Siskel & Ebert: The Worst of '92 [fragment]

Siskel & Ebert: The Worst of '92 [fragment]

Sperm bank comedy

Syndicated

January 4, 1993

Movie Review

VHS

B

Stallone is tagged again for Stop or My Mom Will Shoot, while this time Goodman is tagged for The Babe and Long for Frozen Assets, which is both Gene and Roger's pick for worst of the year, but it was watching Roger crack up trying to describe Shining Through (a WW II drama with Melanie Griffith as a bilingual strudel-baking spy and Michael Douglas as the spy who fakes a throat injury to avoid speaking German) that pushed this up from B- to B.  I left out a couple of the movies when I taped this, but I should note that I liked Toys with Robin Williams when I saw it a few years later.

Memories of M*A*S*H

Memories of M*A*S*H
CBS
November 25, 1991
Dramedy
DVD
B

This is a much better reunion program than the one for The Bob Newhart Show.  It is in a way a clip show, but it is also memories from cast and crew of what it was like to be a part of the long-running series.  There's an added poignancy now, because so many of the cast have died since then.  (William Christopher's death at the end of last year being especially sad, such a gentle soul.)  This is not to say that the program couldn't have been better, maybe putting the series in context more, not only discussing the books and movie more, but noting that it was part of CBS pushing against censorship in the '70s, as with All in the Family.  There's not even a reference to the Vietnam War!  I also would've liked an actual reunion, rather than separate interviews, especially since everyone claims to miss the camaraderie and laughter on and offscreen.  Still, there are some good insights and touching moments, and some chuckles of course.

It's impossible to tag everyone obviously, so I'll list the others who appear, including in clips.  Long hosts the program and of course we see her guest appearance.

• G.W. Bailey (interview and clips)
• Linda Bloodworth-Thomason
• Dr. Walter Dishell
• Charles S. Dubin
• Farrell's children Mike, Jr. and Erin
• Larry Gelbart
• Mariette Hartley (clip)
• Ron Howard (clip)
• Burt Metcalfe
• Kellye Nakahara (interview and clips)
• Leslie Nielsen as Col. Buzz Brighton
• John Ritter (clip)
• Clete Roberts as himself
• Susan Saint James (clip)
• Steirs's parents Ken and Maggie
• Patrick Swayze as Private Gary Sturgis
• Teri Garr (clip)
• George Wendt (clip)
• and others IMDB and I missed

Siskel & Ebert: The Worst of 1989

"Mood slime"

Siskel & Ebert*: The Worst of 1989
Syndicated
Early 1990
Movie Review
VHS
B-

Gene and Roger organize the movies into trends, although these overlap.  The movies that the tagged stars were in:

• Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray for Ghostbusters II
• Tony Danza for She's Out of Control
• Shelley Long for Troop Beverly Hills 
• Richard Pryor for Harlem NIghts
• Burt Reynolds for Physical Evidence

*As near as I can tell "& the Movies" was dropped from the title by this time, maybe earlier, but this was the first I noticed.

M*A*S*H: Bottle Fatigue

M*A*S*H: Bottle Fatigue
CBS
January 7, 1980
Dramedy
DVD
B-

This Mumford & Wilcox script, about Hawkeye taking a break from drinking and Winchester being upset that his sister Honoria is marrying an Italian, isn't great either, but it does have a pre-Cheers, even pre-Caveman thirty-year-old Shelley Long, who gives a great performance in her couple scenes as Lt. Mendenhall and looks quite a bit like her future TV sister, Teri Garr.

Shari Saba joins the cast as Nurse Shari, in her first of fifteen appearances.  Roy Goldman (as Roy Goldman), Jeff Maxwell (Straminsky), and Kellye Nakahara (Yamato) return.