‘The Love Boat’ (Season 4): 1980-81 docks highest-rated season

Welcome to the fourth DVD voyage of The Love Boat’s Pacific Princess, where the hook-ups are plentiful and the penicillin shots are always free! Continue reading “‘The Love Boat’ (Season 4): 1980-81 docks highest-rated season”

‘The Jeffersons’: Norman Lear sitcom disrespected, but we love it!

The strangest thing: my younger kids think television coming over our old aerial—complete with commercials and limited choice of channels—is the coolest thing now (high tech burnout was inevitable). And one of their favorite digital channels is our local MeTV outlet, with its old timey sched of classic television fare (yes, they have taste, but of course, I’m shilling for a potential job offer, too…). So the upcoming “Summer of Me” programming change this Monday should be a lot of fun for them—and for you, too, particularly since The Jeffersons will be movin’ on up into the primo 6:30pm (Eastern) timeslot (now you don’t have to watch the fake news!). Continue reading “‘The Jeffersons’: Norman Lear sitcom disrespected, but we love it!”

‘Benson’ (Season 1): Scene-stealer Robert Guillaume now front & center

With the death of Robert Guillaume in 2017, we thought it would be a nice tribute to go back to the first season of Guillaume’s best-remembered role, Benson. Continue reading “‘Benson’ (Season 1): Scene-stealer Robert Guillaume now front & center”

‘Hammer House of Horror’: UK anthology sports tight scripts, nimble direction

The Complete Hammer House of Horror is perfect Halloween viewing for anyone interested in 80s UK horror and the Hammer Films studio: the scripts are tight, the direction nimble, and the performances spot-on…with plenty of gore and slight nudity to keep you tuned in. Continue reading “‘Hammer House of Horror’: UK anthology sports tight scripts, nimble direction”

‘The World of Strawberry Shortcake’ (1980) & ‘Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City’ (1981): Charming kids fare

It’s berry berry good! Continue reading “‘The World of Strawberry Shortcake’ (1980) & ‘Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City’ (1981): Charming kids fare”

‘When Time Ran Out…’ (1980): Disastrous Irwin Allen disaster epic

Seeing as how Hawaii is set to blow apart any minute now, from 80s Talk’s “Things Could Be WAY Worse” files comes a review of Warner Bros’ 1980 disastrous disaster epic, When Time Ran Out…, “Master of Disaster” Irwin Allen’s kick in the groin salute to horrendous moviemaking, starring Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William “I’m Dying Right in Front of Your Eyes!” Holden, Ernest Borgnine, James Franciscus, Red Buttons, Edward Albert, Barbara Carrera, Valentina Cortese, Veronica Hamel, Burgess Meredith, John Considine, Pat Morita, and master thespian Alex Karras. Continue reading “‘When Time Ran Out…’ (1980): Disastrous Irwin Allen disaster epic”

‘The Love Boat’ (Season 3): Everything great & terrible about escapist TV

Anchors aweigh and get another bottle of bleach: they don’t call it “The Love Boat” for nothing! Continue reading “‘The Love Boat’ (Season 3): Everything great & terrible about escapist TV”