Fantasy Island (TV Series) Forbidden Love/The Other Man -- Mr. Roarke (1983) User Reviews

bleh, 2 love stories but Mr Belvedere!!

[mikeholmes-48012 · 5/10 · 3 October 2015]

One story is about a mom who wants to meet a younger guy she likes who turns out is her daughters ex fling. The daughter shows up. Drama ensues.

Other story is some chic with a Boston accent and a CPA boyfriend wants him to propose to her. The trick was have the guy think this other guy is hitting on her to make him jealous. but the other guy hurts his back and Roarke has to fill in. Boston accent lady falls for Rourke and he has to figure out how to get out of it. He uses trickery but CPA guy is too honest and unlike his BOston Accent girlfriend, he tells the truth and is honest. But shes not a jerk for doing the same thing.

What i liked about this episode was it was the first time i saw Mr Belvedere play the character Lawerence. from what i understand, tattoo demanded too much money in 83. are you kidding me? Tattoo sucked. He's likable, had some humor but was a bit character and got annoying and was hard to understand. So they got Mr Belvedere. I loved how quick witted he is, a bizarro Tattoo. His stares are the best, i think they gave him black makeup around the eyes to make his eyes look like they are bulging out when he gives that stare, or it could be my hi-def TV with 80's video. And him talking to Rourke, both with their elegant accents is awesome. i wish i could be elegant like that and use elegantly words and sound smart. it was ironic this episode had to have that chowder head lady butchering the English language.

There was a lot of Mr Rourke in the episode. I think chicks dig him so if your a chic, he has a scene where hes not in his white tux and is in a workout shirt thats like a vest. i can see how he wins over chicks like that Boston chic. So anyhow so so episode, i watched it, would again i guess. the mom was really hot, something about her teeth. i looked her up, shes dead. died at age 59. funny looking up dead people on fantasy island, i see quite few died at that age. odd.

Another episode coming up. Its got Belevedere again. yay.

I can't understand a damned thing Mr. Belvedere is saying!!!

[imdb-25288 · 6/10 · 17 October 2022]

Another title whose description seemed promising but is a complete flop! First things first: I can't understand a damned thing Mr. Belvedere is saying!!! So here is where we lose Tattoo. I long thought like many that he was annoying, but having watched a few of these back to back, and seen his replacements, I can say that he truly made the show and they should have paid him his dues! He became iconic, he was the show as much as Ricardo was, and they ought to have compensated him accordingly. The loss of Tattoo is Aaron Spelling's loss and the show's demise.

So! Mr. Belvedere and his dreadfully incomprehensible accent. (I've never seen that sitcom!) Spanish accent? Yes, gorgeous. French accent? Not much problem understanding what Tattoo said, here. But THAT English accent? Wadda fak you trying to say, boy!? I had the closed captioned on and it disappeared too fast, Lawrence spoke way too fast, doesn't enunciate anything, how can EVEN the Brits understand these accents (and they have a few of those!) I don't get it. A standard American accent was needed her to balance out Ricardo's the correct, relaxing way. Instead, they bring us this dreadful accent with a man who can't enunciate. MEMO to those who install the captions: we need them 1 second DELAYED, not ahead!!!! A caption is for me, the viewer (or you) who couldn't understand what they said. I don't need to... NO! I DON'T WANT to read them ahead of time. Let the actor speak, then paste it on screen. I'll read it ONLY if I missed what was said. What good is CC if it disappears as soon as you realized you can't understand squat?!

Back to the show: one very boring and tawdry story with a mother sleeping with her daughter's boyfriend! This a family show?! The guy was good-looking, the ladies rather ghastly-looking. Why would he choose either!? For the storyline that promised to be interesting, we have Mr. Roarke posing as suitor for a client. They could have done so much more with this! But it doesn't work. The first scene when he shows up and kisses her hand, Ricardo plays his character interestingly. But the script called for him to cut that out, and that was a mistake. But we got to see another side of Mr. Roarke. Sadly, that was promptly ruined by a dumb script.

Highlights of the show: Mr. Roarke looking smashing in a gorgeous navy blue sports-coat and Mr. Roarke elegantly eating his breakfast. That made me wonder if Ricardo would scarf down food when he was super hungry, or whether he'd take his own sweet time to look elegant while he was alone, LOL!

All in all, this is the continuation of the downfall of Fantasy Island. The beginning of the true end. Funny, yesterday they aired "Remember When..." where Tattoo tells Mr. Roarke that he realizes now that Roarke truly needs him to run the show. It really showed that he cared for the little guy. Sadly, I don't think that transpired in real life, even though Montalban told Letterman otherwise. All in all, this is fun and often cheesy series that had some cool moments, maybe a "so bad it's good" type of show, but one that became tedious and dreadful due to soporific scripts. Oh, what could have been! I'll say this again: the best part of this series is the music and the intro when the music plays. After the guests have disembarked (or is that "deplaned, deplaned!"?) most of the episodes go downhill, but are often livened up by Mr. Roarke's appearances and the looks he gives his guests.

A fun show to revisit, very few awesome episodes, but worth the trip down memory lane, if you are so inclined. So long Tattoo! It was fun while you lasted, but you were right: show went downhill fast after your departure! (And the good writers & producers, no doubt about that!) And maybe Ricardo was a bit Roarke-arrogant when he said that (or hinted at, rather) you were deluded in thinking you deserved the same salary as he: you actually did!