Retro Television Reviews: California Dreams 2.14 “21 Jake Street” and 2.15 “Can’t Buy Me Love”

Posted on December 3, 2022 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 California Dreams, which ran on NBC from 1992 to 1996. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

I do have to say that, having now watched several episodes of City Guys and One World, I actually appreciate California Dreams a bit more. It was one of the better shows to be produced by Peter Engel, one of the crown jewels of the Engelverse.

Episode 2.14 “21 Jake Street”

(Originally aired on December 25th, 1993, directed by Don Barnart)

Wow, this episode premiered on Christmas Day? Really? How many families put off unwrapping presents so they could watch the latest adventures of the California Dreams?

There’s a new girl at PCH and all the male members of the Dreams want to date her. However, the only guy that she’s interested in going out with is Jake. Soon, Jake is dating her and …. WAIT A MINUTE! Isn’t Jake dating Tiffani!? Have we not gone through several episodes that have featured Jake dating Tiffani? Yet now, Jake is dating a new girl and Tiffani isn’t even upset about it. Once again, it appears that this episode was shown out of its intended order. NBC was notorious for doing this with their morning sitcoms and, as a result, the continuity of California Dreams, City Guys. Hang Time, One World, and Saved By The Bell was always a mess. At the time, it’s possible that no one noticed or cared. Back in 1993, it wasn’t like people could hop on Twitter and demand to know whether Jake and Tiffani were still a couple. And honestly, there are worse things in the world than sloppy continuity. It’s just that, when you binge one of these shows, screwed-up continuity jumps out at you in a way that it might not otherwise.

Anyway, the new girl is really interested in Sly’s plan to get fake IDs so that the Dreams can play in a 21-and-over club. It turns out that she’s an undercover cop and she’s working to break a Fake ID ring! If you only watched shows that took place in the Engelverse, you would be justified in thinking that fake IDs were the biggest problem in high schools in the 1990s. Saved By The Bell, Hang Time, City Guys, California Dreams, they all did at least one episode about fake IDs.

The fake ID dealer is arrested. Sly nearly gets arrested as well but he’s allowed to go free after he promises to never buy a fake ID again. That’s not really how the legal system works but whatever. Jake tells the undercover cop to look him up after he graduates from high school. He says it right in front of Tiffani. WHAT A JERK!

Meanwhile, Matt and Tony compete in an art competition. Matt paints an abstract portrait of Sam. Sam tells Matt that he has no talent. Tony sculpts a bust of Tiffani and wins first prize after a large chunk of it is broken off. Yay! The art stuff was dumb but kind of cute. The cast had just enough chemistry to pull it off.

Episode 2.15 “Can’t Buy Me Love”

(Originally aired on January 8th, 1994, directed by Don Barnhart)

The high school needs a new scoreboard for the gym so Tiffani decides that the perfect way to raise money would be told hold a slave auction!

Okay, technically, it’s a “servant” auction but the idea is that, once someone buys you, you do whatever they say for an entire week. And you don’t get paid and you don’t really get any say in what you’re ordered to do and …. well, it’s a slave auction, okay? Oddly enough, buying people was a frequent theme in the Engelverse. Saved By The Bell, Hang Time, and City Guys all had episodes that featured date auctions.

Anyway, if that premise wasn’t awkward enough, the show’s only regular black character, Tony, agrees to be sold. He’s hoping that he’ll be purchased by his crush. Instead, dumbass Matt scratches his head during the auction and he ends up accidentally buying Tony! Agck! At first, Matt refuses to give Tony any orders but, eventually, he does ask Tony to do a few things. Matt feels so guilty about it that he ends up becoming Tony’s servant.

Meanwhile, Sly buys the most popular girl in the school because he’s convinced that he can brainwash her into loving him. (Good Lord, what is with this episode?) However, the girl turns out to hate Sly so much that all of his efforts go nowhere and she ends up telling everyone in the school what a sleazy dork he is. For some reason, we are now supposed to feel bad for Sly, despite the fact that he is kind of a sleazy dork.

Jake gets purchased by a group of cheerleaders who drive him crazy by being overly peppy. Tiffani is purchased by Sam, who really enjoys bossing her around. To be honest, Sam buying Tiffani (at a discount because Tiffani is the last person left to be auctioned off) is a lot funnier than you might expect. That’s largely because Jennie Kwan had the best comic timing of any of the second season cast members. As played by Kwan, Sam is an agent of chaos and her cheerfully destructive performance contrasts nicely with Kelly Packard’s much more earnest performance as Tiffani.

This is an episode that probably shouldn’t work but it does. The entire premise is incredibly problematic but the cast had a strong enough chemistry that they could even gets laughs out of the dumbest of situations. I already mentioned the comedic team of Jennie Kwan and Kelly Packard but Michael Cade and Jay Anthony Franke also make for a good team in this episode. Sly and Jake were probably the most cliched characters on the show but Franke and Cade both brought a lot of energy to their performances and they played well off of each other. As with so many of the second season episodes, you find yourself laughing almost despite yourself.

Next week, hopefully no one will be sold or brainwashed. It’s supposed to be about the music, people!

Retro Television Review: One World 3.1 “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” and 3.2 “Push Comes To Shove”

Posted on December 2, 2022 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 One World, which ran on NBC from 1998 to 2001. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

The Cast of One World

It’s time for the third and final season of One World!

Episode 3.1 “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on September 23rd, 2000)

At the end of season 2 of One World, Neal and Jane were both facing an uncertain future. Having been caught cheating on the SAT, they had been banned from retaking the test and they were both going to have to figure out a way to get into a good college with no SAT score. It was a pretty dark situation. Neal even said that it was now going to take him a little bit longer to achieve his dreams. I was curious to see how the show would handle this situation in season 3.

The first episode of season 3 handled the developments of season 2 in much the same way that most TNBC shows handled any sort of unexpected drama. They ignored it. Over the course of the first episode of season 3, no mention was made of the SAT or college. Neal is apparently still in high school (though he was a senior last season) and he’s got the highest GPA of anyone in his class. Once again, his future is bright! Jane, meanwhile, is no longer talking about college but she does now have a really awful spiky hairstyle. Seriously, I want slap whoever it was who decided to dye her hair that color of yellow. It totally washes out all of her features.

As for Ben, Cray, Sui, and Marci …. well, they’re pretty much the same. Marci is still materialistic. Cray is still dorky. Ben is still dumb, And Sui is still way too cool for this show.

The first episode featured a guest turn from James Avery, playing Mr. Richard, the father of Neal’s girlfriend, Kate. (Yes, there is a joke about how he “looks like the guy from Fresh Prince.”) Mr, Richard is a successful and wealthy attorney and a Harvard graduate. When Neal mentions that he used to be in a gang, Mr. Richard forbids Kate (Tasha Taylor) from dating Neal. Neal confronts Mr. Richard and accuses him of being prejudiced. (“Ohhhhhh!” the audience says.) Mr. Richard tells Neal to watch his mouth. (“Ahhhhh!” the audience responds.)

Later, Kate sneaks into the Blake home and tells Neal that she’s willing to defy her father but Neal says that he won’t go against her father’s wishes because he still has the same integrity that caused him to get banned from taking the SAT. (No, Neal doesn’t bring up the SAT. That’s just me wondering what happened to that whole storyline.) Mr. Richard is moved by Neal’s integrity and decides that he’s okay with his daughter dating a former gang member who was will basically never be able to get into a good college.

On the one hand, Neal has a point about giving people a second chance and judging people by their actions and not their past. On the other hand, Mr. Richard is played by James Avery, who was a far better actor than the material deserved. The character is written to just be a snob but Avery instead turns him into a father who sincerely cares about his daughter. So, despite the show’s intentions, Mr. Richard actually comes across as being more sympathetic than either his flighty daughter or the somewhat self-righteous Neal.

Meanwhile, Marci buys a bunch of clothes online but discovers that they were stolen. The most interesting thing about this storyline is that everyone is shocked to discover that you can buy things online. I guess that’s 2000 for you!

Episode 3.2 “Push Comes to Shove”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on September 30, 2000)

Cray has a bully! Earl (Joshua Boyd) goes from demanding the Cray bring him a sandwich to demanding that Cray bring him money. Jane counsels Cray to beat Earl up. (Has she not seen Cray? Cray’s not beating anyone up.) St. Neal suggests that Cray should turn the other cheek and remember that violence solves nothing. Neal, however, turns out to be a huge hypocrite because, when he talks to Earl, he ends up getting into a fight with him. Neal beats up Earl (off-screen, of course) but he then has an ethical crisis over having violated his principles. Good Lord, Neal’s annoying.

Meanwhile, Jane is dating Bradley Covington, the scion of the richest family in town. Bradley asks out Jane despite her terrible hair and the fact that the supercool Sui was in the same room. Bradley takes Jane to a country club and we get a badly acted scene in which Jane stands up to Bradley’s snooty cousin. That whole subplot didn’t really go anywhere.

Well, that’s not a great start to season 3. Hopefully, next week will be a bit better!

Retro Television Review: City Guys 3.1 “Greece Is The Word” and 3.2 “Mr. Baseball”

Posted on December 1, 2022 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 City Guys, which ran on NBC from 1997 to 2001. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

Season 3 of City Guys begins with a new school year! Interestingly enough, everyone was either a junior or a senior when this show began so you really do have to wonder why they’re all still going to Manny High. I mean, L-Train was investigating colleges just a few episodes ago!

It’s almost as if TNBC just didn’t care….

Episode 3.1 “Greece Is The Word”

(Directed by Frank Bonner, originally aired on September 11th, 1999)

Oh, Christ. Let’s get into this….

A new school year has begun! Al and L-Train are looking forward to hazing freshmen. Dawn has sworn that she is not going to spread herself too thin this semester. Jamal shows up on campus and all of the students applaud. Chris shows up and explains that he spent his summer in Greece and had a romance with a girl named Ariana. Chris and Jamal do not do their stupid radio program so maybe that’s something that the show has finally abandoned.

Anyway, Ms. Nobel thinks that a school dance will be the perfect way to start the year. Cassidy and Chris immediately volunteer to organize the dance. It can be a 50s dance, they decide. Everyone can wear leather jackets and poodle skirts and they can have a hula hoop contest! Is there some reason why these schools can never have a normal dance?

In order to research the 50s, Chris and Cassidy go to an arthouse theater that is showing …. you’ve already guessed, I’m sure …. GREASE! Chris and Cassidy end up making out while watching the movie so they are now officially dating. Except …. uh-oh, what’s Ariana doing in New York!? Her father is in New York on business so Ariana decided to come with him so she could see Chris. It turns out that she still thinks that she’s dating Chris. It also turns out that Ariana delivers all of her lines in heavily accented broken English and the audience thinks it’s hilarious.

What’s dumb is that Cassidy already knows that Chris had a romance in Greece. He told her about at the movie. So, it’s not like she doesn’t know who Ariana is. Cassidy got into a relationship with Chris fully aware that he had feelings for Ariana just a few weeks previously. But, instead of telling Cassidy that Ariana is in town, Chris decided to lie to both of them. He tells Ariana that he doesn’t have a New York girlfriend and he doesn’t tell Cassidy a thing. Chris thinks that he can pull it off because Ariana is only going to be in town for a day but what if Ariana decides to stop by the dance before she leaves the country?

And yes, that’s exactly what happens. Ariana gets upset and yells in broken English, which the audience finds hilarious. Chris, who is dressed up like Elvis, apologizes to Cassidy. Cassidy says that they’re going to have to take their relationship slowly. So, I guess that means the writers still hadn’t decided whether they really wanted to commit to Cassidy and Chris as a couple. We’ll see if this is another one of those storylines that gets abandoned or not.

This was the type of episode that drives me crazy, in that all of the conflict could have been avoided by people not being stupid. It’s certainly not a good start to everyone’s second senior year at Manny High. Hopefully, things will get better in our next episode….

Episode 3.2 “Mr. Baseball”

(Directed by Frank Bonner, originally aired on September 11th, 1999)

After spending the previous two seasons as an unathletic goofball, Jamal is suddenly revealed to a star baseball player in this episode. In fact, Jamal is so good that he has never been struck out and there’s also a scout coming to the game to check him out. Of course, Jamal lets the fame go to his head. And, of course, Jamal strikes out with the scout watching. Jamal’s immediate reaction is to announce that he’s quitting baseball and then to get into a fight with a random Paul Rudd look-alike on the roof. Ms. Nobel, however, gives him a good talking to and Jamal decides to keep playing.

Meanwhile, it turns out that Chris and Jamal do still have their radio show but, with Jamal devoting all of his time to baseball, L-Train takes over as Chris’s co-host. While the whole radio station thing has never made much sense to me, I do have to give credit where credit is due. In the role of L-Train, Steven Daniel was often this show’s secret weapon and he shows it here, managing to get laughs from even the lamest of jokes. L-Train often got the worst lines but Daniel always delivered them with such sincerity that it was impossible not to smile.

Meanwhile, Dawn is upset that the Manny High’s mascot is a hunter. She wants to change the mascot to a big apple. Everyone laughs at her until she mentions that the Big Apple will always be accompanied by cheerleaders. Did the Manny High Hunter not have cheerleaders?

Anyway, this wasn’t a bad episode at all, even if it was all a bit predictable. Wesley Jonathan was not the most convincing athlete that I’ve ever seen but he did do a good job of portraying both Jamal’s anger and his shame after he struck out. Even Cassidy gets a decent storyline, one which sees her getting thrown out of the game for excessive trash talk. You go, Cassidy!

Maybe season 3 won’t be so bad after all….

(We’ll find out next week!)

Retro Television Reviews: The Love Boat 1.13 “Too Hot to Handle / Family Reunion / Cinderella Story”

Posted on November 30, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986! The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

It’s Love!

Episode 1.13 “Too Hot to Handle / Family Reunion / Cinderella Story”

(Dir by James Sheldon and Richard Kinon, originally aired on January 7th, 1978)

It’s time for another cruise with three separate stories!

Newlyweds George (John Rubinstein) and Sally Allison (a youngish Kathy Bates) board the Pacific Princess, hoping to enjoy the ideal honeymoon. Instead, it turns out to be one disaster after another. Sally gets sunburned. George gets poison ivy. Having gotten off the boat in Mexico, Sally returns to discover a totally different couple staying in what she thinks is her cabin. Uh-oh. It turns out that Sally accidentally got on the Sun Princess and the Pacific Princess has already set sail without her! This was a pretty simple storyline and, if anything, it mostly seemed to exist so that the show’s writers could see how many bad things that they could do to one perfectly innocent couple. But John Rubinstein and Katy Bates are so likable as George and Sally that the story works. You can’t help but hope the cruise gets a little better for them. Kathy Bates was 29 when she appeared on The Love Boat and there’s nothing about her performance that would necessarily make you say, “Hey, that’s a future Oscar winner!” But still, both she and John Rubinstein do a good job with the material that they’ve been given.

Meanwhile, Tommy (Bob Crane) is a middle-aged man who has been hired to work as a steward on the ship. Captain Stubing takes an immediate dislike to the irresponsible, womanizing Tommy. When he discovers that Tommy has been drinking on the job, Stubing comes close to firing him. However, Tommy confesses that he’s drinking because he’s just discovered that the daughter who he abandoned years ago is on the cruise. Wendy (Dori Brenner) has always believed that her father died in a shipwreck and she hopes that Stubing might know something about the wreck. Seeking to help out Tommy, Stubing tells a lot of lies about Wendy’s “deceased” father but Tommy finally breaks down and confesses the truth. At first, Wendy rejects Tommy but, with the help of her understanding husband (Robert Hays), she eventually forgives her father.

This storyline hinges on a huge coincidence. What are the chances that Tommy and Wendy would just happen to end up on the same cruise together and that Tommy would be assigned to serve as Wendy’s steward? On top of that, what are the chances that Wendy would just happen to have a picture of her mother sitting out where Tommy could see it? It’s all fairly predictable but, if you’ve seen Auto Focus, it’s interesting to watch Crane’s performance here. This episode aired just a few months before Crane was murdered in Arizona and it’s easy to see the charismatic but irresponsible and self-destructive Tommy as being a reflection of who Bob Crane himself had reportedly become at the time of his death. Tommy is a character who lives with a lot of emotional pain and regret and Crane is so surprisingly effective in the role that it’s hard not to wonder if perhaps, on some level, he related to Tommy.

Finally, in the show’s final storyline, Bill Edwards (Bruce Solomon) is a supermarket manager who has booked a cruise with his wife, Doreen (Judy Luciano). When a wealthy advertising exec cancels his trip, Julie and Gopher decide to let Bill and Doreen stay in the man’s luxury cabin. This, of course, leads to Stubing mistaking Bill for the ad exec! Suddenly, Bill and Doreen are sitting at the captain’s table and competing for an advertising contract! Eventually, the truth comes out but business tycoon Greg Beatty (David White) is so impressed with Bill’s ideas that he arranges for Bill to get a job with an actual advertising company. Mad Men it’s not! However, it’s still a charming little story, largely due to the performances of Bruce Solomon and Judy Luciano.

If last week’s episode was a “lesser Love Boat,” this week’s episode show just how much fun The Love Boat could be. Yes, all of the stories are fairly predictable but the guest stars all perform their roles with a lot of energy. Bob Crane brings a poignant sense of regret to his performance as Tommy while Bruce Solomon and Judy Luciano are exactly the type of attrative couple that you would want to meet on a cruise. And, as I said already, it’s impossible not to like John Rubinstein and Kathy Bates as the newlyweds who just can’t catch a break. The regular cast is used sparingly but effectively in this episode. Fred Grandy gets a nice scene where he has to explain to John Rubinstein that Kathy Bates got on the wrong boat. Bernie Kopell plays Doc Bricker as being an agent of chaos. It’s a fun episode and what more can you ask for?

Retro Television Reviews: Fantasy Island 1.12 “King For A Day/Instant Family”

Posted on November 29, 2022 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 the original Fantasy Island, which ran on ABC from 1977 to 1986. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

This week, Mr. Roarke proves himself to be the expert at granting fantasies and teaching lessons. One group of visitors deals with international diplomacy. The other group deals with taking care of children. It’s time for …. FANTASY ISLAND!

Episode 1.12 “King For A Day/Instant Family”

(Directed by George McGowan, originally aired on May 6th, 1978)

There are a lot fantasies in this episode.

For instance, Ernie Miller (David Doyle) is a plumber who wants to be treated like a king. When he arrives on Fantasy Island, he is informed that he is now the King of Carpathia and that he is married to Queen Auroroa (Diane Baker). What Ernie doesn’t realize is that there actually is a country called Carpathia and that he just happens to look exactly like the nation’s recently deceased king. It turns out that Aurora is not just an actress hired to pretend to be the Queen. Instead, she actually is the Queen! Aurora had a fantasy of her own. She wanted the king to come back to life so that he could prevent the country by being taken over by the sinister Ambassador Soro (Theodore Bikel).

Roarke combines their two fantasies into one. Ernie gets to become king, on the condition that he abandon his former life and identity. (That’s something that Ernie has no problem with and, quite frankly, actor David Doyle wasn’t exactly the most convincing plumber that I’ve ever seen. Some actors were just meant to play men who wore suits to the office and David Doyle was one of them.) Aurora gets her husband back, except of course it’s not actually her husband. It’s just someone who looks like him. But Aurora is cool with that. This is kind of a weird fantasy. One has to wonder what would have happened in Ambassador Soro had announced that his fantasy was to conquer Carpathia. WHAT THEN, MR. ROARKE!?

As for the other fantasy, it involves a woman named Gail Grayson (Melinda Naud), whose fantasy is to get a job working for the world’s number one expert on how to raise children. Gail, it turns out, has written a thesis about how housewives are unnecessary and how being a mother isn’t as difficult as everyone says. (It’s hard for me to imagine any woman actually writing something like that but whatever. We’ll just go with it.) Gail gets to put her thesis to the test when she discovers that she’s been hired to act as a babysitter! It turns out that the world’s number one expert on raising children has several unruly children of his own.

Accompanying Gail is her mother, Mildred Grayson (Jane Wyatt). It turns out that Mildred didn’t appreciate Gail’s thesis (and really, who can blame her?) and her fantasy is for Gail to discover firsthand just how difficult it is to take care of a house and several bratty children. Again, Mr. Roarke decided to combine everyone’s fantasies. Gail gets to work for her mentor and Jane gets to watch as Gail is humiliated by the children. Eventually, Mildred comes to feel guilty about wishing so much trouble on her own daughter but everything work out in the end. Gail gets her dream job and Mildred gets to say, “I told you so.”

Yay! Everything works out for everyone!

This is one of those episodes where you really have to wonder if Mr. Roarke actually had a plan or if he was just making it all up as he was going along. If Ernie hadn’t agreed to become the king in real life, Carpathia would have been conquered by the communists. If Gail hadn’t realized her thesis was wrong, one of the children could have died on the island. Sometimes, I just think that there are better ways to teach people a lesson than taking them to a mystical island that is ruled in a somewhat arbitrary manner by a friendly but occasionally condescending host. That said, I would totally go to Fantasy Island if it did exist. I imagine the same was true of the majority of the people who watched the show when it first aired.

After all, who doesn’t have a fantasy or two?

Retro Television Review: Hang Time 2.11 “Superman Brodis” and 2.12 “Green-Eyed Julie”

Posted on November 28, 2022 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 Hang Time, which ran on NBC from 1995 to 2000. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

Ugh. I can’t get the theme song out of my head.

Episode 2.11 “Superman Brodis”

(Directed by Patrick Maloney, originally aired on November 16th, 1996)

Teddy’s long-absent father retires from playing professional basketball and moves to Indiana so that he can be close to his son. Because “Superman” Brodis has spent the past 15 years playing across the country and in Europe, he’s been absent from most of Teddy’s life. At first, Teddy can’t stop talking about how excited he is to finally have his father in his life. However, Teddy’s father turns out to be kind of a jerk, constantly telling Teddy that he needs to lose weight and work harder. Teddy says that it doesn’t bother him but, as usual, Josh decides that it is his place to tell everyone else how to live their lives. Josh tells Teddy that he should be angry and soon, Teddy is angrily telling his father to stay out of his life.

(And don’t get me wrong. Teddy’s father deserved to be told off but it still really wasn’t Josh place to get involved.)

Meanwhile, because this season’s writers were incapable of writing the character as being anything other than self-centered and overdramatic, Julie will not shut up about having a toothache. Eventually, things work out on both fronts. Teddy and his father agree to try to build a relationship. Julie goes to Amy’s dentist and, after discovering that she will need a root canal, she blames Amy. Actually, Julie, maybe you should blame yourself for not brushing and flossing. Going to the dentist may be unpleasant but it’s still preferable to dying of blood poisoning.

This episode continues this season’s theme of Josh and Julie being the best players and the worst human beings on the team. While Julie whines and moans about having a toothache, Josh tells Teddy how he should feel about his father. That said, this episode also shows why Anthony Anderson went on to have a successful career after leaving Hang Time. He gives a touching and sincere performance here, especially in the episode’s final scene. There’s a lot of emotional honesty to be found in Anderson’s performance, which isn’t necessarily something that you would expect from an episode of Hang Time.

Episode 2.12 “Green-Eyed Julie”

(Directed by Patrick Maloney, originally aired on November 23rd, 1996)

Julie upset when she discovers that there’s a new waitress named Nicole at her favorite after-school hangout and, for once, it’s kind of understandable. Not only Nicole played by a pre-American Pie Shannon Elizabeth but Nicole obviously has a crush on Josh! Josh’s efforts to set Nicole up with Danny fail, largely because Danny is kind of a loser.

Eventually, it’s revealed that Chris Atwater (who was the first season’s version of Josh) cheated on Julie in between the first and second seasons and that’s why they broke up. It’s also why Julie is incapable of trusting anyone. It doesn’t help, of course, that Julie happens to see Nicole kissing Josh. Later, when she finds out that it was Nicole who made the first move and that Josh did not reciprocate, she tells Josh that he’s way better than Chris. I have to wonder how David Hanson, the actor who played Chris during season 1, felt about this episode.

Meanwhile, the school is throwing a disco party! Everyone dresses like they’re from the 70s and breaks out some disco moves. That was cute, silly, and fun and provided a nice (and needed) relief from all of the Julie drama.

Next week, season 2 ends! Will Deering made it into the playoffs? We’ll find out in December.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 11/20/22 — 11/26/22

Posted on November 26, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! Here’s some thoughts on what I watched this week!

The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about the latest episode of The Amazing Race here!

The Brady Bunch (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

One of the Brady kids needed to make a movie for his Thanksgiving project. The entire family helped! Needless to say, Mike took it all way too seriously. The movie itself looked awful but I’m sure the Brady kid — I think it was Peter — got an A. No one ever had the courage to stand up to those Bradys.

California Dreams (YouTube)

Surf dudes with attitude….

Catholic Mass (Sunday Morning, The CW)

I always feel a bit weird watching Mass on television. This Sunday, I felt even stranger about watching it while wearing a bikini and getting ready to lay out on the deck of my cousin’s place at Lake Texoma. But, I did promise my sisters that I would try to go to Mass on Sunday so I did what I had to do!

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Apple TV+)

Erin and I watched this classic on Wednesday. She wrote about why she loves this special a few years ago.

Cheers (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

I haven’t seen many episodes of this show but I’ve read all the online praise and I am an unabashed fan of Frasier Crane. The episode that I watched on Sunday was a Thanksgiving episode. A bunch of barflies decided to spend Thanksgiving together. Needless to say, it turned out to be a bit messy but also funny and even kind of heart-warming.

City Guys (Tubi)

They’re the neat guys. I wrote about them here.

Football (FOX, NBC, CBS, Thursday)

The family was watching football so I joined them, kind of. I cringed with every tackle and I felt terrible for the teams who lost. I mean, what a sucky way to spend Thanksgiving. Personally, I think they should allow for tie games so that everyone can be a winner! But apparently, that’s not the way that football works.

Frosty Returns (Friday Night, CBS)

Frosty’s back! But an evil businessman is going to destroy him with something called Summer Wheeze! The 90s version of Frosty The Snowman tries a bit too hard. I prefer the original.

Frosty the Snowman (Friday Night, CBS)

Yay! Santa was able to bring Frosty back to life! Seriously, I first saw this special when I was little and I was traumatized by melting Frosty! Trauma aside, I love these old Christmas specials.

Full House (Sunday Evening, MeTV)

I watched two episodes on Sunday. The first episode was from season one and it featured the Tanners having their first Thanksgiving since the death of Danny’s wife. This was actually one of the better episodes of Full House. This was followed by a much later episode of Full House, in which DJ finally got a boyfriend and started to show some independence from her overbearing family. Good for her!

Gilligan’s Island (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

A bank robber (played by Larry Storch) somehow ended up on the island. He menaced everyone with a gun, tried to hide his money, and then left without offering to help anyone else return to civilization. I haven’t seen many episodes of Gilligan’s Island but apparently, this was a fairly common occurrence on the show. For the record, I only watched this episode because I thought it was going to be Thanksgiving-themed but it wasn’t.

Happy Days (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

Upset that her family was more interested in football than fellowship, Marion Cunningham told the story of the First Thanksgiving. To be honest, Happy Days is one of those popular old shows that I just don’t get. The extremely enthusiastic “live audience” drives me crazy. That said, this was an okay episode. The cast got to dress up like pilgrims.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas (NBC, Friday Night)

I love Boris Karloff!

The Love Boat (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

MeTV aired a Thanksgiving episode of The Love Boat on Sunday. It was from season 6 so it’ll be a while before I get to review it as a part of my retro television reviews.

Saved By The Bell (Sunday Morning, MeTV)

I woke up early on Sunday morning and I watched six episodes of this show — that’s three hours! — as I had breakfast, cleaned up around the lakehouse, and packed for the trip home. The episodes were a bit random. It started with the Senior Prom episode, in which Zach realized that he still had feelings for Kelly. This was followed by the infamous Graduation episode, in which the entire school rallied to help Zach avoid summer school despite the fact that they didn’t owe Zach a damn thing. Then it was time for the “Time Capsule” clip show, in which a bunch of loser students gathered in Belding’s office to watch a VHS tape that had been left behind by Zach and the gang.

Time then moved backwards. Suddenly, Zach was meeting Slater for the first time, Zach and Slater were competing to take Kelly to the school dance, and Zach was pretending to be Candy in order to get Screech to do his homework.

All of these episodes were, of course, pretty dumb and cringey. But they made for nice background noise. At this point, I think I have ever episode of this silly show memorized.

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about the latest episode of Survivor here!

WKRP IN Cincinnati (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)

“Oh my God! They’re turkeys!” Jeff introduced me to the Thanksgiving episode of this classic sitcom a few years ago and, since then, watching it has become a Thanksgiving tradition. Poor Mr. Carlson!

Retro Television Review: One World 2.12 “A Cheating Heart” and 2.13 “Coming of Age”

Posted on November 25, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Cast of One World

This week, the second season of One World comes to an end! Will we all still be living in one world once it’s over?

Episode 2.12 “A Cheating Heart”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on December 4th, 1999)

Finally, Sui gets a storyline!

When Marci sets up a charity date auction at Miami’s “hottest under-21 club,” The Warehouse, Sui is purchased by a guy named Scott (Jason Strickland) and …. ugh, this is cringey already. Anyway, Scott turns out to be kind of dorky and Sui doesn’t really want to date him but Scott decides that he’s totally in love with her and insists that she is actually in love with him too. Scott even befriends Dave so that he can hang out in the Blake House with Sui. Needless to say, Scott’s behavior is stalkerish and more than a little disturbing but the show plays it for laughs. Ugh, poor Sui.

Meanwhile, Ben is purchased by a woman with whom he has little in common and Cray is purchased by an old woman who needs him to do some yard work. Wait a minute …. the Warehouse had an auction in which they sold someone to do manual labor for free? This is seriously icky.

Meanwhile, Jane has suddenly decided that she wants to go to college but, after 12 years of goofing off, she knows that there is no way she’s going to do well on the SAT. Since St. Neal is a genius, he tries to tutor her. Jane suggests just cheating instead but Neal is like, “No! Cheating is wrong!” (He may be right but, on the other hand, cheating is the only way I passed Algebra.) However, when they take the test, Neal realizes that Jane is struggling and he allows her to copy his answers. Good for you, Neal! Your sister deserves a future.

Uh-oh! The SAT proctor noticed what they were doing and, as a result, their tests are thrown out and they’re both told that they will never be allowed to retake the SAT. Jane confesses to cheating but lies and says that Neal had nothing to do with it. Neal announces that he will not lie and will instead accept his punishment. St. Neal says that he’s not going to give up on getting into college, even if it’s going to take him longer now. St. Neal also asks to be allowed to see what his score would have been.

“What did we get!?” Jane asks him.

Neal replies, “Let’s just say that mom and dad would have been very proud of us …. IF WE HADN’T CHEATED!”

And that’s how the episode ends! Seriously, what a dark world!

Anyway, my main impression of this episode is that Neal is a complete chump. After spending two seasons working hard and trying to make something of himself and talking about how important it was to him to go to an Ivy League college, Neal threw it all away for someone who probably would have ended up dropping out of college anyways. Call me a cynic but I doubt this sort of thing would happen in real life.

Episode 2.13 “Coming of Age”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on January 1st, 2000)

According to the imdb trivia page, this episode was originally supposed to air on September 25, 1999 but it was pushed back to January 1st. I guess that’s why no one mentions the fact that both Jane and Neal have thrown away their futures. This also means that, originally, the plan for the second season of One World was for it to end with Neal and Jane getting busted for cheating. That would have been an incredibly depressing way to end the season.

The delayed air date explains why, in this episode, Cray is noticeably shorter than he was in the previous episode, his voice is noticeably higher, and his hair is a lot longer. In fact, the episode opens with Cray’s birthday party and Cray announcing that he is now a teenager and he’s ready to start dating. Jane and Ben give Cray a lot of silly dating advice. It’s dumb. Maybe if Ben and Jane had done a better job, Cray wouldn’t have gotten caught up with that crazy marijuana girl.

Meanwhile, Karen gets a job as a waitress at the Warehouse and the kids are forced to finally appreciate everything that she does for them. It took two seasons but Karen finally gets to call out all of her spoiled adoptive children. Good for her!

Anyway, this was an episode that in no way felt appropriate for a season finale. Regardless, season two is over! Next week, we start the third and final season of One World.

Retro Television Review: City Guys 2.13 “Saving Private Johnson” and 2.14 “A Gift of Friendship”

Posted on November 24, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the 2nd season of City Guys come to an end with L-Train considering his future and Al considering the true meaning of friendship. Let’s get to it!

Episode 2.13 “Saving Private Johnson”

(Directed by Frank Bonner, originally aired on December 5th, 1998)

It’s career day at Manny High! Dawn wants to be a doctor. Al wants to be a stockbroker. L-Train wants …. well, L-Train doesn’t know what he wants. In fact, he’s so upset at his bad midterm grades that he decides that he’s going to drop out of school and join the Marines! Ms. Nobel is stunned and says that she feels like she failed with L-Train. L-Train tells her it’s not her fault. Ms. Nobel wishes him luck and she also wishes for peace….

It’s interesting to watch this episode today because we know what the future would have held for L-Train if he had joined the Marines. L-Train would have eventually ended up in either Afghanistan or Iraq. From that perspective, this storyline feels a bit different in 2022 than it probably did in 1998. Of course, L-Train doesn’t end up joining the Marines. He’s not allowed to join because the Marines discover that he’s dyslexic. L-Train returns to school, confident that he will now be able to get good grades and go to a good college.

This is one of those “very special episodes” that shouldn’t work but it does. This largely due to the performance of Steven Daniel, who bring just the right hint of melancholy to the scene in which he tells Nobel that he’s dropping out of school. L-Train was often a one-joke character but Steven Daniel always played him as being someone who was secretly far more intelligent than even he realized. Daniel took the role seriously, even if the show’s writers often didn’t. Steven Daniel was often this show’s secret weapon and this episode shows why.

Episode 2.14 “A Gift Of Friendship”

(Directed by Frank Bonner, originally aired on December 12th, 1998)

It’s the Christmas season and Dawn and Cassidy are in charge of the canned food drive. Ms. Nobel is proud of them but, unfortunately, some of the students aren’t as concerned about helping out as Ms. Nobel believes they should be.

For instance, Chris, Jamal, and L-Train are all excited because Chris’s uncle has a place in Florida and he’s willing to let them use it during the Christmas break. They just have to pay their own way to Florida and that won’t be difficult. Chris has a rich father. Jamal has a middle-class father. L-Train gets a job walking dogs. However, by going on vacation, they won’t be around to help “feed the poor.” Ms. Nobel tells them that she’s very disappointed in them. Considering that 1) it’s their Christmas break and they can do whatever they want with it and 2) none of what they’re planning has anything to do with the school, I have to kind of wonder just how exactly it is any of Ms. Nobel’s business.

Meanwhile, Al hasn’t even donated any food! Al keeps saying that he’ll bring some food “tomorrow” but, unfortunately, Al can barely afford to feed himself. Al’s father has been laid off and Al is planning on dropping out of school so that he can take on a full time job so that he can help support the family. Ms. Nobel is not happy to hear this and that’s not really a shock. I mean, first L-Train tried to drop out and now Al! Plus, Chris and Jamal would rather spend their break on Florida beach than getting mugged in New York City! Ms. Nobel has failed them all!

Anyway, it all ends on a good note. After Jamal reveals that Al’s family is struggling, Everyone goes to Al’s apartment and they give him and his family food. Ms. Nobel dressed up as Santa Claus and announces that there is a janitorial job at the school for Al’s father. Al realizes that there’s nothing wrong with accepting help. It’s not a bad message for Thanksgiving and Christmas, though I did have to wonder just how exactly Ms. Nobel could just magically give someone a job. I mean, seeing as how Mr. Ramos is going to be working at a school, it seems like he would have to at least pass a background check before he was hired. Also, does Ms. Nobel offer a job to all of the out-of-work parents who have children enrolled at her school or is she just making an exception for Al? Indeed, for all the time that the students spend singing her praises, Ms. Nobel really only seems to care about L-Train and Al.

Obviously, this episode presented me with a lot of unanswered questions. But it also ended with everyone gathered in front of a Christmas tree and singing Silent Night and that was a nice moment. It appealed to my sentimental side. That said, I do hope that Chris, Jamal, and L-Train still went down to Florida because, seriously, they had nothing to feel guilty about!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Retro Television Reviews: The Love Boat 1.12 “The Old Man and the Runaway / The Painters / A Fine Romance”

Posted on November 23, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome aboard! We’re expecting you.

Episode 1.12 “The Old Man and the Runaway / The Painters / A Fine Romance”

(Directed by Stuart Margolin and James Sheldon, originally aired on December 24th, 1977)

Hey, this episode of The Love Boat aired on Christmas Eve! Oddly enough, unlike last week’s episode, it was not a holiday-themed episode. You really do have to wonder if there was some sort of scheduling snafu at ABC and perhaps the episodes were shown out-of-order. Then again, it could be that ABC realized that everyone would be busy getting ready for Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve so they decided to burn off a lesser episode while no one was watching.

(Doesn’t everyone spend Christmas Eve getting ready for Midnight Mass while their aunt tells them to dress more like the Virgin and less like the Magdalene? Or was that just my experience?)

Yes, this is a lesser episode of The Love Boat. It’s not a terrible episode but, at the same time, it’s not all the memorable. A big problem is that there’s not really much romance on this cruise. The show was called The Love Boat for a reason and, when there’s no love, it just doesn’t feel right.

For instance, one subplot dealt with two incompetent painters (played by Arte Johnson and Pat Morita) painting the captain’s office during the cruise. They kept screwing up the job, which led to Captain Stubing getting progressively more and more annoyed. From the start, I guessed that the punchline would be that the painters were screwing up on purpose so that they could stay on the boat and get a free cruise and …. yep, that’s exactly what it was. Johnson and Morita were a good comedy team but the story itself felt like filler.

Meanwhile, a grumpy old widower (Will Geer) discovered that he was sharing his cabin with a teenage runaway (Bayn Johnson), who had stowed away on the ship and who was planning on meeting up with her boyfriend in Mexico. Once he got over complaining about her being young and irresponsible, Geer convinced her to return to her parents. Again, it wasn’t terrible and Bayn Johnson did a good job of keeping her character from getting annoying but it felt a bit out of place on The Love Boat. Obviously, the 75 year-old man and the 16 year-old runaway weren’t going to fall in love and leave the ship arm-in-arm while the crew smiled knowingly. Instead, this was a typical generation gap story. The most interesting thing about this story is that this was the second time that a runaway managed to stowaway on the Love Boat. Does that boat not have a security team? Don’t you actually have to show your tickets to board the boat? How does these people keep sneaking aboard?

Finally, the third storyline felt a bit more like a Love Boat story. Cruise director Julie (Lauren Tewes) is super-excited when she sees that Sean McGlynn (Anson Williams) is a passenger on the cruise. Julie and Sean grew up together and Julie always had a crush on him. At first, Julie and Sean have fun hanging out but, whenever Julie tries to flirt, Sean panics and runs off. Julie worries that there’s something wrong with her (oh, Julie!) but …. nope, Sean’s a priest. Apparently, he was having a crisis of faith when he boarded the boat, which is why he didn’t tell anyone he was a priest. But, when his roommate (Tom Poston) has a heart attack, Sean delivers the last rites and his faith is restored. (Don’t worry. His roommate survives and has a surprisingly quick recovery. Doc Bricker is a miracle worker!) Anyway, Sean leaves the boat wearing his collar and Julie stays on the boat, no doubt waiting for someone else from her past to buy a ticket. It’s a bit of a shame, as Lauren Tewes and Anson Williams did make a cute couple. Then again, we all know that Julie and Gopher belong together.

Like I said, this was not a terrible episode. It just wasn’t particularly memorable. It needed just a bit more romance. After all, love is life’s sweetest reward.