Tag Archives: TV

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 2.4 “Out Where The Buses Don’t Run”

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 is currently streaming on Tubi!

This week, we learn the cost of working Vice.

Episode 2.4 “Out Where The Buses Don’t Run”

(Dir by Jim Johnston, originally aired on October 18th, 1985)

This is it.  This is the episode that is regularly cited as being one of the best, if not the best, episodes that Miami Vice ever aired.  Out Where The Buses Don’t Run takes a look at the psychological costs of spending one’s life obsessing on crime and justice.  What starts out as a comedy turns into the bleakest episode of the show so far.

Things get off to a great start, with Crockett and Tubbs pursuing a drug dealer on the beach.  While The Who’s Baba O’Riley plays on the soundtrack, the dealer roller skates down a sidewalk and a preacher (played by Little Richard) sends his young congregation out to collect money.  As Crockett and Tubbs wait for their chance to arrest the dealer, someone watches them from a nearby window and takes pictures.  Crockett asks Tubbs if he ever gets the feeling that he’s being watched.

The man taking the pictures turns out to be Hank Weldon (Bruce McGill), a former Vice cop who quit the force six years prior when a case that he had spent three years making fell apart and a drug lord was set free on a technicality.  The drug lord vanished after the case against him was thrown out and it’s assumed that he was murdered by his associates.  Hank, however, insists that the drug lord is still alive and he’s returned to Miami.  He wants Crockett and Tubbs to help him finally catch the criminal that evaded him all those years before.

A quick check with Weldon’s former partner, Marty Lang (David Strathairn), reveals that Weldon left the force after he had a nervous breakdown and he’s spent the past few years in a mental facility.  The loud and flamboyant Weldon is obviously still unstable but Crockett and Tubbs cannot shake the feeling that he might know what he’s talking about.

And, as is revealed at this end of this episode, they’re right …. kind of.  Weldon does know where the missing drug lord is.  The drug lord is walled up in an abandoned building.  He’s been there since 1979.  At the end of episode, with Tubbs, Crockett, Castillo, and Lang watching, Weldon tears down the wall and reveals the decayed skeleton of the drug lord.  Weldon announces that he murdered him and walled him up.  Lang then reveals that he helped.

“He was my partner,” Lang says, “Understand?”

Crockett understands and the audience understands as well.  When Weldon’s obsession drove him crazy, Lang was the only one to whom he could turn.  And Lang, being his partner, was the only one who understood how he felt.  Lang may have been a cop but his number one loyalty was to his partner, just as Crockett’s number one loyalty will always be to Tubbs.

As played by Bruce McGill, Hank Weldon goes from being a cheerful eccentric to a bitter and paranoid lunatic to, finally, a man who can no longer stand to hide what he’s done.  It’s an excellent performance that keeps the audience guessing.  He may be a murderer and he’s obviously still unstable but your heart can’t help but break for him.  The combination of Jim Johnston’s moody direction, a perfect collection of songs on the soundtrack, and the performances of Bruce McGill and David Strathairn really do come together to make this an excellent episode.  In the end, it’s hard not to feel that Crockett and Tubbs are both one step away from becoming Weldon and Lang themselves.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Degrassi Junior High 2.8 “Sealed With A Kiss”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi Junior High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1987 to 1989!  The series can be streamed on YouTube!

Sorry, I fell asleep last night before I could write up this week’s episode of Degrassi Junior High!  Belatedly, here’s some thoughts on the episode to focus on the Farrell Twins.

Episode 2.8 “Sealed With A Kiss”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on February 22nd, 1988)

After spending much of the first two seasons of Degrassi Junior High in the background, the Farrell Twins — Heather and Erica — are at the center of this episode.

Heather (Maureen Deiseach) is the responsible twin who has never had a date and thinks that French kissing sounds gross.  Erica (Angela Deiseach) is the twin who is older by about six minutes and who wants to date and have fun.  Heather and Erica have always been close but, as this episode begins, they’re both a little annoyed with the other.  That’s not just a twin thing, it’s a sibling thing and, as the youngest of four sisters, I could relate.  My sisters and I have always been very close but, growing up, I think all of us always fought to establish our own individual identities outside of just being one of four Bowman girls.  I specifically refused to try out for cheerleading in high school because two of my sisters had been cheerleaders and I wanted to find my own thing to do.  Considering my long history of klutziness, that was probably for the best.  Anyway….

When Degrassi holds a dance with another school, Erica meets Aaron (David Stratton).  Aaron is kind of a dork (i.e., he’s in high school but he comes to a junior high dance) but he wears a leather jacket and drives his dad’s car.  Heather is scandalized when she and Alexa comes across Erica making out with Aaron on a stairwell.  Erica’s happiness over having a boyfriend is short-lived, as she soon comes down with a fever and a sore throat and fears that Aaron has given her mono.

(“At least he didn’t give you AIDS,” Alexa cheerfully says.)

While a miserable Erica rests in bed, Aaron stops by the Farrell house to see her.  When Heather explains that Erica is sick, Aaron decides that one twin is as good as another and invites Heather to take a ride in his Dad’s car.  Heather agrees and she ends up making out with Aaron as well.  Oh no!  MONO!

Well, don’t worry.  It turns out that Erica just needs to have her tonsils taken out.  No one has mono.  She and Heather both agree that Aaron was a dork.  Heather says that at least there’s a difference between them now.  One has tonsils and the other doesn’t.  Uhmm …. okay, Heather.

The Farrell Twins have never been my favorite characters on Degrassi Junior High.  Erica is shallow and Heather is judgmental.  That said, their showcase episode was not a bad one.  Along with being able to relate to the sibling dynamic, I could also relate to Erica and Heather competing for the attention of a guy who, quite frankly, wasn’t worthy of either of them.  And I had to laugh at Alexa’s cheerful vapidness as she managed to see the positive in everything that the twins were getting upset about.  Even the show’s final twist was kind of a nice relief from Degrassi’s usually bleak view of teenage life.  For once, no one was seriously ill.  No one had an STD.  No one was left sobbing as the end credits rolled.  Instead, the show ended with a dumb joke about tonsils.  It was a nice change-of-pace.

Next week …. Stephanie is suicidal!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check it Out! 1.19 “My Darling Serpentine”

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 the Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

This week, Cobb’s descends into chaos!

Episode 1.19 “My Darling Serpentine”

(Dir by John Bell, originally aired on February 19th, 1986)

Last week, Edna left Howard after an argument and Howard had an affair with her replacement.  It was implied that Edna leaving Howard was a frequent occurrence and that Howard was the least romantic man alive.

This episode, Edna and Howard are once again totally in love and Howard is so romantic that Edna can even brag about all of the presents that he’s given her over the years.

Continuity, what is it?

This year, Howard is busy at the store so he makes the mistake of sending Alf the security guard out to pick up a piece of jewelry for Edna.  Alf, however, gets distracted while walking by a pet store and instead, he returns to the store with a hamster.  Edna freaks out about the idea of owning a rodent and instead, she gives it to Murray.  The hamster then escapes into the store, which isn’t good since there’s a health inspector in the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, it’s prom night for Murray and he needs a date.  Not surprisingly, he asks supercool Marlene to be his date.  Also not surprisingly, Marlene laughs in his face.  However, after thinking about how she never got to go to her prom because she dropped out of school, Marlene changes her mind.  Murray is super-excited until Christian and Alf suggest that Marlene is going to take his virginity.  When Marlene shows up in the break room in her prom dress and a blue wig, Murray freaks out.

Murray runs away and disappears into the store.  Now, everyone not only has to look for the hamster but also for Murray.

This episode is a bit frantic but it made me laugh.  A lot of that was because Gordon Clapp made his third appearance on the show, playing the cheerfully dumb Viker.  Previously, Viker was the store’s electrician.  In this episode, he’s suddenly a pest control expert.  In order to track down the hamster, he released a snake into the store.  In order to track down the snake, he releases a mongoose.  “I’m glad I don’t shop here,” Viker says.  Gordon Clapp delivers all of Viker’s lines with such sincerity that his brief appearance elevates the entire episode.

In the end, thinks work out.  The snake is caught when it attacks Howard.  Marlene forgives Murray and they head off to prom.  The hamster runs off with Marlene’s blue wig.  And Edna is surprisingly forgiving about Howard telling the security guard to buy her an anniversary present.  As for the mongoose …. well, I’m sure it found a good place to live.  The important thing is that this episode made me laugh more than the typical episode of Check It Out!  I enjoyed it.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 2/18/24 — 2/24/24

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Greetings from Lake Texoma!  It’s been a relaxing week and exactly what I needed.  Here’s some thoughts on what I watched out on the deck.

Abbott Elementary (Wednesday Night, ABC)

“Janine smokes weed every day!”

Finally!  After being slightly disappointed with the previous episodes of Abbott Elementary, this week’s episode was definitely a return to form!  Whether it was all of the teachers talking about their drugs of choice or the hilarious FADE assembly, this episode epitomized everything that makes this show special.  And while Janine smoking weed every day may seem a bit unexpected, it makes sense when you consider that she dated Tariq for ten years.

American Idol (Sunday Night, ABC)

Whenever American Idol starts a new season, I always find myself saying, “Is that show still on?”  Seriously, it’s been a while since American Idol was a huge part of the cultural landscape and it’s been even longer since the show introduced America to genuine talents like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.

This season got off to an odd start, with Ryan Seacrest saying that the previous winner had put his home state of Hawaii on the map.  No, Ryan — I’m pretty sure people knew about Hawaii before American Idol.  As I watched the rest of the first audition episode, it occurred to me that, once again, the judges were too concerned about their own image to really offer up any sort of constructive feedback.  That’s one reason why a show like this needs someone who is willing to be brutally honest and who has nothing to lose by being the show’s “villain.”  Simon Cowell was a brilliant judge because he could always just hop on a plane and head back to the UK if his criticism ever turned America against him.  Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie, on the other hand, all have brands that are based on being likable and not destroying people’s dreams.

Everyone who auditioned had a tragic backstory and they all did that thing were they oversold the emotion of whatever they were singing.  It was kind of boring, to be honest.  It’s been a long time since the show has produced a true American idol.

Bubblegum Crisis (Night Flight Plus)

Jeff and I watched an episode of this anime on Saturday morning.  I have no idea what was going on in the episode but a lot of stuff blew up.

Dr. Phil (YouTube)

On Thursday night, Jeff and I watched an episode in which a woman named Lynsey accused her ex of abusing their daughter.  That Lynsey was lying was pretty obvious from the start.  Eventually, Lynsey got angry and stormed off stage.  She came back out a bit later and accused Dr. Phil of turning her story into a “circus.”  Usually, I’m totally in favor of people giving Dr. Phil a hard time but, in this case, Lynsey really was the worst.

Lauren Lake’s Paternity Court (YouTube)

He was the father!  Yay!  I had an episode of this playing in the background on Friday morning while I was in the process of waking up.

Law & Order (Thursday Night, NBC)

After playing the role for almost as long as I’ve been alive, Sam Waterston played Jack McCoy for the last time this week.  McCoy resigned as District Attorney in order to protect his subordinates from the political fall-out of prosecuting a friend of the Mayor’s.  I would have liked to have seen McCoy retire on his own terms, as opposed to being forced out.  Quitting in the face of political pressure felt out of character for Jack McCoy.  And the fact that he resigned to protect Price and Maroun, neither one of whom really feels worthy of the sacrifice, only adds insult to injury.

I find it interesting that almost every episode of Law & Order seems to feature a wealthy murderer.  Do poor people not commit crimes in New York City?

Maury (YouTube)

“You are the father!”  “You are not the father!”  “You’re going to be in this baby’s life, right?”  “Oh, you know it, Maury!”  I watched way too much Maury on Friday and I will never forgive myself.

Night Flight (Night Flight Plus)

On Friday night, Jeff and I watched a profile of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath.

The Vanishing Shadow (Night Flight Plus)

On Friday night, Jeff and I watched another episode of this 1930s serial.  Our heroes spent the entire episode fleeing gangsters.

Watched and Reviewed Elsewhere:

  1. Baywatch Nights
  2. Check it Out (review will be dropping in 30 minutes)
  3. CHiPs
  4. Fantasy Island
  5. Friday the 13th: The Series
  6. Highway to Heaven
  7. In The Lion’s Den
  8. The Love Boat
  9. Miami Vice
  10. Monsters
  11. T and T
  12. Welcome Back, Kotter

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back Kotter 3.11 “Barbarino In Love: Part Two”

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 Welcome Back Kotter, which ran on ABC  from 1975 to 1979.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

This week, Barbarino must decide between the Sweathogs and his new girlfriend!

Episode 3.10 “Barbarino In Love: Part Two”

(Dir by Bob Claver, originally aired on November 10th, 1977)

This week’s episode of Welcome Back, Kotter picks up where last week’s left off.

Because he is now dating Cassy, Barbarino has left Three Do’s and a Don’t.  The Three Do’s are now trying to figure out how to turn their quartet act into a trio triumph and needless to say, they are happy with neither Barbarino nor Cassy.  They’re angry at Barbarino for leaving them and they blame Cassy for distracting him from the talent show.  For her part, Cassy is not happy to learn that the Sweathogs now hate her and she tells Barbarino that, just because they’re dating, that doesn’t mean that they can’t compete against each other in the talent show.

Gabe takes Barbarino down to the local diner where he attempts to explain why everyone’s mad.  He places three empty glasses on the table in front of them and tells Barbarino to imagine that the glasses are the Sweathogs.

“Which one’s Horshack?” Barbarino asks.

“This one,” Gabe replies, pointing at the third glass.

“That don’t look like Horshack,” Barbarino says, “That looks like Epstein….”

And so it goes.

The important thing is that Barbarino eventually decides that it’s his duty to be the Don’t in Three Do’s and a Don’t.  The majority of the episode is taken up with the group performing at the talent show and, just as last week, it’s hard not to notice that their act seems a bit old-fashioned.  How many juvenile delinquents start a barber shop quartet?  That said, with the return of Barbarino’s winning smile, they’re a hit with everyone but Mr.  Woodman.

And that’s the end of that.  It’s a bit of a silly episode and I’m not really sure why it needed to be split into two parts.  The Sweathogs getting angry at Barbarino and Gabe helping Barbarino realize that he’s not the center of the universe is one of those plots that this show used a lot.  You would think that, at some point, Barbarino would finally learn his lesson and stop doing stuff like this but you would be wrong.  Of course, Barbarino’s whole thing is that he’s cute but dumb.

And he’s lucky that he’s being played by a young John Travolta, who had the hair and the smile and the attitude and the charisma to make Barbarino far more likable than he really had any right to be.  Some people just have that star quality and one need only look at the scenes where Travolta acts opposite Gabe Kaplan, Marcia Strassman, and Ron Pallilo to understand why John Travolta was the one who ultimately walked away from this show as a star.

Next week, Gabe is tempted to sell out and become vice principal!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Friday the 13th: The Series 1.19 “The Quilt of Hathor”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing Friday the 13th: The Series, a show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on YouTube!

This week, Micki screws up and Ryan finds love!

Episode 1.19 “The Quilt of Hathor”

(Dir by Timothy Bond, originally aired on May 2nd, 1988)

Looking to retrieve a cursed quilt that allows its owner to enter other people’s dreams and kill them, Micki and Ryan go undercover as members of the Pentite Sect.

Who are the Pentites?  Basically, they’re Mennonites except for the fact that they’re called Pentites.  They are a hard-worked and religious community, one that eschews modern technology.  The members of the sect dress modestly, they don’t sing or dance, and they do everything that their leader, Reverend Grange (Scott Paulin), tells them to do.

Effie Stokes (Kate Trotter) is in love with the Reverend and wants to become his wife.  She also happens to own the Quilt of Hathor and soon, she is entering the dreams of her romantic rivals and killing them.  While Effie is trying to win the love of Reverend Grange, Ryan is falling in love with Grange’s daughter, Laura (Carolyn Dunn).  Quicker than you can say Witness, Ryan is temping Laura to dance and being forced to fight Laura’s suitor, Matthew (Diego Matamoras), while balancing above an open flame pit.  I don’t think Mennonites do that, which is probably why the Pentites broke off from them in the first place.

Micki does figure out that Effie is the one with the quilt and she even manages to grab it away from her.  However, when she tells Ryan that it’s time to return to the antique shop, Ryan replies that he can’t go with her.  Ryan has fallen in love with Laura and is planning on living the rest of his life as a Pentite.

Micki returns to the shop and, heartbroken, she tells Jack that she lost Ryan.  Jack then reveals that she also managed to grab the wrong quilt.  So, basically, Micki really screwed up.

This is a two-part episode so I imagine that Micki will return to the Pentite community next week and hopefully, she’ll pay attention and grab the right quilt this time.  Will Ryan return to the civilization with her?  Considering that John D. LeMay didn’t leave the show until the end of the second season, I imagine he probably will.

This was a pretty good episode.  The scenes where Effie entered the dreams were well-directed and definitely achieved a nightmarish intensity.  Some of the Pentite stuff was a little bit silly but John D. LeMay really sold his decision to stay with the sect.  With everything that we’ve seen of Ryan on this show, his decision actually makes sense.  Ryan has always been the one searching for deeper meaning while Micki is the more down-to-Earth member of the team.

Next week: Part two of the Quilt of Hathor!

Retro Television Review: T and T 2.18 “Thicker Than Water”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990.  The show can be found on Tubi!

If you’ve ever watched T and T and thought, “I wish there was a lot less T in this show,” this week’s episode is for you!

Episode 2.18 “Thicker than Water”

(Dir by Harvey Frost, originally aired on May 8th, 1989)

This is a weird episode.

Ronnie (David Hewlett) and Steve (Gordon Michael Woolvett) are two brothers who have opened up a punk music venue in whatever part of Canada that T and T was filmed in.  From the start, everyone is trying to shut them down.  The other neighborhood business people claim that the club is bringing in a bad element.  The police are unsympathetic whenever a fight breaks out.  The fire department is always showing up with a list of regulations.  The sinister person who loaned them the money to start the club wants the brothers to burn it down for the insurance money.  Seriously, it’s not easy run a venue devoted to angry music that is best appreciated by people who like to fight.  But, in the end, the brothers stick together and refuse to let Canada beat them down.

Yay!  Take that, Trudeau!

(Yes, I know that Justin Trudeau was not in charge of Canada when this show was filmed but I’m too lazy to look up who was.  Actually, T and T always pretended that it was set in the U.S. so I guess I should blame the first Bush.  But seriously, everything about T and T screams Canada.)

So, why is this an episode of T and T?  Well, Amy is their lawyer.  (Sometimes, Amy practices criminal law and sometimes, she practices business law and sometimes, she just acts like a lobbyist.  There’s nothing Amy can’t do!)  Amy shows up at the club a few times.  T.S. Turner also shows up once or twice and says, “Little brother, when you believe in something …. YOU FIGHT FOR IT!”

I’m going to guess that this was a backdoor pilot for a series that would have followed the brothers and their club.  I have no idea if the pilot led to a series.  It’s really hard for me to imagine what a potential series would have been like but I would say that I thought the club looked cool.  I liked the rebellious attitude of the bands that performed there.

Like most backdoor pilots, this is a bit of a wasted episode.  This is also the third episode in a row that hasn’t really featured Turner and Amy doing anything new.  The previous two episodes were both clip shows and this episode isn’t even about them.  These episodes are easy to review (yay!) but you do have to wonder what was going on behind the scenes during the latter half of the second season.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway to Heaven 1.22 “An Investment In Caring”

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 Freevee and several other services!

This week, Jonathan encourages everyone to violate federal law.

Episode 1.22 “An Investment In Caring”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on March 13th, 1985)

Helen Spencer (Eileen Heckart) is an annoying old busy body who lives in one of those charming city neighborhoods that are only found on shows like Highway to Heaven.  Even since her husband died, she has kept herself active by working as a cleaning lady at the Halstead Corporation, which is the same company that wants to not only tear down her neighborhood but also turn the local cemetery into a condo subdivision.

Fortunately, Helen’s new boarders just happen to be Jonathan Smith and Mark Gordon.  Jonathan encourages Helen to rally the neighbors to take a stand against Halstead.  He also encourages Paul Tarsten (Dane Clark), who was recently laid off from Halstead for being too old, to help Helen out.  With Jonathan’s guidance, Helen goes through the trash at Halstead, finds some stock reports that really should have been put through a shredder, and then use that insider information to buy and sell a bunch of stock until soon, she and her friends are the majority stockholders.

“Only in America,” Ms. Zabenko (Elsa Raven) exclaims not once but five times, just in case you were wondering how heavy-handed this episode was.

Helen is able to save her neighborhood, save the cemetery where her husband is buried, and also take over the company.  She also finds hints of romance with Paul, who is himself a widower.  Their mission accomplished, Jonathan and Mark leave town….

…. which is good because I don’t see anyway that Paul, Helen, and Ms. Zabenko aren’t eventually going to end up in federal prison.  Just about every piece of advice that Jonathan gave Helen led to her doing something illegal, from insider trading to corporate espionage to stealing from the office.  Only in America, Ms. Zabenko?  In America, we have laws against stock market manipulation.

This episode just irked me.  Whenever people talk about Highway to Heaven being an unrealistic and cheesy show, this is the type of episode that they’re thinking of.  It takes a lot to make a heartless corporation sympathetic but the overacted and rather smug neighborhood activists in this episode managed to do just that.  In previous episodes, Jonathan and Mark have appealed to businessmen to get them to change their ways.  In this episode, the head of Halstead isn’t given that opportunity.  Instead, Jonathan — acting on authority from GOD — encourages a bunch of people with no business experience and no way of knowing any better to commit a bunch of federal crimes.  Helen takes over the company but what does Helen know about running a company?  When Halstead goes bankrupt, a lot of people who had nothing to do with the former CEO’s plans will end up losing their jobs.  Way to go, God.

Finally, I should note that this episode begins with Helen’s former boarder telling her that he’s moving out because a voice in his head told him to move to Alaska.  It’s only because he leaves that Helen has the room to rent to Jonathan and Mark.  So, basically, promoting insider trading wasn’t enough for Jonathan.  He also had to ruin some poor schmuck’s life by telling him to move to a state that he knows nothing about.  Not since the Book of Enoch has an angel behaved so unethically.

Retro Television Review: In The Lion’s Den 1.1 “The Pilot”

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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing In The Lion’s Den, which aired on CBS in 1987.  The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

Episode 1.1 “Pilot”

(Dir by James Burrows, originally aired on September 4th, 1987)

When she lived in New York City, Dana (Wendy Crewson) had an apartment, a boyfriend, and a job working as a producer on a very successful game show.  But then she got fired and everything changed.  Now, she has moved to San Antonio so she can work as the new associate producer of Lion’s Den, a PBS program featuring a lion puppet named Maynard.

The man behind the puppet is Keith (Dennis Boutsikaris), an infamously temperamental actor who, every day, announces that he’s quitting show business and storms off the set.  Previously, it was up to Jerry (Jack Blessing) to coax Keith into returning to the set and shooting the show.  But now that Jerry has a job with Steven Spielberg, it’s up to Dana to keep Keith happy.

Despite having hired her, Keith does not know who Dana is when she shows up on the set.  He proceeds to re-interview her for the job, which means leering at her legs and trying to convince her to hug the puppet.  Keith, I think, was meant to come across as being a charming rogue but, every time he talked to Dana, I had flashbacks to interviewing for jobs after college and all of the guys who stared at my chest and legs while I explained my passion for art history.  Keith is a creep and the fact that he’s only nice when he’s talking through Maynard does nothing to change that.

It’s an eventful first day for Dana.  One of the show’s sponsors (played by Fred Applegate) offers to allow Dana to rent his house but it soon turns out that he’s a bit of a sleaze.  A neurotic writer (Brian Backer) fears that he’s going to lose his job because he wrote a script about football.  (“I hate football!” Keith yells.  Good luck living in Texas.)  Proving the everyone had to start somewhere, Marcia Gay Harden plays the receptionist who helps Dana get out of having to talk to her ex-boyfriend.  (“She’s meetin’ Willie Nelson.”)  Harden plays the role with a Texas accent and, while it’s definitely exaggerated, she does a good job with it overall.  (A quick check with Wikipedia revealed that, though born in California, Harden spent time in Texas when she was growing up and graduated from the University of Texas.)  Eventually, Keith throws his daily tantrum and Dana has to find her own way to keep him from quitting show business.

The main problem with the pilot is that Keith is too much of a jerk.  It’s hard to really care about someone who throws a tantrum every day, is abusive to his coworkers, and how uses an adorable puppet to sexually harass a woman who hasn’t even figured out where she’s going to be living in her new city.  Personally, I think Dana should have quit as soon as Maynard demanded a hug.

And audiences agreed.  This pilot aired once and that was it for In The Lion’s Den.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Monsters 1.21 “All In A Day’s Work”

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 Wednesdays, I will be reviewing Monsters, which aired in syndication from 1988 to 1991. The entire show is streaming on Tubi.

A lot of talented people came together to create this week’s episode of Monsters!

Episode 1.21 “All In A Day’s Work”

(Dir by Allen Coulter, originally aired on May 6th, 1989)

Steven Rose (James Morrison) is a graduate student whose studies of ancient magic have accidentally summoned a creature who looks exactly like him and who also follows him everywhere that he goes.  Following the advice of a friend, Steven seeks help from a white witch named Fiona (Adrienne Barbeau).  Fiona is willing to help but first, she needs to pick up her son, Ian (Brandon Bluhm), from school.

When she returns to her apartment building with Ian, she discovers that the doppelganger is waiting in the hallway and apparently, it wants Ian’s soul.  Locking herself in her apartment with Steven and Ian, Fiona is forced to do the unthinkable.  She commits a mortal sin by summoning a demon named Belphamelech (Eddie Velez).  As she explains it to Steven, if she can get rid of his doppelganger than she will be forgiven for summoning a demon.  And if she can’t get rid of the doppelganger, it won’t matter what happens.

There were a lot of talented people involved with this episode.  Adrienne Barbeau, of course, is still well-remembered for her appearances in The Fog, Escape From New York, and Creepshow.  Nearly two decades after his appearance here, James Morrison would find fame as Bill Buchanan on 24 and as the prison warden on Twin Peaks: The Return.  Eddie Velez is still a regular on television.  This was one of the first shows to be directed by Allen Coulter, who go on to direct some of the best episodes of The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire. 

Considering all of talent both in front of and behind the camera, it’s not a surprise that this is one of the better episodes of Monsters, an atmospheric and well-acted 21 minutes that nicely mixes horror with humor.  The episode works best when it contrasts Fiona’s magic powers with the normal activities of her everyday life.  She can get rid of demons and yes, she can cook up a love potion or two and yes, she knows all of the things to say to control a demon.  But, in the end, her main concern is making sure that her son gets to and from school without incident and that everyone has a good dinner in the evening.

Interestingly enough, the episode ends in such a way that makes it feel as if it was meant to be a pilot for a television series that would have featured Fiona dealing with the supernatural on a weekly basis.  She ends the episode with both a new romance and a new assistant and it’s easy to imagine all of the future adventures that they could have all had together.  If this episode was meant to serve as a pilot, it didn’t lead to a series and that’s a shame because it definitely had the potential to be a lot of fun.