Dear 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 needsTag Archives: Paul Mavis
‘My Three Sons’ (Season 1): A remarkably complex, innovative American sitcom
Escape 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 sitcom‘Rich Man, Poor Man: Book II’ (1976): Rushed sequel series still entertains
A 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 entertains‘Billionaire Boys Club’ (1987): True crime miniseries is a forgotten gem
Creepy, chilling true-crime miniseries.
Continue reading ‘Billionaire Boys Club’ (1987): True crime miniseries is a forgotten gem‘The Beasts are On the Streets’ (1978): Hanna-Barbera’s family-friendly disaster flick
Well…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 flick‘Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels’: Is this Charlie’s Angels: The Animated Series?
Yes, 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?‘Flipper’ (Season 1): ’60s favorite still loaded with family-friendly adventure
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 adventureIt’s May, 1978. Do you know what’s on Showtime?
I 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?‘The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson’: Unflappable, supremely confident, with laser-precision timing
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 timingAlice in Wonderland (1966): BBC version is the one to watch!
Strange, unreal…frightening.
Continue reading Alice in Wonderland (1966): BBC version is the one to watch!‘Mister Ed’ (Season 2): Popular sitcom moves from syndication to CBS
Horse talks. Makes smartass joke. Human master flustered. Viewer laughs. Repeat.
Continue reading ‘Mister Ed’ (Season 2): Popular sitcom moves from syndication to CBS‘Someone I Touched’ (1975): What’s going on down there? TV movie answers
…a.k.a.: First, You Drip.
Continue reading ‘Someone I Touched’ (1975): What’s going on down there? TV movie answers‘Superdome’ (1978): Skip the Super Bowl. Watch this instead
“Tomorrow we’ve got 75,000 people in the Dome…and a psycho on the loose.”
Continue reading ‘Superdome’ (1978): Skip the Super Bowl. Watch this instead‘Rich Man, Poor Man’ (1976): Racy event television from a lost era
Well…now that the seven angels have blasted their horns, rumbling them into a wild, dark winter, inventing entirely new, terrible beasts while we line up with our seven bowls to meekly beseech, “Please, sir, I’d like some more,” (Lionel Bart’s smash West End musical Oliver!, with book by John the Elder and Heinrich Heine), there doesn’t seem to be much more to do while we await our re-education camp assignments than to watch some vintage television, right?
Continue reading ‘Rich Man, Poor Man’ (1976): Racy event television from a lost era‘Highway to Heaven’ (Season 1): A powerful, spiritual drama for the 80s
“Who’s your boss?”
“God.”
‘Hanna-Barbera’s All-Star Comedy Ice Revue’ (1978): A glorious, forgotten TV special
Here’s to all that gorgeous Ice Capades snatch at the Bakersfield Civic Auditorium!
Continue reading ‘Hanna-Barbera’s All-Star Comedy Ice Revue’ (1978): A glorious, forgotten TV special‘The Donna Reed Show’ (Season 1): A charming, misunderstood gem
You think the Stone family would make you wear a mask? Please.
Continue reading ‘The Donna Reed Show’ (Season 1): A charming, misunderstood gem‘Falcon Crest’ (Season 2): Melodrama & glamour ramp up in 2nd season
“Falcon Crest is a cancer; it contaminates everybody it touches! Get away, if you can!”
Continue reading ‘Falcon Crest’ (Season 2): Melodrama & glamour ramp up in 2nd season‘Matt Houston’ (Season 1): Fun, breezy entry in the 80s P.I. craze
“Better cock your pistols.”
Continue reading ‘Matt Houston’ (Season 1): Fun, breezy entry in the 80s P.I. craze‘Mayflower: The Pilgrims’ Adventure’ (1979): Celebrating the 400th anniversary of Mayflower’s landing
Attention! Attention fellow American lockdown inmates!
Continue reading ‘Mayflower: The Pilgrims’ Adventure’ (1979): Celebrating the 400th anniversary of Mayflower’s landing