Just the Ten of Us: Quarterback Sneak

Just the Ten of Us: Quarterback Sneak
ABC
September 29, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
C+

In the second episode of the third season, 22-year-old Matt LeBlanc makes his first of two appearances as Todd Murphy, the star player on Coach's football team.  Wendy dates him once and then dumps him, so Coach "pimps his daughter."  Evan Arnold returns as Gavin Doosler, who joins the Lubbock girls' cheer squad.

Just the Ten of Us: Rock n' Roll Fantasy

Just the Ten of Us: Rock n' Roll Fantasy
ABC
April 28, 1989
Sitcom
VHS
B-

Not unlike the Brady kids, the four teenage daughters, AKA the Lubbock Babes, formed a singing group, doing entirely cover songs if I recall correctly.  The girls had nice voices and they wore the height of late '80s fashion.  Here, in an episode written by show creator Dan Guntzleman with Michael Sullivan, who also directed, the Babes daydream as they perform at the local pizza parlor.  Wendy's fantasy in particular breaks the fourth wall, with the family appearing as actors who have the real-life names-- Jamie, JoAnn, etc.  Note that this episode mildly ships Gavin Doosler (Evan Arnold again) with both Connie and Cindy.

Holly Haber, who previously played Sister Adolf on the "fox in the henhouse" episode, is a Doctor here.  Michael Gilbert Lewis, the Priest, would be a Busboy on Who's the Boss? the next year.  Rich Reinhart sort of plays himself, in that he's a Writer in Wendy's fantasy.  This episode closed out the season, and the next one we'll look at is from early in Season Three.

Just the Ten of Us: Zorro en el Gallinero

Just the Ten of Us: Zorro en el Gallinero
ABC
February 17, 1989
Sitcom
VHS
B-

This Growing Pains spin-off had a more likable cast, an offbeat (for its sub-genre) sense of humor, and of course more extreme late '80s fashions.  The title of the series seems like a misnomer, but it was about Coach Graham and Elizabeth Lubbock (Kirchenbauer and Harmon) and their eight children, the youngest two only babies and not often seen.  It aired on Fridays as what became, in the fall of 1989, ABC's TGIF line-up, although I doubt it's as well remembered as, for instance, Full House or Perfect Strangers.

The show focused mostly on the oldest four kids, the teenaged daughters: devout eldest Marie (Langenkamp), airheaded Cindy (Luner), her slutty twin Wendy (Brooke Theiss), and intellectual Connie (Willette).  In this episode, from Season Two, they're all in pursuit of Spanish exchange student Carlos, "the fox in the henhouse" of the title.  Brother J.R. (Shakman) as usual has little to do, but kid sister Sherry (Zeigler) serves as interpreter some of the time, even using the word "sluts"!  And this may well be the episode with the most double or pretty much single entendres.  Keep an eye out for the adorkable Gavin Doosler (Evan Arnold), who contributes accidentally gay entendres.  Also, yes, that's Frank "Herb Tarlek" Bonner in the unlikely but recurring role of a priest, Father Hargis.

This is one of seven episodes that Jonathan Weiss directed, and we'll later look at one he did for the third and final season.  It's also the 600th show I've reviewed for the '80s.  I doubt we'll make it to 700, but we will pass double the output for the '60s.

Mork & Mindy: Drive, She Said

Mork & Mindy: Drive, She Said
ABC
February 4, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Kite & Begel episode is odd in the following ways:

• Mork, who seems to have functioned just fine for three and a half years, now that he has a young child is very dependent on Mindy to take him grocery-shopping and on other errands;
• Mindy therefore wants him to get a driver's license and he's reluctant;
• We actually see the garage for the first time (it's unclear if Mr. Bickley uses it, too, or even still lives in the house);
• You might expect Exidor to be the driving instructor, but, no, it's TNT, who does it to meet underage girls;
• There's a shark-jumping moment when Mork is taking his driver's test with a devilish man (who has eyes like Nancy Reagan according to Mork), with his instructor in the backseat, until TNT tries to flee from the car, which is on two wheels and almost perpendicular to the road, so then we see a stunt double who looks very little like Kirchenbauer standing on the side of the car;
• There is no happy ending, beyond that Mindy helps Mork accept that he's failed at something but he can try again;
• There's a Pac-Man reference, and I'm reminded again that this is a different era than where we started from;
• Mindy celebrated getting her driver's license by buying the new Herman's Hermits album, so I guess they're sticking with that born in '53 thing from the reunion episode, although Mindy should've turned 16 in '73.

Mork & Mindy: Mork the Swinging Single

Mork & Mindy: Mork the Swinging Single
ABC
March 12, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this Kout & Zateslo story, Mindy has her first date in a year.  She and Mork are just friends but she feels funny socializing when he isn't.  So he goes to a party at Glenda Faye's, where he meets TNT (Bill Kirchenbauer again).  TNT teaches him how to be a swinger, although since it's Mork, it's all still pretty innocent.  In the end, M & M realize that they can spend time with others but still need to make time for each other.  (And we never hear anything about how Mindy's date went.)  Note that Mork makes a Nancy Reagan joke.

Wendy Hoffman, who plays Sheri (the girl in green in the picture), would be Jackie in The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island.

Mork & Mindy: Mork the Prankster

Mork & Mindy: Mork the Prankster
ABC
December 4, 1980
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Wendy Kout teams up with George Zateslo, whose first of five Mork scripts this is.  At first it's pretty standard "Mork annoys Mindy, who forgives him" stuff, but it does have some surprises, including that Glenda Faye is trying to distract herself from her grief over her husband, and Mindy gives Mork a kiss of forgiveness that makes his leg "pop" enough to lift her Jeep (which he put in her living room as a prank but it crashed down into Mr. Bickley's).

The highlight of the episode though is the return of Bill Kirchenbauer, this time for the first of three appearances as Todd Norman Taylor.  Kirchenbauer manages to distill every stereotype of the '70s swinging single into one character, but he also does little touches like a mimey moment when he leans against "the wall" to hit on Mindy (see picture).  I found this funnier and fresher than anything Williams does in the episode, including the Julia Child routine.  (Dan Aykroyd had done that earlier and better, although Kirchenbauer's TNT is better than Aykroyd's "wild and crazy guy."

I think it's a nice touch to have Fred and Mr. Bickley bond and go fishing, since they're middle-aged men who can be grouchy at times, Fred less than Mr. B of course.  Amy Tenowich returns as Lola, while Stephanie Kayano makes her second of seven appearances as Stephanie.  (IMDB didn't list her for the season premiere, although the credit is on her page.)  But of course the most notable of Mork's daycare friends is Billy, played by nine-year-old Corey Feldman in his first of two Mork cameos.  Remo is absent, although Jean is in the first scene.

Note that Mork refers to "no one thinking an actor could become President," but it's not clear if this means the possibility or the actual election on November 4th.

Mork & Mindy: Mork's Mixed Emotions

Mork & Mindy: Mork's Mixed Emotions
ABC
February 22, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
B

I considered going with a B+ on this Tom Tenowich & Ed Sharlach story (the first of fourteen for Sharlach), since Williams gives another tour de force performance, this time as Mork's various no longer repressed emotions.  But it bothers me that Mindy takes Mork out in public during this vulnerable time, even if it is her birthday.  (Note that she's on the phone to Sally talking about her plans, presumably the Sally we've seen.)  The penultimate scene where some of Mork's emotions kiss Mindy is funny and sweet, and Orson in the final scene decides not to report Mork for breaking Orkan law.  The episode contains, among other things, an Idi Amin reference and a Steve Martin imitation.

Stan Rodarte, who was a Reporter at the Homecoming Parade in Rescue from Gilligan's Island, is the Waiter.  Maitre D' George Pentecost would play two other characters on this show.  And twenty-five-year-old but already balding Bill Kirchenbauer makes his first of four Mork & Mindy appearances, here as a disco-loving customer, years before he became known as Coach Lubbock on Growing Pains and Just the Ten of Us.