Tag Archives: TV

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 1.20 “Craig In Love”

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 Fridays, I will be reviewing St. Elsewhere, a medical show which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988.  The show can be found on Hulu and, for purchase, on Prime!

This week, Dr. Craig does the unthinkable …. maybe.

Episode 1.20 “Craig In Love”

(Dir by Victor Lobl, originally aired April 12, 1983)

Dr. Craig is indeed in love in this episode.  He’s totally smitten with the Hungarian Dr. Vera Anya and, when his wife Ellen (played by Bonnie Bartlett, real-life wife of William Daniels) goes out of town to visit her mother, Craig makes plans to show Dr. Anya around the town and maybe more….

Ugh.  Seriously, I don’t like the idea of Dr. Craig cheating on his wife and, though this episode leaves it ambiguous as to what actually happened, it totally appears that’s what Craig did over the weekend.  Dr. Craig is pompous and full-of-himself and rude to almost everyone he talks to but it’s always appeared that he totally loved his wife.  The whole idea of him thinking about cheating — much less actually doing it — just doesn’t seem right for his character.  And, quite frankly, Dr. Anya wasn’t really that intriguing of a character so if Craig did share more than just that passionate goodbye kiss with her …. well, I prefer to pretend this entire storyline didn’t happen.

Far more interesting was the malpractice suit brought against Dr. Chandler and Nurse Daniels.  As the hospital’s lawyer explains it, there really isn’t much of a case to be made for malpractice.  Instead, the dead man’s family is just hoping to get a quick settlement out of it.  Most doctors aren’t willing to pay the legal fees and don’t have the time to go to court.  Chandler, however, is personally offended by the suit and pledges to do whatever he has to do fight it.  Yay, Chandler!  Seriously, I hate people who try to bully people into settlements.  After my Dad died, there was this crazy woman who thought she could bully his estate into giving her half a million dollars.  Instead, she received nothing and that’s exactly what she deserved.  Both Denzel Washington and Ellen Bry gave good performances this week.  Ellen  Bry’s Nurse Daniels is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters.  She doesn’t let anyone push her around.

Speaking of pushing people around, Dr. Morrison finally got sick of Dr. White’s drug addiction and the two of them ended up having a fist fight in the men’s room.  Still, when White later crashed his girlfriend’s car and needed to be bailed out of jail, Morrison was the first person that he called.  Morrison, being a saint, got White out of jail.  White, being a jerk, barely even said thank you.  Morrison went to Westphall with his concerns about Dr. White.  Westphall responded that it wasn’t his place to give a fatherly lecture.  That’s cold, Westphall.  What about when he kills a patient because he’s high?  Will you care then?  No wonder St. Eligius is getting sued for malpractice!

Finally, Dr. Samuels had a cold so he spent the entire episode whining about it.  Seriously, Dr. Samuels is one of my least favorite characters of all time.

This episode was uneven for me.  I’m not happy about Dr. Craig being a cheater but I am happy that Dr. Chandler is standing up for himself.  Dr. White appears to be heading to a very dark place.

There’s only two episodes left in the first season so I’m assuming we’re going to get some sort of closure to at least some of these storylines.  We’ll see what happens next week!

 

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 3.21 “Parents’ Day”

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 Tubi and several other services!

This week, Mark and Jonathan become narcs!

Episode 3.21 “Parents’ Day”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on February 25th, 1987)

Robert Culp plays one of the worst characters ever in this week’s episode of Highway to Heaven.

Culp plays Ronald James, a news anchor who is known for his fiery anti-drug editorials.  His teenage son, David (Lance Wilson-White), is a student at an exclusive boarding school.  When a joint is found in David’s dorm room, Ronald comes down hard on his son.  Ronald says David should be ashamed of himself.  Ronald says that David has brought dishonor to the family.  Ronald grounds David for four weeks.

After attending an anti-drug lecture delivered by newly hired narcotics detective Mark Gordon, David decides to call the police and tell them about the cocaine that is hidden in his family’s garage.  The cocaine belongs to Ronald but, when Ronald is confronted by the police, he announces that it must belong to David.  When it becomes obvious that Ronald’s job is at risk, he tells David to take the blame.  David says he’ll do it if Ronald promises to stop using.  Ronald agrees.

David takes the blame….

….and Ronald keeps on using!

Seriously, what a scumbag!

While Ronald is disappointing everyone, Jonathan — who is also working as a narcotics detective — pressures the local boarding school drug dealer, Brad Dietrich (Bill Calvert), to stop dealing.  Brad laughs off Jonathan’s threat.  Come back with a warrant, Brad says.  Then Brad’s girlfriend overdoses on the cocaine that Brad gave her.

Finally, after David nearly drinks himself to death, Ronald goes on the news and admits that he’s a drug addict.  He then says that parents have to step up and do a better job.  That’s fine, Ronald, but you know what?  YOU’RE A DRUG ADDICT WHO FRAMED YOUR OWN SON!  You don’t get to be a moral authority!

As you can probably guess, there was not a subtle moment to be found in this episode.  On the one hand, the message was obviously heartfelt.  That’s kind of a given when it comes to Highway to Heaven.  With every episode, it’s obvious that Michael Landon was sincerely trying to make the world a better place.  On the other hand, this episode was so heavy-handed that it sometimes verged on camp.  Culp was very believable as someone who was totally coked up.  The kid playing his son, on the other hand, was considerably less convincing.  It also doesn’t help that there’s a massive hole in the middle of the plot.  If the police were really unsure about who had brought the cocaine into Ronald’s house, they could have just drug-tested both Ronald and David to see who was snorting.  As well, seen from a modern perspective, it’s hard to really buy into the show’s argument that parents and children should be constantly calling the police on each other.  Today we know that the attempt at a zero tolerance war on drugs made the situation even worse.  This episode’s suggestion that snitching on loved ones is the answer reminded me of the worst excesses of the COVID era.

As I mentioned earlier, the episode ends with Ronald making an impassioned plea to parents to get serious about teenage drug use.  Hopefully, he was arrested as soon as the cameras were turned off.

 

Retro Television Review: Malibu, CA 2.10 “The Comeback”

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 Malibu CA, which aired in Syndication in 1998 and 1999.  Almost the entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

Yes, this is from the first season. I don’t care. I refuse to waste my time looking for a second season advertisement.

Will Scott make it to the Olympics?  Let’s try to find out.

Episode 2.10 “The Comeback”

(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on December 11th, 1999)

Here’s what the imdb has to say about this episode:

Scott is excited about working with a new therapist, Ted from California University, and he believes against all odds that he will be in shape for the Olympic swim team trials. Trying to rush along his rehabilitation, he persuades Ted to let him get back in the water. Scott says he feels great and his comeback is progressing very rapidly, but he’s been taking medication to ease the pain his shoulder is causing him.

Yikes!  It sounds like Scott is hooked on drugs and, since this is a Peter Engel-produced sitcom, I think it’s safe to assume that Scott is not going to qualify for the Olympics.  Using drugs on any Peter Engel sitcom means that you surrender whatever you current dream may be.  We all remember what happened to Tiffani on California Dreams and Jessie on Saved By The Bell.

Oh well.  The idea of Scott just suddenly turning out to be a good enough swimmer to qualify for the Olympics never made much sense to begin with.  People spend their entire lives training for the Olympics.  Scott didn’t even know he was a fast swimmer until the second or third episode of this season.  Indeed, he should probably sue whoever gave him the false hope of thinking he could qualify in the first place.

This is yet another episode that has not been uploaded to YouTube so I can’t really do a proper review.  However, next week’s episode has been uploaded so, next Thursday, I will once again be watching Malibu, CA.  Yay, I guess.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Monsters 3.16 “The Waiting Room”

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 series is streaming on YouTube.

This week, on Monsters, a dark room leads to trouble.

Episode 3.16 “The Waiting Room”

(Dir by Philip Alderton, originally aired on January 13th, 1991)

Newlyweds John (Christian Jules LeBlanc) and Catherine (Lisa Waltz) are invited to come stay at an isolated hotel by John’s father, Benjamin (John Saxon).  Benjamin explains that the hotel is where he spent his honeymoon.  He tells Catherine, “Your husband was conceived in this very room.”  Uhmm …. okay.  That’s not a creepy thing for a father-in-law to say or anything.

When John disappears, Benjamin tells Catherine the truth.  On his wedding night, Benjamin cheated on his wife with a mysterious woman (Denise Gentile) who was staying in a darkened room that appeared to be next door to Benjamin’s.  The woman turned out to be an otherworldly creature, one who lived between the real world and spirit world.  The woman trapped Benjamin in the room, only allowing him to go after he promised to give her a child.

Benjamin thought he had escaped the woman but, over the years, he discovered that she would show up whenever he walked into a dark room.  For that reason, he always has all of the lights on.  Now, John has been captured by the woman and it seems like she’ll only exchange him for Benjamin.  The problem is that Benjamin doesn’t want to go….

Now, this was a good episode of Monsters!  The story was interesting, the direction was atmospheric, the monsters were menacing, and the entire cast did a good job of bringing their characters to life.  John Saxon especially gave a good performance as the guilt-ridden Benjamin, alternating between moments of sublime creepiness, truly pathetic cowardice, and very real regret.  For once, the story felt neither rushed nor incomplete.  In 21-minutes, this episode told an effective story that stayed with the viewer, even after the macabre ending.

Anthology shows are, by their very nature, uneven but the third season of Monsters really did feature some excellent episodes.  This was definitely one of the best.

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 5.26 “Pal-I-Mony-O-Mine/Does Father Know Best?/An ‘A’ for Gopher”

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!

This week, Ted Lange presents three stories of cruise ship love.

Episode 5.26 “Pal-I-Mony-O-Mine/Does Father Know Best?/An ‘A’ for Gopher”

(Dir by Ted Lange, originally aired on April 10th, 1982)

Dr. John Hanson (Ben Vereen) boards the ship with his new girlfriend, attorney Jenny Brooks (Denise Nicholas).  John is shocked to discover that his former girlfriend, Ellen (Lynne Moody), is also on the cruise.  Jenny befriends Ellen and, after listening to all the details of how Jenny supported John while he was going through medical school, she suggests that Ellen should sue John for palimony.  Jenny even offers to help Ellen and John figure out how much John owes her.  John agrees.  As he and Ellen itemize their former relationship, they come to realize that they’re still in love.  Sorry, Jenny!  Jenny leaves the boat alone.  John and Ellen leave the boat engaged.  (Jenny does give them a bill for her legal services.  John and Ellen have a good laugh.)

WOW!  That’s not the type of story that you regularly see on The Love Boat.  It’s rare for a passenger to leave as angry as Jenny did.  What’s surprising is that neither Ellen nor John seemed to feel that bad about Jenny getting her heart broken.  Then again, what was Jenny thinking when she invited Ellen back into their lives to begin with?  This is why you’re never friendly with your significant other’s exes.  I don’t care how nice they seem or act.  They’re all potential enemies!  I don’t care how polite they are when they approach you outside the Dallas Museum of Art and start speaking in their fakeass British accent, don’t trust them …. well, anyway, let’s move on.

Gopher is super-excited when his junior high English teacher, Susan Wilkham (Susan Strasberg), boards the ship.  Gopher explains that he’s always had a crush on her and, now that Gopher is an adult, Susan appears to also now have a crush on him.  (Don’t freak out, she doesn’t even realize he was a former student until he specifically mentions that he was in her class.)  Except …. oh no!  Captain Stubing has a crush on her as well!  Well, don’t worry.  Things work out for Gopher.  While Vicki does not get a stepmother, Gopher gets a girlfriend who we will probably never hear about again.  Fred Grandy and Susan Strasberg made for a surprisingly cute couple.  (It helped that they both appeared to be the same age, despite the show’s effort to cast her as being “the older woman.”)  Good for Gopher, it’s about time something good happened to him.

Finally, a father (Lloyd Bochner) encourages his nerdy son (Kevin Brophy) to hit on a beautiful but snobbish blonde (Kristina Wayborn).  The son prefers the blonde’s shy best friend (Patty Freedman).  On every episode of The Love Boat, there’s one story that doesn’t amount too much and that what this story was.

Hey, this episode was directed by Isaac Washington himself, Mr. Ted Lange!  Obviously, The Love Boat isn’t really a show that demands or even allows an auteurist approach but I will say that this was one of the better acted episodes that I’ve seen.  Vereen and Moody, Grandy and Strasberg, they all had plenty of chemistry.  This was a truly pleasant cruise, despite Jenny’s anger.

 

 

Late Night Retro Television Review: Pacific Blue 2.2 “Daystalker”

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 Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Pacific Blue, a cop show that aired from 1996 to 2000 on the USA Network!  It’s currently streaming everywhere, though I’m watching it on Tubi.

This week, the Daystalker stalks wherever it is that this show takes place.

Episode 2.2 “Daystalker”

(Dir by Don Michael Paul, originally aired on August 24th, 1996)

After his girlfriend Sandy (Cindy Ambuehl) is assaulted by a serial rapist, TC becomes obsessed with tracking the so-called Daystalker down.  Detective Bonnie Wilson (Gwen McGee), sent to the beach to head up the investigation, thinks that the Daystalker is going to eventually move on from rape to murder.  She also thinks that TC is a loose cannon who is going to spook the Daystalker into moving to another city before he can be captured and prosecuted for his crimes.  Cory is set up as a decoy and soon finds herself being followed by the Daystalker.  Meanwhile, the terribly traumatized Sandy struggles with PTSD.

And, while that’s going on, Elvis and Victor try to get a Rastafarian to take a hex off of them!

This episode epitomizes one of the things that really bugs me out Pacific Blue.  On the one hand, we have a very serious storyline about a serial rapist and one of his traumatized victims.  A scene where Sandy has to leave a self-defense class because it’s triggers a flashback is a powerful and honest moment, certainly more powerful than anything you would expect to see on a show like Pacific Blue.  On the other hand, we have this totally cartoonish subplot about a random Rastafarian putting a hex on Elvis and Victor.  At a time when the entire bike patrol is supposed to be out looking for a serial rapist who has assaulted their best friend’s girlfriend, Victor and Chris are laughing because Elvis thinks the hex is making his hair fall out.  Never mind the stupidity of the hex plot.  Tonally, the two plots don’t go together.  With this episode, Pacific Blue reveals that it still doesn’t know if it wants to be a gritty crime drama or just Baywatch on bicycles.

This could have been a very strong episodes.  There were moments and lines of dialogue that really stood out for being considerably more thoughtful than one might expect from this show.  But it was still an episode of Pacific Blue, which means that the camera still lingered on random women in bikinis and way too much time was spent on TC saying, “I have to do something!”  Only TC could make his girlfriend’s rape about himself and only Pacific Blue would let him get away with that.

Even when they’re dealing with a serious issue as they did for half of this episode, it’s hard to escape the fact that these people are bicycle cops.  The bicycles, the crisp white shirts, the shorts …. it just makes it hard to them seriously.  This was yet another episode where a lot of time was spent with Palermo and TC explaining that bike cops are real cops.  We’re at the start of the second season here.  If you’re still having to justify your existence at this point, you’re never going to do it.

Retro Television Review: Fantasy Island 6.14 “Revenge of the Forgotten/Charo”

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 1984.  Unfortunately, the show has been removed from most streaming sites.  Fortunately, I’ve got nearly every episode on my DVR.

This week epitomizes an era!

Episode 6.14 “Revenge of the Forgotten/Charo”

(Dir by Phillip Leacock, originally aired on February 19th, 1983)

Just the fact that one of this week’s fantasies is actually entitled “Charo” should tell you all you need to know about it.  Charo plays Maria Diaz (her full name is much longer), who has come to Fantasy Island to meet her father.  Charles Woodruff (Van Johnson) didn’t even know that he had a daughter but he takes the news surprisingly well.

The interesting thing about this fantasy is that Charles Woodruff is an American diplomat, who has a home in both New York City and Fantasy Island.  As Fantasy Island has previously been established as being its own nation, you do have to wonder if perhaps Charles Woodruff is America’s ambassador to Fantasy Island.  A large part of the fantasy involves him hosting a dinner for several other diplomats so I guess it’s possible that every country sends an ambassador to Fantasy Island.  Perhaps Fantasy Island even sends a delegate to the United Nations.  Maybe that would explain where Tattoo was during all of those season 5 episodes where Julie was suddenly Roarke’s sidekick.  For that matter, maybe that’s where Julie is now.  The show never has really explained what happened to her.

Anyway, how much you like this fantasy will depend on how much you like Charo.  She is someone who definitely epitomizes an era and, of course, the same can be said of both The Love Boat and Fantasy Island.  It’s interesting that, over the years, there have been multiple attempts to reboot both of those series and they’ve never really worked, largely because a good deal of the appeal of Love Boat and Fantasy Island is how much they really are a product of the 70s and 80s.  Attempting to update them for the modern era tends to negate everything that make both of the shows so entertaining to watch today.

(The latest Fox update of Fantasy Island had a lot of gorgeous scenery but it got bogged down in all of its attempts to world build.  It’s fun to speculate about how the Island works.  It’s less fun to actually have the show explain it to us.)

As for the other fantasy, it involves Marjoe Gortner!  As usual, Marjoe’s playing a villain.  He’s cast as Loren Robertson, who framed Alan Daly (Steve Kanaly) for a crime that he didn’t commit and then tricked Alan’s girlfriend, Marion (Christine Belford), into marrying him.  Recently released from prison, Alan comes to Fantasy Island to track down a fabled treasure that Alan believes he can use to restart his life.  With the help of Tattoo (who dresses up like Indiana Jones), Alan finds the treasure but, when he sees Loren and Marion on the Island, Alan gets distracted by his desire for revenge.

This story was a bit of an odd one.  Alan’s fantasy was to find the treasure and, after he found it, Roarke was like, “So, I guess you’ll be leaving now.”  Instead, Alan decides to spend a full weekend on the Island to try to get revenge.  I’ve never seen Roarke try to get a guest to leave early before but it’s even more strange to be reminded that somehow all of these fantasies occur over the course of one weekend.  Some episodes have seemed like a bit much for just two or three days.

Despite the fact that this episode originally aired in 1983, it doesn’t get more 70s than Charo and Marjoe!  Charo was her usual self.  Marjoe was a great villain as always.  This was an enjoyable trip to the Island.

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 3.18 “Kidnap”

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 Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983.  The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!

This week, two dumbs kids case a lot of trouble.

Episode 3.18 “Kidnap”

(Dir by Gordon Hessler, originally aired on January 26th, 1980)

Ponch and Baker have been assigned to escort to stupid kids — Pete (Brad Savage) and his weirdo friend Ray (Christopher Holloway) — to the country courthouse so that they can receive some sort of an award for an essay that they wrote about traffic safety.  I don’t know, it sound pretty dumb.  For some reason, local news reporter Pat Blake (Jayne Kennedy) is there to cover the story.  Ponch gets busy flirting with Pat and Baker’s busy hitting on Pete’s older sister (Judy Strangis) and nobody notices Pete and Ray getting into an unlocked limo and starting the engine.

Meanwhile, two crooks named Solkin (played by legendary character actor Timothy Carey) and Bickel (Warren Berlinger) escape from custody, run down to the parking garage, and hop in the limo.  Because those dumb kids turned on the engine, Solkin and Bickel steal the car with the two stupid kids in the backseat!

Even though this is entirely the fault of Pete and Ray, the entire Highway Patrol mobilizes to rescue them.  This episode is one long chase scene.  Solkin and Bickel want to drive up to Canada.  (Draft dodgers!)  Pete and Ray are trying to figure out a way to escape.  Ponch and Baker are trying to discreetly follow without letting the crooks know that they’ve been spotted.  Unfortunately, two stoners in a van try to help and almost give away the entire operation.

Of course, the kids are rescued and, of course, it’s all because of Ponch.  Ponch dresses like an auto mechanic and then borrows a banged-up Cadillac that has fuzzy pink seat covers.  Ponch follows the men and continually plays La Cucaracha by honking the car’s horn.  While Baker and the other members of the Highway Patrol struggle to keep track of the kidnappers and continually screw up, Ponch solves this case almost single-handedly!

Okay, that’s a little unfair on my part.  This is one of those episodes where the emphasis really is on team work.  Everyone — from Grossie to Getraer to Bear to Ponch and Jon — does their part to follow the limo and to come up with a plan to save the kids.  Still, it’s hard not to notice that, when it comes time to save the kids, it’s pretty much Ponch doing it on his own.  We’re closing in on the end of the third season and it’s pretty much undeniable that CHiPs has become The Ponch Show.

This episode was kind of annoying, despite the presence of the always entertaining Timothy Carey.  The main problem was that the two kids were jerks who had no one to blame but themselves for getting into that bad situation.  I hope they were grounded for the rest of their lives!

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 4.2 “Amen …. Send Money”

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 can be purchased on Prime!

This week, Miami Vice takes an unwelcome detour.

Episode 4.2 “Amen …. Send Money”

(Dir by James Quinn, originally aired on October 2nd, 1987)

This was pretty dumb.

Tubbs, working undercover, busts Leona Proverb (Anita Morris), who just happens to be the wife of Billy Bob Proverb (Brian Dennehy).  Billy Bob is a television preacher who continually asks his followers to send him cash so he can live the lifestyle that he says God wants him to live.  On paper, this sounds like a great role for Brian Dennehy but this episode’s script lets him (and, for that matter, everyone else in the cast) down.  Somehow, the fact that the guy is named Billy Bob Proverb is the least heavy-handed aspect of this episode.

Faye Nell (Jo Anderson), who is one of Billy Bob’s followers, calls Tubbs to the studio and says she has information on what the Proverbs are doing.  As soon as Tubbs shows up, Faye tosses herself on him, rips her dress, and starts to yell, “Rape!”  Tubbs finds himself being investigated by Internal Affairs while Faye claims that God told her to call Tubbs down to the studio and she even passes a lie detector test.

“I’m being set up by a preacher!” an angered Tubbs says but it turns out that Billy Bob Proverb is not the one behind all of Tubbs’s problems.  In fact, Billy Bob is actually sincere, in his own strange way.  Instead, the villain turns out to be another television preacher, Mason Mather (James Tolkan).  Mather has the ability to make himself go into a coma, which makes it difficult to arrest him.

Before I started watching this season, I read online that season 4 featured some of Miami Vice‘s worst episodes.  Amen …. Send Money feels almost like a parody of Miami Vice.  The episode itself is meant to be largely comedic and perhaps if this episode had centered on Switek and Zito instead of Crockett and Tubbs, it would have worked.  Unfortunately, the show killed off Zito last season so instead, it’s Crockett and Tubbs making odd jokes and rolling their eyes in shock.  The thing is, Miami Vice has — up until this episode — been a show about ruthless dealers and the futility of the War on the Drugs.  The thing that set Miami Vice apart from other 80s cop shows was that it was thematically dark, the endings were frequently unhappy, and Crockett and Tubbs were always the epitome of cool, no matter what happened.  This episode features cartoonish villains and a silly plot and both Crockett and Tubbs come across as being a little …. well, dorky.

(On the plus side, the show does continue its tradition of featuring future stars by giving Ben Stiller a small role as a con artist.)

Oh well.  Not every episode can be a great one.  Hopefully, next week will be an improvement.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 2.2 “Bad Blood: Part Two”

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 High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1989 to 1991!  The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi

This week, Dwayne gets some life-changing news.

Episode 2.2 “Bad Blood: Part Two”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on November 12th, 1990)

After his summer girlfriend informs him that she’s tested positive for HIV, Dwayne goes to the local clinic to get tested.  He’s understandably nervous as the doctor draws his blood.  The doctor mentions that Dwayne is in a high-risk group because he had sex without a condom.  Dwayne gives about twenty different excuses for why he didn’t use a condom.  The doctor looks on, disappointed.  Two weeks later, Dwayne returns to the clinic and is informed that he has tested positive for HIV.  The doctor informs Dwayne that he’s going to have to start living life differently.  He’s going to have to take care of himself.  He’s going to have to give up any plans he ever had of being a father.  He’s going to have to be careful when it comes to his blood.

At school, Dwayne takes out his anger on one of the condom machines in the bathroom.  Wheels witnesses this and quickly runs off to tell Joey.  Joey still needs a little over $300 to get his car.  He also needs some money to pay everyone who took a bet on the previous episode’s attempt to walk through the cafeteria naked.  Joey decides to blackmail Dwayne to get the money.  (Joey has figured out that Dwayne is the one who snitched to Raditch about the walk through the cafeteria so Joey feels that Dwayne owes him the money regardless.)  When Joey confronts Dwayne in the boys bathroom, it leads to another fight.  Joey cuts his head.  Dwayne ends up with a bloody nose.  As soon as Dwayne sees that he’s bleeding, he backs off and tries to end the fight.  Joey taunts Dwayne for being scared of a little blood.

“What if I have AIDS!?” Dwayne yells back.

Joey laughs off Dwayne’s comment, which leads to Dwayne throwing a fit and shouting that he didn’t do anything wrong.  Joey figures out that Dwayne actually is HIV+.  Later, Dwayne gives Joey the three hundred dollars in return for Joey not telling anyone.  “We’re getting a car!” Snake and Wheels celebrate but the look on Joey’s face indicates that Joey is not happy about the way he got the money.  In other words, Joey has a conscience!  Yay, Joey!

And so does Dwayne.  One of the things that Degrassi did very well was that it took characters who conformed to certain stereotypes and then dug underneath the surface and revealed that everyone — even the school bully — had their own individual fears and dreams.  This episode finds Dwayne’s bravado crumbling as he’s forced to face his future as someone who is HIV positive.  Darrin Brown, who is now a director, did a great job as Dwayne as did Pat Mastroianni as Joey.  Both of them really grew as actors over the course of Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High.

While that was going, BLT finally broke up with Michelle.  Michelle was not happy.  Eh, who cares?  This was a good episode but BLT and Michelle were  a boring couple and it’s hard to get overly worked up about them splitting up.  Dwayne had a real isssue to deal with.  Michelle will eventually find someone else willing to deal with her nonstop drama.  Such is the way of the world.

One final note: in this episode, Lucy is shooting a video for L.D.  Spike appears with her baby, Emma.  Emma says, “Hi, L.D.”  These were the first of many words to be spoken by Emma Nelson on Degrassi.  (Emma, of course, will grow up to be one of the leads on Degrassi: The Next Generation.  We’ve got a while to go before we reach that point, though.)