, originally aired on December 1st, 1989)
Eddie gets his wisdom teeth taken out. Feverish and on pain-killers, he has a hallucination in which Gina Pomeroy (Holly Gagnier) kisses him. Eddie spends the entire episode nervous that Craig is going to discover that he’s having an affair with his wife but actually, Eddie isn’t having an affair. It’s not until the end of the episode that Gina tells Eddie that they never kissed and Eddie finally starts to relax. Gina promises not to tell Craig because “I think it’s sweet.” Myself, I’m just curious as to how stupid Eddie actually is.
Shauni and Jill deal with a teenage boy who has made a bet with his friends that he’ll be able to get a kiss from both of them.
And a horrifying serial killer (Robert Trebor) is stalking the night, brutally murdering people on the beach.
One of these storylines is not like the other!
The first season of Baywatch was seriously weird. Light-hearted lifeguard hi-jinx would be mixed in with scenes of people being murdered. Mitch and Craig weren’t just lifeguards. They were also cops who solved mysteries (Kind of like Baywatch Nights!) and they put their lives at risk to do so. Remember how I mentioned that Gina told Eddie that they never kissed? She told him that after she had been rescued from the serial killer. Gina nearly died! Neither Gina nor Craig seemed to be too upset about that, though. I would be a little bit traumatized but that’s just me.
This episode really didn’t work for me. Personally, I like the light-hearted stuff. It’s dumb but, at heart, Baywatch’s appeal is that it’s a dumb show with nice scenery. Tossing a serial killer into the mix just made things unpleasant. It didn’t feel like it belonged on a show about people running on the beach in red bathing suits.
This is my last Baywatch review of 2025. Retro Television Reviews will be taking a break for the holidays so that I can focus on Awards Season and Christmas movies! Baywatch will return on January 10, 2026.
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’s episode is actually decent.
Episode 1.18 “The Art of Death”
(Dir by Ken Wiederhorn, originally aired on March 12th, 1989)
Jack (Carey Scott) is a talented artist and college student who has a crush on Joan (Laura Schaefer). When Joan’s jock boyfriend humiliates Jack, Jack suddenly finds himself approached by The Phantom (Judd Omen), a masked figure who claims that he can kill Jack’s enemies if Jack draws a picture of him doing it. After the jock is killed in a treadmill accident, Joan sees the picture that Jack drew and decides she doesn’t want anything to do with Jack. The Phantom suggests drawing a picture of him surprising Joan in the shower. Jack refuses, just to discover that the picture has already been drawn and the Phantom is now holding Joan prisoner in a boiler room. Jack draws a picture of the Phantom being sucked down a hole. The Phantom vanishes but …. oh no, now Jack’s wearing the mask! Jack was the Phantom all along!
As for the second story, Joan struggles to recover from the trauma. In typical Freddy’s Nightmares fashion, she has a series of hallucinations that lead to her killing her psychiatrist.
This episode actually worked! The first story was genuinely creepy. The second story was predictable but it featured a good performance from Laura Schaefer and the action moved at a decent pace. I’m going to give the majority of the credit to director Ken Wiederhorn, who previously directed one of my favorite zombie films, 1977’s Shock Waves.
This is my final Freddy’s Nightmares review for 2025. Retro Television Review is taking a break for the holidays, so I can focus on Awards Season and Christmas movies! Freddy’s Nightmares will return on January 9th.
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 nurses go on strike. Fire all of them!, I say.
Episode 3.3 “Two Balls and a Strike”
(Dir by David Anspaugh, originally aired on October 3rd, 1984)
It’s another depressing few days at St. Eligius.
When negotiations break down, all of the nurses — except for Shirley Daniels — go on strike. Led by Nurse Rosenthal, they march out of the hospital and join a picket line in the rain. Triumphant music plays on the soundtrack Rosenthal gets on her bullhorn and announces that anyone making deliveries to the hospital will be crossing the picket line and not showing solidarity with the union. Honestly, though? Screw the union. It’s a hospital! It needs supplies. There are people dying inside of that building and they’re not even going to have the dignity of clean linen because of Nurse Rosenthal and her stupid union. And another thing …. Rosenthal is the head of union at St. Eligius. So, why isn’t she marching in the rain and carrying a sign? Why does she get to stand in the doorway and shout at people? Get out there and suffer for your union, you British commie!
Obviously, the show wanted me to be inspired by Rosenthal and the union. Whenever it switched over to the picket line, triumphant music started playing. I’m with Nurse Daniels on this one, though. Daniels didn’t vote the union so why should she have to suffer in the rain? She stays on the job. “Good luck,” Rosenthal tells her, “you’ll need it.” And all I can say to that is that at least Shirley Daniels isn’t deserting the hospital’s patients.
While the nurses are on strike, Dr. Canavero is attacked by a hulking man wearing a ski mask. Canavero is able to fight him off. Westphall and everyone else at the hospital immediately assumes that the man was Peter White but Peter has an alibi. He was in radiology when Canavero was attacked. So, is there a new ski mask rapist haunting the hospital? The first ski mask rapist storyline was pretty disturbing, especially since Peter got away with it. I’m not sure I want to go through a second one.
Dr. Craig and Ellen went to couples therapy. As usual, Dr. Craig got annoyed with the whole thing. There’s really nothing more fun than watching Dr. Craig get annoyed. No one gets annoyed better than William Daniels. Still, it seemed to do Dr. Craig and Ellen some good, with Ellen making plans to go to Hawaii and Dr. Craig acknowledging that he’s not always the easiest person to deal with.
As for Dr. Westphall …. he spent most of this episode depressed. Westphall is always depressed.
This is my final St. Elsewhere review for 2025. Retro Television Review is taking a break for the holidays, so I can focus on Awards Season and Christmas movies! St. Elsewhere will return on January 9th.
Through the Shattered Lens 