After School Specials: Dear Lovey Hart, I Am DesperateABC
May 19, 1976
Children's
DVD
B
Larry Elikann directed this as well as The Skating Rink, while Bob Rodgers, who adapted the other three AS Specials we've looked at, based this on the Ellen Conford novel, which I have read, including as an adult. I really think the source material makes a difference, although the fact that this episode is SEVENTIES adds to the entertainment value. I considered going with a B+, but I feel like the direction could be smoother, and no one is at the level of Susan Lawrence, who plays the sophomore Carrie who's drafted into writing an anonymous advice to the lovelorn column for her high school paper, The Lincoln Log. (Which is a pun that's both wonderful and terrible.) Lawrence makes Carrie human, in the senses of both imperfect and believable.
As for that '70sness, it's not just the music and the clothes and the Fonzie poster; it's also the references to Woodward & Bernstein, and the editor Skip's insistence that they don't need a faculty advisor. Even the way Skip and Carrie's friendship turns to romance at the end is very '70s, although there are hints at the chemistry earlier. While I've gone with the "children's" label, this is arguably YA, including as it does a reference to drugs. But what children were allowed to watch in '76 was fluid.
A lot of the cast have other ABC credits, then both past and future. Barker Craig Hundley was Tommy Johnson on The Brady Bunch (the friend whose cigarettes are found on Greg), while Stephen Liss, who's Marty, was Greg's friend Rusty. First Student Eric Suter was also a Student on the first episode of Welcome Back, Kotter, while Elyssa Davalos, Linda here, would appear as Horshack's sister Judy. Charles Bloom, who plays the 2nd Student, would be Daniel Pierson on Mork & Mindy. Ten-year-old Al Eisenmann, who plays Carrie's little brother Jeff, would be Mikey on Bosom Buddies. And star Lawrence would pop up on both Kotter and Mork.
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