Monsters (TV Series) New York Honey (1988) User Reviews

Silly but sort of fun too.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 29 December 2008]

Monsters: New York Honey is set in a high rise New York apartment block & starts as married couple Jay & Emerald Blake are having trouble sleeping because of the loud classical music coming from the apartment above owned by barmy Bee scientist Dr. Homer Jimenen, Jay decides to go & tell Jimenen to turn the music off & notices inside his apartment which is full of Bees & exotic plants. Dr. Jimenen lets Jay taste a sample of his specially formulated honey which he becomes instantly addicted to, sensing an opportunity to make money Jay blackmails Jimenen to let him sell it. Then a few weeks later a woman show's up in Jimenen's apartment, a woman with an unusual secret, a woman who is Jimenen's very own queen...

Episode three from season one of Monsters this originally aired in the US during November 1988, directed by Jerry Smith I quite liked this rather bizarre story although I would expect a lot of people might find it just too silly. The script goes mostly for laughs as the over the top character's, silly situations & dialogue is there for all to see. Then just when you think it can't get any more daft it throws a memorable but utterly bonkers twist ending at you which for me makes New York Honey quite entertaining in a totally off the wall sort of way. I certainly didn't expect the twist & I doubt many will so in that regard it has the potential to surprise, it's just a shame that it comes across as almost like a spoof of 50's 'mad doctor/scientist creates giant monster/bug' type films which clearly wasn't the makers intention but doesn't really do the episode any harm as a whole since it is generally quite light hearted. At only twenty or so minutes long at least it's short enough not to drag or outstay it's welcome & while not the best piece of telly ever I did enjoy it for what it was although I did feel a little bit guilty that I did!

With the budget so tight on the show once again there are only two sets & only four actor's in it. There's a sort of bizarre twisted sitcom feel about New York Honey that I liked too. The special effects are alright although the final giant Bee monster at the end does look a bit naff but the transformation scenes from human to Bee monster by comparison look pretty good. Most Monsters episodes go for scares & are fairly serious in tone but New York Honey is definite an exception as it has a spoofy feel to it. The acting is way over the top with the cast members pulling silly faces every five seconds & exaggerating their lines & performance in general.

New York Honey is an undeniably silly & light hearted episode of Monsters that I actually thought was pretty good although I probably shouldn't have. The bizarre plot, the memorable twist & one or two amusing moments make this well worth a watch if you can catch it on telly for free.

The crazy twist saves this one!

[b_kite · 5/10 · 23 June 2017]

New York Honey is set in a New York high rise were Jay Blake (Lewis J. Stadlen) is being drove crazy by the blaring classical music from the apartment above, his wife Emerald (Elaine Bromka) convinces him to go try and put a stop to it, while there he meets Dr. Homer Jimmerman (MacIntyre Dixon) a strange man who has exotic plants and bees which make a special kind of honey, Jimmerman gives Jay some and he is instantly addicted, Jay being the greedy smut he is blackmails him into giving him some of the honey to sell and some more to keep for himself. All goes as planned til a beautiful woman Desiree (Andrea Thompson) shows up one day and takes a liking to Jay, and tries to seduce him, however, Jay soon discovers she holds a dark secret!

I actually remembered this one a bit from reruns that the Chiller network would do back in the day, however it had been a long time since my last viewing of it. While I can tell other reviewers on here have put it down mostly because of the acting and I gotta say it is pretty bad, the whole thing is played for laughs and most of the cast at times seem to be ad libbing what is ever on there mind it also doesn't help that the dialogue isn't that great either. I mean I understand its not to be taken seriously and played for laughs, but, when the acting itself isn't very good its just bad. This continues on for the bulk of the episode and once you begin to wonder whats the silly payoff going to be here, it comes out of left field and hits you with one of the most bonkers twist endings around! The creature itself is a giant bee, with some makeup used in cutaways and maybe some cheap stop motion thrown in as well, while it may look terrible by today's standards its just so out of left field that its just awesome. As for the cast, the only person from the four person crew that I really recognize is a young Andrea Thompson who is very beautiful here, she is primarily known for her stint in "NYPD Blue". As for settings we get only two apartment rooms, and while both seem to serve there purpose there very limited. All in all, "New York Honey" is a very middle of the road episode which contains some rather bad silly comedic acting, However, its saved by its crazy twist, which I must say is worth sitting throw the 20 minute episode to see.

Greed and honey a seductive sting!

[blanbrn · 7/10 · 15 December 2020]

This episode from season one of "Monsters" called "New York Honey" is one that's interesting with a story that twist as it has themes of greed and lust. Set in New York city a couple starts to be bothered by a loud neighbor, upon investigation it's seen he's a beekeeper and plus he has some very powerful honey it's almost like magic! This honey is of value it could lead to money! Now enter the wild card character mister beekeeper has a real honey squeeze on the side named Desiree(future and former HLN news anchor Andrea Thompson) she's a real vamp and she really provides a sting in the end as the episode twist! Overall okay early series episode.

Promising story sunk by quite awful performances

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 28 March 2015]

I've recently been checking out these cult 1980s-era TV shows and MONSTERS is the latest addition to the fold. It has a thoroughly memorable introduction but the stories turn out to be low budget, silly, and often very cheesy. The third episode of the first series, NEW YORK HONEY, is a case in point.

The story begins with a harassed couple going to deal with their upstairs neighbour, an eccentric old man who plays his music too loud. It turns out he's keeping bees inside his apartment, and before long the husband becomes way too involved with the old man's young lover. Inevitably there's a (quite literal) sting in the tale.

The story is okay and probably would have worked well in written form, but it's the execution that sinks this one; in particular, the actors. It's as if they were encouraged to go all-out in the overacting; as a result this is nothing more than a shrill, histrionic pantomime. Despite an arresting turn from Andrea Thompson the acting is just too over the top for this to be enjoyable.

Camp Children's Television

[Theo Robertson · 3/10 · 1 March 2014]

MONSTERS was a series that didn't receive a network broadcast on British terestial television . It debuted on the short lived Galaxy channel on BSB then eventually got broadcast in its entirety on one of the Sky channels . I can't recall ever seeing an episode of the show because catching an episode on The Horror Channel earlier today I do recall the title sequence where a family of Cyclops sit down to watch the television so I must have seen an episode at one point . As it turned out the best thing , sorry , least worse thing about the episode was the title sequence

New York Honey is about a man keeping a bee farm in his apartment and when his landlord finds out puts pressure on him to give him honey . I'm guessing the fact that the show is called MONSTERS that means every week we're treated to a parable on human nature and that it is the human race is monstrous . Fair enough and gets no complaints from me and has been a subject of storytelling ever since man has put pen to paper . The problem with episode isn't how the story is told but the way the cast act . There's realistic acting and there's subtle acting , and there's wooden acting , and there's over the top acting but the acting here is like nothing I have ever seen and I don't mean that in a good way . It is something you might expect in a pantomime except only much worse as the cast over emphasise every line and facial expression . It's painfully distracting and when you've a teleplay where the cast aren't taking serious what hope for the suffering audience ? Suspension of disbelief is one thing but this nonsense is quite another and the only memory I will keep with me from this episode is how terrible it was

Why would anyone accept to air such a crap?!

[Bored_Dragon · 3/10 · 16 September 2018]

In writing this might be a decent story, but what I just saw is simply terrible. The lack of a budget can justify many shortcomings, but for garbage like this it is not a good enough excuse. Literally everything in this episode, besides the idea itself, is disastrously bad, and acting can hardly be called acting at all.

3/10

Lame episode. Skip it

[Aba74 · 4/10 · 14 August 2020]

This is a really bad episode. Hard to watch. The dated hair styles and fashions were a annoying distraction. All this episode needed was a disco ball and a Bee Gee song.

Sometimes catching a buzz can be dangerous

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 13 June 2019]

Smarmy married jerk Jay Blake (a nicely annoying portrayal by Lewis J. Stadlen) forces flaky beekeeper Dr. Homer Jimmerman (nicely played to the quirky hilt by MacIntyre Dixon) into marketing his delicious honey. Moreover, Jay becomes smitten with Jimmerman's enigmatic, but alluring female assistant Desiree (a spot on seductive performance by fetching blonde Andrea Thompson).

Director Gerald Cotts relates the enjoyably kooky story at a steady pace as well as maintains a pleasing tongue-in-cheek tone throughout. The witty script by Henry Jacobs provides a neat message on how such basic human vices as greed and lust can lead a man to his own untimely demise. The surprise ending has quite a sharp sting to it, too. A funny show.