"You had to ruin it, didn't you? You have to ruin everything!" - Cindy Scott (Amanda Wyss) to her alcoholic mother in "First Step"
After School Specials: 1981-82 DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
Today's teens facing the difficulties of modern life can consult guides like The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook for help and advice. Whether because ink was scarce or we didn't fully appreciate the dangers of being trapped in a burning building with three dozen feral cats, teens in the early 1980s did not have such weighty resources. They instead had to rely on After School Specials for information on how to avoid life-threatening adolescent pitfalls and grow up to be moral, upstanding citizens. So grab a pencil and paper and get ready to learn from the mistakes of others. There will be a test afterwards.
"A Matter of Time"
Based on the novel by Roni Schotter
Original air date: 2/11/81
Almost every After School Special features a teen whose father or mother is dead. "A Matter of Time" is a change of pace episode for the series. It features a teen whose mother is dying. Yes, it's another cheerful installment of the After School Special! Lisl Gilbert (Karlene Crockett) isn't overly worried when her mom, Jean (Rosemary Forsyth), announces that she is heading into the hospital over the weekend to take care of a spot on her lung. After all, as she tells her friend Jo (Lisa Jane Persky), "[Mom] said it's just a simple, routine operation." In other words, dear old Mom is doomed. That little spot is actually a malignant tumor, and the cancer has spread to both lungs. Lisl wonders how she'll be able to concentrate on her own life while her mom is dying, but older sister Jane (Carrie Freeman) warns her not to "live your life in mother's shadow." Especially since mother's shadow will be six feet under in the local cemetery in three or four months tops. With the help of a groovy social worker (Kate Zentall), Lisl comes to terms with her mother's illness while discovering that "what's special about me is me."
Despite the EST-era mumbo jumbo in most of the scenes involving the social worker, "A Matter of Time" is an effective look at the stages of grief and dying. It is buoyed by especially strong performances from Crockett and Forsyth. The subject matter is, needless to say, a downer, but this installment is ultimately life affirming. It's not exactly a barrel of laughs, but it is worth watching.
Look for Rob Lowe as Lisl's cutie-pie classmate.
"First Step"
Based on the novel by Anne Snyder
Original air date: 9/26/81
After graduation, Cindy (Amanda Wyss) wants to move to New York and become an actress. Right now, though, she has to take care of her mother, Miriam (Little House on the Prairie's Bonnie Bartlett), who is often too sick to drive in the carpool or show up for her job at the dime store. Mom's sickness? Vodka. Cindy has a part in the school play, and when handsome stage manager Mitch (Michael Le Clair) comes over to help her run lines, they find Mom wallowing on the ground clutching an empty booze bottle. Cindy is mortified, but Mitch confides that both of his parents are alcoholics, and that Cindy should attend Alateen meetings with him. She's leery of this idea - sure, Mom ruins a fun evening of Scrabble by throwing a dictionary, upending the table, and smacking her young son, but she's no alcoholic. Cindy agrees to tag along to a meeting anyway. Miriam goes ballistic when she finds out, throwing her hooch down the drain - bottles and all. She vows never to drink again, and she means it. . .until the following week, when she ruins Cindy's acting debut by climbing onstage to take a bow, too.
Despite a compelling performance by Wyss, "First Step" plays like a slightly less campy version of "Francesca, Baby." This episode is well intentioned, but it is difficult to take the over-the-top drunk scenes seriously. Bartlett is a terrific actress, but even she cannot prevent the climactic scene in the school auditorium from becoming a laugh-inducing riot.
"Tough Girl"
Based on the novel "Will the Real Renie Lake Please Stand Up?" by Barbara Morgenroth
Original air date: 10/28/81
Renie Lake (Karin Argoud) is tough. Her mother's boyfriend uses her as a punching bag, and she hangs with a bad crowd. When she gets busted while riding in a stolen car with her pot-smoking pal, it looks as if she's headed for an extended stay in juvenile hall. Her estranged father, Russell (Lin McCarthy), saves her from doing time, but it comes with a heavy price: she'll have to move in with him and his new family. Her stepmother, Marlene (Bibi Besch) is okay, but stepsis Gretchen (Kristina Sorenson) is a real pain, shunning Renie because "everyone knows she's a crook and a pothead." After witnessing a dog being hit by a speeding van, Renie encounters Jan Redner (Gregory Koppel), a deaf teen who wants to become a vet. Renie is sure that she's found a new friend - she even reads The Joy of Signing - but when Jan gets accepted into veterinary school, she worries that yet another person is walking out of her life.
Sure, Renie carries around a switchblade and threatens to cut open the school jock, but "Tough Girl" is still, in a word, boring. In grand After School Special tradition, this episode is packed with social issues - crime, abandonment issues, broken homes, disabilities, etc. - but it's a real snooze. Plus it's talky - even by After School Special standards. This is one girl to steer clear of.
"The Night Swimmers"
Based on the novel by Betsy Byars
Original air date: 3/3/82
Retta Rollins (Mallie Jackson) might only be a teenager, but her life is as complicated as a country music song. Luckily, her father is an aspiring singer/songwriter, and he actually summed up the family's woes in a song: "My Angel Went To Heaven In a DC-3." That's right - Retta's mom died a few years back in an airplane crash while on her way to a singing gig at a county fair. Now Retta has to take care of her two younger brothers - rebellious Johnny (Jason Lively) and sweet Roy (The Wonder Years' Jason Hervey) - while their father, Shorty (Trey Wilson), performs at local clubs. But making peanut butter, banana, and mayonnaise sandwiches for Roy isn't exactly fulfilling, and Retta misses being a normal teen. Will Shorty realize that his young daughter cannot be a substitute parent, or will he continue to be blinded by the lights of showbiz?
"The Night Swimmers" proves that After School Specials are often at their best when they don't overreach. The plot is simple and likeable, and it doesn't rely on heavy morals. With its gentle humor (the country songs are a hoot, as is the cute scene in which we learn that the kids are named for Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, and Roy Clark) and lively pacing, "Swimmers" is a winner.
The four episodes included in 1981-82 are divided onto two DVDs. The DVDs are housed in a single keepcase that includes DVD hubs on both interior surfaces. The cover of the keepcase is designed to resemble interior pages from a school yearbook. The keepcases slide into a cardboard case that effectively conveys the look and feel of a miniature yearbook. Thick cardboard "covers" open to reveal yearbook-style "class photos" while the back cover's "Autographs" page provides plot synopses for the discs' episodes. This 3-D design is immensely appealing, and well in keeping with the Trapper Keeper packaging used for the 1974-76 and 1976-77 releases and the school lockers packing used for the 1978-79 and 1979-80 releases.
The menus are the same as those found in the previous releases. After loading the DVD into a player, viewers are taken on a short CGI tour of a school. The menus feature a loose leaf paper design. Full motion images from the disc's episodes play on faux Polaroid snapshots taped to the "page." Viewers can choose to play the episodes or jump to one of four scenes. The segues between the various menus - involving pencils and erasers changing info on the screen - are extremely clever.
