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!
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!
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!
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!
Twin Peaks: The Return was full of creepy characters but the Woodsmen may have been the creepiest.
“Gotta light?”
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!
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!
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 1996. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!
“Smiles, everyone, smiles!”
Sorry, Mr. Roarke, there’s not much to smile about when it comes to this episode.
Episode 1.7 “The Funny Girl/Butch and Sundance”
(Dir by Cliff Bole, originally aired on March 18th, 1978)
At the start of this episode, Tattoo is all excited because his birthday is coming up and he remembers that, last year, he partied all night and a bunch of beautiful women celebrated with him. Mr. Roarke promises Tattoo that things will be different this year. This year, Mr. Roarke says, there will be no presents. Tattoo will play a game of chess and drink a glass of sherry and maybe there will be a cello recital. Tattoo, needless to say, is disappointed.
Ignoring Tattoo’s anger, Mr. Roarke introduces him to the latest guests at Fantasy Island and it turns out that their fantasies are almost as disappointing and boring as Mr. Roarke’s plans for Tattoo’s birthday. Kay Penny (Marcia Strassman) is apparently the world’s most successful comedienne even though she never comes across as being particularly funny. Her fantasy is to move to small town where no one knows her. That sounds like a pretty lousy fantasy but whatever.
Bill (Christopher Connelly) and Alex (James MacArthur) are two friends who want to be Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid for a weekend. They’re huge fans of the film, though it appears neither one of them ever stuck around for the end. Mr. Roarke takes Bill and Alex to an old west town (perhaps the same one that we saw a few weeks ago) and Bill and Alex get to live out their fantasy while trading quips and robbing banks. The problem, for those of us who are watching then, is that neither Christopher Connelly nor James MacArthur can compare to Robert Redford and Paul Newman. Eventually, though, the great character actor William Smith shows up as a visitor whose fantasy is to be Wyatt Earp. He attempts to arrest Butch and Sundance. They outsmart him and then Bill and Alex go home, satisfied. Good for them but what about the guy who wanted to be Wyatt Earp? Does he get his money back? Seriously, I don’t think being humiliated was a part of his fantasy.
Meanwhile, Kay finds herself living in a small town. Using the name Katherine Patrino, she gets a job as the receptionist for a veterinarian (played by Dennis Cole) and she also helps the vet’s silent son get over the recent loss of his mother. She also tells a lot of jokes, none of which are particularly funny. The best thing about this fantasy is that Mr. Roarke disguised himslef as a clown and showed up at the small town’s Founders Day Festival.
And then Tattoo did the same thing.
Anyway, during the festival, a dog was hit by a truck but Kay helped to bring it back to life and that brought a tear to my mismatched eyes. Otherwise, this was a very forgettable trip to Fantasy Island.
On a positive note, though, it turned out that Mr. Roarke was just joking and Tattoo got to have a wild party after all. Good for him, he earned it!
The Reluctant Vampire was the 7th episode of the 3rd season of HBO’s Tales From The Crypt! It stars Malcolm McDowell as a vampire who is a little bit too nice for his own good. Seriously, you can’t go wrong with Malcolm McDowell as a vampire.
The Reluctant Vampire originally aired on July 10th, 1991.
Enjoy!
This is a special episode of my favorite TV show of all, Degrassi! Originally airing on October 28th, 2008, The Curse of Degrassi features Degrassi’s main mean girl, Holy J Sinclair (Charlotte Arnold), getting possessed by the vengeful spirit of deceased school shooter, Rick Murray (Ephraim Ellis). Chaos follows! Fortunately, Spinner (Shane Kippel) is around to save the day. As any true Degrassi fan can tell you, only Spinner has a chance against the forces of the undead.
What I like about this episode is that, in the best tradition of Degrassi, it goes there. Holly J does get possessed. Just about the entire cast end up dying horribly. Spinner has to battle the undead spirit of Rick Murray and he has to do it without the help of Drake. And, as far as we know, this episode is canon. So, yes, Rick Murray’s ghost actually does haunt Degrassi Community School and yes, only Spinner can save us all.
Go Spinner!
Enjoy!
