Reviews

Butterfly McQueen is superb as "Aunt Thelma", a fairy-godmother who pops into Calvin Brundage's home via the TV set. He's the lucky winner of the "7 wishes sweepstakes" and Aunt Thelma is here to grant them, but not before Calvin learns a few lessons along the way.

This was one of those "Weekend Special" movies that seemed to pop up 3 or 4 times a year in the early 80's. There was actually another movie in this series, "Seven Wishes of Joanna Peabody", which was far superior. But still, this is cute, fun, lightweight entertainment for kids.

Oh what memories this movie brings back! This one was a Saturday afternoon staple on my local ABC station. You know, right after "American Bandstand" they did the "Weekend Special" (or was it before AB? hmmm...) So you know it's light-weight pre-teen fare.

Lauri Hendler (who would soon go on to star as Julie Kinenski on "Gimme A Break!") plays Little Lulu. The details are a bit sketchy for me, but I remember Lulu heading up some school-contest. She and her gang wanted to win it awfully bad, but the aptly-named "Tubby" insisted on being the sole hold-out. I believe because he was required to do some physical exertion for the contest, and hell, that takes away from his eating time!

(Okay, I'm just now realizing how politically incorrect this movie was...)

So Lulu dons fortune-teller garb, and tricks our dim-porker into thinking she's placed a curse on him. The fortune teller tells him that unless he helps the gang, he will lose his APPETITE!! To prove it, she secretly replaces his frosty beverage with.....PICKLE JUICE!!

Lulu diligently sticks with her plan, spiking each of Tubby's meals with la' juice-de-pickle, until Tubby begs the fortune teller to lift the curse. She obliges, but ONLY if Tubby cooperates with his nemesis, Little Lulu.

(It scares me that I remembered this much!)

Fun, amusing, kiddie flick. Makes you really miss the wholesome kiddie-programming of the early-80's.

Lance Henriksen got paid something to appear in this. I hope it was a lot.

Former US National Champion gymnast, Kristie Phillips starts as Charlie Case, a gymnast-turn-secret-agent (because it's very common that munchkin gymnasts become government spies...)

There's a truly hysterical opening scene where Charlie's uneven bars routine is sabotaged by an eastern-bloc competitor. What follows is one of the most ridiculous stunt scenes I've ever witnessed....and they want you to take it seriously! Don't worry...she sticks her dismount.

Everything after that is just a messy, dreck of a spy movie. Watch the first fifteen minutes for the campy-gymnastics stuff, then run for cover.

This show was only on for 1 season, back when NBC went through 1-hour dramas like Janet Jackson goes through silicone. I was so upset when it wasn't renewed!

Nick Mancuso, at his sexiest here, plays "Ray". What do we know about Ray? Well, he's got a penchant for all-black clothing, drives the coolest car of all 80's television (sorry "KITT"...) and he's on a mission to help people out. When you can't call the police, or you've got an unordinary task no typical private-dick can perform, Ray's your man. Just don't offer to pay him in bills, he doesn't want your money. Instead, he insists to be paid in favors! (I'm gonna try that one with my mechanic...fix my muffler and someday I'll owe ya' one..)

Ray's terms-of-service are: "Someday I'll return, and I'll ask you to perform a favor, and you must do it". Sounds like a good deal huh? Well, this is the clever plot-device that allows Ray to accomplish his many bizarre tasks. What's that you say? You need me to obtain those confidential medical documents? Let me just contact that doctor I helped out last spring! This also allows for a continually changing supporting cast; the only familiar things we see from episode-to-episode is Ray and that kick-*ss car!

The show's writing was clever and thoughtful and often asked you to think. Take the episode where Ray had to commit himself to an insane asylum. On other shows, you would have the hero saving the loonies, but not before goofing all over them. Here, Ray gets to know the residents and ponders what "sanity" really is anyway. The writing sympathizes with the mentally-challenged instead of discarding them as Hollywood caricatures. They are portrayed as commonly as your next door neighbor. This is pretty notable considering we're talking about an 80's network action-drama.

Sure, the show had it's "MacGyver"-esque absurdities. Like when Ray gets the cat to bring him keys to the cell where he's imprisoned. But these type of events are inconsequential to the theme or message of each show. And they're actually just plain fun.

This show never got the praise or attention it deserved. It's nearly impossible to find on video, but certainly worth the exhaustive search.

Kathleen Quinlan as suburban do-gooder. She's on a mission to help run-away teens off of the streets, and into her over-crowded home. The taming of the wild street children proves quite a challenge.

Lots of teens-in-despair here. Lots of 80's fashions (hair, make-up, bracelets, Oh My)

Watchable only because the movie's musical theme is Pat Benatar's "Hell is for Children".