Tag Archives: TV

Retro Television Review: City Guys 2.7 “Dance Fever” and 2.8 “A Guy And A Goth”

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

This week, both of the City Guys, those neat guys who smart and street-wise, learn a lesson about relationships and honesty!  But before we get to that, how about that theme song?

Episode 2.7 “Dance Fever”

(dir by Frank Bonner, originally aired on October 24th, 1998)

Cassidy is dating Nick Lachey, the leader singer of 98 Degrees, but no one seems to care for some reason.  Instead, everyone is more worried about helping Jamal get a date with Amber, a private school girl who keeps stopping by the diner.  When Jamal invites Amber to come to a school dance with him, Amber accepts.  The only problem is that there isn’t a dance scheduled and Ms. Noble has neither the time nor the resources to arrange one.

Because he’s an idiot, Jamal decided to 1) trick Dawn into giving him the keys to the roof and 2) unlock the roof so that he can throw an unauthorized “underground” dance.  This is one of those things that has disaster written all over it so Jamal decides to up the stakes by announcing that Cassidy’s new boyfriend will be performing at the dance.

Needless to see, a huge crowd shows up.  (“Some of these people don’t ever go to our school,” Jamal says.)  But, when it’s time for the band to arrive, only Nick Lachey shows up.  It turns out that their producers wants them to lay down a few new tracks at the studio so they’re going to be late.

Realizing that a riot is going to break out and his date will be ruined if he doesn’t find a way to entertain the crowd, Jamal sends Chris, Al, and L-Train out to perform.

Just as it looks as if a riot is on the verge of breaking out, 98 Degrees shows up and calms the crowd by singing I Do (Cherish You).

The crowd may be satisfied but, because Jamal and Chris broke the rules and defied authority, the Gods of TNBC demand that they be punished.  The police show up and put a stop to the illegal dance.  While Chris and Jamal technically should have been arrested for breaking and entering (and nearly inciting a riot), they are instead turned over to Ms. Noble.  Noble promises to punish them both and, despite Jamal getting freaking 98 Degrees to serenade her, Amber announces that she never wants to see him again.

Oh well!  At least Cassidy got to date Nick Lachey before Jessica Simpson broke his heart.

Episode 2.8 “A Guy and a Goth”

(dir by Frank Bonner, originally aired on October 31st, 1998)

Hey, remember how Chris and Jamal are apparently the only two DJs at the school radio station?  During their morning show, Chris gets a call from a girl named Zoey.  Even though Chris has never seen her before, he likes her voice so he asks to meet her at the diner.  Zoey agrees.  One scene later and….

Oh my God, Zoey’s a goth!

All of Chris’s friends give him a hard time about dating a goth so he lies to Zooey to get out of taking her to a surprise party that everyone is holding for Ms. Noble.  (These students are bizarrely obsessed with hanging out with their principal.)  When Zooey discovers the lie, she’s hurt.  Chris makes it up to her by dressing up like a goth.

Yeah, this was pretty dumb.  Making it even worse is that, in a scene that it totally ripped off from Grease, Zoey shows up at the diner dressed “normal.”  Zoey was cool and smart and funny and what she saw in Chris is never really that apparent.  That said, this episode was all about the costumes that people wear and it aired on October 31st.  That was clever.

Zoey takes back Chris, even though she definitely deserved better.  I have a feeling that Zoey will never be mentioned again on this show.

Retro Television Reviews: The Love Boat 1.9 “The Captain’s Captain / Romance Roulette / Hounded”

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 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!

Love?  Don’t worry.  Love won’t hurt anymore.

Episode 1.9 “The Captain’s Captain / Romance Roulette / Hounded”

(dir by Jack Arnold, originally aired on November 26th, 1977)

As I watched the opening scenes of the cruise’s passengers making their way onto the Love Boat, I noticed that this episode was directed by Jack Arnold.  I did some online checking and I discovered that this was indeed the same Jack Arnold who directed It Came From Outer Space, Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Tarantula, and a host of other so-called B pictures.  By the time the 70s rolled around, Arnold was directing blaxploitation films (including Fred Williamson’s Boss) and episodic television.  As I watched the episode, I found myself wondering which member of the cast probably asked Arnold the most questions about shooting Creature From The Black Lagoon.  I guess that it was probably Fred Grandy, since apparently he’s a pretty intelligent guy.

As for the show itself, it featured the typical three-story structure.  Gary Burghoff (who I had just watched on Fantasy Island) played a passenger who found himself trapped in his cabin with a security dog that had somehow gotten loose.  As I’ve mentioned before, I have a fear of big dogs so this particular scenario would be quite traumatic for me.  Burghoff, however, got along with the dog and even helped to deliver her puppies.  Awwwwwwww!  Big dogs are scary but little puppies are cute!

While Captain Stubing was dealing with the dog problem, his irascible father (played by Phil Silvers), who was himself a former cruise ship captain, was wandering around the ship and eventually falling in love with a cook named P.J. Muldoon (Judy Canova).  Captain Stubing was skeptical of his father’s romance but, by the end of the episode, he was proposing a toast to his future stepmother.  This storyline was fairly predictable but Phil Silvers and Gavin MacLeod were believable as father-and-son and their scenes together added some depth to Captain Stubing, a character who, in other episodes, has come across as being a bit flat.

Finally, Jane Curtin played Regina Parker, a literature professor who was on the cruise with two friends from college (Joanna Kerns and Susan Heldfond).  The three of them played a game, in which they basically had to make the first man that they heard use a certain word fall in love with them for the duration of the cruise.  The word was “screwdriver.”  When Regina went up to Isaac’s bar to wait for someone to order a screwdriver, she was taken by surprise when Frank (Vincent Baggetta), the ship’s plumber, walked up with a toolbox and asked for someone to hand him a screwdriver.  Regina started to hit on Frank.  Frank almost immediately fell in love with her and he let her read some of his poetry.  Even though his poetry was terrible, Regina fell in love with him.  As you can guess, Frank eventually found out about the game but, by the end of the episode, he and Regina were promising to write each other every day.  In its undeniably silly way, this was actually kind of a fun storyline.  Curtin and Baggetta actually had a lot of chemistry.  Frank’s poems still sucked though.

All in all, this was a pleasant episode.  The guest stars were likable and the cruise itself looked like it would have been a lot of fun.  Was this episode life’s sweetest reward?  It was good but I wouldn’t go that far.  Love is life’s sweetest reward.

Retro Television Reviews: Fantasy Island 1.8 “Superstar/Salem”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing the original Fantasy Island, which ran on ABC from 1977 to 1986.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

Despite being exhausted last night, I still made sure to watch the next episode of Fantasy Island before allowing myself to fall asleep.  It’s all about priorities.

Episode 1.8 “Superstar/Salem”

(Dir by Earl Bellamy, originally aired on March 25th, 1978)

After a conversation with Tattoo about Tattoo’s sudden interest in photography, Mr. Roarke heads to the docks to meet this week’s guest stars!

First up, we have Richard Delaney (Gary Burghoff) and his wife, Dora (Darleen Carr).  Dora thinks they are on a business trip but actually, Richard has a fantasy.  Despite the fact that he is short, middle-aged, and not at all athletic, Richard’s fantasy is to not only pitch in a baseball game but to also strike out the best baseball players around.

(As a side note, as soon as I saw that this was going to be a baseball episode, I woke up Erin and made her watch it with me.  Of course, it was also one in the morning at the time but still, I would have been a bad sister if I hadn’t.)

Anyway, Richard gets his chance.  It turns out that Fantasy Island is holding a charity baseball game and Mr. Roarke has told everyone that Richard is the best amateur pitcher in the world.  With the help of some Fantasy Island magic, Richard is able to strike out every batter who comes up to the plate.  (According to Erin, all of the batters were real baseball players.)  We know that Richard’s skills are due to magic because, whenever he throws the ball, we hear goofy sound effects.  (“This is dumb,” Erin said, “Why did you wake me up for this?”)  Richard is offered a try-out with the Dodgers.  Yay!

Richard immediately get a little bit full of himself but it turns out that Richard’s fantasy didn’t include becoming a professional baseball player and he loses his ability to pitch.  Unfortunately, Richard doesn’t discover this until after he tells off his boss.  Fortunately, his boss is impressed by Richard’s honesty and he gives Richard a raise.  Richard may never play pro ball but at least he’ll make a lot of money as an accountant or whatever it is that he does for a living.  Yay!  (“Is it over?” Erin asked, “Can I finally get some sleep now?”)

Meanwhile, Martha and Walter Tate (played by Vera Miles and Stuart Whitman) think that the world has become too permissive of bad behavior so they want to go some place where people are better behaved.  Mr. Roarke promptly sends them to 17th century Salem, where they are both accused of being witches and narrowly avoid being executed.  You know, Mr. Roarke, you could have just sent them to a friendly rural community in Nebraska or something.  NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE A LESSON!

The best thing about the Salem storyline was that the evil and feared Dr. Whitfield, the man who ruled Salem with a iron fist, was played by Leslie Nielsen.  When we first meet Dr. Whitfield, he’s explaining how the town drunk came to die.

Dr. Whitfield wanted to hang both Martha and Walter for the sins of dancing and giving aspirin to a child.

Leslie Nielsen may be playing a villain but he delivers his lines in the same style that later made him a comedic icon.  If nothing else, that makes this episode fun to watch.

Martha and Walter end up fleeing Salem and, miraculously, they find themselves back on Fantasy Island.  Mr. Roarke says that he hopes they have had an enlightening fantasy.  Personally, if I was Mr. Roarke, I would be more worried about the lawsuit that they’re probably going to file against him.

This was a pretty silly episode but, as a general rule, I enjoy anything that features Leslie Nielsen playing a humorless villain.  Add to that, it was hard not to smile at the sight of Mr. Roarke and Tattoo casually emerging from the jungle in their white suits to greet Walter and Martha after the latter two escaped Salem.  It may have been a silly episode but it was also a fun one.  And really, what else does one expect from Fantasy Island?

Bonus Horror On TV: Highway to Heaven 2.5 “The Devil and Jonathan Smith” (dir by Michael Landon)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On this, the final day of our annual Horrorthon, we offer you a final, bonus Horror on TV entry.

In this episode of Highway to Heaven, angel Jonathan Smith (Michael Landon) tries to defeat the devil for the soul of his friend Mark (Victor French).  This episode, a true Halloween episode, originally aired on October 30th, 1985, and it features guest turns from Anthony Zerbe and the great Michael Berryman.

Happy Halloween!

Bonus Horror on TV: Highway to Heaven 4.5 “I Was A Middle-Aged Werewolf” (dir by Michael Landon)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Because it’s nearly Halloween, here’s a special bonus television episode!

After I reviewed I Was A Teenage Werewolf, this episode was recommended to me by Mark, one of our regular readers in Australia.  Highway to Heaven was a TV show about an angel and a human who traveled across the country and helped people out.  It aired for 5 seasons in the 80s and it’s pretty much achieved immortality via syndication and streaming.  It starred Michael Landon who also starred in I Was A Teenage Werewolf.  As you call from this episode, he obviously had sense of humor about his early film career.

This originally aired on October 28th, 1987.  The series was a bit silly but this episode is kind of fun.

Happy Halloween!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 10/23/22 — 10/29/22

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I spent most of this week watching horror films.  I’ll have a lot to catch up on, starting on November 1st.

Here’s some thoughts on what I did watch this week:

Abbott Elementary (Wednesday Night, ABC)

This week’s episode was a Halloween episode and it was a true classic, with Baby Thanos releasing candy to all the children in the middle of the school day and chaos breaking out as a result.  Jacob dressing up as Wage Theft for Halloween made me laugh way too much, as did the competing Scarlet Witch costumes.

Atlanta (Thursday Night, FX)

This week’s episode was a mockumentary about Thomas Washington, a black animator who was briefly the CEO of Disney Studios when the board mixed him up with a white exceptive named Thompson Washington.  Thomas Washington was obsessed with making “the blackest movie” ever.  The end result was The Goofy Movie, though it’s explained that Disney’s Board of Directors interfered with Washington’s vision and cut the most powerful scenes out of the film.  Thomas Washington, we’re told, died under mysterious circumstances.

I’ve never seen The Goofy Movie.

The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)

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

Full House (Sunday Evening, MeTV)

On the first of this week’s episode, Michelle was finally punished for being a brat.  She nicknamed Jesse “Uncle Tattletale.”  This episode was even more cingey than usual because it featured a scene with Michelle talking to “Angel Michelle” and “Devil Michelle.”  The Olsen Twins weren’t even believable as one person, let along three.  This was followed by an episode in which DJ learned how to drive.  As usual, her stupid family screwed everything up.

Hell’s Kitchen (Thursday Night, Fox)

No one went home this week!  Chef Ramsay decided to spare the nominated chefs because it was a good service overall.  I would have sent home Vlad but Ramsay decided to show mercy.  Good for him.

Highway to Heaven (YouTube)

My friend Mark recommended an episode of this show to me after reading my review of I Was A Teenage Werewolf.  I’ll write more about this episode tomorrow.

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (Hulu)

On Tuesday night, I rewatched the classic “The Gang Tries Desperately To Win An Award” episode.  Sudz seems like a fun place.

Law & Order (Thursday Night, NBC)

This week’s episode featured a law professor who was being blackmailed after he was filmed using a slur.  After the blackmailer turned up dead, the professor was put on trial.  It turned out that the professor’s 14 year-old son was the guilty party.  It was kind of boring.  This season has been a dud so far.

The New Wave Theater (NightFlight+)

This was an old show from the 80s, which featured live performances from various up-and-coming bands.  It was hosted by Peter Ivers, who co-wrote the classic “In Heaven, Everything Is Fine” for David Lynch’s Eraserhead.  I watched an episode on Saturday morning.  Elvira was the co-host.  The music was cool and trippy.  All of the performers were off in their own little world.

Night Flight (NightFlight+)

I watched three episodes of this show on Friday.  One episode was about “rock poets.”  The second episode dealt with “villainous actors.”  (Dennis Hopper, Henry Silva, Rutger Hauer, James Woods, and Robert De Niro were profiled.)  The third episode featured Talking Heads.  Good stuff!

The Real Love Boat (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I don’t know if I so much watched this show as I just sat through it because it aired in between Survivor and The Amazing Race.  I didn’t pay much attention to it.  The people on the boat are boring.

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

You can read my thoughts on Survivor here!

Horror on TV: Tales From The Crypt 6.15 “You, Murderer” (dir by Robert Zemeckis)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

To be honest, tonight’s episode of HBO’s Tales From The Crypt isn’t really a traditional horror story.  Instead, it’s a somewhat satiric homage to film noir.  But I’m going to share it anyway. Halloween is about more than just ghouls and ghosts and goblins, right?

You, Murderer is an experiment that doesn’t quite work but is interesting all the same.  This episode is basically one long POV shot.  Whenever our protagonist sees his reflection, we see Humphrey Bogart staring back at us.  Actual footage of Bogart was used in the show.  Sometimes it work, sometimes it just looks strange.  But it’s always interesting!

This episode originally aired on January 25th, 1995.  Enjoy!

Horror Scenes That I Love: “Gotta Light?” from Twin Peaks: The Return

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Twin Peaks: The Return was full of creepy characters but the Woodsmen may have been the creepiest.

“Gotta light?”

Horror On TV: Tales From The Crypt 5.7 “House of Horror” (dir by Bob Gale)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s excursion into televised horror is the 7th episode of the 5th season of HBO’s Tales From The Crypt!  

House of Horrors has everything that you could possibly want from a Tales From The Crypt episode!  A dumbass idiot frat boy (played by Kevin Dillon) forces three pledges to enter  a supposedly haunted house.  Mayhem ensues.  This episode is full of atmosphere, dark humor, plot twists, and unexpected turns and it features two wonderfully over-the-top performances, one from Dillon and one from Meredith Salenger as a Southern-accented sorority president who may have a secret of her own.

This episode originally aired on October 27th, 1993 and is currently celebrating its 30th birthday.

Enjoy!

Retro Television Reviews: The Love Boat 1.8 “Lost and Found / The Understudy / Married Singles”

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 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!

Love exciting and new….

Come aboard!  We’re expecting you!

Episode 1.8 “Lost and Found / The Understudy / Married Singles”

(Directed by Stuart Margolin, originally aired on November 19th, 1977)

This week’s cruise is all about secrets and lies.

For instance, Durwood Moss (Steve Allen) and Maisie Nolan (Polly Bergen) are currently separated and their therapist has suggested that they try taking separate vacations.  Maisie books a cabin on the cruise so Durwood books the cabin next door.  As Durwood explains it, being in separate cabins counts as being on separate vacations.  Not letting anyone know that they’re married (albeit unhappily so), Durwood pursues Barbie (Loni Anderson) and Maisie flirts with Jack (Joshua Plymouth).  Of course, Durwood and Maisie end up realizing that they’re still in love.  Fortunately, Jack and Barbie also fall in love with each other!

Meanwhile, 8 year-old Theodore Denison, Jr. (James Bond III) lies and says that he has his parents’ permission to be on the cruise by himself.  Of course, it turns out that he’s actually a runaway.  On the cruise, he meets Sharon and Richard Baker (Sandy Duncan and Jim Stafford), a married couple that is struggling to come to terms with the death of their son.  Sharon wants to adopt Theodore and Theodore wants to be adopted.  But then Theodore’s real parents show up and apologize for the fight that caused Theodore to run away in the first place.  Still, Sharon and Richard at least find the courage to try to move on from their tragedy.

Finally, Connie Evans (Jo Ann Harris) is an assistant cruise director who has been assigned to the ship.  Julie (Lauren Tewes) is supposed to be training Connie but it soon becomes clear that, in typical All About Eve fashion, Connie is plotting to steal Julie’s job.  Connie’s plan is … well, it’s interesting.  She continually screws up the simplest of duties and then claims that she was only doing what Julie trained her to do.  When she shows up for dinner in a skimpy outfit, she claims that it’s what Julie told her to wear.  I guess the plan is to make Julie look like she’s bad at training people but just because someone isn’t good at training, that doesn’t mean that they’re bad at their overall job.  In fact, it would seem that most people would look at Connie’s actions and say, “You should have had enough common sense to know better, even if that’s what Julie told you.”  Anyway, it all works out, albeit somewhat bizarrely.  The captain reprimands Connie.  The crew hates Connie and goes out of its way to humiliate her.  And yet, even after it become obvious that Connie has been trying to get her fired, Julie agrees to help Connie because she thinks Connie has the makings of being a great cruise director.  Just how painfully nice is Julie?

This was not a bad episode.  The stuff with Durwood and Maisie was a bit dull but the other two storylines worked.  Sandy Duncan brought a lot of emotional sincerity to her plotline and Jo Ann Harris was hilariously conniving in the role of Connie.  This episode was a cruise that I enjoyed.

Will I also enjoy the next cruise?  Find out next week!