Bosom Buddies: Loathe Thy Neighbor

Bosom Buddies: Loathe Thy Neighbor
ABC
December 11, 1980
Sitcom
DVD/VHS
B-

This first of eight Buddies stories by David Chambers has Amy and Sonny fighting, which leads to Kip and Henry fighting.  Meanwhile, Ruth is trying to get the Brotherhood Week campaign with some very stereotypical men of God (a priest, a rabbi, and an East Indian in a turban).  Unlike Mork & Mindy retreading familiar material earlier that evening, there's some sharp humor, from references to Ferlinghetti and Lenny Bruce to the Star Trek imitations at the end (and this at a time when such comedy was far less commonplace than it would later be).  Kip and Sonny sort of have their first date in this episode, but it's just them hanging out in the lobby a bit and him getting thorns in her hair when she asks him to tuck in one of the roses he brought.  Note that although both Kip and Amy are allowed to sing "It's Not Unusual" on the DVD, the car horn of Isabelle's date is made generic, rather than playing a few notes of "Isn't She Lovely" and "Swanee River."  (And I seriously doubt that the latter is copyrighted.)  Her line about him playing "Dixie" next thus no longer makes sense.

This is the only Buddies episode directed by Herbert Kenwith, who'd done most of the first season of Diff'rent Strokes.  It is perhaps to his credit that Dixon's acting has improved a bit here.