Brian Dennehy puts in one of his patented solid performances, this time as the televangelist Reverend Billy Bob Proverb who preaches the divinity of materialism (props to the MV writers for not pulling any punches satirizing the likes of notorious religious shysters such as Jim Bakker). This episode isn't your standard MV fare: no guns are shot, no boats are raced, no Ferrari's rip around town to 80's pop music. What you do get is a pretty solid, albeit light, 48-minutes of entertainment.
The opening sequence brings together the televangelist, his drug addicted wife and the undercover work of Crockett and Tubbs. When the televangelist's wife gets pinched by MV, the big fat Christian money maker goes into his bag of tricks to not only shame MV, but most notably the detective in charge (Tubbs)...or so it seems. Other forces, most notably the Rev's arch nemesis/competitor Mason Mather (played by the poor man's Robert Duvall or {far worse) Donald Pleasance, James Tolkan), are at work, making for a somewhat convoluted and unpredictable plot line.
The highlight of the episode (for me) is an comical exchange of dialog between Crockett and Tubbs, where Tubbs runs on about the technological dangers of radio towers prompting Crockett to ask him how the hell he'd know so much about something so random. Tubbs replies"Night School...there IS life after vice." Perhaps a cheap expository cover up by the writers, but I gotta give them the nod for making it worth the price of admission.
Of note, Ben Stiller has a cameo playing a fast talking scumbag huckster of religious paraphernalia...in other words, he plays a slight variation of himself.
