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Reviews
War Babies (1932)
Odd, but keep in mind the era
While I agree w everyone else in that this film is disturbing, it's also a sign of the times and just goes to show that we have evolved as a society and can display and express our disgust by the film. Most of Shirley's movies that were made when she was a child had uncomfortable moments, this one is by far the most uncomfortable. I stil give it a 10-star rating as the movie for its time was entertainment. Filming and movies were still in their infancy and while it was not something we would at all condone today,, it's great to know that we have evolved and know better as humans to exploit children in this manner. I enjoyed the movie and enjoy even more knowing that it would never be ok today.
Baby... I'm Back! (1977)
Not a bad show at all!
I managed to watch all 13 episodes on YouTube. I had never even heard of this show, but I was doing some IMDb research on Sanford and son and came across this show with Demond Wilson. I've always been a big fan of Kim Fields, and of course who doesn't love Helen Martin. So when I saw someone had uploaded all the episodes to YouTube, I spent a week watching it. I was very impressed. The comedy was great and the writing was excellent. Kim Fields is just too cute in this show and It was really great seeing her before her Facts of Life fame. I don't think that this show was given a fair chance or enough time to become what it could've been. That's always a disappointment to me when a show looks like it will work out pretty well, but gets the plug pulled way too quick. Sanford Arms and Grady and even Sanford were very lame, but this show had potential. The show ended without any farewell as it barely had enough time to find its niche. Helen Martin is as sassy as she always is since I mainly knew her as Pearl.
I will Forever be thankful for YouTube other streaming services that allow us a peak into yesteryear.
The Twilight Zone: The Mighty Casey (1960)
Huge fan of this classic show, but this episode does nothing for me
As a teen in the 80's, we didn't have cable tv. Twilight Zone reruns came on at like midnight on a local station so on weekends, it was a rare treat for me to stay up late enough to watch it occasionally. Some episodes obviously better than others, but this baseball episode was so painfully boring. I kept waiting for the plot to thicken, for something to make it special, for anything at all that would redeem itself, and nothing. The storyline itself just made no sense. I am rewatching on Prime now and watched the episode again and found it just aw awful now as I did then.
On a side note tho, I looked up the man character to see what else he may have appeared in and was saddened to read that he was arrested for murder and died in prison. Definitely a twist I hadn't been expecting.
Head of the Class: As Time Goes By (1986)
A boring episode.
I love the Charlie episodes, but this one is a real snoozefest. An old girlfriend of Charlie's arrives to observe his class, but their romance picks up pretty quickly, then dies down just as quickly due to unresolved issues from their past. It quickly spills over to Charlie's class, where of course his students try to help out. His students constantly asking them both questions about their previous relationship is just awkward but what's more awkward was how the argument between Charlie and the observer is visible to the students. In the end, the observer tells the students how great a teacher Charlie is, which is funny considering how little teaching she actually observed lol.
Nearly Departed (1989)
Short-lived But has potential
I remember the previews to this show and I watched it a few times then, and thought it was ok. I recently found a few full episodes on YouTube and rewatched and definitely think it had some potential. I wish I would have lasted a bit longer and found a following.
Small Wonder: Money, Money, Money (1986)
Jamie's new gal is money hungry
Jamie is smitten with Jessica, a snobby rich girl. He's tried several times to get her interested in him, but he's lacking the funds that would make her fall in love w him. Harriet has sneaked over to the middle school to remind Jamie that she's still in love w him. Jamie is definitely not interested. Warren sees Jamie talking to Harriet and expresses that he wishes he had babes crawling all over him like Jamie does. Meanwhile, back at home, Mr. Lawson is programming Vicki to rebudget the family finances because he's thinking about how expensive it will be to send Jamie to college. He now has placed Vicki in charge of their family budget, but left $200 cash with Vicki as an emergency fund. Jamie comes home from school and asks for a raise in his allowance, which Vicki denies. The next day at school, jamie again tries to get Jessica's attention, to no avail. Warren hits him up to give him tips on how to get a girls attention. At first, jamie isn't interested. But then Warren sweetens the deal and offers him cash for tips and now Jamie is interested. Jamie borrows Warren's wad of cash to impress Jessica. Doubtful at first, Jessica is soon impressed w Jamie's wad of cash and agrees to go out w him. Back at the house, Vicki has scanned a budget cookbook and Joan is making dinner w cabbage. Ted hates cabbage and asks Vicki for the emergency fund money, Vicki shoots him down. Jamie and Jessica are out in their date at a fancy French restaurant. Warren is hiding behind a tree to observe and take notes. After dinner, Warren approached Jamie to tell him that he has to go because he has to be home by 8. Warren asks Jamie for a few dollars for a cab, since Jamie has all of Warren's money. Jessica is shocked to hear that the wad of cash that Janie had flashed to impress her didn't belong to Jamie, it belonged to Warren. She decides to let Warren take her home instead, Warren takes back his wad of cash, leaving Jamie no way to pay the bill now. Jamie has no choice but to call his parents. Back at home, both Ted and Joan are lecturing Jamie that he shouldn't have to spend money to impress someone, that he should just be himself. Jamie has learned this is true. They now need the emergency $200 that Vicki has hidden away because Ted had to pay Jamie's restaurant bill. Vicki decides that this is an emergency and discloses the location of the money.
Small Wonder: Chewed Out (1986)
Smokin J
Season 2 brings Jamie and Reggie to the 7th grade. No longer are they the oldest kids in the school, now they are the youngest. Feeling out of place, they try to come up w ideas to fit in better w the different kids at their school. In the meantime, Ted is stressed out at his job and finds a pack of cigarettes and starts to smoke due to the stress. Joan is not having it and immediately makes him give up his new habit by throwing them in the trash can. Jamie decides to throw out the trash and finds the pack of cigarettes in the trash can and he and Reggie come up w the idea that if they start smoking, maybe them fit in better w the older kids in junior high. They decide to practice smoking in Jamie's room w/Vicki giving them lessons and Harriet finds them smoking in Jamie's room, she blackmails Jamie into a date or she'll tell his dad. Jamie is forced to agree. Jamie is also tired of sharing his room w Vicki so they decide to move Vickie to Mom and Dad's room. Jamie invites one of the older boys, Peter Watson, to his house w the promise of a baseball card. Janie and Reggie try to impress the older boy by smoking a cigarette. Peter is not impressed w their attempt to be cool w smoking, and instead turns them into chewing tobacco. Jamie and Reggie both give it a try but both get sick from it. Meanwhile, Vicki has had her cabinet moved to Ted and Joan's room, but Joan is feeling very awkward about Ted getting so frisky with Vicki so close. Ted of course, insists there is no problems since Vicki is only a robot. Ted has Vicki face the other way in the cabinet and closes the door, but Vicki quickly starts to smoke the cigarettes that Jamie had stashed on her, which brings Ted to Jamie's room to question him about the cigarettes. Jamie is forced to confess that he and Reggie had tried smoking but that they hated it and quit already, they were instead using chewing tobacco now. Instead of making Jamie quit chewing tobacco, he makes him swallow a lot of chewing tobacco, which makes sick to his stomach. The next day at school, Jamie finds out that Peter had a sore in his mouth that turned out to be cancer and he decides that both smoking and chewing tobacco are not for him. Vicki also moves her cabinet out of Ted and Joan's room.
Small Wonder: The Grandparents (1986)
Vicki meets her Grandparents
Grandpa and Grandma Lawson call to announce a surprise visit. Ted and Joan are excited to see them, but also worried about how to tell them about Vicki. Ted shared that his dad may not be too happy w a robot in the family because his dad had lost his job when he was replaced by a robot. Ted also has car problems and has Vicki jumpstart his car with her built-in battery. When the Grandparents arrive, Vicki is introduced as their adopted daughter. Grandpa is smitten w his new granddaughter, but when Vicki demonstrates incredible strength, Ted has to confess that Vicki isn't a real girl, she's actually a robot. Grandpa is understandably upset and blows up at Ted, says he doesn't like Vickie, is mean to her and decides to cut his visit short. Vicki displays emotions and even cries, which surprised Ted. Grandpa goes to pack their bags to leave when Jamie and Vicki go talk to him and try to convince him that Vicki isn't so bad. Grandpa is mean to Vicki and tries to run her and Jamie out of the room, but then begins to experience a small heart problem and is forced to lie down. Jamie gets scared and calls his mom and dad and grandma. They come rushing in, and Grandma confesses to Ted that Grandpa has been experiencing a heart problem. She rushes to get his medicine while the kids stay behind w Grandpa and Joan calls the paramedics. Vicki uses her built-in battery right away to defibrillate Grandpa. When grandpa comes home from the hospital, he doesn't remember that Vicki saved his life, he assumed it was the paramedics. Grandpa was surprised to learn that it was Vicki that saved his life and apologizes for his behavior and decide that Vicki is a wonderful granddaughter afterall.
Small Wonder: Good Ol' Lou (1986)
Ted's friend Lou
Ted gets a ride home from his coworker, Lou. Joan remembers Lou as being a big 300lb guy and is surprised to hear that Lou and his entire family joined a health club and are now in great shape. Ted decides that it's time for his family to get into better physical shape so he programs Vicki to be the families physical fitness instructor and has her watch instructional videos so she can be a great coach. Ted also starts his family on a healthy diet, which his family is not happy with. A few days later, poor Lou dies of a heart attack at work. Ted is shaken up and doesn't know how to handle the loss. First he forgoes his family workouts, then he starts taking all kinds of medication to prevent getting sick. When Vicki starts to mimic him, he suddenly realizes how ridiculous he looks and promises his family to just enjoy life as it is.
Out of all of season 1, this is my least favorite episode. The chuckles over a dead guy just didn't do it for me.
Small Wonder: Show Biz (1986)
Vaudeville Vicki
Jamie lands the lead in his school play, Romeo and Juliet. And as luck would have it, Harriet lands the part of Juliet. Mrs. Brindle takes the kids pictures to put in the school newspaper and Vicki photobombs the picture as she appears in the background. As the kids rehearse their parts in the play, a man knocks on their door wishing to meet Vicki. He introduces himself as Buddy and He claims to be both a traveling actor and also claims to be Vicki's father, claiming that his ex wife placed Vicki up for adoption without his consent. After meeting Vicki and watching her perform, Buddy agrees to do an act w Vickie at Jamie's school play and he claims he wants to take her on the road w him to tour as a musical act. Ted and Joan get upset w/him and he threatens to take Vicki away because she is rightfully his daughter. Ted decides to program Vicki to mess up the act that they will do for the school play. At the play, Vicki ruins the act, but they are spotted by a talent scout. Buddy gets excited thinking he's finally been discovered only to find out that the talent scout is only interested in Vicki. He gets discouraged and says his goodbyes and tells them to take care of Vicki. The family is happy, Vicki goes to seek out Jamie, who is still hiding from Harriet because she still wants the kiss that Romeo was supposed to give Juliet. Harriet finds Jamie and tricks him into getting her kiss.
Small Wonder: Love Story (1986)
Jamie's in LOVE
This episode brings us to Jamie's school, the first time ever outside the Lawson home. Jamie is giving his best friend Reggie a hard time because Reggie likes a girl, then Jamie spots Jessica, the new girl in school. Jamie falls in love at first site and does all he can to impress her, only to make a fool of himself. In the meantime, the school tomboy, Phyllis, is crushing after Jamie, but Jamie doesn't notice because he's too much in love w Jessica. Jamie throws a party to try to impress Jessica but when Jessica shows up w a date to the party, Jamie is crushed. He decides to be a good host for his guests anyway when a surprise visitor shows up at the door. Janie is pleasantly shocked when the surprise visitor turns out to by Phyllis, out of her tomboy clothes and in a dress. Jessica asks Jamie to dance and Jamie turns her down, instead wanting to dance w Phyllis.
Small Wonder: The Camping Trip (1986)
The Lawson's go camping
Ted and Joanie are planning a second honeymoon while Jamie goes camping w his best friend Reggie. When their camping trip is cancelled because Reggie's dad has to work, Jamie and Reggie are happy about it because they didn't want to go camping in the first place. Ted volunteers to take the entire family camping. On the camping trip, Ted thinks he's lost but doesn't want the kids to know. While trying to sleep, they hear loud animal noises and are terrified that they are surrounded by mountain lions. Unknowingly, he set up camp near a zoo, which explains all the animal noises. Ted is relieved that they will not be dinner for wild animals, and is also relieved that the nearby zoo has a snack stand.