In a post-holiday mood for something light, I happened upon an older Warner Bros. Archive Collection disc of The Deadly Tower, NBC’s 1975 made-for-TV movie with Disney alumnus Kurt Russell starring as infamous University of Texas sniper, Charles Whitman.
Continue reading ‘The Deadly Tower’ (1975): Questionable—but suspenseful—re-telling of real-life Texas killingsIt’s a story as old as the hills where it’s set, and that’s A-OK when you want some down home, feel-good holiday viewing.
Continue reading ‘Christmas in the Smokies’ (2015): Saving the family farm has never been so romanticHey, listen, readers: if we have to change our name from DrunkTV to All Hanna-Barbera! All the Time!, we will, particularly with the insane number of hits we’ve been clocking lately off that brand.
Continue reading ‘A Christmas Story’ (1972): Hanna-Barbera special is a sweet, nostalgic time capsuleLast week, in a rather desperate bid to fend off my irate editor (his is a simple process: no review from me…no booze for me), I fobbed off a quick look at 1982’s Hanna-Barbera animated holiday TV special, Yogi Bear’s All Star Comedy Christmas Caper. Well, imagine our collective shock when 100s and 100s of readers clicked on it. A veritable bonanza of eyeballs! So…in an unashamedly naked, crass attempt to repeat that fluke, we’re offering up even more Jellystone Christmas cheer, this time with 1980’s syndicated romp, Yogi’s First Christmas!
Continue reading ‘Yogi’s First Christmas’ (1980): A smarter-than-the-average holiday specialDo they still have animated Christmas TV specials show up in first-run syndication?
Continue reading ‘Yogi Bear’s All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper’ (1982): A sweet & quick last glimpse of that old H-B lookThanksgiving, right? I mean…it’s a tough one this year, no doubt. Outside of family and friends and the traditional bird and old timey TV, it feels like there’s not a whole lot else to be thankful for, you know? I mean, you’ll be lucky if family can even visit, what with gas prices the way they are (as well as that one lunatic who refuses to visit because most family members don’t believe in the clot-shot). And that big dinner—if you can find the ingredients on those mostly empty shelves—costs way more this year, thanks to you know who (when given the time-honored chance to offer Presidential clemency to the White House Thanksgiving turkey, he promptly pardoned the Easter Bunny). Hell, even nostalgic TV might not help; I know I had a tough time getting into the holiday mood, after watching 1982’s mostly-okay A Day for Thanks on Walton’s Mountain and 1993’s decidedly icky A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion.
Continue reading ‘A Day for Thanks on Walton’s Mountain’ (1982) & ‘A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion’ (1993): A TV reunion double featureDear God, now, more than ever…we need The Star Wars Holiday Special.
Continue reading ‘The Star Wars Holiday Special’ (1978): TV extravaganza is what today’s world needsEscape is the only option today, I fear (if you’re lucky enough to be able to escape, I should add). So if you’re going to retreat, you should go somewhere extraordinary.
Continue reading ‘My Three Sons’ (Season 1): A remarkably complex, innovative American sitcomA true television “event,” back when a show could catch fire with the huge, largely unified network TV audience and actually depress attendance at restaurants and movie theaters on broadcast nights (while stressing city sewer systems during commercial breaks), Rich Man, Poor Man, starring Peter Strauss, Nick Nolte, Susan Blakely, and a host of familiar TV and movie star names, broke Nielsen records for the newly-minted “miniseries” genre.
Continue reading ‘Rich Man, Poor Man: Book II’ (1976): Rushed sequel series still entertainsCreepy, chilling true-crime miniseries.
Continue reading ‘Billionaire Boys Club’ (1987): True crime miniseries is a forgotten gemWell…if everything else seems to be a disaster right now, it couldn’t hurt to watch some disaster flicks, now could it?
Continue reading ‘The Beasts are On the Streets’ (1978): Hanna-Barbera’s family-friendly disaster flickYes, you didn’t read that clickbait headline incorrectly: we have MORE Charlie’s Angels review action coming your way! Yes! The original show! Another season! The sixth! Well, not the sixth exactly, but still the original! Well…maybe not the original show, but pretty close! Pretty close! Almost the same thing! I mean, well….
Continue reading ‘Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels’: Is this Charlie’s Angels: The Animated Series?Just curious: are they masking the dolphins yet? Or has President Grampa Bumbles allowed them to be free again?
Continue reading ‘Flipper’ (Season 1): ’60s favorite still loaded with family-friendly adventureHey old timers, remember pro wrestling’s territory days? Back when wrestling was fun? Here’s a nice reminder.
Continue reading ‘Portland Wrestling Series Vol. 1’: A look at the Pacific NW territory in the 80sI read someone once who stated there comes a moment of decision in every man’s life where he chooses either to move forward or back. At the time it sounded faintly ominous, but after a few years paddling around in what suicidally-bored George Sanders correctly referred to as that “sweet cesspool,” I found it a warning largely beside the point. I don’t believe we move in straight lines in terms of human evolvement (or in terms of anything else, for that matter), but rather in a giant circle. We ride wheels within turning wheels (check it: I’m starting to trill like Noel Harrison…), giving the illusion of movement and progress to those inhabitants on other wheels…when all of us are really just pinned down on a piece of drawing paper like a giant Spirograph. Pretty pictures, destined to endlessly repeat themselves.
Continue reading It’s May, 1978. Do you know what’s on Showtime?Just a minor administrative note before the review: Drunk TV has a new official mascot for the foreseeable future. Enjoy!
Continue reading ‘The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson’: Unflappable, supremely confident, with laser-precision timingStrange, unreal…frightening.
Continue reading Alice in Wonderland (1966): BBC version is the one to watch!Horse talks. Makes smartass joke. Human master flustered. Viewer laughs. Repeat.
Continue reading ‘Mister Ed’ (Season 2): Popular sitcom moves from syndication to CBS…a.k.a.: First, You Drip.
Continue reading ‘Someone I Touched’ (1975): What’s going on down there? TV movie answersMore of the same this second time around…and that means more laughs from this witty, perfectly-crafted family sitcom.
Continue reading ‘Dennis the Menace’ (Season 2): ’60s sitcom’s highest rated season
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