tnt videovisions

I was an extra (a zombie) in this mess of a film - I was visiting my folks in Albuquerque, and just for fun, me and a friend became extras when they were filming on the reservation in New Mexico. The production was sooo cheesy that we knew, then, that the film would be awful - and John Carpenter must have known it would be bad because he walked around in a bad mood all the time and just behaved VERY badly. Or, perhaps he realised that he's a bad director now, making worse films than Roger Corman, and that's the reason for his 'moods.' The catering was VERY good, and we made a lot of friends on the set. I didn't even cash my paycheck - I wanted to keep it since it says "Ghosts Of Mars" on it.

Anyway, skip this dreck and watch an early JC film, when he was a real director. Now, he's no better, and often much worse, than "made for video" directors... the next step in his sad decline will probably be doing direct-to-video Christian films with Markie Post.

Those familiar with NBC's short-lived and big-time failure "Supertrain" series from 1979 will immediately know what they've gotten into when "Express to Terror" starts to roll. The copy of "Express to Terror" that I have seen is a VHS release on the PRISM label. The quality of the transfer is good and I believe it is out-of-print now. As mentioned, this is simply the two-hour pilot movie that launched the "Supertrain" series. It is a rather weak attempt too, even by "Supertrain" standards. The story involves Steve Lawrence playing a guy with a gambling problem who is returning to L.A. on Supertrain and is working for Stella Stevens. Stevens plays a Hollywood agent who is using the trip on Supertrain to try and put together a movie deal with George Hamilton and Vicki Lawrence, who are on board under the credit 'Special Guest Appearances.' Neither George Hamilton or Vicki Lawrence have much of any screen time in the entire movie. In fact, I'm not sure Hamilton and Lawrence deliver more than a handful of line between themselves. The movie centers around Steven Lawrence's apparent troubles with the mob. He's borrowed money and thinks his time to repay has run out and now the mob is trying to kill him. Bumming along with Steve Lawrence is Don Meredith. Meredith plays Vicki Lawrence's husband, he is jealous of her possible relationship with George Hamilton. Steve Lawrence's job is to keep Meredith away from Hamilton and allow Stella Stevens' character the time to put together the movie deal. The plot gets rather muddy by the end, with Don Stroud thrown in as a person apparently trying to steal Steve Lawrence's identity...though considering his troubles who'd want it? Fred Williamson turns out to be the person who is hired to "off" Steven Lawrence, by literally putting him off Supertrain. It's not "Murder on the Orient Express" and not even a good "Love Boat" clone. To introduce the series, Keenan Wynn is shown announcing he is devoting his remaining years and large fortune to create Supertrain and revolutionize rail travel. Wynn is along for this first trip, but does very little. Throughout the proceedings, we are introduced to the various people who made up Supertrain's crew and regular cast.

Running for just six thirty-minute episodes in late 1988, this is a unique Mary Tyler Moore offering. Following her short-lived "Mary" sitcom from the mid-'80s, Mary returned to CBS in '88 with "Annie McGuire."

The show is a departure from the norm in that it really isn't a situation comedy, nor is it really a drama. The basic story concerns Mary's character "Annie McGuire," who recently re-married and commutes from NYC to Bayonne, New Jersey. She has a cranky very patriotic conservative father-in-law and a very liberal idealistic mother. These two characters drive a few of the show's plots.

Recently reviewing the set of six shows, I found them to all be very heavily message or themed stories. One episode, for example, follows Mary's attempts to find employment for a person who attempts to mug her. The twist here is that the mugger is in a wheelchair and Mary's character is frustrated at the lack of opportunities for handicapped people. Get the picture? Most episodes play out like this and for those who loved "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and even the short-lived "Mary," this series was both different and a bit of a disappointment.